I don't want my 2 front teeth...

Luke lost his second front tooth while at the airport waiting to go to Houston. Good timing!!

Lauren at ballet

Parent/Teacher Conference

We had a teacher conference with Luke's teacher, Ms. N on Thursday night. She is a wonderful fit for him. She told us that he has finally started to participate in the group after a few months of adjustment. He has been doing his work and the extension exercises that she hands out but, as many of you know he is a shy kid, he doesn't always speak up. She said that she let him just ease his way in and if he wanted to sit off to the side she let him. This was great because I don't think he felt the pressure like he did last year. He likes her and he likes his school and he has good days. He is at the higher end of his 1st grade class which is comforting. He has some good friends at school and it is a positive experience for him.
Jeff took this picture while we were at the conference.

Watching Rudolph

The kids have to have their Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer dolls watch the movie with them. Lauren has never seen it so we decided to cuddle up on the couch and watch Rudolph. Both of their dolls sing the Rudolph song (strange for the Bumble Snow Monster to I know but that is what Luke wanted). I have heard Lauren's sing about 20 times and that was just today.

Tea Party

We went to Build a Bear today and Lauren got Clarice from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Luke got Bumble. As soon as she got home she introduced Clarice to Blossom Bunny and her unicorn-now some of you may recognize that the unicorn is mine from when I was younger. I have released the death grip I had on Morgan Morning and entrusted her to my daughter's fine keeping. Needless to say she does love her unicorn.

Snazzy new style

Here is Lauren in an adorable outfit. Mind you these 'pants' can only be worn by little kids because they are actually leg warmers. Hahaha

Sledding

Hopefully this video will come through.

After school parents bring their kids sleds and the kids can go down the hill after it snows. Luke went for the first time a few days ago but this time Lauren was able to go. They LOVED it!!!

1st Snow-really! Because you can play in it

Late last night it started snowing. Early this morning the kids noticed. They immediately wanted to put on their snow gear. Well for Luke snow gear is fleece gloves (not for snow) and his fleece jacket. Later he added a toque and neck warmer. Later I made him add his snow jacket and heavier gloves. Lauren put on her snow suit with no complaint, which is a good thing since she didn't stay out for very long. They both wanted to use the snow shovel too. That helpful idea, I know, won't last.

The princess goes shopping

We went to Costco the other day and Lauren was so tired by the time we got there that she fell asleep. But the cute part of this is her ensemble. She has her Sleeping Beauty dress-up dress on, jacket and for some reason she wears her crown ON TOP of her jacket hat. This just cracks me up.

Girl's/Boy's Weekend

Last weekend Jeff and Luke went on a Scouts campout. Luckily they were able to stay in a dorm of sorts instead of acutally tent camping. They hiked and made YOP rockets (drink a bottle of YOPlait drinkable yogurt and then there is a concoction of stuff to make the bottle rocket blast off). They also watched 'How to Train your Dragon.' A movie that Luke claimed was 'too scary' for him when we went to the theatre to watch it but he bit the bullet and watched and surprise, surprise, liked it. This was good news to me because I had actually wanted to see the rest of the movie so we got to buy it after all. They also played soccer and did other camp-esque things. They both had a good time.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Lauren and I painted her nails, blue first and then it was decided that she didn't want blue but pink, but not the shiny pink that I had, but a not-shiny pink. So we went to the store and she picked out a not-shiny shade of pink. Very nice. She also put on a fashion show for me which, if I may say, was THE height of fashion. Other than that it was a low key weekend but good fun was had by all.

Halloween

The kids had a great time trick or treating in our neighborhood. Even though rain was forecasted, there wasn't any to be had. It was cold but really a beautiful night. Both kids filled up their bags and have been sneaking candy over the past few days. I woke up one day with a Kit Kat shoved in my face with Lauren asking if she could eat it? How kind of her to ask. It was only because she couldn't open it by herself-since any that she can open, the wrappers are hidden in the closet. Luke has been influential in demonstrating hiding wrappers. When we got back Luke moved our Halloween guys around his candy bag as 'guards.' He also told me that since he doesn't like chocolate, if Lauren did what he said, he would give her some of his chocolate. What a thoughtful brother.

Luke's Fort/Lab

Luke's Lab

Lauren's Lab

This weekend Luke wanted to build a fort. So he took ALL the cushions off the couches started work. He was also using this as his 'Lab' so he also started hoarding random toys to create things with. We made many signs for the fort but basically they all started with, 'Smart People Only in my Lab.' Then he wanted to make one for Lauren too but her lab was moved outside the room and didn't have much in the way of guardians, hot lava, trap doors or bridges.

Lauren Chic

Lauren likes to dress herself which is totally fine with me. Dresses with tennis shoes, shirts that don't exactly match the pants. And the best one? She is bringing back the 80's with headbands that go around the forehead.

1 Front Tooth Down...

This week Luke lost one of his front teeth. I asked him what type of money he would get from the tooth fairy, American or Canadian. His answer, 'Egyptian.' Where that came from, I don't know. He ended up with Canadian, surprise, surprise. Since it was a front tooth, the tooth fairy gave him $5. Luckily this came after school pictures and his pictures turned out really well.

Snow in October: weird only for those from the South

We woke up this morning and there were little snow flurries. The temperature was 38 degrees according to my car. The snow wasn't sticking to the ground but now, a few hours later, it is definitely snowing. Lauren looked out the window and said, 'It's snowing!' and then immediately went to put on her snowsuit and boots. I looked out the front window and saw a rabbit so that was pretty neat. Lauren was out for a grand total of 4 minutes and then decided she was done. I really hope the novelty hasn't worn off that fast.

Other outings

The kids love to go to the park and luckily we have had some beautiful weather the past few weeks. I hear it has been a bit abnormal. They said that their summer was not that great but we found it pretty nice.

Luke and Lauren eating donuts at Tim Horton's. If I drank coffee this is where I would go. You can get coffee flavored coffee here for $1.62 instead of at Starbucks where you pay an arm and a leg. Jeff loves this place. Before we moved here he would bring home a huge can of coffee from Tim's.

This is at Luke's school. They just like to roll down the hill. That's it!

Calgary Corn Maze

Last weekend we went to the Calgary Corn Maze. You can, you guessed it, go through a corn maze but there are lots of other things to do besides that. Which actually ended up being a good thing since neither of the kids really cared for the corn maze. Luke really liked the jumpy pillows (no pic for this of him) and the huge tricycles. Lauren liked the pumpkin patch and the pig races. They both enjoyed the playground.

Where do the rocks go?

Lauren found a use for all of the rocks that Luke brought back from school. She wanted to paint them. I don't know what it is with my kids and rocks. Some of you know that when Luke was around 2 he wanted rocks from Christmas. So Santa brought him rocks for Christmas. Lauren it seems is going on the same path but this year Santa may not have to haul rocks this year because Luke has more than enough for the both of them.

Scouts Induction

This past Monday Luke was formally inducted into Scouts. There was a ceremony at Bowness Park which is absolutely beautiful and the kids got to play before Luke got his badges.

Halloween Costumes

The kids had decided on their Halloween costumes. They were pretty set in their opinions. Luke wanted to be Harry Potter. Trust me I was not prodding him at all on this one but I am pretty excited that this is who he wanted to be. He was able to talk me into getting him a new wand that is motion activated and lights up-he really didn't have to do much convincing, it is pretty cool. We also got the HP glasses which complete the outfit. Lauren wanted to be a witch. She had very specific ideas on the matter. She remember her witch costume from last year and wanted essentially the same thing. We have been all over town to find a plain black witch costume. Not as easy a task as you might think. They had adorable witch costumes with all sorts of colors and ribbons and things but she would have none of it. Whe wanted plain black and was very stubborn about it. Luckily today we went to 2 places (after having been to about 6 over the past week) and found a plain witch costume. Now I can stop stressing! I was thinking of how to resolve the issue 1) plead and persuade until she changed her mind-that wasn't going to happen or 2) sew one myself. The issue here being, I can't figure out what is wrong with my sewing machine and therefore option 2 would have been difficult. So yeah retail store for having just what we needed in stock. The kids are happy as can be and like wearing their costumes around the house.

Can you believe this?

I had to share this picture. Take a guess as to where we saw this? Oh, did you think it was a painting? Up in a remote area out of the way? Nope. It is at the Calgary Zoo. We were just walking past the moose and this is what we saw. Enjoy. We did.

Luke's plan

On the first couple days of school Luke would come home with rocks in his pocket that he picked up on the school grounds. He kept telling me that he was going to make a path for his bike. I told him that he really needed to leave the rocks at school but surprise, surprise he didn't listen to me. He filled a gallon size plastic bag with rocks. Last night he followed through with his rock path plan. I went outside and found that a lot of work went into his path and he rode his bike right through it. I love it when a plan comes together.

Fall In Calgary

When we came back from camping, this is what we were looking at. All of the formerly green trees turned yellow. Now while red is my favorite fall color on trees this is a really astonishing change from all the green. It is really beautiful to see.

The pictures really don't do it justice but it is really pretty.

The House

Here are some pictures of the house in Calgary. We live in the Northwest area of town. We swapped homes and so we hope that the couple who lived here are VERY happy in the house in Spring. The longer they stay in our home the longer we stay here rent free which will help because homes are astronomical here. The first picture is one of the front of the house and off to the left is a huge Christmas tree. We love that. The second and third ones are views from our back porch. You can see Canada Olympic Park which is where the 1988 Olympic Games were held. Now we can take skiing lessons there and plan to do so in the winter. The last one is also a view from our back porch which is of the mountains. This is my personal favorite. I love seeing the mountains on clear days.

And now taking the ice....

Luke had his first ice skating lesson today. He LOVED it. He wanted to stay and skate. The first thing his coach taught him was how to get up from the ice. Very useful. He fell a bit but he also kept himself from falling just as much. This was the FIRST time in Luke history that he didn't cling to my leg or cry or throw a fit when he started something new. He even said that when we left, 'Mommy, this was the first time I didn't cry at something.' You can imagine my joy at that. He wants to go for "3 hours" next time. Apparently we can just go down the hill from our house in the winter and skate on the Bow River. I can't wait to do that. Lauren saw Luke's excitement but still didn't want to learn how to skate. She is holding out for ballet, which starts in a few weeks, even though I told her she could do both.

Scouts

Luke just started Scouts in Canada. 5-7 year olds are Beaver Scouts. Here he is in his uniform, minus the Shamu slipper of course. He and Jeff went to their first meeting on Monday. They went on a short hike which Jeff said was nice while Luke complained about the cold and clung to Jeff's leg. He said he liked it though. They have a few fundraising things througout the the year one of which is a bottle drive. The first bottle drive is...you guessed it, this weekend when Jeff and Luke will be in Houston. So if I don't want them to cash the $50 (incentive) check then Lauren and I need to go down and sort bottles on Saturday. I don't mind doing this but I don't know what the set up will be and if I will be able to do this with Lauren. We will find out. I overheard a man (at the scout store when we were buying the uniform) that last year his troop's first campout was snowed on. Not a big deal you say, you live in Canada there is snow. You are correct I say BUT their first campout was the last week of September, yup 2 weeks from now. Awesome! I am hoping that Luke has gotten the genes from both of his grandfathers and will enjoy camping and being outdoors but so far I think he is an indoor kid. He is excited to go camp though. Fingers crossed.

Lauren on the other hand (who can join scouts when she turns 5-yeah Canada and their non-segregation of kids) will probably be all for scouting and being outdoors. She loves that now and always wants to be outside even in 40 degree weather.

School isn't as bad as we first thought!!!

Luke has been going to school for a little over a week now and with the exception of 1 day he has liked it. I would pick him up and he would say, 'Best day ever!!' The day that he didn't like it or 'worst day ever' was were they made him sing during music....but other than that it was fine. I spoke with his teacher this morning and she said that she could tell he was a bright kid and that she really liked having him in class. Yay and of course, Duh! She also said that he seemed a little bored at times as well. That is when I told her how stressed he was at his old school and how much was expected of the students, like they expected them to read by the end of kindergarten. She was surprised and asked if he knew how to read. I told her not really but he knew some sight words and could read some simple sentences. She said that was fine because it was HER job to teach him how to read! I was so glad to hear that.
On to Lauren: We went to her school today for what was an orientation meet esentially. She liked her class and had no problem going off to play. I met a lady there who lives 2 doors down from us and her son is in Lauren's class. How great is that?? She said that she was planning on knocking on our door soon but knew we had just moved in. I invited her and her family over tomorrow for a little bit. Hopefully that will go well. She also has a daughter who is maybe a year old.
Here is to a great school year for both of the kids!!
On a side note, I am kinda cold:)

September???

What does September mean? It means snowsuits on sale at Costco of course. Apparently these were a good price because everyone was buying them. I was lucky to find one for Lauren (not in pink like she wanted) but it was a size 4. I found one for Luke but it too was the last one in his size. They love these things and think they are great.

Lake Louise with the MIL

So last weekend we went to Morraine Lake and Lake Louise. Jeff and I had been there the previous weekend to camp (awesome) and wanted Margaret (mother in law) to see it. We took a picnic lunch and saw some gorgeous scenery.