Let it snow let it snow let it snow....

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is sooooo delightful (or something like that. I forget the words.) It is snowing!!! 2 days after Steve got the rink all set up so it was perfect timing. The kids are excited to go skating and tobogganing. We have the fireplace on pretty well all day and night now because we LOVE the coziness of the fire and well....we're cheap and it keeps the furnace off.

I'm most excited for Christmas time! Almost have my shopping all done. Just Kylie and Chelsea left now. We listen to Christmas carols in the van (yes I will be sick of them I'm sure by NOVEMBER 25th). We're having Glen and Jess and kids over for a cozy day of eating and game playing. Will see if grandma wants to join us for an early meal.

Look at how Chelsea fell asleep. She really is sound asleep. Snoring and everything. My little baby is getting better in some ways and worse in others when it comes to her attachement issues. She is now getting a wee bit shy with her daddy which is not good!!! However, I can put her on the floor in a crowd of people, and as long as nobody touches her she's fine. At least I don't have to hold her all the time. She's learning a few signs like milk, and when I say "p.u. you stink." she pinches her nose. Cute. Love all my girls to bits.

Here are the preschool pictures I ordered of Abby. I was looking at Abby's baby pictures as I work on her pregnancy - kindergarten scrapbook and her and Chelsea are identical!! I am learning they are also very very similar in personality. So this should be interesting. We have 2 fairly easy going kids and 2 very shy and sensitive kids! Hmm.... Abby starts swimming lessons tomorrow. This will be the 3rd time we've done this level. The first time Abby wouldn't put her face in the water, and the second time the teacher didn't get through the list of stuff to do in time and so failed everyone. I was not impressed. So we're back to the trileisure center and we'll see how it goes. Kylie starts next Monday. Only 1 more week until the most insanely busy month of the year. Sigh....

I didn't order very many of these. They were way too expensive. Hayley's school picture proofs should come in a few weeks.

I think Steve is a little more stressed about his job than he lets on. He dreams about it every night so it must be on his subconscious somewhere. He even asks me questions when he's half asleep like I'm one of the guys on site. It's so funny. I just give some answer that sounds like I AM one of the guys. Heehee. Oh well.....he loves that the project is something other than relacing windows!!! This is what he wants to do all the time I think. Brand new commercial construction. It'll be an interesting winter. As long as there are trades on site he'll be outside. Otherwise he's in his little tin shack trying to keep warm.

Well I think everyone is waking up so I better go! Happy days everyone. Keep warm.

Just me....

....rambling about nothing. I actually have one small complaint these days and I promise to never complain about it ever again. Just need to spit it out. My husband has a great job, great boss, works hard so I can enjoy every moment with my rugrats. The issue? We never see him and we hate that. He leaves at 6:30 and gets home at 7 (at the earliest). Gotta admit it's not good for me or the kids and we miss rarely seeing him. That being said....he works so hard for us and he's a wonderful husband and father so we manage.

Nothing else is new. This next month is filled with school, swimming, piano, go to bed and do it all over again the next day type days. Chelsea has spent the last week refusing to eat anything but her bottles, bread, and crackers. She also cried unless I'm holding her. She's either sick or going through a really annoying stage. Oh well. Can you believe she's 13 months old?!!! Me either!! In 3 years I will be all alone at home 2 days a week. Hmm....then I will wish for days that are extremely busy I'm sure.

My supper is ready so I guess this is going to be a short one.

Love you all. Have very happy days.

Love Steve, Jen, and their babies.

KANANASKIS 2010!!!

We just got home from the best 5 days of my entire year. I DREAD getting back into real life. Last year, it was cold and we had at least a foot of snow on the ground. The winter came so quick that the leaves didn't even change color so it was a pretty sad outdoor experience. This year, the fall came and went a few weeks early so there wasn't too much in the form of pretty colors, but the weather was GORGEOUS!!!! I will take you on a pictoral journey though our long weekend.

This was what we woke up too every morning. Nothing like the sun rising on the mountains out your patio door. What a view.

When we got there, Steve had to do a minor toilet repair and Chelsea thought she'd help out. It was too funny to not take a video.

She also thought she'd help unpack our food!

Anyhow, we left on Friday after Steve's breakfast meeting (which means we left about lunch time) and we got there at 4ish. This hotel has the best customer service. They greet you at the door, escort you to the desk and say "Mr. Campbell is here to check in." Then they ask Mr. Campbell if he needs any help with his bags, and they give the kids all a bag with 3 different games and some fun stuff in it. Steve is also the pro at asking for free stuff so he asked if they had any breakfast vouchers. They are allowed to give you 2 so we got free breakfast 2 days out of 4. The breakfast is anything you could ever want. They have an omlette station, hot and cold cereal, toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, french toast, fruit....YUM! Steve and I usually bring breakfast and lunch since meals are pricey. Our suppers are about 50$ and that is with all our kids eating free since they are 6 and under.

Here's Kylie excited to get her bag. Yes that is nasty carpet :)

The resort was built for the 1988 winter olympics and the main lodge hasn't been renovated so it's pretty dated, but that's okay. We usually stay in Mount Kidd which is the newest building, but for our size of family and late booking, this was all they had left. The hotel has 400 some rooms and they were at 90% capacity! That being said, it never felt crowded. The pool was never busy, and any time we went to the new indoor play area we were the only ones there. Here are some photos of our loft suite.

Our kids don't have TV at home....can ya tell? They could've stayed here the whole time!!

On Saturday Steve surprised me by booking me an hour long massage!! That was amazing! While I did that he took the kids to the new playroom. Then we made candy indian corn, did the pool thing, went for a short walk, had supper and went to a magic show!

Indian corn... which consists of 3 rice crispy squares mushed together, candy, and fruit-by-the-foot for the ears.

At the play area you can play with the magnetic wall....

color a picture....

Play in the playhouse (or attempt to break your neck...)...

Play games....

or watch a kids movie on the HUGE TV

On Sunday we had a little study, then we attempted to hike a new trail that nearly killed me. It was uphill both ways FOR SURE and rough terrain...I don't know how the kids managed to do it. Guess they aren't lugging around as much weight as their old mom! We did get a nice family picture though as seen at the top of this blog entry (excuse Kylie. She was a disaster.) We also did more of the pool thing, carved pumpkins, and played in the playroom, etc... Then....THE BEST 3 COURSE THANKSGIVING DINNER EVER!!! I was sooooo full I felt sick the rest of the night!!

The kids really did enjoy it even though their faces are saying "we're totally bored."

Can you tell that Kylie found the candy jar? Her cheeks are FULL!

My little pumpkin patch kids. At night they light these up and you get free hot chocolate while you stand outside looking at all the cool pumpkin designs.

Our view on the easy trail.

This is about all the wildlife we saw until we left and then we saw some deer and some mountain sheep with babies.

On Monday night we brought our supper to the playroom (we didn't think anyone would mind as by Monday everyone had gone home and there were only 40 of the 400 some rooms occupied) and had movie night. An awesome ending to a perfect holiday. Now.....when can I go back???!! I hear they have Santa coming for Christmas bringing presents, and sleigh rides and skating and tobogganing......sigh....all I want for Christmas....another holiday please.

Now the next blog might be a bit slow coming as I adjust to real life once again. Meeting here tomorrow night. Busy busy.

Love The Campbells.

ps. PLEASE COME JOIN US HERE SOME YEAR!! WE'D LOVE YOU TO EXPERIENCE OUR THANKSGIVING TRADITION! THIS WAS OUR 7TH YEAR! although I think we missed 1 year in there somewhere.