i like my christmas concert

Elliott crawled into bed with me this morning and the first thing out of his mouth, "I liked my Christmas Concert Mommy."  I liked it too Elliott. It was Elliott's first time on a big stage and I guess he liked it.

Kate's ballet class started the evening off and they were precious. Her class sang Santa Claus is coming to town followed by Ma Tuque de Noel. Elliott's class donned antlers and red noses for Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer followed by their French rendition of Jingle Bells - Vive le vent. There were a couple super stars during the evening that positioned themselves right in front of the mics and a couple more that just had a little more gusto in their dancing. It was pretty funny. Cody thought they should just have a concert comprised of an open mic and see what the kids did on their own.

Elliott playing it cool though proud of punch dressed up in his Papa clothes and a bow tie. Unfortunately Kate was already dressed for her ballet performance so we didn't capture her in her sequins.

Kate's crooked and forced Christmas smile.

 My Christmas guys.

Our little ballerina - centre stage in a black body suit.

Kate and her great school friends.

Here comes our little Reindeer.

Thanks to the kind patient teachers that made last night possible. I really don't know how you do what you do. One more week and you'll earn that well deserved break. Cheers!

CAKE

the sixth day of advent

Six days into December and we're fast ticking off our Christmas activities list. We're drinking, we're decorating, we're singing, we're watching (Christmas specials), we're crafting. We're not yet baking. Absence of cookies is the only way I can maintain will power. Like the kids, I cannot resist sugar especially when paired with its best buddy - butter.

Our Christmas elf in his new uniform.

Jingle bells,

jingle bells,

jingle all the way.

My happy decorator.

Kate doesn't know how close Mommy came to tossing this in the garbage during the build phase.

A little Noel Nog anyone? The kids don't know what they're missing with the milk based egg nog so they're thrilled with almond milk. Mama... not so much.

Like everyone our calendar is starting to get busy. The plan is to take it all in stride and try to have as merry a time as possible. Hope everyone can manage the same. I know my parents will as they're heading South for the three weeks of holidays.  A tad bit jealous as we drown in rain. Cody and I are off to Montreal next week for a quick trip so perhaps we can catch some more seasonable weather.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Peace.
Aimee

day 1 of 25

December 1st is an extra special day in our family; a celebration of our Lydia Grace's birthday. She came into this world screaming and kept it up for a few months but now, wow, she is such a smart, special girl. I always think it's an extra awesome birthday when your party lands on the actual birth date. Today's extra awesome day included partying with Lydia's favourite dozen or so kids. They were superstars: no fights, no tears just some jolly play in keeping with the season.

We also had the chance to celebrate Grammie Donna's birthday whose actual birthday is this Thursday. What could be better than birthday pie followed the next afternoon by birthday cake. We love both of you ladies very much!

 A photo of Grammie's birthday pie and the best one I got of Elliott all weekend.

 Gifts with Grammie. Watch for that sweater to make another appearance.

 The birthday girl showing off some of her beautiful gifts.

I thought this was a lovely shot of Auntie Candace and Carter.

 I'd say Grammie liked the sweater and what ever Elliott has just passed to her.

Kate and her idol, her cousin Dana. I can't believe the family resemblance in this shot.

Another shot of our pretty and tired Kate.

If we're Facebook friends you probably saw that the kids and I attended the final workout of a friendly, week-long, in-house Crossfit competition between Cody and some of his friends this Saturday. It was a tough, long workout and it seems our kids also got into the spirit. I got this video and wanted to share it because it makes me smile.

So throughout the lands, day 1 of advent calendars is complete. I know my children will not be sharing any of their chocolate treats with me so instead I look forward to sharing many holiday tales with you in the upcoming days.
xo CAKE

keen for Christmas

Some snow finally fell yesterday morning in Moncton and it's like a light went on inside my Christmas self; I officially have the Christmas spirit. In keeping with that spirit I drove by our local Christmas tree lot with the kids and they're currently setting up. They look like they'll meet my scheduled decoration date. We have a couple weekend birthdays on the island, so we're hitting that stand this Friday in order to be ready for a Saturday morning decoration extravaganza! Just in time for December and 25 days of Joyeux Noel. I'm collecting a list of Christmas must-do activities and can hardly wait to start ticking them off.

I think I'm excited because the kids are at the perfect age in order to enjoy all the magic of the season. I put up the outdoor lights last night while they played in the snow. It was perfection. Perfection however, isn't how I would describe Elliott's earlier first visit the mall Santa. He took a good long look and then trucked off to hide behind a column - crouched down in the fetal position. Parent Warning - I took the liberty of explaining to him that this wasn't the real Santa. Just a sort of unfriendly helper that gets his photo taken with the kids. His response, "Good. Why didn't he even say hello to me?" Man kids are in-tune, I didn't like the look of him either.

We are also practicing all the kids' English Christmas carols for next month's Concert. The French ones remain unrecognizable. I for one, can not wait. As an added Concert bonus Kate has been taking ballet lessons at school and will be performing that evening.

Let's get merry!

xo CAKE and a few dozen cookies

reflektive age

Half way through November? Unbelievable. Not much novel going on around here but we are trying to make the most of these last snow-free days. Today was almost balmy as we were able to ditch boots and mitts when playing out of doors.

Since the start of November, Kate has moved to all day Montessori so once again we three are getting used to adjusted schedules and activities. Kate is loving having lunch and recess with her friends then the new afternoon activities at school. Elliott and I are missing her though. Elliott has finally stopped asking me why we forgot Kate at school and I am getting used to being Elliott's constant afternoon playmate.  I'm really learning a different style of play. So far it has consisted mainly of war/death in its various forms:  shark attacks, rogue fire starters, car accidents, elephants attacking airplanes, sword attacks, firing ranges, this afternoon I believe a few of our animals were even thrown in the oven -Hansel and Gretel style. Morose but it sure beats My Little Pony.

We're loving this school year for Kate. She's happy, social and catching on quickly. At parent teacher interviews last week her teacher thought she would be ready to start with some intro readers at home by January. The thought of a child, my child, reading, makes me tear up every time I imagine it. I'm so excited for her. Oh and the stories she told us around their school's Remembrance Day observations were interesting. The other morning she was asking Elliott if he knew who John McCrae was. She went on to explain that he was so famous because he was soldier that wrote a poem Flanders Fields and people loved it so much that he became so famous. She also informed me that men fought in the wars, BUT, women had important roles too. They set up big tents and were nurses to the hurt and dying soldiers. I don't mean to make light of it, but a couple weeks in, as Elliott's playmate, makes it fairly obvious to me why there are so many wars and battles for us to pay remembrance to.

We are still trying to make time for after school visits with friends and getting around town a bit but it's getting harder with the early sunsets and tired little people. Here's a few recent photos.

Girlfriends doing what girlfriends do.

Perfect excess Ruby.

Laurie and Leo out on the court watching the crazy big kids. Note the gun in the little man's hand.

Kate and Ruby glamming for the upcoming holiday party circuit.

My cowboys.

Proudly flying WestJet.

Another Jorgensen war scene.

 Somehow I doubt this will be the only time I see my daughter heading off on a motorcycle.

Elliott's latest obsession, wearing ladies' glasses. I love you man.

A last thought, if you haven't already may I recommend you grab the new Arcade Fire album. It could just put the grand in the weekend we wish you.

XO aj, ej & kj

many miles later

We put on some miles the past three days. Friday after school I drove to PEI in order to drop the kids off with Grammie and the cousins for the weekend. I then turned directly around, packed and picked up Cody in order to travel on to St. John for a Crossfit competition. On Saturday, Cody and his closest CrossFit friends competed in the all day event. As soon as their workouts were done, we climbed/collapsed back into the car and headed for home in order to meet our friends, the Georges, for the WineFest that evening. Early this afternoon,  following a morning of gorgeous leisure, we hit the road again in order to join the kids for dinner at Grammie's where we got to celebrate a belated birthday with our dear Uncle Paul. Whewf. It was a busy weekend but at the same time a gloriously adult one. It's amazing how much or how little can be accomplished without two little people tripping you up.

It's weird how some people say Crossfit it a bit culty.

Cody giving his all on his 38th, 155 pound rear lunge.

An exhausted Cody with his "besties" Guy (the frenchman hanging his head to the right) and Shannon (giggling in the rear).

This last sweet photo was taken at tonight's party: Uncle Paul's four biggest fans blowing out his candles shortly before opening all his gifts. Aren't kids grand!?

Have a wonderful start to November.
I can't believe I'm saying this again but Calgary and area, my condolences on your weather.
Peace out - Aimee

an october 31st for the books

What a grand day we had. The kids smiled and jumped around and talked non stop all day. I love Halloween: the silliness and unbridled adoration for all things bad.

 The school drop off this morning. My new favourite shot of Kate. She loved being a bleached blonde.

Do you think Kate was excited? Especially at pick up when she explained to me that she did "no work all day."

 Home for the afternoon, carving our ten pound pumpkin.

 Kate was an awesome helper cleaning out the guts and separating the seeds.

Showing off some of their loot from their classmates/teacher - vampire teeth for Elliott and green goo for Kate. Those teeth made it into the bathtub tonight and for book time.

And they're off. The first house of Trick or Treating 2013.

 The Halloween classic shot - we get this one annually.

Our handsome Knight. For the records, according to Elliott, "lots of Knights don't wear their helmets. It's okay."

Who can resist a Minion?

Our family's first Jack O' Lantern.

And here's the loot!

Starting to see friends' and families' Halloween shots online and they all look awesome.  Hope everyone had a great day and that no one falls into a sugar coma tonight.

xo CAKE

P.S. Wish Cody luck - he and a couple of his good friends are competing in another Crossfit event this Saturday in St. John. Stay tuned for the hard bodies; I can't wait.