New Years

Warning: My spell check is awol, so forgive any errors!

Happy New Years out there!  We had a great, and crappy new years weekend all rolled into one.  We headed out to Calgary on New Years Eve, and I was finally able to rid myself of the awful haircut I have been trying to grow out since the afternoon I had it cut.  My amazing hairdresser/cousin was able to put a smile on my face, my nauseated face.  Yup, I got sick the morning we travelled west.  After Kendra brightened my life, we went to our bestest friend's house.  Where Jen and Dwayne spoiled us with gifts of masculine coloured sippy cups and Apple Jacks, (yum!).  We had a semi-great time with them.  Ryan and Dwayne had a blast acting like 10 year olds, while Jen watched my son climb all over her furniture, as I was repeatedly making trips to their lavatory.  So our fun plans to ring in the New Year were cut about 4 hours short, as we made our way over to my parents house, so that I could feel like death warmed over in the comfort of someone else's house.

I hoped that I would feel better come morning, but no such luck.  Instead, Ryan joined the bandwagon.  Our poor kids!  We were sitting on the couch freezing and sweating together, while our kids were trying to open their Christmas gifts from Gramma and Grampa.  Problem is, Ryan and I had to take breaks in between stockings and gifts, and the kids had to wait until we were able to make our way back to the living room.  They were so good about it too.  Very patient, and no whining at all.  What amazing children I have been blessed with!

Later on new years day, my parents had a whole swack of company come over.  My grandparents, an uncle, my sisters and their families all gathered at mom and dad's place for a delicious meal of prime rib.  At least I am told it was delicious.  Ryan and I were holed upstairs in an effort to not only keep everyone else from getting sick, but in an effort to keep from getting sick again ourselves.  We both felt bad, and I made a large effort to hang out downstairs with the family as much as possible, but that was not an easy thing to do. 

The next morning we were both feeling quite a bit better, and were able to spend the day with the family that gathered around the house again.  It could have been worse, but the one thing that Ryan and I agreed on was the fact that we both needed the chance to relax, and getting sick certainly forced us to.   Not only that, but because we got sick at my parent's house, we were able to rely on someone else to help us take care of the kids.  This is not something we do often.  We rarely get babysitters, and we take our parenting responsiblities VERY seriously.  I felt bad letting my mom step in so much, as it is my job to take care of my kids, but I let her do it anyway.  Let me tell you something though, it was so nice to be able to relax, and have a break.  Thanks Mom!  You are the best, seriously!  No one is better than my mom!  (ha ha, remember Mom?)

This was the first time that Ryan and I have ever been sick at the same time.  We tend to either get sick at completley seperate times, or pass what we are coming down with back and forth.  It was a little strange, because before he felt sick, I wanted him to help out with the kids a little more, and give me the chance to relax, but then once he got sick, I didn't want him to do a thing.  I wanted to do anything I could to help him feel better.  Is this the way all spouses are, or is it just me?  I just felt so badly for Ryan, maybe because he rarely gets sick.  Although maybe it was because when a lot of guys get sick, they turn into total and complete babies.  A lot of men seem to have a "No one has ever been as sick as I am, since the beginning of time." kind of attitude.  However, maybe love is blind, but I am convinced Ryan doesn't have this attitude.  He has to be practically knocking on death's door before he's let getting sick get in his way.

Anyway, I am just glad that we are both feeling so much better and that our kids, and from the sounds of it, none of the rest of the people we visited, seemed to get sick as well.

Apart from the flu, we had an awesome time seeing our family and spending time with everyone.  We found out that Katy is doing amazing with her soccer team, and that Brooke is also headed in the same direction!  We are so proud of you girls, and we are impressed with your detication!  We love you girls so much!

I am just hoping that my mom got a few good pictures of the kids over our visit, as I was obviously pre-occupied, and hardly got any. :(  I know that she was video taping when the kids were opening presents, so we should be good!:) 

Happy New Year everyone, and God bless!

Saskatchewan Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas because we sure did! We went to Lawson's Christmas Eve Candlelight service, after which we went to Ryan's parent's house, and put up the tent in the basement for the kids, and Uncle Tyler. They loved sleeping in it. Isaiah and Tahlia went to sleep very quickly, Jenna... not so much. She was too excited, but I can relate. I have always hard a hard time sleeping the night before something I am looking forward to. Which means I probably won't have a great time sleeping tonight, because tomorrow is going to start the best part of our Christmas celebrations, for me anyhow. We are going home for the weekend to see my family! I can hardly wait!

I thought I would share a few pictures from our Christmas with everyone. So here they are!

This is actually just before Christmas. Malachi was playing with my empty hot chocolate cup, and having a blast, so I took a few pictures, and I just love this one.

This is a shot from our dining room. Someone has cleared off the snow on the pond to make a few skating rinks. I just need to get Jenna some skates, so we can get her out there!

Malachi LOVED his fruit snack candy canes. He kept saying "Whoa!" I have a video of it right here:

Here's Jenna with her stocking. Stockings have always been my favorite part of Christmas!















Here is my ALMOST completed Nativity scene. This year the stars were added. All I need is the stable, and apparently my father in law wants to hand make it. I love my nativity scene!







I'll add more pictures, and stories I am sure after New Years when I get home from going home for the holidays.

By the way, in case you are wondering, the Christmas Eve service went well, and I remembered all the words to "O little town of Bethlehem". The only hard part for a lot of the parents during that service was keeping the young ones away from the baking table in the foyer.

Here it is, two days before Christmas and I am questioning my sanity. Ryan's mom called me yesterday to ask if I wanted to go shopping with her today. I was sitting in my pjs during this phone call, at noon, and was grateful for the invite. I need to get my kids, and self out of the house. So I responded with a yes. Now I am re-thinking my hasty response. Do I really want to be stuck in a mall with all the procrastinators and many men that need to get their wife a gift yet? Who knows, maybe I'll run into Ryan. Maybe not, it's too soon for him. Maybe I can host that impromptu "Procrastinators Unite" meeting that I've been meaning to get around to. Whatever, as long as she drives. I hate the whole Christmas musical parking space game.





Speaking of parking lots in the winter, I have a beef. A few weeks a go Ryan and I took the kids on a beautiful day to Costco. This balmy day sat at -20, although quite a bit colder with the windshield I am sure. On our drive around the parking lot to find a spot, I paused behind quite a few empty running vehicles before finally finding a spot. There were at LEAST 30 cars left running. To quote a dear friend, "here's the thing..." I am not a tree hugger by any stance, but I do think it is up to us to do our small part to at least be friendly to the environment. One of the very least things we can do is shut off our cars! If you are going to be shopping for an hour, seriously? Does your radio need to be kept warm? We turned off our car, and returned an hour later, and had a warm car by the time we left said parking lot. Since this day, I have told this story to other people. We have had responses, like: " Well, I only leave my car running when I am running in for a minute" Oh, so you are like some of the moms I see at preschool, leaving their empty cars running while we pick up the kids. Why though? If you are only running in for a minute, your car doesn't have the chance to get cold. Many people are only doing their part because when they return their bottles, they get a deposit back, or turning down the thermostat brings down their gas bill. Same principle applies here folks! Gas isn't cheap, any you'd save a lot of it by turning that little key to the off position. Not to mention that if I was a car thief, I am pretty sure that I am going to go for the car with the key still in the ignition...





I have recently seen a production better than Broadway could ever hope to produce. Jenna's preschool had their Christmas party/concert. I was a total paparazzi. I filmed each song, separately, so that it would be easier to share, and I could take pictures in between. I have always found little kids performing super cute, but I have never felt the joy of watching my own precious child up there. Oh my goodness, I loved it. It was enough to make me become some crazy stage mom taking my kids to auditions, and change my name to Deana Lohan. (Lindsay Lohan's mom, for those who are pop culturally challenged. Or blessed, I think I know too much sometimes.) The kids did a great job. There was only one crier, and one typical kid who knew all the words, and sang them at the top of his lungs. The rest knew the words as well, for the most part, it was one of the rare times when you actually hear the kids singing with the teacher. (By the way, I know the videos kind of suck, but I was trying to watch them at the same time, and not through the camera.... obviously.)
Needless to say, I have never been more proud in my life, and I can't wait until next year. even more than that, I can't wait until the church productions when Malachi and Jenna will both be in them! I can't think of anything better.

Well shopping awaits, so I must go. Sigh... I really do want to get out of this house, but I don't know if I am looking forward to this or dreading it. I will have to let you know. This is probably my last to chance to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas 2009

Hey everyone!

We are missing you all in Calgary, and hope to see a lot of you at Christmas time, but it's unfortunatley going to be a really quick trip this year. We'll be out for a long weekend around New Years. So we won't get to fit in as many visits as we would like.

This Christmas is going to be spent in Saskatoon with Ryan's family. We are looking forward to it. Uncle Tyler is setting up a tent in the basement on Christmas eve for Jenna, Isaiah and Tahlis to sleep in. They are going to love it. Then we all get to wake up together on Christmas morning to open gifts and have a great time together. This is the first time we will all wake up in the same house together Christmas morning. This is a new tradition that Aimee thought up, and I think it's a great idea.

I am a little nervous for Christmas Eve this year. This is going to be my first year ever involved with a Christmas Eve service. At Jubilee, they usually hired in a band to play and we only sometimes attended. They do things differently at Lawson, and I think the change is kind of cool. I like the thought that the congregants are the ones preforming for the congregation. This summer our church hosting a large event in the local community, and have invited all the attendees of that event to the Christmas Eve service. Pastor John has asked me to sing for the service, and again on Sunday morning. I am praying that God will use me to reach others, this is going to be a bit of an outreach, and I really hope that seeds are planted. I'll be singing "O little town of Bethlehem". I thought it would be an easy one, seeing as it's a carol I have sung before, however, I didn't realize that I didn't know the words as well as I thought I did. So now I have been practising a lot trying to memorize the words, and I am a little nervous. I have 3 days to go, and I just don't want to mess this up!

I can't wait for Christmas morning. This is the first year that Jenna is truely getting excited. She is constantly asking Daddy to check his phone to see how many sleeps we have left. She loves looking at the calender to count down. Which is why I am kicking myself for forgetting to buy an Advent Calender. Oh well, there's always next year.

That's all for today, I have a lot to do before Ryan gets home. :)

Merry Christmas, Happy New year, and God Bless!

~Amanda

Who likes Jenna's new hair cut? She started it herself.... Guess who was thrilled about that? It took quite a while for me to fix it, but I think in the end it turned out really cute!

Malachi loves showing off his muscles, and no one is better at encouraging him to do ss, than his big sister!