A little snow in Alberta

Well we finally got a big amount of snow here.  Of course it's -20something with the lovely windchill but the kids still had some fun sledding.  Skylar is getting older though.  She kept asking if we could go somewhere else to a big hill.  Gone are the days of endless hours of fun on the little hills from shoveling the lane.  
And not so much fun for me who can't get out of our cul-de-sac today.  They don't plow the side roads here.  Arrgh!!  I guess I'll 'have' to bake...

Christmas concert

Here are a few videos from the concert.

Skylar's in the back row- in white(haha).

This is a dance performance followed by the grade 6's black light performance.

Christmas Excitement

A few pictures from the last week.  The girls ready for the  St. Albert's Children's Theatre.  This year they put on High School Musical.  The girls really enjoyed it.

The kids Christmas concert- which was about Christmas (Noel) being stolen and finding out it really resides in our hearts.  The concert was so good- one big thing we will miss from their school is the music program.

 Summer getting ready for the big night at Millennium Place.

Skylar with her hair down- yes I paid her 5$ to wear her hair down and I can't believe this is the only photo I took of her!  First time her hair has been down in over a year- she won't even sleep with it down.  

 Summer (in the green dress) during the grade ones song.

Decorating the Christmas tree- they did the whole tree on their own as I was still making fragunes and there wasn't any room on this little tree for my decorations and theirs!  Soon they will need to have their own tree.

A Little Home Reading

Skylar has been reading to Summer lately- I love it.  Summer really likes this book of Skylar's called Smile- it's a graphic novel about a girl in grade 7- and all that goes along with that wonderful age.  They are on their 2nd time through the book and probably Skylar's 4th.  Of course Little Boo gets to join in on story time.  He is well practiced at playing dead and just hanging out in someone's arms.

Pyjama Day at school

Love the leg warmers.

The week was finished off with very good report cards that the kids were really proud of.  Mom and Dad were even more proud of the girls after speaking with their teachers who couldn't say enough kind words about both Skylar and Summer.

Skylar's swim meet 10 & under series

Skylar had her third swim meet last Sunday- a very cold day was spent melting inside Fountain Park in St.Albert.  She did very well in all her swims beating her times for all her swims(ribbons).  She raced  butterfly for the first time- it was a lot of work for her- just to do her best at 50m at fly- and that is a hard stroke!  You could see in her swim that it was taking everything in her just to get to that wall at the end of her 50.  
I love the social part that goes along with swim club  for Skylar- the kids have so much fun together and the swimming is somewhat secondary at this stage.

Pre warm ups- before all their swimmers had arrived.

Warm-ups

Getting ready for back stroke- she did great on her backstroke till she flipped turned then she forgot and started back doing free style.  As soon as she remembered she flipped back on her back and finished her swim.  Her coaches reassured her that she was not the only one who had made a similar mistake.  Awesome coaches- Chelby and Erica!

Watching the starter, now ready to dive (lane 2)

The fun had while passing time waiting for their swims.

A little video of her favourite stroke- breastroke- in which she came in 2nd in her heat!

Sparks Enrollment

Last Monday Summer became a spark.  She held up her fingers and promised to share and be a friend.  She has the friend thing down pat.  She is so kind to everyone and friendly.  When I drop her off at school she greets all the other kids by names and not just the ones in her class or her grade but in some of the older grades too.  So cute.

First she had to slide over the rainbow.

 Then promise to share and be a friend.

 She received her badges.

 So cute and proud next to her friend Jessica O.

The last bit of California

On our last night we went to the beach looking for tide pools, we didn't find them but we found a beautiful sunset.  The girls had fun collecting smooth rocks- their carry on bags were quite heavy on the way home.

Ready, set,

Go!

What a life, just a little bike ride on the beach.

Great friends and Great times.

The last of Legoland

Someone liked this driving thing a lot.

 The water park at Legoland

 The  Eiffel tower in the Las Vegas section.

Still working on the New York skyline.