Real Men

Jeff and I went to our first hockey game on Thursday--and I've got a new favorite sport. I love the fast moving, manly men skating across that ice. We were in the 3rd row so we could feel the plexiglass shake when the players would slam each other against it. We were even treated to a couple of fights! After watching them for a few minutes, I realized what wusses some other pro sports guys are. Whenever a basketball player gets bumped, he'll flop to the floor and cry and someone will get punished. In hockey, we saw a fight that went on for at least a minute and the refs just watched. It was great! Now, I'm not a fan of fighting, but its refreshing to see a bunch of testosterone-filled dudes slamming each other around and not being babies about it.

Yup, that's me in a bright red jacket--lesson learned. I will always check out the opposing team's colors when selecting an outfit. It didn't even occur to me as I was getting dressed that morning to check. I felt so retarded when I was sitting there in bright red and gold (Calgary's colors) in a sea of black and purple. Luckily, no one threw anything at me, though I swear a couple of the players did glare at me...

Surprised!

I had a birthday last week. It was a great day. I went to lunch with one of my bestest girlfriends and Jeff brought home a yummy Red Velvet Ice Cream Cake. Jeff gave me a gift card and assured my big present was on its way. Since I had class that night, we made plans to go out to dinner on Friday. The girls told me that their gift to me was going to help keep the house clean--what more could a woman want than that?!

So Friday night we went to a yummy dinner with the kids. When we came home, I unlocked the door and as I set my purse down, I noticed that my house smelled like perfume. I glanced over into the family room and noticed that there were a bunch of people sitting in my house!! I was a still confused as my friends yelled "SURPRISE!"

Jeff had enlisted the help of Tarja and arranged a party complete with cake, games and some of my dearest friends. To show them how much I love them, I'm not posting the horribly unflattering photos of them that were taken during a game :)

It was such a fun evening and I felt so blessed to have such great people in my life.

Mobile!!

Lucas decided it was time to get around, so he's begun crawling. He hadn't had given it much effort until he was up at Grandma Moody's house--maybe it was the carpeting instead of wood floors that he liked. But I love his little army crawl--he reminds me of the plastic soldiers on Toy Story.

Apples to Apples

Since it was the end of the apple season, my sister Sara and I took the kids to Oak Glen and we bought LOTS of apples this last weekend. It was absolutely pouring but we decided to take the tour of the packing plant that one of the farms offered. It was interesting to see the antique cider press they still use to make cider and 100 year old barn where they pack their apples. The girls even got to taste, sort and learn about some of the different heirloom apples.

The next day was a canning extravaganza and my mom, brother Mike, sister-in-law Kara, Sara, me and the girls peeled, cut and jarred 69 cans of apple pie filling. It was a lot of work to do that many, but it was rewarding to see all those jars filled with apples.

Family Pictures

I can't remember the last time we had a family photo done (without being in some sort of a costume) so it was time.

Lucas was so interested in the ocean it was hard to get him to look away.

This was NOT photoshopped. The photographer was adjusting her lens and captured this.
It's creepy and hilarious at the same time.

Haloween 2010

This year I was back in the swing of things and decided it was time for a Magical theme.

For the occasion, I turned my little prince into a toad.

We carved pumpkins, went to the annual Trunk or Treat--where Jeff won the Chili Cookoff!! Cara had her first Chili entry and she's already planning what she's going to cook next year.

On Halloween, we did something a little different. We carved our pumpkins, passed out candy, baked and delivered treats to a few friends. Jeff has also decided in the last couple years that he wants to take over decorating for Halloween. He's vetoed my "cute" decorations and has brought out the creepy things. He made a zombie (which we've named Bernie) and he set up the piano, with a skeleton playing creepy music so the trick or treaters can see it in the front window.

Halloween--A Retrospective

It all started 9 years ago. For Cara's first Halloween, I thought it would be fun to dress as a family. This little number that I dressed Jeff in (combined with next years' gettup) started a tradition and I've been sewing every October since.

2001: Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell

2002: Monster's Inc.: Sulley, Boo, Mike and Roz

2003: The Ladies of Chicago

2004: Pirate and his wenches

2005: Witches of OZ

2006: "Knights"

2007:Classic Monsters


2008: Cowboys and Indians

2009: Fairies
Stay tuned for 2010...