what I'm hating lately...

the fact that every day they wear the same thing outside! It makes for very boring pictures after awhile! Oh, look snowsuits again. and again. and again. totally unoriginal and boring... I'll have to get better at the indoor stuff so I can jazz it up a little now & then.

More Snow?????? Seriously??????

Wow! I've heard that we're supposed to have one heck of a winter with colder temperatures & more snowfall than we've had in a long time. This week seems to be right in line with that prediction! It has snowed almost every day I think! The kids are loving it & every time they see more snow, they ask "NOW is it Christmas???" They seem to think that once there's a good blanket down, that's all we need to proceed with the festivities, the actual dates be damned! LOL

We actually went shopping today for a present for Uncle Dale. I got them advent calendars & they've had fun getting caught up on the days we've missed so far. Murray thinks the chocolate in there is pretty crappy but they don't seem put off by the low quality confectionary!

After lunch we geared up and went outside where they imagined up all sorts of stuff! Their scenarios, characters & dialogue is getting pretty complex these days. We were surrounded by hot lava (which is filled with "gooey" in case you didn't know). We also had to be very quiet when climbing the volcano because the lion was sleeping (what the heck's he doing taking a nap on an active volcano anyway? furthermore what are WE doing up here???????)

Yesterday they each got a Christmas card in the mail from Bonny (Early Intervention) and were pretty thrilled with having their own letter. Honey's been carrying hers around all day & even took it shopping with us. I made her leave it in the car because I'm terrified the thing is going to get lost! Today when I suggested going to the mailbox, it was like a stampeding herd, they were so anxious to get there & check it out. So thank you to all those sending Christmas cards, you're making 3 little girls very happy! (and a couple of other people here too!) I'm really enjoying getting news from friends & seeing some pictures. I've been working on our cards & hope to get them out soon.

I'd better sign off & get ready for bed, I have a photoshoot tomorrow. Gotta get rested up you know! LOL

HO HO HO

A little pre-Christmas excitement! Tonight was our fellowship dinner at the church & Santa made an appearance. Teena, her husband & Boo came with us too. I don't know that there was a whole lot of dinner.... We got 2 kids plates to split between 4 of them & still had ALOT of leftovers when they abandoned us for the train table in the corner. How can you not like turkey dinner with all the trimmings? I actually saw Sweetie SPIT OUT her turkey! Honey ate a bit of her meat & then filled up on cranberry sauce & rolls. Lovey seemed to enjoy the dressing but not much else. They didn't seem to care too much about the menu & were completely content to play with the other kids & come back for dessert. After dinner they joined the other kids at the front of the room & sang Christmas carols. Teena & I were amused & amazed to see Boo front & centre at the microphone! I guess it's a good sign that she felt comfortable & welcome! LOL

After the sing song, Santa arrived and every kid there got a present. I thought they were getting candy canes or something. Nope. Real actual gifts, wrapped and the whole works. We now have 3 brand new puzzles & Boo took home some card games. They also got candy canes that were nicely decorated. We had a great time and the kids were pretty excited to see Santa. Lovey had no problem going up for her present when her name was called but Honey & Sweetie were a little more hesitant. Boo was quite intrigued with the whole thing.

heavy traffic!

wow, just peeked at the counter! Between 10pm yesterday and 8:30 this morning, 7 people visited the blog! Don't you people sleep at night either???? ; ))) So who are the night owls??? I know Princess Pamela checks before bedtime, Little Carrie sometimes checks before work, M&D usually have a look first thing in the morning... was Rick already here too? that would be 4 or 5... I probably clocked one since it had been several hours since I was here. Very interesting!! I love the counter : ))))

a day with GI Kelly

Not sure what was wrong with me but it definitely related to the GI area and was very uncomfortable but has improved a bit today. Hopefully another good night's rest will do the trick. It's almost10pm now, not too much time left to still make an early night of it but I'll give it a shot... definitely going to bed on today's date though!

I was still feeling pretty tired this morning & not up for anything too complicated or requiring much energy. Since it was freezing cold outside, I immediately ditched any thought of getting them dressed to go out. They wanted to play school today so we did that for quite awhile. I'd tell them to sit at their "desk" (aka kitchen table) and work on their "spelling" (aka drawing random figures that are supposed to be letters of their name). Every once in awhile I slipped away to gather laundry or put something away. Every time, my apt little Honey pupil would track me down and say 'why are you're not at the school teacher?" Dang. busted by a 3½ year old! So we did "art" and "math" and reading. They must have been at it for over an hour. Good thing there are lots of subjects in school!

After lunch I thought it would be a good idea to make Christmas cookies and decorate them. Somehow I strayed from my "KISS" plan (keep it simple stupid). They were keen to get their aprons on. When I told them they'd need their little rolling pins, they almost tripped over each other to get those from the closet. I gave them each a little ball of dough & tried to show them how to roll it out into a flat circle so we could use the cookie cutters. They were avid rollers and I don't think there's ever been a thinner sheet of cookie dough. It was so hard to keep up with each of them & restrain them before they beat the dough into a slimy pulp and got it wrapped around the rolling pin 17t imes. I'd add icing sugar to one to keep it from sticking, clean off the rolling pin and get them started, only to find the other two right back in the same predicament. I stopped Honey from pulverizing her pile further & took the rolling pin to clean it off and she started to cry and said "You're not being very nice to me, I'm going somewhere else!" and ran off sobbing. I felt bad since this was supposed to be a fun activity but I hadn't yelled or beaten her with the pin or anything! I talked her into coming back and finally put away their rolling pins so we could actually cut out some cookies. This didn't go much more smoothly than the rolling out. They kept stamping the cutter into the same spot over and over, making it impossible to actually get a cookie out.... after one sheet went into the oven, I'd had it. No more of that type of cookie for a looooooooooooong time! I remember making them with Pat-rick when he was a toddler and it wasn't anywhere near this nerve wracking or frustrating. I was younger then though and only had to keep track of one set of hands! Nancy, let me tell you right now, I think you're crazier than a bag of hammers to be looking forward to this activity with the girls over Christmas!!!!!!! Let me know when you're going to do it, I'm getting out of there, I don't even want to watch!!!!! ; )))

So, what I thought would be a fun little activity, turned into an all day project. I forgot that the dough is supposed to chill overnight so I put it in the fridge while I gave the girls their bath. I brought my Christmas card stuff in with me & started working on addressing the envelopes and got most of those done. The postage I ordered online arrived today so I can hopefully get my pictures printed & start getting the cards out in the mail sometime soon!

After the bath we went back to the kitchen & the dough was chilled, it just didn't stay that way with all their manhandling. By the time I lost patience with the whole plan, it was almost supper time, not even half the cookies were baked & I had to turn the oven off to cook the meal. Between all the craziness, I ended up overcooking two of the batches (still edible just browner on the edges than I'd like) and had none of them frosted. I'd thought we'd get icing on them & maybe add sprinkles etc. I quickly dropped the sprinkles idea & settled for just some icing. After supper, Murrray helped clean up so we could decorate. (oh yes, I let them get into the icing an hour before bedtime........BAD BAD BAD idea). We had to let them bounce off the walls for about 45 minutes after we were done decorating the cookies. The good news is that there is so much icing on them that lifting the cookie to your mouth a few times is enough of a workout to cancel all the calories of the treat itself. : )

Murray read them several stories to try and wind them down but as soon as the books were put away, they went right back into hyper overdrive. At 7:30 we decided to just proceed with bedtime preparations anyway, hoping the routine would soothe & settle them... they didn't immediately become docile & quiet but they did get ready & go to bed without a fuss. They just insisted on travelling in style!

Somewhere in the midst of getting changed & washed up, Sweetie had an accident on the floor.

Murray: Sweetie, what's this on the floor? Pee?

Sweetie: of course!

Murray: did you do that?

Sweetie: of course! you can pick it up.

Murray: no YOU can pick it up.

and she did. Do you suppose she learned her lesson???????

Away in a Manger

the Sunday School class & the toddler room kids. You can see Sweetie's profile, the red sleeve of Lovey's dress & a glimpse of purple for Honey just behind the blonde in the red.

This was the song the girls' Sunday School class was supposed to sing in the Christmas Pageant today at church. Once again we have to go with our standard "2 out of 3 ain't bad" stance. Can you guess which two? Lovey & Honey were the best at singing it at home but apparently that doesn't mean anything! LOL I almost fell over when I saw Sweetie piping up and singing out strong. They were tucked in behind some other kids so I couldn't see anyone else but assumed the other 2 were singing along as well. Murray had a different viewpoint as I'd gone up front to take pictures and he says that Honey didn't let out a peep but Lovey sang along just fine. You just never can tell! At the very end of the show, the entire Sunday School was singing Joy to the World but the girls never wanted to sing this or practice it so never learned any really. Lovey went up anyway & stood with the kids but Honey & Sweetie boycotted this number. Darling angles that they are...

the entire Sunday School & Youth Group teens

I am so impressed with the kids at our church, their numbers seem to keep growing all the time. The girl in the green pants behind Lovey comes with her 2 older sisters, on their own. Their parents don't come, they just want to be there & come for Sunday service & to the youth group events throughout the week. They also came & volunteered for the week at bible school this summer. Very nice to see!



I asked Honey what happened to her song & she said there were too many people so she must have gotten stage fright. I know all about that but usually in a group I'm ok. It's a solo that will crack me! (although I think the choir director learned her lesson as she's never asked me again!)

wheeeeee! we're outta here!!!!

After each class did their part, they got little snack bags with marshmallows, goldfish, pretzels, chocolates and a candy cane. These kept the little ones busy & quiet as the rest of the show continued. Last year I remembered our youth minister telling me that she & her husband had left that to the end and had been up til 2am putting those together. This year I thought I could help her out with them & then decided that Murray & I would just do them for her as she has a fair amount on her plate and is recovering from surgery. Murray was thrilled with this opportunity to serve the Lord... or maybe those weren't quite his words but he did fill over half those bags in no time! Anyway, the bags were a big hit again this year and did what they were intended to do.



Everyone thought the girls were lovely in their "baby prom" dresses and I was explaining how I'd foolishly splurged on these outfits to another mum and she told me they were worth it & that it wasn't the least bit wasteful as they'd be enjoyed to the hilt. (she also has young daughters who like to dress up so she knows what she's talking about I guess!) I did get quite a chuckle out of the people who asked if I'd made them myself. Anyone who saw my grade 8 home ec project that would only have fit a severely disfigured Frankenstein and required a week's worth of repair by my seamstress grandmother would understand how funny this question was. I'm well aware of my weakness in the sewing department and promised my Grammie never ever to venture there again. I wonder where that sweatshirt is now??? I know I decorated it beautifully with puffy glow in the dark paint a la 80's style.....


This afternoon was a little colder than yesterday but we went out to play anyway. The girls wore their new boots and it made a big difference in keeping the legs down on that one piece snowsuit. Hooray! The kids showed Murray the igloo they're working on (humour them if they tell you or show you ok?) and also made snowcakes and some other little snow houses. I worked on clearing out a little space in the garage so the carpenter can have a little more room in there.




With everyone still in their snowsuits, we piled into the car & headed to M&D's for supper. Mmmmm mmmmm beef stew & biscuits! My mumma is a fine lady & a good cook too! (must be where I get it...) She had a surprise for them when they got there that was a big hit. She's taken up beading and is turning out some fancy creations these days. The girls all got new clip on earrings. They immediately ran to the mirror to check out their jewelry and were quite in awe of them. Unfortunately we were only able to find 3 of the 6 earrings before we left tonight but I'm sure they'll turn up under a cushion or something (I forgot to look in the couch Mum or under the ottoman).




I'm not feeling so hot, so I'm headed for bed. If you're a regular blogfan, you'll notice this is a highly unusual time for me to be turning in. With all the craziness of the holiday season, I'm not taking any chances & getting some rest. I don't want to be sick for Christmas!!!!