A visit from Santa!

On Christmas Eve we had a surprise visit from Santa Claus! He had presents for each of the Littles, although Nick wouldn't go near him until the very end of his visit, and even then it was just close enough to give him a "high five." As he was leaving Jordyn ran to him and hugged him goodbye.



Patience loves Santa : )



Santa brought Jordyn a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs playset and Patience a Disney Fairies playset. He is so smart!

Nick finally got brave enough to give Santa a "high five." Santa brought Nick choo-choo's, which he loves!

Nathan and the Littles

Nathan and the Littles are making the most of their time together! It's amazing how quickly Nick has wrapped Nathan around his little finger!

Dinner at Katana

Last night our hero, Katie Walls, babysat the Littles while the rest of us went out to our favorite restaurant in Langley, Katana. Katana is a Japanese tepanyaki restuarant where the chef cooks your entire meal right in front of you at the tepan table grill. We had such a good time. The food was amazing as usual, and we were all able to relax without the Littles : )  All the adults were able to have a cocktail because Dylan was the designated driver!

After dinner I went home and relieved the babysitter and the rest of the group went to see the new Narnia movie. It was a very fun night!

Nathan returns!

On Friday night Dylan and I trekked to SeaTac to pick up Nathan, who was due to land at 11:20. We got there precisely at 11:20, all excited to see him. And then we found out that his plane never left Juneau at 8:00 as expected. It was grounded with mechanical issues and the weather was very windy in Seattle. It was now supposed to land at 1:36. A.M. Dylan and I looked at each other, had a good cry, and then found a set of comfy chairs to sit and wait. Poor Dylan's phone had about 4 minutes of batteries left so he couldn't even entertain himself that way. Lucky for me, Dylan's shoulder was the perfect height for me to lean over and take a nap on it. I slept for an hour, woke up at 1:00, and asked Dylan to go check the Arrivals board. Now it said the flight would be in at 2:03. We quickly saw any chance for sleeping on this night fade away before our eyes. But of course it was all worth it when we saw Nathan walking through the doors. He looked great! Rested and relaxed, as he had slept during the last 2.5 hour leg of his flight! We got his bags, headed to the car, and started our trek north. First stop: get some gas. Second stop: stop at the Cutler's where Nathan parked his truck for him to "get his wheels." Third stop: Val and Dave's, where there are packages waiting for us. Fourth stop: the border crossing where we all sail through smoothly. Final stop: (at 5:20) home! Dylan decides there's no point in sleeping now since the day has already begun. I strongly encourage him to get at least a few hours. Nathan concurs. Dylan capitulates. We all wake up around 10:00 feeling surprisingly okay!

This is what Nathan's been pining for for the last 6 months!

Nick might not remember Nathan from 6 months ago, but quickly decides that he's OKAY!

self-portrait with Nathan's brand-new mohawk.

Morning snuggles.

Jordyn's preschool Christmas party

Yeah! This is the first year that Jordyn participated, in a meaningful way, at her preschool Christmas party. Every year the kids come out in a line and sing a few carols. In her first year, Jordyn just left the line and went and sat with Don. The second year, she stayed in the line but didn't sing. Didn't even move her lips. This year, she stayed, she sang (quietly), and she even rang her jingle bells a little bit. 

Oh, and she smiled! Another big step for Jordyn!

 

Best friend Megan : )

Ringing her jingle bells.

Making a "Christmas tree."

Another shot with Megan.

Making a Christmas tree ornament.

Pioneer Girlz Club Christmas party 2010

Tonight was Patience's Pioneer Girlz Christmas party and their instructions were to "wear something pretty." So we pulled out all the stops and wore sparkly dresses and curly tresses : )  I took the girls and Don stayed here with Nick. Sean manned the farm. Haley kept a watchful eye on the recuperating Dylan ; )

The party was a lot of fun with carols, games, goodies, visiting, and a gift for each of the girls to take home. What an awesome club Pioneer Girlz is! Jordyn can't wait to start when she's in Grade 1.

Some newsiness from the farm...

Nathan just found out that his ship will be drydocked almost assuredly in Fairhaven this spring. That means we'll get to see A LOT of him. The Coast Guard has been very, very good to Nathan and it seems like we always get little "nuggets" of visits just when we need them the most.

Dylan has a job interview next week for a wholesale grocery distributor. I think it'll be good for him for a variety of reasons: they pay fairly well, they work around his school schedule, and they work on a quota system. Dylan thrives in a challenge. He's the classic overachiever, so if they tell him he needs to X, you can bet your bottom dollar that he'll do X+1, just to make a point.

Dylan also has his wisdom teeth surgery scheduled for next week on Thursday. That's not bad, really...it's been 2 months since he saw the oral surgeon and now he's heading into surgery.

Don is getting fatigued working with the trees already. I'm hoping we have such a big weekend that we can afford to just put out the honor box afterwards : )

I think that's all the major news. Cheers for now!

Pretty Party Patience

Last weekend Patience was invited to a birthday party for one of her very good friends, Paige. She's been waiting since the spring to use the hot rollers...but I've kept telling her that her hair still needed to grow some more first. But this weekend we tried them and they worked beautifully! She was so happy to have curls...and of course they had completely fallen out by the time the party was over, but that's okay...at least we got pictures!

Housework tip #1

Harness your kid power!

Christmas tree decorating

For the first time since we moved to Canada, we decorated our tree on December 1! Generally speaking it's much later, and in the first few years we always brought an already-decorated tree from the sales yard into the living room around December 20 or so. It was chaotic. Nick thought every ornament was a toy. Especially the balls, which he thought were balls. Imagine that. But here are some nice shots of our evening...

I went outside last night and pointed to this tree, a Fraser Fir. Don brought it in and put it in the stand. Then we realized that it's really, not, um....very attractive. I guess it's good that I picked it, because no one else would have!

Haley getting ready to do her part: lights!

Don supervises : )

Nick thought the whole evening was wonderful! I love this shot of the little turkey baby.

Sean finally smiling for pictures. It's been a long time since he willingly smiled for the camera.

 Patience exploring the lights. And why is Nick wearing his snow boots in the house?

Jordyn unpacking the ornaments.

 Dylan and Haley doing a great job on the lights.

Dylan and Haley getting distracted from their great job on the lights.

Patience takes this job seriously.

The finished tree in all its glory : )  It doesn't look very beautiful but the kids love it. Even Nick has added "tee" to his vocabulary!

Christmas Candy Calendars 2010

My mother, bless her heart, started a family tradition decades ago where each child (adults in some cases) get a candy calendar for December...it helps the month go just a little faster when you get a piece of candy each day, and you can easily count down the days until Christmas. Now that I'm an adult, I think the month pretty much zooms by, but I do remember it going in agonizingly slow motion when I was a kid.

So last night I got all the supplies for the calendars and "lined them out" with the month of December and split up all the candies evenly in baggies. This morning after breakfast and chores we went to it. It was torture difficult with a 2-year-old who doesn't understand the concept of "calendar." Or "1 piece of candy each day." We did lots of explaining, redirecting, yelling, and crying.  In the end I had to put his calendar up on top of the cabinets so he can't see it. Next year will be better. Right?

This was, thankfully, a washable marker!

Jordyn coloring her calendar.

Patience coloring hers.

The finished products.

The girls' calendars.

Let the season begin!