November 2017

Having some "Candle Time" to chill out after supper.  A good way to bridge the gap to Christmas.

Cara had to build a recycling project, so she built a cat house of Cosmo.  For a cat that never does what we want, he liked it.

Cara made a terrarium at Guides and it is very cool.

Gwen's birthday party had to be postponed for a second year in a row.  She had a stomach bug again so we had to reschedule.  She was upset but got to spend some time playing and watching TV in bed, so it wasn't all bad!

She was feeling better by her real birthday, so she got breakfast in bed!

And a special visitor!  Jill came up for a long weekend and got to experience a bit of Calgary "fall".

Uncle Jamie and Amelia came by to help celebrate!

Gwen was very interested in Cara's hatchimal, but didn't know we'd already bought her one for her birthday.

It hatched quickly and was very exciting!

The birthday girl was all smiles!

And got the no flour chocolate cake as requested!

7 years already!

Rememberance Day was celebrated on the 10th, so the girls wore their uniforms.  Cara was in the choir at her school's ceremony and was great.



With all the snow, Cara finally got to be pulled on the sled after school.  The two of them together are pretty heavy!

Aunt Jill helped build some snowmen in the backyard.

It had been a while since she'd built one.

So they built three!  Plus a snow cat.

I wonder why Gwen got a stomach bug?  Does drinking out of toilet cause problems?

Just kidding!  It's a water fountain at the Science Centre.

We laid on a bed of nails.

It wasn't so bad!

Cara facing the wind head on!

Gwen sketching Jill on glass.

Cara was nervous but eventually tried the bed of nails.

Gwen waited and waited for her turn to design an outfit.  Definitely worth it!

We'd driven past this slide since it opened and the girls finally got to go on it.  It was a tall climb, but they did it!

We whirled around in the melting snow.

It was a great visit and the girls never get enough of Aunt Jill!

After dropping Jill off at the airport, we had Gwen's birthday party.  The plan was to see the My Little Pony Movie, but when Gwen's first party was canceled, we were worried we'd miss it.  So we took a still sick Gwen to the movie on Sunday so she could see it.  But luckily, there was one theatre showing it the next weekend and we booked a party and saw My Little Pony again!

Almost everyone could still come and they all had a good time!

Gwen's class has a pet hamster named Crackers.  The kids are big fans and are learning a lot about taking care of him.

The girls school picks turned out great!

Adorable!

We got some family photos taken at Baker Park and they turned out well.

Freshly toothless Gwen is usually laughing.

Cara's got a great sense of humour too.

Family photo with the Bow River in the background.

We are starting to get in the Christmas spirit!

A winter rainbow!

Gwen built a volcano kit she got for her birthday with some help from Cara.  It erupted successfully.

On the last weekend of November, we had a special event.  Both girls went camping with Brownies/Guides, at the same place, for 2 days!  Mom and Dad have not spent that much time alone together since before Cara was born!  They both had an awesome time and their parents survived.

While they were at camp, we checked out the Calgary Expo Christmas Sale.  There were some cool trees there like this Mario one.

Cosmo showing off his new Christmas outfit.  He likes it as much as you would expect.

As November wound down, we started to get into full Christmas mode!  It started with some Christmas lights and lasted all of next month!

October 2017

Cara joined her school's Run for the Cure.  So we all headed down early on Saturday for a fun run.

Cara had been training and was ready to run with Dad.  Gwen and Mom did the walk.

Pre-race pose!

Gwen did awesome on the walk and got to high-five Mayor Nenshi!

Cara crushed the run!

We were tired but had time for one last picture before heading out.

Later that day, Gwen's Brownie troop sold some cookies at Superstore.  They were hot sellers!

An October blizzard hit but didn't last long.  It gave us a preview of what was to come....

Mary got to babysit Amelia a few days and had a blast!

On Thanksgiving, we headed down for the annual tradition of a run on Thanksgiving.

The free hot chocolate helped with the chilly weather.

This year, Dad did a 10k and did pretty good: 48:34 and 11th place!

Later that day, we celebrated with some Turkey with Nana, Jamie, Leah and Amelia.  It was delicious!

We got invited to Amelia's first birthday party.  She was a bit overwhelmed but had fun!

The girls were excited to be there to celebrate.

They posed for some commemorative photos!

Maybe a bit too much sugar?

Amelia sporting the aviator hat and airplane we gave her...we gave her a book about Amelia Earhart too so some day she'll get the reference.

The girls went to Leah's birthday party at the Ninja Warrior gym.  It was awesome!

The girls were naturals.

Though the warp wall will take some practice.

Get to the buzzer!

The girls went with Mom to vote, and then Gwen went with Dad later that night.  Nenshi won so the girls were happy.

We went to Gwen's Brownie enrollment.  She's now officially a Brownie (and part of the Leprechaun Circle)

Flashing Brownie signs.

Lots of Gwen's school friends are in the troop so she has lots of fun.

After hanging on for a long time, Gwen finally lost one of her big front teeth.

She looks like a big kid now!

Cara had her 9th birthday party at our house.  Minecraft themed!

We needed a blindfold, so we used a creeper head!

Blowing out nine candles with 13 other kids!

Homemade Minecraft cake!  It was delicious.

Some crazy posing after the party.  It was fun and the kids had fun.  Thankfully we only do it once a year!

Uncle Jamie gave Cara some sour Warheads.  Gwen was not a fan.

Cara liked them more but they are pretty intense.

On Cara's birthday, she had breakfast in bed!

Gwen woke up early to help wish her a happy birthday!

Cara got a Hatchimal and was very excited for it to hatch.  But we had a lot to do tonight!

So we had some cake, sang Happy Birthday and got on costumes...

Because they went to a Halloween party!  Gwen dressed as a mermaid (like last year) and posed with her friend Sophie dressed as Hermione.

Cara was a devil.  The party had all the Guides and Brownie troops in the district.  They had lots of candy and fun!

Cara used her birthday money to get a hoodie from her school.  She is full of school spirit!

The girls got some Halloween outfits from Aunt Jill which they love!  Thanks Jill!

Gwen walks to school almost every day and enjoys the fall weather.  She's really liking Grade 2!

We celebrated Mom's birthday with a trip to Boston Pizza and cheesecake!

We went for flu shots and Gwen was pretty scared.  She cried a bit but got the shot and was rewarded with a tattoo and a sticker (and hopefully immunity to the flu).

Cara didn't like seeing her sister so upset but got her shot too.

Afterwards, we went and checked out some Halloween stores.  Cara found a very scary costume.

The kids have never even heard of the movie Scream but they both recognize this guy.

Gwen's other tooth fell out.  That's a big hole in her smile!

We carved some pumpkins.  The girls are big David S. Pumpkins fans.

Cara's design of a baby vampire.

That night Gwen hid her other tooth for the tooth fairy.

Cara had her enrollment at Guides.  Instead of a big ceremony, they had a pajama party?!?!  It was pretty fun though.

Gwen's design was Lincoln from Loud House.  It looked great.



The next night was Halloween!  We had spaghetti and eyeballs which works great with freshly lost teeth.

It was drizzling and cold but that can't stop the Devil.

Gwen was Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony.  A nice dichotomy in their costumes.

Gwen's costume had built in mittens so she was pretty toasty.

We went out for 2 hours and had a great haul.  The kids are faster every year and this year we even found a magical house giving out full size chocolate bars.

We had a blast as usual.  And Dad had almost warmed up by the time it was bedtime.

Stay tuned for November's birthday parties, special visitors and some winter fun.