15/365 ribbon + a 3 year old = babysitting fun

324/365 a Saturday snow day...in pictures

finally getting some snow time outside,
he has been waiting since Tuesday
to mess up the perfect snow on the deck,
we warned him how cold it would be
but that didn't stop him for a second Tetley and Kaeden doing snow angels McKenzie (our rent a child for the day) and Shelby making pancakes hanging out on the couch gazing out at the snowy landscape setting up for a tea party enjoy a little cup of tea smiles a little quiet time

making halloween cupcakes (yep, you read that correctly...we apparently work on our own holiday schedule, stay tuned for Santa cookies in February!)

~ heavy cupcake decorating concentration
~ a finished zombie cupcake

~ what would a snow day at the Chibry's be without a sweet ending!

~ I am off to Toronto tomorrow until Tuesday and will hopefully have Internet access at the hotel to keep the blog updated.

I was hoping to have a leisurely afternoon strolling around Toronto Downtown tomorrow afternoon but as luck will have it, I arrive at 12:43pm and Santa arrives at 12:45pm for their annual Santa Claus Parade that goes smack down the avenue my hotel is at... perfect. I guess I spend my afternoon with a couple thousand other people...oh well, as the old cliche goes, the more the merrier.

297/365

I spent a foggy and chilly morning with
Miss McKenzie and her family for our annual

family photo session today.

You can check out a sneak peek of their session here.

Kaeden found this web (he comes along on this session as he can usually make McKenzie laugh with his slapstick physical comedy) and he was quite taken with the little water droplets. As McKenzie is a card carrying member of the Kaeden fan club she went over to check out his discovery...

278/365

if you leave your child at my home, there will be pictures...that is just the way it goes

182/365 giving Canada a little love today

as today is its birthday

a very young 143

truly other than some nasty roadwork

it does not look a day over a hundred.

in celebration of the big day I share with you this

adorable Canadian:

and this one too:

we make very cute children in Canada

even if they are more than a little mischievous,

spraying their auntie with water every chance they could get

oh boy, here is one more as I just couldn't resist

a cure to winter storm blues...

this is what we woke up to: this is what our neighbours woke up to:

ok...so I was a titch bitter

the majority of the blocks snow ended up on our driveway

which gave us 3-4 feet snow drifts

and there was no way our car was

getting out of the garage

so what could ever cure my good usually postive and charitable mood from being frozen and buried under a thousand feet of snow?

a wonderful 2 year old birthday party

with yummy (and lots of it) food

gracious hosts

great guests *

fun crafts

and the cutest birthday girl around

Miss McKenzie (2 years old tomorrow)

the next picture demonstrates how a girl eats a cupcake compared to a boy:

Maks attacks his with great flourish and finishes it in 3 bites.

McKenzie eats it by gently putting her finger in the icing and eating tiny tiny little pieces.

I really wanted to get McKenzie the fancy big art easel so we all went in on a group gift which was the hit of the party which makes us feel good but a little sad for all of the other gifts that she had no interest in but Kaeden gladly opened for her (probably the only time he will be opening Barbies, Princess dress up and Strawberry Shortcake)

McKenzie was lucky to have her Grandma make it to her party as she lives in Vernon and was able to get an early flight out (before the blizzard) yesterday.

the delicious cupcake cake (made from scratch, so good)

*(umm well I guess I am bias, as the only guests that made it were my family. My mom & dad live across the street from Mckenzie's and my sister & her family are 3 blocks away. We live about 5 minutes away but we ended up having to have my dad come to the closest main street and the kids and I walked out through the park to get to the street as our cul-de-sac had way too much snow for him to pick us up and like I said we weren't going anywhere in our vehicles)

a sneak peek for Miss McKenzie

who gave me a workout to rival Jane Fonda today

as we walked/ran/jumped for 2 hours today at Fish Creek

seriously who needs boot camp, I will just book sessions

with 19 month olds! 

I had a great time with her and her mom & dad,

it was stinkin hot and the sun was shining bright 

but everyone was in good spirits and it was

a beautiful day for a walk.

here are a few from this morning...

~ I can get lost in those baby blues...she is going to melt a few hearts with them