Zoo Lights

On Saturday night, we had the chance to visit Zoo Lights with Grandma and Papa. The night was a little chilly but not too bad, especially by the fire pits. The lights were beautiful. Jaina had lots of fun playing at the many stations as well. Once back home, we got warm and cozy and enjoyed the hot cocoa made by Grandma in our pyjamas. It was a very fun family holiday activity.

This is Papa, building around Jaina with "ice" blocks.

This is Papa and Jaina by peacock lights:
Daddy and Jaina kiss in the Tunnel of Love:

The 12 Days of Christmas

Jaina, Lewis, Auntie Veronica and I went to Heritage Park on Saturday to the 12 Days of Christmas. It was lots of fun, and not a bad day weather-wise. We enjoyed a sleigh ride, meeting Santa, making a craft, shopping in the Christmas market, decorating a gingerbread cookie, and having lunch. Lewis spent the whole day being carried around in his new Snugli, in which, surprisingly, he slept most of the time. Here are some photos.

December Activities Have Begun...

We have had a very busy first weekend of December. On Friday, Jaina and I built a Gingerbread Train. (Much easier than it looks, with a premade kit, there were even grooves in the tray so it stands up easily!) We had lots of fun decorating it and sampling the icing and the candies.
On Saturday, we attended cousin Devun's first birthday party. Happy Birthday Devun! The theme was monkeys and Kristie made very very cute cupcakes that looked just like monkey faces. (But sadly, we forgot our camera.) Jaina was kept very busy showing Devun how to open gifts. Aside from cousins Nate and Kristie, Matt's Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Agnes were there, as well as cousins Ryan and Pam, and cousins Jocelyn and Jason and their daughter Megan. It was nice to visit with some of the Olfert clan. Then we went to a Christmas party with the staff from Michelle's school. It was fun to socialize with my former co-workers, and made me remember how glad I am not to have to write report cards and do interviews this year! A nice break, for sure.


Today we went to the Christmas party for kids put on by Matt's employer. It was out at Spruce Meadows and was so much fun! For Jaina, anyway. Lewis took it all in and then had a nap. There was cookie decorating, face painting, crafts, clowns, lunch, music, and even gifts from Santa for both of them. They both sat on Santa's knee, which was a little intimidating for Jaina. Even Santa's reindeer were there for the kids to pet. It was a nice family activity and we all enjoyed ourselves.
Fortunately, the weather has warmed up from the -25 degrees C weather we experienced earlier in the week. Today was a balmy high of 1 degree. Now we just have to do other December activities such as shopping and wrapping gifts, baking, and getting those Christmas cards ready to mail. (Hopefully, they will be on their way soon).

New basement ceiling

A couple of weekends ago, Matt's dad came up and helped him put the ceiling in for the basement which we are working on finishing. We really appreciated all of the help. Our basement is one step closer to being finished. We just need to put a closet door in the guest bedroom, organize and clean the storage area, and put in the bathroom. These projects are all planned for the new year, hopefully to be done by springtime when we can work on our yard again. (Does it never end?). Jaina had a blast "building" with Daddy and Papa. Here are some pictures of her helping.

Happy Birthdays!

Yesterday (Monday the 20th) was both Matt and his Dad's birthday. They were born on the same day, Matt in '74 and his Dad in '47. I will leave it up to you to do the math. It is nice for them to be able to share this day. We were fortunate this year as we were able to go to Lethbridge and celebrate together (usually, I am doing report cards like crazy this time of year, but since I'm off...) We enjoyed a turkey dinner on Saturday night and had ice cream birthday cake. It was Lewis's first visit to Grandma and Papa's house in Lethbridge, and Jaina had lots of fun too. She wore Papa out by playing all day long, and they made a gingerbread house together for Christmas. We had a great weekend. Jaina helps Matt and Papa blow out the candles on their cake.

Matt and Lewis with birthday cupcakes at home.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun day celebrating Halloween yesterday. Jaina enjoyed handing out candy at the door, although some costumes were a bit too spooky for her liking. Lewis slept through all the excitement. It was a fairly cold night (about -9 degrees C) so there was a busy time between about 6:00 and 7:30, and then it died down quickly. Jaina and Michelle first hopped in the car and went to trick-or-treat at Veronica and Chris' house which is only about 5 min. drive away. When we got back, Matt took Jaina trick-or-treating to the houses on our street. They were gone about a half hour and she has enough candy to last her a few months!! Jaina had lots of fun and is already asking if she can go out trick-or-treating again next year. We hope everybody else had a fun night too.

Halloween costumes: This is little pumpkin Lewis and princess Jaina:
Typical for a Calgary Halloween, here is Jaina bundled up to go out trick-or-treating:

JAINA'S 3RD BIRTHDAY

We celebrated Jaina's 3rd birthday over the past week. It's hard to believe she is 3 years old already. Time is just flying by and all of a sudden she is seeming so much older. We had a great week of celebrating.

We had birthday dinner in Taber last weekend with her grandparents.


Tuesday she celebrated her birthday by going swimming with Matt in the morning and having Chinese food and birthday cupcakes for supper with us and her Auntie Veronica.


On Friday she had a Halloween-themed birthday party with her friends Taya, Parker, Shaun, Nathan and Devun. She had a Dora the Explorer birthday cake: