Sunbeams

Yesterday was the day that Kepler has been anticipating for the past month (besides Christmas of course). He started Sunbeams! Every time we went to church in December he would say "After Christmas I don't go to nursery anymore. And there are no toys in Primary." He was a little bit nervous before church started, but once he got to Primary and sat in his row, there was no turning back. According to Kepler here are some of the highlights of the day: getting his name picked to go up and pick a worm during singing time, having Shiloh in his class (but Elsa was sick), making a crown, learning about baby Moses, and seeing me sitting at the front. *tear* He's growing up, but he's still a mama's boy. I love seeing all the adorable little Sunbeams sitting on the front row so reverently, it's just too cute. His teacher told me that when she asked the kids to draw a picture of themselves Kepler said "I can't draw a picture of me, but I can draw my belly button." So that's what he drew. Ha, that is so Kepler! Jayna was very excited to have her little brother join her in Primary. During the opening prayer she said "Thank you that we have the new Sunbeams here today."

Happy New Year!

On New Year's Eve we had a little family party. Jayna and Gibb planned a fun night for us, here was the schedule they came up with:

2:30 play in the backyard

3:00 drink hot chocolate

3:30 bath time

4:00 make a craft (crowns)

4:30 dinner 

5:00 watch a movie

6:00 eat homemade ice cream

6:30 play hullabaloo and candyland

7:00 count down and mini dance party

We followed it pretty closely, except we didn't end up having time to play the games. Because we ended up watching almost an hour of home videos instead. It was so fun, and I think this may be a New Years Eve tradition for our family. 2011 was a good year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This is what we were up to earlier in the week.

Swimming and the playground at Mac Island

 

A beautiful sunset we saw driving home at 3:49 pm

Kepler was happy to get a robe and slippers from Santa so he could match Jayna

Trying out the new sled, it was a hit!

 

 We've been having amazing weather so far this winter (I hope I don't jinx it) and so we've been able to go outside and play so much. I'm now a believer that winter can be fun! But that might change with the weather in a few weeks.

Going on a little walk in the woods.

Keira trying out the jumper for the first time

This little sweetie is 5 months old!!

Jayna changing her first diaper, and now that she knows how, hopefully not her last!

Tomorrow it's back to real life again, and I think I'm ready. When I told Jayna that she was going back to school she was SO excited. I asked her what she was most excited about and she said "The centres!!" Haha, she has been crafting almost non-stop since she's been home, but she can't wait to get back to school to do more crafts. I guess she really is an artist. :)

Christmas Day

Kepler spent most of this month on the naughty list, so we were all surprised and relieved that Santa still brought him what he asked for. I guess he made up for it in his last ditch efforts to be nice on Christmas Eve day. ;)

He was SO happy with his silver bell from Santa's sleigh. He kept holding it up to his ear and saying "I believe!" He also told me that he wished I could hear his bell too. I told him I could hear it and he said in a sad and serious voice "No Mommy, it's broken for you."

His Lightning McQueen race track was also a huge hit, and kept him occupied most of the day

Jayna of couse loved her easel and was excited about the rainbow chalk! She also got an art kit from Grandma Fitzner. So she got to be artist all day long, her dream come true.

Pretending to be Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus on the sled that Santa brought them. Kepler has been pretending to be Santa for about a week straight.

One of Jayna's other favourite presents, a Chrystal flower pot. She loves little "treasures" like this.

Kepler reading Keira the book he gave her

We got a good picture using the timer, hooray!

Christmas Day after church was so relaxing. The kids got to play with their toys all day!

This picture just makes me laugh. I think we have clone children.

 We had some friends over who work at Gibb's office for Christmas dinner. Melissa, Brittany and baby Ella

Keira and Ella's first Christmas

After the kids were in bed, we cleaned up and skyped with more family. Then we tried to watch a Christmas Carol and we were both falling asleep. Ha, you know you're old when you have to watch a movie over 2 nights because you can't stay up. :)

Christmas this year was pretty close to perfect for our family. I'm kind of sad it's all over already, but Gibb still has this whole week off. I'm excited for lots of family time and hopefully getting some projects done!

Christmas Eve

 Staying home for Christmas this year was so fun and relaxing! We loved it! We missed all our family, but it was fun to be able to start our own traditions, and it was especially fun to not have to pack up all the presents.

On Christmas Eve morning we had our crepes breakfast. 

This is a tradition that Gibb's family usually does on Christmas morning, but we knew we wouldn't have time before church on Sunday morning.

We thought the kids would love it but they wouldn't eat the crepes, even after we drizzled them with chocolate sauce. Kepler ate about 4 sausages, and Jayna just ended up having egg nog and a huge bowl of strawberries and blueberries.

In the afternoon we headed over to the Anderson's to spend Christmas Eve with them. The one downside about not being with family for Christmas was that there were no cousins around to entertain my kids while I was busy cooking and getting everything ready. So this was perfect timing.

The kids went sledding right in their backyard, it was perfect!

Emma and Keira

Inspecting all the presents, Jayna had all the presents under our tree memorized

We fed the kids an early dinner and then the adults got to take our time enjoying fondue, it was SO yummy! Then we watched a short nativity movie and then acted it out.

Kepler was the Angel and surprised us all with how well he knew what to say

2 Mary's riding on the donkey

Looking at Baby Jesus

Mary, a Wise Man, Mary, a Shepherd

(We were figuring out who everyone was going to be and Kepler wanted to be a Wise Man and then he said "But I don't have any Frankincense!" haha)

Keira in her Christmas outfit

All the kids opened up their jammies and then we each opened up a little gift (one of the Anderson's traditions)

We got home early enough to still read a couple Christmas stories and spread out reindeer food on the lawn. Jayna even spotted Santa and his reindeer in the sky while we were driving home, but poor Kepler missed it.

Santa told Jayna and Kepler that his favourite kind of cookies were chocolate chip. So on Christmas Eve morning we had to bake another batch of cookies, and now we have a big bag of chocolate chip cookies in our pantry...along with all the other shelves of junk food.

All set up and ready for Christmas morning!

It was such a fun night! We loved getting to spend time with friends, but still be able to come home to our own house and get the kids to bed not too late. Christmas Eve is my favourite part because it's so magical and exciting.

Christmas Festivities

 I've been inspired to do a big long December post by Lindsay (since I've barely blogged all month), and I even stole her title. :)

This year is our first Christmas staying home by ourselves since we've been married. I've had mixed feelings about it. Earlier this week I was a little sad and missing family. But overall, it's been so fun and relaxing. I'm really looking forward to Christmas Day when our kids can actually stay home and play with all their toys. We've made sure to do lots of Christmas activities to keep us busy and happy, here's what we've been up to.

Our Elf, Star came back again this year. Jayna and Kepler would talk to him about everything. They would tell him where we were going whenever we left the house ("Bye Star, we're going to the library."), let him know what we were up to each day ("Star, today at school I sat by Scarlett at snack time..."), and made sure he knew to tell Santa if they were being naughty or nice ("Star, Kepler just hit me, AGAIN!")

 

The youngest gets to go on Daddy's shoulders and put the star on the tree.

 

We put Christmas lights up outside for the first time. Jayna was really worried that people wouldn't know that we were celebrating Christmas if we didn't have any decorations outside.

Putting "decorations" up inside too

Finally getting some cute smiles from Keira, she's the happiest baby, but I can never catch it on camera

Doing some Christmas baking with Brittany

Writing letters to Santa

 Making gingerbread houses at school 

(Jayna's school is an Apple School, so they used dried fruit to decorate)

Kepler pretending that Keira's bath sling is Santa's sleigh with presents on it

 and that he is Santa on the sleigh

Making ice cream out of snow, it was yummy!

Some Christmas crafts

Making a gingerbread house at home

Finding another use for my empty advent calendar string at the end of the month, hanging my Christmas cards!

Keira wearing the Christmas gown that Jayna and Kepler wore at their first Christmas

Jayna's Christmas concert at school

Gibb and I will need to brush up on our French Christmas vocabulary before next year

Primary kids singing at the Ward Christmas party

I had to add this one in, because I love how squished Keira's cheeks are!

Doing crafts at Jayna's Christmas party at school

Jayna and her teacher, Madame Diane. Jayna LOVES her! She wrote in her Christmas card "You have the best ideas for kids and that's why school is so fun. Thanks for letting us decorate gingerbread houses. You're my best friend."

A ride on the sled (I think we need to get a bigger one)

And finally going to see Santa at the mall today. We left it so late and thought we would be in line forever. But we only waited 10 minutes!!

Merry Christmas!!