Jake's 12th birthday

Jake celebrated his birthday at the rink today with his 3 friends Damon, Connor and Mwambi, followed by pizza with all our friends. His main present, a huge basketball hoop is being constructed as we speak, and he also got lots of baseball gear with his birthday money. We finished off the celebrations back at home with an Oreo Cookies and cream birthday cake.

Long time no see!

Hmmm, I think I've been neglecting the old blog recently. I do have good reasons though - Neil and I have been mega busy recently with work stuff and are continuing forward on our journey towards establishing our lives here. So a quick update on what's been going on....

JOB NEWS - for those of you who may not have heard, I've managed to secure a teaching job for this coming September in Calgary. My current employers - I'm for Kids - have decided to expand their operations from early years intervention for children with special needs, and have decided to open a preschool and private kindergarten in McKenzie Towne in SE Calgary. I applied for the kindergarten teachers job and got it! It's all really exciting and for more info, go to www.tinytowne.ca - our new school website.

Spring is most definitely in the air. We've had lovely warm sunny days, and with the thoughts of summer fresh in our minds, Jake has just signed up for a summer season of peewee baseball. Training starts shortly and we'll keep you posted with photos of games etc in the coming months.This will be his first taste of baseball, as last summer he chose soccer club instead. We now need to go and buy a glove, helmet etc in prep for the summer season. He's very excited about it, bless him.

Jaz is doing rookie lifeguard training every week at the moment. She completed all the swimming levels before Christmas, so this is to tide her over until she can join the local swim club - the Okotoks Stingrays - for their summer competitive program. It will also help her get her swimmer badge for guides, as she already has all the distance achievements, but needed water safety training to complete her badge.

Neil is still working hard too. He has two listings at the moment, one here in Okotoks and one in High River (about 10 mins south). We're hoping for a couple of days away at some point over Easter for some R&R and family time, so watch this space.

We are also beginning our basement conversion. We have the plans drawn up, and the next month should see the beginnings of the building work. We are in the process of getting an extra window put in for the second bedroom and a fireplace for the den. Piccies of the reno to follow!

Olympic News

For those of you who don't know, the winter Olympics are to be held next month in Vancouver. There's not a chance of anyone living in Canada not knowing this, as it's all they can talk about. Canadians think of the winter Olympics with particular pride and fondness as they are a winter sports nation, and we are all hoping that the weather will turn cold and snowy in Whistler in time for the games to start. It's been unusually mild here in Western Canada for the last couple of weeks, which has put the games organisers into a mild panic, nevertheless, there is still plenty of time for the weather to turn cold again, as it undoubtably will.
The torch relay has been going across Canada for several weeks now, and is nearing the final leg of its journey towards Vancouver, with just 3 weeks to go. Today it was our towns turn to host the Olympic torch relay, and everyone turned out to see it go through. The children were lucky enough to see it go right past their school, and I made the trip into town to watch it with Neil this afternoon as it went past his office.
This is the second time Neil and I have seen the torch, having experienced it for the Barcelona 92 summer games while we were holidaying in Spain. It was great to see it again, and so many patriotic people flag waving and wearing their Team Canada clothing.

Christmas and New Year

It's been a busy time here for us Stophers over the last few weeks. First we had Neil's mum to stay, then it was Jazzie's birthday, then Christmas, then a trip north to visit my aunt and uncle in High Prairie for a few days. Finally, New Year's Eve is here and before we know it, it'll be Monday and back to work and school for us!
We've had a wonderful couple of weeks, with a lovely Christmas day at the Ross' house with good friends, and a terrific short break in the snowy lands of northern Alberta. So I've just decided to put some photos that sum up the last 14 days for us.
1. The Christmas Eve Santa parade that passes our house, complete with police and emergency vehicles sounding their sirens and flashing their lights.
2. Jazzie's birthday cake
3. Christmas lunch
4. Present opening
5. A couple of photos of our trip to High Prairie










For all our friends near and far, in Canada, the UK and beyond. Happy New Year to you all. May 2010 bring you all happiness, peace and prosperity. xxx

Happy Birthday Jaz!

Jasmine has just celebrated her 9th birthday today, and her second in Canada. She had a party on Monday, when we took her and her friends Ella, Maddie, Keelin, Laura and Holly to 'Build a Bear' in the Chinook Mall, followed by supper at A&W. Today we gave her a hamster - she's named him 'Cookie' - and he has the most space-age cage ever! Jake gave her a gigantic Minnie Mouse as it was something she has wanted for ages. It was lovely for her Grandma to be here for her special day too.

Christmas at Heritage Park

On Sunday we took Neil's mum to Heritage Park, to the 'Once upon a Christmas' event. Even though it was a freezing cold day, good fun was had by all.
We started off with hot chocolate as we watched Jake and Jaz ice skate on the outdoor rink, and then we travelled around the park seeing Christmas traditions of the past. Jake and Jaz had a chance to buy us Christmas presents at the 'kids only' Christmas shop. We even had a glimpse of traditional Hannukah games in the tiny synagogue. It was a lovely afternoon.

Gingerbread Houses

We're trying to enter into the Canadian spirit of Christmas a little more this year with our homemade edible creations. We discovered last year that in Canada, people bake like crazy for the holiday season, and so this year we have litres of cookie dough chilling in the fridge, and have made a gingerbread house. Here is Jasmine's afternoon creation (with a little help from mum). Looks good enough to eat! I wonder how long it'll last before it gets eaten up?