Fun with Cousin Rocky!

My brother's little guy Rocky was at my parents for a little while we were there. 

He is such a sweet little boy. 

I love this picture below... It will be great to spend more time together as the kids get older. They are going to have so much fun together. Rocky and Ethan are just 6 months apart. 

Rocky vs. the watermelon!

Rocky won!

Rocky and Ethan waiting for Grandma to come home. So sweet!

Family, Friends and Fun in Calgary!

It has been quite a while since I last posted... But if you knew our itinerary over the last month and a half, you'd understand why.

After Billings, I flew with the kids, the cat, two car seats, two suitcases, a double stroller and a massive diaper bag by my self, 33 weeks pregnant by myself up to Calgary to visit my with my family. The trip actually went quite smooth all things considered. 

We had a great time while we were visiting Papa Don and Grandma Susie in Calgary. Bella and Ethan got to hang out with their little cousin Rocky. As they get older, these little guys are going to be good friends every time we are in Calgary.

Here are Grandma and Grandpa Smith with all of their Great Grand Children!

Sean and Phil were wonderful helps with Bella and Ethan. They are really great with little kids. Bella still talks about Sean and Phil to this day. 

We hung out with Katherine, Will and miss Molly at the pool a few times. The kids LOVED the slide. Bella was even brave enough to go by herself. And Ethan couldn't get enough. As soon as he was down, he wanted to go back up.

Isabella even learned to go down the slide all by herself... and loved every minute of it!

Bella and Papa made lots of trips to the park!

 Ethan LOVED sitting in Papa's convertible!

 We had a wonderful dinner with my Auntie Annie and Uncle David... They made my favorite... RIBS. I honestly think I finished at least a rack and a half all to myself. Mmmmm, they were so good.

Christmas!

We went home to Calgary for Christmas this year. It was a whirlwind 12 days... We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom's Family and as usual it was super festive and fun, especially our rendition of Memba-lasagna (a hungarian song that we sing every year, except my mom, aunt and grandma are the only ones who actually know the words to the song... the rest of us sing words that sound like the hungarian counterparts and then we all kiss each other, twice, once on each cheek and say Merry Christmas)! We had special guests this year. Mr Ethan and his new cousin Rocky are new additions to the family, along with Rocky's Mama, Meredith. I know my parents LOVED having Meredith and Rocky there (who live in Kelowna at the moment), so they could have ALL their grandchildren present. Thanks Meredith for spending the time with our family.

Christmas morning was spent with our immediate family. It began with the picture on the stairs in our pjs. We have a whole photo album full of these pictures through the years. Having little kids around, sure does make it extra fun. Bella was VERY into opening up all the presents, even the one that weren't hers (even at other peoples houses... that weren't hers either).

We headed up to the cabin on the 26th for a few days. Ben and I hit the slopes snowboarding up at Panorama for an afternoon, while the kids and Grandma and Papa relaxed down at base camp.

We didn't have enough time (once again) to see everyone I would have liked. We would have needed another week to accomplish that, but we did manage to fit in a few quick visits during the week.

Claire and Bella sure have come along way.

Here they are in , Dec 2008 & August 2009 & July 2010.

Aren't these two so cute (and so completely opposite)!

They could not be more different... but oh let me tell you, they are very similar in personality! Thank goodness we don't live in Calgary at the moment, or these two would be Trouble (just like Bella's mama and Claire's auntie Sarah)

WE had dinner at Katherine and John's. Katherine and John are expecting baby #2 in about a month. We are super excited to hear if baby will be a boy or a girl!

Thanks for having us over... We miss you.

On our way up to the cabin we stopped in Canmore to visit my good friend Kate, her husband Dean and their new precious baby Anna (along with the rest of Kate's family). Kate and I go all the way back to our high school days at Shawnigan. It was so fun catching up and seeing Kate as a Momma. It fits her well and Anna is adorable!