Kids!

We got a new Lazy Boy chair and of course it came in a nice big box. The kids played and played in it for days. The first night they really wanted to sleep in it and so they did. I can't believe they actually fell asleep and stayed there are night. Needless to say, Jordan was extremely cranky and tired the next morning. That's what happens when you sleep in a box instead of your comfy bed!


On another note, Sadie was recognized by the Principal at school and got an award for her hard work and good grades. She was really excited about it.

Christmas Letter 2010

Ok, I know Christmas is over but for those of you who did not receive our Christmas Letter (because I failed to get them mailed before Christmas), here it is. Darcy wrote it this year. I think from now on I may just send out electronic Christmas mail. It is so much easier!

The Weston Family Christmas Letter 2010

What a wonderful year this has been for us. It seems like life gets better and better as we watch our children grow and develop. We cherish their success and grieve their letdowns.
We've had another mileston in our life this year. Tamara stepped back from homeschooling the two younger children and watched the littlest one go into grade one this September. I remember getting the phone call from her after she dropped the kids off and listening to her weep. Her life has been dedicated to the kids for the last 14 years and it was definitely a moment to reflect on. She's a wonderful wife and a tremendous mother.

She soon got over that day and has filled her void by working out in the mornings, catching up on her scrapbooking and crafts, and practicing the accordion that was inherited to her by my Grandma Weston. The day goes by fast though, and when she picks up the kids then it is just go, go, go.

I have been busy with work. Our company was taken over in the first part of summer and so I decided to move to another oil and gas company. I manage the corporate planning for Petrobakken now and love the new company thus far. I continue to coach soccer and a couple of basketbal teams for the kids, and in between that manage to play squash and golf.

Jordan - 6
This kid is a firecracker! He brings us much joy with his sense of humor and his zest for life. He started grade one this year and went into the French Immersion program (aka Frog). He came home after the first day of school and said, "I think six hours of school is just ridiculous". He loves his sports though and is very competetive. He loves to water ski and has even gotten up on the wakeboard at his grandparents cabin. He played soccer again in the spring and finally started playing basketball this fall. He told his brother and sisters that everyone has to come and watch him play because he has sat through hundreds of their games and "had" to watch them.

Sadie - 8
Sadie is our princess. It was a special year for her because she was baptized in March. After having a great time being homeschooled last year, she decided that she wanted to go back to school for grade 3. She is our dancer and was asked to join the troupe this year. She is the youngest girl in her class. They will be performing in Disneyland this May and she told Carson and Kilay that they have to come and watch her because she has sat through all of their basketball and volleyball games.

Kailey - 12
Kailey is our sweetheart and is smart as a whip. She made the number one community basketball team this year and can't wait to play volleyball and basketball for the school teams next year. She should receive the "Facebook and Skype socializing with friends" award, but we really can't complain. She reads and writes in fluent French and has an average of 93% in school - which she loves to rub Carson's nose in.

Carson - 13
Carson is our sports fanatic and he loves the Celtics (That's my boy). One thing I am most proud of with Carson is his schooling this year. We made a deal last year about school and sports - and this year he has managed to maintain an honor roll average. He received the athlete of the year award last year and mvp fo the volleyball team this fall. He's a special spirit who loves to play with his cousins and loves the new babies from his aunts and uncles.

We hope all of you have a very wonderful Christmas and we look forward to your letters!

Darcy, Tamara, Carson, Kailey, Sadie, Jordan and Blackjack (the dog)

Funny Hahaha

So Sunday morning Darcy and Jordan are in the shower and they are singing Deck the Halls . . . Falalalala. Darcy says "JJ, I can't believe you don't know the words to this song." Jordan says "I only know it in French." Darcy says, "Great - sing it to me in French!" Jordan pauses for a few seconds and then says "well, I only know the Fa La, La, La, La part in French!" We crack up laughing! Despite Jordan doing very well in French Immersion, he will never admit that he "does French". What a kid!

Decorating Gingerbread Houses

One thing we like to do every year is decorate Gingerbread houses. This year Sonya's family came up for the whole week before Christmas so we decorated our houses with them and Allaina's kids. The kids were paired up and away they went to work on their gingerbread houses.

Kailey and Calli were very precise and detail oriented while decorating their house. They wanted it to look like a real gingerbread house. And then there are my boys - BOYS WILL BE BOYS! Why decorate the house with icing when you can decorate your little brother's mouth instead?

I'm always glad when all the candy is picked off of the houses and I can throw them away. It is such a mess having all that hard icing spread all over the counter as the candy gets picked off.

Cute Kids

Kids really are fun to watch, especially when they don't

know that you are watching them!

One night we were watching Darcy play squash and I glance

over at Sadie and this is what she is doing.

Jordan and his buddy Grant doing what they love most! Even with socks tucked in their pants (because they are playing flag football) they still couldn't help but rough each other up just a little bit!

LUKE OUT BELOW! Carson took this picture of my nephew Luke! Pretty darn cute! And then there is my niece Mylee.

I asked what she was doing when I took this

picture and she told me she was washing her tummy!

I'm still not sure why but that is what she was doing!

You crack me up!

Waterton - September Long Weekend

Where does the time go? I just realized I'm already a month behind in a lot of things. You would think with all 4 kids in school full time I'd be right on top of everything. It just isn't so!

Rewinding back to September Long Weekend we went camping in Waterton with extended family. Anybody who has been to Waterton recognizes these fun bikes. (They are only fun for the kids riding in them. Why are they so darn hard to peddal?)

Us girls took a hike up Bear's Hump. This cute pic is of Kailey taking a little rest 1/2 way up.

Sadie on top of the world!

Kailey and Candice were so excited to be at the top but they nearly got blown over when we got there. It was sooooo windy!

Look at our hair! That tells you how windy it was. It was actually scarry standing near the edge because at any moment you could literally be blown off the side of the mountain.

While the girls were hiking the boys were building ramps to jump off of. This is JJ catching a little air!

This is JJ after he caught the air and forgot to brace himself on his peddals when he landed! He'll only make that mistake once!

We had a great weekend and as always had fun with the fam! Thanks Brandon and Candice for the invite!

Bitter Sweet Back to School

Back to School! I must say that today was a Bitter Sweet Day for me. Jordan and Sadie were really excited for school to start. Jordan was definitely the most excited out of all of them as it was his first day of school and the big Grade 1! You can tell how excited Kailey is in this picture to be going back to school!


The cutest thing was the day before school started I happened to look out the window and Jordan was outside snuggling and talking to his cutie wootie (Black Jack). I heard him saying "Now Black Jack, things are going to change around here tomorrow cause I am going to school all day. I won't be here all day with you but you can keep mom company while I'm gone. Don't be too sad Black Jack, it will be alright! I'll see you when I get home every day." It was so stinkin cute and brought a tear to my eye! Things did change around here today.

There's a whole new world out there for Jordan to

take on and he is more than ready for it!

Jordan waiting in line for the bell to ring. I think he is wondering

why this girl is standing so close to him!

I wasn't going to go into the school when the bell rang because he didn't really need me to. I never walked my other kids into their classrooms on the first day of school but I found myself following the line up of kids. I must admit I had a bit of a hard time letting go. I am so thankful I have independent children but today I guess I was wishing that Jordan needed me just a little bit! He marched right into his classroom, put his indoor shoes on and found his coat hook with his name on it.

He knew exactly what to do. He spotted his name on his desk

and sat right down ready for business.

As I left the classroom he turned around to wave to me and that is when the tears started. Not for Jordan, but for me! It is a bitter sweet day to see your baby wave good bye to you as he starts his journey at school. I'm so excited for him and all the fun times he will have at school but it is going to be an adjustment for me not having my little buddy with me 24/7. The house was quiet and Black Jack kept me company. I think as a mom you look forward to the day when all the kids are gone to school and the house is quiet but when that day actually comes (for me anyways) it is a little more bitter than sweet!

Simply Fun!

We spent the first weekend in June down in Taber and Barnwell with Brandon and Candice. I realized just how much my kids are city slickers and they absolutely loved the simpler life of a small town. When they saw the hay stacks stacked up in the field behind Brandon and Candice's house they thought they had died and gone to heaven. Right away Carson was out there jumping from hay stack to hay stack having the time of his life. Who needs a play ground when you have hay?
My kids always ask me when we will have trees big enough to climb and build tree houses in. I tell them probably never and so just being able to climb trees this big was exciting.

Of course my kids have never had a chance to ride a horse and so this was very exciting as well. Not to mention riding it right in the back yard!

Jordan wasn't sure if he liked the horse or not but he gave it a go!

Kailey and Carson got the hang of it quickly and they were riding all over the place by themselves. Then of course they were begging me to buy them a horse. I reminded them that our backyard isn't big enough!

Hang on Sister - I'll just give you a little pull on this swing!

OK - now this is what we are talking about! All laughs and fun times!

Jordan thought the horse was OK, the swing and climbing trees was pretty darn fun but then Logan pulled out . . . . (dun, dun, dun) the ride a LAWNMOWER! This is where it is at! "This is TOTALLY AWESOME!"

We had so much fun that the kids wanted to move to Barnwell and live with Brandon and Candice. I guess we'll just have to visit more often!

Grandma Great is really GREAT

My Grandma Gibb is an amazing person. She is somebody who I look up to and hope I can be like in so many ways. I don't know a more loving, kind, patient person who happens to have a LOVE like no other for BASKETBALL. She can shoot the smack with any NBA lover and give you all the up to date stats on any player or any team. Not a game goes by that she hasn't watched from begining to end. She doesn't get to come to Calgary very often so when she decided to come up we were all very excited. We celebrated her 87th birthday while she was here.

The kids thought we should put 87 candles on the cake for Grandma Great but we didn't have 87 candles. Instead we put on 4 (one for each of her children).

Dad, Grandma Gibb (Grandma Great to my children) and Mom!

Among many other talents Grandma is an amazing quilter. She has give each of her grandchildren handmade quilts and has now given her great grandchildren each a quilt made with love. She told my kids that when they snuggle with their quilts they can think of Grandma Great's loving arms wrapped around them! These quilts are her way of giving love to all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren no matter where they live.

Grandma and Sadie.

Grandma and Kailey.

Jordan, Grandma, and Carson.

Grandma you are the greatest!

Brewing Up Some Halloween Fun

Our beautiful Sadie the witch making up some special brew for our Halloween dinner.


Carson's last minute makeshift costume - 5 minutes before the party started he decides to be Mr. Incredible. We pulled it off and I think he had the best costume of the night.

The crew ready to go trick or treating.

Kids

Thank goodness for great neighbours! (Heaven knows we have had our share of not so great ones! AKA Dragon Lady and Dragon Lady 2) My neighbour Lara did a fun photo shoot with my kids the other day and boy did they have fun! The pictures turned out great. If you want to see more of them check out Lara Ellis' page and Lara Ellis' photography page on Our Friends list! There are more photos to come!

Provincials Here We Come!

Couldn't be more proud of Kailey and Darcy. Darcy coached Kailey's team this year and wow did they ever do a great job! They won the silver medal last weekend and so now they have a spot in Provincials which will be played in two weeks here in Calgary. We are really excited about it!

These girls are all Dynomite!

Of course Jordan is our half time show! The parents all get a kick out of him!



We can't forget our number one fans on the side lines! Sadie gets tired of going to school every Monday and her teacher wants them to write in their journals about what they did during the weekend. All she has to write about is watching basketball games. (Between Carson and Kailey both playing ball that is about what we do all weekend every weekend. I guess there are worse things we could be doing!)

Darcy in action at half time! All the parents and the girls LLOOOVVVEE Coach Darcy. He really does a great job with these girls. Who knew he would enjoy coaching 10 year old girls basketball?!?

Go get 'em GIRLS!