~Catch up From Christmas Post!~

Wow, I totally missed doing a post from our Christmas!  I can’t believe it.  Anyhow, we had a great Christmas season, we went to the Festival of Trees Teddy Bears Breakfast with our friends The Smiths and The Dombroskies.  It was a fun time however a bit complicated as we arrived late and couldn’t get a table to sit altogether.  Here are some pictures from the day!

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We had a great time decorating the tree!  I bought lots and lots of new little things for it this year…I think it was my favorite so far! 

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Randy and Ethan had their Annual Gingerbread House decorating Day!  This year they went ‘untraditional’ and made an Angry Birds camp!  Ethan had seen an Angry Birds design at the Festival of Trees and had his heart set on buying it…we didn’t bid on it as it was already over $200 and it was a bit rich for my blood.  Instead I suggested to Randy that they make their own…I think they did a great job, what do you think?

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We had a fun time at Ethan’s Christmas concert this season!  We arrived a bit close to the time though and ended up in the VERY back of the gym.  I had only brought my one lens so we didn’t get very good pictures being so far back…it was a very cute performance though and when the newsletter came out in January our little man was featured prominently in many of the pictures singing his little heart out!  We were bursting with pride!

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Our Christmas Day was just the three of us…we had a great quiet day at home.  We started out with our stockings of course and then quickly dove into our presents!  We loved watching Ethan open his presents as usual, lots of “Wows” and “Awesome” coming from his camp!  We had alot of fun wrapping his trains up….we bought him 90 assorted Thomas trains and freight cars…they were (thankfully) the highlight of the day and he still plays with his trains more than he did before!

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It was a nice Christmas.  We were sad that we didn’t have any family here with us and that we couldn’t travel but it was nice to spend the time just the three of us before we add a new baby to the mix.  Randy had almost 2 weeks off and it was wonderful for all of us to have that uninterrupted time together.  It’s been awhile!  We are hoping to travel home next Christmas to spend it with family and share baby’s first Christmas surrounded with them. 

~Pregnancy Week 33~

I can’t believe I’m already at week 33 of this pregnancy.  It felt like it took forever to get over the Week 24 mark and now it’s flying by!  I have one more week of work then my leave begins.  I am beyond ready! 

I have bi-weekly appointments with my Dr now and the latest appointment showed baby happily stowed head down and looking great.  We’ve had so many ultrasounds and tests throughout that I am starting to release some of the worry that something will be wrong with baby.  It’s weighed so heavily on my mind…its like waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I know I will love baby no matter what and we will adjust our life to make anything work but I so just want a healthy baby to bring home like most other people.  Anyhow we will see in a few weeks…

The last few weeks of the pregnancy have been fairly uneventful.  I am pretty uncomfortable right now, my pelvis feels like its splitting into pieces with every step.  I would compare it to feeling like you are getting kicked between the legs with every step.  It doesn’t help that I keep slipping on the ice…I did the splits this week, that was not fun!  It’s hard to get up from a low position now, my stomach muscles are non-existent now.  I’m starting to really show now although I saw my family Dr this week and he couldn’t tell I was pregnant, it was kind of funny and took me back to the first time I met him.  Of course I have the usual aches and pains that come along with pregnancy…my back, my knees…even though I’m already a bigger person the added weight does a number to my body.  I still haven’t gained much, I’m not exactly sure but possibly around 15lbs now.  I’m very happy about it as I really didn’t want to come out of the pregnancy with any added weight, I already have enough to get rid of, LOL! 

Ethan is all about the baby right now, he likes to tell people that there is a baby in Mommy’s tummy and it’s going to ‘pop’ out.  He’s very careful around baby and even came up the other day and planted a kiss on my tummy for the baby.  I’ve let him feel when the baby is kicking but so far I don’t think he gets that part of it.  Also he is very vocal on his choices for names…he does not like the boy name we’ve picked out.  I don’t even know if Randy and I have finalized the boy name yet if it is a boy, I need to talk to him about that one I guess :)  Ethan sways back and forth on his choice for boy or girl, overall he’s pretty excited about it all.  I do think we’re going to have problems with him accepting a change to his home environment though, he’s used to making as much noise as he wants and playing throughout the house.  I’ve started explaining to him that we need to be quiet when baby is sleeping and we’ve watched Calliou shows where he has to be quiet because Rosie is sleeping and have talked about it.

The Dr doesn’t think I’ll make it to full term, we’re hoping to make it into January at least.  My official due date is January 26th so if baby arrives early like Ethan we may have a New Years Eve baby.  Wouldn’t that be crazy!  I was told at work that if I have the first Canadian baby of the year that there are awesome gifts and perks etc that you get…I wouldn’t complain about that!  I just am hoping to clear Christmas so that I can have a separation between the holiday and baby’s birthday.  But time will tell!

Baby’s room is finally coming together.  Just yesterday Randy put the carpet and molding in.  Today I need to touch up paint the walls and around the closet frame.  The door needs to go on then we can set up all the furniture.  It’s all in the garage waiting, I can’t wait to get it unpacked and see how it looks.  Then I need to do some wall art etc and wait to find out if we are bringing home a boy or a girl to finalize the decor.  If it’s a girl there will be a flurry of shopping happening to make it a little girl room!  If it’s a little boy I already have the cutest nursery set.  Needless to say, pictures will come forth!

So follow us on the last leg of this pregnancy as we get ready to add another little one to our family to make it complete.  We’re in the final chapter of this year long journey to have a baby…I can’t wait to hold baby in my arms and get to know this little one bouncing inside of me!

~The Rogers-Grounds 2nd Annual Christmas Party!~

It's that time of year again...we'd love to have you over for a night of friendly fun and holiday spirit!

A free invitation card by Smilebox

~Christmas with us!~

Well Christmas Day was a fun filled day for us…we got up and did our stockings and presents and made a little boy’s day.  Then we had breakfast and hung out.  We were invited to a friend’s house for Christmas dinner so we accepted…it saved me cooking!  It was nice to spend the afternoon with other people but we came home after only a couple of hours and just hung out together.

~Christmas with us!~ VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Buzz VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Ethan has wanted a Buzz Lightyear of his own for so long…so this year Mommy and Daddy got him one for Christmas.  He lugged it around all day between playing with Thomas and doing puzzles.  In the end he was a bit spoiled, but he doesn’t really get a lot of toys throughout the year.  I got a new novel and the Oprah Winfrey 20th Anniversary DVD collection.  Randy got socks and a new web design book he’d been waiting on.  Ethan gave us a really nice candle holder that he got at The Festival of Trees and a recipe book that they made at daycare.  Mom sent along a beautiful handmade apron for me and some socks for Randy.  Ethan scored a puzzle, coloring book and socks from Grandma.

It rushed by too fast for me, it seems like just a couple of days ago we set up the decorations for Christmas and started the plan for the party and now it’s all over.  It was so fun watching Ethan start to ‘get’ it…he’s still asking when Santa is coming again! 

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and got to spend time with those that you love. I know we did!

~Merry, Merry Christmas!~

We hope that all our friends and loved ones enjoy this special day and take the time to enjoy the company of one another.  We are staying home this year and are joining some friends for Christmas Dinner later on. 

Remember why we celebrate this holiday…it’s not all about the gifts, decorations, food, or pretty lights.  Keep that in your heart, and check in from time to time…

Love you all, thankful to have you as a part of us!

~Annual Gingerbread House Building~

The boys cracked out their house building skills and made a mansion last night!  We had two kits for some reason so they combined them to make a bigger house.  All had fun, the real story is in the pictures!

House Construction VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Marshmallow Snowman VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Decorating VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

The Final Product:

Gingerbread House 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I think this was by far the best year yet!  We actually read the instructions this year, LOL!  We’ve had a few epic failures in the past so it was nice to roll out one that worked!  Ethan was right into it this year and was so excited to be decorating the house.  It was fun, fun, fun!

~The Grounds-Rogers 1st Annual Christmas Party Details~

So the party was a smashing success!  So much fun that the camera didn’t even make it out to record it, LOL!  It had rained the day of the party so a few people couldn’t make it due to road conditions but we still had 7 adults and 4 kids. 

I set out a huge spread of food, Randy’s boss bought all the booze and the kids had fun things to do.  I made Gingerbread Men and bought icing etc and let the kids decorate cookies.  There were coloring sheets and a kids Christmas movie to keep them entertained too.  I have to say, given they were all boys from 19 months to 7 years they were really good.  They had so much fun, I’m sure they all slept like rocks that night!

As for the adults, we sat around and BS’d all night.  The plan was to play some cards or games but we just never got around to it.  Everyone said they enjoyed just talking and enjoying the company and the food.  From all accounts (and the massive hangover I had) it was a good party!  We’ll be doing this every year!  Next years date?  December 15th, mark your calendars, you won’t want to miss it!

~The Grounds' 1st Annual Christmas Party~

This free invitation made with Smilebox

~Christmas Decor 2011~

Welcome to our home…the decorations are up!

~Christmas Decor 2011~ VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

~Teddy Bear’s Breakfast~

We went with our friends the Smiths’ and the Blackmore’s to the Teddy Bear Breakfast a few weeks ago at the Festival of Trees. It was a lot of fun and I think all the kids had a great time. Corbin was a bit young for it but he enjoyed the lights and the gummy bears! I was a little disappointed with the lack of communication throughout the whole thing but the content was good.

We started out with breakfast. They had a pancake buffet with different things the kids could top their pancakes with. Ethan choose butter, syrup and copious amounts of sprinkles with a side of Gummy Bears! He did a fair good number on the breakfast too!

They had a clown there doing balloon animals so we got one of them while we waited for the Festival to be opened up. When they opened up the other half of the room we could go walk around the Festival of Trees and see the decorations, walk through the gingerbread train, and see Santa Claus. I didn’t take Ethan to see Santa though…the line was redunculous! He did go with Morgan and Wyatt into the store and get a present though. It was a little store full of presents for Mom and Dad, no parents allowed! Morgan was supposed to be watching Ethan and Wyatt but obviously got distracted. Ethan five-finger discounted a candle holder and I had to send him back in to the store and told the helpers they were letting the kids get away with shoplifting! Ethan came out a few minutes later with a little gift bag and some change from the $5 I sent with him…I’m going to guess I’m getting a candle holder from him for Christmas…

Anyhow, we had fun, I will definitely take Ethan again next year! Here are some pics of our day:

Teddy Bears' Breakfast VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Festival of Trees VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

~Randy’s Christmas Present!~

 

Yup Randy got himself a new toy for Christmas.  A 24” Cub Cadet Snowblower.  It is a nice one…it even has heated handles!  We get so much snow that this year we swore we were getting one!  The SUV was paid off in September so this is what we bought with the new money.  Randy is so happy to have it…I almost think he wants it to snow just so he can use it!

~The 2010 Gingerbread House Construction~

This year I decided to throw a twist into the usual house construction and we made a train instead.  I found the kit at Safeway and neither Randy or Ethan had any complaints about it being a train!  It was super cute but Randy sucked at getting it so it would stand up in the tray supplied.  He didn’t use enough icing to glue the pieces together!  Regardless though, it turned out and we all had a lot of fun making it!

Gingerbread Train 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

~Christmas Decorations~

Ethan was a big help in decorating the Christmas Tree this year.  He liked handing us the balls and thought that the ‘balls’ should be kicked!  Too cute!

Christmas Decorating VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

		Blue & Silver Decor VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

My deals I tell you!  The star is from a garage sale this summer for 25 cents, I got the metal tree from Walmart for around $3, the Noel sign I picked up from Winners on clearance last year for $1 and all the other stuff are things that I’ve had for awhile or repurposed for decorations.  The pearls are a necklace I bought from Reitmans last year for $1.99 a string…Love the cookbook, it has great cake and cupcake recipes in it, I want to try these snowmen!

House Decorations 2010 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

While I love my blue and silver decorations I also love the look of a more natural themed Christmas…pincones, berries, poinsetta, wicker wreaths…So I decorate the rest of the house with this stuff.  Next year we are planning on getting a real tree for the basement and having two trees.  The one upstairs will be my decorated ‘nice’ tree and downstairs will be our Family tree with all my family ornaments and quirky stuff.  We spend most of our time in the basement now so it makes sense to have a second tree!  Well truthfully it is a compromise…Randy wants a real tree in the house and I want a pretty tree; so we just decided we could both have what we wanted this way.

We do need to get better with our outside decorations though…we only have one lonely string of lights.  I’m going to keep my eyes peeled at work for clearance yard decorations in January, I might be able to scoop up a deal!

Anyhow, hope you enjoyed the sneak peek into our Christmas!

~Christmas is Coming!~

So I've been very neglectful with my blog, sorry! I've just been busy with work and then sleeping on my couch when I'm home at night. I've basically been lazy, let's be honest. We have had been keeping busy around our house getting ready for Christmas! We have the decorations up, presents bought, and are working on crafts and baking in the next couple of weeks.

Today I'm at my sister Mary's house waiting on a delivery for her while she is at work so I thougth I would just jot a quick note! I'll put up some pictures for you all tonight or later this week!

What all happened in November?

Ethan finished his speech therapy sessions at the beginning of the month...we still aren't done with them but aren't planning on any more until May of next year. In the few weeks since we've been done going to sessions we have come leaps and bounds from where we were. He is talking a lot more now and using less gibberish sentences. He still adds them in so he sounds better but there is a lot less now! It is a nice change!

Ethan had swimming lessons in October that ended in November. He LOVED the pool and did really well in his lessons. We aren't planning on any more lessons until he is older and can move up a class. For what he learned in this class there is no sense in putting him in it again, we will just take him to the pool and do it ourselves. For the next level he needs to be 3 and able to stand up in the water so we have some waiting time! We've been trying to make it to the pool once a week to go for a family swim. We've had a setback the last couple weeks with the flu making it's rounds in our house though...

Randy is off work this week, his foot is swollen the size of a balloon. The Dr thinks it is tendonitis and has put him off for a week. So he's enjoying sitting at home playing on the computer and hanging out with Ethan. Ethan is going to stay home from daycare with him for the rest of the week as he is now able to get around a bit better. It will help to save some money...missing a week of wages is not a fun thing! Especially because he will have another week off at Christmas!

Oh that's another thing...I get 10 days off at Christmas!!! Can you freaking believe that?!?! That never happens to me! On top of that Home Depot just announced that all salaried managers and entitled to 3 weeks vacation from their hire date without having to wait the normal 5 years for it! Woo-hoo! I get like 4 weeks off every year!!! I love my job!

We have my Christmas Party this weekend, it should be fun. We also have to make our family Gingerbread house this week. I head to Regina for 3 days next week for work so there won't be much time for these things next week. It is just a quick trip to Regina for a meeting and a holiday dinner with the District Manager, Store managers and HR managers for our District. I'm looking forward to the trip as a little escape from the doldrums of real world! I have another trip in the first of Feb to Medicine Hat to look forward to as well! It looks like pretty much every two months I will be off to somewhere for a meeting. I'm going to start racking up my aeroplan miles so we can take a trip somewhere I tell you!

Anyhow, I don't know much else right now...I will look at pictures when I get home and do some posts around them and then of course there will be a post coming up on teh annual GIngerbread House construction...

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

~Merry Christmas!!!~

We hope that everyone enjoyed the much needed family time and break that this holiday brings us.  Also I hope that Santa treated everyone well and fulfilled some wishes.  In our house there is a little boy asleep in his bed all tired out from playing with all the new toys that came this morning.  He ran, Daddy & I ran, Tigger was chased, many batteries were exhausted of their juices, lots of belly laughing, tickles, kisses, hugs and of course cuddles.  It was a day that was well used up.  Wish we had more like that.

Auntie Mary cooked us turkey dinner with all the trimmings and we spent a couple of hours lazing on her couch fighting the tired turkey eyes while the little men ran around like crazy playing with each other.  We came home in the afternoon for naptime for E.  He slept and I decided to do a little housework.  I managed to mop the floors, clean the bathrooms and clean up our bedroom which made me happy.  Supper was snacks from the fridge…I had to make a huge pan of meatballs for work tomorrow as we are doing a potluck dinner and I volunteered to bring Sweet & Sour Meatballs. 

We got some great pics of E enjoying his new toys today.  He still doesn’t get what presents are and has very little interest in opening them.  We pretty much had to tie him down the open them…probably the last year that will happen!

Anyhow, it is so much fun watching him discover how things work and which buttons to push…such a smart kid I tell you!  But enjoy the pics and I will also be working on a post of Mom’s fantastic 70th Birthday party that we just enjoyed last weekend!

 

This big box had been banged on all week but it took some persuasion to convince him to open it up.  Once he did he was happy and loved what was inside.  As we expected the little couch that folds out to a bed was a HUGE hit.  The popcorn ball popper thingy?…louder then I remember…

Daddy made us breakfast this morning, French Toast and Bacon.  Mmmmmm!

Opening our PJs on Christmas Eve…they were extra cute and cozy this year as you can see from our pictures above!

Ethan having his bath on Christmas Eve, Daddy slipped with the bubble bath…He giggled his head off and so did I!  All you could see was his little face.

As for the presents, Randy gave me a bottle of my favourite perfume in a really nice makeup bag, Wii Fit Plus, and a whole pile of scrapbook glue and a dispenser.  (Inside joke!)  He also gave me a gorgeous white gold chain from Ben Moss but unfortunately it won’t hold the pendant he bought it for so we are going to take it back and find something that will work out better.  Santa brought me the new Dan Brown book.  Randy got a book too, the newest Robert Jordan book, a documentary DVD, a collection of black teas and a new thermos lunch bag for work.  We got a very cute picture frame from E made from popsicle sticks with foam hearts glued to it and a picture of him mounted to it.  Too cute!  It’s a keeper! Ethan got a comfy fold out into a bed couch, a popcorn maker (you know the Fisher Price one that we all grew up with), crazy bath beakers, a Cozy Coupe walk and ride toy, a couple of tonka trucks, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste and a collection of books from Grandma Rogers.  Auntie Mary and Cole gave him a gianormous caterpillar that sings the ABCs.  (It is probably 8 feet long…) 

He LOVES his couch so much, it will get lots of use.  But that ball popper is soooo going to the basement!!!  So there are the highlights from our Christmas hope yours was full of joy and lots of memories!

~I need another week...~

Before Christmas! I'm so not ready or in the mood for Christmas. It feels like it should be at least another week away. I've been so busy getting started with my new job and trying to get it organized that the whole month of December has slid right on by. Now it is Dec 21st and I don't even have the groceries for the Christmas dinner that I am hosting for us, Mary and Cole and a girl I work with at Reitmans. I know we're having Prime Rib (I'm bucking the trend of turkey every year) I think we'll have mashed potatoes, or baked, veggies, ceasar salad, yorkshire pudding, gravy, apple crisp, butter tarts....lots of red wine. That's where I'm at. Did I mention I don't even know how to cook Prime Rib? All I know is slow...... But I figure the butcher can help me or I'll google it. Not to mention I'm a pretty good cook to begin with. Anyhow, here's hoping it turns out.

Oh yeah, and the house is a mess. A complete freaking mess. I'm just going to take everything and pile it on the spare bed, close the door and deal with it in January. Which incidentally is when my friend Jess is coming to visit. Oh yeah, the first week. Which means that I actually would have to clean up the spare room too. Here's hoping I get a molly maid service for Christmas!

Oh and in case you didn't notice it yet, no Christmas cards this year from us. Nope, sorry I didn't do them this year. I will send you some pics of Ethan when I figure out why my printer won't work but other then that you'll get whatever I post here for Christmas this year. Maybe next year!

Well that's pretty much it for us. I have a funny story about a meeting with my first daycare provider but I'll type it up and post it later. Plus I've now figured out how to use my webcam so watch for shots of Ethan on here in the near future!

I do hope everyone else is feeling ready for the season. I sure don't!

~Christmas at our House!~

We had a family day at home today. It was very nice. We had a nice breakfast then cleaned up the house and started some laundry. Then we decided to continue with tradition and Randy started making his Gingerbread House. With Ethan's assistance of course! I took pictures. YAY! You get to see possibly some of the cutest pictures in existence of Ethan. I'm not kidding you, this kid is adorable! (I may be a little prejudiced though)

After the construction (very successful this year I might add) of the house, Randy and I made two HUGE pans of Apple Crisp. Mmmmmmm my house smells like baking apples and cinnamon! I know the tenants downstairs want to have some!!!

Anyhow, lots of pictures in todays post. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!


First we have pictures of Ethan travelling around on his belly around the house. He has not figured out the forward gear yet, just scoots around backwards on his belly. He got hung up on the gate though and was there long enough for me to snap a few pictures!!




Ethan's contribution to the making of the Gingerbread House. He got to eat one of the gingerbread and supervise Daddy's building skills.





"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...." Oh wait, I have them! Check out those pearly little whites!









Oh yes Randy is smiling alright! Mom bought him the most idiot-proof Gingerbread house making kit I've ever seen! If you remember this: http://scrapinitblue.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-at-home-we-had-whirlwind-trip.html post from last year, you will know why!



If I angle my tongue around like this....Oh yeah, Mmmmmmmm gingerbread!!!



Here is Ethan and Daddy with the completed masterpiece. What is left of Ethan's gingerbread man is right in the front. He required a bit of brain surgery but was otherwise a good little decoration for the front of the house!