Christmas Highlights

I know it's the END of January but since I'm borderline OCD I can't move on to a current update without acknowledging that the holidays happened. Our highlights were: Nick having a full week off of work to spend with me & the kids. Christmas Eve with the Famulaks and our first go at a White Elephant exchange. Cute new pjs. A (terrible) sleepover at Nick's parents house because the kids barely slept (so maybe that wasn't a highlight...) Nixon actually getting into the present opening and being excited over opening his stuffed frog, Toy Story chair, and WAY TOO MANY other presents. Me getting an iPhone. Surprising Nick with a snow blower. Alysha's fox hat. Christmas Day dinner with the Gagnons. And of course LOTS of delicious food.

Now here's the visual proof:

Christmas Eve

Opening gifts at Grandma Mena's

Auntie Alysha, Grandpa Neil & Nixon

A lit-up Christmas tree makes a cold winter night
so magical. It was the one thing that really got me
feeling like it was actually Christmas Eve!

Christmas morning 2011

Uncle Bryan & Emmy

Fox hat

Snow blower

Grandma Teressa, Emmy & Kyla

Family pic with the kids' new Christmas outfits!

Merry (Belated) Christmas!!!

Fall Fifteen

A candid morning shot. This is pretty much a regular sight.

Well, here I am playing catch up again ;) But kudos to me for getting it done before Christmas! The easiest way to do this is to just recap the best moments & milestones of the fall (minus our trip to Phoenix because that needed a post all on it's own. (see below)). Enjoy!

#1. Birthday pedicure for Christa (Sept)

Erin, Christa, Julie & Carrie

glitter toes :)

#2. Hanging out with the old Strathcona crew (Sept)

Gunnar & Kyle, Nixon & Nick & Emmy, Quinn & Tyler

#3. Nixon gets into LOTS of mischief (Ongoing...)

taking off his own diaper...

climbing into cupboards...

#4. Emerson mastered sitting up in the Bumbo (Sept)

#5. Girl's Getaway Weekend to Montana! (Sept)

Blakely & Julie, Paige & Andie, Kay, Carrie, Sis.Bishop, Nikki, Christa, Carrie & Emmy

We enjoyed a beautiful indian summer day at the lake and the babies were
so good to nap together. l-r: Andie, Blakely and Emerson

And of course we shopped 'till we dropped!

#6. Halloween (Oct)

skeleton pjs passed down from Nixon :)

Great Grandma Mena loved our little strawberry & dragon

Nixon & Bennett were twins by mistake and SO cute together!

#7. Emmy loves making weird faces (Ongoing...)

Nick calls this 'the ugly face'. I think it's funny

This is her bug-eyed 'caught red-handed' look.

#8. Free Oilers Tickets!!! (Oct)

7 rows from the ice :)

#9. Cute candid shots. Cute kids (Sept-Nov)

#10. Family Date Night (Oct)

#11. Playdate to Telus World Science Center (Nov)

Nixon loved sliding down this giant tongue.

Andie & Emerson

#12. Trip to Cardston (Nov)

Max & Nixon were so cute sitting on this Ledge together

Visiting Great Grandma Betty

#13. Learning to share (Nov)

I have mixed emotions for the excersaucer
Pro: It allows Emmy to seem biggerand Nixon loves to 'play' with her.
Con: It makes Emmy a 'sitting duck' for a certain boy
who's going through a biting phase :(

#14. Emerson has outgrown her cradle (Nov)

Next up: A big boy bed for Nixon and a proper crib for Emmy

#15. A fabulous work Christmas party (Dec)

Where we were all given an iPad!!!!!

Cue family bonding. See how happy Nixon is? ;)

Phoenix 2011

Well, had you given up on me yet? At long last, here is a new update! I obviously have to do a bit of backtracking here, so I am going to post about our fabulous post-summer vacation to Phoenix. In October my parents weren't able to go down to their vacation home, so they kindly offered for Nick & I to go and bring his family along :) We left Thanksgiving day and were able to stay for a full ten days. There was BEAUTIFUL weather every single day (around 90-100F) and we had so much fun! When we got there we checked the weather and decided that we better go to the zoo asap since it was just going to get hotter and hotter. Other than that we did a bunch of shopping, the girls got mani-pedis, the boys went fishing, Nick & I went on a date night with Cam & Sheri, but mostly we just relaxed by the pool. It. was. perfect.

Nixon behaved quite well on the plane but just wanted to climb everywhere!

Emerson pretty much slept the whole time. Good thing she has a fabulous
Grandma to cuddle her the whole way. Thanks Teressa!

At the World Wildlife Zoo

Nick feeding the stingrays

throwing food to the fish

Teressa, Nixon, Neil, Nick & Alysha checking out the kangaroos

After a day long hunt, we finally found the White Tiger (Alysha's favorite)

No biggie. Just feeding a giraffe :)

A little tired, and a lot hot after a long day of walking around

Nixon decided the water just looked too refreshing
and jumped right in with his clothes on!

Boys will be boys... Nick & Cam just HAD to test out
some tubes on the waterslide.

Emmy what's so funny? Could it be...

Yep. Nixon is a streaker!

Neil & Nick teaching Nixon to splash

There's something I just love about this picture. Maybe it's how cute Emmy
is in a hat? Maybe it's how Nixon is cheesing away but it's too bright
out to look at the camera. I think I love it because it's just real.

Emmy loved being in the front carrier while we shopped.

Quite possible it was a little too late when we took these pictures with
Cam & Sheri.... It was our last night there and since we'd been too
busy having fun we didn't take any other pictures with them!

We love you guys. Come visit soon!

Thanks for the awesome vacation, Phoenix! We can't wait to go back!