Over the weekend, we threw Greta a surprise party! I've never thrown a surprise party for my kids and in the words of Greta, "I want one every year!" So it was a hit! Greta's birthday isn't until the beginning of next month, however her birthday lands right in the middle of our month long trip to Mexico and we were in Ecuador for her birthday last year. I really wanted to make sure she feels loved and remembered.

I invited a bunch of her friends over and we made pizzas and ate cake and the kids played. It was pretty low key and pretty exciting at the same time!

I love you Greta!

We have had so little snow this winter! There has been snow a couple other times here in Spokane, but both those times we were in Calgary. My girls have only been sledding once this winter. It's kind of crazy, but I'm really not complaining about the sun that has been shining this week. Even so, when the snow fell last week, we had to get out and enjoy it. I shoveled the walk (a task I actually like so long as it's not too often) and Maeve laid in the sled completely expressionless while her sisters pulled her around. Holly could spend hours wandering around and playing in the snow. Hopefully we get a little bit more snow later this season!

After hiking and before we drove into the town, we stopped at Two Jack Lake to ice skate. (Maeve stayed in the warm car with grandparents!) My girls were in heaven! They love ice skating, they love their cousins. It was a win-win scenario! And even though it was icy cold and very windy there was absolutely no complaining from my happy kiddos. It was such a great day!

When my Mom was a little girl and playing hooky from school with her Mom, she remembers coming here. Her big Bernese-Border Collie dog, Popsy and her were playing on the ice. Popsy would pounce on the places she heard bubbles and then my Mom would jump on the ice. Well, one time the ice broke and she fell in. She only got wet up to the hip on one leg fortunately (Popsy got out of there quick and didn't help). My Granny warmed Mom up by the fire, but then they had to head into town to warm up in the hot springs. My Mom says she remembers wearing my Granny's rubber boots, which were huge on her, as she walked into the hot springs. 

Isnt' it fun to have shared experiences? But I'm so glad the ice was super thick for us!

This was a really fun day planned by the Larsens! We drove out the Banff, all the Muirheads that were in town, and we hiked around Minnewonka Lake. I always want to make a stop at Banff when we are in Alberta, but it doesn't always pan out. It was very cold and very windy, and so beautiful! So long as we were moving, we stayed warm. When we stopped for lunch everyone got pretty dang cold. Poor Maeve, her hands got really cold. She cried a lot towards the end of the hike, but I'm so grateful she hung in there and I'm so glad we got to do this! Definitely want to do more of this. My big girls hike so well with cousins. They don't complain at all!

We spent Christmas day with Catherine and Jim, Conor's parents. Man, I love my kids! They are so good and grateful and it's so fun to spend Christmas with them. I love watching them exchange gifts with each other. They get so excited to pick something out and even more excited when it's time for their sister to open the gift. It was so sweet and so pure. I love being able to take my time on Christmas morning and let the kids enjoy everything and that's exactly what we got! It was extra special to share the time with Catherine and Jim. It's a huge blessing to have two sets of Grandparents who love my kids!

On Boxing Day, we did a big Christmas celebration with Conor's sisters and their families too. The last picture is of Maeve in her fleece pajamas that Nana made for her. Maeve picked up the phrase, "open it," over Christmas and was very eager to help pass out presents and assist her family members in opening them. She'll take care of it for you! She caught on pretty quick that the bow and the tag are the first things to get removed. So then she was pulling those off before she passed them to the recipient. It's so fun to have a little one around!