Christmas 2011

Here are some pictures from our Christmas this year.

Mark made me a mallet:

Chloe showing off their new train set, and Kara looking confused:

 Chloe super excited about her Belle doll, and Kara opening her Cinderella:

Kara hugging her new owl:

Kara's new pajamas:

At Rose & Barry's house, opening gifts:

Waiting for Santa:

Santa arrives:

Pictures on Santa's lap:

My Christmas Make-its

So, for Christmas this year, I made (sewed) 9 presents.

The first was a pillow for Mark's Mom. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture.

The second was 7 owls, each one of different fabric, for Chloe, Kara, Ava, Emma, Aayla, Kyson and my sister Alie. Here's a photo of all 7:

And these are the ones for Kara (on the left) and Chloe:

The last thing I made was a semi-joke gift for Mark, because he loves candy corn so much:

Lots of work went into these projects, but I am super pleased with how they turned out. I'm taking a break from sewing for a week or two, then I'm going to try making myself a new purse.

Uh-oh

I think Kara heard our friend Aayla saying "uh-oh spaghetti-o's".

She in turn changed it to "Uh-oh, forgety-o's!" So cute coming from a 2 year old.

Halloween Photos

So, I haven't been here in a while. Thing is, I've been busy. I've made a ton of headbands the last few weeks (well, 5, and I'll post about those later). Here are pictures of Halloween stuff, so you guys can see how cute our girls are :)

This year, Chloe was a flower fairy, and Kara was an owl. I made both of the costumes, and they were both super pleased!

On Halloween, we went to a kids' party at our church, and then out for a tiny bit of trick or treating.

Cookies! We made Halloween cookies a few weeks ago, and these are my mummy cookies. They were cute AND yummy. I will definitely be making these again next year.

Our pumpkins! (Sitting on the dining room table.) We carved the 3 small ones (left to right: Bob the Tomato, a sad clown, a starry night). The big pumpkin was carved by a dad at Chloe's school, and is apparently a Vampire.

Crazy

Life around here is crazy right now.

Chloe has settled into school, but Kara misses her a lot. Mark just started his 4th week working at Kodak, and its been a tough three days. Being pregnant has really thrown everything for a loop - I don't want to eat then have to NOW, I'm tired, I'm crying too much, and there are some days that I just don't want to do anything. My body definitely likes me less this time around.

On top of that, we're headed out of town tomorrow to see my friend Coral. She lives in Trail. That's a minimum 9 hour drive. Its going to be worth it, but I know we will be SO tired when we get home.

Chair thief

Kara is a chair thief. I get out of my computer chair to do (insert thing here) and when I come back, she's in it, with a HUGE grin on her face.

Five

Of the other kind.

That's right. I'm pregnant. Come March of next year, we will no longer be a family of four, but FIVE. The baby's due date is March 13, a whole 3 days after Kara turns 3. I must be a crazy mom, but I'm actually hoping the baby is late, just so they don't share a birthday.

So, to add to the craziness of current life (Mark working at home, Chloe starting school soon) I am extra tired, always snackish (but not often truly hungry), somewhat nauseous and dealing with silly hormones. Fun times :P

Birthday Party

So, its a bit late, but here are some pictures from Chloe's party on Sunday. We all had a great time!

Chloe's flower pot cake:

Left to right - Avery, Ava, Kara, Ruby, Chloe, Aimie:

Super excited about a present:

And very happy to get a Tinkerbell art set:

Grandma pushing Kara:

3 cousins on swings, in matching dresses:

5!

Yesterday was Chloe's birthday. She's 5! How wonderful to have been blessed with such a bright and happy girl, and to be the one to care for her for 5 amazing years.

We love you Chloe.

Aunt Betty's House

Last night the girls and I went to my Aunt Betty's house in Abbotsford. Two of my aunts from out of town were visiting, along with my mom, my cousin Janet and her husband Dustin. It was really nice to connect with all of them again, I hadn't seen most of them in over a year.

Here are some great pictures from my mom's camera. So cute!

Cube

The girls were watching an episode of Charlie & Lola, in which Lola is sick and has a Rubix's Cube. Chloe asked to play with ours, I said sure and got it down for her. Kara of course promptly asks for it:
"Chloe, I please have Ruby Cube???"

So cute :)

Happy Birthday Daddy

To a wonderful daddy whom we love very much, and does so many things for us:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Thank you for being the best thing in our lives.

Tooth Fairy

Today Chloe lost her first tooth! It had been loose for almost 2 weeks. Then when we were at the neighbour's she bit into a carrot, and ta-da! No more tooth!

She is SOOOOO excited that the Tooth Fairy is going to come tonight. I just can't break her little heart and tell her the tooth fairy isn't real...

Photo Dump

Again. I find it is just easier to do it this way.

Kara with a bubble "barrette" in her hair

"Helping" the next door neighbour with hedge trimming

On the way to Canada Day at Burnaby Village Museum

Chloe on the swings at Deer Lake Park

Kara on the swings at Deer Lake Park

Photo dump

I haven't posted any photos on here since Easter (since I really don't take that many), but here are a few.

Lunch time today.
 

We borrowed a horse from next door. My cute cowgirl.
 

 These two pictures are from March, but are too cute to skip over.

Busy!

We have been so busy lately. I am now working about 20 hours a week for Statistics Canada on the Census, following up with all of those people who haven't yet complete their Census forms. Its a lot of walking, which is good exercise, but also makes me sore and tired.

Here's how today and the next two days are looking, just to show how busy we are...

Mark had an interview today. While he was there, we were at Chloe's dance class. Mark then ran some errands. Then I went out and did 2.5 hours of tracking people down. Then I got home, we cleaned up and watched the 2nd half of the Canucks game (we won!), then put the girls to bed. THEN Mark went out to Jordy's for the evening, and I spent another 50 minutes entering data in the tracking system for Census.

Tomorrow is my birthday, I'll be 29. We've got groceries in the morning while Mark is back at Jordy's house. Then its a mad scramble to clean the house while I also make a cake. My mom will be arriving around 2pm to watch the girls while Mark and I go out for an early dinner (somewhere...). We need to be back by 6:30, as Aaron and Andrew are coming for board games around 7pm.

Sunday is church, followed by a brief visit to the Sapperton Days Street Festival. Then I go to work for at least another 3 hours, and then we go to Mark's parents for dinner.

I think I'll fall over now... and again in 3 days.

"When I Grow Up"

Chloe is all about being big the past few weeks. She keeps talking about when she grows up and what she will "be" when she's an adult.

In the last week, she has wanted to be:
- a hockey player
- a firefighter
- a cowboy
- a hair dresser
- a dancer

Job

So, I went for training today for a job with Statistics Canada. I am helping collect data for the Census. I feel kinda brain dead now. I haven't done that much learning in a while.

Easter

We went to Lee's in Vernon for Easter. We had a great time.

Uncle Lee was funny, as expected, and very fun to play with. He bought the girls some stuffed bunnies that they really like.

We played games, played in the park, watched movies and hung out. Mark played through all of Portal 2 (single player) and I played the first bit of Kirby's Epic Yarn, a game I still want to get. We also had an egg hunt, which was a lot of fun for everyone.

    

We had a horrible drive on the Coquihalla last night though. We left Merritt as it reached full dark, and it was pouring/snowing the whole way from there to Chilliwack. The road was just a black, reflective surface, which made seeing anything really hard.

But we made it home safe, which is the important part.

ABC's

So, I know Kara only turned 2 just over a month ago, but she knows almost all of the alphabet! She decided she wanted to learn it late last week, and we ran with it. As of tonight, this is what she knows:

A B C D E F G H I J L O P Q R S T U W X Y Z (correctly pronounced "zed")

In other words, she is missing K M N and V. That's it! She also loves to sing, and will often sing Twinkle Twinkle or Itsy Bitsy Spider, or something she just makes up on the spot.

Chloe is obsessed with her "tap dance" game, in which she puts on her dressy shoes and stomps/dances around the kitchen floor. I, of course, get to be the audience. Kara will often join Chloe, though its not as much her type of game.

Also of note is the amazing way that our girls play together now that Kara can talk so well, and the fact that Kara has started on her terrible twos with much shrieking over very little things.

This weekend we are headed to Lee's in Vernon, and Chloe is SO excited. She often tells me that "Uncle Lee is the funniest of all." It will be fun to do something different for Easter this year, and hanging out with Lee and his kids is always fun.

And that's about it in our crazy life :)

Birthday Photos

Some pictures from Kara's party on Sunday.

Kara and her cool new sunglasses. Thanks Ava!

Showing her mermaid to Auntie Alie.

Birthday cake!

Blowing out candles by herself.

TWO!

So we're still alive, really. Life has just been super hectic, and there are so many things to do.

Today is Kara's 2nd birthday. It has been an amazing and wonder-filled two years. She has learned so much and is entirely her own person now. She's sometimes even very opinionated! We love her dearly and are so glad she's part of our family.

Going

Things are going. I'm still working 2 or 3 shifts a week at Reitmans, Kara is getting better at talking every day, and we're having fun just being us.