Where To Start...

The end of 2009 and the start of 2010 has flown by for me. I keep looking at my blog, and can't believe that I have not had a second to sit down and update it. Here is a quick recap of the last few months:

• My sister in law Carrie and her hubby Chris had a beautiful baby boy on December 13th. They named him Carter Owen Hodgson. He is perfect! Ben loves holding him and is getting good at saying "Carter"... its so cute. He is so gentle with him and will "pet" his head. He will look at him and then hold his fingers up to his face like he is going to pinch you and then say "little little" - I love it!
  
  


• Ben had his second Christmas this year! What a spoiled boy. He is starting to understand "Santa" and loved his advent calendar each morning. He would wake up and the first work out of his mouth would be "ka ka", which is "chocolate". "Ka ka" would be followed by "Santa" and that would mean "get me downstairs so I can get my chocolate from Santa"... what a funny little man! He enjoyed unwrapping his gifts this year and was very patient with it all, which was very surprising. We did not do a Santa photo this year. He was so in love with Santa photos and Santa on TV or in the house, that I did not want to sit him on Santa's lap and have him get scared and then ruin the magic of Santa this year. I think next year he may be ready - we'll see. Christmas seemed to go by so fast. I had the Shaw family over for Christmas Eve dinner and then we went to my mom and dad's for Christmas Day. Lots of food and lots of fun!
  
  


• We spent New Year's with some friends and their little ones in Fairmont. It was a blast! Ben had so much fun with his two "girlfriends" Taylor and Emmerson and his little buddy, Baby Mack. The girls and I took a day to go to the spa and get pampered and went into Invermere for lunch and some shopping. Great dinners, good games and lots of laughs - a great way to start 2010!
  
  


• We got spoiled this year at Christmas by my parents and they took Dave, Ben and me to Kauai, Hawaii! It was amazing!!! We were there for a week and the weather was mostly nice. It was funny because one day while Ben was napping, my mom and I headed to the beach. It was windy and the sun was mostly behind the clouds, but that did not stop us. We got rained on (the rain was just a mist though - very neat feeling). I had to laugh, because only Canadians would be out in the rain in bathing suits trying to suntan! Dave, my dad and I went Zip lining one day - that was definitely an adventure! We went to a Luau at the Resort we were staying at - Ben loved it! There were the hula dancers, male and female, as well as the fire dancers - it was awesome! The food was amazing as well! Ben learned to swim by himself (with water wings of course). He was so proud! He grew up so much on that holiday! Our vacation seemed to go so fast and before we knew it we were home again.
  
  


• The very next weekend (this past Sunday) I threw Carrie and Mr. Carter a baby shower. There were a whole bunch of friends and family that came and I think it went well. Carter got spoiled! I had a diaper raffle where everyone could bring diapers and/or wipes and be entered for a draw to win some yummy lotions and bath stuff. Carrie ended up getting so many diapers and wipes - it was great!
  
  

And that takes us to today, where as you can see in the post before this one, I set up a new blog along with Colleen and Amanda. I think it will be lots of fun - we'll see if I can keep up with them both... I will try and get better because I am sure these super long posts are not THAT enjoyable - but at least everyone is updated with everything.... now for the photos! This will probably feel like sitting through a "family vacation slide show", so skip what you want and ENJOY!

Me, Ben, Dave, Carrie, Chris and Mr. Carter; December 2009



The "before" and the "after" - dosen't my little man clean up good!? This was right before we left to my office Christmas party... lookin' pretty spiffy!



Christmas morning. He was pretty good with the wrapping paper. Hudson waited patiently for it to hit the ground and then his fun began!



Christmas Eve at out house with the Shaws and Gillies... not sure why I don't have any Christmas Day photos... must be on mom's camera. The last photo of Ben in his hat was at bathtime... he would not take it off - his best gift this year overall - from his Gram and Grandad.



New Year's with the Caharels, Schneiders and Shaws - best New Year's Ever!







Ok, so that is all I can do tonight... I will add in some shower photos tomorrow if I get a chance. Almost all caught up... almost!

New Blog!

I have a fun new blog that my girlfriend, one of her friends and I started today! It is called Sticky Notes and I think it will be lots of fun! I got this idea from another blog that I follow and thought that it would be lots of fun to try!

The idea is that three people, friends on different sides of the world will blog together on one blog, at the same time of day, showing photos of their "world". It is such a fun idea I wanted to try it! I just happen to have a best friend that lives in Doha Qatar right now, and after talking with her last night, we decided to give it a try.... We also have a friend in Calgary - I know that is not too far from me, but it is still great! I know I hardly have time to update this blog, but this was something I really wanted to do with them! It will be fun to see each other's lives while we are living so far apart. I have a feeling, that other than the weather, our lives are still very similar!

Enjoy reading it and I PROMISE to update this blog tonight! PROMISE!

The link is on the right hand side of my page - it is called Sticky Notes

I'm Still Here

I can't believe that my last post was about getting ready for Christmas and it is already the New Year! My life has been flying by lately! I have so many photos to post, but I just cannot find the time, so for now, I'm just writing to say Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas! We spent our New Years in Fairmont with some friends and their kiddies. We all had so much fun! Lots of photos from that too!

We leave for Hawaii in 1 week - I can't wait!! Here is the link to where we will be staying - it looks beautiful!!! My dad is on a conference there, so we will be "tagging" along ;)

http://kauai.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp?icamp=grandhyattkauairedirect


As for photos... stay tuned - they will get on here!

Rested, Relaxed and Ready for Christmas...almost

This past weekend was amazing!!! 3 of my girlfriends and I went to the Banff Springs for the weekend and spent most of our time at the spa there - it was perfect! I have never been to a spa so beautiful!! I felt like royalty - lunch was brought to us while we rested in huge individual couches with warm blankets, we had our own private pool that was in the spa. There were 2 different kinds of saunas - one was a normal one and the other was a eucalyptus sauna (great for sinuses). I had a Hot Stone Massage and then a Pedicure in the afternoon....ahhhh!

We did some shopping, lots of eating and a lot of "spa-ing" - could not have asked for a more relaxing weekend. I was so happy to come home to my 3 boys though - I sure missed them all!

Ben was at my mom and dad's house tonight and Dave was out working, so I had the house to myself. I have a Christmas bake exchange this Friday at my house, so I thought I'd decorate a bit and start my baking. There are going to be 9 ladies, including myself, and we each need to bake 9 dozen of one thing. How it works is everyone shows up, has some drinks, talks, listens to Christmas music and basically gets a night "out" and then we all pass out our baking... everyone ends up with 1 dozen of everything that was brought.... Christmas baking done and December hasn't even started! I think it will be a lot of fun. As you can see, I made 9 dozen Butter Tarts tonight.... very tedious!!!

While they were baking, I made a quick Christmas banner to hang over the fireplace - nothing fancy, just something quick and festive (I added some "bling" to make it sparkle - you can't really tell from the picture)

All in all, it was a nice evening!

Swimming, Trees and Treats

This past weekend was a great one! Friday, Ben had swimming and Gram and Auntie Carrie came to watch... Ben was a bit grumpy and being a "mama's boy".. so at times it made it hard for Dave to keep him in the water and not wanting me. We got through it and then went to Montana's for dinner with Gram and Grandad. We were there for 2 hours and Ben was such a good boy! Gram and I sat and entertained him at our end of the table. We colored, read book and played with cars on the table, while Grandad and Dave talked. At the end of the meal, they brought us the bill and some suckers...Ben's eyes lit up (he has never had a sucker before). I did not think it was the smartest thing to give a 20 month old, but I told him to suck it and NO biting.... he listened so well. He licked the sucker the WHOLE way home, not once taking a bite! When we got home, the first thing he did was take the stick to the garbage - he is very tidy!

We had a nice visit with Gram and Grandad that night - it was late, so they could not stay long... Ben and Grandad were dancing like the Wiggles and Gram and him were playing hide and seek! I wish I had my camera that night.... next time!

Saturday we put up the Christmas tree! I know it is early, but I do not have a free weekend until December and wanted to get it up. I will not turn on the lights until December 1st, but at least it is up.... I love my tree!

Sunday was my mom's birthday. I made a cake and cupcakes and we had the Keg for dinner. Yum! It was a nice evening... hope mom had a good day!

This weekend was a great "family" one! We have not had a weekend where Dave has no jobs to go to and can just be at home! There needs to be more weekends like this past one!

If anyone is wondering.... I will not be showing photos of our decorated tree until December 1st when we turn its lights on....maybe a few days sooner if I get too impatient (like that will ever happen) ;)

Banana Bread and Lights

Last week seemed to fly by! Last Sunday, Ben and I spent the day inside while Dave worked outside. I did not know what to do with Ben... he seemed tired of playing with toys and I just could not bring myself to read "Peter the Cruise Ship from Alaska" one more time! My uncle - aka Great Uncle Booga, decided to get Ben a book when they were on their cruise with my parents a few months ago. When he was in Edmonton, he gave it to Ben and Ben was not too sure about either the book or Great Uncle Booga. It didn't take long before Uncle Booga and "Benny Terry" were buds... and the book has been one of his favorite ever since. We sometimes read it 5 times a day! I feel like a bad mom, but some days I "hide" it, so I get a break from good old Peter and his friends Push and Gulp the tug boats - oh, you can't forget his eagle friend, Baldie.... ;) Anyway, I have gotten off track....

I was sure the next thing he would want to do was get out the "Book", so I decided to see if he wanted to make Banana Bread instead... he raced into the kitchen and pushed the stool over to the counter (that's his spot for baking). He is getting so good... I read out the ingredients one at a time and how much we need. He watches me go and get the ingredients and then he helps me put everything into the bowl. His favorite part is turning on the mixer AND beating the eggs in a bowl..... what a cutie - he takes his time and is so determined. It is great, because he listens great and is so calm - a nice and relaxing activity AND we get baking out of it! He crouches down by the glass of the oven and watches his creations bake....love it!

I went outside after we were done to check on Dave and he was working away, putting up Christmas lights.... what a great guy! I can't wait until we get to turn them on!!!

I HAD to throw this photo in.... this was Ben after his new haircut... a Mohawk!

Halloween 2009


(a little blurry, but our only family shot of the night)

We had such a great day yesterday with Ben. This was his second Halloween, but the first one where he actually knew what was going on. He was so excited to get into his costume this year. We first stopped at a few of his friends' houses to drop off some goodies. We made cupcakes and little treats for everyone. We then went to Gram and Grandad's house and Auntie Carrie was there too! Ben got to see them for a bit before we went off trick or treating. He stocked up on some treats from their house and then we stopped at Uncle Jon's house - he was waiting for us all dressed up! It was funny, because Ben was a little unsure at first and didn't want his picture with him... When we were leaving we tried again, and we got a great photo of Mr. Penguin and Captain America - very cute!

Then it was on to Granny and Boompa's house, where we also got to see uncle Richard all dressed up and waiting for Ben. Ben loved that costume - a big Puppy! We all ate dinner and went off trick or treating. Richard and Ben would go up to the doors and get their candy... the first house Ben did not understand what to do, but by the end, he was running up to the doors and opening his bag himself(with a bit of help. We all had a blast...It was nice that the boys dressed up for him AND let me take their pictures! I think Rich and Ben had fun trick or treating together. I know I had fun "testing" Ben's candy to make sure it was all safe! ;)

Happy Halloween!



Captain America and Mr. Penguin



let the fun begin!



a puppy and a penguin



checking out the loot



after a hard night's work



sampling the goods