Howdy from Banff

I know Kimberly...it has been too long since I posted on my blog...but I finally had something I really couldn't resist sharing with you all...all like 3 of you but really who is counting. Anyhow we have been enjoying a week in Banff with my mom, the kids and myself...waiting patiently for Sean too...and just wanted to let you see what we have been up to.

We have had the chance to explore, swim, head up the gondola to Sulpher Mountain, check out some wild life and of course...this afternoon was makeover time...what girls trip is complete without that?

Our weather has been pretty rainy, but nothing compares to a Rocky Mountain thunderstorm...WOW! Trip has gone smoothly so far and I have only threatened to leave someone on the side of the road a few times...and in my defense I have never followed through!

Hope everyone at home is well and Sean; we MISS you SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. Can't wait for you to get here!

Lotsa love,

Catherine, Hannah, Meg & Kane

A year has come and gone...

First day Of Grade 1!

As a child a year of school was interminable and I am finding as an adult, that year is gone before it even feels like it started. Today was Hannah's last day of Grade 1; the beginning of her first ever real summer holidays. Kindergarten didn't really count as it was only twice a week... That is what she said anyways. By chance she wore the same shirt today that she wore on her first day of school so I couldn't resist the before and after shot. I have officially become that mom...and I love it!

I will be the first to admit that Hannah can be a challenging little person. This year has confirmed for me that if nothing else! My apologies to her teachers... This year has confirmed many other things for me as well. So here are 10 randoms on what I have learned about Hannah and school this year.

1. She might be the poster child for ADHD...wanna ride bikes?

2. She is a social butterfly, just like her mother was. She knows all the kids names in just about every grade, she knows who everyone is related to and can strike up a conversation with any of them.

3. She loves people a lot. Every teacher has told me if they feel a little person hugging

them...they then know Hannah is out and about because it is almost always her hugging them. I love that our teachers in our small town school can hug her back.

4. She has a great sense of humour. Lots of the stories I have heard about her involve her and her funny antics. She loves to make people laugh!

5. Watching her go from learning a few sight words to snuggled in bed reading a chapter book may have been one of my favourite progressions ever...even better than the crawling to walking (and she gets into less stuff now!)

6. I have to really be commited to her daily school routine. Helping with spelling tests means successful spelling tests...She is needing that support at home if she wants to be successful...and it is really special time to be with her.

7. They learn a lot in school and my daughter (like everyones kids I'm sure...) is a sponge. She can talk urban vs. rural and herbivore vs. carnivore...very cool!

8. Hannah has some really awesome friends. It encourages me to think that she is a good friend back. Learning lessons like apologising if you were rude, standing up for what is right, and caring for those you love are lessons that will serve her for the rest of her life.

9. My daughter has the weirdest sense of what is good...like leaving your socks in your desks for weeks on end...or creating a pencil lead collection...um...yeah...

10. School can be/is fun. She is super excited to be on summer vacation this year since we have a lot of fun stuff planned but she can hardly wait to be in Grade 2. That tells me that school is fun...or Hannah would be praying..."anywhere but here...anywhere but here"

Last Day Of Grade 1!

My new toy...

I totally fell in love with photography when I worked at the paper. Before then I had enjoyed it but to find a new angle...a new image for an annual event...that takes love. I count that as one of the huge blessings of having worked at the Advocate for so long.

Anyways...when Kim upgraded her camera to a new body and was looking to sell her old digital SLR I jumped at the chance. When I was young, my mom took beautiful photos and had a variety of lenses for her camera and with a very inexpensive adapter...I am now photographing her grandkids with the same lenses. Admittedly, it will take a while to get used to putting a bit more work into each photograph but I am hoping with some dedication and imagination it will be worth it!

Great kids!

Just had to share this picture...all three are smiling...I was starting to think that would never happen! In honour of a full sibling smile I will do my randoms on the great things about having kids...admittedly these are the great things about my kids...yours are great too, um...I'm sure.

1. No more than 10 seconds after a screaming fight with each other they are willing to defend each other. Doesn't matter how they were going to sell their sibling to travelling gypsies moments ago...they always have each other's back.

2. How positively angelic do they look when they are asleep?

3. The look on their little faces when you tell someone how good they were at something. Not only are you proud of them...you are proud enough to tell someone else!

4. While occasionally they repeat the words you wish they hadn't heard, once in a while they say the right things...Meg and Lily were playing the other day and when Lily fell Meg was right in there,"Oh sweetie!, Are you OK? It's alright now...up we go..." Damn, it was cute.

5. When they are sick you become superhuman. In true Jasper Cullen style, just being in the room with you makes them feel better.

6. You are a veritable font of information to your children. No one in this world...or their right minds...think I am half as smart as my kids think I am.

7. The unlimited access to the super-soft-baby-cheek as they drift to sleep in your arms.

8. The purest form of humour is the innocent humour of children. They have no idea how funny they are. If they knew it wouldn't be half as funny!

9. Hannah is a defender of justice and any time I see her rooting for the underdog, standing up for the little guy or ensuring the play is fair my buttons burst with pride. It gives me a bit of confidence that we haven't done a half bad job ;)

10. Ironically, my children each in their own way--without knowing it-- have healed my wounds, kissed me better when I was down, told me they loved me more than anything else...and meant it, made me laugh harder than anything else, made me cry with joy, and made me into a woman I never dreamed I would be...for that and a million other reasons...I absolutely love my kids!

It's almost graduation day!

So for the last few years I have been involved in organizing our community's Kindergarten grad. It is a night of pint-sized pomp and circumstance and is always super cute! Last year, being Hannah's year, I made a video yearbook for all the kids and was asked to do the same thing this year. it is so fun to watch the parents and kids review the year and is always filled with lots of laughter and a few tears... proud mamas usually...yes, I cried at my own video last year...shut up!

I made personalized DVD cases for the kids both years but didn't think to take a picture of all of them last year so...here is this year's group. was super fast and fun to make them. Congrats to all Champion's little graduates!!!

Totally Bodacious Day!!!...God, I loved the 80's

'Cause our kids don't think we are old enough...they have 80's day at school. While I'm sure the kids have fun (Hannah was grinning from ear to ear) it just reinforces that we are ancient..."You were really alive in the 80's? WOW you're older than I thought!"...yes she actually said that to me this morning. So, that being said how much fun is it to vicariously relive the 80's through your child? A lot!..No guff!

With all things 80's in my heart...(read-banana clips, Vaurnet, hyper colour and 'the Coreys') I proceeded to make over my daughter. I think the result was great and she was just happy she got to wear lipstick and eyeshadow to school. Anyhow I have now pulled out the retro 80's genre on my list of music and am currently swooning to Please Don't Go Girl from New Kids On The Block...(when they were kids) and can't wait for the Bangles which are comin' up next! In honour of this most special of days I have 10 randoms of why the 80's rocked!

1. Bigger was better. Trying to explain that to Hannah this morning was a bit tough. "Why did you want to have the biggest hair, the biggest hat, the biggest satin bow, the biggest bag Mom?" Well...Cause that was the 80's.

2. Teen Mags were the next best thing to Playgirl for kids. We all drooled all over the pin-ups...Ralph Macchio, John Stamos, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, The NKOTB, River Phoenix, Patrick Dempsey...before he was McDreamy...


3. Happy endings. Everything in the 80's still had a happy ending. The girl got the boy, or viceversa where applicable. The dork usually got friends or laid depending on the movie (Long Duck Dong and the exchange student anyone?) The jerk at the beginning found that true love needed him to be nicer and the hot cheerleader usually ended up filthy and screaming. There was a balance in nature and the good guys always won! Like any of us wouldn't melt if the crowd cleared and the resident hottie was sitting on the roof of his car waiting just for us!

4. Tom Cruise was still hot...and not crazy yet. He was, come on admit it. Think Risky Business in his little tighty whitey's? He was hot. Top Gun? I don't need to say any more.

5. We had a knack for shortening company names to somehow make them our own...and those names for me have stuck. They were Cons not Converse, Docs not Doc Martens and so on.

6. Hammer pants. I had them...you had them...none of us should have. They were wrong even for the 80's.

7. What we were sure musically was cutting edge and rough, is tame by today's standards. If you want proof of this, listen to a song or two from Billy Idol. Madonna was as risque as it got and Paula Abdul in her short skirts got people talking. My mother was disapproving of this stuff then...I don't know how she is still managing to breathe these days...Love you, Mom...

8. Jamaica put the infamous bobsled team in the Calgary Olympics a la Cool Runnings. Anything was possible in the 80's. We all felt it and I think it changed the way we would live our lives out.

9. Video Games took over the brains of the youth turning most of us to mush. What started as something like Pong, turned into Pac Man, turned into today's Wii. I still have never rescued the Princess from the original Mario Bros. for the NES. Sean says he could do it in about 10 minutes...show off.

10. TV was as addictive as ever. Like you couldn't settle in with a pint of Ben and Jerry's Funky Monkey ice cream and watch a solid night of 80's TV... Family Ties, Facts of Life, Growing Pains, Silver Spoons, Punky Brewster, A-Team, Knight Rider, ALF, Cosby Show, Night Court, Cheers, Smurfs, He-man and the Masters of the Universe, Care Bears, Oh...I could go on forever...

So that's it...I thought long and hard about how to sign of...decided this would do the trick.

"Sit Ubu, Sit!

Good Dog!"

"Woof"

What a weekend!

Well, we are home safe and sound from our whirlwind trip to Edmonton. I must say, it was great to see all the members of Sean's family and to have some time on the road to just chat with my beloved husband...OK so I've said all that for the record right?

AHHH! this was a bit of a frustrating weekend starting with...wait for it...my middle child puking in my hands during a beautiful video of the actual wedding ceremony in Columbia. Yeah that's right, right in my hand. I was holding Kane on my lap and her supper in the other...yay parenting! I don't think she could have picked a quieter moment, at least the attention of all those in attendance was on something else.

Sean tells me only a few people noticed and while I much prefer this theory, I'm not sold on it. So that put an abrupt end to my time at the wedding. Washed up Meg, packed up Kane and away we went for a solid night of Backyardigans. Not what I had in mind. Super glad I stressed about my dress too!

Anyhow Hannah and Sean stayed and it sounds like Hannah had the time of her life which is definitely consolation to my crummy night. She came in the door of our hotel with Sean at 12:30a.m. and was so excited to tell me this was the latest she has ever been awake..."I stayed up until it wasn't even yesterday, Mom...isn't that amazing!!"

She had been on the dance floor all night, conga-ing until the cows came home (that is the bride, Sean's cousin Kathryn...yup, Kathryn Pooley... in front of her in the picture). She got to take salsa lessons with Aaron and boogied with the big kids all night long. She now has memories of dancing with her Great Uncle Bob, her Uncle Aaron and of course her Daddy... like all little girls should have. I was really happy she enjoyed herself and wished I could have boogied with her... but the pictures speak a 1000 words and she is smiling in all of them. Oh well, there will always be next time for me right? Maybe by then I will have lost my baby weight and will feel 200% (as Hannah would say) to go and cut a rug with Seany.

Oops...one more

I found one more card I wanted to post as I am about to give it away this weekend. I have particularly loved this little card and am excited to share it with Sean's Uncle Bob...and that's it for this wee post or rather 'Bob's your Uncle' in this case... :)

Recent projects...

I wanted to share a few of the recent projects I have been working on. Hope you enjoy!

The set of beer glasses was for my awesome brother-in-law Aaron. Sean bought him a mini keg and I made the glasses for him. He just celebrated his 'champagne birthday'...30 on the 30th! The glasses are etched using Armour Etch, Versa Mark and embossing powder. An awesome project and I was really happy with the result. Can't wait to try more of this technique!

This card is for Sean's cousin Kathryn and her new husband Santiago who recently got married in Columbia. They are having a reception in Edmonton this weekend and we are all really excited to go visit some fantastic members of our family that we don't get to see nearly often enough...I used whisper white craft ink and the Stampin' Pastels for this card...it is much softer looking in real life but this gives you the idea. Arren was convinced I couldn't leave it as it was...but it grew on me and just to prove a point it is exactly as she saw it last! :)

This card is for a really special friend of ours, Marcy. Bar none she is my husband's best friend and I have been lucky enough to call her one of my best friends too! As a firm believer in the motto 'If it's nay Scottish, it's crrrrap!' this is a very appropriate birthday card for her! The background is stamped with the set perfect plaid in Red Riding Hood, Night of Navy and Very Vanilla. The greeting was done on the computer.

Lastly, I have been partnering with my awesomely talented husband to make wine. He has made three batches so far; Barolo, Merlot and Gewurztraminer. I have made the labels for each batch which has given us the chance to really personalize his creations! So much fun (to make and taste!!)

Thanks for looking!

On a lighter note...

I have been informed that I needed to add something a little on the lighter side. That being said I am ripping off my friend Kim's idea of 10 random things...so here you go; the 10 funniest things my kids have ever said...poor Kane doesn't get to be in on this list yet...


10 funniest things my kids have ever said

1.Meg-"Oh no! Nana forgot her money here!" (hands me a 20 dollar bill)
Me-"No Nana brought that for us. We bought her some stuff in Lethbridge, so that is our money."
Meg-"No Mom! It Is Nana's Money...look there is a grandma on it!" (points to the picture of the Queen. Love it.)

2.Hannah-"I'm the best, I'm the best...I'm the best!"(walking around after listening to some retro 80's music with Sean)
Me-"Whatcha singing, kiddo?"
Hannah-"That song Dad was just listening to..."(He was listening to Rock Me Amadeus by Falco)

3.Meg-"So Kane has a boy's bum, right?"
Me-"Yeah, he does."
Meg-"I have a girl's bum, right?"
Me-"Yeah, you do."
Meg-"Dad has a boy's bum?"
Me-"Yeah, he does."
Meg-"It's OK, I love him anyways..."

4.Sitting in Easter service...
Minister-"Isn't that amazing? Jesus is the only one to ever come back from the dead!"
Hannah-"No! Your wrong!"
Minister-"..."
Hannah-"Snow White came back when her prince kissed her!"

5.Meg-"Will I be big like you some day?"
Me-"Yup, some day you will be a grown up."
Meg-"Really?"
Me-"Yup, some day."
Meg-"How many days until I grow a star on my butt?"(In reference to my tattoo of a directional star on my lower back...)

6.Hannah-"What are you doing Mom?"
Me-"Weighing myself, this is a scale it tells me how much I weigh."
Hannah-"Whoa, that's a whole lot of Mom!"

7.Meg-"Can I have potatoes, please?"
Me-"Meg, you don't like potatoes..."
Meg-"Oh yeah, can I just have the butter and salt then?" (haven't we all been there)

8.Me-"What would you like to drink with your Cheerios?"
Hannah-"Ummm...Scotch maybe?"

9.Hannah-"But Mom, I needed a new look!" (At 6:30 a.m. after giving herself a haircut...she was three...took a few years for this to be funny)

10.Me-"Hannah, time for your nap."
Hannah-"Sorry, can't today."
Me-"You can't have a nap today?"
Hannah-"Nope, I have too much respect for playing."
Me-"..."

Gotta love them, cause we can't eat them!