I am having a Blog Giveaway in honor of Dad Day. I have two books for one lucky Dad to win. The first book is called Memento, My Life in Story by Michael McQueen.

It’s a beautiful red book filled with thoughtful questions for Dad to answer. The book was inspired by Michael McQueen’s experience of finding a journal after his father’s death. The journal was filled with advice, stories, life anecdotes. That journal sparked the idea to make Memento.

The second book that I’m giving away is called Dear Dad. It’s my favorite book because I love looking through the pictures of fathers and sons together. Some of the pictures are tender, some are funny but all of them tell a story.

Here’s an example of the pictures inside this book.

Besides the pictures there are also quotes about fatherhood and parenting that add to the charm of the book.

If you want to win these two great books to give away on Dad Day just leave a comment.

I will randomly choose a winner on Thursday. Only 2 more days to this giveaway so tell your friends!

I realized this year that although we talk about Santa coming in December Chuck and I don’t really talk a lot about the Easter Bunny coming in April. We kind of breeze over the bunny aspect and I don’t try to hide the bags of candy that I’m going to use to fill their baskets.

This year I really wanted to make our baskets and this is how we did it.

We cut up pieces of string and soaked them in a bowl of diluted craft glue. While the yarn or string is soaking we put a bowl upside down on a craft mat to contain the mess. Lay plastic wrap over the bowl and then start rubbing the excess glue off the yarn one length at a time. Lay the yarn or string over the bowl until the bowl is covered. Let it sit out 1-2 nights until the yarn has dried and hardened. After 1 night the yarn was dry but didn’t feel hard at all. After 2 nights it was a solid bowl. We carefully separated the plastic from the bowl and that left us with colorful yarn baskets to fill. It was cheap, quick, beautiful and FUN! I am going to use balloons and string instead of yarn and bowls next year!

No holiday is complete without yummy goodies and this year we decided to try making Birds Nest Cupcakes as well as sugar cookies. The Birds Nest Cupcakes are lemon flavored with cream cheese frosting. After frosting the cupcakes I rolled the tops in coconut and pushed a couple Mini Eggs into the frosting. Super yummy!!

I found 4 LARGE cookie cutters at the store and couldn’t wait to use them. We made Easter eggs, baby chicks, bunnies and tulip shaped cookies. They were beautiful and delicious!

Chuck’s family tradition is to have a chocolate egg hunt which we held inside because we still don’t have grass in our backyard. Next year though I have plans to hold all of our favorite easter games and festivities outside!

One of my favorite additions to our easter baskets were these soy wax crayons. Because they’re made from soy beans they are non toxic, the colors are really bright and the more they’re used the better they look. I also love them because they’re shaped to make the kids’ hands naturally hold them in the proper way. They’re easier and prettier then those traditional triangular shaped crayons. I love them! Now, run out and buy a bag! They come in a canvas bag with 12 colors. You can order them here!

Baby Girl,
Your dad and I were so excited about you coming into our family. We would talk about you with Jason since he was just little. He couldn’t wait to have a little sister to play with.

The night before you were born I felt a little bit of water leaking but it was only a little bit so I went to bed to get some sleep and decided we would wait to see what happened when I woke up. The next morning I was still leaking so we took Jason to the Hemminger’s house and went to the hospital. The doctor checked my body to see if you were going to come soon and she said that we could either stay at the hospital so she could break my bag of waters or we could go home and wait. We stayed at the hospital. This part was a little fun because we knew you were coming soon but I wasn’t having contractions or anything. The nurses brought me to a room where I was going to stay while I was in labor. It was the same room that I had when Jason was born so we felt more comfortable.

I walked around because I was bored and I don’t like to wait for things that I don’t control. You were going to come when you wanted to and I didn’t want to force you to come. Pretty soon my stomach was starting to get hard and painful. It was a little bit of pain at first. A little bit later there was more pain so I jumped into the shower. The shower felt so good that I didn’t want to get out. Dad stood on the other side of the door where I could see him. When a contraction came it would hurt and it helped if I looked at your Dad and we breathed slowly together. After the contraction was over it didn’t hurt anymore so I would drop my head and try to relax in the shower.

I didn’t want to talk to anyone because I was concentrating so hard on helping my body get ready to birth you. I thought about how beautiful you were going to be and how much I wanted to hold you. I would think about what your face would look like and how tiny you would be. I was so happy!

I stayed in the shower until the nurses told me I should get into bed before the birthing started. I really didn’t want to leave the shower but I did what the nurses said. When the nurses checked me after I laid down they told me that I was ready so they brought in the doctor. I pushed a couple times and you started coming very quickly and pretty soon your head was out. The doctor wanted to suction all the goop out of your nose and mouth so she told me to stop pushing but I couldn’t. My muscles weren’t listening to my brain. They knew what to do and they kept working. You came out so quickly that the doctor almost dropped you!

She laid you on my stomach right away. You were warm, wet and covered in vernix. I snuggled into you and stared at your little face. Your eyes were open and looking at me. You were a very smart and calm baby. You nursed so well that I turned the nurses away when they tried to help. I just wanted to spend time with you and not talk to anyone else but your Dad. We took turns holding you, singing to you and counting all your fingers and toes. You were perfect!

Dad left to pick up Jason so he could meet his new baby sister. The two of you were so cute. Jason didn’t want to put you down. He would stare at you and smile and want to kiss your face when you were sleeping. You didn’t like that very much! I was anxious to get home so Dad and I left as soon as we could and the nurses were mad at us because they wanted us to stay longer. They were worried because you were a little jaundiced which means that your skin was a little bit yellow colored.

When we got home I would lay you to nap in the bassinet. I rolled the bassinet into the sunshine and the Sun helped your skin go back to normal. You loved the warmth of the Sun and you were such a good little sleeper. Jason would ask me if he could wake you up because he wanted to play with you.

You are growing up and you have grown into such an amazing little woman. You are so smart and curious. I love how thoughtful you are. You really care about other people and you are a great friend. I’m so proud of you! I love being your mom!

For Jocelyn’s birthday she wanted to go bowling. These are some pictures from the birthday party. I’m not showing any of Jocelyn’s guests because some people don’t want to have pictures of their kids on the web. I know, weird.

Here’s what I learned.
The Olympic torch represents the fire stolen from Zeus by Prometheus and was first reintroduced in 1928 in Amsterdam. The torch relay that we saw today started at the Berlin Games in 1936. The flame is transferred to some sort of pedestal each year and kept burning until the last day of the Olympic Games. So, there you have it. Consider yourself edumacated.

This morning I took the kids into town to see it. We met up with my girlfriend Bonnie. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned her before. She’s the one that owns the store that I work at two nights a week.

We bundled the kids up and tried to keep them warm until the torch bearer came running past.

Bonnie’s daughter, Cammy, was probably the warmest of all of us.

It didn’t take long before I realized that a bigger problem than staying warm was keeping the little ones entertained until the action happened. David quietly slipped back to the store and started playing with the toys in front of the windows. He’s such a strong personality. My other kids would have asked first but with David…he thinks everything in the world is his and he doesn’t have to ask for anything. Crazy boy!

Before the torch came by we saw a couple sponsored trucks with music and people dancing. I’m not sure if they were athletes that I didn’t recognize (not hard to have happen) or if it was just random employees of the Royal Bank of Canada and…dang it I can’t remember the other sponsor. Anyway, it’s not important but the kids enjoyed when the Cochrane Rodeo Queens came around handing out flags to wave.

At long last (honestly we were probably only waiting for about 6 minutes. I just like to complain and then rat myself out.) the torch finally came by. It was fun to see the torch so close. One of my pictures is quite blurry because he was running and I didn’t realize just HOW close he was to us.

I’m excited about the Olympics being so close. I just wish I could take the kids. Chuck and I both love to watch the figure skating. Don’t judge! It’s a real sport otherwise it wouldn’t be part of the Olympics. I think the kids would love to see the Skeleton. Those are some crazy athletes if you ask me.

What are your favorite sports from the Olympics?

Chuck decided that we needed to send the holidays off with a bang so we took the kids out to Banff to go skating. We brought skates for Jason and Jocelyn they’ve never used and I hoped and prayed that the kids wouldn’t get too cold and that the ice wouldn’t break open and drag us into the cold water. I have only been skating once and I don’t enjoy the cold no matter how long we’ve lived here. I was silently hoping that the kids would get sick or the car would break down so we would have to go back home but none of that happened. What did happen was a miracle though.

I had fun!

We got to the man made lake behind the Banff Springs Hotel and there were already lots of families out skating. There was a small bonfire where people were roasting hotdogs and kids were sledding down a hill nearby. I saw the kids’ eyes glisten with anticipation and my heart melted. How could I be such a scrooge when the kids were so happy? We threw their skates on them and watched them slide on the ice like they were learning to walk for the first time.

Jason took to it right away and Jocelyn used a contraption that someone brought made of PVC pipe that Jocelyn pushed along in front of her for support.

They had so much fun that after we left, went out for dinner, drove home and got ready for bed they were STILL talking about how much fun they had and how badly they want to go back!

One more reminder that I need to be more willing to try new things.

We’re going to build our one PVC supports and get David some skates before we go back on Sunday.

Speaking of David, he was playing like he hadn’t seen daylight in a whole year. He was rolling down the hills, sliding on the ice in his boots and then warming himself by the fire. He can’t wait to get his own pair of skates so he can go tearing around the lake and I bet money that he’ll do it.

I’m so proud of them for not being like their grouchy old mom and for embracing a new family tradition. If you’re looking for something to do next New Years Day you can join us at the lake. Bring a bag of hotdogs and some marshmallows and meet us on the ice!

Happy New Years!