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.

Santa?

When Mark and I first realized that we were going to be parents, at some point we had a discussion about whether or not we would "have Santa" in our house. We decided no.

I'm realizing now, after going through a Christmas season with a 4-year-old, that this is easier said than done. Santa is everywhere on TV and in the stores, we can visit him in the mall, and all Chloe's friends have parents who promote Santa. Grandpa Barry also dressed up as Santa yesterday afternoon while we were over at Rose & Barry's for presents and dinner. Chloe thought it was SO awesome that she got to see Santa and that he gave her a present. (Kara not so much. She kept saying "No like it!" while Santa was there, and she cried a bit.)

After thinking about it a bit in bed last night, I have realized that there is nothing really wrong with Santa - its what we say about Santa that is important. What I find wrong with Santa is the "naughtY or nice" aspects, implying that you need to be good to get presents. This is why I think it is wrong:
1) You can't expect children to be good all the time. You can't expect adults to be good all the time either. We are all born as fallible humans, sinners. This is why God sent his son Jesus to save us, the reason we have Christmas in the first place.
2) Presents don't need to be "earned." Mark and I give presents because we like to, and because baby Jesus received gifts from the wise men. We will give our girls gifts whether they were "good" or not.
3) We are ultimately responsible to and judged by God, not Santa. If we are striving to be good, we should do so in an attempt to be closer to our Father and Maker, not to get presents from some fictional character based on a God-serving man from a few hundred years ago.

So next year, I think we'll make it simple, just like this year: a single visit to say hi to Santa (no photos), no presents from Santa on Christmas morning, a discussion about St. Nickolas on Dec. 6 (and likely later too), and maybe a visit from Santa at Rose & Barry's. No "Santa is pretend" from us, but no promotion of Santa either. I don't want to deny my girls the fun of pretend, but we want to keep Christmas focused on Christ.

Merry Christmas

Again we celebrate Jesus's coming to Earth to save us all. We are so thankful for this.

May you all have a wonderful Christmas, enjoying family and friends (and presents). We wish many blessings for you and yours.

Bathtime this morning.
Mark: "Chloe, hows the water?"
Chloe: "Perfect! My favorite temperature!"
Mark: "Yeah, perfect is my favorite temperature too."

Mommy! (So Cool!) and Happy Thanksgiving

Kara has just made the jump to calling me after nap and in the morning with "Mommy!" instead of with crying. Friday morning was the best example. I woke up to both of our girls calling Mommy from their beds :) Its cool! I love it!

I also wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We are thankful for family, friends and the fact that the sun appeared while we were in church and it is now shining brightly outside!

Life...

...is progressing as normal. Not much to report, but what there is to share I will do so now...

Mark is working 10 hour days (finally). We miss having him home at 4, but appreciate the extra money it brings in, so we can do fun things like go out for meals.

On Saturday we took our girls to the miniature railroad in North Burnaby. Its a small park with lots of track and 1/18th scale engines that pull bench cars. Lots of fun!

Kara just keeps on talking more and more. It's wonderful! She's also really interested in letters, though all she can say is "A" and "O".

Chloe has now had 2 weeks of preschool, and is enjoying it like last year. We have to wait one more week, and then she also gets to go to dance class. Both times we have dropped Chloe off, Kara also goes to the story-time rug and really wants to be a part of preschool. I am sure the same thing will happen with dance class.

I am starting a dance class of my own tomorrow night. I bet I will be super tired and super sore on Tuesday morning! It will be nice to do something I enjoy by myself for 2 hours though :)

18 months (plus a few days)

Kara turned 18 months old on September 10. Wow! A year and a half already. And its been filled with tons of smiles, laughs and cuddles, and general amazement at our beautiful baby girl! Kara, we love you very much.

Chloe starts preschool tomorrow, and is really looking forward to it. She's been asking every day "is it preschool day yet?" for at least a week... definitely excited!

Otherwise, we've had a few sicknesses in our house the past few weeks, but we're all doing good now. We've got Kara back on wheat so we can get her tested in a few weeks for celiac disease. We decided to do it now as we're tired of always second guessing what she's been eating. So far she hasn't been doing too badly, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.

Off to play with a new book Chloe got! Have a great day everyone.

Chloe's Birthday Party

Its a few days late, because I've been sick, but here are some pictures from Chloe's birthday party, which was on Saturday August 28 :D