Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas.  This year we were able to enjoy the holidays with my Mom, Dad and brother.

We enjoyed Christmas morning cinnamon buns and turkey dinner.  

We enjoyed relaxing moments amidst the crazy chaos.

It was a memorable Christmas.

The 26th was my Mom's birthday.  We went for a family sleigh ride at Spring Lake Ranch.  

It was cold, but we were all bundled up.

 I am so thankful for this time I had to spend with my family.  It is a gift to be able to enjoy our time together and I look forward to doing this again.

Great Girl Getaway 2012

Caileigh, Mikayla and my Mom, all have December birthdays.  To celebrate, we went away overnight to a cabin.  I really wish I had taken a picture of the amount of stuff we had packed because you would have guessed we were going away for a week!

Despite the fact that we are all fighting miserable colds, we had a wonderful time.

We went for winter walks and went swimming.  We kept busy with a variety of different crafts and colouring projects.  We ate a variety of special treats and just enjoyed the peace and tranquility that comes from being away from it all.....namely, two lively and loud boys!  (I realized it was my first time overnight away from the boys.  They had a fabulous time doing "guy" stuff with Aiden and Sean.)

It was a really special experience to spend some time with my girls.  

We stopped at the lobby to warm ourselves and when I turned around, Mikayla had stripped off all her clothes and was sitting and reading a magazine.  That girl sure makes her self at home!

Happy 6th Birthday Caileigh

Caileigh is excited to be 6!

5 Things she wants to remember about being five are:

{In her own words}

1.  She liked learning about the body's senses.

2.  She likes playing with Mikayla.

3.  She loves to learn.

4.  She loves to swing on the swing.

5.  She likes being able to write her name in cursive.

I woke up just before 6 this morning.  I decided to go downstairs and have a coffee and this is what I found at the bottom of the stairs........Caileigh, who is never up early, sitting on the couch with a huge smile on her face, waiting to open her gifts.

On our children's birthday, they get to choose the meals for the day.  Caileigh choose chocolate sugar cereal for breakfast, toast with strawberry jam for lunch and ribs for dinner.

This morning after opening gifts, 

I walked into the dining room to see this........

I'm thinking the toy electric drill gives me two good guesses to who might have done it........

For weeks, Caileigh has been talking about having a castle cake for her birthday.  Just the other day she announced that she wanted a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with a horse instead.  I explained to her that we live too far away from Dairy Queen to get one, but that I would try to make her one instead.  Well, as Grandma drove through Cache Creek the other day, she stopped at the Dairy Queen to discover an ice cream cake with a horse on it!!  The store packaged it up in a big box full of ice and it arrived perfectly frozen.

She was very surprised and happy, especially since I had told her we were having canned pears for dessert:)

I really can't believe that Caileigh is 6, although technically she is still 5 for another 40mins or so:)

I look forward to the coming year to see what new things we discover together.  

Happy Birthday Bear!

We love you.

P.S.  I'm looking forward to our Birthday Get Away on Tuesday night.  Caileigh, Mikayla, Grandma and I are spending the night in a cabin to celebrate the three December birthdays!

The last few weeks have been really enjoyable.

We have finished up with formal school until the new year.  We've been busy baking, gift making, and playing in the fresh snow! (finally!!)

Thursday Grandma arrived just ahead of a major snowfall.  Her timing was perfect!

The kids enjoyed putting together a gingerbread train that Alex picked out at the store a few weeks ago.

The little guys absolutely loved getting to put the candy on the train.

Moments after I took this picture, the entire train fell apart.  The kids enjoyed sampling a bit.  I'm guessing it would have been pretty difficult to put this on display anyway, so it probably worked out best.

 Last night was our church's Christmas dinner.

The kid's sang a couple of songs.  

(You might notice Alex standing in the bottom left hand corner, waving up to Jordan who was on stage.)

We set up our Christmas tree today. 

 Later on, Jordan and I were sitting in the living room admiring it.  An ornament fell off the tree and Jordan, very seriously, shakes his head and says, "Allie did it."

Christmas Recital

Aiden and Caileigh had their Christmas piano recital Friday night.  I didn't think we were going to make it as Aiden had been up all night sick, but the teacher encouraged us to come if he felt up to it.  He was such a trooper!
 Sean also had his staff party the same night, but he managed to insure the old van for a day so that he could leave his party to come watch the kids play.  The recital was in a church so I kept the kids at the back in the nursery and this way we could watch the concert, without interrupting anyone.

The recital went well!  Aiden and Caileigh each played one song, as well as a duet.

Everyone enjoyed the goodies after!  The little guys were WIRED with sugar and it was quite the struggle to get them into bed.  Once I did, however, they were out in minutes!

For those grandparents out there.........here is a video of their duet.