Skating in Regina

It finally snowed and the kids were sooooo excited!  This first thing they wanted to do was go skating at the outdoor rink just a few blocks from Grampa's, and so all the uncles and aunt and parents took them there to do just that!

As soon as the kids got on the ice the first thing we heard was "Your it!!!" and then the game was on . . . and on for the entire time that we were there!!!

 The kids said that if they fell it was "TO" (time out) - hmmm - they kinda fell just before someone was about to tag them . . . poor Uncle Garrett, Emma's TO now

 Braden had fun trying to not be caught be his younger brother - think he's scared of getting old - hehehe!

Watch out Kaleb!!! 

Uh Oh - now Helen's going after Kaleb! 

Kaleb hasn't learned how to stop so whoever is infront of him, well, Uncle Jesse was almost pushed right over!

Navia had more fun being pushed around on the shovel by Daddy 

The kids then thought they would bury themselves in the snow.  You can see Navia in the back, Kaleb in the front and Emma, well, she's in the middle covered 100% with snow! 

Sometimes the tagging kinda turned into a snowfall fight or try-to-get-Daddy-covered-in-snow-fight 

By the time they were all done they were all ready for dinner!  Thank you for the snow!

Helen, Navia, Kaleb, Braden, Jenna, Garrett, Emma (just missing Jesse and me who were just out of view)

Bryson Family Christmas 2011

On Tuesday we went to the Bryson Family Christmas at Uncle Craig and Auntie Winnie's house.  It was a lot of fun and has been a LONG time since I've seen so many of my family - the Bryson family is my mom's side of the family.  It also was pretty cool because we were all there - all 4 of the kids and their spouses were there, all their 15 of their children and all 15 of the great-grandchildren - as well as Grampa and Gramma Margaret.  It was a pretty busy day, but overall a good one.

 Jack (Gloria's son) with his Grampa - You gotta love his little smile!  He actually started the day with a fall and had to be rushed to emergency in the city.  He's doing fine, but he did end up losing his 4 bottom teeth.  

The dinner table went from one side of the house to the other, but there were still not enough spaces for everyone!

 Little Eldon (Charlene's son) didn't want to let go of poor Rosie's foot - uh oh.

One side-effect  of only come home every once in a while is that your nieces and nephews don't always know you - and it can take a long while for them to warm up to you.  Although, by the end of the night Avery was calling me "Mom" and her own mom "Auntie Carrie" - hehehe!

And of course we had family pictures - they're all here except the Burgess family as they had theirs done earlier in the day.

 The Bryson Family

The Hargreaves family (missing Julie)

The McGifford Family - yep - that's ours!!! 

Grampa Bryson and Gramma Margaret with the Hargreaves boys and Nicole

Brock and Grampa playing some music together

Jeff and Jennifer 'playing' with Austin (Denise's son)

Then we played 'Minute to Win It' - it was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves!

 Aaliyah (Coralie's daughter) trying to get the cookie from her forehead to her mouth without touching it.

Julianne (Denise's daughter) trying to do the same, but thought that maybe her tongue could catch it - smart girl! 

Then it was onto the next game - move 3 Christmas balls from one string to another with only your lips . . . 

 Braden and Kaleb giving it a try - started out pretty good, but then . . . 

well . . . ewwwww . . . there was slobber all over and they didn't even get 1 ball on!!!

Then it was Shawn and Austin's turn (Denise's husband and son) - well - they tried a different way about it and . . . 

They were successful!!!  They got 1 ball to the other string, hanging successfully and boy was there a lot of laughter and screaming when that happened!!!

Next it was onto trying to make a little red pompom stick to your nose that was covered with Vaseline . . . but not using any body part to touch the string hanging around their neck . . . now that was a hard one!!!

 Jenn and Jeff trying their best to make it happen

And then it was onto Christmas in the Balance - balancing a yardstick on a paper towel tube and hanging 10 ornaments on it without it falling over.

 Gramma McGifford and Emma tried their best . . . 

 and Uncle Craig and Ryan (Denise's son) tried hard too . . .

 but the winner was . . . Uncle Craig and Ryan!!!

Then the Extreme Nutcracker, where you need to stack 8 nuts using only a candy cane.

Auntie Olive and Launa were giving it a try, but Launa was the clear winner! 

The Christmas Story was read by Uncle Craig and then it was off to singing carols as a huge family with myself on the piano.  Navia even got to play her Christmas Recital songs - O Christmas Tree and Jingle Bells - which she loved doing!!!

 

The Hubert kids were given a Kinect for Christmas so our Kaleb had a lot of fun playing it with them.

Denise and I

The best part of the entire day probably was just reconnecting with family that I haven't seen in years . . . it's amazing how after graduation we all moved away - spanning from BC to Ontario and all the way down to Florida!!!  It was a great day being all together.

Christmas in Regina

This year we're spending Christmas in Saskatchewan!  The last time we did this was in 2007 - quite a lot time ago now.  Because we had to cancel our trip this past summer because of my back we told the kids that we'd come out here now, and well, my back didn't act up and we're hear!!!  YAY!!!  Although the kids were hoping that there would be more snow . . .

We arrive the morning of Christmas Eve and went to the Christmas Eve service at Dad's church with Dad, Jesse and Helen.  It was kinda cool to see the kids all dressed up in the Christmas best!

Garrett was working the night shift so we decided that we could only open stocking on Christmas morning and wait until he came home at around 4pm before we opened gifts . . . and the kids were really good about it - asked one time when we were opening gifts and then just waited without hinting or anything.  I'd say we have some amazing kids!!!

When it was time to open presents the kids were happy as anything.  We had a lot of fun joking around and there were many a paper ball thrown at someone's head - hehehe!  And yes, I tried to stop them, but Garrett is just an instigator, what can I say!

We all pitched in and had an amazing Christmas dinner - sangria ham, sweet potato casserole, green-bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet sangria gravy, butternut squash, stuffing, Mom's 7-Layer salad, buns, corn, and your choice of 4 home-made pies or a made by Jenna cheesecake.  Mom would have been proud of us!  Oh, and we planned on eating at 7 and I think we made it all to the table a few minutes before - WOW!!!  We're good!  There were so many cooks, but 'many hands make light work' - and we had many hands!!!  Cooking were Jenna, Carrie, Braden, Jesse and Helen and pretty much everyone helped in the clean up - we're a pretty good team!

On Boxing Day we did a little bit of shopping while Auntie Jenna took Emma out to shoot at Darren's with the bow he made and a pellet gun.  Our not-so-little girl sure had a lot of fun!!!  Thank you Darren and Jenna!

So it's been a great start to our holidays!  We've had 2 Christmas' so far and are off to Christmas number 3 tomorrow.  Guess I'd better go and get things ready for that one!  See you in a few more days!!!