Looking back at 2014

 Wintertime brought hockey, lots of snow and snowstorms, 

and skating on the canal in Ottawa at Winterlude.

 We took a family vacation to Disney World during March break, for a well needed break from the cold, cold winter.  The kids had a ton of fun at Disney and they even took in their first ever flight!

 Griffin turned 7 in March and celebrated with his friends at a hockey party!

 

In the spring we celebrate Easter, one of Owen's favourite holidays.  

He couldn't wait to have his picture taken with the bunny, and Griffin wanted nothing to do with it!

Owen had his first sleepover with his friend Brett.  It was a success!

 

We took in a few baseball games.  Griffin got to be part of the starting line up for one of the games and go on the field with the players and sing O'Canada.

 

 Both boys played soccer in the late spring, and summer.  Owen played rep soccer for the first time this summer and Griffin was on the team with his best buddy Ryan.

 It was a late start to opening our pool this year, 

but once they got in, they had a blast.

 Owen turned 9 and had 13 boys sleepover!

 Both boys had exceptional years at school.  Owen finishing grade 3 and Griffin learning to read!

 Our summer included lots of beach days, and a family vacation with to PEI along with the Lees and the Skinners.  Lots of fun for all of us.  Golfing, whale watching, and ice cream testing!

Owen went to camp for his very first time. 5 nights away with four of his friends!

He absolutely loved it!

 

We ended the summer with our annual summer bash and lots of beach days!

We are never happy to see the summer end!

 

 Both boys started school in September wishing to be NHL players when they grow up!

Owen started french immersion this year... and is doing really well!

Griffin started his first year of rep hockey, joining the tyke jr. bulls

 

 During the fall, we went to the apple orchard, and trick or treating.  Owen was Stink Bomb this year, a Skylander, and Griffin created his own costume being a bat!  Tony surprised us all and reincarnated Pauly D

We welcomed a new member to our family this fall, a little kitten named Gizmo.  Both boys are in love with the little guy.  I think Tony even likes him!

 

 

December is always a special month and this year was no different.  We wrote Santa letters,  went to the Santa parade, visited  Santa and had lots of holiday parties.

 

Christmas time was a wonderful time this year.  The boys enjoyed being with family and friends and opening presents!

Tonight, we are celebrating New Years eve with friends.  Looking back over the year, there are a lot of great memories made, and special times that we have had together as a family! 

Here is to looking forward to many more in 2015!

Goodbye Elliot

 Our beloved elf Elliot has flown back to the North Pole!!

It is amazing just how much the boys love this tradition.  Christmas eve morning, the boys awoke to find Elliot for the last time along with a note of their time spent together and some goals for both boys to work on.  He also left a little present for each of them to bring them good luck throughout the year!

 Goodbye Elliot... until next year!

Santa got it right!

As many of you know, we welcomed a new member to our family this past fall.  Gizmo is a very friendly little guys, but he also is a bit mischievous.  He acts much like a little dog, looking for scraps at all times, follows you around, likes his belly rubbed.  He also won't stay off our counters, or table or even in our dishwasher or sink.  He licks bowls or cutlery, he climbs and has pretty much destroyed my Christmas tree. 

So yes, Santa got this right... a lump of coal for Gizmo!  

O'Christmas Tree!

A favourite tradition in this household is putting up the Christmas tree.  We have two trees, but on our family tree is where we place all of our special ornaments that we have collected over the years.  When I first started teaching, I started receiving Christmas ornaments from many of my students.  It is become a special tradition to adorn our tree with all of these ornaments over the years.  It is fun to look back and remember the students that gave me these ornaments. 

In the collage below, are many of the ornaments that students have given me and ornaments that our boys have made at school.  I love both!

The teddy bear holding the wreath if from a little boy named Tori that I taught in my very first year.

I also collect ornaments from each country or special place I have visited.  In the collage below, I have a Santa's Village ornament, and one from San Jaun.  There are many Disney ornaments as well!  Lots of great memories and shared on our tree!

Each year, the boys get a new ornament as well to add to the tree.  This year they both received a pair of hockey skates that you can see tied to their Santa Sack and well as an initial ornament!

Hopefully, one day when the boys are older, they will continue on my love of ornaments and with these wonderful traditions!

 

Christmas Morning!

 The boys were very excited on Christmas morning 

when they went downstairs and saw the sea of presents! This is a picture of Owen opening his present from Griffin.  The latest skylander and a itunes gift card.  It is really special to see them take such interest in planning out the 

perfect gift for their brother!

 

Mandatory tree shot!

 

 Santa delivered the boys wish items from their letters in these special 

delivery sacks this year.

 Top on Griffin's list was the Tony Hawk skateboard park and skateboards.

You can see he is all smiles!

 Owen's special gift this year came from Santa! Fin, the Vancouver Canucks mascot.  Mom tried to get this all year, but only Santa could get his hands on it ;)

 

Griffin was everything Chima this year....  Chima lego, Chima books, Chima clock, even Chima underwear!

 

 Their big gift came from Grandma and Grandpa... XBOX ONE!!  It sure is a hit!

 

One of Griffin's requests was for Santa to build him a world in Mindcraft just like in Stampy's world.  I am assuming Santa had no idea how to do that, or have the time to for it, so instead he had Stampy sign a picture to Griffin!  Someone was quite thrilled to have his own personalized photo of Stampy!

 

And lastly, my favourite picture of the morning... Griffin sitting quietly playing with his new toy with the tree in the background and the sun shining down on him!