Christmas!

The much anticipated Christmas eve finally arrived. We spent the morning at my mom's work for a Christmas Party - odd day to have it I know, but it worked out perfect! Santa was really good to them, and all of the kids had a blast. We then spent the evening with my family which was a little sparse this year. In fact, it is the only year (besides Eric's Mission) that all of my siblings were not there, and we were down by 2. Skyler was about bouncing out of his skin with excitement, and I think Ethan was getting a little sad that in the gifts that Santa had given him so far (at the various Christmas Parties) none of them had been his beloved Nintendo ds that he so desperately wanted. He had no interest in opening presents, then the ds was opened and he still had no interest in opening presents and was just sad that he couldn't be playing with it now. It really was sad because when he woke up on boxing day he came downstairs and told me that he was ready to open his presents. Ryley had fun carrying presents around, but not a ton of interest in opening them, although she was thrilled with a baby and stroller that she was given. We did all of our gift exchanges with my family on Christmas Eve since we would be spending Christmas Day with Jordan's family. * My mom had a hard time when Christmas dinner came around and there was only 2 0f her 5 children there - she describes it as quiet.

Christmas morning we opened out stockings as soon as we woke up, and Skyler lined all of it's contents in a row. The kids got their Santa gift which Jordan built - I LOVE IT! The kids have already put it to good use as well. We went over to my inlaws and opened the remainder of our gifts, we went tobogganing, had Christmas dinner, and just really enjoyed time with family!

Gingerbread Houses

Jordan was gone for a week this month for work. I always hate it when he is gone. I don't sleep - I know it is totally in my head, but I check the doors a million times, I check the alarm a million times, and then I wake up randomly because I heard something. Then there is of course the horrible hours of 4-6pm, when my children chose to fight and scream, and I am trying to get dinner done, and if possible, the worst of all is after the kids are all in bed, and I am left to sit by myself. I do know that some people deal with this all of the time, and I feel for them, I really do - I have not had to get used to this thankfully Jordan does not travel often, but when he does - I DON"T LIKE IT. Anyways, Jocelyn and Jeff invited the kids and I over to make gingerbread houses, and it was soo nice to have someone to talk to in the evening, and have something for the kids to look forward to. I must say, we did make a pretty nice gingerbread house, but it didn't fare well on the drive home ;(Ryley was with us, but I chose not to document her quietly sitting on a chair eating a bag full of candy that I didn't think was open!

Hairstyles from The Grinch

so, this is how Ryley woke up from her nap - I kind of think that she looks like the Mayer in the Jim Carey version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Ethan!

This boy is soo loved, and always make certain that you know that He loves You, but he is also the one who has tried my ability to parent with love more than either of my other 2. He is now 3 1/2 years old, and doesn't eat. If you read back, you can find some of the drastic measures that were taken, but for now I am done fighting with him. He did go about a week this month where he was not able to stay awake through sitting at the table watching the rest of us eat dinner, and watching his food get cold before it is cleared away. It was soo funny to watch his little head bob night after night. Alas things have changed, and he is back to staying awake, and whining through dinner.

What a fun month!

So, I haven't posted in a month, and have a lot to catch up on, especially since it was December - a month filled with Christmas activities, fun, and lots of laughter. I pulled out all of the decorations, and the family grabbed up the Santa hats, which made frequent appearances throughout the month.


The first saturday we made the trip out to find the prefect tree, and we were super happy to be joined by Jordan's sister Jocelyn, and her family. Alise slept through it all, and Holli was a trooper for most of it.

Skyler had to do a 3-5 minute presentation at school about a tradition, and this is the one we chose, so we have lots of pictures because we had to document it and make a big poster to help him with his presentation. (which he did fantastic - I went in to help him, if he needed it, but he just kept on talking)

Skyler really loved it. Ethan had a good time, but made me drag him through the snow, and Ryley could not understand why every time we put her down she was up to her waist in snow.

Our trees always remind me of a Charlie Brown Christmas, but they make me smile all month long!

The Weather Broke

The weather finally broke on Thursday after unseasonably cold weather. The kids and I were going stir crazy, and it is funny how after -30 weather -10 feels balmy. I took the kids tobogganing and all of them LOVED it. Skyler has asked every day since to go. After I got Ethan to go down the first time he was on the sled every time after. Miss Ryley hates being held by her brothers, but if I was holding her on the way down she was happy as could be.


Then Skyler and Jordan made a snowman in our backyard, and they didn't even need a hat and mitts. If it weren't for the the headaches I would be Chinooks biggest fan.

Funny Kid

For some reason Ethan always finds this old sweat band, and loves wearing it around the house.

Then, once I had the camera out to catch a picture of that, Ryley followed me around the house saying cheese. I love these kids!

Happy Birthday Dad

My Dad celebrated his birthday last week, and I wanted to post a little about him. My dad is one of my best friends, he is a confidant and friend. I talk to my Mom daily, and my Dad almost as often. I know that I can always talk to him and he can help walk me through tough decisions. Jordan and I value his opinion, and have, on multiple occasions put off making decisions until we could talk to him first.

My dad was released from the hospital following a bone marrow transplant the day before I was married. At the time we were not certain that he would see me get married, and then came Skyler, my first child - a miracle that he could be there to meet my baby, and now he has been around for three children to join my family, and has a special relationship with all of them. My boys love to 'work' with grandpa, which I am sure is more for the treats then the time spent making a mess for my Dad to clean up.

Every year when his birthday comes I truly count my blessings that my dad is here with us, and a happy active part of our lives.

There are some great men in the world, and I think my dad is one of the best!

Randoms

I was looking through my camera today and there are just some random, pictures that I wanted to document for my family - they make ma smile.

Miss Ryley has dresses, and I mean she has a LOT of dresses! It is so fun dressing up little girls; this is something that I enjoy, my mom enjoys, my mother in law enjoys, and so does my brothers girlfriend. Isn't this dress cute!! Jame's girlfriend, Marly who we all adore has a fun time picking out cute clothes that she 'just has to get' Ryley.We are lacking in mature trees around our house, so there is not a lot a fall leaves to play in, so we raked an elderly neighbors leaves - this was the best day, and my kids LOVED it! It just feels so good doing something for someone else, although in this case, it was not a sacrifice at all - you should have seen how much fun my boys were having.
And this picture just makes me laugh, my mom was helping bundle up the kids last night and I looked over, and Ethan resembled and arctic nun, not sure that there are nuns in the arctic, but if there are, and they wear blue and orange instead of black and white then I think Ethan has the look nailed.Tonight when we were just finishing up dinner Jordan suggests that they build a fort, so off he goes with all of the kids while I clean up dinner, and they created a masterful fort to watch a movie and eat popcorn in. I Love so much that Jordan looks for fun things to do with the kids, and I know that the kids have a blast spending time with him.

Family is great, life would be pretty boring without it.

Family Photos 2010

My Sister in Law did it again. I love having a photographer in the family. We just went down to the ridge in Cranston, and the sun was setting. We took pictures until there was no light left. I love the color and how they capture my family this year, at this stage of life.

Funeral of Edgar Allan Poe

This year the theme for our Halloween Party was Edgar Allan Poe. He was a cryptic author, with a few well know pieces. We thought the theme could be more sophisticated and still sufficiently creepy. We decided to do a murder mystery for the activity, and searched the internet for a murder mystery written on Poe, but were unsuccesful, although in this search we learned a lot about the death of Poe, which coincidentally is quite suspicious. Jordan decided that he could write a murder mystery based on Poe. A little more research and he had a fantastic evening planned where all of the characters were actual people from the life of Edgar Allan Poe. This was planned with Bree again, so she concentrated on decor, while I did all of the food. The evening started out with 'wine' and cheese, we then served Prime Rib, mashed potatoes, carrotts, yorkshires, cauliflower and cheese sauce. Most of the murder mystery was played out throughout dinner, but we finished up with some black Pina Colada's squares and lots of different chocolates. Our decor had a definite bird theme to go along with Poe's "The Raven" Some of the guests put a lot of work into their costumes
some lucked out at Value Village, but regardless it was a fantastic night and we had a lot of fun.