Grandma K comes to visit

Grandma K ventured out into the cold this weekend to come visit Eli. She is brave! Only a grandma would do that. Here's a photo from this weekend.

 

New Do

With a little one, it's hard to find time to get your hair done. Especially when it takes a few hours if you get it colored. I finally got it done yesterday. I wasn't happy with my last cut, but just lived with it. The ponytail has been my hairstyle for the last month. Thank you SO much to Dad, Angel (and of course Christopher) for coming over and watching Eli for me. That was such a nice treat. I really appreciate it!


BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

 

Busy day...

President Obama was sworn in this morning. What a momentus occasion!! The size of the crowd was incredible. Eli and I watched the ceremony and I took a picture for his baby book. The first of many historical moments in Eli's life!

 

Then I headed downtown to meet with a head hunter. I've been putting of meetings downtown as much as possible. It's just so much less convienient when you are not down there every day. And parking...$16 for 2 hours. Seriously. So, I try to limit my visits. My job search has officially begun, but is slow right now. Just my luck the price of oil takes a nose dive while I'm off on maternity leave. Honestly though, if Brent and I are off together for a while (he's taking parental leave starting in March) that would be a-ok with me - just not too long.

Then this evening was cake class. I have a new appreciation for how much work goes into making a cake. Between baking the cake, making the icing, coloring the icing, planning your decorations, filling the icing bags and cleaning up it's very time consuming. I enjoy it though. This first picture is Cynthia's cake on the left and mine on the right. Mine is in honor of Kosmo, my sister's new dog.

 

 

Cyn's cake looked just like the photo. I loved all the little dots on the side.

 

My cake was not as professional but I admit I didn't put too much time into the base icing. It was bailey's icing though...so hopefully that makes up for any lack in decorating. :)

Cul-de-sac adventures

The warm weather has been so welcome. Eli and I have enjoyed getting out of the house for some nice long walks in the sun. The downside is that our cul-de-sac is BRUTAL. The snow is so deep and so many people are getting stuck. I got stuck on the weekend and our neighbor helped us out. Our neighbor accross the street got his van stuck and so Brent went out to help. They eventually did get it unstuck but it took them a while. Thank goodness for helpful neighbors.

 

They were digging for at least 1/2 an hour.



Push. Dig. Push. Dig.



More muscle power needed. Some of the boys came out to help and they finally got it out.

 

A close up of the entry to our driveway. It's so frustrating to get stuck 1 meter from your own house.

Fate?

Sometimes I think that Brent and I were destined to meet eachother. There have just been too many wierd coincidences and connections between people we know. Especially considering that we went to different schools and university/college. Our lines of work are completley different.

First of all, we grew up about 2 blocks away from eachother in the same neighborhood. We knew the same kid Robbie down the street. We were in the same grade and I used to walk by Brent's house on my way to school. We played at the same little playground - yet we never met (that we can remember!)

When I was in University, I met Cynthia. She was the first person I met at U of A. One day in class were were talking about high school crushes. She was describing the guy she had a big crush on in high school (or was it jr. high?). He sounded so familliar. Turns out, he was Brent's roommate at the time. We laughed so hard when we figured that out.

Another example, I met my friend Jolene on a well completions course in Houston. We went for margaritas one night and figured out that her boyfriend (now fiance) Jon was on the same hockey team as Brent. We're heading to their wedding this summer!

Another one. Brent's dad's partner Margaret has a daugher, Janice. Janice is friends with Shannon. Shannon and I worked at ConocoPhillips together.

And another. Brent and I actually did meet through a mutual friend - Ken Jeffries. I worked with Lynn Jeffries at Conocophillips. Lynn is Ken's dad, Ken and Brent went to highschool together.

And the list goes on. I guess it was meant to be!

Crazy Cake Lady

I've always wanted to know how to decorate cakes so Cynthia and I signed up for a class. It's the Wilton Level 1 cake decorating course. I'm really enjoying it! I bought the fancy little kit so now I'm prepared to decorate cakes for every occasion. This is my first cake (hence the writing on the cake). We don't have a choice as to the decorations but it was good to get some practice. It was a lot of work making all those colors. I had lots of extra icing left over to I sent Brent to work with the cupcakes. I have a feeling his co-workers think I have a lot of time on my hands :)

 

 

The Christmas post

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Eli's first and it was very special. We had four, yes..four Christmas celebrations.

The first was at Jim and Margarets. I wasn't able to go, but Brent and Eli did. It looks like they had lots of fun. Santa was even there!

 

Brent and Eli in front of the big beautiful tree

 

Baba Marie and her 2 great grandchildren

 

The babies!

 

Santa making himself comfortable

The next day we hosted Christmas dinner for my mom's side of the family. We cooked a ham that I must say was rather delicious. My Aunt Eileen brought the delicious Christmas pudding. I think I look forward to that dessert all year.

 

The guys playing an intense game of Carcasonne.

 

The kids playing the Wii - it got lots of use this year!

 

Jacqueline and Kyle having a game of pool on our new table. (Thanks Dad!)

Christmas morning we opened Santa's gifts at home then went over to Nancy's for breakfast and Coffee and Baileys (YUM!). We all got so spoiled. Especially me since I got 2 spa gift certificates. I LOVE the spa. Ahhhhhhhh.

 

Brent and his new dad stocking.

 

Eli opening gifts from Grandma K - including his new chapeau.

 

Fun new present from mom and dad.

That night we hosted Brent's mom's side of the family. It was a big get together but SO much fun (as always). It's potluck style, so we made the same ham we test drove the weekend before. There was a tonne of food! We stayed up until the wee hours playing games.

 

Eli all dressed up in his suit from Great Grandma Dolly.

 

A glimpse of what 31 people in our house at dinner time looks like!

 

The cutest Mrs.Clause you've ever seen.

We also were treated to dinner at my dad's. Angel and Dad cooked the entire meal themselves. It was awesome. The peach melba dessert was a nice change from tradition and was even spiked. Thanks Dad and Angel!

 

Dad and Angel putting the finishing touches on dessert.

 

The beautiful dinner table.

Phew....and that was the condensed version of Christmas.