Canmore and Banff

Last weekend we took a family vacation to Canmore and Banff.  Dan and I went to Banff about four years ago and it is one of our absolute favorite places we have ever visited.  We stopped in Drumheller, land of the dinosaurs, for dinner.  

Allie was tired after a long drive.

For Christmas Allie and I gave Dan a full day of dog sledding in Banff.  We went with our friends Jordan and Chris because Jordan gave Chris the same gift for Christmas.  On Saturday while the boys were dog sledding, Jordan and I took Allie to the top of Sunshine mountain for lunch and then we went shopping in Canmore.

Allie and I at the top of Sunshine mountain. 

Allie's first gondola ride. She loved it!

View from Sunshine mountain.

Dan and Chris dog sledding.

Dan's favorite dog (she reminded him of Bella).

We spent Sunday in Banff and went to the Fairmont hotel in Banff springs. This hotel looks like a huge castle.  We walked around inside so that Allie could look for Belle and the Beast (from Beauty and the Beast, her favorite movie).   Unfortunately we never found Belle, or the Beast, but had a great time wandering the beautiful hotel and hotel grounds.

It was a great trip! Dan said the dog sledding was an experience of a lifetime and it was just fun to get away for a quick trip as a family. Soon we have another trip planned for FL. I can't wait to get to the warmth and sunshine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Just like every holiday throughout the year, Valentine's Day was about 10 times more fun with Allie.  I woke up this morning and found some beautiful roses and a very sweet card from Dan.  Not a bad way to start a morning!  

Our table was looking very festive.

Allie (with a little help from me) made Dan this card. I realized we spelled Valentine's wrong on the card. This is what happens when you sort through literally hundreds of letters, while your toddler is getting angry that she can't stick them on...oh well! :)

 She also picked him out a stuffed dog for his gift.  It is actually not very cute, but it fit the under $10 price tag that I gave her at the store. I basically told her she could pick out anything she wanted to give daddy, and the stuffed puppy is what she picked. It somehow ended up in one of her toy boxes! :)

She also colored a picture for him and we moved her easel to the back door so he would see it right when he walked in. She was SO excited and it was SO cute!

Since the temperature was about 32F today, and since we are mostly Canadian now, we ventured to the park with Bella. 

I love how Bella is waiting at the bottom of the slide every time. One of the many reasons that she is the best dog in the world!

Then we had dinner as a family and Allie opened her cards and gifts. Nana and Boppa sent a gift from MN and I wanted to post some pictures so they could see her opening it.

We had a wonderful day and I couldn't help but reflect on how much love is in my life every day, not just on Valentine's day.  I am so very, very blessed! 

The Doll House

Allie got a big doll house from Dan and me for her birthday. It is the same doll house that Santa brought Mercy for Christmas; the same one Allie loved on Christmas morning.  Dan and I knew that it took Santa and his elves a VERY long time to assemble the doll house, so one of the engineers at the Cargill plant came over and put it together for us last night.  All for free pizza. It was a great deal for us!  

Here it is.

Allie really loves it.  And, the sheer size of it, forced me to clean out all of her baby toys and make extra space in our upstairs play room.

  

Allie's new favorite game, turning off the lights after we turn them on.  Hours of entertainment for her...not us! :)

A few shots of our sweet little two year old!

We are officially out of space in our little Canadian house!  After Christmas and her birthday we've added a number of new, big toys to our house and we literally have no more room for anything else. So, little Allie, enjoy these toys. You won't be getting any more until we leave Canada! :)

Another Present

Allie got a lot of wonderful gifts for her birthday, but the one from Uncle Tim and Aunt Sarah might be her favorite. It is a crib, high chair, changing table, and stroller.  Since Allie LOVES her babies, this present is a huge hit. Thanks for sending it Uncle Tim and Aunt Sarah!

Changing a diaper.

Putting on diaper cream.

Picking out one of her many bottles to feed one of her babies.

Yes, she's wearing a DePauw sweatshirt. :)

Forget the bottles, Allie is going straight to her Dora the Explorer cup!

I love listening to how Allie talks to her babies.  I can tell she really listens to us, and that we are actually very sweet with her, because she repeats the phrases, songs, and tone we use with her. It is so cute!

Around Here

We've been pretty low key recently.  I think January is a hard month because the days are short and cold and we don't have a lot of activities going on.  Thankfully Allie's birthday celebrations lasted almost a week, so we had fun things to do.

Allie got some presents from Great Grandma and Aunt Sue.  She loves the veggies and plastic knife that cuts through the veggies for her kitchen and the birthday cake that she can decorate herself.

I found this table and chairs at Home Sense here in Saskatoon and thought it was adorable. My parents gave it to Allie for her birthday.  Here she is eating lunch (yes, she's still in her pajamas) and loving her table.

This is the one picture that I took at Allie's friend party.  She had so much fun and I guess I was too busy to take any photos.

All of our activities start back up this week and next week, so I'm sure I'll have more to blog about soon. And, today is the last day of January, which means our trip to Florida is only about six weeks away!

She's Two!!!

Today is Allie's birthday and we are so happy to have such a healthy, happy girl. At two, Allie is sweet, spunky, talkative, independent, funny, at times moody (what two year old isn't?) and so lovable I can hardly stand it!

I'll blog soon about all the things Allie is doing these days, but we had her birthday party last night and I thought I would blog about that first. We had three families over, each with two kids, and a woman Dan works with at Cargill, so it was a full house. Allie had a blast with all her buddies (as she calls her friends) and it was so fun for Dan and I to watch her enjoy her party so much.

Allie LOVES Thomas the Train and wanted Thomas balloons for her party. When I looked for party supplies I could not believe that almost 100% of the options for girl birthday parties were princess or barbie, with a couple butterfly themes thrown in.  I'm not really against princesses, or barbies, and Allie will have her fair share of each I'm sure, but she's only two, and she loves Thomas.  I want to encourage her to like anything not princess for the time being because I know that Disney will have a firm hold on her soon! :)

Allie's balloons that she loves!

Waiting patiently for her guests to arrive.

The "big" kid table.  

Allie and Maya sat at the head of the table. Maya is six weeks younger than Allie, so they are at the exact same stage, which is really fun to watch.  I also think they look so much alike they could be sisters. 

We moved the Thomas pinata so that baby Lucas could sit in the middle of the table in the bumbo chair.  He was a much cuter centerpiece for sure!  Allie is obsessed with baby Lucas and talks about him all the time.

We got Allie a Coldstone birthday cake.  I know, an ice cream cake in January in Canada might not make the most sense. But, we just found out Saskatoon had a Coldstone, and Allie loves ice cream, so it was a huge hit.

We thought Allie might not like all the attention of people singing happy birthday, but she did just fine.

But, she did need Brogan's help to blow out the candles. She looks upset in the photos below, but she was just trying to blow out the candles. 

I had to include these next photos, even though they aren't that great of me.  We were trying for a family photo, and these are what we got! Oh well, you win some, you loose some.

I do kind of like this one, even though none of us are looking at the camera.

Daddy and his girl.  

Anna and Nicholas waiting for cake.

I also got some cupcakes.  Somebody liked the frosting. :)

Allie is a big girl now, and wanted to cut her own cake.

Check out her concentration. 

Love these two together!

After dinner, we didn't think the kids had enough junk food with mac and cheese, ice cream cake, and cupcakes, so we did the Thomas pinata.  It was so much fun!

Allie got her stash of chocolate and was not concerned about the raisins, balls, or toys that were also in the pinata. She just wanted the chocolate. When Dan took her chocolate away, she had a MEGA meltdown.  Luckily she recovered and could enjoy the rest of the party.

Just before leaving everyone had to pay a bit of extra attention to baby Lucas. He is such a happy, smiley baby and I love watching Allie with him because she is so sweet and gentle.  

It was a great birthday for our girl. Tomorrow I am hosting a VERY casual play date for her birthday as well. So, Allie is getting three days of celebration this year. Hopefully she doesn't expect this every year! :)

Happy birthday sweet Allie.  Thank you for bringing such joy to our lives!