Ruff Ruminations

Telus World of Science Edmonton | Ruff Ruminations

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

We went to the Telus World of Science in Edmonton again recently. They have just redone their discovery kids zone "DiscoveryLand"with an up in the air theme. It was pretty cool.

Checking out the Body exhibit while the new DiscoveryLand was packed with school kids.

They have a cool robot that you can fully control in anticipation of their next travelling exhibit "Robots"

That's Isabel's eyes in there

Fun with mirrors

Up, up and away to the new DiscoveryLand

First stop, outerspace with a special area just for kids 3 and under!

Why not walk on the moon? Grady and Isabel liked trying out all the different textures.

Going for a run on the sun!

Checking out the cool planets that each did something different, this was a lightening machine that changed each time you touched it.

Next stop? A cool make-believe zone that was all about air travel!

Grady LOVED driving the airplane

See what I mean? I had a hard time getting him to check out all the other things that you could do.

Second favorite? Filling that bird up with gas of course!

This was a super cool area though with an amazing amount of things for kids to do!

Like load luggage into the cargo hold.

Take bags to and from security.

run the bags through a security check, and each bag made a different x-ray image come up, so it never got boring.

And there was even a passenger portion where you could serve drinks and food to waiting Aunties :D

Then there was the water play area:

Lots to do again, they had balls that you could drop in the water and experiment with all the different ways they could move through the maze.

Who doesn't like to get a little wet?

This was my favorite! you drop the ball in the whirlpool and it spins out the bottom.

Then we moved on to the last area of the DiscoveryLand:

They had a cute little "tree house" with windows to peek out of.

And an awesome giant piano to run on! This one was different from the one they used to have because you could change they type of sound and you could learn to play a song or listen to a song get played.

Our last stop was the Star Theater for a show with Big Bird that taught us all about how people may be different and do different things but we all look up at the same sky.

Lots of fun! It made me ready to check out the Telus Spark in Calgary despite the bad press about admission prices.

Birthday Sledding | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Grady was invited to another birthday party the other weekend. These were some brave parents that planned an outdoor party in January! But they got lucky and the -43 temps were gone and it was hovering around zero by the time the party got started. Grady enjoyed the sledding, so we will definitely have to find some more sledding opportunities the rest of this winter. We will be packing the sled to Montana too :D

The two buds motoring down the hill

We were mean parents and made them pull the sleds back up most of the way themselves. They didn't seem to mind :D

Ready for more boys?

About 1/2 way up on this run Grady was starting to get tired out...

So he stopped to take a rest :D

And do a snow angel. His new favorite thing to do! So if we visit your place in the next bit don't be surprised to get a knock on the door after you think we have left so that Grady can tell you he left a snow angel on your front lawn :D

Not a bad action shot!

The birthday boy's mom thought of everything! She had some great squeeze bottles filled with colors to paint the snow.

Grady is drawing a green circle around my sad attempt at a Caterpillar.

It totally looks like a caterpillar right?

Look at this awesome birthday cake!

Pretty cool, but it was a bit challenging to cut into managable pieces :D

The prechool buds all ready to go down the hill together!

Brian Sledding

Me attempting a video while sledding :D

Speed Demon :D

If you are wondering the sledding was at Midnapore Lake which can only be accessed by community members unfortunately because it is beautiful!

Big Machines Make Happy Boys! | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Before heading off to Montana for our annual ski vacation we stopped at the Library to check out some books and movies to take with us. But just like our trip to the Calgary Humane Society...

It was the big machines that made the big impression!

No boy or man can resist a close encounter with a Grader!

Look at how big these wheels are Mommy!

Yes, the highlight of little boy's day is to stand inside the bucket of a loader!

So much to check out!

A peek into the engine as it was getting serviced.

So much to see.

Two happy guys! Then I dragged them to the far less exciting Library :D

20 Questions | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

1. What is one of your favorite ways to spend a Saturday?

Sleep in as long as I can, then a nice homemade brunch, cuddles in the lazy boy and a dog walk in the sun. Then maybe a good movie at home or dinner and drinks with Friends.

2. List your top 3 favorite TV shows:

§ Coronation Street

§ Grey’s

§ Dragon’s Den

3. Would you rather be in pictures or take them?

Be in them if someone fab like my sis is taking them and take them if I am having a not so fabulous fashion/hair day :D

4. Why do you blog?

So that people can keep up with what we have been doing.

5. Share 5 websites that you visit regularly:

§ Facebook

§ Pinterest

§ Twitter

§ Blog Lovin

§ Hippo Hug

6. If you could have lunch with one person from your Twitter list, who would it be?

I’ve met several already and I am sure I will meet more. Probably The Bloggess would be cool.

7. List a few of your favorite snacks:

§ Chips

§ Chocolate

§ Stoned Wheat Thins

§ Special K Fruit Crisps are a current fav

§ Candy

8. Do you have a pet? If so, what kind?

2 dogs, Mardi and Rebar

3 fish (there used to be 4) they don’t have names aside from “the sucker fish” We will add a few more after vacation I think.

If Brian let me I would have every animal possible except for a spider.

9. Which 3 material possessions would you struggle to live without?

§ My iPhone

§ A car

§ My Lazy Boy chair, I am always comfortable there!

10. What’s your favorite drink?

Cherry Coke Zero

11. Do you enjoy cooking?

I like to do big meals like prime rib or turkey but Brian is really the best everyday cook in our house.

12. Do you have children?

Yup Grady is 3, and we have two furry “children” Rebar is 6 and Mardi is 5

13. What are your favorite hobbies?

§ Sewing

§ Baking

§ Reading Blogs and Twitter and Facebook and Books :D

§ TV

§ Dodgeball

14. Would you consider yourself to be shy or outgoing?

I was painfully shy as a child/teen and am still pretty shy but I push myself to be outgoing. I don’t want to be the shy mom no one talks to.

15. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change?

I would love to be better at making friends.

16. Who is your favorite actor/actress?

I’ve always had a crush on Mark Harmon. Does that mean I have daddy issues?

17. What’s the coolest thing you’ve done this week?

Gone to the new Discovery Zone at the Edmonton Telus World of Science (blog post coming)

18. Do you live near your family?

Brian’s family is 30 min away so that is nice and all of my family is in Alberta but I do wish I lived in the same city as my sis.

19. List 3 of your talents:

1) I’m pretty good at remaining calm and level headed in emergencies. 2) I am told I make the best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever 3) I can sleep like a champion :D

20. What is your greatest attribute?

I am helpful to a fault. I want to help anyone and everyone that I can, within reason. And I am way too honest! Ask Brian it drives him crazy :D

Thanks to Jen at Family, Food, Fitness,and Fun for inspiring me to play along. Michelle did too at Simply Happy Mama

Elastic Peg Board | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Brian was kind enough to whip up this elastic peg board for me as I am the Vice President at Grady's school and I recently helped them address their behaviour policy to actually incorporate helping kids deal with a heightened emotional state. One of the calming strategies is to spend some quiet time with this peg board.

Grady loved it! So I guess Brian will have to make another. He played with it every day before I brought it to the school. It kept disappearing from where I was keeping it!

Love the look on his face! Like stretching your mouth helps stretch the elastic :D

Thanks to:

for hosting

Alaska Quilt | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-24T16:08:00.001-07:00

I just realized that I never posted the photos of my mom's Alaska Quilt. I think it turned out pretty nice! I can't take all the credit as she usurped my sewing machine when she was visiting and did all the cutting and most of the piecing herself. Then I just finished it off for her. She collected all the fabrics while on her Alaskan Cruise and wanted a quilt to serve as a souvenir of the trip.

Alaska Quilt:

Planning a lay out

All pieced together

The lovely front.

A fun plaid for the back.

I bound it in the same plaid as the back. It turned out just the right size to sit on the whole top of a queen size bed without any overhang. It looks lovely in her house. I still have a little bit of the fabric left so I may make up a table runner or wall hanging to go with it.

Portable Car Mat | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of the reasons I haven't been working on my Hippo Hug website or samples for weighted vests and weighted animals. The other reason is that Grady is sick again (still?) so I have been balancing work-life well in his direction which means putting down sewing or the computer whenever I hear "I need some cuddles mommy". Happy to oblige! There is many years ahead for me to make my million :D

In any case this month Grady has two boy birthday parties to go to and I have been wanting to do some sort of portable car mat for a while so gifts for the boys seemed perfect opportunity! I got the panel from My Sewing Room. It was reasonably priced and I decided to just get the sample rather than the whole kit as I knew I had a lot of stuff in my stash that I could use. I think they turned out pretty good. I added a "garage" for 5 cars and a ribbon to tie the whole thing up so that it is easily taken to Grandma's or where ever!

Olympic Oval Skating | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Over the Christmas break we went skating again when our friends were in town. We wanted to do some outdoor skating but the weather was too warm and that day it happened to be really windy so we went to the Olympic Oval again.

Grady got a new helmet thanks to Billy's giant head :D Much better than the bike helmet we used last time! And he likes wearing it!

Letting Mommy do all the work! Grady insisted I wear my "Hockey Flames Shirt" too. Happy to oblige Grady :D

Somewhat of a group shot with out friend's The Martin Family. Although skating the oval doesn't make for a very social experience as you can only go one direction and it takes a bit to get around the whole rink before you are back to where you started. It is pretty reasonably priced at $6 for adults and kids under 5 are free.

Grady tried real skates this time as his litte bob saktes lost a wing nut and he still wanted to keep skating. So we rented a pair for $5 then he did one tour of the ice and said he was all finished. Isn't that just the way!

Daddy and Grady

We look forward to some more skating this year, I might have to upgrade to some more comfortable skates! Figure skates were fine when I was a figure skater but they aren't as good anymore now that I am out of practice and getting old :D Maybe we'll even consider a backyard rink next year? We definitely have the backyard for it.

Calgary Zoolights 2012 | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Brian's work offered tickets to zoolights again this year and we decided to buy some thinking we would have loads of time over the holiday season to go. Ya right! 2012 crept up on us but fast! And we realized that we hadn't gone yet and that we only had 4 days left to go before our tickets went to waste. So even though we were all sick we still went because it was a beautiful day and I didn't want the tickets to end up in the garbage. We also had an extra child ticket so we brought along one of Grady's classmates and friend :D They had lots of fun together and both fell asleep in the car on the way home. And it made me glad about our decision to only have one kid :D

Belly slide down the big slides, some snow or ice would have made these slides a bit more fun, but we can't complain about nice weather!

Watching the light show set to music. I didn't manage to catch any of the lights on in this photo!

The snowmen lighting up during the show.

Light up flamingos are only tacky when they are not at the zoo :D

Playing in the hay piles.

Teamwork to build a giant penguin puzzle

And of course lots of cool lights to see! This was by far the best Zoolights we have ever been to. I think they must have at least doubled the amount of lights this year and it made for lots of great things to see and do. Next year? We'll go again for sure! But maybe get there earlier than 7 so we feel less rushed. I'd tell you to go check it out but you have to wait until November 2012! But mark it in your calendar as a must do for next time because I am sure the Calgary Zoo will only improve it again next time.

Neglecting You? | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-12T15:54:00.001-07:00

Have I been neglecting you my readers? Sorry it has been a few days since I have posted and I have several excuses so I hope you understand. My first excuse is that I got a new toy after Christmas...a laptop! And since I don't want to transfer all of my photos to the laptop and I haven't yet figured out how to network our two computers (if you know and it is easy please share :D), I have been avoiding the basement to play on my new laptop. My second excuse? Playing on my new laptop means setting up my business website for Hippo Hug!

So I have been posting lots over there like photos:

And of course information on the products I am selling and how they can benefit a variety of people.

So please go over there and check out my weighted blankets and go back often to see what I've updated as my website grows :D

And if you'd really like to show your support please "like" me on facebook and think about linking to my website on your website on blog to help increase my search engine optimization and show some support for this budding mompreneur :D Any link no matter how big or small your site will help! And be sure to let me know and I will surely return the favor! You can also find me on twitter for Hippo Hug.

Thanks in advance for any support you can give me!

Now back to our regular programming :D

Making the Magic Happen | Ruff Ruminations

2012-01-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

I know no one is writing about Christmas anymore now that 2012 has shoved it back into the boxes in the basement but I haven't packed it up yet and I still wanted to share how our Christmas morning and prep for Santa went. :D

Grady spreading his reindeer food that he made at preschool

Putting out cookies and milk for Santa.

Look at that! Santa showed up and left a set of footprints! Grady's stocking must have been too heavy to hand once it was stuffed.

Discovering more Santa footprints where we left the cookies and milk.

Seeing the cookie was tasted and milk drank.

Opening up the stocking gifts. Santa only filled the stocking.

Reading a story with Auntie Amanda

All the gifts under the tree ready to be torn open. We draw names in my family for the adults so that the buying is not too stressful but we can all still spoil the kids :D

And here is some of the video that I took:

2011 Review | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo review of our 2011, I included Grady's 2010 Christmas pic for comparison to this year :D Happy New Year and I hope 2012 is fabulous for you an yours :D

Grady's Christmas pic of 2010 did not include Santa for 2 reasons. 1-he was not a fan of Santa and would not sit with him, 2-our "family" pic with Santa from the SNC kids party was terrible.

January:

We pushed fully into 2011 with a big mess by trying out finger painting for the first time! Lots of fun!

February:

Saw us start on our way to choosing and purchasing a tent trailer for the 2011 camping season. Which meant Brian got the lovely learning experience of installing a hitch and components :D

March:
Winter 2011 wasn't going anywhere fast! But we still got out in the cold and snow to enjoy the playground and walk the dogs. It was great to see Grady go from needing help to climb in the early part of the year to doing it all by himself by summer time!

April:
Then April came and spring seemed to be peeking out from Winter's curtain. We got a new bike for Grady but he still prefers to ride in the wagon. Maybe 2012 will see him start to race around.

May:

We spent lots of cousin time in 2011 with Isabel. It is nice the days these guys are good friends and of course interesting the days they aren't!

June:

Well I said goodbye to 30 in June, I still have a hard time believing that I am actually in my 30's! Wow! We also did lots of fun stuff like visit the Edmonton Telus World of Science.

July:

July came an summer was fabulous! Most people said we didn't get a nice summer but I disagree. Maybe they were stuck inside at work all those lovely days we spent in the backyard pool and at splash parks :D

August:

Time for a birthday party. Even though it is late in the summer we still had great weather for a pool party!

September:

Saw our last camping trip and I was a good one! Out to Drumheller for the museum and lots of playground play!

October:

Snuck up on us a bit but we were still ready for Halloween and lots of dressing up :D

November:

Brought us the famous Haircut! Plus I started a business (I still need to get my website up) and Brian got a new position at work, lots of change!

And then December:

came in with a bang and we were BUSY! but it was fab.

We hope for so much in 2012 but aren't making any official resolutions yet :D

Imagination and Destruction | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

Two things that kids know how to do really well and totally naturally? Imagination and Destruction! They can think of the most amazing things and destroy any semblance of order in a nanosecond! Here is what you get when you leave 4 kids ages 3,4,4.5 and 6.5 alone for as little as 5min but possibly as long as 30. Us house partying adults are not sure of the exact amount of under-supervised time :D

Formerly my TV room.

Not so bad you say? Well this area used to house all of Grady's toys until...

The children decided to create "no adults allowed" clubhouse in my laundry room! It is still a pile of toys in my basement after I "encouraged" them to return the toys to their homes as fast as they could, which of course resulted into throwing. But I was just glad that they weren't in my laundry room anymore :D

What this you ask? Well this is 3 little boys figuring out that the best use for a remote control beer cooler is as a ride on remote control car! Awesome? I think so!

Preschool Christmas Party | Ruff Ruminiations

2011-12-27T22:39:00.001-07:00

On the last day of school before Christmas break like all schools everywhere Grady's had a Christmas Party. Daddy was off work so he got to come too, which Grady was very excited about! It was lots of fun to get to see him play with all his friends and ~~dance around while the teacher and parents sung~~ sing some songs. There was lots to do and Santa came too!

Playing with one of his best buds

Throwing "snowballs" with Daddy.

Testing out the balance beam

Very involved in making his craft. This is the longest I have seen him sit for something crafty aside from finger paints.

Guess you'll have to turn your head to look at this one...not sure why it is sideways. In any case here is Daddy and Grady painting an ornament for the tree.

Decorating a cookie with Ms Holly

Serious sprinkle placement!

Driving the bus with some awesome passengers

Santa!

**please feel free to ask me to remove a photo that includes your child if you do not want it on the blog, I have attempted to not use any names**

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T12:51:00.001-07:00

We are on our way to visit family and I realized my last post was a bit negative Nelly for Christmas. So thank you to everyone who came to the party last night. It was lovely to see everyone and fun to play white elephant :) I think we'll make that a party tradition and see what gifts show up next year again :)

No pics as I am writing this from my phone but will do a full post later.

Here's wishing you and yours all the magic Christmas can bring.

Love,
Leslie

Elf on A Shelf Antics (before we sign off for Christmas) | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

Since Christmas is almost here and I am sure I won’t behaving any time to write blog posts unless I do get that laptop as a prezzie ;DI thought I would sign off with a little more Elf on the Shelf and show a fewof the things Nemo has gotten up to.

Tucked inside the glass tube

Upside down on the railing

On top of the cupboards

Delivering a cad that arrived in the mail for Grady.

Hanging from Cranky the Crane

Hiding in the Christmas tree

I know this isn't Elf Nemo but this is Grady giving some of his money from his Advent Calendar.

Peeking out of the corner of the bed

But can I just say what is with all the elf hate? I mean we all know how hard it is to be a mom or a dad or a family in general so if someone has the time and wants to take the time to hide a ~~creepy~~ cute elf around the house in different places why do you care? I know there are people out there who like to go crazy over the top and I say all the power to them if they want to do it great. But I don’t think I should feel labelled as bad or an over-achiever because I occasionally have time to do something slightly more creative with Nemo.

Seriously what is with this movement lately where it is awesome to be a so-called “bad” mom and pretend like you are lazy or indifferent about your children and that you are on some sort of ultimate cool high horse that allows you to look down your nose at moms who like to bake cookies from scratch or sew gifts for their child’s teachers or hide an Elf somewhere besides the self?

Really let’s all stop the judging and try to get supporting each other. Breast feed or don’t breast feed; cloth or disposable; work or stay home...I don’t care what you do so stop taking an unhealthy interest in my choices. Instead remember you love your children as much as I do and I’m not trying to prove I love them more by doing those things. I just like doing them. So shut up, have a Merry Christmas and I hope your kids sleep in. Because really I would rather have you hold my hand through this whole parenting thing than slam the door in my face because you think what I do somehow affects your parenting decisions – end rant :D

**Note** I realize I was pretty angry when I wrote that and I aplogize but I still feel the same. Maybe because I'm mad since someone stole my shopping bag full of cosmetics today. I'm sure I'll be less mad tomorrow when this posts but I still think moms should support each other more and judge each other less.

Lemon Angel Wings | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Lemon Angel Wings:

These are by far the most beautiful and delicate cookies I have ever made. They are a bit time consuming but totally worth it as far as I am concerned. Recipe requested by Jen since she is looking for egg free recipes she can enjoy :D

Lemon Angel Wings:

1 cup cold butter (I have used margarine with success before)

1 1/2 cups flour (any of the various types have worked for me with success)

1/2 cup sour cream (I have used both full and low fat with success)

1 teaspoon lemon zest (I use WAY more cuz I like a stronger lemon taste)

10 tablespoons sugar, divided (I just keep the sugar bag out and use it as needed)

1) Cut butter into flour until crumbly (I've let it crumble up in the Kitchenaid mixer with success)

2) Stir in sour cream until well blended

3) Place dough onto a sheet of wax paper and form into a square approx 4.5 inches

4) Wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate at least 2 hours

This recipe has a lot of waiting time!

5) Cut dough into 4 equal squares

6) Place on square on a piece of wax paper sprinkle with some sugar, cover with another piece of wax paper

7) Roll out dough to a 12x5 in rectangle stopping often to sprinkle with more sugar and flip etc.

8) Roll up both edges to the center to create a double jelly roll sort of shape. Wrap in plastic and return to fridge

9) Repeat steps with remaining square

Wait again! For at least 1 hr.

10) Unwrap dough and cut into 1/2 inch slices

11) Dip each side in sugar and place on foil lined baking sheet

12) Bake at 375 for 14 min (adjust baking time if you stove cooks fast or slow) until golden brown. Flip each cookie and cook another 5 min or so.

Enjoy! Brian thinks they are only good warm and I think they are good all the time. They are my favorite but most intensive cookies to make at Christmas. I am scroogie with how much I share them :D

A Pecker on our Porch | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

My brother Bryan discovered this pecker (Woodpecker that is :D) in our Mayday Tree beside our deck on Sunday. Pretty cool, I have never seen a woodpecker up so close! Hopefully it doesn't mean that our tree is dying? Anyways he stuck around until I had to start BBQing. Anyone know what kind of pecker he is?

The best shot I got! I clicked just as he popped his head around the tree.

Here he is tapping away. If you listen close you can hear it. Sorry for the background noise but that's life with a preschooler!

Once Upon Christmas at Heritage Park | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry the pics are all out of order, Blogger was acting up on me. but in any case we went to Heritage Park's Once Upon a Christmas for the last day that it was running. It was a good day out and the weather was beautiful and the park was PACKED! But it was lots of fun and we got there pretty early so we didn't have to wait too long (30 min or so for the longest wait) considering how long the lines were getting when we headed home around 2pm.

Isabel entertains herself while Grady and I run late :D

The Thornton Family

No Grady has never been photographed before, nu-uh, not him, not a poser at all!

Goofing around

A quick lunch, they were pretty much out of everything. So lukewarm hot dogs a a few bags of chips it had to be.

Reindeer!

Uncle Bryan pulls the sled around while we wait to meet the reindeer.

Try and get them to look...Easier to get them both not looking!

Isabel was not happy about the sled at first. But her grumpy mood soon vanished once she saw how fun Heritage Park was going to be :D

The park is beautiful in the winter

A cutie playing in the hay :D

Another visit with Santa for Mr. Grady.

Two cuties enjoying the sleigh rides! Glad we brought the sled and not the wagon!

Finally made on the hay ride. It was about a 30min wait.

Isabel and Daddy on the hay ride

How do you get a photo of two preschoolers? You don't! I said I am tempted to applique a face to the back of his hood since I get a shot of that more often!

Grady was not interested in petting a reindeer but I was certainly gunna try!

petting Comet

waiting for the hay ride

Isabel and Daddy getting out of the maze.

Closer to Home Family Adoption | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Grady's preschool adopted a family from Closer to Home this year in their annual charitable event at Christmastime. I think in years past they have done the shoebox thing but everyone was on board for adopting a local family in need. Who doesn't want to share in their good fortune at Christmas? I'm not sure how it happened but I ended up coordinating the whole thing and being the lucky person to collect and store all the gifts until delivery time. And boy was there a lot!

The whole school had a 7 member family to buy for with a pretty short and easy wish list. We didn't have to stick to the list and judging by what was collected I don't think we did! But I do know that pretty much all the items got checked off so that is great. I think that the 2 SUV loads full of gifts arriving at that family's house is going to be pretty awesome and overwhelming. I wish we would have been allowed to deliver them ourselves!

This is my spare room. FULL!

I couldn't get all the gifts in one shot!

Still more!

I mean wow! Talk about helping a family in need. I think this would nearly be a life changing amount of gifts to receive!

Even more! We had so much stuff that there was doubles and triples of some things that were able to be passed on to other families. So we helped more than one family in the end. Plus SNC donated all the unclaimed presents from the kids party, so there was another 3 boxes of wrapped presents as well!

Loading it up. See that stroller in the background? On the left side? Yup we forgot it (that's how much stuff there was!) so I got to make another trip to drop it off :D

Candice's Escalade full to the brim, so was the Acura, now I see the appeal of mini vans but I'm still never getting one :D

Waiting for the elevator to come back down for the last load. Thank goodness they had an elevator! It would have been a lot longer unloading without one!

Last load going up in the "toy elevator" as Grady called it.

And here is everything save and sound and ready for some lucky coordinator to try and deliver to the family in time for Christmas! Good luck with the delivery and we hope to hear how happy the family was.

Wintery Family Photos | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

After Brian's office Kid's Christmas Party we bugged my sister to indulge us in some family photos. This year I really wanted snowy pics and I was worried that I wasn't going to get them in time for Christmas cards. But mother nature was very generous with the snowfall that day! So we had beautiful and fresh snow to venture out into for these great shots. We didn't do as long of a photo shoot as normal as it had already been a long day of partying :D

I think they turned out pretty good! What do you think?

Grady really wanted to play so we had this one and very short chance at a family shot. Not too shabby :D

Cute!

Come and get Mommy!

Grady's first snow angel!

Family snow angels :D

Trekking off to find a good family photo spot

Playing with the fresh snow on the trees, Grady loved how it exploded off the branches when you touched them.

Same photo as before but not cropped in close. It was bright and sunny so we were a bit squinty.

Grady finds a tree just his size. Here he is giving it a hug as per Auntie's request :D

Too Cute!

Snowball attack on daddy! What a great actor Brian is :D

Whose getting the snowballs now?

Grandpa!

Two Brooks' boys versus one! Doug didn't have a chance :D

My Fave Photo Sequence....

A kiss for the man I love...

I don't know how he didn't see this one coming considering I said "Wait a sec" as i bent down for a handful of snow.

I was well away at this point. I know I am such a mean wife :D

"I will have my revenge!" a dish best served cold?

And with snowballs :D

He was satisfied after 5 or so good hard throws. See how Amanda caught the snowball exploding on my hand? Pretty cool.

Auntie and Grady!

Grady goes off for a trek in the deep stuff.

Me :D

SNC Lavalin Children's Christmas Party | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

December 4th was the SNC Lavalin CPBU Children's Christmas Party at Heritage Park. Brian and I planned it so we had to get there early to make sure everything was going smoothly. It was held in the Celebration tent because we had to plan for 500 but in the end we only had 220. I would not plan for an outdoor location again even if it is heated! It would have been OK if they had turned the heat on at 8am rather than 10am for a party that started at 11am! But nonetheless we had a good time but were so busy that we didn't get a chance to check out the rest of the park. So we will have to use our 50% off coupons to check it out another weekend.

If you are wondering because you are planning a corporate party of your own for next year I would recommend the following vendors:

Entertainment - Just Kidding Entertainment (Best Entertainers ever!)

Toys - Samko Toys (they even wrap and deliver all the prezzies!)

Photographer - Ultraviolet Photo

If anyone knows of great and reasonably priced decor and venues for 200-500 people let me know because I may be planning the party again next year!

Overall the event was a success, and we had fun so that is all that really matters :D

Man that's a lot of stuff, guess that's what happens when you bring the photographer to the party :D

Hauling all our stuff up the hill, we didn't know until the end of the party that we could have had the shuttle bring it in for us! Oh well, worth the exercise.

Grady getting a Lightening McQueen airbrush tattoo. Boy do those things last! It is still on his arm!

Check out my new backhoe!

Grady! You've got a dog on your head!

Can you tell he was in a silly mood and not wanting more photos? :D

Grady and Grandpa and Grandma

Grady strikes a pose at the end of the party :D

Mommy got some beautiful face paint. Julie (Petals) was beyond talented. We will be hiring her again for sure! I have never in my life seen such amazing face painting at a kids Christmas party!

Grady and Auntie Amanda getting the secondary photo location ready.

Finally we have reached the age where he WANTS to sit with Santa and is happy about it! Grady got lots of Santa time at this event because Mom and Dad were the organizers and Amanda was the photographer. Plus this Santa was A-Mazing! He had lots of time to visit each kid and we were smart and assigned everyone a Santa time slot so no one had to wait in line!

Family Santa photo.

Grady and Santa after he unwrapped his gift and got a balloon hat. This is the first year he was allowed a balloon as they won't give them to kids under 3, but he must not have been that impressed with it because at the end of the party he gave it back to the balloon artist and said he didn't want it anymore!

When you organize the party you get as many Santa photos as you like!

A full family pic with Santa and his elves!

I included this pic because it is pretty darn hilarious and I don't think Doug knows it exists :D

Here are some videos for your enjoyment :D

Santa magically appears before the stage to visit the children!

This one is Doug trying to get a photo of Grady's new balloon hat, as you can see he though it was much better to dance than stay still (so he can dance afterall)!

A budding leader/public speaker on our hands?

Elf on the Shelf and Advent Giving Forest | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Do you have an Elf on the Shelf? What has your Elf on the Shelf been up to since coming to stay with your family? Our Elf on the Shelf "Nemo" hasn't gotten into too much mischief since coming to stay with us but has been caught in some pretty interesting places! Grady is starting to wake up each morning and have a look for her, but he still doesn't want to talk to her which is ok. So far it has been fun to find out where she might end up, but I can't say as I've seen a change in behaviour due to her presence but we are lucky in that Grady is a pretty darn good little boy :D

Nov 28th location

Nov 29th location

Nov 30th location. Grady thought it was AMAZING that Nemo managed to get into his bedroom while he was sleeping! She brought back her adoption certificate so we can keep it.

Dec 1st location. Nemo brought this Advent Calendar with her for Grady. It is meant to be a forest of trees but he calls it "Party hats". I got the idea for the trees from a blog post at Pink Suede Shoe but I didn't give myself enough time to do more with the trees than cut them out of paper. Plus they are pretty wobbly and take up lots of space so I am thinking I will look for a cute fabric hanging advent calendar pattern for next year.

There is 24 ~~trees~~ party hats in all different sizes and papers. Under each tree is either a quarter, loonie or twonie that Grady must choose to give away to a charity. Its not all giving away though there are a few prizes for him to keep. All in all I think he will end up giving away about $15 which is pretty good for a preschooler.

I wanted something to help him learn that not everyone is fortunate enough to have a fabulous Christmas and that we should give away some of what we have to share the Christmas spirit with everyone. I don't want Christmas to be all about him get spoiled but about the whole point of the season. Family, Friends, Giving and Sharing good cheer.

Here is where our Elf on the Shelf landed Dec 2nd.

Giving a hug to Grady's stocking hanger

Dec 3rd , a bit a of crash landing I guess since she ended up upside down! Grady thought this was hilarious!

December 4th landing spot. Guess Nemo wanted to make sure we were brushing our teeth. Looks lie she dropped her hat on Grady's tooth brush holder.

December 5th, how did she get all the way up there?

December 6th. Must be flying in to make sure we eat our veggies, not that Grady ever does!

Dec 7th landing spot, seems Nemo has come back with some cute accessories :D

Wordless Wednesday - Dentist | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Recently Grady went to the dentist for his third visit since starting to go at age 1ish. It went really well, maybe because we talked about it a lot in the months leading up and maybe because he knew I had gone the day before. In any case much to my surprise he let them polish his teeth! I think he liked the sucking tool more than anything! They called it Mr.Slurpee and he thought it was hilarious.

as always thanks for hosting the link up Merry love what your Elf is up to today!

Skate with Santa University of Calgary Alumni Event | Ruff Ruminations

2011-12-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

On November 26, 2011 the University of Calgary hosted their annual Skate with Santa Alumni Event. We were invited by the Schulich School of Engineering and RSVP'd yes right away. Who wouldn't want an opportunity to take their preschooler skating with Santa?! Especially since this would be Grady's first time skating since we didn't get out last year after buying some bob skates late in the season. He was EXCITED to go!

Of we go with a little preschool size aide to help Grady stand up.

20 years ago or so I used to figure skate, but is has been a long time since I put on a pair of skates and boy did my feet ache! But it was well worth it for some exercise and the smile on Grady's face!

Can you believe it a skating dinosaur!

The event in addition to being free to skate at the oval included free refreshments. These beautiful cupcakes were part of the decorate your own cupcake station with smarties, sprinkles and candies. There was also hot chocolate, coffee and mandarin oranges to enjoy. What a great snack after an hour of skating!

Daddy has a go pushing Grady around.

I think we will be going skating again this winter as Grady enjoyed it so much!

Finally we bump into the Big Guy!

Santa's is pretty good on those skates and did a great job taking time to talk to all the kids, he even took a few of them by the hand a did a loop around the ice, lucky kids!

And we also tried some backwards skating. It was a great event to benefit the food bank. It was surprisingly not too busy or crowded and it looked like everyone was having a great time. We will definitely be going again next year.