We give thanks....better late than never.

Thanksgiving is a great time of year.  It's a good excuse to get together with family, eat lots of food and reflect on the beauties of life.

This year Madeline and I made some pies and buns to take to our various dinners.  Her favourite part was helping me "clean up" after rolling out the pie crusts.

Here's the product.

And the aftermath.

Lucky for us we had two Thanksgivings.  The first was with the Laytons.

Travis made that cheesecake on the BBQ.  

Everything was magnificently delicious as usual!

We snuck in some chilly family pictures before it got too dark.  It was good to have everyone there!

On Thanksgiving Monday we headed over to Pattersons for our traditional get-together.

Noah is such a cute little man.  One minute he can look just like Stephanie and then the next minute, Greg.  

Madeline enjoyed some time in Uncle Robbie's studio (a.k.a. his room) and you could hear her singing and drumming throughout the whole house.

Noah and Claire got better acquainted by beating each other up.

Maddie, Noah and I played a trio on the piano.

Madeline was feeling a bit under the weather for the long weekend, but still managed to get lots of good hugs in.

Now, before you think we're insane, holding a stick with Melanie's head on it, hear me out (or maybe it's our facial expressions that have you thinking that...).  Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley?  It's a character in a children's book who gets flattened (I know, it's horrific, but cute) and can then travel around the world by mailing himself to his friends.  A long time ago, one of our cousins mailed a "flat" version of herself to another cousin who lives far away.  Since then it's become a silly way for us to include family members in activities when they're not able to be there.

 So here are all the siblings - including Flat Melanie who happens to be in Scotland.  You probably can't see it in the small photo, but we're copying her strange facial expression.  Don't worry, there was a Flat Adam too, since he's in South America.  Our stalwart missionaries.

 It was a great Thanksgiving long weekend, despite the fact that Ryan had to work on the Monday.  We had a lovely time with family and friends and loved the great weather. But...

...it takes a long time to recover from a party weekend like that.

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.

Back to school, back to school (*Sung Adam Sandler style)

Summer is over.  Alas and alack.  Here's how we ended it in our neck of the woods.

We attended a CNIB Year end Picnic and had lots of fun at Rundle Park.

Because the facility caters to people who have disabilities, there are a lot of cool features at the parks, these swings included.  Claire's having more fun than it appears....at least I hope.

Madeline stuck to Dizzy the Clown like glue.
She followed him around as his self-proclaimed assistant.
He was a very good sport and they got to be good friends.

Ryan and I at The Stewarts' house celebrating Brandon's birthday.

Just another example of how Claire can fall asleep any time, anywhere. 

Happy Birthday to Auntie Olivia!
Carrying on the Layton tradition of Shirley Temples and quarter chicken dinners at Swiss Chalet!

Madeline's newest interest is going for rides on the motorcycle with Ryan.
Here she is, all geared up for a drive.

Madeline and Ryan also had a fun daddy-daughter date where they had a yummy breakfast, played at the park and looked at fancy new motorbikes.

Madeline at our favourite new park.

I just had to include this.  Madeline can be a very creative dresser and sleeper.
We'll often find her asleep amidst a pile of pillows/blankets/toys/books.  She'll most often be wearing something other than the pajamas we put her to bed in.  Here's an example.  A sparkly gold sweater paired with sequinned pink spandex.  She also insisted on wearing that outfit several times afterwards.
Maybe those pants will have to be lost.   By accident.  Soon.

The girls and Ryan went on a walk to visit Auntie Steph and Uncle Brandon one day and got caught in the rain.  Luckily Claire helped Madeline out.

A major adventure of the summer was Ryan's trip to PAX in Seattle with a couple of his friends.  

Super cool scenery.

Meeting a Nintendo legend.

And a gaming legend, Morello.

And some pretty crazy stuff along the way.  

He brought home lots of swag, lots of stories and lots of fun pictures.  He was able to see some pretty cool new games and try them out.  He even tried out a new Dance Central Kinect game in front of a large crowd!
We're glad he had such a fun time.

While he was having his adventures, we had a few of our own.  Claire got a fancy new hair cut, courtesy of Grandma and Auntie Natalie.  We also celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Patterson in Wetaskiwin as they marked 30 years of marriage!

We got to see Uncle Rob's band, Pants and Animals play at the agricultural fair in Wetaskiwin.  They did SO well!

Grandma and Claire took in the music from a slight distance in order to maximize enjoyment.

Madeline found a dance partner and they boogied almost the whole set.

While both our husbands/dads were gone to PAX, we had a quick visit from the boys and Kate.  

We had some good fun playing together.

FREEZIES!

Liam and Claire jammed together on the piano.

It was really good to have Daddy home though!

Before school started again we had a few playdates, lots of fun with Lisa,  a swimming trip to the awesome new Terwillegar Pool (which included a fire alarm being pulled!), a final Stake Presidency family party at my parents' house before my dad and his colleagues were released after 10 years of service, Ryan sorting out his classroom and teaching a PD session on iPads, getting taught how to use the sling lift at Claire's school and meeting with her teacher and aide to get prepared for the year, organizing the Malmo Preschool AGM and getting the classroom technologically caught up and all the other little things that come with a new school year in this house.

Claire was extremely happy to start school again.  I couldn't get her to stay very still for a photo!  It's very surreal that my little girl is in Grade 1 this year!  Luckily there are a lot of friends from kindergarten that moved up with her.  It's good to see familiar faces!

Here are all the things we sent to the school for her!  She's got a great teacher, a great aide and a supportive administration.  We're lucky to be where we are.

Ryan's school year has begun and he hasn't had time to catch a breath.  Between working at the Apple store a few evenings a week and Saturdays, getting a new grade organized and planned, being the technology guru at his school and being a great dad and father - he's pretty exhausted!  We're so grateful for all he does.

I've been busy with transcriptions, school meetings, parent meetings and home stuff.

I'm looking forward to hitting our stride, getting in a schedule and buckling down for a great and productive year with only happy surprises in store.  It's worth hoping for, right?!  :)