Our time out West (or was it the Arctic??)

Even though it was freezing it St. Albert, we still had a great time visiting with everyone over Christmas. Paige got a taste of what mommy and daddy dealt with while growing up. It was so cold that Paige barely complained about having her jacket/scarf/mitts and hat on while in the car. At home she cries and takes off her hat and mitts, and I have never put her scarf on in the car. Since it was so cold, we did a lot of our visiting inside Jen and James' house (where we stayed), and didn't leave very often. Here are a few pictures (out of order) of what we did:

Boxing day:

Christmas day at Auntie Judy and Uncle Greg's (I love how all the older kids are spinning and Paige is just taking it all in):

Jen and James at the Sobey's cafe:

Grandma Val and Paige on Christmas Eve:

Grandpa Jerry and Paige at Sobey's cafe:

Paige with her 2nd cousin (born only hours apart) on Christmas day watching the massive dog:

Paige and her beloved Abby. A blanket, dora cup, and a Dora video with your best friend? Who could ask for anything more? This was near the beginning of the trip when Paige hadn't quite begun to seriously annoy Abby yet...

At the Barr's house for a fabulous dinner and visit with Riley (wiley). More dog tormenting...

Paige and Uncle Tyson:

Sooo many pictures this trip, so I just selected a few to put up. One thing that I have to write down in the odd chance that I would forget this story and not remember to tell it to Paige in the future....ok...well basically I'm doing my hair or makeup or something and I hear Mike say "NO PAIGE WE DO NOT EAT DOG FOOD". Paige had shoved FIVE pieces of dog food in her mouth and one of them was all crunched up! Yuck! I grabbed her and brushed her teeth 3 times and washed her face and she still had dog food breath. Until your child has dog food breath you will never quite grasp how disgusting this is. It made me feel sick to my stomach. I made her eat more human food to try to mask the smell. This worked slightly, but as I was washing up some dishes I caught her with 2 more pieces! This was it, I had to pass her off to Auntie Jen to clean her up for the second time.

This probably all came about because we had let Paige feed Abby a few times. She used to feed Abby cookies, but realized that cookies were only given sometimes. She noticed that Abby's food was always sitting there, and well, why not feed it to her piece by piece. "Abbyabbyabbyabbyabby" she would yell, and then when Abby would take the piece "good girl" she would say. Then grab another piece and repeat. I guess this is how she got used to handling Abby's food. And well, if Abby eats it, why can't I?!

Our visit started off with Paige being fairly gentle towards Abby, but progressed to annoying Abby. Always in her face, touching her feet, poking and proding her. Abby was very good and never got mad, but you could tell she was irritated.

Having Abby around was great as Paige was always in great spirits first thing in the morning, and right after her nap. Before we went to St. Albert, Paige had begun to cry a lot after her naps for some reason.

Something else I don't have any pictures of is the $27 swimming extravaganza. Jen, James, and I took Paige to a swimming pool which was really quite a cool place but...seriously so expensive for swimming with a baby! It was fun for me to go with other people since I got a chance to swim around and go on a crazy slide on my own!

I also forgot my camera when we went to Andrea's house to visit with Emerson, Lisa, Natalya, and Cadence. Too bad we can't see each other more often since the babies are all within 7 months apart.

A couple of non-Paige related activities were the annual Christmas dinner at Janice's house, and Bridesmaid dress shopping with Janice.

Anyway, tons of fun over Christmas, sad to come home, but a great trip over all (.....minus the dental surgery to be completed on Monday)