Santa Baby!

The Calons are all ready for Christmas.  Our stockings are hung, tree trimmed (with ornaments that are very slowly migrating to the top of the tree, out of the reach of a certain someone!), all of our presents are bought and wrapped.  The only thing we had left was to visit Santa.  In Red Deer you have the choice between the Parkland Mall Santa and the Bower Mall Santa and Parkland Mall Santa is the bomb!!  He has the real beard and there is a serious twinkle in his eyes!  Alex is at an age where she knows all about Santa and his deal, so its obvious that she would be excited about seeing him.  But Joe is BEYOND crazy over the jolly fellow.  If he sees anything that is Santa related he will yell at the top of his lungs "SANTA, SANTA, SANTA!!!"  People stare at him like he is deranged lol.  So we went to visit Santa.  I was concerned that Joe might cry, or not want to sit on his lap, but I could barely hold him back.  They really enjoyed talking to Santa, and we got a great picture!



 We had to let the kids open one of their presents early! 

Aaron Rogers (QB) is my favourite player, and Clay Matthews (LB) is Pats favourite.

Seriously adorable!

Mr. Personality

He is seriously one of the funniest guy I've ever met!

My pretty Princess

We have a busy holiday season ahead of us but Pat is taking the week after Christmas off so we get tons of time with him!  We are going to go skating, tobogganing, playing, running!  We can't wait!  Hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Christmas!!

Girl Guides

I remember when Mom put me in girl guides when I was 8...  I hated it!  It would have been that we were in a new town and I hated that but I don't really remember liking it at all...  But I'm SO glad that Alex LOVES "Sparks" (Girl Guides for 5-6 years).  She has a great time selling cookies, we sold 6 cases (72 boxes), big thanks to everyone that we suckered into buying them :).  The first couple houses we stopped at Pat and I had to do all the talking, but by the 6th house she was starting to at least say hi.  And at the last 3 she actually asked "Would you like to buy some Girl Guide cookies?".  I know a couple of the people would have said no but she was looking as adorable as usual and her smile lit up the block ;)

At her third meeting we met her troupe down at Mackenzie Trails in Red Deer to help clean up the park.  Alex was VERY excited to help "Gods Earth".  And couldn't wait to get there.  It was really a bonus that we had to pick up garbage at that time because it coincided with Alex's school project.  She had to think of ways to help protect Gods Earth so she thought it would be good to pick up garbage.  So I got to kill two birds with one stone!!  Her and her little friends scoured the ground looking for anything that even closely resembles garbage.  Alex found a barbie leg and the confused look on her face was priceless  "Um what is this doing here?" *huge exasperated sigh*  "Really a barbies leg shouldn't be on the ground, it should be on a barbie..."

Pretty Girl!

Messy Boy!

LEAVES!!!!!

Joe spent 10 minutes running back and forth in the leaves.  I was just happy he wasn't screaming!

Just to give you an idea on how busy I've been, its 4:00 am and I can't sleep so I actually have time to update!  LOL!!  I'll try to get pictures from Alex's dance on soon...  I hope it doesn't take me until Christmas ;)

Alex's Birthday Treat- Our Trip to Jurassic Forest

Every year at Alex's birthday we always like to do something special with her to celebrate the very important occasion.  She already gets the big birthday party so we usually like to keep it small, just the family and maybe and Uncle and Aunt.  For a while now Richard has been telling us about this place up in Gibbons called Jurassic Forest.  He had had the chance to film there a couple of times with his job a Shaw TV (he's a super awesome camera guy, he works for City TV now though).  So given Alex's LOVE of dinosaurs we thought this would be a great idea.  If you ever get a chance to go, do it!  It was a great place to get outdoors, the paths were great for the stroller and the dinosaurs were pretty awesome too ;)

(off topic!)  Alex's first day of dance

(off topic again!)  Joe playing in the back yard

Everyone So excited to be a Jurassic Forest

they have the funniest signs!

Very interested

Joe was absolutely AMAZED at the dino's "RAWRRR!" and "WOW!" was all he said LOL

Alex and her Uncle Rich (soul mates of the platonic variety)

Auntie Danielle was having a great time helping the kids excavate dino bones

LOL, that Uncle Richard!  Alex was giggling forever about this one "Mom, remember when Uncle Richard was getting eaten by that dead dinosaur!"  BAHAHAHAHA

Very bright that day

Alex LOVED taking this picture!  Again the giggles were non-stop

September and October

Welcome to the two busiest months of my life!  September was full of so many first I'm sure I'll forget some of them.

September 8th was Alexandria's first day of school.  She was nervous, I was nervous, Pat was depressed.  We were up early that morning drinking coffee and neither of us could fathom that our baby was in school.   At that point 5 years before she hadn't even been born and here she was going off by herself...  We all got ready for our day with Alex a mixture of nerves and excitement.  Grandma Martine came to see her off on her first day of school and that made Alex feel much better.  Alex's school is about 6 "city" blocks from us so obviously I drive her back and forth.  So off we went.  We got there before everyone else, because Mom is just that organized ;)  Alex found her locker and her chair all by herself.  She was so adorable in a cute pink mini dress and leggings (the pictures are on my computer that is crashed at the moment).  Like I said she was abnormally nervous and didn't want to sit down, she just wanted to stand by me.  Finally came the moment where the parents were given their last hugs and kicked out.  I was worried that Alex would protest and cry but she didn't.  I was worried that I would cry and protest but i held it together until I got back to Des' to pick up Joe.  He looked around very confused and said "Ally???"  "AAALLLLYYYYYYY??"  That made me cry!  But both Joe and I made it through the day.  And we were both happy to pick Alex up at 11:30.  She had 3 days of half days then went to full days.  So Tuesdays, Thursdays and 2ish Fridays a month Alex is in School and SHE LOVES IT!  She is best friends with everyone!  There are a couple of kids that she particularly likes, Layton, Hayden (girl), Amelia,  Jordy, Sage and Mason.  We always go to school 10-15 minutes early so she can play at the playground with her friends before the bell rings.  Of the many changes I've noticed it has been her automatic obedience, with her teacher anyways LOL.  There is a section of the playground that is too close to the road and can't be supervised very well so it is off limits and it is like there is an invisible fence because in the mornings Alex, Hayden, Amelia & Layton all chase Amelia's little brother and when he runs over to that part of the playground all 4 kids stop on a dime and start calling him back!  It is so cute and funny.  And when the bell rings for school to start, off Alex runs without even saying goodbye to grab her backpack and line up at the door, to wait to be let in.  I love the structure.  I love Mrs. McAllister, Alex's teacher.  I LOVE the apple tree!  The apple tree is a brilliant  disciplinary devise that is up in Alex's classroom.  There is a large tree on the wall with big leaves covering the top of the tree where 30 red apples sat on the first day.  Each of those apples have names on them, Alexandria is one of them.  On the green part of the tree there are good deeds, manners, general good things.  On the trunk/yellow part of the tree, there is not so great behaviour, interrupting, not using manner, not great stuff but nothing major.  On the ground/red part of the tree (cause apples are bad when on the ground LOL) there is fighting, hitting, swearing, things that are just plain bad.  When Pat and I looked at that tree we knew that it wouldn't take long for our little apple to fall from the branches.  Not because Alex is bad, but because the kids just doesn't listen!  Well we figured it would be the first day, but she surprised us and it wasn't until her 4th day, 1st full day, that her apple tumbled down to the trunk of the tree for interrupting Mrs. McAllister.  The funny thing was when I picked her up from school that day, innocent of her bad deeds, I asked her what she did at school that day.
"I didn't get my apple moved to the yellow part of the tree!"  Was the small reply from the back of the truck...
I really had a hard time not laughing my ass off.  She is really a sweet kid and even when she tries to lie she just can't pull it off.  So that was the one and only time that our little apple has slipped, she is WAY to aware of the humiliation of the process and I fully approve! 
She has changed in so many ways in the month and a half since school started.  She is more mature, more patient, more aware of others, listens a little better, and soaking up information and learning like a massive sponge!  Parent teacher interviews are this Thursday so we will know exactly how far she has come.

So since we all know I'm a little crazy and I really needed more things on my plate, we enrolled Alex in ballet and Girl Guides.  I was not so keen on the ballet, only because I don't think it promotes the kind of qualities that I think our daughter should possess.  But Alex LOVES it and is really good at it.  She has been asking for a year to go back in dance, so Pat and I agreed with a couple of provisions.  She would not participate in the yearly dance recital, she had to pay attention when she was there, and she didn't get it in her head to become a ballerina.  So Mondays is dance and even though I dislike a lot of the people there, women who put a pull face of makeup on their 2 year olds and give their 1 year old coffee, I go there and sit and try to ignore most of what I hear and see. 

Now Girl Guides is another story.  I think they will help teach a lot of the values that Pat and I try to teach and plus I think it is a whole different group of people that Alex can be friends with.  Again she LOVES it.  She has sold cookies door to door and helped clean up a local park.  Both times she was happy and enthusiastic about helping and doing good deeds.  Her weekly meetings are on Wednesday nights, so another LONG day for Mom, with working in Calgary on Wednesdays.

I'm going to try try try to get at least one post a month in.  I'm starting to adjust to the schedule so it should get easier!  I HOPE!!

Vancouver 2011

Ok so I just realized that I forgot to blog about our wonderful trip to Vancouver!!  Bad Danielle!!!  Ok so here is goes:

We left for Vancouver on Saturday June 25. Pat and I got up at 4 in the morning, we finished packing the truck then woke the kids up at 4:30 and were on the road by 5am. After our camping disaster in the early part of June we decided to drive all the way through to Vancouver in one day. Yes we are crazy! So I took the first driving shift. I'm used to getting up early and driving long distances, and plus I'm a much better morning person than Pat who is like a grizzly bear until about 9 o'clock LOL.

So we made it to The Enchanted Forest at about 11:00am.  It was a good place to let the kids run around and stretch their legs.  Ally thought it was "okay, but there are no princess'".  Pat and I thought it was a little over priced for what you got, a bunch of statues in the forest...  Yep that's it.

After a stop in Kamloops to run Joey around the block, or threw Walmart, we were back on the road and flying down the Coquihalla.  We pulled in the Auntie D's in West Vancouver at 6:30 and everyone was surprise we made such good time.  Simple explanation, Pat drove from The Enchanted Forest to Vancouver.  Plain and simple the man can drive, and is much better at high speeds LOL.

Oh Sunday we went to the beach.  Ally and Joe had a GREAT time playing with Uncle Matt in the sand.  D and I enjoying the most elaborately made cup of coffee I have ever seen!  They had this weird Bunsen burner system.  It took 5 minutes to just brew a medium cup of coffee.  I don't know how the girl make them didn't go completely insane!

 Monday we went to the Vancouver Aquarium.  I LOVE that place!!!  Alex was fascinated by everything.  She Loved the dolphins, adored the beluga's and wanted to take home the cute little clown fish.  Alex had the camera for a good part of the aquarium visit.

The next day we went to Granville Island.  The kids LOVED the toy store, where they got SPOILED.  I loved sitting on the pier, eating our super yummy lunch.  And everyone loved the ride on the False Creek Ferry.  Those pictures are on my iPhone so I'm going to have to get those LOL.

D, Alex, Joe and I went shopping in China Town.  That was a highlight for me.  There is so much neat stuff there and at such great prices.  Alex was hilarious, she asked us why all the Chinese people were speaking Spanish?  HAHAHAHA and called it China World.  The stuff she says is so funny sometimes!

We were sad to leave on the Thursday but we knew that we had to get home.  We stopped in Abbotsford on our way home and only got to visit with Grandpa and Grandma for a couple of hours because Grandpa fell ill a couple days before we began our trip.  He was very tired and we didn't want to wear him out.  Both him and Grandma enjoyed having the kids around so much!  They spoiled them and fed them tonnes of cookies and candy.  And Grandpa took Alex on a ride around the complex in his scooter.  She had such a great time honking the horn.  And Grandpa was beyond thrilled to show off his only Great-Granddaughter.

We left Abbotsford around 2 and headed home.  We decided to not drive the whole way, only because we wanted to stop in Abbotsford.  So we stayed at a motel in Kamloops.  We were up bright and early on Friday morning and booked it home.  We had such an awesome time, and really can't wait to go back for a visit!  Next post will be camping!  The trip in August went MUCH better LOL



Too Cool for School?? Not Alex!!

Oh what a milestone we hit on the weekend!  School supplies shopping!!  Oh it was a magical and wonderful day, and more than ever I experienced the will and determination of our growing girl.  The first thing to be picked out was the backpack.  It was the first one Alex seen and she made her mind up then and there.  When Grandma Linda, who was visiting for the day, questioned Alex's choice (only because it was a Hello Kitty backpack and Alex has never even seen anything Hello Kitty before) Alex very firmly said "This one is PERFECT Grama!"  The same thing with the lunch bag.  This time it was Strawberry Shortcake, which she does know and love, but still she was firm and sure of her decision.

Next came the new school clothes...  OMG what a drama queen my daughter is!  Every shirt HAD to be short sleeve.  If it wasn't both Linda and I got "the look".  When either of us found something so super cute we tried VERY HARD to convince Alex of our choices.  I have to say Grama had much better luck than Mom, but I did get a choice or two.  One particularly cute sweater dress had Linda and I almost squealing over (REALLY REALLY CUTE!!) but Alex didn't think it was quite up to AC standards "Um its just not right..."  We got that a couple of times, but this sweater was way to awesome to pass up so I overruled and we got it.  That is the good thing about an almost 5 year old.  Your word is still law, especially when you put your hands on your hips and give her "the look".  "Ok, Ok Mom, just calm down!"  Eye roll, hair flip, sigh!  Seriously she is not even 5!!!

But we eventually finished getting all her new school clothes and supplies.  Not that the school supplies shopping took very long- markers, glue, scissors, pencil case, change of clothes in a shoe box (still have to get shoe box, going to let Alex decorate it!).  I was kind of surprised at the lack of stuff they needed.  But I do have to remind myself that even though I think she is a genius she is not going into college LOL.

Speaking of how smart our little monkey is!  She remembers her address, her phone number, our city, province & country, her full and complete name, her birth date and she can think of a word for all the ABC's (a-apple, b-bear, c-cool!).

On September 1st she has a half hour appointment with her new teacher, in this appointment her teacher will assess Alex to see where she is (ie does she know her ABC's or how to write them) and also test her for any learning disabilities...  This one should be interesting, most people don't know but Pat has dyslexia.  The form he has makes whole words disappear.  He has to read most things 2-3 times to make sure he has read it right.  And Dyslexia is hereditary.  Plus I'm sure someone at some point is going to say that she has ADD or ADHD because she is a BUSY individual and does have issues with concentration.  But I also think that she is very eager to learn and go to school so that may help her learn to concentrate.  Lets hope!!


Joe on the other hand is not excited for Alex to go to school.  I don't know how he will take her being gone for all of Tuesday and Thursday with the occasional Friday.  I'm pretty sure he will be miserable and miss her lots.  But lately he has been nothing but miserable.  He is such a big boy now, he wants to feed himself all the time.  Won't eat a bite if I try to feed him, I actually got a jar of food in him tonight cause we played the take turns game.  I feed him a spoonful, he feeds himself a spoonful.  He feeds himself with such joy and speed!  Most of it ends up on the floor but if I even attempt to feed him he literally falls over in protest!  Joe doesn't really like to sit in his chair to eat so he does what we call the free range feeding.  He walks around, coming when he wants to eat.  I have no patience for his squirming and screaming in the chair while he "eats", Pat has no patience for his "free range feeding".  So Joe gets an even dose of each. 
The big boy can also go down the stairs himself.  Most of the time he'll still hold one hand but more often than not he goes down them all by himself.  Mom is of course right in front because Joe gets VERY excited and likes to run.  Every where we go its "down!" *point* "down!" Joe wants to walk all the time!  He wants to run all the time...  He wants to run away from Mom and Dad all the time!  People hear us coming because there is always a "No Joe!!"  "No Joe, Come Back!"  "No Joe, Don't Touch!!"  Then there is the inevitable "Joseph Gordon Jacob!!"  Poor kids gets middle named at least twice a day.  He has such energy and strength!  He wants to help with everything.  He carried groceries, opens doors, moves playground equipment.  True story, he moves our slide and play structure in the back yard!

Ah the back yard!  It is almost done and it really is a work of art!  A new deck, new grass, new flower beds, new hanging baskets!  It is so wonderful and peaceful that we spend most of our time out there now, weather permitting.  The kids have been in the pool so much this summer they have turned into water babies.  My kids used to HATE water.  Screaming and yelling started the instant a bath was run.  Now they are pouring water over their heads, splashing, snorkeling!  I'll post some pics next week!  Hope everyone had a great long weekend!

Easter/Mom's surprise party

We hosted Easter with Pats family this year and were so excited that everyone was coming over.  I knew that since we were so close to May this year that Linda, Robyn, Nolan, Connor & Charlie would probably bring my birthday cards/presents early.  Especially since we wouldn't see them before my actual birthday.  What I didn't know was Alex had other plans.  Apparently one night, while I was in the bath, she asked to speak to Grama Linda on the phone (this is how to conversation went)

"Hi Grama, remember my bank account?"
"Yes Dear, I do, we have a debit card for it now!"  Said Linda (every time that Linda takes her bottles in she puts the money in a bank account for all 4 of her grandbabies)
"Well Grama, I want to give Mommy a surpirse birthday!  With a cake, and balloons, and plates and candles!"
"Well that sounds very nice!  We will do that!"
"Ok, but remember it is a surprise!"  Alex was apparently very excited!

Well this was almost a month before Easter and that sweet little angel kept the secret.  I had no idea what was going on.  And I was a little chocked up when I found out how sweet my little girl is.  So we had cake, and balloons, oh and a great pinyata!