'Twas the Night Before Christmas

It was the day before Christmas and Sam was going batty so we needed out of the house.  We grabbed our new skates and headed to the pond!

Couple of guys on the pond at Nose Creek.  It was a pretty busy place so we stuck to skating around the outside.

First time on skates in probably... hmm... 16 years!  I'm definitely not a hockey mom but this level of skating commitment is exactly what I'm into!

A very lovely time as a family.  Wonderful what fresh air and exercise does to calm everyone's pre-Christmas excitement!

There isn't much that's more fun that being spun in a circle on skates!

Couple of glides all on his own... he's no Gretzsky but each time on the ice he gets little more brave and a little more confident.

Skating and hot chocolate go hand in hand!  This was pretty much the most fun hot chocolate ever made.  Period.  And seriously, I don't believe there is anyone in the world that could say no to that little face! 

Pretty much the best ever.

My Christmas Eve surprise... onesies for everyone!!!

Noodle soup and Home Alone... Christmas Eve in the Connolley house!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Fun With Grannies!!!

We headed home for the first weekend of Christmas break to have a visit and see our freshly delivered cabin.  Though we won't be in it for Christmas, it's a beautiful home away from home and I can't even wait to have this special place to call our own.
During our visit, we got to pit stop at both Grandparents' houses and both Grannies quickly got Sam to work on making some sweet Christmas creations!

Karate Kid / mini baker!  Super fun and easy recipe making homemade turtles at Gramma Connolley's!

Proud Granny taking photo of proud chef!  Love it!

Grandpa was put in charge of bath time... things got a little bubbly!

Sam-ta Claus!

We spent Sunday shopping with Gramma Bee and hanging out at her new Red Deer home.  Sam did some crafts and created a gingerbread tree!

Sam had a couple days at home with just me before Shaun was able to take time off.  We had an awesome play date with a long lost friend.  It was great to catch up with my dear friend, watch her newest little boy wiggle and grunt and see our kids hang out and play!

We were on a snow globe mission today and after finding the last snow globe in all of Airdrie, we earned a well deserved Happy Meal!  Nothing like mom's fancy cookin' over the holiday season!

Sam wanted to build the tower exactly like the one  on the bin.  We worked hard and I think we nailed it!  He was pretty happy with our team effort, but what he enjoyed most was...

DEMOLITION!  A successful lazy day of winter break!  Excited to see what Christmas Eve brings to our home this year!

Kinder Christmas Concert

Try to imagine 150 kindergarten students up on a stage for 45 minutes... it was quite a sight!  Lots of proud parents, lots of cute outfits, a few nervous break downs and a ton of sweet moments.  Here are a couple shots of the concert... what a success!  His teachers deserve some sort of medal!

Yes, I was that parent that dragged my family to the school 1 hour early to be first (and we were actually second!) in line to get our seats.  Luckily that also gave me time to find Sam's art work.  This is his super cute elf application.  I LOVE the old school look of his school... love all the very hand made art work taped right onto the wall.

It takes a fair amount of time to herd 150 kinders onto a stage but they did it with great success.  The kids sang and recited at least 12 poems/songs.  The kids were pure comedy and so incredibly well behaved.

Along with the singing, they also made the world's cutest iMovie.  The kids were asked their opinion on different Christmas topics and answered only the way 5 year olds could.  Sam's beautiful face was the first to appear on the movie... no I didn't cry, but I was awfully choked up!

We tried to get a shot of as much of the whole group as we could before they were swept off stage.

On the First Week of Christmas...

December has arrived in all it's glory and I can't even believe it's here.  While kicking off a new basketball season, I'm trying my working mommy best to not stink at being festive and excited about the upcoming holidays.
We've been decorating, had the kids Westjet Party, our annual dinner party with the Daytons and Gordays, did a Christmas card photo shoot and played in the snow.
Here are couple moments captured for our first week of Christmassing!

Busy writing to the big guy!

Proud little boy! 

All I wanted was a nice pic of decorating the tree... this was not it...

...neither was this...

But I did capture this.  He may or may not have been bribed!

Decorating the mini tree at Gramma Connolley's with Kaili!

There's nothing funny about getting festive...

Or maybe there is!!!  This will be a great shot for his wedding slide show someday...

Crazy Christmas guy photo bomb!!!!

Belated School Pictures

Sam got his kindergarten school photos done in September and they came back AWFUL!!!  He decided he was going to straight face the camera, which is an incredibly awkward look for him.  I refused to buy them and so he asked if I'd take his photo (to which he said he was going to smile in some and be serious in others).  We did a little fall photo sesh and they turned out really cute.  I didn't get on ordering them, retake day came and Sam got his photo taken.  Of course his retakes turned out really great and my fall photos are not needed anymore.  There were a bunch, but here are my favs.  Not because of my stellar photo skills (not my best work) but because he looks just like himself... a happy, go-lucky little boy.

A Fall Sort of Recap!

And not shockingly at all, I've fallen behind on posts... once again school start up has been very busy.  It doesn't mean we haven't been up to all sorts of things, but it does mean I haven't taken the time at night to blog our adventures.
It's been a brilliant fall... relatively moderate temperatures, beautiful colours and many moments spent together building memories.  Lots of trips to the acreage to watch it grow and evolve from a bare field to a home away from home.

Gramma Bee took us to Kraay's Cornmaze.  The day was a little chilly but Sam kept very busy and very warm.

Met this funny guy!  He just waited up on a block for cute kids to come by and snuggle him a little.

FINALLY!  Sam's legs are long enough and he can do things like this on his own.  That means I don't have to squeeze on, I don't have to push him and I don't have to explain why he cannot go on it.  However, it does mean coming up with different tactics to convince him that there is more to see than the go-karts!

A little friend finds his way to this curious boy's sleeve.

We got to celebrate two very special people's birthdays this fall.  Born on the same day 73 years apart!!!  It was an awesome birthday bash with a huge bouncy house and lots of 'Goodies'!

Birthday cake - less cake smash and more very careful inspection of his cool first birthday cake!

Two of my very favourite young men! 

Thanksgiving this year was a picture perfect day, which included a huge leaf pile and lots of jumping.  So fun to watch these cousins explore and play together.  Lots of laughs. 

Happy leaf kids!

So grateful.

For Shaun's birthday, Sam and I took him to West Edmonton Mall.  We got a cool theme room complete with a real truck!  Very fun to explore and VERY hard to get a good night's sleep in!

Besides a full day at the waterpark, we spent the second day checking out the rest of the mall.  Found these two spooky characters in my travels. 

We had time for a couple rides including a very bumpy and crazy ride in the bumper cars.  Luckily we have about 9 years to fix his wild driving techniques!

We took in the sea lion show.  It was really cool and lots of interesting info.  Sure do love these two faces!

Even though I had the most handsome Jedi on the block, I didn't even take one picture of him.  We had the most beautiful weather and went out for much longer than any other year.  It was cool to tour around our little neighbourhood with some dear friends watching Sam and all the other little ghouls trick or treat.  I did snap a shot of him with our pumpkin creations.

A trip out to Grandpa's with a wiggly tooth usually means a try on taking it out.  And, once again, another one popped out.  Luckily the Tooth Fairy found Sam out at the acreage... gives me hope that Santa will find us there too!