Our first Christmas in the new house was excellent.  We were spoiled with many Christmas dinners, and Jenaya and Graham were spoiled by Santa and our families.  Despite the frigid temperatures we took in many parties, decorating cookies with the Johnsons, and great visits with family and friends.  After a week of celebrating in Edmonton, we headed south to Calgary to visit family there, and see GG on the way back.  We were again spoiled in Calgary with warmer weather, deer in the back yard, skating, toboganning, mulled wine, and great company.  Thanks to everyone for the excellent Christmas, and Happy New Year.

Halloween was a big event this year, Jenaya dressed up as a unicorn for playschool and a "friendly" witch in the evening and again for the big party the next night.  Graham was a little dinosaur, and was incredibly patient waiting for the girls to get ready.  Jenaya and the boys ran non stop through the new neighborhood, and the candy sorting hasn't ended yet!  As the weather cools off, our outdoor projects have ended, and we're finally turning our attention to changing the inside of the new house, where to begin?  A couple new pic's from halloween, and we're waiting on a few from the grandparents who had the cameras......

The big move came and went, with the help of our entire families.  Jenaya was excited to spend a last visit with her neighbor, Christina, who left her with a framed picture of the two of them.  Jenaya has it strategically placed on her nightstand in the new house.  Grandma P, was in town for the week, providing the essential pair of hands to help with the move, and the Grandpa's helped move everything over to the new place and start the reno's.  Graham has started to escape the confines of his high chair, and when he gets out, he stands on the tray and claps his hands!

 

The new house has been terrific.  Tons of space for the kids to play, riding bikes in the crawl space, playing hockey in the basement, playing soccer in the empty front room, building tunnels with empty fridge cardboard boxes, and of course, tons of stairs for Graham to go up and down.  Thank goodness that the laminate flooring is durable, Graham throws whatever he can get his hands on from his high chair, from the second floor down to the main floor.....books, sippy cups, brushes, if it's not bolted down, it's going to fly...

 

Our first night at the new house was exciting - the Johnson clan showed up for supper and Aunt Kym and  Nonney came after helping with the finishing touches on the old house, and Grandpa Chuck didn't have a choice but to stay.  There's a great photo of the only peice of furniture in place!  Jenaya took a week to settle down and start sleeping regularly, and Graham never missed a beat.

 

Jenaya started at the new playschool with her new teachers - Michelle and Laurel - and her best friend Brett in her class.   Jenaya loves to go for bike rides out around the house, to the park, and around the big park.....  When grandpa and dad started to paint and seal the windows, Jenaya asked if we moving again!  Next up is tackling the deck - staining it and repainting the garage door and trim!

 

Enjoy the pictures from before the move and after. 

We finally found a moment when there wasn't something to clean, paint, repair, or replace.... lost a camera, replaced with a new one, and finally have an assortment of shots from a great spring day.  Jenaya and dad had a blast at the zoo watching Samantha play with the firehose, petting the armadillo, and sharing Jenaya's first milkshake.  Graham on the other hand, lived life like a labrador.  Had dogfood for breakfast, chewed on an orange Kong while everyone else played outside, carried a plastic frisbee in his mouth on all fours, and to top it off, crawled right past his cup of water to drink out of the dog bowl!  The things a 10 month old learns how to do.  Yes, we let him drink repeatedly out of the bowl..... he was thirsty.  The water was relatively fresh, at least that's what Ang thinks.

It's spring time in Edmonton!  20 degrees and sunshine - painting outside and sporadic snow storms blowing through to interupt the painting. 

 

After a whirlwind tour to Calgary, Ang and the kids stayed with Grandma and Dave for week living it up in Fish Creek.  As you can see in the photos, Graham was pretty spoiled, had his hair coiffed, tried on some silly hats, and was able to sleep in complete silence without Air 1 (not the white noise fan) buzzing the house.  Jenaya lived it up going to the zoo, feeding the deer out back, roasting marshmallows on the bbq, and feeding the new sting rays at the Calgary Zoo.  Jenaya brought her bike to calgary and finally mastered the art of pedalling forwards, but still thinks that stopping is best done Fred Flinstone style.  Ang had fun too, relearning to ride her cyclocross bike.  Hopefully she relearns how to wash it too.  Who knew that the mud had thawed yet.  Thanks for the pampering Dave and Grandma.

 

We were fortunate to leave the morning after 23 cm of snow fell in calgary, and everyone seized the moment to evacuate the city via the northbound deerfoot.  On the way back we visited Great Grandma in Olds, JEnaya put on a dancing show, and Graham loved the carpet.

 

Now that we're back home, there's been no rest for the wicked.  Repainting the house, the front steps, light replacement, garage (mouse removal) cleaning, and of course the spring run of birthday parties with Brett turning 4 yesterday.

 

Here's to Grandpa's Mel and Chuck for all the help this spring with the computer and the housework.  There's bound to be more photos coming soon.