First Birthday!

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since Rachel joined our family! We celebrated her birthday, November 7th, with a low key family day. We checked out an indoor playground in Ardrossan and Rachel loved the slide! Then we had a simple dinner with strawberry cupcakes for the birthday girl. She loved the icing!

 She got a pretty good haul. The unwrapped gifts were actually Macy's old toys that had  been in storage. Quite honestly I think they were Rachel's favorites!

 We got a great video of us singing to her, she loved every bit of it, too bad it is too large to post.

 Yummy cake!

 I just love that happy smile!

Rachel is now 13 months and still such a joy to have around. She loves laughing, and will just laugh and laugh at nothing really at all. She is cruising along the furniture, and climbing stairs, and I think walking is close. She still scoots around, but gets everywhere she wants and gets there fast! She is a curious monkey and loves to check out what is in all the cupboards and drawers, and loves to have a taste of anything. Speaking of tastes, she is a great eater and eats whatever we do. She eats the same, if not more than Macy, but she is in the 95th percentile for weight!

Happy Birthday Rachel! We're all excited for another years of firsts, and fun, and laughter with you!

Halloween!

We love Halloween around here. For Macy it basically means she gets to wear her dress-up clothes out, run around with friends, and eat candy. Who wouldn't love it!

 Here is Rachel a couple weeks before Halloween when we were checking out the costumes.

 A couple days before Halloween Grandma and Grandpa Lamont, Aunt Pam, Paisley, and Scarlett came over for dinner and pumpkin carving. Pam and I ended up doing all the work while the girls ran around playing!

 Macy had three different occasions to dress up. The first was a family Halloween party where she went as Cinderella. Second (below), was her preschool party where she chose to be a Barbie Fairy, and the third was actual Halloween Trick or Treating where she went as a Lady Bug. If you ask her what she was for Halloween though, she'll tell you a Lady Bug. (Note, these were all things we had on hand, so I didn't care what she went as..except I pressed for Lady Bug for trick or treating, since it fits well over a coat!)

 Macy and Chris did the trick or treating while Rachel and I stayed home to hand out candy.

 Nice glasses Dad!

 Macy trick or treated with neighbour pals, Lasha, William, and Max, and then went out a second time with just Dad. They got a great haul!

 Too much candy!

Hope you all had a great halloween!

Appetizer Night

Wings, nachos, potato wedges, quesidillas.... sometimes it's fun to just eat your favorite appie's!

Cute!

Two days till this cutie turns one!!

(pictures from about a month ago)

Some Fall Pictures

We had a great fall, lots of nice weather and sunny days. We enjoyed the Millcreek Fall Festival again this year, and spent most weekends finishing up projects around the house, like putting in 3 new bedroom windows!

 These two are pictures from the festival.

 Playing around in the backyard.

 No smiles from these two!

 An unobstructed view.

 I had fun knocking out the old window!

She's a Gymnast!

 Macy started a weekly class of gymnastics this fall. She is loving it. I think it is so great for the gymnastic part, but also teaching about following directions, listening to a coach, taking turns, being safe, and lots more. Every week I ask her what her favorite thing was, and it's always going on the trampoline!

Here she is excited for the first class!

And then because we have awesome neighbours who give us so many hand-me-downs, here's one in her fancy gym suit!

Rachel, 10 months!

Long overdue for a Rachel update. I like this picture of her because we get that face so much. She does give out sweet smiles and laughs a lot too, but when she is just chillin' or exploring, this is the face we most often get!

Rachel is already 10 months. She is still big and growing, but I think it is starting to taper off a little. She is a great eater and tries about everything we give her. She does love blueberries, yogurt, baby cereal, cheerios, pears, and peas and carrots. She loves when she gets to feed herself. 

She is starting to be mobile. She still doesn't crawl, in fact she can barely roll from stomach to back, but she sits well, and scoots on her bum to get around. I really need to get the baby gates out! She loves being able to explore and get into everything. 

Rachel needs some major improvement in the sleep department. She usually has two naps during the day, and is good with them, but she still regularly wakes up at night, and all over the place with regards to what time. I don't want to jinx it, but the last few nights she has shown improvement, and I really hope she keeps that up! 

Rachel loves to babble, and loves to clap her hands. She has a great laugh, and loves when you give her lots of attention. She loves her big sister Macy, who is great at giving her attention and making her laugh. However, Rachel is now getting more possessive over her toys, and Macy is having to learn to share with her sister.

We love having Rachel in our family. I can already tell she is going to have a strong personality and I can't wait to see more of it!

First Day of Preschool Picture Woes

I share so many of these with you so you can feel my pain in how hard it is to get good pictures of this girl now! Like pulling teeth!

 Anyway, we finally get a good one here.

 It isn't any better once we get to school!

 Or after when we went for lunch!

Macy started preschool last Tuesday. This year she is two days a week, doing a Pre-K French Program. It is through the county, and only 6 kids registered for this term so her class is super small, and it is awesome. Also, one of her teacher's from last year, Miss Melanie, switched schools, so Macy has her again and is very happy about it!

Here's to another fun year of preschool and lots of learning and growth!

Summer Activities: Symphony in the City

Macy and I had a girls night out! The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra gave a free Disney in Concert performance in Churchill Square. We decided to go, and Macy got decked out in her princess attire. 

We brought our camping chairs and had a great time! I heard something like 13,000 people turned out. It was jam packed! Churchill Square is downtown where city hall is, and where we go every year for Taste of Edmonton. The concert was amazing. They had a video going showing clips from the Disney movies they were playing and four very talented singers to sing along. Macy loved it, and was dancing and singing along, and clapping at the end. My favorite was Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast. The performer singing was great! The Symphony usually does a concert at Hawrelak Park, but it is paid admission. This year Edmonton was hosting the World's Triathlon at the Park, so the symphony moved it to downtown and made it free. I really hope they do it again!!

Summer Activities: Kinsmen Park

We had to drop something off for Chris at work one day, so we decided to try out the Kinsmen Park in the river valley close to downtown. I'm so glad we did. This has become one of my favorite parks! The had a great play area with lots of play structures spread out. Very ideal for lots of people. It was probably pretty busy, but it didn't feel like it. Macy loved running around from structure to structure, and especially loved these big slides!

 Rockin' the stroller, yet again!

 Can you see Rachel in the back?

 They also had a spray park (they actually also have a great outdoor pool, Macy and I went last summer, but you do pay for that). I liked this spray park better, larger, with more things to do. Also, it was separate from the play area, so we did play structures first (no sand!) and then the spray park.

 Needing a snack break. I don't know what it is, but as soon as we get outside, this girl is always 'hungry' for snacks!!!

Somebody else snacking!

 Happy girls!!

Summer Activities: Clover Bar Ranch Spray Park

Spray parks are great, close, and of course free. However, they aren't my favorite, but the kids like them. We've been a couple time with friends from preschool and our friends the Fixsen's. The spray park is just ok as far as spray parks go, and right beside it is a big play structure with sand. I don't really love it because Macy tends to spend all her time in the sand, which is no fun to clean up. But oh well. It's great to be around water when the sun is out, and a fun way to get out of the house. Plus, I love how close this one is, no falling asleep in the van for Rachel, which means she'll actually take an afternoon nap when we get home!

 Love this cutie! She was so great with all the summer activities we did.

 Great smiles!