Budding Ballerina

Last night was Meg's last ballet class. She started 8 weeks ago and for 7 of the 8 weeks we sat downstairs in the coffee shop while she had her class. Last night was the big reveal! It wasn't a recital but more of a sharing of what the kids learned, which was pretty cute to see.
Below are a few pictures from her last class as well as a short video. She is quite the free spirited ballerina!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Meg woke up 1.5 weeks ago and said to me, before she even got out of bed, "mommy, I want to wear a green dress on St. Patrick's Day, green tights and green underwear. I was thinking about it and I don't have any green!"
I instantly panicked thinking it was St. Patrick's Day but then realized it was only March 6th so I was safe.
I'll never know how she comes up with her ideas but needless to say she was very green when she went to school today. I am thankful that she gave me so much notice! :)

Remembering Great-Grandma Gibby

We miss you already grandma/great-grandma. We are all better for having known you. We will remember your smile, your laugh and your sunny outlook on life. We love you.

Grandma's infamous trip to Kelowna. She loved that green track suit she bought while there.

Meg with her great-grandma and one of the many stuffed animals great-grandma gave her over the last four years.

Dec 26, 2013 visit with grandma where grandma gave Meg Tiger Lily, the new addition to our family

The first time grandma/great-grandma met our little Meg. She was only 4 weeks old

Disney Fantasy Cruise - Video

As promised, here is a compilation video of our Disney Fantasy Cruise vacation. It is long but we think it is worth watching the whole thing :) 

Disney Fantasy Cruise - January 2014

We had an amazing time on our first cruise! THANK YOU grandma Kathi and grandpa Roy - it really was a perfect family vacation. We were on the cruise for 7 nights and visited Grand Cayman, Costa Maya Mexico, Cozumel Mexico and Disney's own island in the Bahamas. The best way to share the trip is through pictures. We will post a video soon that Nathan is working on…Enjoy!

Meg and mommy pose for a picture on our balcony and bask in the beautiful sunshine.

A picture of the ship from shore in Grand Cayman. It was MASSIVE - multiple theatres, restaurants, bars, pools, kids splash pad, mini golf, full spa, water slides, full basketball court and many other fun things to do, all on one boat!

While in Grand Cayman we went for a delicious lunch on the water, with a great view of our ship in the background

Meg and daddy playing in the water in Grand Cayman

In Cost Maya Mexico we swam out to a crazy trampoline/climbing thing. It was fun and hilarious because it was hard to stay standing up, but frightening at the same time as Meg was out there with us. She loved it. We had a blast and all made it out in one piece. We all have a much greater appreciation for the show "Wipe Out" now

Meg and Harper playing in the sand in the Bahamas

On the ship there was always fun to be had on the main deck - music playing, a movie playing or a live show. Regan, Roy, Meg, daddy, Grandma, Maxx and Marnie all watching a show

One of our dinners together. Great food and great service each night

The kids fell in love with the Mickey Bars for dessert each night. Meg was in her glory.

Each morning Meg had a croissant on the balcony of our room - oh, what a life!

One of the kid splash pad areas on the ship. Meg loved this little slide. It was so fast for such a small slide.

Meg (in the pink hat) swimming and watching a movie on the big screen at the same time. Where the blue chairs are is where grandma, Marnie and I did yoga or exercise classes each morning.

Meg getting her hair done with one braid. I cannot imagine her getting her whole head done! She found just one a bit painful

Every night Meg was exhausted from a day filled with fun. Very unlike Meg to fall asleep in daddy's arms but she did many nights...

…and this was the view of Meg every single night when back in our room. TKO!

Maxx, David and Harper on our balcony looking out at the ocean and watching the moon

To give you an idea of the size of the ship, this is the size of the port holes - Meg can easily stand up in them.

Meg posing with Princess Tiana 

Meg with Princess Belle

Another splash pad area on the ship - Meg was in her glory.
Above and to the right is where the basketball court and mini golf were located.

Meg LOVED this slide and probably went done it 100 times while we were on the ship.

In Costa Maya Mexico one of the locals got us each a fresh coconut to drink.
The kids loved watching him get the coconuts out of the tree and then cutting them open.

Meg posing with her 'silly face' beside a mosaic of Cinderella's coach

Meg in one of the kids clubs working on a craft

Pirate Night - Harper, David, Meg, Maxx and Regan all dressed up for dinner

Meg at the end of Pirate Night

Meg and daddy at breakfast

Meg loved the peanut butter and jam pancake

Meg has loved Toy Story for a few years now. It was very cool to see in the kids club they had Andy's bedroom!

This was part of the kid's only area, parents were only allowed in to pick their kids up.
Meg loved this part of the kids club.

Meg went to the Princess spa one day and was transformed into Princess Ariel! Can you tell she liked it? :)

Hair, make-up, nails, dress, shoes…she was definitely a princess for the day!

Posing with mom as Princess Ariel

You cannot see her face under her hair but she is very upset in this picture. When we took her hair out of the princess bun she did not at all like that her hair wasn't straight and was crying because she thought her hair looked like mommy's….I wasn't quite sure how to take that! :)

Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday this year. Everyone was healthy, the ski hill opened before Christmas for the first time in 7 years, and we had lots of time off to spend together and with family and friends. We skied, ate, drank and were merry…now the New Year's resolutions kick in to get us back on track :)
The holiday season was filled with many great things worth writing down and remembering:

• We kicked off the holiday season with our annual visit to Doon Pioneer Village - One Starry Night on December 21st. It is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. This year the Delorey's came with us along with Grandma Kathi/Grandpa Roy and Grandma/Grandad McLaughlin. 
• December 22nd brought a big ice storm and we were lucky to have only lost power for about 5 hours. It was forced time spent at home. We sat by the fire, played games and really tried to keep Meg occupied. It is amazing how difficult that can be!!!
• December 23rd we participated in the Unsilent Night walk in Galt with Meg's friends Avery and Marley's and their families. 
• December 24th we had our annual raclette dinner at our house and went to church
• December 25th we woke up to find that Santa had come over night! Meg swears she heard him and the reindeer bells in the night. We had a quiet morning at home before we went to Grandma Kathi's/Grandpa Roy's for dinner later that day. It was a beautiful snowy day so we decided to walk there and back which was really nice
• December 26th we headed to Welland for a nice visit with great-grandma Gibby and to meet the new addition to our family - Tiger Lily - the life sized stuff tiger that grandma gave Meg. It is actually adorable and is the hit with Meg and every child that comes over to play. From there we went to Kristin/Aaron's house for dinner with my mom's side of the family
• December 28th we went to Nathan's parents house for Christmas with grandma/grandad, Luke/ Michelle and the 5 boys. It always busy when we get all the kids together but it is fun.
• New Year's eve we actually had people over! We typically stay home and don't do much for New Year's but this year we had the Hardy's, the Delorey's and the Poholko's over. We put the kids then had a delicious fondue dinner. The Delorey's and the Poholko's stayed over and we did our best to stay up until midnight :)

All-in-all a great holiday season. Below are some pictures.

Meg in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning

Our annual shot of Meg with her stocking. Hard to believe that 4 years ago she was smaller than the stocking!!!

Great-grandma Gibby, Meg and me pose for a three-generations shot 

New Year's Eve - Claire, Levi and Meg settled in for a movie

Meg and Claire sound asleep for a sleepover on New Year's Eve!

Annual Visit with Jolly Old Saint Nick!

Meg was pretty excited when I told her Santa was coming to the mall to meet with kids. She woke up Sunday morning really wanting to go. She got all dressed up in her Christmas outfit to go see him and talked to me the whole way there in the car about what she was going to tell him.
She said she wasn't sure what she wanted for Christmas but maybe a bat girl or a super girl. When I told her I am not sure those are made she said "Yes they are. Santa's elves can just make them when I tell him." Well I have never seen either in the store so I tried to persuade her to ask for something else...at least something we could find!!!
When we got there I was happy to see there wasn't a huge line. She took off her coat and straightened out her dress to look perfect for the big guy. When it was her turn she walked right up to him and stood in front of him. He picked her up and put her on his lap. She smiled for the picture and that was it. She didn't say a word!! She completely froze but unlike last year at least she smiled.
She insists that she told him she wants a baby Princess for Christmas. Well done Meg! Santa can definitely bring you that :)