The Northern Lights

Greg is on the email alert system for "Aurora Watch". Doesn't that sound super professional? Yeah, so he has gotten some "red alerts" in the past but we just haven't gone because of either being tired or it being too cold or not wanting to wake the children up or a million other reasons. But the time to leave Canada is looming and we figured that if we didn't go this Winter, we would always regret it. (It is too light in summer to really get a good view.) Anyway, so we woke the kids up at like 11:45 and got them all bundled and settled into the car and then proceeded to drive away from the city lights with no real destination in mind. After about 20 min. of driving, we saw our first burst of green light. It was so cool. We finally pulled off onto a country road and pulled over to set up our camp. I say "camp" because the kids didn't really want to get out of the car because they were tired and it was cold so they stay bundled up in their carseats and we opened the door. Well, that's not true, Gavin wanted to get out but he wouldn't keep his hands and feet covered in the blanket I had him wrapped in and he kept pulling off his hat so he was super cranky from being cold or cranky from us not letting him crawl around the car. We finally got home and everybody to bed by 1:30. Man, were we ever tired!

We knew we wanted pictures but we weren't really sure how to pull it off. It was basically just a bunch of hit and miss. One of the problems was that Greg put our short tri pod on the roof of the car and the car occupants were moving around quite a bit and that threw us off a bit. Anyway, it was awesome and beautiful. See for yourself.

And here's a link to the website with more photos and here are some amazing videos somebody posted from that night. I like #11. You can see how the light just moves and dances around. Very cool.

We're excited to go again and get some better shots now that we know what to expect and more or less what to do. They are supposed to be best at the equinoxes so we're crossing our fingers for March. I'll let you know if we go.

It totally made me think of Paul Bunyan and Babe. Remember that Disney movie? Supposedly them rough housing is what is making the Northern Lights.

Valentine's Day

I love being festive for holidays. The kids each got some heart glasses (that were too small for their enormous craniums) and a few candy treats. The big thrill for the girls was that they each got a necklace. We ordered them way back in October and initially I was going to give them their necklaces for Christmas but then I decided we'd save them so they would be able to appreciate them more and also Tati needed a few more months to learn better necklace responsibility. Anyway, they got this one with a birth stone. They got the heart shape. There are a bunch of other really cute necklaces on that site but I didn't want the girls to have their whole names on a necklace. Is that too paranoid? Anywho, they LOVED them.



That evening Greg and I went on a fun date. It was snowshoeing. I haven't gone snowshoeing since I was pregnant with Chloe so that was like forever ago. I forgot how much we really enjoy it. We definitely are going to be buying some snow shoes and living or vacationing somewhere with snow. Anyway, it was cold and dark but I still managed to get a few shots.


A frozen, little stream:

And my hubby helping me get all geared up. He's such a sweetie. I totally could've done it myself but what fun would that have been?

Then the evening ended with my worst nightmare.

A communal bowl of dough. + A bunch of dirty hands grabbing at it. + A pile of dirty sticks.+A fire=

Bannocks

Obviously I did not partake of said "refreshments". We got home and were so pooped so we watched some tv and then just as we were about to go to bed, Greg got one of his special emails telling us the Northern Lights were really hot so we went and saw them. I'll make another post for that. Leave you in suspense.

Daddy is getting old!

Greg turned 33! Too bad I'll always be older than him. He is so low key about his birthday and just kept telling us that besides an ipad (yeah right), he didn't want anything and not to go to any trouble. But birthdays are big days around here. Usually, the girls draw a picture for you for any given holiday but it was an early morning with lots of fighting and general crabbiness from the children so he declared unto them that they were forbidden to draw him a picture because he'd much rather they just be good as a present to him. So I printed out some sheets (no pics of this) with letters to Dad telling him what they would get him for his birthday.

Gavin said he would slobber all over Daddy's face and give him lots of kisses.
Tati said she would be a super good listener after dinner (apparently at no other time of the day) and give him lots of hugs and kisses and tell him that she loved him.
And Chloe said she would be good, not fight with her sister and give him a massage after dinner. I think this was a great idea for actual practical gift giving.

And as a present to Greg which was really a present to myself, he didn't want me to have to make dinner or a cake so we had a rotisserie chicken with some super yummy bread from Costco and one of their sinful chocolate cakes. The only thing missing was the smoked cheddar cheese for him (his weakness). I also bought him some ding dongs. Well, sort of. Canadians sure have a good sense of humor.

Once upon a time when he was little, he asked his mom for ding dongs instead of a cake. It is one of his favorite birthday memories. One time I bought a huge pack at Sam's Club for his birthday and I thought it would be fun to get some this year too. Sadly, their yumminess has drastically declined over the years as has their cake to filling ratio. :-(

The cake was insanely good though. CHEERS!

Our Big Boy!

Gavin is one! He is mostly fun but has been quite cranky lately getting over an ear infection and now teething. We're hoping these stinky teeth come out fast.

His birthday fell on a Monday this year and his Daddy had a very busy day so we decided to celebrate the following day. Let's be honest, Gavin had no clue it was his birthday but we still made some cupcakes. Chloe had never even tasted anything sweet until her birthday cake. Yeah, Gavin had cow's milk at 10 months and ice cream back when he was like 6 months old. Embarrassing but true. So was this his first cake? Nope. But he loved it all the same. He hated the singing though and he super hated not being able to touch the fire. Mean Daddy.

And of course not to be outdone:


It is mind blowing to think that a year has already passed since he was born. How time flies! My friend Jeanette came over with her family for dinner and cupcakes. I don't know how I won't think of them each time Gavin has a birthday considering thanks to her my kids had food and clothes while I was in the hospital (at least the first time). She really did amazing service for us. It would make her uncomfortable to make a big deal about it but it really was a big deal.

Some new stuff this month:

• He fell down the stairs and got a major rug burn on his nose and a big bruise on his face.
• Before the fall, he was expertly going up and down the stairs alone, now he won't go down at all.
• He can climb the ladder on the bunk bed and get on Chloe's bed. He is super dangerous and scary and likes to stand up once he gets onto the bed.
• He shakes his head yes and no--mostly no.
• He grunts and leads you to things he wants by pointing and directing you.
• He bobs his legs and shakes his bootie to music.

Here's a funny video of him eating one of his cupcakes because he might have eaten two of them. Our friend Lloyd was trying to make him balance his treat with some veggies and the kids thought it was HILARIOUS!

Commercial

I should totally send this to Canon for an ad.  What a cutie.

Techies

Chloe has started a dance class at one of the rec centers here so during her class I have about an hour to kill with the two little kids. Lucky for me, there is an indoor playground there so that keeps them entertained for a while. Tati was in hog heaven because it is so big and she could just run around and climb and do whatever. It has been a nice break for her since we haven't been to a real park outside forever because it has been too cold. Anyway, I didn't take any good pictures except for this one so I need to make that a goal for next time. Anyway, as we were all playing, there was this little boy who was crying at his mom's feet because he didn't want to play in this amazing playground. He was throwing a fit because he wanted the ipod. THANKFULLY, the mom was telling him that he HAD to play. It blew my mind. What a weird world of technology we live in.

the Winter Blues

We've been on a blogging hiatus because we have been battling a bunch of sickness--mostly with the childrens. The two little kids both had full blown RSV which super sucked because they were coughing like crazy and then couldn't really ever sleep so they were cranky like crazy too. The RSV turned into ear infections for both of them and then I got a gross cold then Greg got a gross cold, then Tati got pink eye and then Gavin fell down the stairs (because he's little) and then Tati fell down the stairs (because she was playing) and now we're finally all feeling better. Chloe was the real trooper who never got anything. There might be some advantages to all the germs she encounters at school. Anyway, I knew Tati was finally back to herself when she and Chloe started playing "Vacation" where they either always go to California or Vancouver. This time it was a trip to Vancouver to catch some bad guys. So we'll start getting all our stuff updated. And I'm making a new header all inspired by a design on some black tights I wore to church a few weeks ago.