Amy's New Game

Sean and Kristin gave Amy a game for Christmas. I'm not sure what it is called, as the box is currently hiding in the nether regions of the house, but Amy absolutely loves it! You place all the little leaves into the base and then, through pressure only, no turning on necessary, the fan magically goes on and the little leaves begin to shoot out of the hose, into the air. The players, all with their nets ready, then try to collect the little leaves as they float through the air. Then there is the music. It plays . . . all . . . the . . . time. No need to turn it on as it too automatically comes on. Oh, I forgot to mention, there is also no need to fiddle with the volume as there is only one setting - LOUD. And we play it at least twenty times a day, so we all know the song by heart.

Thank you Seanie and Krissy. At least Amy really loves it.

Christmas Cards

I meant to send Christmas cards this year, but I still haven't been able to master the great art of organizing my time and working full time. Yes, I know many parents do it, but I still haven't figured out how to do anything outside of the usual routine. So the cards are coming, they're just a little late.

We had this great picture of all the kids for the card, but it just seemed all little . . . umm . . . boring. So instead, we used this one.

From our house to yours. We hope you had a wonderful holiday.

Amy-isms

• Amy is learning all about letters and punctuation at school. We were reading the other day, and Amy was telling me the letters in one of the sentences, but when she came to the end of the sentence where there was a question mark, she said “Mystery Mousca Tool”. Can you tell her favourite show is Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse?


• Choosing a Halloween costume was rather difficult for Amy this year. For the longest time she wanted to be wrapping paper. Then it was the couch and finally, it was earrings! Ugh! In the end, Mommy made a few 'sewable' suggestions.


• When Amy gets frustrated with us, she sometimes makes a growling sound and clenches her fists before she walks away. With the approach of Christmas however, she would often point at the offending party and say, “You’re on the naughty list!”.


• When Amy was opening her stocking Christmas morning, she turned to me and said, “I was on the nice list, Mama”. Yes Muffin, you were.


• This morning, I was lying in Amy’s bed and we were talking about the fact that Christmas was now over. She suddenly got up, went to the window and opened up her curtains to look outside. With a sigh, she said, “Oh no. It’s still winter”. If only winter could be over as quickly as Christmas!

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas at our house. It was literally full of family and friends for two very busy days - and I loved every minute of it.

Christmas Eve found Robin and his little helper doing some last minute wrapping. Amy loved helping in this department. One of the fun games Christmas morning was trying to decipher the name tags on the gifts, as Amy had written most of them. All the letters of the person's name would be there, just not necessarily in the proper order. Sean, Kristin and Kristin's friend John were at the house for Christmas Eve day, as we had celebrated Pig Out Night on the 23rd, but they left for dinner at their Great Aunt's house around 5. My Dad and Aunty Marilyn showed up and we had an impromptu ballet recital, with Dad and Aunty Marilyn contributing to the performances Amy was giving.

Sean had received a pair of Hulk gloves that made Hulk-like noises when bashed together. This brought great joy to Amy. So much for our non-violent home!

My sister Carol and her friend Oliver soon arrived, and Amy was quick to volunteer her assistance in putting the presents under the tree.

Our friend Arlene arrived after her dinner with friends, and after a few drinks, we began the process of scraping Amy off the ceiling and getting her safely tucked into bed with visions of sugarplums dancing around her head. With the return of Sean, Kristin and John, we were all present and accounted for.

Santa made his appearance and generously distributed gifts for all. This is by far my favourite part of Christmas. It's the calm both before and after the storm. Sort of a no-man's-land were everything seems to be silent for awhile. It's after all the rushing around and before the morning craziness. A peaceful moment to be savoured.

I was wide awake on Christmas morning by 6:30, but apart for Arlene and Aunty Marilyn, others did not get up until after 9:30. We took a leisurely approach to opening stockings and presents. Robin felt the need to open and try on Amy's gifts, especially her new helmet that matched her new bike.

Amy, of course, assisted everyone in opening their gifts and stockings.

Aunty Marilyn got a thong in her stocking, but I don't think she read the instruction manual.

After presents and breakfast, it was time to get the turkey and all the fixings ready. Everyone pitched and helped. Arlene and Amy were on vegetable peeling duty.

Then Daddy and Amy went out to test drive the new toboggans Aunt Arlene gave Amy. Our house is flanked by the river and a creek, so we have great hills just outside our door. My nieces and nephew arrived just in time to head out and give it a try as well.

After all the fresh air, the grandkids flaked out on the couch with Grandpa.

We had a great dinner and most people stayed over for one more night due to a big dump of snow.

Boxing day was blissfully quiet as our guests left in the morning after breakfast. I claimed the couch for a wonderful three hour nap as Robin and the three kids went out for dinner. Now that's a Christmas gift!

Seanie and Krissy are Home!!

Amy is in her glory. Her beloved Seanie and Krissy are home.

Yesterday, Krissy, her friend John, and Seanie came over to do some creating of gingerbread men. I took off to run a few errands and left Amy in charge of the production. Apparently, she managed to shut off the oven while showing Sean how to set the timer with the result being that the first batch was raw and the second burned. They seemed to hit their stride and the remaining cookies turned out just fine, although it seemed that more candy was consumed that used to decorate. Today, Amy and I went to visit Santa in the mall. What was I thinking? Getting a parking spot was tough, the lineup to see the Big Guy was an hour and a half, and getting out of the mall parking lot took forever. Amy seemed to take it all in stride and enjoyed herself nonetheless. Mommy, not so much.

Once back safely at home, we began preparations for Pig Out Night. This dinner is a family ritual that annually takes place on the 23rd. Everyone is allowed to eat whatever they want. This used to result in ordering pizza and Chinese food, while making tacos, Kraft dinner, ice-cream and a chocolate fondue. Tonight, the menu was paired down somewhat - taco dip, pizza and pasta with ice-cream for dessert.

Amy and Kristin celebrated by doing their hair with matching Santa ponytails.
Only two more sleeps!

Tea Parties

My friend Peter came over with his son Josh for a play date. Amy enjoyed having Josh over, but she had a great deal of difficulty sharing with him. Everything he wanted to play with, she wanted to play with too. I can foresee a great deal of difficulty and a slight period of adjustment when #2 arrives from China.Once Sean got up, Amy presented him with his cupcakes she had decorated for him earlier. Sean, being the good sport that he is, was only too happy to sit at Amy's table and partake in the tea party, as long as he was able to eat his fill of cupcakes.

Dance Recital

Last night was Amy's dance recital for her ballet class. She had to be backstage an hour before the concert where she was met by her wonderfully patient dance teacher, Miss Kelsey. The performance was held in a beautiful, old vaudeville theatre.

I was such a proud Mama watching our little girl up on stage, giving it her all. She didn't seem nervous at all.

It was hilarious watching all the dancers seemingly do different moves all at the same time. It just made it all the more adorable.

I apologize for the poor picture quality, but I did not use my flash and keeping the shutter open that long makes for a shaky photo. This one, however, was too cute to pass up.

Following the show, we all (Arlene, Carol, Carol's friend Oliver, Kristin, Daddy and I) went out for dinner where Krissy presented Amy with a beautiful bouquet.

Thank you Krissy. You made someone very happy.

After dinner, it was off to the airport where we picked up Seanie. Everyone is home now. Let the holidays begin!

Baking Cookies

Amy and I decided to do some serious baking tonight. Okay, not really. We actually used a cookie mix that came with her new chef's hat and apron. They weren't the best tasting cookies, but from my perspective, they were quick, easy and gave Amy an project for the night. Once again, there was only a minimal amount of snacking going on.

Doesn't everyone bake in the buff?

Such concentration.

Beautiful. Both my girl and her creative cookies.

Another Busy Sunday

We were off and running this morning, bright and somewhat early, to the Santa Brunch at The Bay downtown. It was our friend Kerra's suggestion and we were forewarned that it was"a little crazy". Well, it lived up to its reputation. It was crazy and fun.

The band (yes, you read that right - first thing in the morning!) asked all the kids to come up on stage, grab an instrument and join in. Amy, being a pro since last week, hopped at the chance to showcase her talents on the tambourine.
We think she's going to be a stage performer of some kind when she gets older.

Every chance she got, she was right up there, singing and dancing away.

Then, it was off to the Symphony for me while Daddy and Amy went to her Chinese Dance lesson. Today was a special day, one of only two of the year, where parents are allowed come into the class and watch the children.

While this is not a picture of traditional dance (just a warm up game) . . .

. . . this is. It's quite amazing to see the kids tossing the kerchiefs in the air - and catching them. Okay, that doesn't actually happen all that often, but it makes for hilarious antics, and the girls are always amazed when they do catch them.

First you toss it up.

Then wait for it to come down, hopefully to you.

After Daddy and Amy picked me up, we returned home where Amy got ready to do some Christmas baking. Not that we ever did any, but she just got ready. Just in case.

Amy's First Pedicure

I took Amy for her first pedicure this week. Okay, it was really just polish and nail art, but it was fun none-the-less.

She was actually not feeling well that day, but insisted on going to school. All was fine until the afternoon when she got sick at school and they called me to pick her up. She cried at the mention of going home and I soon realized that it was because she didn't want to miss her nail appointment. She was eventually persuaded to come home and have a nap, but would wake up every fifteen minutes to ask what time it was and if it was time to leave for her appointment.

She was fascinated by the entire process and sat so still.Such tiny toes make for a small canvas.

She had a cup of hot chocolate, which was exciting in itself, but she hardly touched it as she was so mesmerized by what was happening to her nails.

Tada! Sparkly red polish with a tiny snowman. Perfect for the holidays.

The Gingerbread House

For the last few nights, Amy has been working hard on a gingerbread house. Really hard.With only a few snack breaks.

These were her gingerbread people. I thought I should tell you just in case it wasn't clear.

I think the candies they supplied were just a little too heavy.

Either that, or the icing was too runny.

Here she is on day three of the gingerbread experience.

If you know my anal personality, you know how hard it was to sit back and let Amy do this herself. Okay, maybe I couldn't just sit there and watch. There was this large slit in the roof line and all the candies were falling through, and it was driving me crazy, and . .

. . maybe I never should have taught Amy how to use the camera.

Even Daddy had to offer advice. Thankfully, Amy didn't heed that or who knows what the house would have looked like!