Saturday 31 December 2016

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

Monday 19 December 2016

Sunday 18 December 2016

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.

Thursday 1 December 2016

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!