Obligatory Holiday Recap Post COMMENCE

We've had a very busy holiday "break." It's never really a break from activity, rather a shift in location and schedule.

We started out by celebrating Rob's birthday. We got to visit in their home and eat some yummy food and play games.

Madeline is helping Daddy make crepes at the party. We had both savoury and sweet crepes and they all turned out really well. Ryan is the crepe master.

Rob & Olivia's house is lovely. Notice Broc and his perfect timing, blocking Rob's face. I wish I were better at photoshop to fix that up.

After cramming in some last minute shopping and trying to leave our house as clean as possible (I hate going away and coming home to a messy house), we headed out to Wetaskiwin on Christmas Eve.

We began the yearly traditions with bowling. It's always a fun time and I think we may have started a trend. It was busier this year than ever before.

We even got bowling shirts this year, courtesy of Jim.

Ryan, subtly flexing.

The manly men, off to fight a war, laser-style.

Claire loves the sounds of bowling and she did really well on her turns!

After our hours at the alley, we headed to my parents' house for a Chinese food dinner, reading the Christmas story and opening our annual Christmas Eve gift of PJs. There was less structure for the night this year, due to some people feeling under the weather, but it was nice to have a low-key evening together.

Enjoying the hot tub.

Grandma and one of Santa's Little Helpers. Mom got both the girls these little aprons and they're very cute!

Yay for pyjama pictures in front of the tree! Ryan got me the softest PJ pants in the world. THE WORLD, I tell you.

The night was a little rough. Madeline and I slept pretty well, but Ryan and Claire did not. I guess they were both too excited. :)

Despite the lack of sleep, Claire was very happy in the morning!

We all got spoiled, as usual.

Madeline and Claire both had a very "Princess-y" Christmas this year!

We got to spend time with both families which is always nice.

Auntie Angela is feeling much better and we're all glad!

We're so lucky to get two Christmases!

We spent a fun day out at Sheila's place for Boxing Day. It's a tradition we really love. I'm sure someone took pictures, but I completely forgot. Let's just say there was a lot of good food, family and visiting. The kids got along very well and had multitudes of tea parties all over the house, much to Uncle Don's chagrin.

All that happened in only our first week of holidays. There was much more to come.

Next came Natalie's birthday!

We had fun at Natalie and Travis' house, where we were introduced to the intoxicating game world of Kinect. Madeline and Broc were the pros!

Then it was Ryan's turn to get older. He turned 30 on December 30th.

While the boys went to a movie, I got to play with the girls and Cairo. It was a fun time. We had a "light party" in Claire's room, where we turned off all the lights and played with all her light-up toys.

The kids got along very well and Madeline really took Cairo under her wing. It was fun to watch. :)

Later that evening we had a Hawaiian party for Ryan. It was nice and cheesy, with fun decorations, Hawaiian name tags, leis and beach music. :)

Because we were so taken by the Kinect at the last birthday party, we had to go cash in some birthday money and gifts cards to get one of our own. It was a big hit at the party.

I found cool sparklers for the cake - 3 - 0.

We also used some Christmas money to cash in on a great deal for new appliances for the kitchen. They were supposed to arrive early on Ryan's birthday, but didn't end up coming until after 930pm! Luckily we had Travis and Natalie to help unpack and install everything.

Now we just need a new microwave to match. :)

Madeline was counting the magnets on the new fridge and she got all the way up to twenty. It's the first time she's done it without help so I asked her, "How do you count so high?!" She replied, "I just go on my tippy toes." :)

Our last round of festivities revolves around New Year's Eve. We spent a nice day out at my family's house, napping, watching movies, eating yummy food, playing games, going in the hot tub, enjoying the fireworks from the neighbours yard and counting down to 2011. It was fun. :)

I love holding Claire while she sleeps. It's pretty much the only time she stays still and you don't have to watch out for flying elbows...haha.

Madeline kept asking Grandma where the "pearls" were. It took a while to figure out she meant "curlers," the little foam ones that you roll up in your hair and then sleep in. She kept them in for about 15 minutes. That's almost a record for hair implements though, so we're making headway.

Dad and Claire enjoying some nice hugs.

Luckily Claire has a patient and talented Grandma and Aunty Natalie who cut her hair when it needs a serious detangling intervention. It usually only takes four people to tame the mane. It started out with Grandma having Claire in a leg lock of sorts, Mommy trying to hold Claire's torso still, Auntie Mel distracting her with balloons and Auntie Natalie doing the cutting in quick spurts. The next day, Grandma cleaned up the edges and styled it a bit. Here's her cute new look!

We had a lovely New Year's Day meal. Ryan was hard at work in the busy Apple Store so we missed him. :(

This picture is for Auntie Val. She gave Madeline a Rice Krispie baking set for Christmas and we have put it to great use. We had a lot of fun making these...and we used a lot of sprinkles. I guess those two things DO go hand in hand.

I can't believe it's back to "real life" tomorrow. Trudging through the snow to get to school, scheduled waking times, getting dressed before 10am, packing lunches, assignments, meetings, etc. etc. I'm sure we'd get sick of holidays after a while but it's sure hard to say goodbye to them sometimes.

Food Network Marathons

I love this time of year when the Food Network has all their marathons. It's a strange indulgence that I have. I love watching Iron Chef and Food Challenges and the Next Iron Chef and things like that. :)

Besides my watching too much tv, we've had a bunch of fun activities lately.

Claire's school had a Christmas party and they had a sleigh ride around the school yard. It started to snow just as we got on and it was a beautiful ride.

Claire really enjoyed singing with her schoolmates and it was fun to watch.

Madeline and I were also able to go sing Christmas carols at the year end assembly at Claire's school. All the kids were buzzing with excitement and it was a lot of fun to hear about their accomplishments and spend some time there.

We were also lucky to attend Ryan's school Christmas concert. Being a Fine Arts school, they really put on a grand production and we always get very good seats since we have an "in." :) Ryan did a great job with the slide show during the concert as well. It's fun to see him in his element there.

We had a jam-packed day in Wetaskiwin. We enjoyed Rob's Christmas concert at the high school. He's such a talented musician. It's always a bit strange to go back to your high school. Everything seems....smaller, in a way.

We had a fun time making gingerbread houses and celebrating Dad's birthday. It felt almost like Christmas day as we opened lovely gifts from Val that she picked up on her trip to Nepal and Tibet.

Photo bomb courtesy of Mel.

This is what happens when I'm the one trying to do the self-portrait.

Having some cuddles in front of the tree.

Here's Madeline and her house. She looks a bit tired since she fell asleep in the car on the way home. She's wearing her "Princess Jasmine" outfit from Val. They were specially made for the girls and they are beautiful!

Ryan's been quite busy with work. Trying to hang on to the kids' attention during the last week of school, culminating in his Rockband party for his class and then rushing to the Apple store to work has been pretty hectic - he's working so hard for our family. We're all looking forward to the next two weeks when things will be less stressful and more festive.

He was asked to play a certain role for the kindergarten class in his school and had a lot of fun with it.

We were also lucky to attend Desiree and Daley's wedding brunch. It's always good to reconnect with family and to celebrate those kinds of things!

This is something awesome. I threw this pillow from Maddie's room to our room, and this is how it landed. I laughed really hard and just had to document my pillow tossing prowess.

Madeline was definitely excited for her Christmas party at school. She's got this cheesy new pose smile that makes me giggle. She also insisted on wearing her "wedding dress" to the party.

Yep.

There were a lot of fun games and they did the cutest little concert for all the parents.

We had quite a dump of snow recently. I hate those days where you have to shovel more than once just to make your way around. We did get a pretty awesome drift off our roof though.

The girls helped me do our Christmas baking. Madeline attacked those candy canes like nobody's business.

Claire contributed by being patient and enjoying the smells and sounds.

I love spending time with these girls!

The finished product.

Claire is a serious sleeper. When she wants to sleep, it happens, no matter where she is.

Maddie and I snuck over to Steph and Brandon's new place to help out for bit. It's coming along and we had fun helping.

Time certainly does fly in December. Luckily we've done almost all our shopping, made most of our deliveries and sent all our packages. We just have a bit of wrapping to do and all will be well! Huzzah!

Black Sheep - Metric*

(*Last song I listened to)

It's been so long that I forgot my blogger password.

So, here goes: the past 26 days. Yikes.

Claire:

Participated well in her Primary presentation.

Was sick for almost a week and a half. Some kind of cold with copious amounts of vomit and topped off with ear infections in both ears, of course.

Had an EEG at the hospital - results were good. She's been seizure free for a few months now!

Got a new, bigger wheelchair. It's still hot pink though, don't worry.

Attended a home nutrition appointment. We have now added vitamins and protein powder to her regimen.