Winter Fun

To keep winter fun, we have done some various activities to keep entertained. Here are some of those activities.





(Credits: "Sledding": Template- Storyboards by Peppermint Creative; Kit- Shabby Princess-Christmas; and sledding girl embellishment - Winter Fun theme pack (unknown)
"Playing with Food": Kit- Mini Mysterious by Barbara Ryan (digiMom Designs); Template- Purple Tulip Designs by Suzanne Blair
"Treasure Island": Kit- The Great Outdoors by Vicki Parker of A Work in Progress; Template sketch by Rhonda Steed)

"Ten" things I love about you

One of my new Valentine's traditions (that I started last year) has been to do scrapbook pages of why I love my kids and husband. Mike doesn't necessarily want his up on the blog so I'll just put up the kids' pages.





(Credits: Brayden's page - Kit: "My B-Day Treat" by Jenny Limayo. Elania's page - Kit: "Sweet Love" by Faft. Both page templates were created by Michelle Filo for the Pencil Lines blog.)

Christmas and December activities

We had our own little family Christmas this year as Mike was on call and so we could not travel to see family. It was a relaxing and enjoyable day for us. Below are some Christmas photos and other photos of events that took place this month.






(Merry Christmas 2009: template - Liz Designs, wordart - from scrapNfonts.com, kit - December 2006 Rak Scraps Mega Kit by Christy Heins, and Stacie Harper)

(Twas the Night Before Christmas: template - moriginals, kit - "bah, humbug!" by Andrea, Elegant Word Art by Bethany)

(Gingerbread Frolic: template by Jamie Heyl, wordart - Angels Bonus Alpha by Krystal Hartley, kit- 't Was The Night from Scrapity Scrap - Scraps by Mirella)

(Christmas Party 2009 - Elegant Wordart by Bethany, template by Sweet Genevieve designs, December 2006 Rak Scraps Mega Kit by Lady Jane, VeroNica Peralta, Shelly Chua, Gwenevere Dupus, and Audra Little)

Having Fun

(Kits: "Hearts & Flowers" by A Work in Progress - designs by Vicki and Sweet Blossom Designs; "Sugary Sweets" by Simply Sweet Designs at Scrap Matters
Templates: Meridith Tiede at Moriginals.blogspot.com and Scrapping with Liz)

Mess and Ballet

A couple of pages of this week's events. Click on pages for larger pictures and easier reading.

What happens when I'm not keeping an eye on the kids.


It was parent view day for Elania's ballet class this week. Of course I took lots of pictures of her! I love how she waved at me a couple of times.


(Credits: Mess page - template by Suzanne Blair at Purple Tulip Designs, Wordart by Elegant WordArt by Bethany, and Popsicle Pop kit by Anna Benjamin and Baers Garten Designs. Ballet page - template by Scrapping with Liz, ballerina by Kate Hadfield Designs, and Think Pink kit by Scrapity Scrap And More.)

Drawing various birds

Elania has surprised us recently at how well she starting drawing different kinds of birds without us even showing her how. Here are some samples of her creations.

Bird


Duck


Chicken

Monster and Spiderwebs

On Sunday morning, Elania had woken up early. Unwanting to get out of bed early, we sent Elania downstairs to eat some bread (which she had requested). Later Mike went downstairs and walked right into Elania's "spiderweb". She had found some string from the craft cupboard and had been busy.

When I came downstairs, I also saw her "monster" she had made. Who needs to get up early when she will be this creative on her own!?

The monster.


The spiderweb. She had the string from the fridge, through the milk jug handle, over the couch, around the chair legs, and intertwined with the laundry basket.


Uniqua going for a ride.

Favorite toy

Elania had two friends over today to play while their mom had an ultrasound. All three girls and Brayden were downstairs playing. I overheard Elania say the following:

Elania: "Do you know what my favorite toy is in the whole wide world?"
Kyla: "What?"
Elania: "My brother. He plays with me."

How cute is that?!

Halloween Fun

Click on scrapbook pages to see the pictures larger.

We went to the Prairie Gardens Haunted Pumpkin Festival in Bon Accord, AB last weekend. It was muddy but worth it.



Our ward didn't have a trunk or treat so we went to the one being held at the Bonnie Doon Stake Centre. Elania dressed as a cow and Brayden as Bob the Builder.



Trick or treating at WEM with cousins. Elania was a monkey this time and Brayden was Bob the Builder again.



(Credits - Kits: "trick or treat" by designs by krista, "Solid Gold" by scrappyweiss designs. Templates: by Faith True, Creating Keepsakes, Laurie Wilson at Laurie's Scraps, and Sine at scraporchard.)

Do it Yourself Haircut

Elania got a hold of some scissors tonight and decided to cut her own hair. Awesome! It only took 3 YEARS to grow out her hair in the front to a nice length that I could pull it back into pigtails. I just checked our pictures to double check how long it took. I'm not referring to the constant wisps of hair in the front as those are still growing but I mean the chunk right behind the wisps.

She not only cut the front but also the top of her hair too. When Mike found her cutting her hair, she was holding her ponytail up and cutting right behind the elastic. Thankfully that part of her hair will still fit in a ponytail. Barely. I knew she was being TOO quiet upstairs.

Her hair grows SO slow. Hopefully it won't take another 3 years to be back to what it was. Sigh. :(

On a side note, on the second picture, you can really see how Elania has two different colors of eyes.

Funny Moments

I record a lot of funny moments that the kids say or do in a 'Moments Journal'. Not sure why I haven't shared more of those moments here on the blog for family to read about it. So tonight I thought I would share a few of those funny moments that make me and Mike laugh.

Moment #1:
Elania was using her play cameras and pretending they were walkie-talkies. She calls them “rogers”. (She has heard various phrases such as “Roger, over and out.” and "Roger that.")
Brayden wouldn’t play with her so I said that I would. Elania says to me while using her "roger": ”Where is Brayden’s ball? It’s missing.”
Me: “I don’t know. How will we find it?”
Elania: “We know where it is because we have a GPS!”

Moment #2:
Last week when it had snowed, I let the kids play outside for awhile in the backyard after we all got back from Elania’s preschool. Elania and Brayden were having fun using shovels and buckets to gather the snow. I was inside in the dining room area and overheard Elania say to Brayden in a quiet voice: “Brayden, you throw the snowball when Mommy opens the door.” Brayden did indeed have a snowball in his mittens. Elania knocks on the door and says to me, “Mommy, I made an elephant in the snow. Come look at the elephant.” Knowing her plan, I said, “No thanks. I heard you tell Brayden to throw a snowball at me.” She just got the HUGEST grin on her face. Busted!!! :)

Moment #3:
Every night before we go to bed, we check on the kids to make sure they are okay. Sometimes we find Elania sleeping on the floor. To our surprise, last night I checked on her and found her like this! Apparently her toddler bed and the queen size bed in her room weren't comfortable enough! She made a bed out of her Dora table to sleep on.


Moment #4:
Elania got into my makeup bag and put on a "little" blush. Brayden even got into the action.




Love the moments!

Scarecrow Festival

I took the kids to the Scarecrow Festival recently. I think their favorite thing to do there was to play in the bouncy castle. Although, Brayden quite enjoyed the icing for his cookie and Elania loved climbing up the ladder. Cori Smith met us there with Dylan. We went late morning and stayed for a few hours. Longer than I had anticipated. As we were leaving, we saw Cindy Smith with Daniel, Evan, and another little boy. Wish we had seen each other there during the event. That would have been even more fun!



(credits: Moriginals template, Celebrate by Canala Designs)

Kids' Drawings

Here are a few pictures of the kids' drawings as of late.

Brayden's drawings:
Cute eh?! Body with eyes, legs, and feet.

A spiderweb (circle with black lines coming out of it).


Elania's drawings:

Turkey. She tells me she drew it by herself. Taylor may have helped her trace her hand. Anyone know?


Practicing her name


A drawing of herself with all of her different hairstyles she usually has but not at the same time! In the picture she has a bun, pigtails, ponytail, and braids. She is also starting to draw clothes now and I think she also drew a necklace.

Her drawing of a computer. She drew a picture of herself on the computer screen. I love how she also drew a mouse beside the keyboard!

Elania and Brayden driving cars with a green sun and yellow clouds.

Fun at the Conrads

We had a great time last Saturday with Evan and Mari Alice Conrad and their kids. Thanks for the invite!



(Credits: template by Laurie Wilson at Laurie's Scraps and kit "Earth Tones" by Vicki - A Work in Progress)

The Backyardigans

I took the kids to The Backyardigans show - Sea Deep in Adventure. Because Mike couldn't come, Elania got to take a friend. They had a great time!




(Kit credits: 'Lucky Fish' by Vicki - A Work in Progress and Mel Hains - Mel Hains Designs.)

Birthday and Bugs

So I know Brayden's birthday was at the end of June but I wanted to post Brayden's birthday pictures since I already posted Elania's birthday pictures awhile ago. Here they are:





Lately the kids love when I point out any bugs to them.

(Credits: Doodle Bug collab kits by Vicki - A Work in Progress, and Stacey Towers - Stacey's Scraps)

Preschool

Elania's first day of preschool. Of course - she loved it.





(credits: RAKScraps Back2School kits - Angela Coles, Kay M. Northrup, Veronica Peralta, Gwenevere Dupus, Shelly Chua, and Lady Jane.)

Hope Classic Run/Walk/Wheel 2009

Click on pics to see and read about the fun time with had with Nathan Smith at his annual Hope Classic Run/Walk/Wheel event this year!





(Kit credits: Summer Garden - A Work in Progress by Vicki)

Makes me laugh!

I've been meaning to post this. Makes me laugh. This is Brayden and his cousin, Addison, playing together on June 16th. Brayden is only 2 months older than Addison!

Summer Fun

We've been quite busy this summer having fun! Mike has been busy working while I've been taking the kids to the playgrounds, spray parks, friends and families homes, the library, and Elania to her first swimming lessons. Even though Mike has been kept really busy with his work, he has been able to do some things as well. We recently went to The Taste of Edmonton with Jonathan, Cori, and Dylan. Yummy! It was Mike's first time to go.

Mike and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary as well the end of July! I'm so thankful for such a wonderful husband and father to our kids. To celebrate our anniversary, we went to see the broadway show 'The Lion King' that was performed here at the Jubilee. It was amazing! The costumes and puppetry were incredible. So glad we had the chance to see it. Later that night we headed over to the Olive Garden for some delicious food.

Below are some pictures of Elania during her swimming lessons. She loved it!




(Credits: Summer Fun Add-on by Laurie's Scraps, Pool alpha by Bethany at Elegant Word-art)