The Gingerbread Train

After dinner Sunday night the kids worked together to make and decorate this adorable gingerbread train. And now it's part of my Christmas decor!

 

Santa Clause Parade

Ever since we've lived in Aldergrove we haven't been able to attend the annual Christmas parade because we've either just worked an all-hands-on-deck day at the Christmas tree farm (in the good ol' days) or the weather has been too inclement to make a parade enjoyable. But this year we had a Christmas miracle! The weather was beautiful (not wet) and we were very relaxed after having spent the day in pajamas doing....not much of anything. Don had to work but I bundled up the kids, jammies and all, and headed into town. It was great! We were, unfortunately, at the end of the parade route, which means that the kids didn't get alot of parade candy/fodder, which disappointed them. Next year maybe we'll venture out earlier and get in a better spot for hand-outs!

 

The fire truck was coming, so of course Nick couldn't look at the camera!

Star Wars advent calendar, day 3

Finally it's Nick's turn, and you can see that this is making him very happy!

 

 

Tonight's figure was a catapult that launches "power balls." This calendar has been great for counting down the days until Nathan arrives, until Grandma and Grandpa arrive, until school is over, until Christmas!

Christmas decorations 2012

Our lovely artificial tree that we got last year : )

 

My mantle with some Christmas decorations

Sean bought these letters for me at a church fundraiser...I just love them!

 

Dylan made me this nativity set when he was in Sunday School in 2nd or 3rd grade : )

Advent calendar, day 2

Tonight it was Jordyn's turn to open a door, and in the #2 slot was Jar Jar Binks! Patience figured out that yesterday's ship was the ones that were used to get to the Gungan's underwater world, so this was a timely figure. Tomorrow it's Nick's turn! It's amazing how well everyone is cooperating about taking turns opening the doors : )

Chip takes flight

Can elves fly? We still don't know, but apparently Chip wants to take an airplane ride in Nick's toy plane.

It's Showtime!

This morning Patience left for her first concert with the Langley Children's Choir. They're singing at The Chan, an amazing venue on the UBC campus. She was gone yesterday for 10 hours at rehearsal, but she was a trooper! I'm so happy that the girls got to go to Bibbity Bobbity Boutique at Disneyland last year, or I never would have been able to get Patience's hair into this "stage" bun. Break a leg, Sweetheart!

Welcome back, Chip!

Our Elf, Chip, is back from his long vacation in the North Pole, ready to watch the Littles and report back to Santa on a nightly basis. It's a hard job but someone has to do it!

Bon Voyage, Tony!

Tony, our international student who has been with us for 15 months, will be leaving tomorrow to stay with a new host family. We will undoubtedly see Tony from time to time, and of course Sean and our other interational student, Mark, will see him every day at school. We wish you well, Tony!

LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar

Nathan, being the brilliant and generous big brother that he is, sent the Littles this awesome advent calendar. Each day they open one door to find either a mini figure, or a space ship, or some other Star Wars thingy. They love it, as you can see!

This will surely help them count the many days until Christmas! Thank you, Nathan!

Snow girls

Well, it must be Christmas time, there are Snow People in my yard!

 

Also along the Christmas theme, here is Don taking the last big load of trees into Vancouver today:

 

And here is Sean and Nick helping him harvest the trees:

Merry Christmas!

North Otter Wacky Hair Day

 I'm not the type of mom who gets all excited about decorating a bike for the annual bike parade, but when you tell me it's wacky hair day, I'm willing to get my kids up early and spend lots of time making their hair look as crazy as possible! Jorydn had little tiny ponytails all over her head and Patience had corkscrew braids.

 

Merritt

Here are the cupcakes that Waneta baked for Nick!

Sean and Nick on the tractor

Daddy gives Nick and Jordyn a tractor ride

Sean and Nick take a ride on the quad