Day 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas Break, my family and me...

spent the day at home - colouring and playing Wii!

(It was -17 today... can't play outside all the time!) :)

Day 10

On the tenth day of Christmas Break, I called up some old 'mates...

... and forced my children to suffer through two (wonderful) playdates!

What can I say? Today was all about MY NEEDS! Yay! In fairness, my kids were wonderful and they all had so much fun that they want to "play with those kids again" very soon. Phew! Today I called my girlfriend, Jenn, who I haven't seen in 3.5 years. She's just recently moved back to the city we both grew up in and so we arranged for a long overdue visit. Her children are 10 and 8 and I was worried that they'd find my younger ones annoying. But they were lovely children. Not at all recognizable as the preschoolers that I remember. They played very well with my kids and were very sweet. We met at a sled hill and then after everyone was suitably frozen, took our playdate to McDonald's and let the five kids run wild in the playland.

My two boys and Jenn's --- and someone's else's just for fun. Not a great photo, but the only one I managed with all three of them in it.Jenn's daughter taking mine under her wing. In my memory, they're about the same size. Now she's just a younger version of Jenn!

Connor's "road rash". Poor kid has terrible steering and accidently veered off the safe slope I sent him down on, and onto the one that older kids have fashioned a jump off of. He landed on the ice and scraped half of his face across the less than soft ice. That was his last solo run. After that he happily rode tandem with Kirstin and I on our runs.

After we said good-bye to Jenn and her not-so-little babies, we headed over to Tanya's house --- my old neighbour. After some initial shyness, the six children were playing together wonderfully. The last time we saw them was in August when they coincedentally camped at the same beach as us.
Five of the six... my kids were impressed with their extensive and "oh-so-cool" playmobile collection!

A fantastic dinner of chicken nuggest and sweet potato fries, courtesy of Tanya's husband. Mmm... such a treat!

And so, we got back home late, again, but tired and happy. The kids had a great time and can't wait to play with all the kids again. I reconnected with people I have not seen in far too long. Everyone benefitted from our impromptu trip into the city. I'm going to have to make more of ane effort to go to PG without a list of errands and shopping and relatives to visit, on occasion, because there's definitely something to be said for reconnecting with old girlfriends! :)

Day 9!

On the ninth day of Christmas my family and me... (how many grammar police have I offended by now?)

... celebrated Connor's birthday (early) !

My New Year's Baby turns 4 next Saturday. It's hard to believe that the past 6.5 years since I've become a Mom have gone SO fast! But they have. And today I just saw more evidence of that. We had a sledding party for Connor (early so that his cousins could join us before they leave town tomorrow) Mary, we waited for you but I guess you decided not to show up...

The children had a lot of fun and were much braver than they were this time last year. My normally timid 6 year-old amazed me by how brave he actually is (see the video of him sliding down "King Kong", as the kids have dubbed the hill). And my four year old is playing video games now! It's crazy. They've all grown up so fast.

A couple of videos that are kind of fun. The second one is of Alex and Connor teaching their cousin to play Wii. You can't tell, but the boys were laughing hysterically throughout.

Day 8

On the eighth day of Christmas break, my overtired, cranky kids and me...

... stayed home and wallowed in their post-Christmas misery. (Is it bedtime yet???)

Day 7

On the seventh day of Christmas Break, my family and me...

spent the day with Cory's side of the family tree! playing "Fits" with my in-laws

sledding with the cousins

trying to get everyone to cooperate for a family photo since we're all together. Notice it's only my three that aren't thrilled about being asked to pose. Well, and Great Grandma Flo, too...

Day 6

On the sixth day of Christmas break, the entire Martin family... had a lovely time celebrating with me!!

This Christmas my entire family spent the night at our house... my brothers, and my brother-in-law had flown in for the week so they all drove out yesterday. Cory's family drove up for supper and we had a lovely Christmas Eve celebration. After the Freemans left and the kids retired, Mom, Eric and I sneaked downstairs to assemble a dollhouse that would make the most avid IKEA fan faint at heart. However, the three of us were a fantastic team (much better than me and the hubby) and it was a lot of fun. We even tried to make it interesting... every time you swear, you have to chug your drink... but we were such a good team that there were few curses flying.

After a 2am bedtime, we gathered in the living room to shortly after 9am this morning. Yup! My kids let me sleep until 9!!! Best present ever! :)

We did stockings, then a light breakfast and then exchanged gifts until 1. Then we spent the afternoon playing board games and Wii, followed by way too much dinner!

Sadly, Eric and Vince are flying back to Ontario in the morning and Nathan's off to Victoria tomorrow too. But we're heading to PG to see Cory's family - and all of his siblings are in town this Christmas too, so we'll be doing it all over again tomorrow. Now that the kids are in bed and a load is running in the dishwasher, I'm torn between cracking open a new book or trying out that new Wii game with the hubby... or organizing my new scrapbook goodies and planning my next layout! :) So many choices, so little time...

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas break, my extended family... ... facebooked!

Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas break, my family and me... ...watched Tangled at the theatre (in 3D)!

Day 3

On the third day of Christmas break, my family and me...

... had dinner with the Martin family

or

...visited my brothers in P.G

or

...hung out with the brothers 1-2-3

or

...stuffed our faces on Mom's fantastic turkey!

Day 2!

On the second day of Christmas break, my middle son and me...

... made some Christmas treats that are really yummy!

Home for the holidays! Day 1...

On the first day of Christmas break, my family and me...
Decorated gingerbread with candy!

The Christmas Concert.

Poor kid got a little stage fright. He didn't crack a smile the whole time. Probably hated being in the front row. Anyway, we're very proud of you, Alex! Whether you sang all the words or not! :)

Midnight Visitors

As I was unloading a day's worth of shopping from my vehicle last night, I was treated to the rare sight of two moose (Mooses? Meese?) hanging out in my neighbours' yard. A couple of passersby advised me to get back in the house and even offered to help me unload the gifts from the van so I could get back into the house faster.

Well, thanks, gentlemen, I appreciate your concern for my welfare, I truly do. I have to get back into the house... so I can grab my camera! :)

Not the greatest photo, but the best I could do without walking right up to them and flashing my camera in their faces --- which my husband advised me not to do.

Go figure! Men never did understand what was truly a priority! :)

Hide 'n Seek - Part 2

Another strategy employed by my three (almost four) year old...

If the seeker is getting warm, try deflection. Try yelling out:

"I'm not in here... I'm somewhere else!"

This works better if you're a ventriloquist, but if you're playing with a two-year old, it's still worth a shot!