Visiting The Cutts Family!

On boxing day we headed down to Lino Lakes, Minnesota with Grandma and Grandpa to visit the Tom Cutts Family. We had a great weekend with them. Rachel was a dream in the car, and Macy loved car time with Grandma, and then a weekend full of cousins!

Here’s a quick rundown of the trip. We left Thursday morning and got to Tom’s around 5ish. We had no trouble at the border, even though we didn’t have a birth certificate or passport for Rachel. Thursday night we hung around and visited. We attempted Macy sleeping in Eden and Alice’s room, but Macy and Alice would have partied all night! Finally we had Macy fall asleep in our room, and then we’d move her upstairs with the girls. Friday we did the Children’s museum, lots of fun, with Subway and Chinese food for lunch. We swam in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa’s hotel, and then had pizza for dinner. After, Tom, Chris, and I went to our first NBA game and saw the Timberwolves destroy the Washington Wizards. Saturday was some shopping, and more eating (a delicious roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding!). On Sunday was Henry’s baby blessing, and on Monday we headed back to Headingley. It was a great trip, thanks for having us Tom, Julie, Eden, Alice, and Henry!

 Bubbles at the Children's Museum.

 Snacks with Grandma.

 Beautiful Rachel.

 Eden with the babe's.

 Cousins Rachel and Henry, born one month apart.

 Soother babies.

 Matching dresses!

 Silly cousins.

 Eden at the pool.

 Macy being attentive to Henry.

 Alice (who is quite the swimmer and jumper) and Aunt Julie.

 No pictures!

 Finally back at Grandma and Grandpa's and Rachel could care less that it was her 5th day of being stuck in car in 10 days!

Christmas 2013

We were very excited to spend Christmas this year with my parents in Headingley. We drove out on December 21st, spent the night in a hotel in Regina (swimming pool and waterslide and a 6 week old who slept 8 hours!) and arrived in Headingley on Sunday, December 22nd. We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. Macy and Rachel were spoiled. We ate tons of candy, and managed to make a candy town too. Christmas eve Uncle Robin, Aunt Jeana, and Doug came over for a delicious meal of ham and cabbage rolls. Uncle Robin made and brought a delicious apple pie. Frosty came and dropped pajamas off for the girls, and then Santa stopped by and spoiled us all! Macy loved all the presents and insisted on helping everyone open theirs. When we finally finished opening gifts (around noon) we had the traditional Cutts' Christmas breakfast. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, talking to family, and getting ready for our trip to Lino Lakes!

 Our Gingerbread village. Chris designed and did most of the building. I did most of the eating.

 Doug comfy with Rachel.

 Opening presents from Frosty.

 Picking her nightly yogurt in her pajamas from Frosty. Macy was good at going to bed, she knew Santa wouldn't come unless we were all asleep. 

 So many presents. The big ones were a double stroller for us, and Grandma and Grandpa got a nice Radio Flyer red wagon.

 Opening stockings.

Opening gifts. Rachel is sporting her Frosty pajamas, too bad she is growing so much that they no longer fit.

American Thanksgiving

I've got a lot of blogging catch-up to do, which is pretty normal for me. If I look back to previous years, my Christmas posts are always in January or February. But before we get to Christmas, it's American Thanksgiving. I love being able to celebrate two Thanksgivings, and this year I was especially grateful that my mom was visiting and could celebrate with us (read that to mean she basically did the whole dinner herself, supermom!)

This year I am grateful for our new house and new dinning table, and that I have great friends and family to celebrate with.

Mom left later that evening, and here is Macy right before we took her to the airport. She loves sliding down these stairs.

Princess Macy

Even now as I write this post, Macy is watching Cinderella. She has really gotten into princesses lately, with Cinderella and Belle as her favorite. Grandma Lamont got her this beautiful dress for Christmas, and Grandma Cutts got her a set of all the Disney Princesses, and cousins Clark and Bruce got her a huge Disney Princess sticker activity book for Christmas. No wonder she loves them!

Jill Visits!

The best surprise ever was my favourite sister Jill showing up in my family room ready to stay a week at my place keeping me company and taking care of my family! I was pretty disappointed when she called in October and said she wouldn’t be able to come visit after Rachel was born. However, Taylor, the awesome guy he is, bought her a ticket the day after Rachel arrived and planned with Chris the visit. Chris picked her up at the airport under the pretense that he was going Christmas gift shopping for me, and returned with a the best gift!

We had a lot of fun, relaxing and visiting and eating good food! Here’s some pictures.

 Aunt Jill and Macy. Macy loved having her aunt visit, and still talks of her often and says how much she misses aunt Jill.

 Look how excited she is!

 Playing more Rockband.

 Visiting the Alberta Legislature grounds.

 Inside the Legislature. We enjoyed free hot chocolate, and walking through the underground tunnels.

 Jill pointing to our Great Grandpa James Hansen, who served on the Legislative Assembly from 1935 to 1940.

 The lego version of the Legislature. See the storm troopers?

Having some fun in parliament.

 A future in politics?

And finally one of Jill and Rachel. Thank you so much for coming Jill, we loved having you, and thank you Taylor for making it possible!

Grandma Visits!

I was so lucky to have my mom come and visit just after Rachel was born. She was here for 10 days, and it was a sad day when she left!

I felt like we did a lot when she was here, and took a lot of pictures, but now looking back I realize I don't have many of mom. Mostly just beautiful pictures Mom took with her camera of the girls. 

So here are a few of things we did.

Cook and bake. Grandma was great letting Macy help, and kept us all well fed!

Resurrect Rockband. We haven't played this in years. Macy loved playing the drums and guitar. She also loved dancing around while we played (not pictured, the many nights of Grandma and Macy dancing, Macy still misses her partner). Rachel would just snooze peacefully while we played. 

Take Macy to preschool. This picture was on pajama day. Rachel of course stayed home. Macy loved having Grandma drop her off and pick her up, and I loved the break.

Take pictures of Rachel. Here she is at two weeks.

 We also went to visit Santa, saw a Nativity display at the church, went to Rachel's two week checkup, went shopping, had delicious breakfast at Cora's Restaurant, visited Chris at work, went to the library, went on a date to see the Harry Potter exhibit at the Telus World of Science (Chris and I, mom babysat), and celebrated American Thanksgiving.

Thank you again, and again for coming! 

Grandma made cookie dough with Macy while she was here, and we baked them after she left. We still have some in our freezer. We were spoiled.

Rachel's Stats

Rachel had her shots this week on the 7th, at 2 months. Here are her stats.

Weight: 13.5 lbs, 93rd percentile

Height: 22 3/4 inches, 60th percentile

Head Circum. 38.6 cm, 50th percentile

She did well with her shots, and didn't have any reactions. Rachel is so much bigger than Macy was, at 2 months, Rachel weighs more than Macy did at 4.5 months!