PRINCE!!!

Just a quick blog about my early birthday gift...Dianna and I are going to see PRINCE!!! As you can tell, I am beyond excited!  He is coming to Calgary December 14.  Going to have to download some PRINCE songs now.  Poor Chris...all he's going to hear for the next month is PRINCE music and me nattering about how excited I am to be going! LOL

A Recap of the Past Year.

Lots happened to us in the past year plus.  Chris's company merged and because it was a 50-50 merger, Chris was offered a buy out.  We took it since the future of film is going digital and after being with the same company for ever 10 years, it was time for Chris to move on.  We enjoyed our summer together and figured that Chris would get a job come fall and we could enjoy the rest of the buy out.  Well as we learned, things don't always go as planned.  Chris was getting  interviews but always seemed to be runner up.  We thought it would be best if he went back to school to get some extra education to go along with his work experience.  After over a year of looking, Chris got his job at SNC Lavalin.  He works downtown and is enjoying the job.  He still needs to finish up his courses to get his certificate and has been getting A's.  He's a smart boy:)  Chris has loved being back in the classroom and has been working hard for his high grades.  His last course he ended up working in a group with some people who didn't feel it was important to work hard at the presentation and it ended up being most of Chris's work.  I'm proud of him, going to school and working full time makes for a busy life but he is handling it very well.
Some of the other changes that happened while Chris was looking for the right job was that I ended up going back to work.  I ended up working for 6 months at EFW Radiology.  Worked with a great bunch of people and still keep in contact with some of them.  It was a rough 6 months not being home with the kids but we all got through it.  Some weeks were better then others.  It was nice to have a break from 24/7 kids but I did miss being at home with them and being able to enjoy their company and not feel so rushed to jam in a week worth of fun into 2 days.  I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom and am happy to be back.

All dressed up for his big interview!

Valentine's play date

Yesterday we were at Toys R Us and career barbies were on sale so Katie and I were chatting and I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said a princess.  I'm not surprised since she was dressed up as Rapunzel, crown and all:)  She had some bday money left over and we went to the Disney Store and she picked out a Rapunzel stuffie, a Rapunzel dress, 2 t-shirts and Pascal stuffie.  She also picked out some xmas gifts for Kyle from her.  Speaking of xmas, we have started our shopping in oct.  I love starting early and really do enjoy buying for the kids.  Katie is getting a "hot toy" of the year.  The Leappad Explorer.  We also got her the Tangled game.  In case you didn't know, Katie has a bit of a thing for Rapunzel.  Kyle is getting some Hot Wheels stuff, cars, books and some other things but not sure what his big gift will be. Some of the pictures are a year old.

Halloween 2011

I loved Halloween as a kid but find I LOVE it even more as a mom.  The kids were just soooo cute this year.  Katie had preschool and they had a party that day.  She had planned on being Rapunzel all day but after seeing the super cute witch costume I had for her, she decided to be the witch during the day and Rapunzel at night.  Kyle was a vampire during the day and a monkey at night.  I even got a picture of him with the teeth and it is beyond cute!
We carved our first pumpkins for the first time in I don't know how many years but it was a lot of fun.  The kids enjoyed it too.
Chris did his own make up for the night and did he ever look great!  Sort of shocked the kids at first and made a friend of Katie's not sure what to think of him.  I was so happy and proud that he took the time to do that for the kids.  I was a princess too.  Who would've thought that your wedding dress would come in handy so many times;)
Kyle and Katie loved the trick and treating so much this year.  I always had to slow her down or else she would've been 2 houses ahead of her brother.  Kyle loved it but was a bit slower then his sister.
We are all looking forward to next year!

Katie's 4th Birthday

My little princess turned 4 in October.  Seriously, why does it have to go by so fast????
I had told Katie at the beginning of October that I wasn't ready for her to grow up and at least every couple days she would ask me "mommy, are you ready for me to grow up now?"  So cute!  I have to say, I see so many similarities in Katie and me.  We both LOVE our birthdays!  This child never stopped talking about it.  Everyday we had to talk about it and 2 weeks before the big event she would tell random people when her birthday was.  Very cute.  She had school the morning of her bday and there was a field trip to the library that I got to volunteer for since Chris had the day off.  Chris and Kyle got to hang out at one of their favorite hang outs...Tim Hortons:)  I got to spend the morning with my big birthday girl.  Then home for a quick lunch since she was having her Rapunzel Birthday Party that afternoon.  Katie got a lot of Rapunzel stuff for her birthday and played the princess part perfectly that day:)  I wore my wedding dress because if you weren't dressed as a princess, you weren't allowed in.  The boys went out for the afternoon and 5 of Katie's princess friends came for a fun party 

The kids decorated cupcakes and had a tea party.  After that we went downstairs so that Katie could open up her gifts.  She got a really cool Barbie house and loves it plus some other fun stuff.  We decided since Katie isn't a fan of cake but just the icing that we would get her a DQ cake.  She loved it!!  Especially since it had her picture on there with Rapunzel:)  It was such a pretty cake that it was hard to cut into it but it sure was yummy. 
That night we had Katie's favorite...homemade pizza!  She had a great birthday and really enjoyed all the fun activities for the day.  

Kyle's 2nd Birthday

My little Kyle turned 2 in September.  Very bittersweet:(  He is just growing up way to fast!  We had his birthday party the sunday before his birthday at Genesis Place.  He had a good time and enjoyed being with all of his little friends.  His big gift from a lot of people was a ride on motorcycle!!  Lucky boy:)
Here are some pictures of his party and the cake I made him.  The theme was Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  He got A LOT of hot wheels that day;)

For Kyle's actual birthday we went to TRU and he got some new toys with his bday money and we had lunch at Boston Pizza.  Lucky boy also got an ice cream cake from DQ.  Sooo yummy.  Katie was so tired from the festivities that she decided to take a nap:)

Overall, I would say he had a great 2nd birthday.