see ya next year

and with that 2013 is over.

our family had a great year.  

complete with travel, birthday's, fun food, floods, snuggles, smile, happiness and good health.

for 2014 we wish for more of the same

and wish it to you and yours.
thank you to all who read about our little family.

happy new year!

cheers to new beginnings, fun and adventure.

snow much fun

during our christmas holidays (two weeks for me and three for rob) we've been able to take full advantage of mountains of snow that are every where.  seriously.  we haven't had this much snow in december since 1904.  i'm so not complaining.  just means we have more snow to sled on and make snowmen with.  precisely what we've been doing.  and we've been doing it almost everyday, even when it was -20.  the kids are troopers.  we also got liam out for his first ski day yesterday.  it was a total success, kept asking to go again and again.  absolutely zero complaints of sore/cold feet.  and to top the day off, rob and i were even able to get a couple runs in.  just the two of us.  but more on our ski adventures later.  back to sledding and snow people.

liam rocked the old school gt snow racer like a champ. circa 1990's.

only reason he wanted to go inside was because "mommy i'm frozen!"  and he was.

averie got towed around the snow by her big cousin and was perfectly happy having her valet do so.

the rest of us took turns using the blue circle of death (think chevy chase in christmas vacation)

and the other various sledding choices.  

zero children or adults were harmed during the making of our snow fun.

inside for hot chocolate and beers, followed by some good 'ol hanging out by the christmas tree.

weather got warmer here just after christmas.

we tried to go sledding again but it was more like a sheet of ice. 

so we built a snowman snow angel, with her own set of antlers.

her face is a little questionable.

 kids had a blast making it and being tossed in the snow.

and really, that's the only thing that matters.

oh ya and when did averie stop looking like my baby girl?  

when did she turn into that little girl in these photos?

baby averie no more.  hello toddler-hood.

from our family to yours

we wish you and your family...

a very happy christmas

and an even merrier new year!

life {lately} ~ vol. 22: elf life

the littles have been loving hermey.

liam gets up every morning and asks "what's hermey doing?" in a super cute excited voice.

and every morning we head downstairs calling his name and looking around for him.

hermey's been getting pretty creative lately.

unfortunately some of the best things hermey's been doing weren't photoed.

that's what happens when a plague hits your house.

we were down and out with a nasty stomach virus last week.

basically we were a house of puke for five days.

it was truly awesome.

not pictured here are: snowball fight with spiderman and batman,

being harassed by a couple dinos & having tea with kermit and miss piggie.

meh.

it's been a fun few weeks, even rob got in on it this year.

i know liam's gonna miss hermey when he leaves on christmas eve.

sugar cookies

'tis the season to eat, drink and be merry.  so in keeping with that was better way to celebrate then making a ton of cookies.  some of which will be eaten, most of which will remain in our freezer until may.  these sugar cookies are one of the easiest cookies to make and are totally pre-school helper friendly.  other than the mountain of flour that ended up everywhere, liam and i had high fives all around as we bake our christmas cookies.  i think liam's favourite part about the whole cookie baking thing is decorating them.  mostly i think it's because he puts icing on the cookie and then into his mouth.  repeat.

it's almost christmas.

we're spending the next couple days tobogganing, eating, wrapping, light seeing

 and hanging out with family.

merry merry.

life {lately} ~ vol. 21

'tis the season for all things christmas.

december is my favourite month and this year's not lettin' me down.

had us some christmas cookie baking, tree decorating, and snowman snacks, 

eggnogging, wine drinking, and parties with friends.

hanging out all cozy like on snow mornings in our jammies.

and the cherry on top is averie walking around like a pro with her "cell phone" in hand.

she's beyond ridiculous, i just die.

there is so much more merriment to come.

can hardly wait until the 20th.  bring on the christmas vacation.

full of way too much food, even more eggnogging and wine drinking.

puzzle building, family hang out time and tons and tons of playing.

best. season. ever.

(may have said that before)

the elf has landed

last sunday marked the beginning of our second christmas with hermey ... our resident elf.  liam is totally into it this year.  i'm almost wishing that i had waited and started it this year instead of last.  he just didn't care as much about it.  this year is completely different.  we brought out the book the night before hermey arrived and read it with liam before bed.  when i went for snuggles he told me all about our elf and that we aren't allowed to touch him or his magic would go away.  he was very insistent on that point.  he also made sure that i well was aware that hermey would be talking to santa in the north pole every night until christmas.  god bless anyone involved with the elf idea ... just one more way to let the kids know "you know who" sees you when you are sleeping and when you're awake.  then again, not sure it's really helping all that much.  hermey is already on strike ... only a week into it.  poor liam's had a rough couple of days.  hoping next week has less meltdowns from a sleep deprived three year old.

here's a peak at what hermey's been up to this week.

so many more ideas for the rest of december.

so far i think the marshmallow roasting is my fav.

loving pinterest right now.  tons and tons of ideas!

also loving how hermey writes the letter 'e' backwards.

awesome.

realities of two

my life is full of good intentions lately.  i have plans every weekend to sit down and write a beautiful amazing post about how our daughter is growing up or the funny things that liam has been saying.  then life walks in and screws that all up.  the kids have total meltdowns complete with class-one diaper blowouts.  screaming and throwing of toys because one doesn't get to play with something immediately.  dinners are refused because "i don't like it" (even though he ate the same thing two weeks ago and love it)  and mountains of laundry appear and for some reason the more i fold the more laundry appears.  i don't get that one.  ahhh the lovely realities of parenthood.  i sometimes fantasize that there are magical laundry elves and one day they will come and do my laundry.  complete with folding, ironing and putting away of.

and while we're at it.  where are those timeout elves and diaper changing elves too?  don't get me wrong.  98% of the time i love life, my family and my children, and yes, sometime i don't even mind the laundry.  but let's get real.  parenting two children, making sure i spend time with my partner in crime and working full time can really take a toll on a lady.  i sometime feel like i'm in a constant battle with life.  that i'm running a race through an obstacle course to get to a place called "balance" does such as place even exist when you have a one year old and a three year old?  or is it just complete and total chaos until .... when?  or maybe balance is something that we try to achieve only because it keeps us going in the race purely to keep us going.  the reality of this proverbial race of raising two happy loving children is that it is daunting and exhausting.  and somewhere in between exhaustion, spilt milk, tantrums, timeouts, husband dates and report card deadlines is this thing called balance.

we'll just say that for now we're working on it.

egg pie

we've now officially entered the fussy eater phase with liam.  to be honest it really sucks.  he was always our good eater.  averie was the fussy one, still is.  but liam, he was our eat pretty much anything kid, with the exception of his brief anti-fruit period.  fast forward to liam these days and about the only thing we can count on him eating is cheesy noodles of the Annie's variety.  seriously i feel like i'm grasping at straws when it comes to dinner time.  and it seems like it's always a crap-shoot whether he's going to eat try something or not.  so in my quest to find things that are non-noodle related i have turned to pinterest and kraft.  i've received the what's cooking magazines from kraft for i don't know how long.  love them.  quick, easy and usually kid friendly meals.  done.

this bacon and cheese quiche, or egg pie for our "lets get liam on board to eat this", is freaking delicious.  bacon and cheese?  how can that possibly be a bad combo?  it also passed the liam test.  we got a "i like it" and a "mmm mmm mmm" from the three year old at the table.  that's a total win in my books.

we're looking for some yummy kid approved recipes.

would love it if you shared your favs.