Just clearing out pics off my computer and realized I never shared any pics I did of Cohen (My new little nephew) and his fam becasiue tehy were using tehm for Chritsmas gifts and didn't want people to see them yet. ANyhow, here's a few...

My dearest Monica is up for an award at the Shai awards - please take a minute and vote for her!! Here's part of a note from her...

 

We have been blessed with family and friends who love to spoil us. So much so that we continually have to clear out space for the new toys (especially after CHristmas!) and clothes. I usually do this behind the girls backs - Madi gets so attached to everything. A toy she hasn't touched in years is suddenly her favorite when faced with me giving it away.

If there is one big lesson I have learned in the last couple months - it's be up front with the kids. I learned this first with drinking water. I use to think "my kids won't drink water". Then whenever they came home from Carolynn's she'd tell me they drank water no problem for her. Huh? So I stopped trying to sneak it in their cups and just told them - you need to drink some water, you can have juice later. And they accepted that answer and rank their water. Wow.

Back to the toys.

So, I said to Madi that I Wanted her to go through her toys and make two piles. One to keep and one to give away to other kids who don't have a lot of toys and would like some. I told her I was going downstairs and would come back up in a minute to check on her.

I could hear her hollering "mom! mom! come and look!"

Oh no. What did she do?

I was shocked that what it was she wanted to show me was that the bigger pile was for toys to give away. She was so proud of herself. There were some toys in there I had a hard time to give away (they're so cute, or fairly new, or in good shape, or expensive, or.....) - but she was generously giving away her best.

I have so much to learn from her. Today I was working on de-cluttering the kitchen (we're making an office upstairs so doing a lot of rearranging). We have three sets of dishes. So, decided I should give at least one set away. But it makes me sad - we picked these out on our wedding registry and can never replace them (because there's no more Eaton's) and even though colours have changed I still feel emotionally attached and even though they're chipped and some are broken and... and.... and....

I need to learn about giving things away joyfully from my girl.

My baby is growing up. Today was Madi's first time having school friends over. She could not have been more excited! I think that might have been part of the reason why she asked to go to bed last night at 5:30pm - she knew that there was "one more sleep" until Elayna and Ryley came over. She woke up and I asked her what she wanted to wear - she almost always says "My team shirt" (she has a couple of sporty looking t-shirts she loves) but today she responded "A ball gown." I dug one of out the dress up box and she put on her high heels and tiara. I said maybe her friends would want to play dress up too - she scolded me saying she wasn't playing dress-up, these were her clothes. I guess new friends deserve the very best in Madi attire. Anyhow, they had a great visit - spent most of the morning just chasing each other all through the house screaming. I was really impressed with the parenting and consistency of Elayna's mom (she brought both kids over). The kids were polite and Ryley was SO good with Eden.

A fun morning! Elayna asked me if I had a camera and if I could take a picture of them. I knew I liked this girl!



Then Ryley said "don't forget Eden!" - another way to get straight to my heart.



I have to say I am entirely enjoying Madi being on school break. And so is she. I don't think she has ever played so well at home. Just happy to be home and hanging out. I'm really going to miss her next week when she goes back.

This is one of the funniest books ever - our new favourite! Eden got it for Christmas - a dinosaur book about the potty? Could life get better? It's hilarious and we're all singing "potty poo poo wee wee" now or saying "That's rude!" If you'r eover - take a look through this book. You'll laugh.

Eden also got underwear for Christmas (both book and undies from my mom - think she's hinting at something). As soon as she opened it she yelled "Underwear!" and stood up, puller her nightie up and said "diaper off!" and then pulled her diaper off. She loves wearing undies and sitting on the potty but won't "do" anything. Anyhow, when we get back from vacation I'll get serious about it.

I found myself with real mixed emotions listening to the news about Sadaam's death this weekend. Obviously, this man was out of control and at fault for the death of hundreds (thousands even) of innocent people. But for people to celebrate the death of him still seems wrong. They talked about people dancing around his body and celebrating. I don't know what I think he did deserve or have any alternate suggestions - but this just seemed really wrong. Even having the play by play leading up to his hanging.

Not sure what I think but I find the whole thing a bit disturbing.

(Random Photos from the holidays in no particular order...)

Dec. 30 - Eden has been sick for a few days now and is so sad. She has a couple times now gone and crawled into bed or on the couch and put herself down for a nap. She looked so sweet here - made up for the three days straight of crying demon child.


Dec. 24 - The 4 girls watching TV - I'm standing in front of the TV to get them looking at me - that's why they're scowling.


Dec. 24 - I think this may be the first time my dad held Cohen



Dec. 24 - Auntie Marcie reading to Eden


Dec. 24 - the girls in their new Christmas PJ's I made. Madi said she wanted a nightgown this year.


Dec. 24 - Madi and Eden in front of the fireplace Madi made for Santa to come down...



Dec. 24 - the nerd herd reading yet another book - Christmas Eve they opened their new PJ's and some Christmas stories


Dec. 24 - someone is excited baout Santa coming...


Dec. 25 - stockings!


Dec. 25 - more stories...






Dec. 23 - the kids at the Bucek-Martin-Jefferson Christmas party



and in their new PJ's Cherie made (it's  a tradition I love)


and our family and girls....






Dec. 25 - Madi opening her new dinosaur that she has dragged everywehre since. She sleeps with it, it sits at the dinner table with us, etc. It's fun when a toy works out and is just what they wanted!


Dec. 28 - the Hall family get together - it had been WAY too long since I had seen my aunts, uncles and cousins. Sad that my one cousin Curtis has been married 4 years and this was the first time I met his wife. It was good to catch up with people briefly. (Mark is absent as he was with Eden who was sick)


Dec. 26 - didn't get many pics at the farm (amidst the chaos) but here is one of Eden with Papa.

Well, it's been a packed few days but good. Tonight we got home from the farm around 10pm and it felt so good just to be home. I've just been vegging and goofing off - nice.

I think my favourite moment of the holidays was when Madi told the nativity story on Christmas Day to us using her Little People nativity set. I didn't realize how much she has retained until she started saying things like "and the angel of the Lord said 'Behold I bring you good news for all people'" or "and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger - the baby that changed that world" and so on. Absolutely beautiful. Glad we videotaped it. Later that night she told the story again to her dinosaurs.

It was our first year staying home Christmas Day and it was wonderful. I am a homebody and loved being able to take our time opening gifts and not have to rush the girls out the door. My parents and sister slept over this year and so they were here with us for the first time. We did stockings, then they played for a while and we all sat down to a nice breakfast and tidied up and then we opened gifts. The girls would open one - and then go off and play with it or ask someone to read them the book they just opened. They'd go up to their room and play and then we adults would have a chance to open our gifts. We'd take a break and go re-fuel and get drinks and such and then come back and open. Took us to lunch time.  Then the girls played while we got dinner ready. Did our big meal at lunch - then we had all day to hang out. Went for a walk, played Scrabble, played some of the girl's new games, etc.

Today we went up  to the farm. The farm is always crazy - loads of people and dogs. Good to see people though and Madi had a blast with all her many, many cousins. They remembered my birthday and had a cake for me.

The girls got more than spoiled. Madi asked for dinosaurs this year - only thing she asked for - and so our big gift to her was a big dinosaur. She has slept with it and it has sat on a chair at the table with us for every meal. It's our newest member of the family. SO nice when they actually like what you got them - kids can be so unpredictable! Eden is happy with her Leap Frog imagination desk and her small dinosaurs. Today at the farm they got some fun gifts - but it was so busy they really didn't get a chance to even look at them so that will be fun for them tomorrow. They can just play with all their new goodies.

Today is my birthday and Mark had taken the girls to the dollar store to pick out gifts. They got me Qtips and makeup. Lots of makeup. Very cute. Mark got me the most comfiest PJ's, housecoat and slippers ever. Sweet.

I think I have eaten worse than I ever have and have likely gained all my 20lbs back. I am suppose to be doing TaeBo right now but I just was enjoying searching for vacations and such so much I never got to it. Mark and I have vacation booked Jan. 13-20 to go somewhere hot to celebrate our anniversary - and now that it's getting closer we're starting to look more seriously at booking something. Should be fun!!

Why do I do this to myself - look at mls.ca WAY out of our price range and fall in love with a home that is perfect for my studio? Now I keep dreaming about a home I could never afford. Why do I do this?

Fun to dream....