Oh boy what a difference!

Perfect Winter Day!

On the last Friday of the Christmas break, Tony took the day off and we headed to Kingston for some Family fun!

First we headed to Laser tag and the boys had a lot of fun playing.  Griffin's friend and his family arrived just after we finished so the boys played again.  Griffin LOVES laser tag!

We then headed downtown to skate at city hall.  It was chilly but the sun was shining to keep us warm.  We absolutely love it here!  Luckily one of Owen's friends was on the ice and the boys were able to skate about with Duncan.

We headed for hot chocolate to warm up and then off to Lumina Borealis!  A fantastical light display at Fort Henry. The boys were reluctant to go, but absolutely enjoyed it!  The display was really cool and interactive!

To end the day we headed to watch the Trenton Hawks hockey game!  A great way to end the holiday break!

Happy 40th Birthday TBIRD!!

Tony turned 40.... finally!

On Tuesday, January 10th Tony turned 40 and we had a quiet family celebration.  It was a snowy day, busses were cancelled and the boys didn't have school.  We a initially planned to head to Kingston to skate at city hall and have dinner at the Keg, but the snow interrupted those plans.  We settled for a family dinner at Montanas!

Tony really didn't want any big celebration for this milestone, he would prefer putting the money toward a really good mini-van in the summer!  How can you tell TBird is 40!  Always sensible!

We did have a small, spontaneous celebration on Saturday night when a bunch of the families from Griffin's hockey team popped over after the game to have a drink with him!  As you can see, they all know him really well.... lots of Crown Royal!

I had all kinds of ideas, a weekend away to Chicago to watch hockey and explore, a short cruise but I decided to give Tony a sensible gift to go along with what he wanted.... money!!

I had been saving since September.  It's become a bit of  a joke but I keep stashing extra cash away in my underwear and this time it went Tony for his birthday!!  As you can see... he's thrilled!!  He can spend it anyway he wants, even to pay bills if he wants!  I am  secretly hoping he will use it toward new flooring!

The boys also had presents for their dad... Griffin got him a Steam Whistle gift pack that has a cool bottle opener that he wanted and Owen had a $40 McDonald gift card for him for his morning coffee run and a mall gift card so he could go pick a new hat!  Although his birthday was elaborate... it sure was special for us to celebrate with him!

Skating at City Hall

Skating at city hall in Kingston has become a tradition  They have a wonderful ice rink located at the back of their city hall and it is always  a lot of fun to get out and skate with the boys.  It is usually the only time of the year that I get to skate with the boys as they are always playing hockey when they skate!

We started the day at Five Guys... Tony's favourite burger spot!  This is the look on his face when he realized I order him the double burger!  LOL

Then we headed to City Hall for a skate!  We had a great time.... it was really cold outside, but it was still a lot of fun!

After skating, we did our usual Costco run and then headed for home!

Perfect Winter Day!

 Last Wednesday Owen had two hockey games!  An exhibition in Tweed and a league game on home ice!  Following the games Owen had planned for a few of the boys to come back and sleepover!

Video games, pizza and a sleepover!

The next morning we awoke to tons of falling snow!  The boys couldn't have picked a better night to sleepover!  After breakfast they all headed outside to toboggan and try out the snow scooters.  

 This sandwich ride was probably the most fun they had, they kept switching spots.  Griffin is on the bottom here!

Soon after we headed to the big toboggan hill!  Even Tony and I got in on the action!  The boys found a ramp and took turns going over it!

 This was the perfect winter day!

Best Nine of 2016

Looking back on 2016, it was really hard to just pick 9 of the best moments of the year!  Our lives are filled with wonderful memories whether it's a trip, a holiday, hockey or just time with the family.  We sure are blessed to have so many wonderful times to look back at over the year!

The boys usually fuss about me taking so many pictures but I just love that I am able to capture our life in pictures and by capturing our memories by writing this blog.  At the end of at the year I am able to print this blog into a book that is a perfect keepsake for each year. The boys will be able to look back and remember absolutely everything we did!

Today on Facebook, they shared the cutest pictures of the boys from 2009.  I got looking at them and realized just how long we have been following the same traditions.  This first picture shows the boys sitting on the stairs waiting to go see what Santa brought but first waiting for mom to snap their picture!

The boys loved seeing this picture of Griffin, chocolate covered face sitting up so tall and looking so darn cute!  Things don't change... he still has food all over his face! We still have the same Santa from Polar Express, that sits on our couch every year.  

 

Owen hasn't changed a bit!  Look at those big blue eyes and blonde hair and carrying his beloved stuffies that he still has!

Even our Santa cookies and milk tradition has remained the same!  I love that one day they will share these traditions with their own kids and maybe even the Santa plate and cup!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with friends of ours from Griffin's hockey team!  The kids had a great time hanging out together an were only slightly disappointed that they didn't get to skate on the outdoor rink.

New years day was filled with Monopoly and more Monopoly!  The kids have just loved playing board games and Monopoly was the game of choice!