Christmas Finale...

I was having trouble with my computer, so I couldn't post pictures....but it is now fixed and I have some free time to blog.

Christmas came and went so fast this year. I thought that I was pretty well organized and keeping this a low key as I could, without missing Christmas altogether.

Thank goodness for 24 hour stores...I decided to finish up my christmas shopping last minute items at walmart and superstore at around 10:30pm. I didn't have to haul my kids with me...but surprisingly I was battling some people who were also out shopping that night. I also did some shopping on line and we're still waiting for those items to arrive (just a book for Spencer). Next year I'll have to order earlier. Oh, Megan was without Super Mario Bros. all the stores were sold out when I was ready to buy the game. Oops! She took it really well...I think that she is most excited that she knows that, YES, we were going to buy it for her. Hopefully by the end of January she'll have it.

Megan took part in her school Christmas play. The put on "Surfing Santa" it was really good. She is starting to get the acting bug and is hoping for more of a main roll next year. She was a good elf working in Santa's toy shop. One of the songs was a kinda of rocky/rap song and she one selected to show off some of her dance moves...she choose to do some "break" dancing. They were flicking the lights on and off, so it was hard to see her and it didn't record very good either, but it will be forever in grained in my memory. I bought some tickets for a pointsetta plant and actually won one. So that was very nice.

We successfully completed the Santa Shuffle. The Saturday that it happened was beautiful. We dressed for the weather and did a lap. I pushed Aaron in the stroller and Spencer pulled the other kids in our orange sled. We then enjoyed the refreshments after.


My sister and Brother in law came up for a visit the weekend before Christmas to drop off some gifts and spend sometime with us. That is the night we decorated our gingerbread house. Unfortunately there isn't much left of it now, but really who could resist??

On the 23 we went to the last night of entertainment at the legislature grounds. We walked through the grounds and saw the lights and went inside and heard a choir and enjoyed free hot chocolate. It was a bit chilly outside that night,but the gift shop and other buildings were opened up later and we wandered around there for a little while.

On Christmas Eve we had a "FUN"due lunch party (the fondue set was part of my Christmas present). We invited our neighbours over for our annual Christmas time get together. It was fun. Next time I'll be a bit more organized. I prepped all the food the night before. Spencer took the kids out that morning to go sledding...after picking up and organizing a little bit more, I looked at the clock and our party was starting in 15 minutes! Yikes! I quickly whipped up the cheese sauce and got the table set. It turned out pretty good. A relaxed atmosphere and a slow lunch. Very enjoyable.

Later on that night, we spent time with my husbands family and had a Christmas dinner and program. We sang songs and Megan did a dance and of course we re-enacted the Christmas story. Then headed home for a late night of preparing for Christmas Day.


Megan was our early riser at 5:30am....we held off the kids until around 6am. We open our stocking first and then went into the gifts. It took us about 2 hours this year to get through everything. The kids got some really nice gifts...a transformer, guitar, sled, books, puzzles, k'nex, origami, etc. Evan was really into Christmas this year so that was fun. The kids also gave some good gifts...Megan made another clay picture on one of her field trips and Evan painted Megan a little jewelry box. We also helped a member of our ward by giving out a Christmas dinner hamper. We are still trying to find a good balance of a Christ centered Christmas and the enjoyment of Santa. I now realize that it is a slow evolving process and will change over time as my family grows and changes.

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy your New Years Celebrations!

Warmth despite the cold

My new philosophy on living in Canada is this...you should own some pretty nice and warm clothing to help protect you from the elements.



Spencer surprised me with a new coat yesterday. It is everything that I wanted plus a lifetime guarantee.

It is an awesome coat and I look smashing in it! It is down filled and besides that now I have something to match my big sorel boots. Wink! Wink!

The Christmas Spirit

So we signed up as a family group to run in the Santa Shuffle on Dec. 5. Of course the night before was our big snow storm and the race was cancelled (we didn't find this out until we actually drove very cautiously to the race location, with kids all bundled up and getting excited). So we went sledding instead, since we were prepared for the snow and cold. That also freed up our morning.

(The race has been re-scheduled for the 19th of December). I bought santa hats and reindeer antlers for us to race with.

On that same day we went to a children's christmas party put on by Spencer's work. It was good. They had various crafts, snacks/drinks to munch on, a place to go fishing, and of course Santa stopped by and gave each child a gift. The kids had a good time.

This year Evan insisted that this would be the year that he would not be afraid of Santa and even sit on his lap. But he quickly changed his mind when he actually saw Santa! He was glued to my side...but he loved the blue bamboo racing car that he received.

Megan played it cool and enjoyed seeing Santa, even though she knew that this isn't the "real" Santa....cause he is too busy this time of year to leave the North Pole. Beside Spencer told me later that Megan said that the Santa had a beard that was just painted white....yes Megan, you're right.

She got a disappearing painting board...

Aaron receive a little hammer like toy and moves and makes sounds, he loves it since he is at the stage of grabbing things....

We left the children's christmas party and headed straight to our ward christmas party....(are you thinking that it was a looong day too? It was!)

We got there early and helped in the kitchen and setting up. We brought a salad. We had turkey, potatoes, stuffing, buns, a few salads and a few veggies and desserts. Santa also came to visit us here. Evan was much more willing to go up to Santa and receive whatever treat that Santa was handing out.

There was a program...the primary children, RS and Priesthood all participated my singing various songs through out. Then on our way out the kids were handed treat bags! It turned out to be a really nice party.

So that has been our longest day so far...I'll post more of our Christmas celebrations later.

Burr.....

It is freezing out! Edmonton apparently set a world record on Sunday out at the international airport...it was a balmy -54 degrees Celsius! Yikes. But I bundled the kids up and we made it to church yesterday, but as I drove pass a mall marquis sign that said the time and temperature....it said 9:04am -33 degrees.

I told Spencer my new rule; if it is below 30 degrees with or without windchill I'm not going out (or taking my kids anywhere).

But just this morning it was minus 31, so Megan reminded me of my new rule and said that she wasn't going to go to school...but I said too bad and I hauled them both to school. In my defense it did warm up to around minus 24 today. That and memories of what it is like to have both kids at home all day flooded my mind. They were glad to go; besides this is their last week of school before Christmas holidays. It's pretty much a party anyways.

The last of my birthday presents...

We'll my birthday was way back in October. Spencer and the kids threw me a nice party. I hinted to Spencer for sometime that because my other watch (timex ironman) had finally died that I would enjoy a new one....a "fancy" one. You know the type...one that you can wear with nice clothes...so Spencer bought me one...but alas, I just wasn't happy with it. It was "fancy" just like I wanted, but it just wasn't me....

I need a watch with a bit of substance, something that makes a statement....so I saw this one at the store "watch it" and fell in love with it...I love knowing the time again!

She is beautiful, ain't she? (this time I'm not talking about me!) She is a "fossil" with a leather strap(this isn't sounding so good?...). The watch face is removable thanks to the snaps, so either can be replaced when needed with ease.

I'm lovin' it!

A Pain in the Arm....

Instead of having a pain in the neck....(sometimes I do get those, but a nice massage or acupuncture takes care of that)...we all have a pain in the arm.

We went and got the H1N1 flu shots today. I would have taken a picture of my kids....but I was having to use all my energy and force to hold them down as the shot was administered. Megan promised me that she would go first and that she would remember what it was like last year....a lot of crying and then when she actually got the shot...she said..."oh, that didn't even hurt". Go figure!

I went first...I was preparing myself...taking a big breath in....but by the time I did that and was trying to keep an eye on the kids...it was over with...I didn't even notice that the nurse had jabbed me. Awesome!

Megan was next...but Evan was fussing so much about wanting to sit on my lap, that I grabbed him and had to do the immunization hold on him then another nurse who wasn't busy came over to try to help...he was screaming bloody murder, but the nurse went as quick as she could and then he cried a few more tears, but turned his attention to his new Bumble Bee transformer that I had purchased just for the occasion. Wink, Wink, nudge, nudge....a parents best defense....the BRIBE!

His Bumble Bee isn't even this cool....it is a level one transformer, very simple.

Well listening to Evan didn't help Megan in the bravery department....tears were there and the begging of no....she even said to the nurse, "can this be the shot that doesn't hurt"?...I might have been able to run with that line of thinking...but the nurse answered too quickly, so Megan knew that it was going to hurt...forget everything that she had learned last year...I held her too, and she ended up doing just fine....less tears and persuading this time round. She was bribed with a new...Rainbow Magic book. In the end she said that this time it hurt worse than last time...she described what it felt like...like you using the alcohol hand cleaner, on your hand that has a cut...she was going for the stinging effect, it think.

We sat and waited our 15 minutes with no problems. Megan was happy to read, the baby had finally fallen asleep in his stroller and Evan was frustrated and still crying...but not because of the shot....rather the challenge of transforming his new transformer toy, he just couldn't get it figured out quite right! Sigh!

Oh, there were no line-ups where we went we just walked right in...fill in our forms and continued on....total time 35 minutes! Nice.

We will be monitoring ourselves for the next few days...and getting over our sore arms....but we are going to be enjoying the rest of the flu season, as long as we don't get hit by another type of illness or flu...

The start of a happy day....

Wouldn't we all be a little bit happier if we woke up to this every morning?....