December 2014 - Christmas Prep!

 Gwen and Cosmo 

December 1 - we started to get ready for Christmas!

 We found a new home for the nativity set to live and got it all set up.

 Twinkles arrived to begin her month of surveillance.

 Gwen making some advent crafts from preschool.

We had to miss the craft night at the school because of a snow storm :(

 Every Saturday morning the girls had skating lessons.

 After a cold snap was over we got some warm weather to hang up our outdoor Christmas lights!

 December 6 - the tree got decorated!

 The girls did most of the ornament hanging this year.

 Arranging and rearranging.

 Advent 2

At supper each night we light the Advent candles and sing a verse of a hymn.

Week 1 was Away In A Manger

Week 2 What Child Is This?

The girls love to sing!

A glowing tree during morning cartoons.

 Bowling Party!

A tradition!

 Cara is getting pretty good at bowling.

 Gwen is too!

 Santa came to Daddy's work party!

 And there was cake :)

 Presents from the big guy and no tears at all!

 Painting Christmas cookies!

 A super fun activity.

 Sugar cookies with egg yolk "paint".

Cara brought home a library book from school with some great cookie recipes.

 Another day's Advent activity: Hot chocolate and cookies!

 We went to see Santa at the mall.

 Gwen has her eye on a BB Gun.

Too bad she'll shoot her eye out!

 Cosmo is a risk taker.

Gwen loves him alot and sometimes loves him to tight or too roughly....she's been scratched...

but he still loves her and even cuddles at bedtime some nights.

 The girls finished skating lessons!

 We took in a day at Heritage Park with our friends Verity and Freya.

 Daddy made it through the maze!

 The model train set was fascinating.

 The girls played a drawing game at the old school house.

 They drew dalmatians.

 Cara, Gwen and Freya at the ranch.

 Advent 3

The week's song: Angels We Have Heard On High

 Advent Activity: Make Elf Jello!

 Layer jello in cups top with Cool Whip.

Yum!

 Decorated the gingerbread house.

 A good group project.

With lots of candy eating.

 Thanks Grampy for the kit!

 Cosmo...

 Dec 17

Cara's Christmas Concert.

(Cara's class...Cara is back row 5th from the left)

 They sang All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.

 All dressed up for the concert.

 Cute!

 Crazy!

 Gwen :)

 The next night was Gwen's Preschool Christmas Concert.

Cara dressed up again too.

 Gwen is ADORABLE.

 They sang lots of songs from class.

This shot is from Jingle Bells!

 December 20

We went to Lethbridge to have a celebration with Nana & Grampa Howie and Jamie and Leah!

All the kids played cards.

 A delicious Christmas dinner.

 Followed by presents!

 Jamie and Nana.

 The next morning Jamie and Leah left on their big snowboarding trip and we went to church with Nana & Howie.  The girls got to help light 2 candles on the big Advent wreath!

After church we made gingerbread cookies and the girls had a good time decorating.

Yummy cookies!!!

So we'll end this update there.

Next time will cover Christmas Eve and Day and through to New Years!

November Update

 November has wrapped up and we had a fun and busy month.  Gwen turned 4 and we got a new addition to our family.

Cara is learning how to be a teacher at school...teaching Gwen and big stuffies.

 Gwen got to celebrate her birthday at school by handing out cupcakes to her friends!

 Gwen can't stay in bed long enough in the morning to have breakfast in bed but breakfast at the coffee table was just as good.

 Sister hugs during gift opening.

 She was so excited for new undies!  Thanks Nanny & Papa!

 Proud owner of her own Elsa doll :)

 4 year old with a Frozen cake.

 Big sister loves cake.

 Daddy too!

 Before cake time there was icing time.

 A top 10 moment of childhood.

 Our 4 year old girl :)

 Showing off her new Rapunzel nightgown.

Another day Cara painted all the planets in a solar system kit she got for her birthday.  Her mobile now hangs in her space room.

 Another weekend we went to a movie to celebrate Leah's birthday. Gwen and Sidney had a great time.

 After the movie that day we went to the Calgary Humane Society to look for a cat.  We met this cat Charlie and she was a nice 3 year old cat but she just wasn't "the one" so we decided to go back another day.

 Well, the next day was Gwen's birthday party!

She asked for a Frozen birthday and to watch the movie with her friends Sidney and Leah.

Uncle Jamie and Leah came too and it was so much fun.

 Gwen's dream cake.

A Frozen Elsa cake....Ice Cream Cake!!!

 She was so ready to have some cake.

The doll cake was a surprise for her.  She saw it on Pinterest and wanted it but it seemed daunting.
Not that hard actually!

Elsa and the party girls.

Yummy dress!

Cara's school had a parent teacher night and we got to go see some of her art work.

We've had snow and really cold and not so cold days.
The girls had fun on a melting day that made the snow sticky.

Cara reacts to snow like sand...."please bury me!"

Another Saturday morning skating lesson.

After skating we went back to the Humane Society and met with a tiny kitten who was so fun and cute and sweet that he was "the one"!
His shelter name was Gumbo and he was about 10 weeks old.

"Gumbo" day 1 at home.
He loves to play!

Finally a kitty to snuggle!

And squeeze.... Gwen loves him so so much!

And snuggle :)

His favourite guy is Adam and has regular evening cuddles.

He has a great purrr.

We had another snow storm to end November and it left a nice drift to our front door.

We started the December fun on November 30 with a fun kit from Nana.

The girls love crafts.

We liked "Gumbo" but wanted to name him ourselves.  After much discussion and brainstorming we chose....."COSMO"!
We love Cosmo!

Advent began and we are now well into our Christmas preparations.

We'll update again before Christmas with pics of the fun!