Christmas Proper

Christmas morning was beautifully white, crisp and clear. (After a nauseating blizzard coming home from Sudbury. But we made it, safe and sound.)
A traditional Christmas breakfast of oranges and Oatmeal crisp.

DH prepares his chocolate/instant coffee concoction.
Excitement brews around the new easel. Chalk it up to Santa! (groan)
Woohoo, presents!
And princess hats. Plus an outfit from Auntie Jennifer. The size 3 pants are WAAAY too big for some reason... they might fit next year. :)

Anya puts on a puppet show with her new theatre box.
Dhara tries it out.

I put on a show of excitement in order to induce envy and jealousy in my sister, to create the false impression that I received this DVD (not yet out in Canada) way earlier than she. (A truly dastardly evil plot.) The plot began with my DH, however, as it was he who created the false DVD cover and the ruse, intended originally to fool me.
Phew. That's done. Now I don't have to blog again until February. :)

Christmas (Eve) morning

Yay! Matching jammies! And you know what that means... time to torture the children by making them sit still on the couch for a photo.
Only one set of eyeballs open. I wanted to point out the similarities in Hayden/Dhara's faces, and Anya/Elora.
Large furry creature headgear.
Hugs, hats, and shiny things.

Christmas Eve Eve Pics

These are from my Dad's house, and we're pretending it's Christmas Eve. Here's Anya, very excited to be visiting her cousins.
Guest appearances by Adrian (above, blurry) Gr'Auntie Penny, and Gr'Uncle Ron.
Gotta love storytime.
And running around the coffee table is an eternal favourite. Daddy's tv seems to be on fire.
Jennifer looking well. Temporarily.
I like this one better.

As per popular request

Your Handy Dandy Guide to Telling Dhara and Elora apart
Dhara and Elora are fraternal twins, and very different looking. If you have trouble telling them apart, it just means you need to visit us more often. So come on by. I'll put coffee on. In our Xmas portrait (above), Elora is on the far left, and Dhara is on the right. Anya of course, is grinning like a fiend in the middle. :)

1. Dhara is 5 cm shorter than Elora.
2. Dhara has fine hair with a more golden tinge, Elora has thicker ash-brown hair.
3. Elora has a crown/cowlick right at her hairline on the left side (her right.) As a result, her bangs often look wonky. Dhara's always lie flat, sometimes pushed to the side.
4. Dhara looks a little like Hayden - round forehead, larger skull, wider facial features.
5. Elora looks more like Anya and my Mom, with finer features.
6. Dhara reminds me of one of the Olson twins, from Full House.
7. Elora sucks her thumb.

Holiday Portrait

Merry Christmas!

We've had a nice couple of Christmases these past few days. We pretended yesterday was Xmas at my dad's, and it was a nice visit except that everybody was ill. Jennifer's family had a lot of stomach problems, as did I and Dhara, my Dad has bronchitis, and Sage had a fever. So now that we've exchanged virii, it should be a lovely time for all these next few days.

Aside from that, we had a good visit, saw a couple of aunties, ate good food, and everyone slept well, wonder of wonders. The drive home was a little scary though, as again, it was snowing and blowing and slippery all the way back. Sigh. Par for the course.

This morning was fun. The kids were very patient, even sitting still to have breakfast before we opened presents. It was good that we "practiced" yesterday. The favourite thing this morning was the gigantic candy cane that we got at Poppa's.

We've got lots of leftovers from yesterday, too, so we just have to laze around all day in our jammies and not even have to cook. Time to relax, I love it.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get them off the camera.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Anya's Pictures

Anya got a cool kids' camera for her birthday, and I thought I would share some of her pictures with you now that I've found the USB cord for it. :)

Elora must be tired.

Dhara at the burger place we went to last week, waiting patiently for her food. We actually had a not unpleasant eating out experience, compared to the last time we tried to go out for pizza. Let's just say that with no high chairs and 3 cranky kids, we ended up just packing it all to go after about 30 minutes of various kinds of wrestling, screaming, spilling, crying, and general unhappiness.

We did however, learn what NOT to do when out for dinner with 3 young children.

1. If they have a waiting time for a table longer than a couple minutes, leave. You will use up all your kids' patience and have none left for waiting for the food.

2. If they don't have enough highchairs, leave. Booster seats with no seatbelts are not acceptable substitutes.

3. Order the kids' food right away when they come to take your drink order. Do not wait to order their food. Ask them to bring it as soon as they can.

4. Get the kids settled and let them play with/eat the crayons and colouring mats. This will use up approximately 45 seconds.

5. Do not order drinks too soon. They will get rowdy and full and not want to eat their dinner. Order milk or juice to come after dinner is done. Or bring your own sippy cups. (Always a good choice.)

6. Order something for yourself that you can get, and eat fast.

7. Skip dessert.

Except for #7, we did all these things wrong the last time. But now we know better. :)

More blurry pictures. Anya pushes the button and then right away moves it to look at the picture on the back of the camera. This does not encourage a steady hand.

Anya took her camera with us grocery shopping.

The view from inside the cart.

More Birthday Party Pics

Hayden and Anya all snugly on the couch. Cuties.
Anya enjoying her pony ride.
Someone said she went around about 8 times...
Elora did not do much aside from sit on the horse. You can tell how much she loved it by this picture:
Dhara seemed to enjoy the ride. She didn't protest, anyway. I had one hand on her arm, another on the helmet which kept falling into her eyes it was so big, and another girl was on the other side holding Dhara's other arm. Plus the lady leading the pony. We all went around the barn 4 times I think. We made quite a procession. Here is another picture of Elora and Dhara together this time on the pony. Elora seems, um, well, slightly less panicked.
Cake and cousins.

Snake

I had to post this, even though Jennifer already put it on her blog. This was at the party on Sat. when the aunties took the kids through the petting zoo.

I think she likes it!

I think therefore I blog*

Anya yesterday said to me, "Mommy, my brain talks to me and I can hear it inside my head!" It's so interesting to see how kids interpret the world.

*I would blog about the pony party we had on the weekend, but the batteries for my camera died, and I have to get some pictures from other people. So I'll wait until later.... yoohoo, Other People....

People's Choice Awards

Hey there, if you're so inclined, feel free to vote for Dr. Horrible (Best Online Sensation) at the People's Choice Awards.
You can vote once a day, so vote early and vote often!
www.pcavote.com/pca

Two of my Favourite Things

Neil Patrick Harris and Sesame Street. Awesome.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDaszN9ByxM

Anya's Birthday, and the Love of December

Anya turned 4 yesterday! Wow!

We had a nice time with Nanny this past weekend, and she was here for Anya's birthday party with 3 little friends on Sunday. It was fun. The moms stayed and had coffee, and the kids did crafts and ran around and ate "hamburgers" without the patty and it was great. Anya had a blast.

Yesterday she opened her present from Mommy/Daddy and Nanny. We got her a dolly that makes a sucking noise when you put her bottle in her mouth (the noise doesn't happen for breastfeeding however - very prejudiced there) and Nanny got her a dry-erase board. She just loves erasing. Anya that is. Not Nanny. Well, maybe she does. I'm not sure.

Anya is very excited to have "three" birthdays, as this upcoming weekend we're going out to Sudbury for a joint Hayden/Anya party, with pony rides. Her 3 birthdays are kind of like our three Christmasses. (One here, one in Sudbury, and one in Toronto.) Anya is so loving December.

DH took the kids for a walk around the block on the toboggan. He wants me to mention that I was snug and warm in the house, taking pictures through the windows, while he braved the cold, cold day. I think it was -3. Heh.
It's gotten colder since. It went down to -25 a few nights ago. Monday was -18 while waiting for the bus with Anya. Nostril sticking weather. Gotta love it!

Why, hello!

Hello, there. Why, yes, I am updating my blog, thanks for asking. I know. It's been a while. Although I haven't taken any pictures lately. You'll just have to read. Sorry, bad bloggress. What's new, you ask? Well. I didn't have a plan when I started writing this, so you'll just have to bear with me as I try to put my scattered thoughts in order. Hang on. Just a sec. 1, 2, 5, 3, 7... no that's not right....

1. Choir. I had my first concert on Monday. It was fun. And short. Only 20 minutes, which made it perfect to bring the girls to. (Grammar police, please take note: That was a split infinity, or a dangling principle, or something, and I don't care.) I couldn't see very much from the stage but I knew they were there because I heard Elora SHRIEK at the top of her lungs. It was a happy shriek. I think. It made everyone giggle, even the conductor. If anyone is in North Bay on January 17, we're having another concert. I don't think I'll invite the girls, since it will be slightly longer and just at bedtime. We'd get the unhappy shrieks for sure.

2. Busyness. December is filling up, wow. This weekend we have Nipissing's staff Xmas party, the Children's Bazaar, Anya's birthday party, and I have a Guiding Xmas dinner, plus Nanny is coming tomorrow and staying for the weekend. The next weekend we have Hayden/Anya's birthday Pony Party, the Nipissing U. Kids' Xmas party (where Santa arrives by helicopter-- way cool!) plus we have to find time to get our Xmas tree in there somewhere. We're planning on Christmas Eve at my dad's, having Christmas morning at our house, and going to Toronto after Christmas. I think I've missed some stuff, but that's our December in a nutshell. Perhaps a pistachio. Mmmm. Pistachios.

5. Snow. We have lots of it. And more is coming down as we speak. Elora calls snow "bubbles." We built a toboggan run in the back yard. A short one, but it's about shoulder height. My shoulders, I mean. Anya loves it. Dhara and Elora, not so much. They cried to go back in the house. Anya cried when we went inside. Sigh. Can't win. Adding to the various blogs about snowmen, we built a tiny one back when it first snowed, but he's gotten mushed and blended into the sea of snow by now. Again with the no pictures, I'm afraid. When I'm by myself with three kids, I find I don't often have time or the hands for a camera.

3. Christmas shopping is SO nearly done! I only have two more things to get. Love it.

7. I took Dhara and Elora to their Infant Development appointment this past week. They both are mostly within normal ranges for everything, but they scored low on communication. Of course, the appointment was just at nap time, and they both were extremely shy, so I'm sure that didn't help. I have been a little... not concerned exactly, but... aware, that Dhara has not been talking a lot. She's improving, but it seems like she just likes to let Elora do all the talking. I booked an assessment for her with One Kids' Place, which will give me a better idea of where she stands. I also booked Elora, just in case, because of the long waiting lists. My *telephone* appointment, where they call to ask me questions, is in February. Who knows when I'll actually get to SEE someone in person.

1,009. I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed early tonight. Oh wait, I have to clean. Nuts.

Quickie Post

I had a fantastic time this past weekend. I went to a Girl Guide Leader "convention" in Toronto. We had great food, talked about all things Girl Guide-ish, and had amazing guest speakers, but the highlight of the weekend was a visit from the Drum Café. Imagine 400 people playing Djembe drums all around you, and with you. We WERE the entertainment. I so loved it. I would love to have a party and invite these guys. Awesome.

The other really awesome part of the weekend was the cheese. I spent WAAY too much money on cheese. But it was so good. The Brie was so...(Monty Python expletive)... runny. Yum.

Short post tonight. My Danger Cake is beeping.

Addendum Etc.

Wow, is it November 18th already? I guess November 19th, since this will take longer than 4 minutes to post. Holy cow. Time is just a flyin'. To celebrate more than half of the month of November gone already, I would like to take this opportunity to post another Hallowe'en picture.
I didn't get one of just my girls in their outfits, so I redressed them in their costumes a week ago and snapped a shot on our all-purpose-photo-background-ready-couch. I even got smiles. And this was before breakfast.

You know, I didn't mention the coolest thing about the Thing 1 and 2 hats. My DH bought them, months back, in Atlantic City on a business trip, with no thought of Hallowe'en. He just thought they were cool looking fuzzy hats. And when I decided on the Cat in the Hat theme for the kids, I started thinking about what in the world I would use for blue hair. If only I could find some sort of blue fuzzy hats.... I have to admit, I'm a little slow sometimes. It took a few days before I remembered that I ALREADY had fuzzy hats exactly the right colour in the closet.

What else has been going on in November you may ask? And I might say... um.... ??? Lots of living, and looking after kids, and things. But not really memorable-specific-anecdotal-things.

Let me think. Some freelance work, which is nice just before Christmas. Some Girl Guide events. I discovered an interesting way to open a coconut tonight. You go bowling with it. After a while, it cracks right open.

I think I should go to bed. Not only are my hyphenated-extensive-adjectives becoming quite unruly, but my eyelids are threatening to rebel and secede from my body.

Ta for now.

Hallowe'en

There has been an evil scientist lurking around our house this week. She appeared Tuesday just before Carol had to go to her Guides' party...

Anya helps Poppa carve the pumpkin, shortly before the Hussicots arrive for our Hallowe'en excursion to the fire hall. Jim Henson arrived, strangely, being dead and all. Of course, it is Hallowe'en. I love the little hand grabbing Kermit's foot in this photo.
An escapee from the zoo.
Kiddies looking grand in their costumes. I can't believe the awesome weather. I was so sure we'd need snowsuits.
A motley crew. The evil scientist is back, looking horribly familiar.
Who is that masked man?