The Eve before New Year's Eve

Just one of the girls christmas gifts! I thought these little dress jammies were cute enough to post and really wanted the gift giver to see Kaitlin and Sarah in them! Thanks! Thanks EVERYONE for all the gifts! Watching a toon after bath and smiling for Great Aunty!

Cookie monster

I have a little cookie monster! We went grocery shopping today at The SUPERSTORE and of course we stopped by the backery for a cookie. It is the highlight of shopping for Kaitlin and now Sarah too. This is what she looked like after. I got a few chuckles from passerbys. I thought it was adorable and wanted to share with you all!

Christmas time

Kaitlin, Sarah and I received an envelope with reindeer food....oats and sparkles to sprinkle on the snow. While Santa was busy delivering presents his reindeer had a treat to eat. The above pictures are of us shaking the treat out for Rudolph and all of Santa's other reindeer. A few weeks ago the girls and I were driving on a back road and we saw Santa's reindeer. Kaitlin was thrilled to bits that Santa's reindeer came all the way to check up on her ;).

This year we took a 4 and a half hour trip out to Wainwright to celebrate with my family. We arrived on thursday mid afternoon and got settled in. This year my Granny Halwas joined in on the holiday. The girls loved seeing their Great Granny Halwas. Before leaving our house Kaitlin came down from nap one day and said Great Granny come to Granny's house? My reply....Yes! Kaitlin says....SOooo excited!

We were soon joined by Sam, Janell and Gus and even later Jan, Mark and Bella. The celebration really began! With my mom and dad in Wainwright, Sam and Janell in Provost and Jan and Mark in Calgary we don't have the chance to ALL be together as often as we use too. It was so GREAT to finally be together as a family. However Sarah got sick Christmas Eve and was yaking (TMI) till 12:00pm when finally gravol took affect and she was able to sleep uneasily. Jemahl caught the bug about the same time as well and it quickly spreaded. By sunday afternoon this little flu had hit 10 out of 11. Although I think really it was all of us. I was the lucky one who wasn't leaning over the toilet, but I still felt pretty miserable. It wiped us out and really put a big damper on our time together and a big dissapointment to our christmas. We ate, had some laughs (best game The Things), some cries, hugs and kisses. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family, but gesh why did we have to get so sick. I want my family to know that we LOVE you ALL like crazy!

Making pie with Granny Morgan!I asked Kaitlin to smile for the camera and this is what I got! A cute little craft that Kaitlin and I made as Christmas gifts. All made out of HEARTS! Sarah's sick and cuddles with mommy

Not in proper order....but I really like this one below. Three generations peeling potatoes for Christmas dinner.What it looked like Christmas morning after Santa Clause came!Kaitlin's first glimpse of Christmas morning! Was Granny more excited then Kaitlin?!?Ringing Christmas bells to wake everyone up with Bella!Sarah is getting so good at standing and acually started WALKING on the 23rd! Such a BIG girl! See the book shelf and toy box behind Jemahl and Sarah?!? My dad made them! They look amazing! Such a handyman, dad! I love them and I know that Kaitlin and Sarah will get so much use out of them.So EXCITED about her christmas presents from Santa. Her reply: Oh I like it, and I like it so much. OPEN it!Santa brought all of us one gift on Christmas Eve....pajama's!
Kaitlin wearing some stockings. Hahaha, my funny little girl!

I am now sitting on the couch with the tree sitting in front of me, now bare of decorations and lights and other christmas decorations nicely packed up for next year, but I am not ready for christmas to be over. It always takes so long to come and then a blink of an eye and it is over. My countdown starts....the craziness of finding the perfect gift for everyone, trying to stay in budget and running around with my head chopped off. You'd think I should be okay that it is over, but I am going having christmas withdrawal already. I love christmas! I found a link on facebook....you will have to search for it, but it showed Mary and Joseph's status updates if they were on facebook long ago. And really it brought everything to perspective to me....Jesus is the reason! So Happy Belated Birthday! And can't wait till next year!

Changes

Back in August Jemahl went into work and was pulled aside and asked if he would consider taking a different job. He came home that day and told me. I jumped all over the idea. He says Wait...it's a pay cut. Well that did nothing to change my mind since I knew how he was not enjoying his job and debating on a new career path.
Since the beginning of September Jemahl has been working as a service advisor instead of a mechanic (or what he often called himself, a grease monkey).
He comes home much happier, not frustrated over a job he had trouble with and clean too. His hands are so soft and not scratched up anymore...he's gonna hate me for saying that.
On his first day he was answering phone calls and working on his own after just a couple hours of training and has only done better and better everyday. In fact he has passed the highest numbers and is complimented often by other people he works with. I am so proud of him!

Festival of lights

Last sunday we bundled the girls up andmade our way to the Festival of Lights. The girls LOVED all the twinkly, bright lights, colouring and decorating a cookie. However my camera was low on batteries and turned off on me everytime I had a great picture lined up. Here's what I did get. Doesn't Jemahl look just a tad bit cold?!?

Child play

I ran downstairs for a few minutes to empty out the dryer and this is what a come back too. Kaitlin had brought almost all of the upstairs toys into the kitchen. Like 6 trips back and forth. Don't know why, but I thought it was humurous, cute and such a child thing to do. 5 minutes after I had taken these pictures the toys had swapped to 2 other locations including an attempt at going upstairs and off course Sarah is all a part of it too!

Inside snow

Hmm!So cold, mom.
I decided to bring some snow inside for something new to do. The girls loved the idea, but I think they loved eating it more. Don't worry it was white snow. Surprisnly, they kept mittens on most of the time and it only made a little bit of a mess.

This is Sarah's first time playing with playdough on her own. She loved it. Poking it, pounding it and tatsing it. Off course Kaitlin has been around playdough for a long time an was teaching her sis sis what to do.