the weeks leading up to Christmas...PART 2

Dec 19 -  Ice skating...yes, all 5 of us out on the ice at the same time. We went to a local park which has a nice skating trail. Kyle has been skating for a few years including some lessons and is quite good on the ice by himself, however this was Jillian's first time on skates. She did a fantastic job, and even did a whole loop by herself at the end. Leah was wearing the kind of skates which strap onto her winter boots and really had fun out on the ice, she was smiling the whole time. I had brought hot chocolate in a thermos but it was still far too hot when I tried it out, the kids thought it was quite funny I used snow to cool it down.

It was a beautiful night, not too cold, snow falling...perfect winter evening to be outside.

Dec 20 - The big kids are done school and Jeff is off work so they headed up north for a day of snow tubing.

Dec 22-23 - Great Wolf Lodge! We went there for the first time last holiday season and very much enjoyed the water park along with all the great holiday decorations at GWL, so we went for a repeat visit this year. Lots of swimming and water slides.

 In our suite, we had a complimentary upgrade to a loft suite...nice!

Jillian and Leah in pjs on our way down for evening storytime.  Can you spot my 3 kids in the large group?

 

The Wooly Mammoth - Jillian's favourite waterslide in the park.  Since there is no minimum height requirement on this one (with an adult) we took Leah once and while she did alright, she definately did not want to go on again.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas PART 1

It was a busy December, but lots of fun for sure.

Dec 7 - Decorate gingerbread men with icing, marshmallows, candy and chocolate chips.

Dec 10 - Leah's preschool holiday concert...SO cute!  Leah learned a lot of Christmas carrols, she spent all of December walking around the house singing a medley of holiday songs.

Dec 12 - Kyle, Jillian and Leah (and Jeff!) participated in the Christmas Pageant at our church.  Leah and Jeff were on stage singing Little Drummer Boy using handmade drums.  Kyle was a shepherd, and Jillian was a Wise Man who brought a gift to baby Jesus.  It was great having my Mom and Dad join us at the church to meet everyone and watch the pageant.  The preschool kids were dressed up as the stable animals.  Do you think there was a pink bunny there that very first Christmas?  Leah does, in fact she insisted!

Dec 14 - Jillian's holiday concert at school.  She is in the junior choir and did a fantastic job singing "Vive le Vent" and "L'enfant au Tambour".  This is also my Mom's birthday so we enjoyed a quick family dinner before all heading to the school for the concert.

Dec 18 - Put Santa's gingerbread house and toy shop together, and then proceed to tear apart the house (but left the toy shop still standing...the elves have to finish some toys before Christmas you know!).  Building gingerbread houses definately has high overhead, seeing as the building supplies are edible and so delicious.

 

the FIVE stockings were hung by the chimney with care

Only a few years ago I was looking at our fireplace mantle during the holidays and there hung 4 stockings.  I can't really explain it but I felt there was something missing.  I kept looking at the fireplace and picturing 5.  And sure enough my wish came true, we now hang 5 snowman stockings on the mantle each holiday season.  It's one of my favourite things to look at during the month of December.  Stockings are a favourite holiday memory for me, we always dived into them first thing on Christmas morning.

End of November (and only a month late!)

Here's what we did at the end of November...

My adorable girls made snow angels in the backyard

And we did one of my favourite things, put up the Christmas tree!  We almost always put the tree up the last weekend of Novmember.  We put Christmas music on the stereo, pull out all the decorations and of course have hot chocolate with marshmallows afterwards (lately we've been having hot chocolate with marshmallows quite often).  The kids bug me constantly wait patiently while I get the lights and ribbon on the tree, then it's time to crack open the ornament boxes.  I always make sure to have a box with all non-breakables so the kids can just go crazy.  The 3 of them did 90% of the ornaments by themselves this year and I think they did a great job.  I only added a few balls and some of my personal favourites afterwards.  The kids just love pulling out their own ornaments from years past, especially the homemade ones. 

The kids all carefully selected branches for each ornament

Leah putting the star on top for the first time

Leah's first (professional) haircut

At the end of November I took Leah for her first haircut (not counting this as her first haircut...).  I think she looks adorable.  Her bangs are starting to finally grow out, I'm looking forward to when they are all even again!  I took these pictures of Leah while she was feeding and playing with baby Stella.  This baby doll was Jillian's as a toddler, a fact which Leah gets reminded of at times by her big sister.  So it's no surprise when I ask Leah what she wants for Christmas one of the most common responses along with Dora and purple car is a baby doll of her own (yellow hair is often specified).

Leah was very nervous at first while we were waiting for her turn at the hairdressers.  Then I realized the problem was she had just watched a woman get her hair washed (something Leah absolutely despises, she loves bath time but freaks out when it's time to wash hair).  Leah was much calmer once I reassured her there would be no water involved in her haircut.  A lovely couple who were ahead of us saw Leah being nervous and offered to let her go first once they saw she had temporarily calmed down, I was very grateful!

She sat very nicely in her chair, having a lollipop was a welcome distraction and the haircut went very smoothly.  I'm not sure how anxious Leah will be to go back though.  I think she looks adorable in her little bob!

delinquent

I know I've been remiss in posting on here.  I've had to fight off pneumonia in addition to all the usual holiday craziness fun.  Also, after a very nice 4 month leave of absence from work I've returned to working in the office.  This is quite a transition for our family.  I do work part-time which is nice but there's still some significant balancing required to make everything work (make sure everyone gets picked up at preschool/bus stop, everyone gets to their activities, dinner gets made, and on and on).  I do have some cute pictures to post, including Leah's first (non self-inflicted) haircut.  As soon as I download pictures from my camera I'll be posting some updates.

look who we found in the mall...

We went to the local Santa Claus parade on the weekend and Jillian really wanted to visit Santa in the mall afterwards.  But as expected once the parade ended everyone else had the same idea so the lineup was too long.  I did promise her a visit soon and figured we may as well go now before the crowds start, and sure enough we walked right on in for our visit without any waiting.  They have a new setup at the mall this year with a fun playhouse for the kids.

And here's some closeups I took of the kids which I really like...I'm considering using the Santa picture along with the closeups as a collage for our Christmas card

music...what a difference between the first and third

When Kyle was a preschooler we had all the best kids cds...the home and car stereo played a constant stream of Sharon, Lois & Bram and many other childhood favourites.  We sang those songs over and over again, I'm pretty sure I was singing them in my sleep. 

Along came Jillian.  When Jillian was born Kyle was 3.5.  So he was still into children's music.  As Jillian got older we moved into some popular music so her preschool years were spent listening to a mix of classic children's songs along with some High School Musical and other modern favourites thrown in the mix.  I even started listening to *gasp* my music on the radio the odd time.

And now we have Leah.  I don't believe she has ever heard our Sharon, Lois & Bram cd.  In fact, I couldn't even tell you where it is!  We still have a few children's cds which get played...Snacktime by Barenaked Ladies is still played once in a while, there's a Raffi cd we all like and Jillian has a few Disney Princess cds which get a lot of play.  And we all still enjoy a little HSM3 once in a while.  But for the most part our driving time is spent listening to the radio, or the mixed cd I made from my ipod list (all current music which is free from bad language...there's quite a few songs which I consider inappropriate for my 9 and 5 year olds to repeat). 

I hadn't really thought about all this until yesterday.  Leah and I were on our way to her parent and tot gymnastics class.  I had the mixed CD playing and we were listening to 'I'm Gonna Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight' by U2.  Leah commented that she likes this song and bopped along like she usually does.  She's even really good at remembering the chorus and singing along by the end of a song.  When it was finished Leah had a request...'Wavin' Flag' by K'naan.  Yes, my 2 year old is well versed in current music and has personal favourites.  There isn't an itsy bitsy spider in the bunch!

So yeah, there's a big difference between the first and third kids.

painting

I've been meaning to repaint the living room/office for quite some time.  The dark red has been on the walls for many years and I was definately ready for something lighter and neutral.

I finally took the room apart and prepped the walls for painting.  I managed to get some edging done while the kids were eating dinner (Jeff was out of town on business).  And afterwards they wanted to get in on the action so I let them each paint their initial onto the wall.  Later, once they were in bed I was able to finish including a second coat.  The room is almost all put back together now, I'm just waiting to find the right artwork to hang over the couch.

Earings are now on Jillian's Chistmas list

Jillian has been asking for a few months now about getting her ears pierced.  I finally talked to a friend (who works at a salon) and made an appt to take Jillian there last Friday evening.  There was some second thoughts at one point, but in the end Jillian was determined to come home with pierced ears. 

Jillian picked these for her first earings, but is anxiously awaiting Christmas when she is allowed to change them (and when she hopes to find some fancy new earings under the tree on Christmas morning!).