Norton Family Party

We lured Grandma and Grandpa for a visit

And took an impromptu 4 generation photo

Babies are delightful

Marie and her kids, Mark, Ortensia, Camille, and Monte, as well as us and Grandma and Grandpa Norton headed to Park 96 for some winter fun!

Let's take a closer look into that stroller

Some of us sledded, some of us skated, some of us did both

It was the perfect day for it

We popped into the clubhouse for Grandma Norton's cinnamon buns (made together with Carmen and Chloe) for breaks whenever we wanted.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Day

Santa came!

Carmen loved her luggage

But Chloe got the scratch off map Carmen wanted

After church we got our missionary FaceTime with Steve!

He's looking good and sounding southern

The rest of the day was at Grandma Olson's house

Second cousin Frank Humphreys

Jaclyn forgot the sweet potatoes

Double Cuddles

A little floor wrestling

This is what a missionary son in rural Florida sends for Christmas: taxidermy

Christmas Eve

Traditions are wonderful!

We had 2 kinds of Sleepy Soup this year, Split Pea and Clam Chowder

We played Christmas Would you Rather, and then broke the Piñata.

I tried an Ikea star as a piñata this year, and it was just barely strong enough to withstand the niece and nephews.

But the points were good for gathering up the candy!

After our company left we watched our favourite Christmas movie, Die Hard, and said good night.

While it's still 2016

Carmen had a second surgery on her arm on December 19th, obviously she was fine. Snapchat skills still intact.

Meanwhile, Chloe got to cuddle with Zoë on her first full day at our house for Christmas break.

Zoë met Great-Grandma Olson (aka GG'ma, aka Gigi)

We filled the week with Christmasy things like shortbread cookies, dipping more chocolates, 

and the Nativity Pageant.

We joked about placing Zoë in the manger, but never seriously considered it.

All the cuddles

Carmen #21

Twelve Days of Christmas at Heritage Park

The most picturesque Christmas activity you can do in Calgary is to go to Heritage Park. The historic village is draped with garland and dotted with wreaths at every turn. And for some reason I've never been before this year!

Chloe worked as an interpreter in the school house for the Twelve Days of Christmas.

She helped the children rehearse for their Christmas recital 3 times a day, and the rest of the time she played school with any visitors to the school house.

Chloe is a wonderful pretend teacher, and would I'm sure be a wonderful real life teacher as well.

Though real schools don't have the same ambiance.

Swim Team

Carmen had to re-certify as a lifeguard this winter, and she realized that over the past 2 years of guarding she hasn't actually done a lot of swimming.

And she figured that joining swim team would be a way to discipline herself for that timed swim in the lifeguard certification.

But it turned out to be so much more! She loved every second of it: the practises, the friendships, the early mornings, and the swim meets.

Her only regret: Not doing swim team during her other high school years!