Christmas Tree Decorating Party

We started off the Christmas Tree Party by decorating Santa cookies. Again, my crafty sister Katt's idea.



Here's the finished product ala Jade and Ashlie. Cute, hunh?


Then Davey decided to give it a try too.


First he helped me make my santa. Not bad for my first try.

But he had his own ideas about what a yummy santa cookie would look like...Think outside the box kid, that's the way.

Next it was time to trim the tree:


Cookie face and all.

Most of it was done by Jade and Davey, our little tree elves. Once in a while they'd ask me to reach the high spots for them.



Meanwhile, Ashlie sang Irish songs from the fireplace.



Our tree topper. Uncle Dave has started a tradition of interesting tree ornaments. One year we had a (barrel of) monkey with painted clothes for a tree topper. Last year and this year (cause Dave wasn't around to come up with something brilliant and different) we get this adorable monster. He made the greatest ornaments for Rob out of spark plugs. He should have his own Christmas store...

TOO much eggnog!

Let's Make Cookies!

Kat came over with cookie dough on Thursday and BIG plans to make lots and lots of cookies.

Jadey and I rolled cookie dough...me for one of the first times doing it successfully.


Even Tinky wanted to help make cookies. Doesn't she look excited?

Afterwards, Jade was exhausted, but Tink was ready to play!


See how easy cookie making is inspired me to try making some cookies of our own. I made Andrew help me, cause he's the one with the art degree.

Some pretty fancy little cookie people here. In the corners you'll also see candy cane brownies, and snow topped yummy pecan cookies.

Bright Lights, Magic Elves, Christmas Trains and Miracles:

Andrew had an appointment in Vancouver this afternoon, so in the spirit of craziness, I thought it would be a great idea for all of us to tag along, for me and the kids to sit in the car for an hour and then for us all to go to Stanley Park. Yes, I am crazy. Davey informs me of this regularly.

It actually wasn't so bad. Sitting in the car for 45 minutes was long enough, so at quarter to Andrew's appointment being over, we went and waited in this great little Italian cafe. The owners are young guys who have FOUR telelvisions in the place and a dance floor (yah, it's a coffee shop) so we watched King of Queens and a bit of Wheel of Fortune. Next time I think we should just spend the whole hour in the coffee shop.

Anyway, we made our way to Stanley Park to the Bright Lights Exhibit. Parking wasn't too bad to find and here's Davey and me waiting for Andrew to find out if there are tickets left. The website made it seem like they sell out, but I don't think there's any danger of that on a weeknight.

I love this picture of Andrew. He just looks so excited to be here.


Along the path into the exhibit there were all kinds of little displays set up. Really, really cool. If our kids were older we could easily have spent an entire evening here. I'm hoping next year with a stroller and snacks we can make it last for at least an evening. The park was beautiful despite the damage wrought by the storms last week. The firemen/women and volunteers were so friendly and the train ride was totally worth the money. Definitely planning on making this a holiday tradition.

Mum, this one's for you. GREAT life sized nutcrackers guarding the train station. Davey was a bit scared, kept peeking over his shoulder to make sure they wouldn't get him while we were snapping the picture.

But he absolutely loved this little thing. And the fire truck which I didn't get a picture of.


Here we are after going through the animal village and before discovering our car keys had fallen out of my coat pocket. I look tired. I am. Davey is happily overtiredly excited. So long as mummy carries him and doesn't let the animals, magic elves or nutcrackers anywhere near him. Good thing this isn't a real santa.

Hunh, I guess Tinky did come along. She was so excited and smiley at first, but I think the wait for the train was too noisy and then the train ride was noisy and she got a bit overtired. But she was very good so that Davey could see everything he wanted to. Oh yah, then I realised our car keys had fallen out of my pocket. Luckily, Andrew had the spare set, but we were a bit freaked none the less. I figured they must have fallen out on the train when I was holding Tink, the diaper bag, a blanket and the camera. At one point I unzipped my pocket to get something out and that must have been when the keys fell. DOH! We asked at the ticket booth if anyone had turned them in. Then Andrew asked at the train platform and no one had, but the guys said they'd check the train when it came into the station. Then I went and asked the ticket guy if I could go through the lineup and everywhere inside to see if I could find them. Finally we just gave them our phone number and decided to leave. I prayed the whole way back to the car that they would turn up (and not have been dropped in the parking lot where someone might have discovered them and stolen our car!)

Seconds after getting everyone settled in the car they phoned to say someone had found and turned the keys in. YAY! Especially that we hadn't left the park yet. Thank you God for answered prayer.

How to keep three kids under three entertained: Or Thank you to all you lovely people at Disney Pixar

The Crazy Christmas Elf

Quite some time ago, when we were shopping at Rona, Davey discovered this hat. He wore it around the whole store and since he looked so cute in it, and it was only a buck, we bought it for him. It's been in his toy box for weeks and weeks, but he must have rediscovered it yesterday. This top picture is pretty much how he came bouncing into the living room. Full of glee and mischief.

Davey playing with his boat. I particularly liked it when he was wearing it as a darth vader helmet.

I know I said I wanted to hold her, but...

Not having such easy access to pictures is really forcing me to think before I blog these days. I think I kind of like pictureless blogging, in that it makes me remember significant things David and Elisabeth have done. And a good portion of the point of this blog (other than giving the Ontario relatives a means to see the kids grow up) is for me to remember every part of D & E's growing up.
We've been trying to teach David to share. This stage in their life makes it difficult because on the one hand, at this age David is learning that he is his own person. He's making choices and discovering what he does and doesn't like. His personality is really growing and changing. On the other hand, as he learns to play with other children (as opposed to alongside them), he's faced with sharing his belongings (and sometimes, being told what to do. But that's another story.)

Some days he does better than others. And some things he will share more readily than others. Food being one of the things he loves to share. In fact, he's tried to share food with Elisabeth almost since she was first born. Especially if she's been crying, he'll try to give her food to make her stop (he hates it when she cries. In the beginning he used to cry too. Then he would yell at her to stop. More recently he will get very sympathetic and ask her what's wrong. But if he can't console her, he usually ends up crying too. Very often he'll be sobbing, "stop crying baby, stop crying tinky").

In the past few weeks Davey has moved on to sharing food with the cats. Somehow he knows that they don't eat people food. So he'll get little handfuls of catfood and carry them around after the cats, "Here, try it. Try it. It's yucky." Who could resist that sales pitch? When they won't eat from his hand, he fetches the whole cat bowl. Just yesterday he was lying flat on his tummy, under the arm chair, arm outstretched towards jasper. "come here kitty. Try it." They just don't buy it though.

That's when he came to me with a cookie, 'Mamma, try it'. Oh dear. A very, very slobbery, smooshed up gingerbread man. But that's what you do when you're a mom right?

Tinky loves that cats too. She especially loves Randall and will dive for him and grab with both hands fistfuls of his hair. Luckily Randall is the cat who loves people and doesn't mind her showing her affection.

Davey's repertoire of songs has increased now to include Christmas music. His three favorite carols are: "Jingle all the way"; "Merry Christmas to You" and "Santa Baby". Those being the only words he knows to any of the three carols. And the second is sung to the tune of Happy Birthday. But he has started writing his own songs. Today he wrote a lovely song about Tinky and played along on his Ukulele. He also finds innovative ways to play the ukulele, today he was playing it like a fiddle, only using a pinwheel as the bow.

Wow, look at the time. Andrew and I are SO addicted to boggle. We can't wait to get the kids into bed at night so we can get as much Boggle in as possible before bed. We always say we're only going to play an hour but it ends up stretching into one more victory match, one more to regain my dignity, one more for the road...but he still never manages to beat me. HAH!

My kids don't seem able to synchronize their napping today. Nevertheless, this has been an exceptionally good day. So good, it had me thinking about how much I love being a mom more than any other job I've ever done.

Apart from momming today, I've also:
Washed all the lino floors in our suite;
Vacuumed all the carpet except the bedrooms;
Emptied, loaded, run, emptied and loaded the dishwasher;
Sorted my linen shelves;
Cleaned both bathrooms, including washing the shower curtains and towels;
Done two loads of laundry on top of the bathroom stuff (including folding, but not putting away - yet). (and there's another load in the washing machine and one more in the hampers. Then all of our clothes are clean...till tonight);
Have dinner prepped and ready to start;
Planned a special meal for the weekend and written the shopping list for it;
Paid some bills;
Surfed some blogs;
BLOGGED.

Oh yah, and I got to spend one - on - one time with each of my kids. A good day indeed.

I should mention that my sense of fulfillment is due in large part to Kathi. She let Davey play upstairs with Jade while I got a good bunch of the stuff on my list done. AND she made the yummy soup Davey enjoyed when Davey and I had a rare lunch date together. Thanks Katt!!

Well, I haven't got much new to blog about, so tonight I rearranged the links column. Added a whole whack of new links...here's the breakdown:

Family hasn't changed.
The Write Away Gang: is a group of fabulous women who all happen to write in some capacity or other. Sometimes we manage to hang out in person and inspire each other to greatness. Mostly we just gab online. We're writers, not necessarily people-people. Not all of us have blogs. Some of us don't blog as often as we should. HINT HINT.
Friends and Stalkees: I figured I should finally try to consolidate most of the blogs I read regularly in one place.
Veg food: great resources for veg and vegan cooking. MNNN. Why Veg and Vegan you ask?? We're aspiring vegans who sometimes lapse into meat eating. Not often though cause the main house cook thinks meat is gross.
Canadian Kids Stores: Fun places to window shop
More Kids Stores: More fun places to window shop

Andrew is out Christmas shopping and I should be in bed. Tink will be waking any minute for her first feed of the night and I'm soooooo tired. But I'm not very good at falling asleep when he's not home and so...

Davey caught dad's cold...though he has a much milder version. Thank God for answered prayer! But it took him ages to fall asleep tonight and he kept making the funniest noises. He is such a funny little chappy. And knows it. He will proclaim (very randomly) "I'm Funny". Along with other phrases: "I need a Hog" (erm...hug); "I'm a frog" (followed by much hopping); "I'm a cow. MoooOOOOooo"; "It's hard to do!"; "I can't reach it" (usually a signal that he's trying to get into something he shouldn't be); "I'm Naked!!!" (with much glee and without much regard to actual nakedness...sometimes it's just his feet that are naked); "I can't reach the baby" (with real anguish and usually if I've moved her just slightly out of reach. In fact, he likes to stand beside me when I nurse her and stroke her head. If I move her without him noticing he gets very upset and has to be within reaching distance again); "It's a mummy"; "We can do it!" (or other phrases from Bob the Builder, his very, very favorite show); "I HONgry!!"

Tonight I stripped Tinky down for her bath, but she's just so cute and babylike when she's bare, so I had to blow some raspberries on her tummy. Both she and Davey thought that was incredibly funny. While I was running her bath I left her in just a diaper on the gymthingie on the floor. Davey promptly got on the floor beside her, alternately licking her feet, "I eat it!!" and sucking on her chubby little tum. She quite liked all that. It was just when he tried to squish himself in beside her for hugs and kisses that she got a little (just a tad) indignant. Poor Davey. He wants to love up that little sister so bad. And she's got too much of her mamma in her.

Well, it's almost 11 and though Andrew's still not home I guess I'd better head towards bed. (maybe it was a bad idea to tell him the Langley Walmart is now open 24/7 till Christmas...)

ps. Andrew's home now. But I remembered that today we were upstairs having Italian Christmas Cake with Dave and Mum. And Tink kept crying and reaching out for my piece. When I'd give her some she'd grab my hand and shove the cake in her mouth and stop crying for as long as it took to eat it. So at dinner tonight we fed her some mashed banana. She devoured about a teaspoon full. Loved it. No problems keeping it in her mouth until she was full. Then she'd just keep pushing it out till we finally got the hint. So Davey's first food was baked beans and tink's was cake. Heh.

Here Daddy and Davey discuss which would be the best car for us to sit in as we take our magicalchristmastrain ride. Small train, hunh? try getting in and out of that while carrying a baby and a toddler who doesn't want to leave the train...ever.

This is exciting! All aboard for an adventure in Christmasland!!

my what a cheeky grin that is little reindeer...

 

Tinky in her reindeer antlers.

 

It's mummy and the reindeer.

Hey, who's that getting off the train?

Davey and the biggest snowman ever!!

 

Too many pictures Andrew?

 

The cool "truck" they had at Bear Creek Park. Davey has three jeeps at home that he is ALWAYS playing with. Even though they're huge he carries them everywhere with him. All at once.

Driving the fire truck. "Uh oh, I think I just passed the fire..."

Friday

Two tired little babies, not impressed that I'm blocking the TV.


This morning, after we dropped Andrew off at work, me, David and Elisabeth headed out to Surrey to visit the Bear Creek Christmas Train. Davey made these nifty antlers, then we went on an awesome train ride.

When we got off the train, we had a peek into Santa's grotto. There were a whole bunch of people visiting Santa and getting Candy Canes, so Davey insisted we go see Santa too. He wouldn't talk, but gratefully accepted a candy cane.

He insisted on wearing the antlers for most of the day. Though every time you took your eyes off him, he'd be munching away on the glue and glitter. But he was very proud of his "hat".

One funny thing he's been doing lately is randomly saying either, "I'm a frog" or "I'm a cow. MooOOOoooo". Today he had to sit in the car without a carseat, just a seatbelt. He kept trying to stand up so we had a little conversation about how he needed to sit on his bum. "no mummy. I stand". I explained that people don't stand in cars. People need to sit. "see, even mummy is sitting." To which he quite indignantly replied, "Cows stand. I'm a cow. MooOOOoooo".

Pretty Little Tinky

Now that she's wearing size 6 months, Tinky is fitting into a lot more of the pretty things we were given for her. This beautiful dress is from Natasha.

I was feeling a bit sad that we didn't have any cool "baby's first Christmas" outfits like we did with Davey...we actually had to plan what he was wearing and when because he had three santa suits and three other Christmas outfits.

Not that we couldn't have gotten something for tink, they just don't seem to have outfits of the calibre that they were the year Davey was born.

Well, I found his outfits the other day, and though they're all size 3 months, I think we can squish her in them. So all is not lost, I'll still have lots of opportunity for Christmas outfit photo ops with Elisabeth. YAY!