A copious plethora of daily depictions*

*Lotsa pics

Madeline attended a friend's birthday party with a magician, airbrushed tattoos, potato sack races, games, lots of food and tons of fun. Us preschool parents often joke about how each birthday party gets more and more elaborate and that it will soon be out of control!

We celebrated Nelda and Angela's birthday with a fabulous turkey dinner at Olivia and Rob's. We've also had a lot of help from Travis and Natalie in doing electrical work around our house. We're lucky to have such talented and generous siblings!

Friends of ours were evacuated for a long while after the fire in Slave Lake. We were lucky enough to see them a lot while they were staying with family here. Thankfully their home wasn't burned and they've been able to return.

Despite the uncertainty of displacement, we had a wonderful long, long weekend.

Here's Claire's new "elevator" in action, as we left to go to Galaxyland.

Claire loves the rides and the sounds.

Madeline was only a little bit excited.

Luckily Ryan is tall and strong so he can wrangle Claire onto the carousel because she does love it!

We also spent a morning at the waterpark. One of these days I want to go there without kids so I can actually go on some big slides! We did have lots of fun though. :)

We also spent lots of fun time outdoors.

Until the kids finally got the hang of doing it on their own, Ryan was the designated slip n' slider.

A summer weekend with friends wouldn't be complete without Blizzards, right?

Our swingset always gets good use when friends come to visit. :)

I'd like to thank Ryan for including the smokies in this picture. It's a good way to document the candidness of life.

Group photo! We're lucky to have such great friends! I wish we could see everyone more often.

Claire's class had a field trip to the Royal Alberta Museum and they got to explore different stations that depicted things about spring. Here she is, working on a puzzle with Miss Amanda and Logan.

One of her favourite parts of the museum is the Wild Alberta gallery. The lighting is perfect for her visual attention and there are parts of the exhibit that she can touch. She was having a really fun time exploring!

I love her sweet smiles, even when she's punching me in the throat.

Madeline's preschool is nearly over for the year. We took a community walk to observe traffic signs as part of their safety unit. We miraculously ended up at Hayley's house where there was a picnic blanket for snack and a popsicle treat. There was also a pretty cool play space. :)

Playing all day long can be very tiring.

We had our year-end preschool carnival and it was a big success and lots of fun!

Part of the carnival was the bike-a-thon fund raiser. Here is Madeline pedalling away. She did a great job!

Luckily my mom came to be with the girls so I could help out with the games and the cash table as part of my preschool exec duties. (Every time I use the word "duty" I think of this movie - skip to 0:50 to hear the part)

The girls always love spending time with Grandma Patterson and Grandpa even came at the end to hang out for a bit!

Here's me and my crazy girls.

Madeline and Claire both enjoyed the carnival games a lot!

Dizzy the clown is there every year and the balloon animals are always a big hit! Madeline requested a photo with him and he was so kind as to oblige.

We've been trying to get things sorted for Claire's grade 1 year. It's quite a process and as a parent, I'm constantly questioning if the choices we're making are the best ones. I think every parent struggles with this responsibility, but in Claire's case the burden feels a bit heavier because her needs are so complex. I am encouraged by the open communication we've established with the school. The principal and I are going to observe a student with similar needs at another school who has had a lot of success with inclusion. I hope the experience will point us in the right direction for making Claire's school career as meaningful as possible!

I had a couple of fun girls' nights recently. Kathy introduced me to the world of Moxie's appetizers and we've made big plans for turning 30 next year! (THIRTY! ACK! GAH!) I got to see Little Women at the Citadel with my sisters, mom and Val as a Christmas present from dad. It was a beautiful production!

Ryan's been extremely busy with work and work. :) He attended a neat Google workshop for educators yesterday and continues to be a really positive influence in his school.

As we head toward the end of the school year, the days will be even busier! I shall try to be more timely with my posts. :)

P.S. This morning I woke up with curly hair. It was odd.

Anyone remember "Newsies"?

I watched Newsies a fair amount of times as a teenager. There was a lot of eye-candy in that movie, plus the songs were rather inspiring. Anyway, sometimes when I blog I feel like one of those kids yelling on the street, "Extry extry, read all about it!" So here's our news.

This week has been quite a blur. Ryan was away from home every night with Apple, school or church activities. He's exhausted and trying to get over feeling under the weather. The launch of the iPad 2 was pretty fun for his store! He also participated in his school's fine arts showcase.

I attended a parent council meeting at Claire's school, at which I was the only parent not on the executive. Sometimes you don't realize, until you get involved, how much work goes on in these volunteer positions. It's so important to support your kids' schools and your community leagues!

I also got to visit Claire's class to observe how things are going. She has a great group of kids and wonderful supports in her class. As we begin to plan for grade 1, it's going to be a whole new ballgame in terms of support and funding. It's a little scary to be on the cusp of something unfamiliar, but we're glad to have the support of the administration for her to attend there.

We had our last Ballerina Dreams class on Saturday. Although it's been fun (and we're looking forward to their recital next week!) it will be nice to not spend our Saturday afternoons going to St. Albert and back!

The girls and I and Auntie Natalie went to a Charlotte Diamond concert. It's fun to share some favourite childhood songs with your own children.

Claire got us some posh seats, right at the front of the stage. :)

As I was walking her to the front, I realized just how steep an incline there was and how strong people must be who have to propel themselves in such situations.

Claire enjoyed it so much!

I loved this picture of her!

Madeline has many roles in our family. In a lot of ways, she's like the oldest child because she often takes care of her sister and includes her in things. She's also our baby. I enjoy these little moments where she shows such love for Claire.

We call Claire our little pretzel because she can so easily contort herself. It's actually quite a lucky thing because many kids that have movement disorders suffer from muscle tightness.

Ryan and I used our last Oilers tickets for this season. Neither one of us has ever seen them win a game live, and both feel that we are some kind of jinx.

Oh, what a heartbreaker of a game! They were up by 3 and let the lead go to lose in a shootout, 5-4. At least we had the fun of going crazy and cheering with the masses for 4 goals. It was fun, especially while we had the hope of winning!

We have tons of icicles forming off the eaves of the house as things begin to melt. Ryan pulled this one off the front and both the girls had fun playing with it.

The last day before Spring break started, Claire's school had "Crazy Hair Day." Those of you who know Claire know that many of her typical days could qualify under that category, but here's what we did for her that day.

Madeline's been enjoying the spoils of her birthday. We've been slowly opening up new toys in hopes that she'll appreciate them more and lose less pieces. She really enjoys being artistic and does surprisingly well at keeping things neat.

In other news, we've had two nights in a row with Miss Madeline wearing "big girl underwear" to bed and keeping things nice and dry.

Often I'll tease the girls about getting too big and growing too fast and demand that they stop! Madeline will always giggle and say, "Mom, we're not going to listen to you! We will keep growing!" Luckily though, she informs me that they'll still be my babies, even when they're old. :)

Obligatory Holiday Recap Post COMMENCE

We've had a very busy holiday "break." It's never really a break from activity, rather a shift in location and schedule.

We started out by celebrating Rob's birthday. We got to visit in their home and eat some yummy food and play games.

Madeline is helping Daddy make crepes at the party. We had both savoury and sweet crepes and they all turned out really well. Ryan is the crepe master.

Rob & Olivia's house is lovely. Notice Broc and his perfect timing, blocking Rob's face. I wish I were better at photoshop to fix that up.

After cramming in some last minute shopping and trying to leave our house as clean as possible (I hate going away and coming home to a messy house), we headed out to Wetaskiwin on Christmas Eve.

We began the yearly traditions with bowling. It's always a fun time and I think we may have started a trend. It was busier this year than ever before.

We even got bowling shirts this year, courtesy of Jim.

Ryan, subtly flexing.

The manly men, off to fight a war, laser-style.

Claire loves the sounds of bowling and she did really well on her turns!

After our hours at the alley, we headed to my parents' house for a Chinese food dinner, reading the Christmas story and opening our annual Christmas Eve gift of PJs. There was less structure for the night this year, due to some people feeling under the weather, but it was nice to have a low-key evening together.

Enjoying the hot tub.

Grandma and one of Santa's Little Helpers. Mom got both the girls these little aprons and they're very cute!

Yay for pyjama pictures in front of the tree! Ryan got me the softest PJ pants in the world. THE WORLD, I tell you.

The night was a little rough. Madeline and I slept pretty well, but Ryan and Claire did not. I guess they were both too excited. :)

Despite the lack of sleep, Claire was very happy in the morning!

We all got spoiled, as usual.

Madeline and Claire both had a very "Princess-y" Christmas this year!

We got to spend time with both families which is always nice.

Auntie Angela is feeling much better and we're all glad!

We're so lucky to get two Christmases!

We spent a fun day out at Sheila's place for Boxing Day. It's a tradition we really love. I'm sure someone took pictures, but I completely forgot. Let's just say there was a lot of good food, family and visiting. The kids got along very well and had multitudes of tea parties all over the house, much to Uncle Don's chagrin.

All that happened in only our first week of holidays. There was much more to come.

Next came Natalie's birthday!

We had fun at Natalie and Travis' house, where we were introduced to the intoxicating game world of Kinect. Madeline and Broc were the pros!

Then it was Ryan's turn to get older. He turned 30 on December 30th.

While the boys went to a movie, I got to play with the girls and Cairo. It was a fun time. We had a "light party" in Claire's room, where we turned off all the lights and played with all her light-up toys.

The kids got along very well and Madeline really took Cairo under her wing. It was fun to watch. :)

Later that evening we had a Hawaiian party for Ryan. It was nice and cheesy, with fun decorations, Hawaiian name tags, leis and beach music. :)

Because we were so taken by the Kinect at the last birthday party, we had to go cash in some birthday money and gifts cards to get one of our own. It was a big hit at the party.

I found cool sparklers for the cake - 3 - 0.

We also used some Christmas money to cash in on a great deal for new appliances for the kitchen. They were supposed to arrive early on Ryan's birthday, but didn't end up coming until after 930pm! Luckily we had Travis and Natalie to help unpack and install everything.

Now we just need a new microwave to match. :)

Madeline was counting the magnets on the new fridge and she got all the way up to twenty. It's the first time she's done it without help so I asked her, "How do you count so high?!" She replied, "I just go on my tippy toes." :)

Our last round of festivities revolves around New Year's Eve. We spent a nice day out at my family's house, napping, watching movies, eating yummy food, playing games, going in the hot tub, enjoying the fireworks from the neighbours yard and counting down to 2011. It was fun. :)

I love holding Claire while she sleeps. It's pretty much the only time she stays still and you don't have to watch out for flying elbows...haha.

Madeline kept asking Grandma where the "pearls" were. It took a while to figure out she meant "curlers," the little foam ones that you roll up in your hair and then sleep in. She kept them in for about 15 minutes. That's almost a record for hair implements though, so we're making headway.

Dad and Claire enjoying some nice hugs.

Luckily Claire has a patient and talented Grandma and Aunty Natalie who cut her hair when it needs a serious detangling intervention. It usually only takes four people to tame the mane. It started out with Grandma having Claire in a leg lock of sorts, Mommy trying to hold Claire's torso still, Auntie Mel distracting her with balloons and Auntie Natalie doing the cutting in quick spurts. The next day, Grandma cleaned up the edges and styled it a bit. Here's her cute new look!

We had a lovely New Year's Day meal. Ryan was hard at work in the busy Apple Store so we missed him. :(

This picture is for Auntie Val. She gave Madeline a Rice Krispie baking set for Christmas and we have put it to great use. We had a lot of fun making these...and we used a lot of sprinkles. I guess those two things DO go hand in hand.

I can't believe it's back to "real life" tomorrow. Trudging through the snow to get to school, scheduled waking times, getting dressed before 10am, packing lunches, assignments, meetings, etc. etc. I'm sure we'd get sick of holidays after a while but it's sure hard to say goodbye to them sometimes.