You know you are having a bad day when...

you spend six hours making a beautiful cake for your daughter's birthday and then this happens.

I cried and laughed and then I dropped to my knees and began cleaning up the mess. Leah was mortified when she saw her cake on the floor. Her first reaction was to run to her room screaming and crying while Dillon and I cleaned up the mess but within minutes she on her knees hugging me telling me how sorry she was and how awful she felt for me. I was really proud of her, what maturity that showed for her to recognize my feelings in this situation. She really is growing up to be a great little girl!!!

I spent the following day working on birthday cake version 2.0. I think it turned out better than the first (thank goodness). Now the hope is that it will survive until the day of the party. Only 24 hours left, so far things are looking good. Lets hope they continue!

How Much Sugar?

We had an early birthday party for Leah with Grandma and Grandpa Fisher before they headed down to Arizona for the winter. Leah didn't want a cake at this party because she knew she was getting a big cake at her friend party and she didn't want to over do it. So Grandma and Grandpa got creative and came up with the idea of 'bobbing for gummy bears' for dessert instead. Leah loved it but our very health conscious daughter was very concerned about how much sugar there was in the dessert.

Fall Fitness Jam

One of the things that I love to do is teach classes at the gym. I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to teach a variety of classes like cardio kickbox, BOSU, Max, Maxed Out, Cross Training and a variety of other classes. In October our gym put on a Fall Fitness Jam where a number of instructors had 15 minutes to teach a segment from one of their classes. The jam went on for 2 hours and had over 60 participants. Even though I was still recovering from a broken ankle I was able to participate. We were exhausted by the end but we had a fantastic time!

Unfortunately Patrick doesn't get to see me teach very often so when we do fitness jams on Saturdays he likes to come and participate whenever he can. I love having him there to support me but on this particular day I decided to use him to my advantage. I was teaching a kickboxing segment and seeing as he is an amazing kickboxer in phenomenal shape, I decided to call him up in front to show off his skills. I think I surprised him a bit but he was a good sport...what a great guy he is!

Halloween!!!

It is definately one of my favorite times of the year! I love getting dressed up, I love getting costumes for my kids, I love making Halloween bake goods and I love going to costume parties! We sure went all out this year and had a blast doing it!

The kids and I started our baking a couple weeks early so we would be all practiced up for the big week. We baked some sugar cookies and with the help of Patrick we made some Halloween designs on top. We ate a few and then sent the rest into work with Patrick so we wouldn't ruin our Halloween appetite all at once.

We didn't stop at cookies. We made chocolate witch fingers on pretzles for the kids to take into their classrooms. We baked and decorated a couple of cakes for some special occasions that were both happening on Halloween weekend. Lucky for me my good friend made me an apron for my birthday. It came just in time!

One of my favorite parts of being a parent is getting to share in the activities of my children. I love going to their sporting activities, church activities and school activities including their parties. Of course Halloween is one of my favorites. So on Friday morning I went to Dillon's party at his school and then in the afternoon we went to Leah's school for her party. Leah's whole school participated in a choreographed dance to Micheal Jackson's 'Thriller'. She was fantastic! Everyone was all dressed up and looked so cool. What fun it is to celebrate with your children!

After the school parties were over we rushed home to get ready for 'An Evening of Murder' at the Fisher house. I had always wanted to host a murder mystery party so I figured this was going to be the year. I invited a few couples over including Mark and Marie and we spent the evening trying to figure out who killed Victoria Lester. We had a ton of fun. I have to say Marie stole the show, I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. Thanks Marie, you were a great addition to our cast! (So were you Mark!)

On Saturday the three wards that meet in our building combined together to have a trunk or treat. This is the first trunk or treat that I have ever been to and it was a HUGE success. There were a ton of people. We even ran into Mark and Marie. Their costumes were fantastic! We had a wonderful time together. I brought one of my best friends from the gym and her daughter with me. They seemed to think it was a pretty cool idea. Dillon was having a bit of a hard time coming to terms with the idea of trick or treating from car to car but once he learned that he was still getting candy he didn't seem to care where he was getting it from just as long as he was getting it. Gotta love him!

 

I sure love Halloween but I have to admit between all the baking, cleaning, costuming and planning I am exhausted. That might be partially due to the sugar coma that I am currently in but that is beside the point! Like I said earlier, I sure do love Halloween but I am glad it is over for this year. Next year will be just as much fun...if not more!!

I Can Ride a Two-Wheeler!!!

 Leah came into the house today and asked Patrick to take the training wheels off of her bike because she was a big enough girl to ride a two-wheeler. At first Patrick thought that she would try it once and then give up and want the training wheels back on but she jumped right on and took off like a pro! She was riding up and down the road and turning on her own in no time. I couldn't believe it!  WAY TO GO LEAH!

Nana & Papa Came To Town!!!

Nana and Papa took the train from Toronto to Edmonton to come for a visit. We were all so excited to see them for a couple of weeks. We tried to squeeze in as many fun activities as we could in the short time that they were here. We took them to Fort Edmonton Park, West Edmonton Mall, the Legislature Grounds and many more.  Nana and Papa took some time to join us as we watched Leah and Dillon play their final soccer games of the season. The kids were so excited to have them their to support them. Mark travelled in from Saskatoon to visit with us all as well.  One weekend we travelled to Lethbridge to be with  Hannah for her baptism. We really enjoyed our time with Nana and Papa and look forward to the next time we can see them!

Family Photos - It's About Time!

Last week our family got our pictures taken by a friend of mine from the gym. We spent the entire week getting ready for the pictures, new haircuts/styles for everyone and new outfits. We were pretty excited until we realized the forecast for the day was only 5 degrees. Normally that wouldn't have mattered too much but our location was outdoors without anywhere to go to warm up. For anyone that knows me knows that I really dislike being cold so having to smile pretty when I am cold is not my strong suit. Patrick decided that getting a root canal would be more fun than getting pictures with a cold miserable wife and cold grumpy children. Amazingly enough we proved him wrong!  It turned out to be a great experience, chilly, but great. We were all troopers and the pictures turned out pretty good.  Thanks Julie!!

Spring Break Means Work Harder

Last week was Spring Break for us and I must admit I was a little afraid at the prospect of having 9 days with both my kids at home all day with 'nothing' to do. But as it turned out we had an incredible break I just had to work a little harder both at home and professionally.
I decided to make the most of our time together so the kids and I repainted Leah's room...what an adventure that turned out to be. I think we ended up with more paint on us then the walls did and Dillon's hair now has a permanent pink streak down the side of his head but we sure had fun and the kids learned how to paint. It may not be the perfect paint job but we created some wonderful memories. (I will have to touch up the room when the kids are out of town at Grandma's next time).
Leah and Dillon had to come to the gym with me multiple times throughout the break. As many of you already know I teach between 3-4 fitness classes per week but over Spring Break many of my colleagues are out of town so I had the 'opportunity' to teach all of their classes as well. I taught one class called Maxed Out, it is a really high intensity strength class that is really intimidating because there are around 50 participants that attend. I was really nervous but it went really well, aside from the fact that I couldn't walk for the next two days. It was nice having the kids with me especially because they were happy to come.
To reward the kids for their hard work at home and with me at the gym I drove them to meet Grandma and they stayed with her for a couple of days where I am sure they got all the spoiling they deserved.
It was a great Spring Break and I am sad that it is over but now I know what to look forward to once summer comes!

Easter

Oh how our family loves to celebrate the holidays! Mostly because Patrick is home with us but really any excuse to have fun works for us. Patrick and I are not big believers in the Easter Bunny but we still think it is important to have a little bit of fun while focusing on the real reason for the season. So instead of having a big easter egg hunt Sunday morning we sent them on a treasure hunt with clues planted in hollow eggs hidden all over the house and yard on Saturday. At the end of the hunt they found bikes hidden in their rooms. They were so excited!



Since they found their bikes we have been on multiple bike rides, as many as 4 bike rides per day. I thought that having both the kids on bikes would make our walks more enjoyable because we could pick up our speed a little bit but I did not expect to be sprinting down the street after my kids. Patrick and I have decided that dropping these last five pounds will not be a problem with all this increased running that we have been doing.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend visiting with family, riding our bikes, eating too much chocolate, listening to conference and just spending time together. I hope you all had a great weekend as well.

Kim

Robert Munsch

Leah's class has been studying Robert Munsch in her grade one class. The day they read "Stephanie's Ponytail" Leah's teacher asked all the students to come to school with crazy hair. Leah was very excited to let her hair go wild instead of trying to tame it. Surprisingly, it took us a lot less time to do her hair that morning than it normally does.