Snow, snow, and more snow!

Last week we were blessed with a beautiful week that made it a joy to go outside more with the kids! The snow is very deep in the backyard, so it was always a bit of a workout carrying Willow in my arms or in the backpack carrier....then I happened to pass the exer-saucer in the garage and we had a great, arms free time running around together!

My Baby is One!!!

Willow has been blessing us with her bright, beautiful life for a whole year now! Its hard to believe...yet here we are! We had my family out, my Grandma, and Giles' parents made the long drive out from Toronto to be here with us! What a blessed little girl this is indeed! We enjoyed food, presents and finally had a table big enough to hold everyone and serve the food on thanks to the recent renovations (almost done!!!!).....and Ikea, of course! Good times!

Could she get any cuter?!?!

There was a balloon above her chair that was quite mesmerizing! Even distracting her from the cupcake on her tray...but not for long!

Grandma Carol brought out new crowns for the girls...they are still getting a lot of wear around here! Avery loves dancing, and its better when she can be dressed up like a princess!

skating and other oddities!

Well...the urge to get some of these recent pictures on the blog as soon as possible hit and so here I am!

Willow took a pretty extreme liking to some little cupcakes we had one day!

One night before bed we played a family game of Candy Land...Xander's new favorite game. Pajamas, popcorn and all of us together! I had to take a picture...it felt like the start of things to come as we can do more things like this all together!

We decided to take advantage of the free hour of pre-school skate at the arena in town and try out the kids new skates! They were both pretty excited as we headed out, however, Xander decided at the last minute that he wouldn't skate until next Christmas, so he was just going to watch! We won't be pushing the subject in order that it be something he one day enjoys at his own pace and time. He had a great time in his own way, so who are we to decide what he should and should not do?!?

Avery is generally ready to try pretty much anything so there was no stopping her from heading out there! She had a great time!

Xander neatly lined up a stack of pylons he found and was pretty proud of his work!

While Giles took Avery off the ice to get changed, Xander jumped at the chance to try the skating stand out on his boots!