Friday, December 31, 2010

Catching up from Christmas!

I'm playing a bit of catch up today because we've had a whirl wind of a December! Not sure where it went or how we made it through the last week (more to that later), but here we are at the end of 2010! What a great year for us, topped off by the addition of Mason to our family!

Here are a few random pictures in no particular chronological order from Christmas...

Happy Boy Christmas morning!
One of the highlight toys...jack (well george) in the box!
Put the star on the tree Christmas morning! Love their new matching jammies too!
Boys got a train table from Santa!
We spent a few days beofre Christmas in Victoria with my family. James and Grandma had a date at Butcharts Gardens and this was the highlight for James (they had two dates there actually!)
We had a kiddie party and Santa came...he was quite hot in his suit today so his glasses got all fogged up!
Cookie monster and Elmo grilled cheese maker from Uncle Jeff and Auntie Genn!
Have to wear your hat...tradition!
Geoff's work party (yes, I had the wear skates and take care of two kids while doing so...no broken bones!)
Setting up the tree!
Thank you to everyone who helped us have a great year! We are especially feeling blessed to be healthy, even after Mason, James and I getting a flu virus right after Christmas! We look forward to many more fun times in 2011!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Gymnastics

Langley Gymnastics has a great drop in class (only $5) on Wednesdays, so we've taken the boys for the past 2 weeks and it's a blast! Geoff and I also have tons of fun jumping around on the eqipment - it's the best $5 we ever spent (Mason is free so far!) here they are leaping into the foam pits!



Hill Stridin'

Here's James flying down a hill at Campbell Valley Park! Go Buddy!



Sunday, December 5, 2010

Christmasy Fun!

We took the boys to breakfast with Santa yesterday morning - having never been to one, it was pretty fun, food aside (blah under cooked pancakes, sausages and timbits...needless to say James tried his first donut and after the birthday party I took him too after breakfast, he chose not to nap...mmmm maybe sugar overload?!)

We got a special package from Grandma this week and it came with a Christmas quilt, not to mention lots of other handmade goodies (especially love my quilted tree skirt!) Thanks Grandma!
I never get in on the pictures, as the taker, so here I am!
Mason's toy from Santa went straight into the mouth!
Both boys were great on Santa's lap, James was very serious as usual!
Tonight we took them to the Santa parade in Cloverdale! Last year was not as fun - it was warmer this year and James had a blast! Mason was good for a while too, so we left about half way through, it was chilly and late for him anyways!

Again, this is the only way I make the shots!


Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Youngest Strider!!

Fun Update! We made the Strider Blog!! Go James and Mason!

Here's Mason loving his new bike! Well, maybe not riding yet, but very enthusiastic about it! He's close to walking, so we think it will be by this summer that his little inseam will be big enough for his Buzzy Bike!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Mason's First Snow!

We bundled the kids and I mean bundled them up for the recent snowfall over the weekend! It took only about 20 minutes and there were tears within about 30 seconds of being out - poor Mason, I sat him on the ground and he was so puffed out he fell forward and did a face wash in the snow:( James was equally upset, as I was paying attention to Mason, thus more tears! In any case, they both went on the sled for a few pulls together just in time to capture these cute pics!

Mason - "This seems fun!"

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Remembering to educate the boys about Remembering!



We took the boys to the Cloverdale Remembrance Day ceremony this morning. We weren't able to see much of the wreath laying but there were five fly pasts with 4-7 planes that James loved! At the end there was a parade too with bagpipes, which was a hit! I have always loved the bagpipes and there's something about taking my boys to these ceremonies to remember our family's service in WW1 and WW2.
That was cool!
The cookies were great too!
James looked so small compared to the big truck today!
This picture reminds me of taking James to his first ceremony last year!

Oooh bad mommy, I took zero pictures of Mason - he was there, happily bundled up!

James first Strider Ride Date!

James' friend DJ came over for a ride date, as he was a little unsure about riding it! They had matching bikes and helmets, so we had to get DJ the matching bell and lookout bike-world, here comes DJ! He was a natural and went over James' jumps and down our neighbours driveway (gliding!) It was so cute to see the boys together riding and James did a great job encouraging DJ! Come back again DJ!
James showed him how to poppa wheelie!
Time for crackers!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

A Rainy Stroll 'n' Stride

We went for a great family walk around Campbell Valley Park this morning, just as we did on Thanksgiving. Today was much cooler and wetter but way less busy! We had a great time doing the little river loop, which by estimates is about 2-2.5kms. James rode the entire way and loved it! He has had his sleeves rolled up since Tuesday at tot romp where he got some stamps he liked. He was none too pleased when the rain washed the last remaining bits off on this outing.
Checking out the ducks
Stopping to feed the birds some of Mason's mum mum
Home stretch!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Halloween Fun


We did all things Halloweeny around here last week...pumpkins, dressing up, decorating and of course trick or treating! James loved dressing up as Cookie Monster and did so many times throughout the week. He really loved it when Mason dressed up as a Hot Dog and pretended to eat him on many occasions, laughing hysterically!

Here we are carving our little family of pumpkins!

Hot Diggity Dog you're cute! I'm sorry you get hand-me-downs and about not being able to crawl in your costume!
Cookie just had to take a flying leap off our jump before trick or treating!


Miranda, I didn't get any good ones of the boys (those silly safety patches were all my camera caught, ok safety isn't silly, but they were very glowy!) - do you have any? Thanks for going out with us, we (James) had a great time and wanted to do it more when he got home!

Get that camera outta my face!

Mason not so much a fan of my flash photography and man I've missed out on some cute smiles, but the pics are still cute! And he takes after his Daddy who's eyes are pretty much closed in half of the pics I take, so he comes by it honestly!