Christmas 2010

As I sit here late on boxing day I thought I'd type up some of the lovely details of the last couple of days. We have had 3 nights of great food and great family. At one point on Friday night, there were 3 conversations going on in different parts of our living room and kitchen. I wasn't really part of any of them, but I was so happy to be surrounded by so many people who get along so well. I felt so lucky and blessed in life. It's also been great to see the boys and there joy over Christmas. It's been nice to give gifts that they really like, it's also great to give gifts that other people really like. I got Darryl a new apple product (which has been good for me too) and Mom and Dad and Alexis some new dancing games. But most importantly we have been able to share lots of time together. Auntie Karen was here for a couple of days and the boys were so happy to have her around. She is one of those people who genuinely loves being around the kids. Here are some picture highlights.

Alexis with her Just Dance game

Grandma with the plate Nathan painted.
Pop with his bag of onions

Some of the mess after Christmas morning

Karen, Lucas and Nathan with their cake.

Nathan in his guitar sweatshirt
Darryl, Pop and Nathan putting together Lego.





We have also been working on potty training Nathan. He's 2 1/2 and showing the signs of readiness. With Lucas we waited until he was over 3, but I'd love to be done with diapers and becuase we are home with him for over a week I thought this would be a good opportunity. The first two days were hard. We were 1/6 and 2/6 for the first two days. But at the end of the second day we seemed to have a break through, which Darryl and I needed for our sanity. Days 3 and 4 now have been much better. Of course now that I'm writing this who knows what will happen for the rest of the week, but I feel like we are on the course of being diaper free.

Well I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas. I hope Santa, or someone was good to you. But most of all I hope you got to have some good times with some good people.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Christmas Time

Work is winding down and our Christmas holidays are coming up. Not that we are going anywhere, but I'm looking forward to some fun quality time with my boys (all three of them) and my sister and all my big family. Even with all the work we have been keeping up with the "non chocolate" advent calendar. Here are some cute highlights:

Cookie making


Campout around the Christmas tree

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Start of December

I'm traditionally known as quite the bahumbug about Christmas. I find it to be stressful and all about the gifts. I much prefer Thanksgiving, where you have the food and family and greatful-ness without the gifts. But as the boys get older I really enjoy Christmas. It's great to watch them get so excited about Santa and lights and cookies and the fun things we do. They make it magical again.

One of the fun things is the "non chocolate" advent calendar (as my sister nicknamed it) The boys do have a chocolate advent calendar but we also have an activity that we do everyday.
Sometimes it's something bigger, like skating and sometimes it's something smaller like have breakfast for dinner. It's fun to see the kids excitement over what we do each day.
They helped to put up the Christmas tree (Saturday's activity) and we loved singing one of the bedtime stories.

We have been all a bit under the weather and I have a major review at work next week, so we are all looking forward to a couple of weeks of enjoyable family time.



Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Party Weekend

What a really fun weekend we had. On Saturday we went to my cousins wedding. We took the boys with us and it was cool to see there excitement. They saw a princess, went shopping downtown and danced their hearts out. I couldn't believe how much they danced. And they were so good at it. Kudos to Lesley for all their great dance moves. We went with Auntie Karen too, who is so so fun. Sometimes I forget how fun she is, but she makes those boys laugh with no props just sitting at a table.




It was great to see my uncle as a grandparent too. The couple who got married had a little 2 year old, who is my uncle's grandaughter.



Today we had my work kids Christmas party. It was so fun for Nathan. He had a sword balloon made and sat on Santa's lap.



Then this evening we had my mom's birthday dinner. I made lasagna and it was delicious and mom brought a fantastic bottle of red wine from 2003. Then I made a fantastic birthday cake. The kind of cake that is so good, you don't need icing for it. And it was super easy. Here's the recipe:
1 cake mix
1 pudding mix (instant)
1 cup of apple sauce or oil
1 cup of sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup of warm water
2 cups of chocolate chips

Mix all of it together and bake at 350 for 50-55min.

See, super easy and I made it fairly healthy (as healthy as cake can be) with fat free sour cream and apple sauce rather then oil.
Love Lucas's face in this one. Getting ready to blow out the candles. Just had to post it.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Christmas Cards

Edited to Add: Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

For the last couple of years we have been using Shutterfly for our Christmas cards. Although one year I wasn't really on the ball so it ended up being a Happy New Year card rather then a Christmas card. I really like the Shutterfly cards becuase the are so unique. Rather then one picture on top and a greeting below, like most photo companies do, Shutterfly has so many designs that you can have a collage of photos. I love that people get to see lots of things we have been upto rather then just one photo. Last year I include a Halloween picture of the boys and a picture of mom and I doing our triathalon. There designs are also so beautiful. They use beautiful colors and beautiful sayings. Here are some of my favourites from this year.

If you are looking for a creative and beautiful Christmas card this year, I would highly recommend Shutterfly

TIll Tomorrow

Jenn

ZooLights and Bowling

Darryl, myself and the kids all had the last week off to hang out and enjoy each other. I love my family and it is great to spend some time with them. We got out of our early morning and early nights routine. We stayed up and enjoyed each others company and slept in late in the mornings. That made this morning hard as it was the first morning back to regular routine, but I enjoyed the last week with my family. We went swimming, Zoolights, bowling, out for lupper and lots of fun playing with new toys. On a bad note my computer has taken another turn for the worst. I think I may need to order a new one. So if blog posts are not a frequent as normal it's becuase I have to use it in the kitchen and not at the couch. Here are some picture highlights of some things from last week.
Lucas and his friends bowling.
A great action shot of Lucas bowling.

Alexis and I warming up in some tropical plants at Zoo lights.

Nathan, Lucas and Lauren playing with some huge balls at zoo lights.

Walking through a lighted tunnel at zoo lights.


A lighted tiger/jaguar at night.


Warming up with hot chocolate at Zoo lights. It was a very very cold night.

Till Tomorrow.

Jenn

Christmas 2009

Well it's 11pm on boxing day and another Christmas has come and gone. Lucas is sleeping here beside me while Darryl is downstairs playing one of his presents. As most people know about me I don't really like Christmas. I find it to be a lot of work and pressure for the rewards, but I was determined to make the month fun and enjoy Christmas this year. The kids are at a fun age and really enjoy all the aspects of Christmas. We did the countdown calendar with all different activites. Lucas really enjoyed most of it and even though it is done he will still often ask what our activity for today is. Some of the best ones were the simplier ones, like make snowflakes or have breakfast for dinner. I think we'll do it again next year.

Lucas did get quite sick on Christmas Eve day. He threw up and slept most of it, so we cancelled our original plans and stayed home and ate pizza. We wrote a thank you letter to Santa (what a nice kid I have) put out the cookies and milk and went to bed. Darryl and I went to bed early as well as we had no idea what time we'd be up in the morning and we had been up late the night before wrapping presents.

Christmas morning came, the boys were up at 7ish and were so excited to see the presents from Santa. Grandma, Pop and Auntie Lexie came over with breakfast and we spent the rest of the morning opening presents. We did some videoconferencing with Darryl's family (who LOVE christmas) and watched the boys open more presents. Then came the playing and the cooking. Later we had our friends and more family over for good food (Darryl is such an excellent cook) and fun. It make me so happy to see our house full of people who all get along and have a fun time with each other. We then played Hedbanz and laughed at the boys who thought everything was a wig. And laughed at each other who found the game harder when it was their turn and the game wasn't all that easy.

Today was filled with sister shopping, tobogganing and more great food.

Although I don't like all the hoopla of Christmas I do enjoy the being together and excuses for that are just fine with me.

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads the blog. I hope yours was also filled with people and good food and fun.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Holidays

Holidays are going pretty well here. This is what is done:

• Tree up, decorated
• Cookies, many different varieties made: sugar, chocolate chip, Darryl's favorite cherry balls, bad fudge
• Most presents bought
• Presents sent to Ontario
• Cards made, pictures bought, cards sent out
• Stockings hung by the chimney with care. Decorating done
• Christmas music bought and on a playlist
  

Still to do:

• Get Nathan a stocking
• Wrap presents
• Buy stuff for Christmas dinner
• Plan videoconferencing with Ontario family
• Celebrate Alexis's birthday
  

I think that's it.... anything I'm missing Darryl?

How are your Christmas festivites coming along?

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Well if the rest of the month is going to be as fun as tonight I am going to love the Christmas season.

Tonight we did puppet shows as our bedtime stories. It was hilarious. I was the tiger and Lucas was the salamander. I was trying to find something they had in common, what they eat, where they live, what they do for fun, Lucas was not getting my drift, so finally I suggested "do you drink water". No he/the salamander replied. Which made me laugh to no end. The end of play then ended with the Tiger and the salamander not being friends.





Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I had a lovely, stress free Christmas. For those of you who have been reading for a while, or know me personally, know that I am kind of bah-hum-bug about Christmas. But we spent Christmas this year in my favorite way, on a holiday. I love it when Christmas is about family and friends and spending time together and that's what our Christmas was about. It's not about what you got but about your favorite memories. Plus it's a bonus to add a bunch of sunshine and swimming as well.

Hope you all enjoyed your holidays

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Kindness: The Spirit of the Season

One of the things about breaking my foot is that I have seen kindness in family, friends and strangers. To me this is what the holiday season is about. Not the gluttony of gifts or the pressure to get the right things (which I avoid this year by only buying gifts for 3 people).

So thank you to everyone who helped.

Darryl you were amazing. Never once did you complain about having to take Emma out almost every day or having to bring me tea or going to get Nathan after nap time.

Mom, thanks for taking me to all my appoitments and bringing groceries or other little things we needed to get. Thanks for listening when I was going stir crazy or taking me shopping, even though you had to push me in a wheelchair.

Lynda, thanks for coming out. Your visit was the best gift for us.

To Lesley, Kim and Andrea. I am grateful to all of you. You were never required to step up but you all did. I hold you all in the highest regard. Thanks for driving me around and making sure I didn't go crazy in this house. Also thanks for providing me with some adult conversation whether through e-mail or facebooking.

To strangers, thanks for holding open doors when you saw me coming or helping load groceries.

People could run away or complain about having to help, but no one did. This is the spirit of the season we are in. And although this broken foot totally sucked it does help renew the faith in people.

Thanks to everyone

Jenn

Some of the Pictures and Highlights from Christmas

Today was my first day back at work after two weeks off. I did love my time off with my boy and family, which I'll detail below. But I was happy to go back and be around adults again today. I do really like my job and although I was running around like crazy it was nice to have that mental stimulation again.

But the holidays were great. They were a good balance of spending time with the big family and friends. We had my Oma and Opa come and stay with us. They were great, a good mix of not feeling obligated to entertain them but having good conversations and fun times. Christmas was fun with my Mom, Dad, sister and Auntie Karen. Lucas was great, he's at an age where you don't have to spend a lot and he spends lots of time with each present apprciating it before moving to the next. We did enjoy good food as well. Cinnamon buns for breakfast and turkey for dinner. I do love Christmas.







The days between Christmas and New Years, were a little less busy. Lucas did get an eye infection. We met my sisters boyfriend, who is very nice and spent some good time with her.

New Years Eve was good too. We had lots of people here and it was interesting to see how the new house was good for entertaining. I was crazy enough to not take any pictures.

In the week after Lucas and I went swimming and to the zoo. It was fun to spend good time with Lucas especially since that baby will be here before we know it. We exchanged some toys at the toys store and for everything he was so well behaved. He loved the swimming. He loves the zoo too, but we haven't been swimming in a while so I think he really loved that.

Like I said I'm happy to be back at work, but loved my holiday.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was great. It's nice that Lucas is at an age that he really enjoyed it. I love giving gifts and this year I know I gave a couple of great ones. In the summer we are lucky to spend lots of time with my Oma and Opa, therefore I think I know them pretty well. Early on Christmas Eve Opa was telling stories about how much he loved The Vinyl Cafe. Later that evening when he opened his present it was a book of stories about the Vinyl Cafe. He delve into that book as soon as he could. It's so nice to give someone a present they love.

I also got Darryl an ipod touch and he had the same reaction. I knew he would love it, but he couldn't wait until all the gifts were open and he could go play with it. I also got a Matchbox Pop Up Farm for Lucas which diverted his attention from playing the elf and giving gifts to playing with the farm and the Deere tractor it came with.

I hope your gift giving was as enjoyable as mine.

Merry Christmas

Jenn

Favorite Christmas Carols and Traditions

Here are my top Christmas Carols:

1. Christmas Song: Dave Matthews Band
2. Jingle Bells: Barenaked Ladies
3. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer: Jack Johnson (just found it this year)
4. Song for a Winter's Night: Sarah McLachlan
5. Mary's Boy Child: Boney M
6. Winter Wonderland: Hellogoodbye (another I found this year)
7. 12 Days of Christmas: John Denver and the Muppets (especially Miss Piggy)

And some of our favorite Christmas Traditions:

• Mom and Dad's creative/gag gifts.

• We've started Cinnamon Buns on Christmas morning (I think this year will also have fruit and yougourt)
• Chocolate letters, oranges and life savers in the stockings
• Great vacations we've had over the Christmas holidays.
  
• Each person opening a gift, while everyone else pays attention to it

Darryl, Mom, Dad, Alexis, anything I'm forgetting?

Anyone, what are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Merry Christmas to Me!

On Friday my Christmas present was installed. I love it. I can skip through commercials, watch Y&R at 9:30 at night if I need too. Especially with the writers strike. Now Lucas can watch Diego whenever he'd like. Here is the beautiful thing....

Tiger Butter Recipe

1 pound of white chocolate melted ( I use the microwave) with 1/2 c. of peanut butter. Pour it in a 9x11 container lined with wax paper. Melt one package of chocolate ( I like dark) and pour in lines over the top of it. And then run a knife through it.

It's delicious.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Peaceful

It's funny how when people who you are close to are away how you feel some sense of peace when they are close to you. I even feel a greater sense of peace when my sister is in Calgary, although that only happens a couple of weeks a year. My husband and son are back home and I am feeling much more peaceful about it. Although the day with Lucas was spent inside playing and no real adventures he is having a nice nap and we had a blast. Just doing kid stuff. Peace is about family, I'm glad to have mine home.





Jenn

Christmas Shopping

Today I got the majority of my Christmas shopping done. Even some stocking stuffers. I do love giving presents so enjoying looking for good presents for everyone. The other part that was good today was it was a Thursday and so the malls and other stores weren't so bad.

I generally don't buy too much for Lucas for Christmas. Santa will bring him a couple of gifts, but everyone else buys him stuff, so I save my spending for kids who need it or other times of the year for Lucas. I do seem to give him gifts most of the year, so I don't really worry about Christmas. The other thing is everything goes on sale after Christmas so I like to wait till then. Let's make Christmas about trees and lights, music and family, good food and cookies. Not presents.

It was a funny experience for me today. I started at Toys R Us and was more concerned about getting a good deal then getting "stuff" whereas by the end I was buying whatever I could find. But I do feel like I got alot of gifts people will really like. Plus I'll make everyone turkey, so they can't complain about that. =)

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

A Great Weekend

There are certian times of the year that each weekend is busy. Usually in the late spring, early summer when there are lots of BBQ's and garage sales. Next is this time of year when there are Christmas parties and cookie exchanges. I do enjoy both of these times of year becuase it provides balance for the weekends in Feburary when there is nothing to do... Here are some picture highlights of our adventerous weekend.

On Saturday was Lucas's friend Joey's birthday party. Both Lucas and I really enjoyed it becuase Petland came and brought lots of animals with them. Kittens and puppies, bunnies and guinea pigs, lizards and a bird were all for the kids to interact with. Lucas and I both love animals so we enjoyed holding all of them (except the bird, we were not to big on the bird)

Here we are with the Gecko



And with the Bunny. Thanks to Aaron and Lesley for the pictures, I almost look skinny in this picture. =)


Today one of my three jobs was holding a children's christmas party. I though it would be fun for us to go and see what they did, plus we got to see Santa. Which as you can tell by the pictures Lucas is not too happy about. Although it's not as bad as the picture of Alexis and I screaming on Santa's knee. Which we should scan in....



The bonus of the party was there was a huge bouncer that Lucas loved jumping in and going down a very cushy slide. Plus he scored a free gift from Santa as well.

All in all a fun action packed weekend. Hope everyone else's was the same.

Jenn

Happy Holidays

Well Darryl, Lucas and I got back from Florida last night so I thought I would post a long entry today. I have missed reading everyones blog and will be sure to post a new years blog tommorrow about the summary of this year and hopes for the next year.

Florida was a lots of fun. It's great to not have to wear a coat and have my mother around to help with the child and makes me dinners. =) The first day we were there we enjoyed the sunshine and the pool and did some shopping in the afternoon. I got some amazing deals but I'll include it in a later post along with pictures. Most days were spent this way although we did spend a couple of days at Disney as well.



Here are some of the most memorable moments:

It was so great to a full week with Darryl and Lucas. One of my favorite memories from the trip was one evening Lucas was being fussy after his bath and Darryl and I were trying to get him dressed. Lucas was sitting in my lap and Darryl was trying to get him dressed. To calm him down we were both singing You Are My Sunshine. I remember thinking how much I love my husband and what a great father he was. Also how much that little kid is loved. I tear up now just thinking about us. It was defintly one of those time you try to consciously commit to memory because you never want to forget it.

Lucas really got to know and love his Auntie Lexie on the trip. She would often ride in the back seat with him and keep him entertained. She would make a variety of funny noises and he would find one of them funny and then she would go with that over and over again until he was laughing so hard. I think Alexis got to appriciate all the fun things that a toddler can be. And Lucas got to experience all the fun things an Aunt can be.




We did go to MGM studios for a day and they have lots of "characters" that come out to greet the kids. Lucas's was the most pleased with Lightening McQueen and Mater. Who came out as really cars. He was having trouble understanding why he couldn't just go up and grab them like he can go up and grab his toys. This was probably the highlight of his trip if he could remember it...... We did get a chance to latch onto Mater. Going to the parks was exhausting for Lucas. In the late afternoon we went to watch Beauty and the Beast- the live on stage show. Lucas enjoyed most of it but was sure to fall asleep at the loudest most violent part when Gaston is getting ready to "Kill the Beast"








I think those were probably the highlights, although I'd love to hear Mom, Dad, Alexis and Auntie Karen's highlights as well. It was defineitly my favorite way to spend the holidays. No concerns about presents and making sure your house is clean, just spending time soaking up the sun.

Till Tommorrow.

Jenn

The Meaning of Christmas

These two animals do not like each other, the female cat rules the female dog. But amazingly they are close enough together to be in the same picture. Ahhhh the Christmas Spirit.

Till Tommorrow

Jenn