Lethbridge Lodge

I have to admit... it does seem a little weird that although all of us "Vanderveens" are from Calgary (minus the Brandses from VT) we all pack up and come all the way to Lethbridge to have Christmas in a hotel... but, its tradition, and we've been doing this for as long as I can remember.

Mark and I got here a day later than everyone else... I had to work Thursday night from 3:00pm-11:30pm and then again Friday morning from 5:00am-1:30pm. So we drove down as soon as I was done (needless to say I slept all the way here!!) Once we got here we went for dinner with my family and the Brandses to the Cheesecake Cafe and then a quick dip in the pool. (Where Mark took down both Kyle and Ryan at the same time!) Then Mark and I called it a night after falling asleep watching TV.

The inital plan was to open presents late tonight, but due to an unfortunate closing of the pool (someone decided to leave a nasty little Christmas present in the pool), we opened them this afternoon. Mark and I both got new sweaters and movie passes from Grandpa and Grandma. Then after all the cousins had opened their presents the adults did the gift exchange. Mark ended up bringing home the same gift he brought, a box of golf balls... and I got a new cake dish FULL of my mommy's Mars Squares. Yum Yum!! The most popular gift was probably the giganitc tool set Grandpa brought or the bottle of Baja Tango. The least popular gift definately had to be the man thongs my dad brought!!

After all the presents were unwrapped and the yummy snacks eaten, everyone sort of broke up for a while and did their own thing. Mom, Robyn, Rachel, Jamie and Kaitlyn went and saw Charlotte's Web... most of the guys had naps or watched TV... and Mark and I went to the Wooden Shoe (the Dutch Store) so I could load up on dropies! Now a bunch of the younger kids are back in the pool (which they loaded up with chemicals and re-opened) and the men are watching the Flames play San Jose.

We were having a hard time trying to find someone to watch Duke for us... so we ended up just taking him along. And he has been SO good!! He loves playing with all the kids, and our room is perfect for him!! He goes out onto the patio and watches all of the kids play in the pool. He even gets his own bed!!

Tomorrow morning we are going for the usual Christmas Brunch Buffet then packing up and going home. I will have to post pictures from the weekend when we get home.. as no one brought their computer cords for their camera, and Mark and I forgot our camera!!

Bad Dog!!

So, you will still need to suffer through the occasional blog about Duke... especially when we come home to surprises like this:

Apparently, Duke had decided that he didn't like the hibiscus plant and wanted to destroy it entirely. This is what was left of our dear friend....

Mark was very, very, very furious and it took him quite a lot of time and effort to get it all cleaned up.

Needless to say, Duke was severely punished and disciplined and will be locked up from now on while we're away... atleast until he makes friends with the other plants!

The culprit... who is very mopey now.

We're coming out of the closet!!

So, you all might have been getting sick of posts and pictures of Duke. Up until now, he has been our baby. However, never fear, the end is near! Mark and I are finally coming out of the closet and going public....

We're having a BABY!!

It is still a little early for us to be sharing the news... seeing as how I am only 8 weeks along (and most people wait until at least 12 weeks, if not longer, to share their exciting news)... but I am a horrible secret keeper and am too excited to keep this all to myself. I am due July 18th. (Sorry, no twins. There's just one in there - trust me, I made them double check!!)

It has been a rocky road thus far... lots of trips to the doctor for unexplainable cramping and bleeding, but I have been reassured over and over that everything is fine and that the baby is healthy. Right now all of the books and websites say our baby looks like this:

Now obviously this isn't my baby, let me tell you... the ultrasounds don't look ANYTHING like that!! It's just this tiny blob with a little flickering thing (the heart). Mark and I were pretty unimpressed after seeing Kristina's 4D ultrasound of her 5 month old baby (now that was cool). But nevertheless, we are still both very excited and can't wait until the little one comes along!

Yay! Christmas Tree!!

We FINALLY got to put up our Christmas Tree!! I've been looking forward to this since the beginning of November, but Mark made me wait until it was December to pull it out. I am so proud of it!! We went with a cranberry red and silver theme (to match our house) and have all white lights. Now we just need to pull out the rest of the decorations (Mark's mom gave us a bunch of her old ones to sort through) and put up the Christmas Lights on the outside of the house.

Duke isn't as interested in the Christmas Tree as I thought he would be. When we initally took it out of the box he sniffed it a bunch of times and tried to eat the box... but now that its up and decorated he couldn't be bothered to go near it. Which is a relief! I had nightmares of him pulling the whole tree down. Now we'll just have to wait and see how he reacts to all the presents Mark is buying me (heehee) under the tree.

Fun for Duke too!

I forgot to mention in my last post that Duke also had a fun evening!! He's been having a blast playing with Peeka & Boo all weekend. Since Mom is in Edmonton watching Robyn play volleyball, and Dad is in Phoenix golfing, Mark and I have been puppy-sitting Peekaboo. Three dogs is a little overwhelming!! And man is it hard to walk all of 'em at once!! But they need to get out of the house every once in a while or they will tear it to peices... it's wrestle-mania 24/7!!!

Couples Evening

It's 12:24 am and Mark and I are just headed to bed now. Talk about a fun filled evening!! TJ & Kelly, Alex & Leanne and Kristina & Drew came over to watch the hockey game (which we won!!! GO FLAMES GO!!) and play Catch Phrase. If you're ever looking for a action packed, competitive game, Catch Phrase is your man... well... game. The first couple rounds we played boys against girls.... unbelievably... the boys won! (Which Kelly and I blame totally on Kristina and Leanne.... what newbs!) Then we switched up the teams so it was the red heads (TJ, Leanne and I) & Drew against everyone else (Alex, Mark, Kristina and Kelly). Again, for some strange reason, my team lost! I lost every single game!! And some how Mark won every single game! I think he was cheating, thats the only explaination I can think of... or thats he's just amazing. HaHaHaHa... yah... he cheated. Kelly is so much fun to play games with... she gets SO into it, jumping up and down yelling out random words until she gets it right. Anyways... to sum things up.... fun night!!