Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season!

 

Merry Christmas from the Augustine's.

 

Yee haw!

A very lucky Rory recieved a fabulous early Christmas gift from some dear friends.  A handcrafted wooden rocking horse made this little cowboys day. An absolutely beautiful piece of work that will be in our family for years and years. Thanks Ron and Debbie!

 

 

Rory searched for our cowboy hat to set the scene! Yeehaw!

 

Cameron was very content to spend some time on his tummy chatting away to himself and ohh the smiles!

Getting ready for Christmas...

We have been enjoying some milder weather after some snow and cooler temperatures. Lindsay and Rory have been working hard on building the "Snow Mountain". Check out these videos of Rory sledding.

 

 

 

Rory has also been getting into the Christmas spirit:

Rory enjoyed painting some pasta shells and threading them through some ribbon. He proudly decorated his little tree with it. 

Rory is becoming more aware of being good for Santa Claus and is always willing to give mum a hand with the cleaning!  He is an awesome little helper!!

 



 

Getting the tree ready for some lights and decorations.  Watch this space for an updated version of our Christmas tree.

 

Making time for some Christmas baking - Rory is hard at work rolling out some cookie dough and using some festive cookie cutters. 

 

A rare quiet moment - Rory is having a cuddle with little bro Cameron.

Cameron's first trip to the mountains

A day in the mountains...

 

 

We packed a picnic and headed west for a day in the mountains - Cameron's first big road trip. It was a chilly day with some flurries, but we bundled everyone up and made the most of sharing our favourite spot in the mountains with Cam.  After a fun car picnic with the Christmas tunes a bopping, we headed out for walk.

 



 

Rory loved trampling through the knee deep fresh snow, making a clear path for mum and Cam.

 

 

A windy pic with daddy.

 

 

 

 

"Are you coming mummy? Are you and Cam okay?" A very caring big bro was always checking on the rest of the family. Although this usually followed with, "Mum, please stop taking my picture!!"

 

Cameron's first photo in the mountains - he is in there, all bundled up warm and snug, snoring away.  It was quite a bumpy ride, but there was no complaints from inside.

 

Cam didn't mind his view of the mountains from inside the warm car. The first trip of many adventures into the mountains as a family - fun was had by all and we were all tuckered out by the end of the day.

 

 

Rory even took a rare still moment to take in the magical scenery.

 

Nothing beats a day outside in stunning surroundings to refresh the soul.

 



Smiles

It's been a busy week full of lots of smiles and fun times. We are getting into the Christmas spirit and headed to the Spruce Meadows Christmas Market. We visited Santa's reindeer, heard some carolling, saw some beautiful Christmas lights, Linds enjoyed some traditional Gluhwein and I purchased a two new ornaments for Cam and Rory for our tree and a magic key to let Santa in on the big night.

 

Rory was very excited to have his first ever pony ride. 

 

 

 

Little Cam was bundled up snug as bug in a rug for the chilly evening and slept through the whole thing - except for the ride home, where he voiced his anger at missing such an exciting night!

 

Cameron was all smiles the next day with lots of giggles. He's looking pretty dapper in his awesome sleepers from his special Auntie Judi in the UK!

 

Ahhhh...a little brotherly love. Rory is an awesome big brother and has been busy trying to teach Cam how to kick a soccer ball and jump up and down. But always has time for kisses and tickles.

Fun times

The Snow Mountain!
 

 

Lindsay and Rory spent a chilly weekend building the snow mountain in our backyard.  There were tons of giggles, wet socks, rosy cheeks and chilly toes and fingers - but not to forget to mention lots and lots of fun!

 

There was also some lovely moments watching Rory and Cameron 'play' for the first time together.  Rory was explaining to Cameron, about all the animals and how everything on the play mat worked.

 

Still chatting....

 

I finally had a chance to grab my camera and take some shots of our growing new member of the Augustine family.

 

Couldn't help but to share these silly grins and giggles - look at those cheeks and all those chins!!

Snow!!

 

 It has been snowing for the past 3 days and this morning we saw the sun, although it was minus 17, it was a beautiful sight with all of the snow on the trees in our backyard.  We probably got at least 20 cm of the white stuff over the last few days.  Rory has loved getting out and shovelling and playing in the snow. Linds and Rory are working hard at building our own snow mountain to go sledding on.

 

Rory thought it was pretty cool to be able to reach the tree branches with his shovel - not realizing however that the snow he hit off the tree would come down onto his face! A little shocked, but laughed and did it again and again!

Rory took great care to clear off some of the railing to make sure our bird friends were well fed during this cold weather.

 

 

It was a little chilly for Cameron to head out in the snow so he was quite content to hang out on the play mat with his friend Mr Octopus and spend his afternoons cozied up snoozing away.

 

After a couple of hours in the snow we hunkered down inside to warm up and do some serious building work. Rory was quite proud of his 'rocket ship' invention he built with mum.

Happy Halloween!

 

HAPPY  HALLOWEEN!!

 

We hope everyone had a great evening of tricks and treats. Rory headed out for his first trick or treating experience and boy was it a cold one!! We had layer upon layer underneath his costume! We only did four or five houses on our street as the temperatures started to plunge well below zero with freezing fog and a crisp wind. There were no complaints from this trick or treating pirate. Rory loved going up to houses and saying trick or treat and wishing everyone a happy halloween. 

 



 

A special thank you to Grandma Werkman for making a fantastic pirate costume. It worked perfectly with fleece pants and sweaters underneath!

 

 

 

Pirate Rory with his partner in crime, Cameron. Cameron and daddy stayed home to hand out candy while mum and Rory headed out into the cold night.

 

This younger trick or treater will have to wait till next year for his first trick or treating adventure!

Rory woke up this morning asking to go trick or treating to peoples houses again and was quite upset that he would have to wait until next year!

Enjoy all your sweet treats!

One month on...

 

Where does the time go?? Cameron turned one month old this past week. It seems like just yesterday I brought him home from the hospital. I guess sleep deprivation can play tricks on ones sense of time! We are all doing well and seem to be keeping very busy with chores of daily life at home with two very energetic boys. 

 

Cameron has started to work on building his neck muscles with tummy time on the play mat. He is so interested in his surroundings and takes in everything around him. His big eyes look so excited when he spots something new.

 

We were lucky enough to have a special visitor for the morning on Saturday.  Maelle joined us for a morning of colouring, crafts, soccer and as seen below - fort building and a whole lot of giggles.

 

We've had our first snowfall of about 15 centimetres this week with some very cool temperatures.  So we've packed away the sand shovels and golf clubs and brought out the snowpants, boots, toques and mittens to enjoy our backyard of winter fun.  Lindsay and Rory spent many evenings shoveling our driveway and started to build a sledding hill in our backyard.  Rory is loving having all of the space in our yard to play in the snow and especially loved testing out the hill!

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Day!!

 Welcome to winter!! Yes I know it's only October - but we woke up to over 15 centimeters of snow this morning. Rory was very excited to see all of the white stuff - he couldn't wait to get outside to shovel.  He would have stayed outside all day if we let him. 

 After working hard shovelling the deck...

there is always time for play.

Rory loved crawling through the snow making pathways and trails. Unfortunately he forgot that anything that dragged in the snow worked like a shovel and collected snow. Rory had snow everywhere, inside his boots, pockets, coat and mitts! No complaints from him though...all smiles!

 

 

Cameron stayed in from the cold and snow and enjoyed a warm bath with daddy.

 

 

Ahhh....all clean, warm and snugly.  I couldn't resist sharing both of these photos.  Cameron will be a month old tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly time has gone - Cameron loves to eat - as you can probably tell from those chubby (but very kissable) cheeks!!

 

2 Weeks old...

Hello again - well we've survived the first two weeks with Baby Cameron with a lot of help and support from many friends and family.  Mom and Cameron are doing well and adjusting to new routines.

How our lives have changed once again - who could have thought that sleep deprivation, poopy diapers and and some terrible twos could bring so much joy (and entertainment) to our lives.  

Here is a glimpse into our last two weeks:

 

Cameron is a very noisy sleeper - lots of grunts, groans and moans, not to mention the snoring like a chainsaw!

Big brother Rory helping daddy with bathtime.

We were lucky to have a beautiful fall day to enjoy a walk at Fish Creek with everyone - the Snider clan, grandma and grandpa Werkman and the Augustine's.  No chance of seeing deer on this walk! Rory and cousin Aidan discuss some rock throwing techniques.

Back at the Snider casa we feasted on a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

Here is Mama Maelle having a cuddle and keeping a close watch on Cameron. 

Cameron enjoying some Grandparent time - just chilling out and loving all of the attention.

Always time for cuddles with Grandma!

And still time for stories with Rory. We kept Grandma and Grandpa very busy on their visit.

Time to catch up the news with Grandpa!

Exhausted - time to curl up with daddy and have a little snooze.

 Cameron is a big time cuddler and loves snuggle up with anyone who is willing.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving - we had one of our best - surrounded by family with memories to treasure.