Stop me if you've heard this one before...

What cheese is made backwards?

Edam!

Just a joke to start off with, to break the ice.

And now for a quick catch-up summary since I've been such a slacker.

Ryan's been super busy with school, working at Apple, conducting a Meet the Teacher night, teaching sessions on iPads on Professional Development days in his school district, helping the missionaries out and saying a talk in church.

Jacky's been busy with the Malmo Parent Association with the Annual General Meeting, executive meetings and fundraising, running the Grace Martin Fundraising Society, helping with her first (and probably not last) Casino, attending an Edmonton Cerebral Palsy Association meeting, having a girl's night out with Kathy and working on transcriptions nearly every night.  She also got a new phone and is now addicted to winning at Scrabble and Words With Friends.

Claire's been busy at school, so busy that she falls asleep almost every afternoon!  She's been losing teeth and has a cute little toothless grin.  She had an appointment at the paediatric sleep study clinic and is scheduled for a sleep study sometime in the next YEAR to see why she has such a hard time staying asleep at night.  She's been riding well at Little Bits on her favourite horse, Babe.  She got new AFOs (ankle foot orthotics) and attended Sadie's birthday party!

Madeline's been busy at preschool, where she fit right back into the schedule with her favourite teachers.  She's started taking gymnastics lessons and loves it!  She's a big helper, always eager to go on errands and help around the house.  She's keen on doing art projects - her favourite show is Artzooka.  She attended Hayley's birthday party!

Our family's been busy buying a new car, attending the Atkins golf tournament and our community league bbq, playing at Grandma and Grandpa's garage sale, visiting with friends and surviving daily life!

Here are some {many} pictures to round things out!

Madeline practicing her stance for gymnastics class.

Carefully following instructions.

Trying out her newly acquired gymnastics moves as she jumps into the pool.  (In October!)

Enjoying the hot tub at mom & dad's place after working hard (?) at the garage sale!

Enjoying the summerish weather at one of our local parks.

Claire's lovely smile.  Don't mind my finger clouding the top of the picture.  I was still getting used to my cell phone camera!

Having fun in the bouncy house at Hayley's party.

Claire's Second Day of School!  What a bad mother I am to forget to take a picture inside the classroom on the first day.

Madeline's first day of school!  She doesn't look excited at all.

Madeline getting her face painted at our community bbq.

Enjoying the food and the sounds of the event.

On the way home, we had a race.  This is the face of a sore loser.

The toothless wonder!  Luckily we managed to get the tooth out before she swallowed it.

Ryan dressed as one of the Blues Brothers for his Apple 80s-themed party. 

 A typical outfit of choice for Miss Madeline.

Goodbye Ol' Faithful.

Hello fun, new and totally practical car.  

Madeline enjoys using Claire's specialized equipment as climbing apparatuses/Slurpee-eating platforms.  

Claire enjoying her ride at Little Bits.

We decorated for Halloween before Thanksgiving.  I held out as long as I could!
(This is her "spooky face")

I think the recipe for a successful event is:

Add 1 bouncy castle/house/obstacle course
Stir.

Here is Madeline testing out the theory at the Meet the Teacher night at Claire's school.

We had a quick, yet fun visit with the Thompsons (who really need to buy a house like next door to us already).
The children, much like their parents, enjoy a good Rock Band jam session.

Part of the shrine collecting outside the Apple store in the wake of Steve Jobs' passing.

Since I didn't really take any photos from Thanksgiving, I must first do some photography collection before proceeding to my Thanksgiving post.  Please stand by.

Friggin' June

It went a bit too fast.

Here we are. School's done. Summer's in full swing. We're all a little older, a little wiser.

Speaking of older...

Before:

After:

Both Claire & Madeline finished their school years.

Madeline will move on to the 4 year old class at Malmo Pre-kindergarten, after a wonderful experience in the 3 year old class.

One of Madeline's year-end activities in preschool was a trip to the zoo.

Grandma Patterson accompanied her and they had a wonderful time together.

Claire is going to be in grade 1 in September at Grace Martin.

She'll move up with lots of her friends and we're looking forward to a great year.

We've been very lucky to have wonderful teachers for our kids.

Here is Claire and her entourage. :)

Claire and some of her friends.

Many of them will run to greet her as they can see us coming from our house.

We celebrated Steph's birthday at her place with a great BBQ.

Madeline's always right in there, being helpful.

Val discovered Claire's new favourite way to snuggle.

We were walking home from Auntie Steph's house after the birthday party and crossing a very bumpy street. Madeline was concerned about how rough the road was for Claire's wheelchair. She looked at me and said, "I wish Claire could walk." It's the first time she's ever said something like that. It wasn't said in a mean or a whiny way, but sincerely. I wish that too, Madeline.

Claire is our human pretzel :)

Such a sleepy cutie pie :)

Claire has finished Little Bits for the summer. As she gets bigger, taller and more wiggly, it's harder for the side-walkers to help her sit up straight. We're hoping that she'll be able to continue in the Fall, with reassessment with a physiotherapist to make sure that we're supporting her correctly.

Madeline and the other siblings that come to watch riding are always good sports, finding ways to entertain themselves.

Here the kids were hopping back and forth over the line while running full tilt!

Despite some setbacks at a few lessons, the last two rides of the season were very positive.

Ryan's been having fun with his new ipod and a program called Instagram.

Here are a few pictures he's taken with it. It's a pretty fun program!

Auntie Natalie has been helping out with babysitting a lot lately.

She always comes prepared with exciting crafts and fun toys!

DJ Samurai (a.k.a. Ryan) rocked out the tunes at the year-end Campbelltown Dance.

Guess the theme!

We had a fun time dancing and listening to the music. Claire had some glow in the dark bracelets and a wand that she held onto for most of the night.

Madeline was up on the stage with Ryan nearly the entire dance.

She took her job of twirling the disco ball very seriously.

When she did get down on the floor to dance, she would be moving so fast I couldn't catch her. Here's the best dance picture I could grab.

Madeline said to me, "Mommy, I'm going to marry a handsome boy who doesn't hate the world." Sounds like a plan to me.

Sneaking in one last post before MARCH!

Our kitchen window frosts over when it's really cold. Despite the fact that it means the window isn't sealing properly, it does create quite a beautiful sight.

I haven't been very meticulous about blogging this month. I've also been quite remiss at taking photos. But here's a quick run down of our activities:

We had a successful preschool open house for Malmo. There are a couple of spots left and room on the waiting list if anyone is interested!

The girls have been doing very well in ballet, preparing for their recital.

Claire had a couple of bad ear aches that resulted in a few missed days of school and quite a bit of yuckiness.

Both girls had fun Valentine's day parties at school. They were excited to hand out their cards and were thrilled to get some from their classmates!

Ryan had a successful Teacher's Conference and had lots of fun with Jason and his fellow teachers, including Greg, Val and Nelda!

Claire got checked out at the Glenrose Physical Medicine clinic for her yearly appointment and was a wiggly customer during her back x-ray.

We visited a special school program at Hardisty to see if it might be a good fit for Claire next year. We're still in the process of making a choice as to which environment will be best for her.

Madeline had a fun "Hat Day" at school and got to wear her floppy sun hat with a gorgeous flower on the top.

I had the opportunity to accompany a group of singers for GRIT's Hope & Harmony fundraiser at the Museum. It was lots of fun for a good cause!

Ryan's been very busy at school and at work. He and his young men did a couple of fun videos for one of their activities recently:

Here is their video.

Here is what they looked like while making their video.

We attended Noah's blessing and had a good (but quick!) visit with family and friends.

Seeing Madeline organize her Valentine's Day Smarties made me laugh. I do exactly the same thing whenever I eat candies of varied colour - I organize them first!

Ryan was very thoughtful and got us all roses for Valentine's day - white for me, pink for Claire and red for Madeline.

Daddy daughter dance date

Ryan (a.k.a. DJ Samurai) turned out the tunes at his elementary school dance celebrating Carnaval. Here are the girls enjoying the atmosphere and the music.

Of course Ryan wore his velvet suit and of course Madeline was up on the stage with him almost the entire time. He was a great entertainer for the kids.

Oh ring pops - how I hate thee.

This is one activity we often do on snowy days. Good parenting, hey?

Our happy girls :)

And a few Maddie-isms to round things out:

"Boys stand up to go pee and girls sit down to go pee. They both have different talents."

"I'm allergic to pants."

She was playing with playdough, pretending that she was making supper. I asked what she was making and she said, "Butterflies." When I asked what butterflies taste like, she said, "Like chicken and muffins."