Merry New Year! (a couple weeks late)

So once again it's been a long time since I've done a blog. I'm going to start with December because we did a bunch that month (and of course it was Kinnley's first Christmas) and go from there.

December:

The first weekend of December we went to my parents house in Rocky Mountain House to get our first Christmas tree for the family. Every year Jance and I decide not to decorate because it was just the two of us and we always went to see family over the holidays and were never home. So Grandma and Grandpa Shenfield came with us as we just basically walked down the road a little ways from their house and chopped down a small tree about my height. We had Kinnley loaded up in a little dogsled that my parents used for me and my siblings when we were little. She loved it! After we cut the tree down we decided to take Kinnley on a plastic toboggan that we were going to haul the tree on. She really didn't know what to think, but had a blast either way playing in the snow. Even my parents went down with her! We also tried making a family of snow angels (I'll try to load the video), and Kinnley had fun with that. Seriously the happiest baby in the world.

Seriously love this kid!

Me when I was little and Kinnley in the same sled

And video...

On top of the tree adventure, if you didn't catch it in the photos above, Jance grew his first real Christmas beard this year. He was pretty excited that he could pull it off. He keeps saying it still needs to fill in more, but I thought he did a pretty good job. He would have a beard year-round if he could. But Christmas works just fine for me, haha. What he seemed even more excited about was all the crazy designs he could do after, especially "the daggers". Note transition. He'll probably kill me for adding the first one cause he looks creepy with his bloodshot eyes, and we brushed his beard against the grains to make it stick out and look even more beastly.

Christmas:

For Christmas I stayed with my parents while Jance finished up a few things with school/research before Christmas Day, and then we headed down to Fort Macleod to spend Christmas with the McGale's! We had a great surprise when we got there. Cheyenne and Darren and the kids came out from Ontario so that everyone was there for the holidays. It was a lot of fun and Kinnley sure enjoyed spending time with her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Kinnley got spoiled, but seemed to loved playing with the Christmas wrapping more than seeing what she got for presents. It's amazing what entertains babies. Sometimes Jance and I think we should just give her a pack of 500 "Hilroy" for her birthday.

At Grandma and Grandpa Shenfields on her new wheels

Looking in her stocking.

Opening a gift.

I just realized that I don't have a good shot of our sad looking Christmas tree at home. Put it this way, too many ornaments for such a little tree, tin foil star, and the branches couldn't really hold them up very well (and they weren't heavy ornaments). When we got home, half of the ornaments had slid off the branches as about 80% of the needles from the tree had fallen off and the whole tree was limp. I wish I took a picture. Definitely had a Charlie Brown kick to it.

New Years:

For New Years we went to my brother's place in Edson and then went snowboarding at Marmot and played games to bring in the new year. It was the first time I went boarding since I was pregnant, so I loved getting out again! I forgot how much I really missed it. For New Years Day we went to my sister's place and she made a yummy dinner with the turkey Tayva won in the Turkey Trot.

At my sister's place

Catching up with my brother James on the hill
Jance busting a 360
At the top!

On another note...

It's crazy how fast time goes! Kinnley is growing like a weed and her personality is showing more and more. This past week she started her first swimming lesson and loved it! Poor girl swallowed a lot of water thanks to her mom from practicing the "bob". I just can't seem to get the timing right after I blow in her face. She didn't cry at all (what a trooper!) but she would come up spitting out water and showing me a "shocked" face. She was a little star with everyone there because she couldn't help but wave to all the kids and their moms and of course the instructor. It's exciting that she is already waving as it didn't appear that any of the other kids could yet, and most were older, a couple younger. However the majority of the kids can crawl, and Kinnley doesn't seem too concerned about it; so I guess I shouldn't be either. She's happy just the way things are and is always smiling no matter what.

Here are some milestones she has accomplished thus far:

• Rolling over (her main source of transportation)
• Sitting up (and move to her belly from sitting up-more gracefully)
• Clapping
• Waving
• Saying "hi" while she waves
• Crawling backwards (when she gets on all fours)
• Pee/Poop on potty (obviously she can't tell me when, just when I put her there)
• Pull blanket over her head and play Peek-A-Boo

Life of the Potty!

And on further note, Kinnley got her first shiner a couple weeks back. She was trying to do a face stand in the bleachers at volleyball.

So I tried uploading some more recent pics of our little munchkin, however I upload everything from my iPhone to Jance's laptop because it's a little more up to date and he always wants new

pictures of us on there (even though when I mean us, 99% of the time that means Kinnley). I tend to take more pictures with the phone because our actual camera has seen better days. I

think both cameras even have the same amount of megapixels. One camera that I really want to invest a few dollars in is the Canon Rebel T3i. They look pretty snazzy and I've seen other

people's photos who use that camera and I love it! So that has definitely been put on the wish list.

But anyway, as for not having major recent photos of Kinnley loaded on this computer yet, we did get the cheapest set of photos done by Canadian Baby Photographers. Not sure if I'm a huge fan, I prefer the more modern style that has been coming out. We actually got a sweet deal from a lady in our ward who does great baby photos when Kinnley was a newborn. Her business is www.urbanalli.com and we LOVED those photos. I wanted to buy every photo, but of course that is a little out of the price range. Anyway, the Canadian Baby Photographers called us up and wanted to do a "free" photo shoot, which really means they want to take your photos and then come by later and convince you to buy something. So we bought the cheapest package and of course Kinnley still looks pretty darn cute and this way we got some shots that really captured her smile. She was about 4 months at the time. They really did a good job, the photographer has a gift for making kids smile so needless to say Kinnley was happy in every photo and it was even nap time when the guy came over.

Canadian Baby Photographers also let us have 1 family photo. Let's just say they don't specialize in that, but it's the only professional one we got so far. Please ignore the fact that I look like I'm "special" and still need to lose some preggo weight (hence why I'm still wearing maternity pants in this photo).

Welcome to our Family!

Okay, so I'm making a small attempt to do a blog. Lets just say as it stands, I probably won't be hardcore because I'm still too lazy with writing stuff and I spend more time on Facebook than blogging. And I love napping. So who knows, might not see another post for another year. Here's to hoping a little more frequent than that.

To start, I should introduce the family. Jance and I have been married for 4 years now. Crazy, I know! I can't believe I've been able to convince someone to stick around for this long! Needless to say he's a pretty awesome husband. We met in Lethbridge while we were both still going to school and enjoying the YSA life. And then BAM! August 31, 2007 we were married in the Cardston, Alberta temple.

I finished up my Physical Education degree and then taught for a year at Kate Andrews High School in Coaldale, AB before Jance got accepted into the Medical Program at the University of Alberta. With crazy excitement for new adventures, we bought a house in Edmonton in August 2010, and have been here ever since.

Jance has enjoyed the change so far and has had much less stress about getting the A+ in every class, while still working hard at pursuing his dream to be a surgeon. Let's just say it's a different kind of stress, but he seems to enjoy the hands on work, with the book work occasionally being a drag. However there are a few sections this year he seems pretty excited to learn about. I, on the other hand, taught for the first 7 months of our time in Edmonton at Tofield School (Gr. 5-12) while gaining a steady amount of baby momma weight! I finished work on March 18, 2011 and Kinnley arrived March 23, 2011! Had a great time teaching, but Jance and I were both ready to be parents.

So now, we have become a family of 3 and it has been AWESOME! I love being at home watching our little girl grow up! Kinnley started at a whopping 8lbs 9oz (2 weeks early I might add) and has more than doubled her birthweight now and is 6 months old. She is constantly full of smiles (to the point that her face pretty much disappears...LOVE IT) and I am proud to say she's the best baby to ease a woman into motherhood. It's amazing as a mom the little things I am so impressed with every day with Kinnley. Something as simple as a smile or rolling over or even noises that are made just make it so exciting to see what comes next her future. As I wait anxiously for her to reach the next milestone, I am missing her sweet innocence that shone as a brand new baby. Her personality already is definitely starting to show, especially since we started her on solids a few weeks ago. Let's just say she loves sweet potatoes and squash, not so much peas and green beans.

So there you have it! May the next blog posts be of some interest to you as you may (or may not depending on my small amount of ambition) follow our experience in life as the McGale family.