2011 In Review

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Christmas 2011

For the first time ever we were in Ottawa on Christmas morning, and I must say it was really nice.  We had a quiet day at home enjoying good food (yes, I cooked!) and playing with new toys.  The kids were all very excited to see the gifts that Santa had left.

This is the first picture of the girls checking out their haul (B was still in bed at this point).

Santa really had it pretty easy this year, though.  A asked for “a three-ring binder with paper”, and B wanted a nutcracker.  They all three got a binder and paper, and the girls entertained themselves with these for a good little while until B finally joined us. 

B was equally as thrilled with his gifts from Santa…

After awhile, we opened the gifts under the Christmas tree (Santa’s gifts are never wrapped and are not under our tree).  From DoT and I, the kids got one gift each… a LeapPad Explorer.  This turned out to be a great gift for all of them.  We were a bit worried that B might be a bit young for it yet, but he loves his LeadPad as much as his sisters do.  And DoT and I love how quiet it kept them on the long drive to grandma and grandpa’s house on Boxing Day, and continues to keep them in the mornings.

 

We also got quite a bit of snow on Christmas eve and Christmas day, so DoT took the kids out to play in it a bit.  B got a bit tired of it quicker than the girls and came in to have hot chocolate with me.  But the girls stayed out a long time playing in the snow.

On Boxing Day we loaded up the van and headed to grandma and grandpa’s house.  Unfortunately, my uncle passed away on December 23rd (RIP Uncle Mike), so we had a funeral to go to on the 27th.  But that was followed by even more presents from my family’s gift exchange.  (The kids are still in their church/funeral clothes in these pictures, although the rest of us took the time to change into something more comfortable.)

 

We were still in southern Ontario on New Year’s Eve, and we celebrated the entry of the new year there.  The kids had a great time counting down (10, 9, 8, 7…) and yelling “happy new year” to ring in the new year at precisely 8:00 p.m.    Last year I let them stay up late, and I won’t make that mistake again.  They also got to drink out of special glasses (plastic wine glasses) and eat chips and cheezies, so it was a special night indeed.   I know I didn’t see midnight that night, and I’m pretty sure DoT didn’t either. 

Well, I think that pretty much brings you up-to-date.  I still plan to do my 2011 photo montage, as in past years, so watch for another blot post in the coming week.  (And if you didn’t notice the earlier one from today, check it out too, below.)

Happy New Year!

K….

Fall 2011

Okay, so what’s been happening in the last couple of months since I last updated this blog?  Well, here it is, in chronological order…

1.  A visit from Grandma!

2.  The girls had a school project (for Remembrance Day)… their assignment was to draw a picture of peace.  Here are their masterpieces…

3.  I went to Winnipeg, Yellowknife and Tulita (NWT).

Here’s a pic of the (little) plane I flew from Yellowknife to Tulita in; and another picture of me in the gear they outfitted me in for the cold, cold weather.  (I felt a bit like a toddler in a snow suit… unable to move.)

I have some beautiful pictures of Yellowknife and Tulita, but decided to spare you the 100 or so pictures, since I couldn’t pick just one or two.

4.  Christmas decorating

At the end of November, we set up our Christmas tree.  This year the kids knew exactly what to do and wasted no time getting it all decorated.

5.  Christmas baking

6.  Christmas performances

Then came the Christmas season with all the associated parties and performances.  This year all three of my kids were “angels” in the church’s annual Sunday School Christmas Program.  Here is a picture of my three angels before leaving home for the program (sans wings)…

Here they are at the performance with their wings (prior to the fight breaking out… I wish I was kidding)…

And here is a picture of the start of the brawl…

The kids also had a Christmas pageant at their school.  I didn’t get any good pictures during their performances (I wasn’t close enough and the lighting wasn’t great), but here’s a picture of B in his hat (he made it himself!)..

Then came the big day!  I’ll do a blog post for Christmas soon (hopefully later today).  Stay tuned.

K….

Happy Hallowe’en

Finally, an update

Hi all,

So, first things first… I neglected to put up a picture of the kids on their first day of school.  Here it is…

And here is a picture of A with her glasses.  (E ended up not needing glasses after all.)  I was going to take a better picture, but then decided that the fingerprint on her glasses in this picture really does accurately capture her.  :-)

K…

A few new things…

1.  Both girls will be getting glasses.  A very soon (we’ve ordered her some) and E hopefully soon but it will depend on how long it takes until we can convince her that she won’t die if the eye doctor puts drops in her eyes.  :-)  We were at the eye doctor today and the doc thinks it would be good for them both to have glasses now that they are in grade 1.  Last year, their eyes weren’t perfect, but really what do you learn in kindergarten anyhow.  So we decided to give it a year and see what happened.  :-)

 

2.  We are going to Disneyworld again in October.  DoT has another conference there and my friend Cathy convinced me to look into whether or not we could get cheap flights.  (Thanks, Cathy!)  Tonight I booked flights for the kids and I to go the same days DoT goes.  Now I just need to hope and pray that when DoT’s work books his flights, he ends up on the same flights as we have.  Because otherwise, I’m doomed.  We leave early in the morning and have to transfer planes in either Newark or Philadelphia (I can’t remember which).  Me with three kids and all our luggage hustling from one plane to another is not going to go well if I’m on my own. 

 

3.  School has started and everyone seems to be settling in fine.  B started all-day jr. kindergarten this year, and seems to love it.  Although he’s only been to school 6 days and has come home wearing his back-up pants twice.  I really think the problem is that he is just having so much fun he doesn’t want to be bothered with going to the bathroom.  And he doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that he’s peed his pants at school.  So, I’m not sure what to do about it.  Every time he comes home after an accident I’ve talked to him and he has solemnly promised that from now on he’ll go to the bathroom when he needs to pee.  But, alas, the follow-through seems to be lacking.  The girls started off in separate classes again this year, but I decided my sanity was more important than their unique, individual personalities, and requested to have them moved into the same class.  So now they are together in a grade 1 class (A was previously in a grade 1/2 split class), and both seem to like that. 

 

So, that’s the updates for now.  No pictures tonight, but I promise, as soon as A’s glasses arrive (we’re told it should only be a few days), I’ll put up a pic of her sporting her new look.  (Not a big surprise, I’m sure, but she chose the pink glasses… even though I had her try on almost all the others first.)

K…

Summer vacations – parts 1 through 5

Part 1 – Toronto – Centreville:

Part 2 – Toronto – Zoo

Part 3 – Grand Bend

Cherry picking…

Beach…

 

Part 4 – New Brunswick

Part 5 – Newfoundland

   

I have tonnes more pictures of Newfoundland but I know you’re all really just interested in the pictures with the kids in them.  But believe me when I say, Newfoundland is GORGEOUS! 

A big shout-out ‘thanks’ goes to Teagan, Zoey, Sonya, and Paul who hosted us and made our visit so much fun.  We can’t wait to come back!