Our Christmas

Christmas is done! I can now breath a sigh of relief and try to get back to some normal schedule, even though the kids have no school till January 7th. I have been kind of dreading posting about Christmas because I knew it ment going through the ton of pictures I took.

The festivities all started over the past weekend with the Harder christmas. We had a great time and visit with everyone. The kids got overloaded with stuff and enjoyed the company of there cousins.
This was the first time meeting our new little nephew Judah who is a big boy already.

Noah and Judah

The kids opened there stockings from Granny and Grandpa on saturday night.

Sunday the kids spent time outside despite the cold windy weather.

Later in the day we had our yearly sharing time and 'program' which involved singing carols on our out of tune piano. The kids then got to tear in there gifts.
Aidan is displaying his gift from Granny and Grandpa

Need i say more?

The kids and Judah


The girls all in pink

Granny and Grandpa with some of the kids

monday morning everyone left and we took a quick breather before starting all over again. Christmas eve we went to church but ended up leaving early because there was no child care and the kids were extremely restless.

I let them open there stockings when we got home before bed. They also put there cookies and milk out for Santa. Chocolate milk this year they insisted. Although, Steve is sure Santa would have prefered stuff crust pizza. maybe next year.Liam was amazed that the cookies and milk were gone in the morning

Aidan was up early and the other two slept in and I finally woke Cassidy up at 8 so that they could have there gifts.


The last gift Aidan unwrapped was some drum sticks. We then took him downstairs to one of the bedrooms and.....

It is just a junior set but perfect for him. He has been faithfully banging away and learning some things already.

The kids enjoying some of the gifts



It was then off to Sherry and Denis's for some 'Keown' Christmas. We enjoyed our christmas supper and then the kids got spoiled yet again.


The entire family after our game Overall, a great time with family and I think the kids enjoyed themselves and our coming down from a Christmas high. Aidan is already reminding me his birthday is in two weeks, which I am trying to avoid thinking about.
Steve and I are also awaiting the arrival of our Christmas gifts. I special ordered him a bass guitar and I ordered it too late to arrive for Christmas. Hopefully today. As my gift Steve let me order the Canon SLR rebel XTI with a few lenses and other accesories. I bought this through the states because of the amazing deal so I am awaiting for it to arrive as well. I have sold my old camera to my mom and am a little sad to see it go since it has been a part of me for so long, kind of like my fourth kid. But on the other hand I am so ready for something better then what I have!

4 more sleeps until Christmas. Today is Cassidy and Aidan's last day of school before the break. The both are looking forward to there parties and of course the weekend when we will celebrate the 'Harder' christmas. This year the festivites will be held at our house so that should make for an interesting Christmas. We are just so thankful not to have to drive anywhere. Steve plans to put some extra time in at work in between everything over the weekend. He gets paid double time for doing it and adds a nice chunk to the pay cheque and since our new house is costing alot more then we are used to, the extra money will be much needed.

Tuesday evening Cassidy's preschool held a family Christmas party. This is the third preschool we have been associated with over the years and this is the first time we have had something like this.
This kids enjoyed pizza, The bubble man and Santa. It was a nice treat and we are all for free entertainment that keeps the kids busy. They even walked away with little gifts from Santa. I must say, I am overly impressed with Cassidy's current preschool, plus it is the cheapest we have ever paid. Even though it is more of a drive since we moved, I think Liam will go there in fall.

The kids in the bubbles.

The kids on Santa's knee. We aren't ones that bring our kids to the mall for the yearly Christmas pic (I don't think we ever have) so this was a real treat for the kids.

We are also enjoying the warm weather. Hard to believe -6 feels like a heat wave! We have been blessed with above seasonal temperatures, well deserved after that cold stretch. The kids have been spending extra time outside on the rink and made a ice fort with daddy last night. Unfortuantly, I think Liam is coming down with another cold since he was coughing the entire night.

Since this is probably the last post I will make before Christmas, i thought I would take the time to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and pray that God will bless you in the coming year.

Liam's first

Liam had his first experience on skates yesterday. Liam has size 6 feet, tiny for his age. I was told that size 8 was the smallest size you could get....but.....at Canadian Tire we found some itty bitty size 6 skates. The temperature certainly has warmed up over the past few days so last night Aidan and Steve spent some time playing hockey outside and then I brought Liam out to try out his new skates. He is still trying to get the hang of it. He just wanted to move really fast like his brother and it was hard explaining that if you are slow and steady, you won't fall. I am sure he will get the hang of it soon enough.

All tuckered out already!

Halfway there

We are halfway through the advent calender yesterday. That means Christmas is right around the corner. The kids have been faithfully reading Granny's advent calender every morning and they take turns hanging the ornaments on the tree and reading the verses. It has been really special this year and they really understand the whole meaning more and more. Liam on the other hand is more interested in the chocolate advent calender and doesn't understand why he only gets one a day and can't eat them all at once.

We experienced a rather chilly few days over the weekend. The furnace decided it would quit on the night it was in the -40s. We have a new furnace so this was frustrating. Thankgoodness, saturday morning we had it fixed and it was only minor (but still worth $160!) The joys of being a homeowner!

Monday we had Granny and Grandpa come and spend two nights with us. This was so nice for the kids because they have never slept over much because of our limited space in our old place but in our new place we have plenty of room.

Granny and I headed shopping in the evening to the mall. That was more exhausting then running a marathon. We were beat and I didn't even find that much other then new undies from AE and a baby gift for my nephew.

Tuesday we had the Calvin Christian School christmas concert. Aidan dressed up in his new tuxedo (my $10 ebay find) and stoled the show with his cuteness! They sang two songs, Jingle Bells (with a Christian twist) and another song.

Granny with the kiddos.

Aidan's kindergarten Class at the concert.

It is now Thursday and I have been struggling to get over some kind of cold/flu and lost my voice, and Aidan and Cassidy woke us up with puke in the middle of the night on wensday. They seem to be feeling better this morning but I feel rotten and even had to cancel my babysitting yesterday. I spent my day yesterday dealing with sickness and doing laundry so the kids had clean bedding to sleep on.

Today I feel alot better, but still have not much of a voice. The kids are all home today and I think they are all feeling pretty much back to normal.

Let it snow!

Over the weekend I was excited to watch Cassidy learn to skate for the first time. Aidan has also improved quite a bit. I had bought Cassidy skates last year but we didn't get out with her to practise, and now that we have the rink in the backyard, the kids have been on there every day practising.

Cassidy was a little nervouse at first but it didn't take her long to start moveing around, pretty good for her first time. She refuses to hold onto anyone or have anyone help her. Yes, I know, the kids need helmets. I am on a mission to find some used ones today.

Sunday afternoon the kids also enjoyed sledding on a hill daddy made them and I took them for several sled rides around the bay.

Liam wasn't a happy camper. I don't have skates his size yet so he was rather frustrated that he couldn't skate.

24 more days till christmas!

So I was watching the news today, and was informed that we have the coldest winter in 15 years heading our way. I am now accepting all donations towards my treadmill fund!
Here are a few pictures of the house. The dining room and living room are pretty much complete and they have come a long way from there original state. The dining room had an entire mirrored wall which is now gone. Cassidy was sad to see her dancing room become a dining room!

Our leather furniture we picked up for an amazing deal. We are pleased with them but I don't recommend furniture shopping with three children, although it defiantly helps you make up your mind fast!

Thie week again was another busy week. I have been trying to get some christmas baking done and We also created this beautiful gingerbread house. It is missing a load of candy off of it right now because I have a little 2 year old boy who has been sneaking it. Steve had a bright idea to make the kids a small skating rink. He has been faithfully pouring water on it every night, trying to make it perfect. I hope this will help the kids be more comfortable on there skates. The picture is terrible. I took it through Cassidy's bedroom window because it was cold and I was a wimp and didn't want to leave my warm pjs!

COLD!!

Today I went running this morning with the tempature (with wind chill) reaching a chilly -30. What was I thinking? Well, I am determined to go through the winter and we don't have a treadmill...I guess if we didn't go and buy new furniture, new bed and a zillion other things on the house, we could have bought one. on the other hand, I am not a huge treadmill fan. I get bored with the fact you don't get anywhere and if I am outside, I love the fact I can leave my kids for that time period and not have to listen to them. I don't really want to go to the gym. I am limited for time.
Our life still has continued to fly by. Last week we kept busy again with school, ballet and other activities. The weather defiantly makes it more challenging to get from one place to another and is an adjustment. Over the weekend the kids had fun at there cousins birthday party, and we went and picked up our new coffee tables and end tables, and a new mattress set. We were in real need of a new bed and I must say the money was well spent. I was blown away with how expensive mattresses are though and didn't realize we would have to spend so much.

Sunday was the grey cup and we had a house full to celebrate this Canadian holiday. It was good to put all our space to good use.
We have already been busy getting ready for christmas. We have been busy baking christmas cookies already. The kids have had fun decorating several batches of sugar cookies already, plus we had to bake for Aidan's school's craft sale. Today I hope to make a gingerbread house with them all.
I am done the christmas shopping and have all the presents organized and wrapped in my closet to avoid any snoopers.
Aidan gets his first report card this week. His teacher also phoned to update us on his progress. He is excelling in math and science, not a surprise. He can count to 100 and can subract and add like a pro. obviously he gets his math skills from his daddy. He is struggling with his letters and speech and will be taking some speech therapy. This also is no surprise to us. Socially, he is doing great and his teacher tells us he is a good listener and helper (what?? is this the same boy??) It is hard to believe we are going to be at Christmas break so soon already.

Other then that, things are all pretty normal here. I still can't believe it is December on saturday. Christmas will be here before we know it and then after I have to think about Aidan's birthday, which falls so close after.

It is almost the middle of November already. This means Christmas is right around the corner. I usually am one to love the season but this year we were a little overwhelmed with how the whole christmas thing was going to work.

You see, Christmas is the busiest time at Steve's work, so we are in for a long December, with long days and him working some weekends. Yes, the extra money is nice but it just adds to the business of this already busy household.

Christmas is supposed to be about Joy, peace and all that stuff. But honestly, I was rather dreading the season. Steve will have christmas day off, that is probably it. So how to we fit our christmas and two other gatherings into that one day? Thankfully, we have worked it all out and we will be haveing my side of the family Christmas at our house the weekend before.

My tree went up 11 days late this year. It is usually up on November 1st, but I fell behind because of all the other stuff that was being done.

But it is up and because of the position in the house, i had to decorate all the way around, so I had to get more decorations. The kids also decorated there own tree in the basement. That way I don't feel guilty for not letting them touch mine.

Steve went back to work today. Today is a holiday for him but he decided to work double time and since he has been off for two weeks it isn't so bad.

He has finished painting most of the house. Last week he hung christmas lights up outside. he also fixed two of the bedrooms walls because they had water damage from the windows and they are now ready to paint.

We have acomplished what we wanted to do now but still have lots more we want to do. We want to do as much as we can afford to do in winter so by spring we can focus on the outside.

As for the kids, they are still fighting awful colds. I haven't brought them to the doctor yet. I hate sitting in a clinic for hours waiting to see a doctor who will tell me to give them some over the counter medicine.

Aidan is back to school today. He loves school, I love that. I am also so impressed with the stuff he comes home that he is soaking in. I love that they memorize bible verses and he gets excited about bible stories. Aidan defiantly is very difficult though. I think alot of it is he has so much energy and he needs to learn how to focus his energy on the right things. Currently, Aidan's favorite things are barns and tornadoes, or actually any natural disaster. He has requested a tornadoe cake for his birthday.

Cassidy is loving her preschool as well. She is doing well socially which I thought may be an issue but she has really opened up and isn't as shy as she used to be. She is currently loving her ballet as well. But, she is still the princess of the house and knows how to use her cuteness to her advantage. She is lately into anything princesses and polly pockets.

Liam is trouble. Really he is. I think he is the hardest two year old I have every had. His energy and excitment is almost uncontrolable. When he doesn't get his way he gets upset. One thing though is he loves to cuddle and I hope that doesn't change. Liam loves anything with dinosaurs.

Since it has been almost a week and I have had people telling me I have been terrible at updated my blog, I knew it was time to write something.
Sunday night again, why do i feel this past week just started and now it is over, which means half of Steve's holidays are complete.
So this week was a rather crazy week. We had our floors refinished on tuesday and wensday. We tried to stay away from the house because of the terrible stench from the floors. Everything stank, even my towels in the bathroom and some of the stuff in the fridge! We slept in the basement and thursday were finally able to make our way back upstairs.
Monday I chaparoned Aidan's field trip to the firehall. I felt old being the 'parent!'

Tuesday morning we took to the entire family furniture shopping. Nothing I would recommend. Thankgoodness nothing was broken by the kids in any stores and we were able to find an excellent deal on a three piece leather set for the living room. They are being delivered this week.
Wensday we went to friends to trick or treat with them, again because of the stench of the house. Here are are kiddos all dressed up.
Our friends Troy and Andrea live in the same townhouses we lived in while we renovated our first Winnipeg home. The kids always have a blast going here and were able to trick or treat at the one we stay in for those few months. Here are the boys, and Cass.


Steve also painted the entire living room, dining room, and hallway. We hung new curtains, new light and he is currently working on painting my red dining room wall. Pictures will come when it is all complete.
As for more good news, our house money arrived this week! So exciting to see such a big check, too bad we have places for the money to go! It would be fun to go shopping!
Other then renos, our kids have all been getting over colds. Liam is still pretty congested and coughing like crazy, as much as i really hate going to the doctor, I think I may have to tomorow to kick this cold.