Good things from down under

A package arrived at the door today. That's always exciting but when it comes from my dear sister in Australia it's especially good.

The kids tore into it right away and found everything that was for them. Half the bag of jellybeans is already gone. Tag was very excited to hear the big loolipop was just for him but the sad face in the photo is due to the fact that it was broken. Don't feel bad - he soon got over it.

Love the tops - Reagan said it looks beeeeeuatiful.

Thanks Leni - we miss you like crazy.

Something said by Tag the other day that I thought Leni and Mark might like:

"I wish Uncle Mark lived with us mom."

"Me too, Tag."

"If he lived with us he could kill all these little flies with his huge hands."

(We've had a bit of a fruit fly issue lately) :)

No time to blog

The irony of this is that I have been so very busy with Christmas festivities and preparations and really have so much to blog about but no time to do it.

3 more sleeps, 3 more sleeps is what I heard more than once today. While it brings great joy to their faces it brings panic to mine. I really feel less ready this year than I have in the past. I'm not sure why.
Regardless, yesterday when i should have been washing my floor or baking the nanaimo bars I promised Cooper instead I decided to go join my family in the snow. Glad I did...the floor just would have gotten dirty again anyway.

Some of my fave photos:

This one cracks me up

So does this one

Actually they all do

Nothing like getting pelted with a snowball while you're trying to climb the hill for the 1ooth time
Such a good big sister
Tony built a little jump (hard to see in the photo). Enough to get a little air. Sometimes sledding isn't all it's cracked up to be

The spray of Tony's boots (aka brakes) in the front rider's face soon proved to be not so fun

He ate a lot of snow

Tag thought it was very funny when Tony fell down the hillDoesn't that just say it allTag is almost done, I think he was carrying at least an extra pound around in snow.

The walk home was a tough one.

Snow Day

Who knew that having our lovely, warm afternoon snack out of these 'Let it Snow' mugs would actually bring snow the very next day. We'll have to try that again to see if there really was a connection. :)

Today wasn't an official snow day as the reason the kids had no school was not because of the snow but rather because the school had no power. Our school was the only one in the district that closed. But what better day than a day when you can play outside in the snow. All morning they played with the neighborhood kids and then they all came in (to my place) and hung out for the afternoon. 7 kids equals 7 coats, 7 toques, 14 boots, 14 gloves, and the odd scarf to find a place to dry.

I had big plans for today to get a whole lot done and I got a whole lot of nothing done. But the kids - they had a great day. It snowed all day and it's still coming down so I foresee a possible official snow day tomorrow.

A step back in time

The Burnaby Village Museum is a place that I went to as a kid with a class field trip many years ago and I remember loving it. So when Hudson brought home the notice a few weeks ago to say that their class was going on a trip there I knew I had to go along. So yesterday was the day and Hudson had been so excited, especially that I was going with. He still wasn't feeling very well but I pushed him to go anyway. I didn't want him to miss it but I didn't want to miss it either. We had a great day. It was supposed to rain but it held off until the ride home. The museum is set up like an old 1920's village, complete with blacksmith shop, schoolhouse, printing shop, old bakery, and a General store. The people inside the buildings are all dressed in period dress and it ws all decorated up for Christmas. Hudson's favorite was the blacksmith shop and I liked the ride on the carousel the best. Whenever I get to spend a whole day with one of the kids like that, away from home and without distractions I'm always so very thankful. And at the end of the day when Hudson said to me "This wouldn't have been nearly as fun without you Mom" I know that he's thankful for these times too.

Festive weekend

Even though most of our household has been hit with a cold we tried not to let it slow us down. The weekend was full of Christmas activities. Tony took the day off on Friday and we headed down to Alderwood Mall for our annual one-day Christmas shopping marathon. I felt like we started off slowly and we were both feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of our task at hand. Not only doing our own shopping this year but also for Nana and Oma & Opa. But as the day moved along we got a lot done. My head hit the pillow around 12:30am and I was done.

Saturday we headed to Mary's for a day of Christmas crafts and time with family. The kids crafted, ate, had a mini hockey tournament and generally hung out. Thanks Aunty Mary for a fun day.

Today it was just me and the kids. Tony went to Seattle for a Seahawks game. My plan was to get out the little Christmas trees for them to decorate and watch a Christmas movie and lay pretty low. All the kids were coughing and sneezing and I am fighting it as well so the trees did get decorated but not without every one's share of tears. Their patience with each other and mine with theirs was stretched a little today but I hope some good memories were made along the way.

December daily

Every day at around 1:30 I sit down with a cup of tea and my little chocolate treat from my very own advent calendar. Tony bought it at Starbucks a few years ago and every year he gets it out and refills it for me. With December being such a hectic month I love that I have this little daily reason to sit and relax for a few minutes.

Sickie

I've had Reagan home sick for the second day today with a fever and bad cough. So it's been a lot of this kind of thing. Lying on the couch with a bowl of grapes and apples - her go-to snack of choice. Of course Taggart needs to join her.

Set up this little corner of the living room yesterday and it has become my new favorite spot. The little frame holds 24 numbered tags to countdown December. Every day we pull off a tag and hang it on the branches. The kids, especially Hudson have enjoyed helping me make the tags.

This was the inspiration(Martha Stewart.com):
Happy December.

Oh Christmas Tree

Our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm was made yesterday. For the last few years we have gone to Murphy's Tree Farm in Aldergrove but this year they stopped doing u-cut so we were forced to find a new farm. After some googling we decided on Dogwood Tree Farm in Langley. We loved Murphy's so much and it was definitely part of our Christmas season tradition so it was hard to make that switch. But we were pleasantly surprised to find Dogwood just as great, if not better than Murphy's. Here are the highlights:

Watching Dad cut it down

Dragging it back from the fieldA little lunch at the snack shopMore snacks at the bonfire

We got the tree inside and set up to decorate. Up until a couple of years ago I would have had a great story to tell about how getting the tree in the stand and standing straight was enough to end a marriage. But sadly that story can no longer be told thanks to the marriage saving tree stand purchased by yours truly. Apparently I do know a little something about getting a Christmas tree up straight.

And again here are the highlights:

Tag always wants to do the self-taken shot

Hudson's turn to put on the starTrying to organize a family photo - always fun
Not bad

Breakdancer Boys - I promise that I won't fill up every blog post with these but for now they are really entertaining us.

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The Symonds Elves - this provided some side-splitting belly laughs at our house.

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Skipping

Reagan has been enrolled in a skipping camp since September and has loved every minute of it. It's been great to see how far she progressed in just 10 weeks. Last night was their final show.

It was very casual with all the girls just showing a few things that they had learned.

I love to watch her when she does something like this. Such concentration on her face - her mouth always wide open with every jump.

A school gym is not the ideal setting for photos but here's a few highlights. Times like this I wish I had a bigger zoom lens and a better concept of how to capture action shots.

One of her biggest fans.