Winter Wonderland!

We had the most beautiful snowfall this week! The whole family (grandparents and all) headed out enjoy it! The snowflakes were so huge and everything looked so peaceful. The pictures speak for themselves.

Would you believe this picture was just taken in the woods behind our house. One of the perks of living in the beautiful Annapolis Valley. Literally only 300 meters to the forest. LOVE IT!

There's a great little sledding hill in the trails out back as well and we had so much fun (and many laughs) sliding down. We even coaxed grand-maman down the hill once! What a fun family day!

I have a great video that you can actually hear Michael laughing the best belly laugh EVER going down the hill with grand-papa. In the back ground you can hear grand-maman screaming "Jette toi a terre Michel si tu perds controle!". It's hysterical but I can't seem to load it. I think it's too big or something?!?

I love this picture of my parents. We had such a wonderful holiday together! I'm so thankful they came to Nova Scotia to spend Christmas with us again this year! xo

Gingerbread House!

There's a picture of me taken at my Grand-maman's house in New Liskeard surrounded by all my cousins and we are all busy decorating a huge gingerbread house. I have the biggest smile on my face and I'm having the best time. I think I was around 4 or 5 years old. Anyway, the point is I wanted to re-create that for Abbey and Michael. I bought the gingerbread house making kit and waited for Grand-maman and Grand-papa to be here for extra hands.

I put all the decorating candies in different bowls and away we went. Michael used the "four candies in my mouth and one on the house" method. Abbey concentrated very hard while decorating placing every candy just so. It was quite humorous.

Well the whole thing was over within 20 minutes and they were ready to move on to the next activity. Maybe next year we'll be more successful!!! Mom had fun though! (and I have great pictures to scrapbook ha!ha!)

Christmas Day!

Santa was so good to us again this year! I don't know how he fit down the chimney with all those toys?!? ha!ha! We are so, so lucky and are very thankful for all our blessings.

Steve and I had so much fun getting everything ready for Christmas day. It's so wonderful to live Christmas through their eyes (and of course to share it with my parents as well). Michael was the first one up Christmas morning and when he spotted the full stockings outside his bedroom on the banister, he ran back into the bedroom to wake Abbey up. He kept saying "Wake up! Pere Noel, Pere Noel!!" It was too cute!

It was worth a million dollars to see their ecstatic little faces on Christmas morning. I already can't wait for next year! What a fun (and exhausting) morning!

Christmas Eve!

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a twin was stirring...but two parents were running around like chickens with their heads cut off getting all the toys ready. We were smarter this year and got most of the big toys set up and batteries installed so they were good to go Christmas morning. The stockings were hung on the banister with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there (or even better Grand-maman and Grand-papa hee!hee!)

My Mom's friend Denyse made my Christmas stocking when I was born, then gave me Michael and Abbey's at my Baby Shower and this year Stephen got his. Very exciting! Just looking at them makes me happy! They are so beautiful (and so BIG!!!)

We set out milk and cookies for Santa. Abbey was convinced that Santa would prefer chocolate milk.

Christmas Eve day also means the end of the Advent calendar chocolates. Sad for Abbey and Michael but sad for choco-holic Mommy too!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

1 more sleep...

until my parents arrive! yay! I can't wait! It's been nice having a few days off before their arrival to get things ready. First, the house needed to be cleaned (damn that cleaning lady who got posted! Ugh). Second, haircuts (there will be tons of pictures taken in the next 48 hours!)Then all the laundry to be finished (if not my Mom would do it and I'd rather spend the time with her then watching her do chores!) and finally cooking (no I'm not joking...I learned 2 new recipes which I prepared today...and they are actually good!). Not to mention gift shopping, grocery shopping, wrapping, all the while entertaining three year old twins! I'm not complaining...I'm loving every minute of it!
Here's a picture I took this afternoon of the kids in their sled. Steve took them for a walk in the forest and then slidding on the hill out back while Mommy concentrated in the kitchen (I'm new to this cooking thing! lol! and he wants to encourage it!!!!)

Ha!ha!ha!

If this doesn't make you laugh out loud...there's a problem! I've seen this a hundred times and I still giggle when I see it! Enjoy! (click on link!)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9604653841

Another Snow Day!

There's nothing quite like hearing "All schools in Kings County - Annapolis Regional School Board are closed" first thing in the morning to get you in a great mood! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job but I also LOVE bonus time with Abbey and Michael! Today we decided to make our own PlayDoh! The fact that we have a whole set of PlayDoh containers in the craft drawer is besides the point. Making it together is much more FUN!

Here's some pictures of our fun little project this morning! :-)

Here's the non-cooking PlayDoh recipe....

1 cup of flour

1 cup of boiling water

2 tbsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup of oil

food colouring

Mix and knead together and have fun!

We sure did!

Okay so that took 45 minutes...what's next?!? hee!hee! Unfortunately it's WAY too windy to go outside! Maybe we'll venture out to the post office to mail Christmas cards! (I know it's brutal that I haven't sent them yet!) Better late then never right?!?

In With The New...

So it's not really "Out with the old, In with the new", it's more "Down with the old now that we have new!" (down as in downstairs!)

On Friday, Steve came to school at dismissal time to say that he had made babysitting arrangements for Abbey and Michael and that we were going to Halifax to pick up our new TV and out for a non-fast food supper. (exciting in itself!!!) It was so much fun! We went to a great sushi restaurant on Spring Garden Rd and then picked up Steve's new prized possession...50 inch plasma TV. As we were setting it up, Steve remind me that if I felt the TV was too heavy and slipping to sacrifice myself (how nice!!! ha!ha!) Here's a picture of our old TV (getting ready to move downstairs).

and here's a picture of our new TV being installed.

and like that wasn't enough...Sears called to say we had an item to be picked up yesterday. I called my parents to see if they knew anything about it (and of course they did but wouldn't tell us what it was) Imagine our surprise when we discovered a new brown leather LazyBoy for our rec room downstairs YAY! It's gorgeous! Here's a picture of the LazyBoy they bought us two years ago (Abbey not included! hee!hee!)

and here's our new chair downstairs. Isnt' it awesome!! I'm a very lucky girl!

SNOW DAY!

I LOVE Snow Days!!! I especially love them when it turns out to be beautiful outside and I can enjoy it with Abbey and Michael. With all the work going on downstairs while we finish the basement it was nice to get out and get away from it for a while. (SOO much dust! Ugh!)

I love this picture of Abbey in the freshly fallen snow. I must have taken 10 pictures of the kids playing this morning and they all have the "fake smile" going ...BUT I took a totally candid one of Abbey when she fell over and it's my favourite. Go figure?!?

We had so much fun...making snowmen, shovelling and having a snow ball fight. Then we came in and enjoyed hot chocolate and a fun lunch! Amazing how many cool things you can do when you are not on a time line! hee!hee!

Hope everyone is enjoying their day as much as I am! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! (to quote my cousin Claire...love you xo!)

The invitations...

=One afternoon last week I sat down to write out Abbey and Michael's birthday party invitations. They were very curious about what I was doing so I gave them the extras to fill out. They had so much fun!

When I put the invitations into the envelopes, Abbey asked to put hers in too...sooooo every family got two invites; one from me and one from the kids. Very cute if I do say so myself!

SO much concentration! Check out my righty and my lefty!

DONE!

Yeeessssss! My report cards are DONE! Apparently it IS possible to write an entire class set in one long weekend! ha!ha! My reports will be exceptionally difficult this year because I have 9 students in my class for the third year in a row! How many different ways can you tell a parent how their kid is doing?!? Anyway I did my best and I'm happy with them...I always worry until the day they go home and then...well...you can't worry anymore right?!?

Here's a picture of my report card work station...complete chaos...but organized chaos!!

SURPRISE!

A week ago at this time I walked into my house after school to find my parents sitting on my couch holding my children! Whoa! I couldn't believe my eyes! After screaming and crying, I finally composed myself. What a wonderful surprise!!!
We had a super visit; played outside, had a great lunch at Wheaton's, laughed and ate so so well (Thanks to my Mom!)...and then Hurricane Noel came. High winds, tons of rain and no power!!! Who could have predicted the weather!?!
No tropical storm could damper our spirits though and I am already counting down the days until their Christmas visit. Thanks Mom and Dad for making my month!

Halloween!

For the last two months Abbey and Michael have said they wanted to be dragons for Halloween...that is until Abbey saw our 4 year old neighbour Eva dressed in a princess costume. Needless to say, she changed her mind quite quick. SO a dragon and a princess it was then!

I must have taken 35 pictures before going trick-or-treating and believe it or not these are the three best. Pathetic I know! They just would not cooperate (at the same time!!)

We had such a great time and the kids LOVED dressing up and getting all the candy. It was a wonderful evening! We had around 80 kids to our door...a far cry from the 9 we had on the first Halloween we were here. Halloween has never really been my favourite holiday but I'm seeing it in a whole different way now that I have kids of my own! Can't wait for next year!

This is my friend Alisa and her family. They win the prize for the best family costume EVER!!! She's pregnant so she went as the oven, her husband went as the Bun Maker and her little boy Jeremy went as a loaf of Wonder bread. Genius eh?!? I just had to post their picture because it's such a great idea!!!

Hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween! Boo!Boo!Boo!

Pumpkin Carving!

This morning I got a bunch of old newspapers and spread them out in the kitchen and dressed the kids in their grubby clothes so they could let loose while taking the "guts" out of the pumpkin.

I was thinking it would be a wonderfully messy activity. Not so much! Abbey and Michael didn't even want to put their hands in the pumpkin for fear of getting them dirty...what's up with that?!? I had to give them big spoons so that they could get in on the action. Once they got into it they liked it but they didn't want any of that orange goo on them that's for sure. They sure did like the baked pumpkin seeds though and were so proud of the finished product. Not quite the chaos I had envisioned but fun nonetheless!

Only 3 more sleeps 'til Halloween!

My favourite season!

This is the view from my back deck. Isn't it beautiful?!? I love Fall!

My Fall...so far!

I've been the WORST blogger lately...sorry! I'll try to be better...actually I know I'll be better because report cards are fast approaching and blogging is the ultimate procrastination tool!

So...school is off to a roaring start. Good group again this year...perhaps a little more challenging behaviour wise but nothing too bad.

We've had great company so far this fall. Company always makes me happy!

First my Mom and Aunt Germaine who drove here with a new car for ME!!! How nice is that!?! If you're thinking I'm spoiled now just wait. This is actually the second car my parents have given us since we moved to Nova Scotia, the classic Lumina which served it's purpose for two years and then this recent one...a 5 series BMW! Could I be any luckier?!? I don't think so! I quite like being a Beemer owner...were such frauds though...if only people knew we can barely afford the premium gas it takes hee!hee!

Anyway, we had a fabulous visit with my Mom and Aunt. The weather was fantastic so the weekend was jam packed with fun outdoor activities. We had a blast! We did the Family Fun Walk at Stronach Park and went to Dempsey Apple Orchard to pick some plums, pears and apples. Good times!

For Thanksgiving, my Mother and Father-In-Law came to visit. We were busy with outdoor activities as well (it's all about the kids really and they love playing outside). We went back to Dempsey's again but this time the apples we picked went right into an apple pie for Thanksgiving dessert. Delicious...thanks to Ann! It doesn't get any fresher then that! What a meal she made!!! A 17 pound fresh turkey (yay for leftovers!), stuffing and ALL the yummy fixings!

We had such a wonderful time but like all visits we get...they always go by too fast.

All good things come to an end! :-(

This month, Abbey and Michael's friend Sophie turned three. We had a fun time at her birthday party. Who wouldn't have fun at Roo's Playhouse!!! Here's a picture of Abbey and Sophie at the party. They are only one month apart and such good little buddies.

I also went out for a Girl's Weekend in Halifax. Wow! We had such an awesome time. Here's a picture taken "before" we left for the bar. We all still look respectable! hee!hee! Shopping, the Spa, good food, friends and dancing 'til dawn...could we ask for more?!?

I also got together with my Christmas card making club and started kick-boxing! No that's not a typo...it's true I actually started working out. We'll I've only been twice but I do like it and hope to stick with it! Only 4 and a half months until Florida!