December is HERE!

December 1st it is our tradition to set up the Christmas tree and decorate it... and this year, thanks to our good friend Brooke Byam she introduced me to the 'Christmas Advent Chain' so starting Dec 1st until Christmas Eve the kids have a chain to open with a fun activity, craft or service to do together as a family:) The kids were pumped and it was nice to do fun things together and have the Christmas Spirit be with us even more!  So some of the memorable things we did were make a gingerbread house (which we failed miserably at, it collapsed with a candy overload so we pretended a tornado hit it;)) we had a 'San Francisco' supper with Gran and Grandad over..(eating spaghetti with not so normal utensils).  We had a movie theatre day (miss school) out, we saw Rise of the Guardians in 3D! We did a very sneaky anonymous cookie drop off at some friends houses'...the kids were so slow at running away that most everyone saw us...haha.  The kids made salt dough ornaments with their hand prints (Ammo ate Grace's right off the tree...).  We went to the Live outdoor Nativity Pageant with the Allred's... something we have gone to every year since having kids...I highly recommend it!  We did a swimming night out... Tim Horton's Donut and Hot Chocolate night out...where the cutest senior couple watched us chow down and told us we had the million dollar family:) awwww... a bunch more things...It really made our Christmas that much better getting to do these fun little things that we probably wouldn't have gotten around to with all the business of the Christmas Season.  Merry Christmas!!

This was my first year doing a fancy Christmas card...kinda fun!

Gingerbread Disaster

Silly San Fran Supper

Movie Day!

Outdoor Nativity Pageant 

I almost forgot about our other new tradition!! This little lady came into our family this year.  The kids named her Snowflake, she is from the North Pole.  Her job is to hide in a new place in our house everyday and watch over the kids...making sure they are being nice to each other...and every night she flies back to the North Pole and lets Santa know whether they had been nauty or nice;) BUT if anyone touches her she will lose her magic and not be able to fly back to Santa in the North Pole.  The kids adore her to say the least, and cannot wait to find out where she is and what mess she's gotten herself into...in this picture she got into the shortbread cookies and left a trail of crumbs everywhere!!

Parks and Grace all ready for church the Sunday before Christmas:) I really wish I would stop being so lazy and use my good camera instead of my crappy iphone for pictures like these..

Time to Meet SANTA!

The kids were very excited to get to meet Santa!! Luckily Santa was at Bass Pro Shop so Daddy was more than happy to bring us all the way out there to get some pictures with Santa Claus:) Parks ended up being a little shy once he had to sit on Santa but was sure to tell him what he wanted for Christmas:)

Getting ready for CHRISTMAS!!

Early November the kids kept asking and asking and asking when they could send Santa their letters...so after Remembrance Day ( I always try and let that day come and be a special day than move on to Christmas shortly after) we finally marched off to the mailbox to mail their letters!...I wish I would have taken pictures of what they wrote....so cute.  Parks was very insistent on asking for a 'bug dome catcher' and Grace thought a 'pet shop playset' would be nice from Santa... we put our Christmas lights up outside the house and our new Snowman lights from Nana... I love Christmas time!

Matt in his special #1s uniform on Remembrance Day before going to work

Letters to Santa!!

Another reason to love the Christmas Season is because Hunting Season comes to an end December 1st and no more 'moosestaches' !! This is Matt at one of his fullest times..haha

Family Photoshoot!!!

In November, our good friend Randea Prince took pictures of our little family...kind of our first little photoshoot! It was really fun, a bit chilly but our fabulous photographer brought us hot chocolate, so we sucked it up;)

Hunting SUCCESS!

I guess you can say Matt is happy with his hunt this year:)  I went out and hunted Elk with him on his birthday to make him happy...and kind of realized why he loves hunting so much...its pretty peaceful out there in the wide open...i think i went out 4 times in total this year...more and more each year i guess...He started out with a small Bull Moose (which is still a HUGE animal)....he is definitely the 'Moose whisperer' this is his 4th year in a row getting a moose!! Good thing moose meat is my favorite wild meat to eat.  He than almost got a Bull Elk, but after hours of searching...it was never found which means it probably never died.  It was a sad day because Matt has yet to get an Elk.  The hunt continued into November....at which point I am getting really sick and tired of him hunting every spare chance he got...BUT mid month he shot a Buck of a Lifetime!!  It was a Mule deer that Matt and his Dad nicknamed 'Holy Crap'.  They had both been watching this big guy from a far for 2 years!  It is a special story for Matt and his Dad working together to get Matt this Buck of a Lifetime....it also helps that it was a great shot with his bow:)  Paul and Calvin were down visiting for that week to hunt too so it was a lot of fun for them to all be with Matt on this very proud day!  Matt later found out that this buck was huge! It measured 216 gross and 210 5/8 net...this makes it the Biggest Buck shot in Alberta in 2012!! The kids nicknamed him Clifford but than decided on Roger, so he goes by Roger (Clifford is his nickname...lol).  Matt informed me that he is getting Roger mounted so we can hang him on our wall...hmmm not so sure I like that...it takes about 6 months so I guess I have some time to decide...

Cutie Pics from October

 I love this picture because it will forever remind me of my darling little Parks playing with Mama's 'foigkie' hair.  He has been doing this since his first year...it calms him down and makes him so happy.  He doesn't do it often or for very long anymore...he IS almost 5!!  He will forever be my baby and when he's older I will be reminding him of this one very adorable habit...which he usually does while sucking his tongue...but he is also starting to grow out of that too.

So many precious moments that I never want to forget, thats why blogging is so important to me.  I fear that i will lose my memory when I'm older so it is crucial for me to blog...

Matt was stretching out his sore back and Grace joined in...ofcorse she felt the need to strip down just like Daddy:)

I bought the kids some new smelly markers....need i say more???

Datenight with this handsome man...even with his hunting stache!!

Parks loves taking pics of random things with our camera...this one was a good one;)

...and this one too;)

Halloween

Thats a lot of snow for Halloween!!  The kids made their first snowmen of the year and we baked treats.  Matt decided this would be the year that he goes all out with carving pumpkins...and boy did he ever! Grace asked for Cinderella and Parks wanted a big buck...they turned out awesome, Matt was pretty impressed that he could even do it...haha He has set the bar high for next year:)  Nana and Papa bought the kids Halloween costumes...Grace was soooo excited to be a mermaid and Parks loves the Transformers, so Bumblebee was perfect for him!!! Thank you Nana...it was a chilly night but fun! We went trick or treating with Matts Brother Mark, Merrick and Anderson aswell as our good friends Julie and Kendall and their 2 kids.  Grant and Sue stayed at our house to pass out candy...we ate yummy fruit pizza and had hot chocolates when you got home....and maybe a few candies....