Pool

Here is the beginning of the pool. Can you see it?

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve



Christmas Day

Visiting Santa

We took all the kids to see Santa before Christmas. Mason was ready with what he wanted for Christmas, but Cooper never said anything.

Tipi Building, Texas style

The boys have been preparing for a new pool by cutting down some of the baby pine trees in the lot next door. Grant took a lesson from Canada, and built himself a tipi! Not sure it would have protected from the rain or cold, but with no buffalo skin around it was the best he could do. Its gone now. Frank burned the pile.

Making Snow

Our friend in Canada sent some snow back with Frank for us. She thought we might be missing it. Of course this isn't cold, so not at all like snow.


Pour in powder.

Just add water.

Snow!

Football Banquet

Tyler had a football banquet at school. Each player was given a certificate, and a fajita dinner was served. The pictures did not turn out well at all, but here it is.

Children's Museum Field trip

Mason's class went to the Children's museum on a field trip. The kids had a ton of fun, but we didn't see half of the place.

Disney World

Here are the Disney pictures. I didn't upload them properly, and I haven't ever gotten around to fixing them, but i just gave up. We went to Disney World over the Thanksgiving week with my brother and his family, and Frank's parents and grandmother. We spent 5 days in Disney, and one day at Universal. Somehow I didn't get a single picture of Epcot, but we were there. So there are lots of pictures if you want to take a look.

Updates

I'm putting up several updates at once, but I'm back dating them. I know some people are waiting on pictures, so just scroll down, you will find them. We have had some very busy weeks, complete with all kinds of illnesses. I'm hoping things calm down for a while, but with going to Disney World for Thanksgiving I don't think that will happen.

We had Halloween and homecoming and football, and two trip to see Shrek the Musical. The first trip ended with Mason vomitting in ziploc bags as soon as the show started. A very nice woman gave the whole family tickets to come back, but that meant going on Halloween. We did fit it in, and everyone loved the show. Our first tickets were here:

It even looked a lot further away than that when we were there.

The next tickets were here:



That made a huge difference.

Halloween Night

Halloween night we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa C's to trick or treat in their neighborhood. Grandma goes all out with her decorations! The place looked great, and so did all the costumes. Tyler didn't participate though.

Pumpkin Carving

Grandma and Grandpa C came over to help Mason and Grant carve their pumpkins. Tyler was out at the Homecoming dance, but they brought Mark over to fill in. They may have got the pumpkins done in record time, or I didn't notice how long it took since I didn't have to help this time. Grandma brought all kinds of additions, and Mason tried to use everyone!

Homecoming

Tyler had his first homecoming dance. There were a lot of preparations, can't imagine having a girl! Tyler went with his girlfriend Carson, and then they brought two of their friends as well. Before the dance they went out for dinner, and then they went to an after party after the dance. I think it was an exhausting weekend for everyone. And then Sunday was Halloween.


This is the mum I made. Apparently there are all kind sof new rules that I didn't know until after I made it. I think it worked out though.

Mason's Halloween Party

Mason got to have a Halloween Party at his school. All of the kids got to dress up in their costumes and then they got to eat party food. Everyone had a great time.

His class has also been on two field trips recently. One they went to Meyer Park, and we sent a loaf of bread for the kids to feed the ducks. I'm guessing they had some very full ducks that day. The other field trip they went to CiCi's pizza. Each child got to make their own pizza. They got to help put it in the oven, and they got to go in the walk in refrigerator. Those were both highlights of Mason's trip. And when the pizzas were done they got to eat them, and take home their left overs!

Field trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Mason's class went to the pumpkin patch today, and I got to go along. The kids had lots of fun on the hay ride and train ride and playing on the playground. It was such beatiful weather for a day outside. Its just 20 degrees cooler in Canada right now! They must be having an unseasonably warm day.

Mason's First Field Trip

Mason's class took their first field trip to Minute Maid Park today, and I went along. The tour was pretty neat and included the field, bull pens, media box, suite, and Astros dugout. We actually missed the first half of the tour that included the upper deck. They have the tour daily, and anyone can go. I totally recommend it. There was a lot of information that I forgot.

And the pictures of the turtle where from last week when I saw a huge turtle in our backyard. It was raining and hot, so the camera kept fogging up as I tried to take the picture.

UT vs Rice

The boys all headed out to a football game this weekend. I stayed home with the younger kids, since I don't like football so much. Frank took the pics with his phone.

SpongeBob

My mom took the kids to see SpongeBob at Chick fil a last week while I was at a meeting. Mason found that very exciting.

Football and First day of School

Well, its taken me a while to get pictures posted again. With nearly a full week of school down things have been crazy around here. These pictures are from "Meet the Panthers," the first football pep rally. Then the first scrimmage game Tyler played in. Plus a couple of pictures from Mason's first day of school in his school uniform. And he will be the first to tell you how handsome he looks in his uniform. And finally we have pictures from Tyler's first real football game tonight. In both games he played for two plays. The first game he was a receiver and tonight he played on the kick-off team. He is number 88 and I think he will keep that number. We all got our panther paraphernalia tonight as well. The back of Mason's shirt says "Caution I bite!" Tyler's team won their first game.

Baseball

We made it out to our annual baseball game today. It was family day so the kids all got free backpacks. Then after the game they got to run the bases. I also threw in a few pictures from Mason's last day of swimming lessons.

Finally Home

Well, we've been home nearly a month now, but its been busy with unpacking, shopping, doctors, and all kinds of craziness. The house is nearly settled and we are all happy to be back in it. We've had swimming lessons, and Tyler started football, and all the kids are registered for school. We've gotten shots and new glasses and new backpacks. We have made it to the lake twice and to the pool once. It has certainly been hot, but we won't complain about that. We've also been enjoying the food and making some of the things we couldn't make in Canada.

I haven't gotten many pictures, but these are from swimming. And what we saw out our backyard tonight.

Getting Ready

****Update to Grant's Field Day below with hotel pictures of my fancy lunch.

Well, I'm a little bit behind in getting my pictures posted. We've been busy with all of the move preparations and end of the school year things. But in the spirit of cleaning and purging I'm getting the pictures up now. I'm putting orignal dates on all of them so it all makes sense to me years from now. Probably some of our last pics of Canada. Unless it snows in the next 9 days!

Mason's Soccer Party

Mason's soccer team had a party at a local playground. (Grant's team went to Dairy Queen, but we were running late and I forgot my camera.) The kids all had a ton of fun playing together, eating lunch, and getting medals (again.)

Grant's Field Day

Grant had field day on Thursday afternoon. I was a little late as I had lunch with my boss at a fancy downtown hotel. As usual, Mason was right there in it with all of the big kids.


This is the Harvest Room where we ate, but we ate on the patio.

This is the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald in downtown Edmonton.

Soccer Tournament

Mason and Grant participated in a soccer tournament. Grant had three games in one day, and prior to the tournament Grant had two rugby games. Mason only had two games. They were both sure wiped out! Mason's team doesn't keep score, but they didn't do so well. Grant's team won all three of their games. Even the last game that was against and older girls team! The boys found that very exciting.

They had free hotdogs for the players and a fire truck and police cruiser on display.

Sports

We spent Saturday playing sports again. At least this time it was nice out. But don't let the pictures fool you, we were still in jackets. The big boys each have two rugby games and Mason has a soccer game on Saturdays. Mason hasn't had the chance to play outside too many times due to rain and a minor injury. He was particularly excited to have Daddy there to watch.

More snow

This is what it looked like at 10 pm last night. And yes, its still that light outside at 10 pm. It was just about all gone in the morning, although it snowed for a while this morning too. Its all gone now. Its been raining on and off today.

Memorial Day Weekend

This is our skylight.


So, this is how we are spending our weekend. We got up this morning to be at rugby at 8:30 am. Where it was 40 F (4 C) and raining. Grant warmed up with his team while we.......sat in the car! When the game started at 9 we headed out to watch. Halfway across the parking lot the wind blew my umbrella inside out. We.......got back in the car! After sitting in the car for another 20 minutes watching all these crazy people out in the cold and rain I decided we were done. Just because everyone else was doing it didn't mean we had to. I called Tyler on his cell phone and told him to get Grant. Grant had to wait until the game was over, and then they walked home. I was already on the way to Mason's soccer. He was playing in a gym. So, Grant spent about an hour out in the rain, but we were supposed to be there until almost 1 pm.

And, this is what it looks like right now. Its supposed to snow all night, into the morning, and then start raining again! Nothing like a nice kick off to summer weekend.

And I'm sure Heather will have something to say about us not being Canadian enough. And I totally agree I'm not Canadian enough to deal with nearly freezing temps and puring rain!

Mason's Birthday

Well, we ended up doing nothing this long holiday weekend. Mason did have his birthday on Thursday. He wanted a happy face cake, even after seeing all the cake ideas they have at the store. I'm not sure where he ever saw a happy face cake, but that's what he wanted, and so that's what he got. He got to go shopping on Thursday and spend all his birthday money, so he only had one present to open. He still had a ton of fun though. And Tyler was there for the birthday cake, he just didn't make it in any of the pictures.

It rained and snowed this weekend. We had hoped to go to the Calgary zoo, but we never made it. Mason also had soccer practice on Saturday since the game was rained out.

A day of Field Trips

I spent much of the day with Grant's class. First he had a "field trip" that comes into the school. The presenter showed the class items from the aboriginal people of Canada. Then the class learned how to play aboriginal games. The games were all made from sticks, except for the one made from rocks. They class then made pouches and drew designs on them similar to bead work. Grant drew a buffalo on his. Of course, I assumed it was a longhorn! Which one of us has been education in Canada? Then the class went outside and built a tipi. (Is that how we spell tipi in Texas? Because I didn't think that was how it was spelled, but its definitely how its spelled here.) That was very interesting, and you can watch how it goes up in the pictures.

Then after lunch they had a field trip for swimming lessons. The class has eight one hour swimming lessons at a local community swimming pool, so Mason and I finally made it out to watch the class swim. Of course Mason cried for ten minutes because he wanted to swim too.

And yes, Grant got a haircut. He decided on going short this time. What do you think? He definitely needs to even out his tan line so he doesn't have about two inches of white around his hair!

More fun coming up this week!

Soccer Pictures

Last Saturday Grant and Mason had their soccer team pictures. With four rugby games and two sets of pictures in two different locations it made for a busy day. I was able to take a few pictures, but hopefully the professional ones come out much better than mine.

 

 

Mason got to play on the playground while waiting for Grant's pictures.

 

 

Grant turns 10!

Grant had a soccer game on his birthday. It was cold, and windy, and rained off and on. The team toughed it out and won though. Grant even made a goal, but it didn't count. Yesterday he had a track meet, but Mason was sick and I didn't make it to the meet with the camera. And since it snowed all day yesterday, today's soccer game and tomorrows rugby practice have all been cancelled.

And the only good thing about a spring snow storm, is how it looks just like powdered sugar. I'm not sure you can see it in the pictures, but it really does look like a yard full of powdered sugar.

Opening Day

So today was opening day for rugby and Mason's soccer. Which of course led to a day of running around. Grant had to be 20 min away at 8:30 am. But Mason had to be only 2 min from our house at 9:45, and Tyler's game started where grant was at 10:30. Which gave me just enough time to make it back with Mason to see the last game Tyler played today. But I didn't get to see any of Grant's game. Of course Frank isn't home, so I was in charge of making sure everyone got where they needed to be on time. I think everyone enjoyed their games. Although Mason thought he had been sent to time out after the coach called time out and then brought in the subs. I'm still not sure he believes me that time out in soccer is not the same as time out at school or home. Oh, and on a side note, Mason learned to say where he goes to school, the Montessori School House. All though when he says it it sounds a lot more like Mortuary School House, which just doesn't sound right at all. And we have another fun filled week this week with soccer and rugby and a track meet covering every day but Friday. And here are a couple of videos of Mason learning to dribble.

From Video

From Video

First Soccer Game

Grant had his first soccer game last night. His team hasn't even practiced together. He volunteered to be the goalie. I was quite worried, but he did a great job. He let one in, but he stopped about 15. He wasn't goalie for the second half, and his team lost 6-2. Like I said earlier, it was cold, windy and yucky out, so I only saw him as goalie. And I took pictures with his camera, which definitely did not turn out well. I'll bring my camera on a nicer, not so cold day.

In the first three pictures he has just thrown or kicked the ball. His camera is a little slower than mine, so I missed the actual kicks.