Meg's First Ski Race!

On Saturday Meg competed in her first ever ski race - the Club Championships at Chicopee. She has wanted to go in this race since she was 3 and finally this year she was old enough to enter!
She woke up at 6:30am that morning, nervous about the race and asking a million questions. She did amazing. She went off the ramp for both runs, didn't miss a gate and didn't fall. We were so proud of her but the best part was, she was so proud of herself. Way to go Meg!!!!
She is hooked. I see ski racing in her future :)

Craft Time

Meg is going through a craft phase. She has great ideas which are challenging at times! Below are some of her latest masterpieces.

By far the most challenging was Meg's idea to recreate the solar system on the ceiling of her room!
This project took us close to a month to complete and I have to say she was more of the creative mind behind it than the doer, but it turned out great! The planets even glow in the dark!

Meg's printing is getting so good! She spent an afternoon with Grandma McLaughlin and made Valentine's for her parents

This year Meg made homemade Valentine flowers for her class.
She did this craft almost completely on her own and they turned out great!

Today's masterpiece - a pillow! Great job Meg!

California Dreaming

On this freezing cold day in Ontario I am dreaming of the warmer weather and sunshine we had on our trip to California! While the weather wasn't really hot, it was definitely A LOT warmer than here.
Meg and I had a great time visiting Aunt Pam and Uncle Joe in Corona, CA and were very happy to spend time with Lauren, Lindsay and Adam who were also there visiting from Ontario.
The trip went by too fast which always means it was a good time. Thank you for everything Pam and Joe!!!
Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Train ride at the mall. Meg was very happy to get the seat at the back!

Disney!!!! Hard to see Meg's face paint but it was super cute and we had a great time with
Lauren, Lindsay and Adam on all the rides. The Frozen rides were probably Meg's favorite

The infamous "In and Out Burger" of California. A great way to start off 2015 with a burger
and fries with Uncle Joe and Adam 

Laguna Beach - my favorite day of the trip. The beach was beautiful, the weather was amazing and it was a
great little town to walk around in.

Remembrance Day Service

On November 11th this year I took Meg and her little friend Avery out of school for the morning and we went to watch the Remembrance Day service and parade downtown Cambridge. It was a beautiful day and the girls enjoyed seeing all the soldiers and marching band.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see her picture on the front page of the Cambridge Times! I didn't even know the photographer took it. Meg and Avery spent most of the time running around so I was surprised to see the photographer captured such a great shot. 

The  caption reads: 

"Ready to Remember: A young girl, wearing poppy pants to commemorate Remembrance Day, gets a smile from a band member during Tuesday's ceremony at the Galt cenotaph."

Happy 5th Birthday Meg!

Meg had a fantastic 5th birthday! She was excited for weeks planning her birthday party, right down the little details of what kind of food we would have and what would be in the goodie bags. She finished and distributed her invitations in late September for her party October 25th. She invited 10 friends and everyone came! Princess Elsa made an appearance and played games with the kids and painted faces. The kids coloured Frozen pictures and spent a good amount of time running around chasing Nathan.
When I put Meg to bed that night she told me she loved her party. She also said "Mommy, can I make a card for Elsa and Anna tomorrow and mail it to Arindale? I love them both so much." For those of you who don't know, Elsa and Anna are from the movie Frozen :) 
A perfect end to a great princess party.
Happy 5th Birthday Meg!

Meg dressed as Princess Anna poses beside her 5th birthday sign

At the request of Meg, Grandma McLaughlin made Meg a Princess Ariel cake

Meg also wanted her mom and dad to dress as a King and Queen for the party...

...and of course so did Grandma Kathi, Grandpa Roy, Grandma McLaughlin and Grandad :)

Elsa did an amazing job painting faces! Claire, Zoe and Chloe all go the same design.
Not sure if it is a butterfly or a cat but all the kids wanted fangs

Marley, Avery, Maia and Meg all got the same face paint. A bat with a rainbow and fangs - of course!

The piniata was hilarious. Some kids took out a lot of frustration on it!
We never thought it would open but eventually it did.

Everyone singing Happy Birthday to Meg

Present time!

Happy Thanksgiving

Friday Meg stayed home from school to make homemade pumpkin pies with Grandma McLaughlin. It started off slow but Meg quickly got into it and was a good little helper. She was also a good taste tester! 
The pies look amazing and Meg had a great day with grandma. 

Grandma showed Meg and mommy how to strain the pumpkin after it was cooked

Meg learned how to roll out the dough

There was enough dough left to cut out shapes for the top of the pies and f
or Meg to make her version of dough cookies

Meg cracked the eggs and did a great job!

Pies made with love!

Voila! Now we just have to wait to eat them. Happy Thanksgiving!

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

It wouldn't be Fall without an annual trip to the pumpkin patch - it was a beautiful day for it!