Bye Bye Love! Hello Loneliness...

Ok so we're not suffering toooooooooo much but Lovey is gone! She has cashed in for a reward of a sleepover at Grammie's house. She was very excited to pack her bag and get her things ready to go and kept asking what time Grammie was coming for her. Mum has a few days of vacation and is going to spend most of them having sleepovers so they can each have a special visit of their own.

They've been talking about this for quite awhile & have been looking forward to it. I'm not sure this will be much of a vacation really but it will be HUGE for them. So, Mumma & Papa C, THANK YOU verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry much! When they get to go somewhere on their own it means so much to them & they greatly enjoy having someone's full attention for a change and they talk a mile a minute sometimes because they can!

The girls left behind were a little put out that Lovey was going off to the coveted playland but bounced back quickly. I was out doing a photoshoot & they stayed home with Murray & got to watch one of their new movies and when I got home, they hit me up to play with the locked up Polly Pockets that haven't been out in months and months. Within a few minutes, it was easy to remember how they'd gotten banished to underneath our bed! Fight fight, whine, whine, I want, she has, I need, that's mine, you can't have, where's my, Hey you took..... They did clean them up very nicely when we said it was story time though so I may let them out of the box again tomorrow but we'll see.

At bedtime, Honey was quite concerned with sleeping alone in her bedroom without Lovey. She was starting to get upset so I asked Sweetie if she'd sleep in Lovey's bed tonight. She jumped out from under her covers, hollering "Just a minute Honey!!!!!!!! I'll be RIGHT there! DON'T Worry, I'm coming!!!!!!!!!!" and she bounded right into the room, full of tips on how Honey could burrow under her blankets if she felt scared because "that's what I do when I get scared in my room!"

Then after the lights were out & we'd already given hugs & kisses, I was in the bathroom cleaning up stuff & I overheard them saying goodnight to each other. "I love you very very much Honey" "I love you very very much too Sweetie".

How cute is that?????????

ok, so I played with the Polly Puke-Its too but only artistically & for photography practice!

in a Wii bit of pain!

Murray, celebrating his victory over his mother. (Nancy is pointing out a defect in the game that led to this ;)))

Murray's parents got us a Wii for Christmas so we've been trying it out over the weekend. Murray & I took a stab at the boxing and I'm sure it looked hilarious to see us swinging wildly at the air! I must have been a little over enthusiastic because my back is very sore now! I thought I must have done something to it in a class at the gym but they I remembered the boxing and that's definitely the culprit. Murray's playing tennis against the machine right this moment, getting better and better and soon I won't stand a chance! Rick & Nancy came to visit for a couple of days & they got in on the action too!

Christmas Day

The girls looooooooooooooooooooved Christmas! They actually slept til 8:30 which was much later than I expected. Even though I woke up at 5:49, I tried to lay low and rest up. It was tempting to go wake them but I knew it would be a busy & exciting day for them & decided to let them sleep as much as possible. I'm sure there won't be too many more late starts like that. Some years, Dale (my brother) & I used to start bugging my parents MUCH earlier than that. We'd get up, have Christmas and be back in bed asleep by 8:30! (how we didn't get killed when we came in to get them at 4am, I have no idea)

They went downstairs to see if Santa had come and found that he'd eaten all the treats and htey checked out their stockings and Santa presents. Lovey got her violin and was thrilled with that. Honey was quite pleased with her Hannah Montanna dress up accessories (although not overly enthused with the fake ponytail thing) and Sweetie got a wooden basketball shoe that laces up so you can practice tying stuff. She's forever knotting everything in sight, pretending to "tie".

Once they'd checked out their loot & confirmed that Santa had made the stop, we were able to get them to come back to the kitchen for some breakfast. I didn't think they would but they did so we took the opportunity to get some non chocolate based nourishment into them!

They were soooooooooo excited to open their presents, Murray & I had a hard time keeping up with them to make sure they were just opening their own stuff. Sweetie wanted to put on all the stuff she got! (just like her dad!) She had "diamond" earrings in her stocking and clipped those right on. She got a new (to her) dress, a "diamond" ring to match her earrings, a new hair elastic and she had to have it all on right away! By the time she got all her gear on, including a little (ie A LOT!!!!!!!!!) of lipgloss, she looked like she was ready to head off to the ball :)

They had all their things opened without too much delay & were ready to start inhaling that chocolate and watch a movie! This worked out well as Murray & I could open our own presents and actually pay attention to them! My exciting thing was a new strap for my camera that I realllllllllllllly wanted!!! Murray is enamoured with the Wii his parents got for our family.

Playing with the devil...

Lovey spent quite a bit of time visiting with Lucifer, errr I mean, Luci at our last Sunday night dinner. With all the activity going in at GWC (gift wrap central), Mumma hasn't had as much time to play with the kittens as usual so I thought the girls might be able to give them some entertainment. Lovey was the one that really got into it though and was working the stretchy ball thing like a pro. Gidget wasn't brave enough to venture out with this "stranger" but Luci was all for it! (go figure)

Snow Way Eh?

A big snowstorm last week left drifts as high as our garage! The girls were all keen to get out there & shovel (aka play around and throw snow where we least want it). Murray got ready & headed out, then I got the girls ready one at a time & pitched each one out into a snowbank once finished. They thought it was hilarious and enjoyed the "ride"! By the time I got them done, then myself ready and out the door, the first one was getting cold. There was so much wind that you got chilly quite quickly. I was able to take a few pictures and then had to come back in and was unable to assist in the snow removal exercise. Gee darnit.... oh well it's the thought that counts! And since he finds that shovelling is a good workout, I'd hate to cut in on that or ruin his fun ;))

More Preparations!

We did a little more decorating today, boxed up the candy to take to our neighbours & a whole lotta hyping ourselves up on Christmas! The girls are getting so excited. Every day they're checking to see how many days left. When they get tired of that, they start asking "how many days will be left when it's tomorrow?????"

Murray went to meet his dad and pick up the presents from them & brought home a truckload. Nooooo we're not spoiled much at all. When they helped move the gifts from the entryway & down to the tree, they were soooooo pumped up. Every time they found a present with their name on it, it was a huge thrill. The gifts had been bagged together according to who it was for. Lovey & Honey's bags were the first ones unloaded from the car & so were the first ones that the girls were unpacking. Poor Sweetie was convinced the Nanny & Grampy had forgotten her! Finally we got to the bag that had hers in it & of course, Honey & Lovey promptly forgot that they'd already taken 47 armloads of presents for themselves & burst into tears when suddenly ALL the presents were for Sweetie and "none" for them. No wonder we don't remember much about being 4 years old, it's TOUGH! LOL

The downside to all this excitement is that it tends to leave them a little on the volatile side. They expend so much energy bouncing off the walls that they come down quickly and are in tears over the smallest things. Overall, we're enjoying the wonder & magic of it all as we celebrate this season though! : )

Fun & games! I think it's so strange to see the summer toys out while they're in winter coats & mittens!

Lovey playing "avoid the camera".

haha, didn't work! Gotcha!!!!!!!!

We had playgroup this morning and when we got home, I felt yucky & tired and they were playing busily & were full of munchies from the Christmas party soooooooo I thought I'd just lie down and have a little rest. Sweetie was quite concerned with how I was feeling & wanted to help me rest better and kept fetching me an assortment of comforts. She brought me some water in case I got thirsty. She brought a flashlight & turned it on in case I got scared in the dark. She drew me a colourful rainbow picture to cheer me up & left it on my pillow. She covered me with her dalmation blanket AND her fleecy bunny blanket. and the piece de resistance..... she tucked Bunny in with me to make me feel better. She must have been in and out of my bedroom a dozen times, checking on me, rubbing my back etc. It was so sweet! I was barely awake for most of it & didn't even know I had a flashlight turned on beside me until I got up an hour and a half later. I was THAT tired!

On that note, I'm turning in now! Obviously these late nights don't agree with me! :)

C is for Cookie!

After Boo's big photo shoot yesterday, we all baked cookies. I had whipped up the dough in the morning before preschool (pretty good eh?) and it was chilled & ready to go so it was just roll & cut.

I totally forgot to put aprons on them before starting so it was messier than usual but no less fun. They were cookie cuttin' machines! Teena & I could barely keep up with getting dough rolled out and moving cut outs to the pans for baking. They were done the huge batch in no time! Now I see why child labour is popular in some places, when they have the right motivation, 4 year olds can be darn productive!!!!!!!

We ran out of time and they didn't get to do the decorating but they got to eat dough and had cookies for supper so they were pretty happy about that. Group baking is definitely the way to go though, so Teena, I need you guys to come back over when it's time to do shortbread! We can double the batch & you take half home and we all have fun & get stuff done at the same time. Deal?

Speed post tonight! Here's the cherub video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m6LyKVzo9U

and Boo came over to have her picture taken for their Christmas card:

and that's all you get at 12:30am! : )))

Cherubs Strike Again!

Our darling cherubs blew the roof off this morning! They sang "Come On Ring Those Bells" like nobody's business. Sweetie was almost doubled over in her efforts to project her voice to the back of the church. They gave it their all and it worked. The congregation heard every word. The people out on the sidewalk heard them and if Old Nanny was still in Florida, I bet she could have heard them, if only faintly ;) Murray's already shut down his computer for the night so I'll have to upload the video footage later. For anyone wanting to see a live repeat performance, they're doing this piece again at the Christmas Eve service. Definitely worth coming out for!

This afternoon Murray ran out to do some Christmas shopping and was home in an hour. He went to the MALL. He went to WALMART and at least 3 other places. and was home in an hour. That man can speed shop like nothing I've ever seen. Most people can barely get in and out of the Walmart parking LOT in an hour! He says he's not all done though, he's got to go back out to finish up (so.....??? what? another 20 minutes? ;))) I suspect he's actually done a lot of online shopping as I had sent him a few suggested links for me!

Once he was back, we headed to M&D's for supper. My well mannered & tactful children walked in the house and immediately asked "WHAT'S that awful smell????" Oh well, that's just your dinner! Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. At what age do they figure out when NOT to say stuff like that!??!?!?! I still remember Sweetie opening her birthday present (a fancy sundress from Children's Place that a friend from playgroup gave her) and pulling it out of the bag and loudly declaring "I don't LIKE black!"

Supper, contrary to what my kids' noses thought, was absolute yum! Roast beef dinner is never wrong! They actually ate pretty well and everyone managed to score some dessert and that doesn't always happen, unless Grandad's in charge. Luckily tonight Grammie put him in a time out before he could cause any mischief. ;))

I thought I'd gotten quite a good start on decorating around here, until I got to my mother's. That woman is serious about Christmas! The mantle is done, the village is set up (the lower and the upper villages!), the tree is decked out, the fancy tablecloth is on and there are twinkling lights in glass bowls full of tinsel and pinecones!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hung up some glittery snowflakes and thought I was all that but I see I have some work to do yet. I'm not match for her but I can do a little more yet.