Cookie Monster!

There's a mouse in our house - no, Sam just figured out how to use a chair and steal cookies! Help yourself!!

Christmas Cheer!

This is an update for all of you wondering whatever happened to that $100 bill that Aidan found last week. The money went unclaimed for a week and the store called us to come and get it. I had previously spoken to the manager about donating the money to charity and he mentioned that they are sponsering a family for the Winnipeg Christmas Cheer Board and if we wanted we could join in with them on that. I asked him if there was any way that I could have my son be part of buying gifts with the money so that he could see where the money was going, better to understand by doing, and he agreed, and that is why the store called us to come and pick up the money. I figured that this was a great life lesson to be learned and I really wanted him to understand all of this.
I explained to Aidan, that last week we didn't have the money and we were happy and this week we didn't have the money and we were happy, so we didn't really need the money and it would be nice to do something nice for someone else. We talked about what Christmas really means and we decided that when your heart feels good, that is what Christmas is about. We talked about how Santa comes to everyone on Christmas Eve, but how he only fills stockings and that parents put presents under the tree. Some parents don't have enough money to put presents under the tree and he would feel pretty bad if he woke up Christmas morning with no presents under the tree to open. We have the opportunity to help someone have a few presents under the tree.

Here is Aidan with the $100 bill.

These are the gifts we bought for the family. The orange package is something from "Fruits and Passions", inside is shampoo, lotion, bubble bath and perfume, for the mom. The monopoly game is for the family. The family consists of a single mom with 4 children, there are 2 boys age 11, a boy age 13 and a girl age 15.

On the way home, after dropping off our gifts at the store, Aidan said, "When can we do the Cheer Board again, Mommy?" I asked him why he wanted to do it again, he said "it made my heart feel good!"

Lesson learned!

Breakfast with Santa

This is the Prairie Dog Central Train. We took the kids on an adventure today. It included the train ride and breakfast with Santa! They were so surprised when we told them where we were going today!

This is the locomotive that pulled us, it was built in 1958.Here is the caboose, complete with wreath on the back.

The family at the beginning of the trip. It is about a 50 min train ride to Warren from the station.

Santa arrives and chats with every child before we got to Warren.

We got off the train in Warren and walked about 50m to the town hall, where we had a nice, hot breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, coffee, hot chocolate, and juice.

The kids with Santa, Sam was impressed!

The conductor with Aidan and Ben.

Our coach, #105. It was built in 1901, it is 107 years old, and entirely made of wood. It creaked and rocked, it was hard not to fall asleep on the way back. I can't imagine taking a coach like that across the country, it was a tight squeeze for the knees. My grandparents probably travelled this way when they came from England and went from Halifax to Alberta.

The volunteers are in the process of restoring this old steam engine, built in 1886. It will so neat when they are finally done and have it running. We will have to go back for a ride on that one! It looks just like the Polar Express steam engine. The boys loved it and Chris has an open invitation anytime to go back and help work on it if he wants - they are always looking for volunteer.

It was a good day!!

I Have To Brag!

OK, so there are no pictures with this one. We went to the mall tonight for the kids to see Santa and have their picture taken with the "Big Man"! When we were leaving through the bookstore, McNally's, Aidan found some money on the floor. He handed it to me and I realized it was a$100 bill!! He said to me "Hey, I found some money, we have to find who lost it!" I told him how much money it was and his eyes got really big. We found a store manager and handed the money over to him. He looked at us in surprise that we were actually turning the money over. "It's the right thing to do", I said and he grabbed hold of me and gave me a huge hug and thanked us for being so honest, he shook Aidan's hand and wished us a Merry Christmas. He told us that he would put an email out to their clients and took our name and number because he felt that if they found the person, they should call us and thank us.

Chris was putting Aidan to bed tonight and told him how proud he was about turning in the money and Aidan's reply was "it would have been wrong to keep it"! We are so proud of him!!!

Joe's Hibiscus

This is Chris' dad's hibiscus. We brought it home after he died last year. Everytime it blooms I believe that Joe is looking down on us. I even made Chris a believer of this too because there were jsut too many coincidences when it bloomed. First, it bloomed the day of Joe's funeral, it bloomed next on his birthday (Joe's), next if bloomed the day Sam was born and again the day we brought Sam home. It bloomed 3 weeks later when Sam was baptized. It bloomed at other various times whenever we seemed to need a reminder that Joe was not hear anymore but not gone from out lives. It is very comforting.

My sister Melissa has custody of the plant right now because we couldn't get it to Winnipeg without killing it or having it confiscated at the border while driving. It has actually never looked better, she is doing a great job of caring for it. She sent me this picture of it blooming. She calls me everytime it blooms to let me know that Joe is thinking of us!

Christmas Stockings

This is the stocking that started it all! My mom made this for me when I was very little. It's the best because the back is made of velour and is VERY stretchy. Santa could fit lots of stuff in it!!

Each stocking my mom made for the kids has something unique to them on it. Some we had to design ourselves, like the trains on Aidan stocking, I drew for mom.

Ben loved watching Gramma making his stocking. He asked her to put his name in green and then wanted colored dots on his, "like Mommy's". My mom designed the "mightly machines" for the little mighty machine lover. He loves this sock. He even wanted to sleep with is when it arrived in the mail this week.

Sam's sock is unique for him too, he has the rocking horse, which my dad made him a real one this summer. All the stockings have santa and snowmen on them in some way. Sam doesn't really know what to expect yet with all the decorations. We are slowly putting things out so that it is not so overwhelming for him and he can (hopefully) learn what he can and can't touch. Who knows we may not have any ornaments on the tree below 3 feet this year!!!

And this is the stocking that I made for Chris the year before we were married. I keep telling him he'll have to get one that matches the rest of ours, but he won't have it, he loves it because I made it - such a good man!!

These Feet Were Made for Walking!!!

Here is Sam finally caught on camera, walking. He is getting quite good. And yes, I know there is a soother in his mouth - it keeps him from screaming. Don't worry he will mysteriously loose it when he turns 2! But he's walking!! Hurray! He is so proud of himself and he loves to snuggle.

Toothless!!

Aidan had a loose tooth. He wiggled and wiggled and wiggled it until finally on Thursday, Nov 27 it fell out at school. He was so excited to greet me at the end of the day and to show me his right of passage. His best friend, Brady, also lost the same tooth that day too, so they were both very excited that the tooth fairy was going to see them that night.
Here is Aidan showing off his wiggly tooth. Luckily we didn't need any string or a door nob - right Uncle John!!
Here he is showing off his missing tooth. The tooth fairy came and brought him $2, he was quite happy with that, especially when I told him that when I was a little girl, she brought me a quarter!!

Handsome Boys

Here they are, sporting their new dos.

Curls Be Gone!

So I did it!!! I cut off the curls! He was starting to look like a wild-haired child and Chris really wanted him to have a hair cut. So we gave all three a hair cut on Thurs night in the bathroom. Sam was the last and the most dramatic change. I think he looks pretty darn handsome though. For the past two days he has been rubbing his head wondering where his hair went!! He's too cute!!!

Sadly, they are related to me!!

These are my GOONS! Ben and Aidan were having fun making faces as they were looking at themselves in the view finder. They are too cute. Sam is trying to get up on the couch and you can see/hear how he communicates!!! I need words!

Caught on Camera!

Sam has started standing up by himself and is quite the tough little guy. He stands up and falls down and gets right back up again. He's quite proud of himself!! We also caught him taking a step. Also seen in this video is Ben doing his laps around the house!!

Sam is a ham!!

Sam getting ready to stand up.

HURRAY!!!! I DID IT!!! LOOK AT ME!!!!

Sam in his new jammies! Doesn't like the hat though! He needed new warm PJ's because he keeps waking up in the night when he's uncovered. I want a night's sleep uninterrupted!!!

Having Fun

Boy and their toys! Ben had been begging for some help to build a track, so both Aidan and Daddy obliged! The only rule was that the track was contained to the carpet. It was quite the work of art when they were done!!! Ben has been playing for it for 3 days! He even closes his door so Sam can't destroy it - oh how the tables have turned - it wasn't too long ago that Ben was destroying tracks that Aidan had built!!

Another BIG First for Sam!!

I don't have a picture to accompany this post, but Sam walked for the first time last night!!! He was helping me put laundry in the dryer and I told him to close the door for me. He did and then was left standing on his own, I don't think he realized he was standing all by himself. And before I could say anything he took about 4 steps over to the dryer to bang on the window!! I was so happy, I congratulated him loudly and Chris heard me and came running down to see (he figured what I was cheering about). We could only get him to take 1 or 2 steps between us. BUT HE WALKED!!!!!! Now if we could just get him to talk!!

Open and Closed

Here is a little clip of Sam performing for me. He's so smart!! And you just have to love those curls!!!

We See White Stuff!!!!

It has finally happened, winter has flown in Winnipeg. We are thankful it waited until after Halloween!! We woke up yesterday morning to the ground covered in the lovely white stuff. The kids were quite excited! It was a really easy morning to get Ben up and going, we just showed him the snow and told him he had to get dressed so he could go out in it! He was quite cooperative!
The boys looking out the window at the snow. Aidan was excited because he got to wear his new winter jacket and new boots. Sam I think just wanted to see what the big brothers were checking out, just happy to be part of the crowd!
Chris is actually smiling in the picture, we'll see if he's still smiling in a month. I love having the garage because at least one car is clean.

Ben checking out the snow. He came home from daycare and wanted to go out and play in the backyard, so we bundled him up and put his snow pants on and he was out there for about half an hour by himself exploring the yard and the playstucture. He loved it!! He only came in once to get me to make a snow ball for him. The snow is not the kind for making snowmen here, so I had to get my hands cold and make him one with heat from my hands! The things we do for our kids!!

Trick or Treat!

Our first Halloween in Winnipeg was a huge success! The weather was mild, for Winnipeg, so we told everyone that we brought Nova Scotia weather with us! We all got dressed up into our costumes right after supper and the boys were really excited to get going.

The Culligan's all decked out and ready for Trick or Treating! I was "Miss Diagnosed", Ben was Buzz Lightyear, Chris a "scary" monster, Sam was Eeyore, and Aidan was Darth Vader.

Aidan and Chris went out some more after I brought Sam and Ben home. Apparently, while Aidan was going door-to-door, people were commenting that he was out with his dad. His reply was, "Who that guy, I don't know who he is, he just started following me!" To which he got a few puzzled looks! Great sense of humour!! That's my boy!!

Sam's New Duds

Here is Sam in his new duds. These were hanging on our door yesterday, dropped off by my good friend Kim's mom. Kim is in Germany and sent this outfit for Sam - thank you so much Kim!! You can't go wrong with Thomas! He's adorable! Although Chris says he needs a haircut, but I don't want to loose those beautiful curls!!!

Halloween Cookies

What would Halloween be like if we didn't have some scary cookies to decorate and eat! My mom always made cookies on special holidays and I have fond memories eating them. The recipe is the same, but the decorators were not. I turned the kids loose with ziplock bags full of colored icing. Of course I didn't have any red, so we didn't get any orange pumpkins.

Aidan and Ben so very proud of their creations. Actually you don't see any of Ben's cookies because he ate them as soon as he was done decorating them! They both did a really good job though and even Chris got in on some decoratiing.

Show me your scary face!!!!

Halloween Howl October 24, 2008

Haloween was brought to the local YMCA for frightful fun for families. The kids, and some adults, dressed up. They had the giant 3-story play structure all decorated and lit with glow sticks. The gym was set up in stations. They had candy on the rock climbing wall, a glow-stick ring toss, put your hand in the pumpkin and guess what you are touching, pumpkin carving, costume realy, TP a mummy, and the pirate ship bouncer. The kids had so much fun, and it was really well run. When the kids left they got a really nice treat bag.

Darth Vader, Buzz Lightyear and little Woody!

See what happens when you turn kids loose with a bunch of TP!!!

Fall Leaves

Fall has arrived in Manitoba. I sure do miss the trees and all of the colors of the trees in Nova Scotia. There aren't any Red Maples, and not many trees at all for that matter, so there isn't much red in the fall landscape. However, the sky seems to be endless, you can see for miles and miles. Very different than Nova Scotia. We are enjoying Winnipeg so far. We'll let you know how great it is after a winter here!!

We have a really nice big tree out front that has some small leaves on it. The kids were excited to rake up the leaves in a big pile so they could jump in them.

This is the best picture I could get of the 3 boys!! The youngest is the challenge! Sam just wanted to crawl around the yard!

Aidan's turn with the rake!

Now it's Ben's turn! "This rake is too heavy!!" But he had to get every single leaf in the pile!


Aidan had fun throwing the leaves in the air! Sam laughed and Ben was mad because the leaves went down his jacket!

Aidan