project 365: december edition

I thought it would be tacky if I didn't wrap up project 365 by, like, January first, but time sort of got away from me... so without further ado, here's December 2013!

Fraser's bud Liam turned 2! I didn't even get a picture of the birthday boy in all his glory, but I at least snapped a photog of his mama's creative party decor!

Fraser was incredibly proud of the way he lined up the duckies on the tub.

Christmas tree plus snow storm = somewhat of a delightful mix (when safe and warm inside, of course).

Love this little duo. Nico and Fraser have really taken a shine to each other's little siblings and it's soooo cute.

Fraser's little friend Hailey came for a visit!

While Marc, Kylie & boys were visiting, we braved the -50 Celsius (with wind chill) for some hot tubbin!

Fraser enjoyed watching the convoy snow removal team at work!

This is perhaps the worst photo committed to film (er, phone camera) EVER, but at least it documents our small group Christmas party (minus Nick & Chels)!

The holiday train came through Lethbridge!

At the time Fraser wasn't thrilled with Santa, and refused to sit on his lap (and you can hardly blame him upon observing that creepy beard), but couldn't stop talking about him (or the candy cane he gave him) afterwards!

Fraser got creative with his markers! And these are his "camera" eyes which have since evolved into full-on closure... charming!

We- along with Lowell's sisters and some cuzzies- decided to surprise Julie Anne for her 30th birthday, and here are the cake pops ready to go!

I looooove Stefan's squishy scrunchy face (even though this isn't fully it... you get the idea)!

We've been crashing my Dad's clinic parties for YEARS, and now that Lowell has been hired by the same clinic, we received a legit invite to the Christmas party! Here we are with our wonderful friends Ryan & Adele!

Stefan & Elise bonded when we went to Orion to surprise Julie Anne for her 30th birthday!

Some winter frolicking!

A boy after my own heart... peanut butter fingers!

Fraser found the chalk... and then got down to business!

"I want to shovel... Mommy want to watch!" Go ahead, dear child... go right on ahead.

"I wanna dress like a princess!" hehehe ;)

It secretly thrills me when Fraser insists on gallivanting around in his helmet as I would actually prefer if he wore it 24/7!

Lowell borrowed this excellent holiday sweater from Greg (Kylie's Dad), and it was met with many an envying eye at David's Tea. Their enthusiasm over the sweater resulted in free tea for us... so thanks to the good people at David's Tea for kindly rewarding Lowell's festive spirit!

When waking Stefan up from a nap at Nana & Papa's, it was the first time I witnessed this bum-up-dreaming-about-getting-ready-to-crawl posture!

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Stefan's first Christmas!

We didn't think we were REALLY going to do Santa with our kids as neither of us truly believed when we were little (well, I don't THINK I did, but I do distinctly remember asking Santa for Penny's computer book from Inspector Gadget, legitimately expecting to get it, and being decidedly disappointed when I didn't). Anyhoo, I just sort of casually brought up Santa now and again with Fraser. When I initially asked what he wanted from Santa, he responded several times with "candy!" When I probed further, he requested a choo choo train (and luckily for him, his Mother had already alerted Santa to that fact). He continued to respond with "candy!" and "choo choo train!" each of the million other times I asked him what he wanted from Santa (all the while still not sure if I was really going to do the whole Santa thing). Well, on Christmas day, as he was opening his Santa gift, he kept asking, "What's in there Mommy?" When he saw what it was, his eyes lit up, a huge grin spread across his face, and he cheered, "YAY!" Oh man it was adorable. He totally bought it (well, obviously he bought it... he's 2 and loves toys and candy), and I'm totally sold on this santa thing. SO. MUCH. FUN!

Christmas day with all the T grandkiddies! Take special note of the little interaction going on in the back with glasses-grabbing Stefan, surprised Carmen, and amused Katelyn. haha

We discovered that Stefan & Elise wear the same sleep sac! Elise is not so pleased in this picture... perhaps a little disgruntled that Stefan is threatening to steal her girly-sleep-sac thunder. ;)

The four eldest grandkids including the two birthday girls: Carmen & Julia!

Our little bookworm.

We went on a cross country skiing excursion in Waterton with Nana & Papa. After successfully making it to Cameron Lake and back with Fraser on Lowell's back and Stefan on my tummy, Fraser went for a little ski and LOVED it. He could scoot on flat ground on his own, but had even more fun when Lowell helped him speed down the little hills!

 I'm just going to toss up a few more pictures of our Waterton trip. How could I NOT include a goofy selfie with Nana & Papa, PROOF that we skied all the way to Cameron Lake with two kids in tow, and Fraser sleeping in the backpack?!

That's snow-covered Cameron Lake behind us. And also, I'm wearing one of Lowell's coats so it was big enough to go around Stefan as well (in the event that you were curious about my fashion statement).

Stefan has been sitting for months, and it JUST occurred to me that he could SIT in the bath with Fraser. Duh. Now that I made this brilliant realization, Stefan can enjoy more than one bath every 5-12 days!

On New Years Eve, we slept over at Nick & Chelsea's place. Nicholas coloured this picture all by himself (we had WILD night, can you tell?). This is him posing for the picture saying "You better not post this!" But that was a joke... right Nick? hehe

What a wonderful year we had!

I was absolutely shocked to discover that December 31st did in fact land on day 365. I thought for SURE I had made at least a few errors along the way. Such a pleasant surprise to learn that I still have a few brain cells in tact!

I have been pondering doing a similar thing in 2014 as it was a great way to document the year and keep track of Fraser and Stefan's milestones. It also took off the pressure to do full-on blog posts (many of which were started and not completed) as most things going on in our lives were at least touched on in these picture posts (and personal journaling is indeed the primary purpose of this here bloggeroo). In any case, thanks for following along with my project 365 series, folks... and that's a wrap, 2013!!