Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning started late at our house. And can't ever remember a Christmas morning we woke at 9:45 ever! But it sure was nice to sleep in! The biggest and best gift of the day was having all 4 of our children home with us, they are all happy and healthy. It was a wonderful morning and I had to keep pinching myself, we actually have 4 wonderful, beautiful, smart and loving children. Wow! So much love and excitement in one little house!



This is one of my favorite pics of Addison, as she started unwrapping her present from behind and had no clue what it was! Then she came around front to get a good look! Addison wasn't really into opening presents at first, she was happy to play with her Kai Lan toy she got the night before. However with some encouragement she got into the spirit!

This radio controlled car/truck was all Nathan could talk about for months....glad we were able to get our hands on it! the darn car/truck goes 50 km/h!!!! He has been having a blast with it out on the sidewalks :)

Josh loved R2D2...and I believe the droid is "guarding" his room as we speak! When I go in to put laundry away his alarm will go off! lovely!

Addison and her "nicey cream" there is no ice cream in our house! Just "nicey cream" Our girl is all about the pretend play. Anything to do with babies, shopping, cooking or cleaning our Addy girl loves it :)

Yet another Barbie for Miss Riley roo! Oh and the closest thing we could find to a french beret! Thanks alot Fancy Nancy! lol!

Nathan is all about the show Myth Busters! So my parents scored and ordered him some "Myths he could bust" We are really loving the marshmallow gun! lol!

We had a wonderful day. My parents arrived in the afternoon, and we had a great visit and turkey dinner, then we went for a walk to test out the new car Nate got, and a snowboard Josh received. It was a perfect low key kind of Christmas.

Christmas Eve 2010

We had a lovely Christmas Eve this year. The day was a laid back lazy kind of day eating party food leftovers and getting ready for the Christmas Eve service....Unfortunately my Dad was really sick, so both him and my Mom were unable to come down on Christmas Eve, they did however join in the afternoon on Christmas day, and I will blog about Christmas day later!

Our family enjoyed the 4PM service at our church, and to be honest I had moments where I had a chin quiver and tears welled up in my eyes. To have all 4 of our children home with us and Addison nestled into my lap during most of the service is a precious memory I won't likely forget. The kids all were well behaved and enjoyed the candle light service. We headed straight home to make dinner and open a present before it got too late.

Here is Howard and the kids before church.


And the kids and I :)

Our 4 little munchkins!

Once we arrived home we were surprised to see that Santa had dropped in and left an early Christmas present for all the kids. This was the first present we have ever seen Addy open. She was very particular how she opened it!

And it took much concentration.

Sweet! New Jammie's for everyone! Although Nate is getting wise, as he asked don't we get PJ's every Christmas Eve? Hmmm you think? It only took you 11 years to realize it! lol!

We also let the kids open their gift from their siblings as we didn't have alot going on that night. I love this look on Addison's face...she was so excited to see "Ni Hao Super" that's what she calls all things Kai Lan.

Funny thing about this gift.....I grabbed it in September as it was on super discount.... well it is in French!!! Ha! So now our sweet girl is learning English and French! lol!

The boys picked out these Barbie's especially for Miss Roo! I thought it was sweet, I had no say in it and Howard let them each pick one for their little sis.

This year has been the year of, lets shake, feel, look, smell and figure out what the presents are. Especially for the boys. So they decided to "trick" each other and wrap their gifts in a "fooler" box, Josh got Crackers!

Whoops! Nope a video game :)

Nate got Lucky Charms!

Nope! Also the same video game!

After opening presents we played with our new toys and snuggled all of the kids into bed. Howard and I stayed up to ensure the boys were asleep, and watched the Nativity movie that came out a year or two ago. Neither of us had a chance to see it, and we both thought it was really well done. Once our movie was over we got to work! And stuffed stockings and brought out the presents. However our boys were still awake!!! That was about 12:30 AM! They were ushered back to bed and finally fell asleep, and wonder of all wonders slept in until 9:45 on Christmas morning! Hallelujah! More on that later!



Here are a couple pics of the girls before our party on the 23rd. They are sitting at the front door waiting for our guests! So cute!

My two little helpers making punch.

Riley wanted me to curl her hair, so while Addy was napping we set up a salon in my ensuite complete with hot chocolate for my client. She sat really still for the whole process and we chatted and had a grand old time. Here is a picture of her hair once we were finished.

I will blog later about Christmas day. Hopefully :)

Merry Christmas!

Well we survived the party, as did my house! And had a wonderful time visiting with good friends. I have more leftover food than I know what to do with! And the kids had a blast. Addy kept saying after each guest would leave " No night-night!" She just wanted to stay up and party all night long!

Our family hopes you have a very Merry Christmas! And that you all have a chance to spend some quality time with your families. Thats what we plan on doing.

3 more sleeps!

Well we are pretty much done! All we need is the turkey and then I am finished! Yay! Tomorrow night we are having a party, and I am quite looking forward to it. Although there will be something like 20 kids so that should get good and wild! lol!

My Mom and Dad will be heading over to our place on the 24th for a couple days of fesitivies. My sister's family however will be sadly missed. I must say, that now that I am a aunt it is harder to be away from our extended family, Sydney is already 4 months old and I haven't even met her yet!!!

Finally I had to share what Josh said to me today as it was hysterical!!! So on my wish list was a pair of Frye equestrian boots. I really didn't think Howard would even consider them as they are quite pricey. But boy how a girl can dream :) Anyways Josh says to me today "Mom you know those boots you really wanted?" I reply "yes." Josh continues " You know, the stir fry boots? They were all sold out. Sorry" My response as I am laughing so hard I am trying not to pee my pants is. " Its ok sweetie, I really didn't need stir fry boots!" As my kids get older I hear less and less of these faux pas, and they are so darn sweet!

Heres to hoping your "stir fry" boots aren't sold out :)

How Many Kings?

The song that is playing in the background is one of my favourite Christmas songs. It makes me want to cry and shout for joy all at the same time! lol!

How many kings stepped down from their throne?
How many lords have abandoned their home?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts to romance a world that was torn all apart?
How many Fathers have gave up their son for me?
Only one did that for me.

~Downhere~

That is truly what this blessed holiday is about! Thank you God for coming into this broken world for me! I pray I can teach my kids the true meaning of Christmas, despite all the consumerism that is around us!

Missing Our Rooey Girl!

Our Riley-roo went off to my mom's place today, to stay for a couple days....and I am already missing her! Pathetic I know! She was so excited to go and stay with Grandma and she told me about all the many things they are going to do in the next few days! I know she is going to have a blast and the time will fly for her! She was so sweet! As I was waving good bye and blowing kisses to her in the driveway, I could see her little chin quiver and she was trying with all her mite not to cry!!! She loves my Mom alot, probably even more than me!!! However Miss Roo really has a hard time with good byes. I almost got choked up when she was all misty eyed! Even though I knew she was in good hands and would probably forget all about me within minutes :) Funny how our kids can get us like that!

While she is gone I will be finishing my Christmas shopping with Miss Addy in tow, and this next week is the busiest one leading up to the big day! I think we have some sort of event everyday this week except for Monday and Friday! My big goal is to focus and enjoy on one day at a time :)

Hurray only 5 days of school left until Christmas holidays!!!! I know many families countdown the days until their kids go back, not me! I love having everyone under the roof. I love spending the morning hanging out and making pancakes for the kids. I love not having to be anywhere at a specific time, and I find the holiday's are the best time of the year for those lazy mornings :) Hope you all have a splendiferous (we have been reading too much Fancy Nancy!) week :)

23, 22, 21,19 Days until Christmas Advent

O.k we were so busy having fun with these activities I hardly had time to post ;)

23 - Josh's famous Candy Cane Hot Chocolate ~ 1 after 8 chocolate in bottom of cup with hot cocoa mix, hot water, a little milk, stir with a candy cane and top with whip cream! Yum-o!

22- Family fun dinner at Trina & Vince's ~ we had a blast! Good food & fun times.

21- Set up kids Christmas tree! ~ they had a blast and I watched from the sidelines ;)

20- Tobogganing! Riley was in her glory! First time tobogganing this year!

19- Today we made Chocolate Peppermint cookies for the school carnival on Thursday.

I wish I had pictures of each of these events, but I don't! I am going to try harder to snap a couple quick pics of each activity from here on out.

Blood work

So I have been putting off having Addison's blood work done. I know bad mom! Our doctors weren't too concerned, so they said wait until she had settled in a bit. Today was the day....and it didn't go so well. I expected tears and crying, what I didn't expect was that it would take 6 "pokes" to get a vein so they could get the blood! And then they could only get 4 of the 6 viles filled! Blood work isn't something I even think twice about as we do it lots with Nate, but poor Addison was very very upset for hours after, we snuggled and talked and bought a Kai Lan toy, she had her favorite thing for lunch and still she was a mess all she wanted to do was be carried around. I was glad I chose today and not a day when Riley was home because my sweet little Miss needed ALOT of extra attention this morning :) which I was only more than happy to give. I will wait a while to get the other 2 blood tests done, and hopefully it will go much better next time!

Oh and how cute it that picture!?! It was the face I saw just about all morning today. Its a face we know well around here :) We see it usually when we say "No Addison you can't eat candy all day." I had to keep that picture around because it is just so gosh darn cute ;)

Advocating!!!

O.k. this sweetest little girl is looking for a forever family! She is described as having the sweetest personality. Her agency "given" English name is Sadie. Sadie has osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) and has had a few fractures when she was a baby, however she hasn't had any in a very long time. Her nannies love her, but they treat her like glass so she isn't allowed to play with the other kids or learn how to walk. She is on the shared list and is 3 yrs old. I am praying we find her a family. I wish it was mine however I think not, Addison just needs more time adjusting, as do we :) If you are interested in Sadie email me! khmervyn@telus.net Oh how my heart breaks for her! Sadie deserves to see the world and not sit in a crib all day out of fear, she needs love and medication to strengthen her bones, she needs a Mom and a Dad! I know brittle bone disease sounds scary......and sometimes it can be, however the joy and love Nathan has brought to our lives sure outweighs the hard hospital times. I would love to mentor anyone who is interested in adopting a child with O.I. I don't know everything about the disease, but I have had 11 years experience in the trenches. If you are a fellow blogger I would ask you to consider posting her picture or linking this post you can even add my email. I am passionate about finding Sadie a home. O.k. I am now stepping off my soap box :)

Love This Boy!

Gosh this picture captures Nathan's spirit, in everyway, when I look at it, it makes my heart sing! Oh how I love this boy!

24 Days: Make a Christmas Puzzle!

So I have decided to do family focused activities for our Christmas advent calendar. I am really excited to do these activities and hope the kids will really enjoy them. Today was make a Christmas puzzle. We had fun.....it was a 100 piece puzzle from the dollar store, soooo it wasn't well made! lol! And alot of pieces could fit in several places!!! For real! It had the boys very frustrated, and Riley stormed off more than once when the piece she thought fit perfectly really didn't! Oh well, this is the stuff memories are made of :) It was really nice to do something with all of the kids and not have them all off in their separate spaces. Addison even found a couple pieces place, so I would say this activity was a success! Good thing too, because I have another Christmas puzzle to do later in our advent calendar :)

On a side note, I have never had any of my children go through the "why?" stage.........that was until Addison! "but mommy, whyeeee?" It really is so darn cute! And is something I will have to try and get a video of :) Oh, I am certainly trying to get a video of Addison "singing" Santa baby!

fingers crossed there, she definitely only performs when SHE feels like it :)

Santa Baby

What is Addison's favourite Christmas carol right now?.....well its not O Holy Night, Little Drummer Boy or something meaningful like Silent Night......neither is it Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer. My silly willy girls favourite Christmas carol is, yep you guessed it Santa Baby by Marilyn Monroe!!! Does that make me a bad mom!?! lol! Is that even appropriate!?! Either way it gets stuck in both Addison's and my head.....well the chorus does anyways. And it is the cutest thing I have heard, listening as she walks around the house singing "Santa baby hurry Addison's chimney tonight"

The weekend before last we were at the mall and Santa was in his chair. I pointed him out to Addy as we walked past, and was quite curious to see her reaction. Well Miss Addy got the biggest smile on her face, started waving like her life depended on it and in the loudest sweetest sing song voice she said "HI SANTA!" over and over and over again :) Whats so funny about this is that Riley is terrified of Santa. She was mortified and was doing her best to hide behind Howard! You could see the wheels turning in her head......"Why is Addison doing that! Oh gosh don't let him notice me! If he notices me I might puke! Oh Dad please save me! Get me outta here!" All years prior to this we could not even walk past centre court without Riley getting really upset! So this was a huge step for her! Needless to say we didn't do pictures with the Jolly fellow. And if you ask Addison if she wants to sit on his knee for a picture she shakes her head adamantly and says "No! Santa sit on Addison's knee!" Now that would be a picture to see :)

A Sweet Sunday

Today was one of those days that so rarely happen when you have 4 kids. Our morning went so smoothly, we made it to church on time and then both the girls went to their classes and stayed the whole service! This is the second sermon I have been able to listen to since June! So I was very grateful that Addison was happy to stay for her second time by herself! She had fun, and hardly wanted to leave when the service was over :)

Right now both the boys are at friends houses. Riley and I have just finished making a batch of buns and the pot roast is in the oven for supper. Addison awoke from her nap with smiles and giggles and the girls are playing "kitchen."

We have had another mini dump of snow so its a perfect day to stay inside and cuddle up with some tea and a good book while we wait for dinner to be ready. This is what I envisioned when I first started having kids......enjoying, teaching and relishing in them and their little ways. To consider it a honor and not a job to help and provide for them. Sometimes that all gets lost in the running around and getting things done. When days come along like this it reminds me of how blessed I am to be these kids Mom!

Smile!?!

O.k. so I said "SMILE" and this is what I got!!! Ha! This little munchkin sure makes me laugh! She is so cheeky and such a ham! If she gets one little giggle out of any of us, she is really hamming it up, so she can turn that giggle into full on laughter!

Also I know I said I would take some pictures of the tree, however the stinkin bloody cat keeps climbing into the darn tree and knocking out Christmas ornaments!!!! Hence the "holes" in my tree! That cat may just turn into a hat!!! I am totally kidding! Well not about him climbing the tree....just the hat part! We love you Bluey! Even if you wreck my special tree :)

Things are busy around here, Howard is back to his crazy work schedule I think by Sunday this week he will have worked 90 hrs in 7 days.....does that mean he gets next week off? Nope! He gets to do it all over again until Christmas Eve! Well thats what he has warned me. How am I feeling about it? We won't go there tonight!!! This too shall pass. Im Thankful he has a job he loves, and dreaming of a Carribean vacation this Spring (hopefully)

We are ramping up for our Holiday traditions, and I am still working on the whole advent calendar activity idea.....I have plenty of ideas, however I need to remain realistic with what we can do on weekdays and how much energy I will have with Howard gone so much. I know I may have to let some things go....however there are traditions and activities I really don't want to give up. I really hope my kids to remember the holidays and some of our traditions when they are adults, although I don't want them to recall their Mom being some frazzled stressed out freak because she wasn't realistic! And bit off more than she could chew! lol! I guess I will have to have it all figured out by December 1st!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends!

Addy's first play in the snow

So this picture is just as we stepped outside, Addison thought it was quite fun, and I was outside to shovel the walkways and driveway, so she felt safe. Addy was quite happy to run around for the first few minutes......

Hmmmm this was Addy about 15 minutes after we came outside! It was only about -10C (14F) however that was too much for our little miss :)

Then today we woke up and started getting the boys ready for school, and I noticed our furnace was running alot. So I decided to quickly check the current temperature.....well at 8AM it was -30C feels like -39C with the windchill!!! For my American friends with the windchill it was -38.2 Fahrenheit!!!! That is when I started asking myself why the heck do we live here!?! Really I mean I had running around to do this morning.....that is obviously postponed for another day! And hauling Nates wheelchair out at the school......well we won't even go there! On these days I certainly miss living on Vancouver Island, I even miss the constant rain, wind and grey when its this cold! Luckily I was able to drop Nate off at the jr high doors, Josh off by his portable and the girls and I headed home. So I didn't have to haul Addison out in this ridiculous weather! We are looking forward to the high of zero they are calling for later in the week :) I know Howard certainly is, because he is working outside in this! Here's hoping that you, my friends are all warm and cozy!

12 Years

12 years ago today, Howard and I chose each other and were married. It seems like just yesterday that we were newly weds. Sigh, how the years seem to fly by!

I am so ridiculously blessed! I may not blog about Howard all that often, but I certainly won the prize when he chose me to be his wife. Howard is the most patient and selfless person I have ever met, I can't think of a time when he has ever put himself before those he cares about. He treats me like a queen, and I have to say I hardly deserve it! We are bestfriends and he is my most favourite person in the whole wide world.

Marriage isn't always easy, it is certainly about choices. Choosing to love and put someones needs above your own, choosing to stay when things are tough, choosing to compromise when you really don't want to and choosing to make lemonade with lemons instead of dwell in the negative.

Howard I chose you 12 years ago......and yet still today, I choose you! I am honored to be called your wife, and grateful that you are my bestfriend. Thanks for being you, the man the I love and cherish. The father of our children, our provider and my confidant. I can't even imagine what life would be like without you. Here's to another 60 years of choosing each other :)

Show Hope Short Term Trips

I was so excited to get an email about Show Hopes short term mission trips! I hope that within the next 2 years Howard or I and the boys can go over to China and make a difference. Check out the video....who knows maybe God is whispering for you to show a special child some hope!?!

But Baby its Cold Outside!

So the weather man keeps saying its going to get cold tomorrow, and snow....and then we wake up and its still mild! So Addison and I decided instead of exercising in the basement, we would get out and take advantage of this mild weather. Well I consider it mild, Addy she just thinks Im nutso for bringing her out in the frigid morning :) I have said it before, and will probably say it again.....I don't know how she is going to survive our Canadian winters! She hates even the tiniest hint of cool! I am sure we will be layering and bundling our little Hubei Honey!

This is the "lake" in our subdivision. I always get a kick out of what they call a lake in Alberta! To me this is a pond. I guess being raised on Vancouver Island has spoiled me a bit! It is starting to freeze over.

Oh! There is that tongue again! Jill I don't think its chapped lips.....I think its just sauciness:)

Oh how my sweet little girl makes me smile and laugh!

Lets just say when we got home Addison was VERY happy to cuddle up in my lap and sip on a hot chocolate! She was such a trooper though. And enjoyed the fresh air even though it was a little cold for her liking.

Oh Christmas tree

Ok seriously what is with the tongue!?! That is the new thing at our house! I can't remember the last time Addison didn't have her tongue sticking out :)

Addison had fun helping decorate the upstairs tree. And if I am being honest and keeping it real; This year was not what past years have been......with Riley being so sick. And lets be honest crabby (not that I blame her), Josh was really really hyper and Nathan just wanted to go to his cave (his bedroom in the basement) I was feeling a little disappointed in our decorating day. And really only got a couple pictures of Addison during the process. Oh well once December hits we'll get a fresh tree for the family room and the kids can go wild with it, and maybe just maybe everyone else will be up for the fun :)

I think the highlight of the evening was when Riley brought out an animated dancing Santa and she and Josh had Addy dancing around the house. It was quite the show! My Mom, Howard and I had a good laugh at their "fancy" moves!

My Mom has now gone back home, and its just us here at home. We are falling back into our routine sans Grandma and we all miss her a bit. I will post some pictures of the tree in a couple days once I am finished with it :) I am looking forward to a week of house cleaning and Christmas shopping. I am also looking for a way our whole family can serve this holiday season....if any of you who follow have some great ideas for a family with kids between the ages of 2-11yrs old, they would be greatly appreciated. Another idea I have been toying around with is doing a holiday activity advent calendar. Where each day would have an activity, not a chocolate. Some of the ideas I have come up with were build a gingerbread house, go ice skating, experience Bethlehem live, build a holiday puzzle, make snowman pizzas etc. I think it would be a fun way of really connecting as a family and creating some more holiday memories. The more I think about this project the more I like it :) And I think it would be fun to blog each day! Whoa! That might be signing up for alot! lol! Stay tuned to see what I come up with!