Amanda and James' wedding!

Pictures in a random order...

Paige's new dollhouse...

I love all the tiny furniture, and the fact that it's all wood...

 I love how the bunkbed has a slide, and the staircase has a slide down one side....things that kids would think was fun...

Christmas evening..

As soon as we got to Grandma and Grandpa's we tackled the present mound.  It was quite the undertaking.

 New sunglasses for when I get contacts...

 Apparently something exciting....

Lots of presents, food, and fun!
We brought the girls' jammies and toothbrushes so we could get them ready for bed before we left.  They were pretty tired when we left around 9.

Christmas morning...we wake up bright and early....

Paige attempted to get up at 5:58 in the morning with a very rough sounding "Merry Christmas, or Good Morning!" or something...I wasn't quite sure.  I went in her room and implied that it was the middle of the night after she said "presents....".  After that she fell asleep until 7:00. Phew.  I didn't sleep after that, but she definitely needed the energy to make it through the day, so I was glad she slept.  Rose was up around 6:45 so we occupied her in our room while we waited for Paige to get up. 

Santa got Paige a Zoku popsicle maker which makes popsicles in 7 minutes.  It also came with a recipe book with some really crazy popsicles.  Rose got a wooden xylophone. 

 After stockings we carried out our tradition of having french toast on "Challa" bread for breakfast.  The girls wanted pancakes but we have those every Sunday, so we needed to mix it up a bit.  Paige could barely wait for us to finish.

 Paige's main gift...a wooden dollhouse. 

I bought Mike a Canada Goose coat for Christmas. I knew he was interested in them last year so I decided to surprise him with one and got it from Hiker's Haven.  I picked the one I thought was best and oddly enough it was the one he had circled in the catalogue last year.  Same colour, size and everything. I had no clue! I am so excited it fits because they are very limited and we wouldn't have been able to exchange it or return. That was one of my favourite moments of the morning...relief in knowing that it was ok!

The girls were a bit overwhelmed with all the new toys and didn't even know where to begin.  I have to say though, the TV has been on a lot less lately.  So much to do around here. 

I am eager to try out the new Kobo book reader Mike bought me for Christmas, but I have to finish up another novel first.  I have downloaded a book onto the reader, but I guess I'll have to see what it's really like when I get into the book.  I just need to get a case so I can travel with it and not break it!

Mike also got me a really really really nice ring that I had casually mentioned a few months back.  I was pretty surprised. 

Aunt Leslie came over for a quick visit before Rose had her nap.  Luckily Rose really did nap and then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house at 3:15.

Annual Christmas Eve Family Fun...

This year we decided to go to the Science Center for our Christmas Eve excursion.  This year it was the whole gang...Grandma, Grandpa, Amanda, James, Greg, and us.  We first looked at the special Leonardo DaVinci exhibit before heading over to the kids  for a bit.

Here we are checking out the holograph fish that move when you walk.

 In the kids section...

 The soon to be newlyweds and Greg...

 Quick snack break...we all ate chips...

We also looked at the human body exhibit and the space exhibit.  We barely scratched the surface of the place.  In the human body exhibit there was a test you could do to see how far you stretched and how your flexibility should determine your age.  I think I was the most flexible, but got an age in my 60's...something was clearly wrong.  I think James basically didn't even get an age.  Anyway, Paige really really wanted to do it, so she tried too even though it wasn't possible for someone her size (you had to sit down and put your legs straight out and feet flat on a board in front of you and reach forward on a board where it measured the distance you could reach electronically.  As Paige was doing it we didn't realize Rose took off her shoes too because she wanted to try! Awww we had to let her try too.  Another funny thing was the age machine that was supposed to age you 50 years.  We tried it with Paige and the picture looked HORRIBLE!! Apparently Maura looked younger when she did it.  It says it works best with 8-12 year olds. 

After the Center, we all drove to Shoeless Joes for our usual Christmas Eve lunch of burgers, fries, sandwiches, and other pub-ish foods. 

I love this tradition.  Christmas Eve is always exciting, and this gives us something fun to do to occupy the day.  By the time we get home it's time to prep some dessert to bring to the Christmas dinner, eat some dinner, watch a little christmas eve show, prepare the cookies and milk, and then off to bed!

Paige was really hyperactive at bed this year.  "i'm so excited! I'm so excited!" she was saying.  Luckily she went to bed easily, but I read her an extra book and lied down with her and rubbed her back just to be sure!  She had decorated her own cookie for santa, and a boy from her class had handed out little bag of Reindeer food, so she dumped that on the driveway.  We waited till Rose was asleep to do the cookie...Kinda mean for Rose to see a yummy cookie and milk just sitting there without being able to eat it.



Advent Calendars...

The girls were both given an advent calendar this year by Grandma.  We had the same routine for the whole month where they were allowed to open one window a day after breakfast.  Fun to have chocolate after breakfast I think.  Rose quickly learned what it was all about and asked for "Ca-ender" after breakfast every day, and numerous other times throughout the day.

Here are the girls on the 24th opening the last window on the kinder surprise calendar...the big egg.

On the 25th after breakfast Rose said "Ca-ender" and pointed where it used to be and then said "Ca-ender...go?? And has asked a couple of other times since. 

Christmas Party





As Rose is the one enrolled in a preschool program with the City of Burlington this time around, Paige and I got to tag along to the Holiday party.  The staff weren't allowed to do anything openly Christmas-y this year, so there weren't as many crafts or activities as years past.  Rose was scared of the large Burlington bear mascot, and Paige was shy of her old preschool teachers, so we were a bit slow to warm up to the party. 

Take your kid to work day!

The real "Take your kid to work day" was early November and Mike planned on taking Paige, except he ended up having a meeting.  Last week she had a doctor's appointment in Mississauga in the morning, which is halfway to his work, so they decided to make up for the missed day.  She apparently had tons and tons of fun.  They went out for a pancake lunch, and had candy at Daddy's office.  A few people played with her at the office, and she had her toys and iPad.  The next day she said to Mike, "Hi work buddy!".  She talks about it all the time still. 

Getting ready for Christmas...

We have put up the tree, decorated a gingerbread house, wrapped most of the presents, and have daily advent calendars.  Well, the girls have advent calendars.  Rose doesn't get it though.  She wants it more than once a day and gets upset when she can't have it after every meal.  Also, she gets upset about the gingerbread house and wants to eat it.  She climbs up onto the table and picks pieces off.  Paige is a great help and stops Rose from opening up presents (she opened up 2 already).