Slowing Down

The hustle and Bustle of the holidays seems to be coming to an end. We had a fantastic Christmas. It is so much fun watching the kids. They handled the busy-ness well and learned a few lessons about receiving gifts (thanks Cindy ;) ). I was happy to see them enjoy each gift instead of tearing to the tree to see if there was more. It took over 4 hours to get through our gifts and we really did not have many here. Such a relaxing and enjoyable morning. A few favourites:


Playmobile plane


Fur Real Tiger and princess accessories.

a happy baby with no cares about what was in her stocking.

I was spoiled once again...a new lens for my camera, a Creative Zen, a writing tablet for the computer, and an external flash for my camera (which I was lucky enough to open a few days early for a photo shoot). But best of all a CD from the kids singing Christmas songs and reciting poems with a great big "we love you Mommy," at the end. Nothing could beat that!!!

Production

It was a full day of Sunday School, lunch with friends, a photo shoot, and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa. You can see the excitement setting in for the kids. They are having a tough time keeping their emotions in check...but only 2 more sleeps!

Tonight they put on the cutest "play" for us and Grandma and Grandpa. It was so cute to see them planning together and helping one another. They were so excited to perform for us. R's laugh was contagious as she giggled non-stop at her dressed up siblings. I think everyone had a
blast watching them!




Only 1 more day left to shop. I have a couple of gifts to pick up tomorrow. Hopefully I will find something I am happy with and if not guess it is my own fault for waiting so long. Like I always say...I will be more prepared next year :)

Merry Christmas to all!

There were three in the bed...

I have been too busy to actually download my own pictures and add them to my blog but...a quick update on life. Little R had a high fever last night and did not want to sleep. We finally gave in and brought her into our bed, something she has never done. She calmed down immediately and we all had a good cuddle and went to sleep.

S had his kindergarten Christmas party today. He was SO excited. He got dressed and ran to brush his teeth as soon as he woke up (I was still in bed). He was very proud of himself and loved having us in his classroom. His sister had a great time and did not want to leave. She loved all the games and of course the snacks! I did take pictures and will post some later.

Photos, inventory and sick kids have been filling my days. I can't believe Christmas is so close. I still have some gifts to buy and ALL of my gifts to wrap. I'm sure it will be a Christmas Eve panic to get it all done, I guess there is something about that rushing that I like because we seem to do it every year!

Day 61

We experienced the first cancellation of the school year. School was canceled due to poor weather. S was very sad when he realized it was day 61 and he would miss going to the high school to do some baking with the "older kids." :(

The Clutter Gene

I now have proof that being a pack rat can be genetic! It does not help that Preston and I are both bad for it, we have two kids who also like to keep EVERYTHING. I had this wonderful idea that we would sort out the clutter in our house and start to purge. I got rid of a fair amount considering we only got through the kids room and the rec room. The kids give away pile remained fairly small. I could go through their stuff and do the purging myself, which they likely wouldn't notice, but this process is about teaching them to give away the toys they no longer play with. T tried so hard. She even put a Dora doll in the bag, but then put on the sadest face and said she would miss her Dora. Wow, did that ever make me feel like a mean Mommy...making my child give up 1 of her MANY stuffed toys (which she loves by the way). I'm sure I will take it out of the bag in the end, but we really are trying!

Besides decluttering and cleaning we had an opportunity to celebrate the holidays with Preston's coworkers with a banquet on Saturday night and a more intimate get together tonight. It was a wonderful weekend but now back to my panicky online shopping. We are STILL trying to figure out what to get the kids. S is certain he will get Cars movie stuff, this is what he told his Uncle Trevor on the phone today. Hope Santa follows through!

The Benefits of TV...

I'm feeling a little forgetful today...the whole episode happened over a 20 minute span and could have turned bad. So thankfully here I am posting and laughing about it now.

After I pulled the garlic bread out of the oven to check on it I threw my oven mitt onto the stove and walked away. When I came back I saw it smoking. I had thrown it onto a hot element (which I had just taken the spaghetti noodles off of). I pounded it on the counter a few times to smother it and then took the garlic bread out of the oven to cut some off for the kids (they do not like it if the top gets crusty). I had intended to put the garlic bread back in the oven on broil just to quickly toast the top of it and then got called away by DD who needed my help in the bathroom. By the time I came back to the kitchen, I smelled the burned bread and opened the oven door to a fire. DH got the bread out (which is now stinking up our garage) and we opened our windows while fanning our smoke detector. DS came crawling through the kitchen, "everyone get down on the floor!" Later he told us he saw that on some cartoon. Thankfully all that I am dealing with is a stinky house. I'm just happy it is still standing.

The photography venture has been taking off. We have been doing a number of shoots lately. I just posted some new pictures in my flickr account but here are some of my favourites.

The countdown is on!

It is really beginning to feel like Christmas, with all of the freshly fallen snow and the beginning of Christmas celebrations. We put our Christmas tree up on Friday. It is so much fun as the children get older. Seeing the joy and wonder on their faces is such a reminder of the importance of the little things. All of the ornaments ended up in a little cluster in the middle of the tree (about the height of T and S) :) - they did almost all of the decorating. This year we got to add another little face to our annual Christmas tree photo.


Yesterday, we enjoyed breakfast with Santa with Preston's work. The kids get such a treat with a performance, great food, a visit from Santa and a gift. After the party the kids went to Grandma and Grandpa's while we went shopping. I typically start the day feeling as though I have lots of time and then end up cramming the last hours full of hustling around trying to get my shopping done, which we didn't. I guess we will be doing some online shopping this week.