Saturday, December 17th

It was a lovely day!  To begin, we got a surprise that a good friend and his children were coming up into the "Great White North" to cut a tree for the first time (truly, so much more fun than just picking one at the lot!)  These are friends we love but with our busy lives, we don't see each other anywhere near enough.  This was such a treat.  The only sad part was that the mommy of this wonderful family was working - we will just have to work harder to see her over the holidays!

The children were thrilled because we had a bit of snow.  Not enough for snowmen but certainly enough to make the odd angel.  Pk is in love with snow angels right now so this was her favourite time of the day.

 In the afternoon, we broke down and brought our tree in.  It's been in the garage for a week.  Dh and I really like to wait until just before Christmas but given that we work until the 23rd, I am not sure we will get to decorating before the big day if we wait.  It's a smaller tree than we usually get but so pretty!

 Dear friends had an open house last night.  The food and company were wonderful.  LB loved this little table and chair set my friend has.  I can't get over how grown up he is looking.  I'm missing my baby!

 One great thing about parties like this is that the kids were involved and M had even got a ridiculous amount of candy for gingerbread decorating.  The kids were in love.

 Lb has discovered a new kind of soother.

See you tomorrow!

Winter Bucket List

I was just having a look at my blog and realised that I still have my fall bucket list posted.  It's time to change that.  I'm trying to keep my list separate from Christmas since winter tends to be pretty bleak after Christmas passes.  Here we go:

-make special hot chocolate (and find some special H.C. recipes)
-make matching hats for the entire family (silly but fun)
-spend a day with all of us in our pyjamas
-take the dogs for a winter hike in the forest
-find at least three new comfort food recipes
-find a new author that I like reading
-build a snowman
-paint snow
-take the kids sledding
-have a games night with friends
-shovel snow as a family
-decorate for Valentine's Day
-cook a haggis for Robert Burns' Day
-order seed catalogues and plan to add at least two new plants to the garden this year
-repeat the Love challenge from Muthering Heights
-start a winter scrapbook for winter memories

That's a good start.  I may add more down the road.  It almost (but not quite) makes me look forward to winter.

I'd love any suggestions that you have!  I tend to find winter rather blah and would love to spark it up a bit.

Friday, December 16th

Sorry, no post yesterday.  It was school concerts and I couldn't post any photos thanks to lack of permission.  It was a crazy day yesterday.  Today is the aftermath - as Dh said, LB decided that he was going to re-enact the battle of Jericho and he was Joshua and I was the Philistines.  The screaming was so bad that we called friends to cancel our dinner together since we thought it would be a disaster.  Strangely, it stopped as quickly as it had begun and we ended up having a quiet evening together making the treats for Pk and Lb's friends at daycare.  I always make something and Pinterest is always full of great ideas.  This year, I am making these.  Of course, mine were a little meltier than the ones in the online recipe but I don't think the kids will complain.  Tomorrow I will get nice bags and Pk and I will make tags.
Have a lovely Friday night!

Wednesday, December 14th

Today I got to be mummy.  We had Pk's kindergarten concert (which they do in the day and I don't like that very much - not fair to working parents).  I arranged with her teacher to go and volunteer in the classroom afterwards since I was taking the day off, anyway.  I had so much fun.  I don't generally think kids are that cute but oh, my, the cuteness was breathetaking :-)

After the concert, the kids went back to the classroom for treats with the families and then when the parents rolled out, it went back to being a normal day.  I ended up helping to do a craft involving painting of hands and doing prints (torture, LOL, I hate doing crafts in my own classroom).  I love Pk's teacher - she is such a sweetie and is doing an amazing job.

 I took Pk out of school for lunch, something that I can never do.  We went to the local Chinese takeout place - in a town this size, there aren't many options, especially that can be successfully managed in an hour with a four year old.

 After school, we finished up Pk's Christmas treats for her school friends (don't you love the look of concentration) and then went off to get LB.

 He is very into applesauce at the moment and must have two spoons to eat it and after every mouthful does a satisfied sigh.  He's quite a character.

Tomorrow will be a long day - we have the primary open house tomorrow night at my school and my inlaws are coming to take care of the kids since Dh is running a musical at his school.  Getting up on Friday morning is going to be tough.

Tuesday, December 13th

What strange weather this winter, so far.  I don't mind that I am not driving to work in a snowstorm but I actually miss the prettiness of December snow.  It's weird to be getting Pk and LB dressed in rainboots and missing the snowpants (hooray!)

When we were leaving to go to work, I had a glimpse of Pk and couldn't believe how my baby girl has grown up.  When did this happen?

The sunrise this morning was really pretty on my way to work.

This evening was the first of the school concerts.  This was the junior/intermediate concert and I was singing with the teacher/student choir.  Daddy took Pk to piano lesson and so LB came with me.  We had a ball... the school hallway was great for running, the xylophone in my class was loads of fun and he even got to play with cars and sand in the kindergarten room!  When we went up to sing, he was in my arms the entire time.  Needless to say, he got lots of attention and was very proud of himself.

Tomorrow night will be the first of Dh's concerts and I will be home with the kids by myself.  I am taking the day off tomorrow - it's Pk's concert at school in the morning (it really annoys me that they do it in the day - talk about discriminating against working parents) and then will stay to volunteer in the class. I don't get to be very involved in her school because I am always at mine so I'm really looking forward to it.  See you tomorrow!

Monday, December 12th

There was nothing especially Christmas-y today, just a few moments that I thought worthy of capturing.

 Since she started school, Pk is exhausted on Monday and Wednesday evenings (and Fridays when she has been at school are ugly).  Frequently, she falls asleep on the couch (I love that she has the family frown when she is asleep).

 LB has learned to make himself very comfortable.  This was watching a bit of t.v. while I made dinner.  All he needs is a beer and a remote... he's all boy.

It's hard to walk the dogs in the evenings right now since it is dark so early.  This was around 5:15 when LB and I took the dogs to the field.  Notice the star in the sky on the left side of the photo.

I'm off to bed - it was a long day.

Friday, December 9th

I love poinsettias but pets really rule them out (although I have learned that while they will made an animal sick, they wouldn't actually poison one).  This morning, I arrived at work to a. seeing a friend I worked with years ago and hadn't seen in ages who was at my school for a meeting and b. a student with this poinsettia and a pair of snowflake earrings for me and 3.  a "wonderful teacher" ornament.   They are only little things but it really does make such a difference when you get that little treat once in a while.  I feel very lucky.