Christmas Eve Family Outing

Our Christmas Eve annual outing this year was a trip to the new aquarium in Toronto.  Lots of fun had by all!! And then we went for our usual pub lunch. 

Sharks swim right over your head.  The glass was so clean it didn't even look like there was any glass at all.  And I was worried it was going to break...

Divers in elf costumes

Cute!

Paige's school concert

Paige convinced me that all of the other kids in her class had reindeer antlers for the concert (which wasn't true), but I suggested we put reindeer facepaint on as a compromise.

It was cute and luckily short, and we had to leave after her song so that the next group of parents could file in.  She was also in choir so we had to come back to the school an hour later to see that performance.  A lot of coming and going, but glad Mike was able to stay home to see the performance as well.

Snow days

A huge snowfall came about 2 weeks before Christmas, but it couldn't have been better timing.  Mike and I were sick...mike with the flu, and me with pink eye and bad cough.  We made the girls go outside to burn off energy while we stayed in,  warm and sickly like. 

Even though mike was fevery, he went to canadian tire and bought a snow blower.  It was either that or shovelling and he didn't want to shovel. 

Paige's reading.

Paige's reading continues to be ridiculous.  She now reads long chapter books in her bed at night.  Her current favourites are "Thea Stilton" books.  I picked some out at Christmas for her, and now she has taken one out of the school library.  Since her reading is so good she's on a high level of school books.  There is an online reading portion that she can complete at her own time.  She was logged in one day completing the assignment and I popped my head in the room to see this:

So now the books at her reading level are somewhat beyond her age level.  I am seriously surprised that this book didn't give her nightmares.  Well at least it hasn't yet.  There was another book at the last level that was about Barack Obama.  Not sure this would interest her at this point.

Christmas house

We got the house ready for Christmas on the last weekend of November.  It was weird to put up things in a new house and try to figure out where everything should go.  Also in the new house the kitchen is fully separate and had no decorations. And we had to move the armchair around to put the tree in the room.  Although the family room is huge, the couch is also huge and doesn't allow for a tree in many places in that room. 

A warm and cozy room...no stocking for Henry yet. 

Ella, our new Elf on the Shelf

Full time crawler!

Henry is crawling like CRAZY!! He started off slowly, of course, then he figured out how to crawl and then sit up.  Now he is pulling himself up on things, and fully crawling all over the house very quickly.  It's definitely more tiring for Mike and I, but at the same time, he wears himself out more and has better naps.  He does get into trouble though, and we need to pull him away from stairs a lot, as well as lamps and cords.

He's so happy crawling around and exploring.  It's hard for him to sit with any toys for any length of time.  I think that'll come when the crawling thing becomes old.  I'm glad we didn't buy many toys for Christmas.  The girls just love the crawling. They don't want him to grow up.

Grandma Val visit

At the beginning of December, Grandma Val came to visit while Mike was away in the Uk! Actually she arrived on a Wednesday and was at our house for a few days before he got  home.  So nice to have Grandma Val to come visit as well as help out...especially as Henry came down with croup.  We should have taken a picture of her with all 3 of the kids, but forgot! While she was here there were the normal things happening, school, etc., but we also managed to go to the craft show...well, the girls (Maura, Amanda, Val, and I), and Henry.  

Grandma Val and Henry at the craft show.  He was so good.  

Another couple of pics of Henry at the craft show:

Of course it was sad to say goodbye, to Grandma Val but we knew we'd see her in 2 months in Florida! Woohoo!!!

more randomness...

Buying greenery for Christmas planters...seems strange when you're wearing a t-shirt

Watching the first snow fall

First significant snowfall

Totally randoms..

First cereal 

Costumes at dance class

Paige's black eye after she smashed it on her bed 

New monogrammed stroller blanket handmade in burlington

Scouts new backpack.  She carries stuff in it to give her more exercise, as well as humiliate her and attempt to slow her down and stop chasing squirrels...

Paige's sick day from school--turns out she wasn't sick at all.  Oh well. 

enjoying the atmosphere of a toasty fire

Rose has been interested in learning letters.  She made a "P" out of her toys.