Christmas is coming...

There are only a few more sleeps left...okay, I have been counting down and there are exactly 2! We are so excited!!!! Just wanted to update a few pictures from this month and the exciting festive things that we have been doing around here! We LOVE Christmas at our house and have been trying our best to be good. This year we have an Elf living at our house...his name is "Elmer" and everynight he flies back to Santa to tell him if we have been naughty or nice. We can't touch him and he can't talk to us...but we get to tell him what we want for Christmas, give him messages to tell Santa, tell him sorry if we were naughty...he's been such a good thing around our house this month. Elle is actually scared of him, but won't admit it very often. She just gets excited to find his new spot he's sitting in the morning. Elle is so excited for Santa to come.
She's also very into baby Jesus...at Gramma Baker's house she was walking around the house with the big kids and her note pad checking off how many baby Jesus' she could find (they have 40 at their house). She is really excited to see a real baby Jesus at the nativity...I just hope that it gets a little bit warmer or else we won't be able to go (-20 is a little bit too cold). I LOVE that Elle is beginning to understand the true meaning of Christmas and is just as excited as we are about all the festivities!We can't wait to spent a week with family. It will be so much fun hanging out, playing games, eating, and just enjoying the season. I am also VERY excited about all the snow that we have...I LOVE white christmases!!!

Happy Happy Birthday to Paigee!

I have a 1 year old!!!! So crazy! Last night I was thinking about last year and the events that occurred prior to Paige Karen's birth. I couldn't help but cry. She really is the BEST Christmas present that I could ever ask for. I feel guilty that her birthday is smashed in between holiday craziness, but I also feel so blessed that I have Paige to remind me about the true meaning of Christmas. I too had a baby just as Mary did during the Christmas season....babies are so special.
Happy Birthday Paige. You are so much fun! We love you. This morning when Paige woke up we were all so excited that we bust into her room singing "happy birthday to you". She had the BIGGEST smile on her face and started jumping up and down. She LOVED her new presents this morning (we got her a tent with a tunnel attached to it and they played in it for hours). Then we had Nadine and the boys over for a special birthday breakfast. We are celebrating ALL day long! We are swimming this afternoon as a family and then going over to Baker's to eat cake & ice cream before the BIG Baker sleepover. I hope that my Paigee will always feel special on her birthday and know that we LOVE her so much.

Some things Paige is now doing that are different:
-blowing kisses at anyone
-saying "UP" "Mama" "Daddy"
-holds any phone to her ear and says "Hi Dad"
-climbs on everything
-runs and crashes into mommy or daddy just for a quick hug
-refuses to do any sign language (she's kinda stubborn)
-eats, eats, and eats
-waves her little hand so dainty
-gets bumps and bruises ALL the time
-babbles to herself or anyone that will listen
-SCREAMS (I guess since she's the baby she has to be heard)
-knows what an elephant says
-points at everything
-seems to be learning something new all the time...she copies everything she hears
She LOVED her cake, but not the icing, just the opposite of Elle! Isn't her smile the cutest ever?? It makes me smile!!! I am so blessed to have such good girls!
Happy Birthday to you Paigee Goose!!!

Happy Anniversary Babe!

I love having a day to reflect on how much I love Jared! I love him more today than I did 4 years ago....when we were married for time and eternity! I am so excited to spend many, many more years together- and be able to have him as my companion forever. We seriously are the bestest friends. We love doing things together or just sitting in the same room together. He is someone that understands me best, someone who has seen me at my best worst and inbetween. I love this guy!!!! While we went out to eat together we chatted about the last 4 years and how much we have grown...as a couple, our family, spiritually, our income (haha), and our love for each other. We definitely compliment each other perfectly!!! I love you Jared!!

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

We are officially in Christmas mode...christmas lights, garland, stockings, wreaths, movies, trees, santa, music, smells, and gift wrapping. It is so fun!!! I LOVE this season- everything about it & it feel so wonderful to finally walk into the malls and hear christmas music. I love looking down the street and seeing christmas lights everywhere (we definitely have one festive street). It's just so magical and the girls are so fun that they, well Elle, gets it this year and is excited! We wanted to show off a few of our decorations that we have up this year.....now just to wait for the real tree that we get the first week of December (ummm I can just smell the goodness).

This last weekend we had the funnest Friday family outing!!! Okotoks had a "Lite the Town" event on mainstreet...wow! It was busy with people, hot chocolate everywhere, wagon rides with horses, REAL REINDEER (now I know that Santa is real), Santa, the big town square tree was lit up, bands, karaoke, and more. It was a blast! I felt like I was in a movie in the town that was beginning the celebrations. It was amazing! Times like this I am so glad that we live in a small town...you would never have this in the big city! I LOVE christmas and events like this.
This doesn't happen very often when her Dad is around...I definitely cherished this moment! I LOVE this little girlie.
Elle was so excited that she was able to pet one of Santa's reindeer....Dasher!!! Christmas is so fun!

A little late....my baby's 11 month post!

This is a little bit late, but life is getting busy again. I can't believe that I have already been off work for 1 whole year. It went so fast and my baby is getting so BIG! Paige is 11 months now and already:
-walking ALL the time now
-saying "dada" & "mama"
-waving tons
-climbing stairs (up & down)
-tries to get outside everytime the door is open
-LOVES toilet paper and will drag it around the house if the bathroom door is open
-climbs all over my couches with Elle while they play in blanket forts
-laughs at herself
-likes to have me brush her teeth
-makes this freaky growling sound to scare people (haha)
-eats like a monster, sleeps all night still (7-7)
-naps only once now (which actually makes life a little easier because we can go places now)
-sits in a front facing BIG girl car seat
-has 8 teeth (4 bottom, 4 top)
-LOVES to chase anyone
-smiles all the time
We LOVE our Paigee!!! She is such a nice girl and we could never imagine our life without her in our family. It's been really fun these past 11 months seeing her grow & develop and learn new things. She is such a smart little lady (I may be biased)! We can't wait to celebrate your birthday with you Paigee in less than a month...it will be so much fun. Love you girlie!Doesn't she look so beautiful in this picture??? I LOVE her lips!

I Can Hardly Wait..

Is anyone else dying to put up there Christmas stuff? Everywhere I go I see something Christmasy and just can't help but SMILE. I am so in LOVE with Christmas!!! It is so magical...I get so excited. I have been trying to pass the time (the time that I would love to be decorating my house, but I'm clearly holding off a week- we'll see if I actually make it that long)...anyways, I have been passing my time by making a list of all the gifts that I am wanting to get people. I have everything planned out now and have slowly been "collecting" (that term is better than buying isn't it??) the things off my list. I am definitely feeling organized this year. I can hardly wait for CHRISTMAS!!!

happy HalLOwEEn 2009

We had so much fun this Halloween....the girls LOVED dressing up & partying for an entire month. It's been alot of fun decorating, dressing up, baking, singing halloween songs, reading halloween books, and anticipating all the fun things that come with Halloween!!! The weather was beautiful which helped with the whole door to door "trick or treating" thing. Elle really got into it this year which was WONDERFUL!! I LOVE halloween.

Elle had a little Halloween party for some of her friends & cousins. It was really fun. The kids decorated treat bags, practiced trick or treating inside with all my doors, decorated pumpkin shaped cookies, pinned the nose on the pumpkin, and read halloween stories. Everyone had such a fun time and helped make it a big success. Aren't all the costumes so cute??!!!?
Jared & I joined in with the costumes this year- we went to a friends party with the theme "Something from your Past". This year we made our costumes and went as Rainbow Brite & He-Man. My friend helped so much with my costume and gave me tons of inspiration for Jareds. I WON FIRST PLACE FOR COSTUMES!!!! It was a very exciting moment & will be celebrated with Marble Slab Ice-Cream. Thanks Angie!!!! (PS I got to sew on the "famous" sewing machine of Angie Asplund and she did some sewing on mine!!! I should have taken a picture. haha) So here are our costumes. What do you think????!!!??! Some of the other costumes...which were awesome: Troll Doll, Calvin & Hobbs, Audrey Heburn, Lanny McDonald, Inspector Gadget, Darkwing Duck, Superman, Homer, a Ballerina, Michael Jackson, Princess Jasmine...it was really fun to remember the things from when we were kids. What a fun night. Thanks for all the hard work (& babysitter) to make it a fabulous night out.
And Halloween wouldn't be complete without pumpking carving...we had friends over to make it a really fun night. Look at those guys hard at work...I should figure out how to do self-take so I can be in the picture too.

Didn't they turn out cute??!!! In order from left to right: Batman (Max), Freaky Cat (Jared), Goofy Face (Bre) & Witchy Night (Elaine). I LOVE carving pupkins!

Our Latest Addition...and we Love it!

This is our latest addition that I "bought" off kijiji (a website here in Calgary that you can buy used things)...we got it onto the flatbed trailer and the guy said that we could have it for free. I was so EXCITED!!!! So we did some work on it and it is so cute. Elle LOVES it and Paige will next year forsure. So much fun having a little "park" in our own backyard.

And here is the finished product...It looks kinda like my playhouse from growing up (the colors anyway). Thanks Jared for being excited about this project and doing it with me. It was really fun and the girls LOVE it!!!
Elle loves Paige's newest trick...now they can take turns pushing each other and do it for hours. Paige is definitely loving walking and getting better & better everyday.
Just as a side note....look at this picture of my neighbour mowing his lawn. haha. It's such a small front lawn and he used this massive tractor. hahaha. We couldn't stop laughing. haha.

Pumpkins N' Princesses

We had such a fun time visiting the pumpkin patch (although we are hoping to find a better one for next year). The BEST part was the "pumpkin princess"....Elle LOVED her. You couldn't really tell from the pictures because she refused to smile, but she just wanted to be close to her. Elle's funny! It was a gorgeous day...the last that we had. I love the sky in these pictures with the corn in the background. This is such a pretty time of year.
Elle loved getting to decorate her pumpkin with all the paints & glitter. She insists that she has to do it all by herself and she actually did a really good job. She's getting so BIG.

Almost Walking!

Our little lady has changed so much this past month. She is almost walking...actually she has taken a couple (as in 2) steps and is standing all on her own. She is cruising up stairs. Just decided one day to start up the stairs and kinda ran up them instead of slowly making her way like most babies. Continues to be such a good baby...so good with sleeping, loves her sister (she thinks Elle is so funny....just not as funny as she finds herself), good little eater when it's food she can feed herself, laughs at herself, waves, loves to look out the front window, claps her hands, and SMILES all the time!!! We love you Paigey. Happy 10 months.