We're in!!!!!

I was interviewed a few months ago for a magazine article on athiest parenting - raising moral children without religion. Well the article is in the magazine and we are mentioned twice! You can read the article below:

http://www.canadianfamily.ca/parenting/ages-6-8/regulararticle/122/

It isn't a very in-depth article, but is positive and sweet :) Yay!!! :)

Chocoholic.....................

I think my little man is turning into a bit of a chocoholic......he certainly loves Penguin bars :) This was lunch time today!

Talking with Santa........

The girls lined up and waited for their turn with Santa at the party.............Abigail wouldn't tell me what he asked or said or what she said to him lol but Susie saiud he asked what she'd like and she told him......so he asked if that was all....and she thought and then said no, 'I'd like a horse' so he told her ok!!!!! Uh yeah right lol!!!!! I don't think so!!!! Maybe next year!!!

Chris

A rare picture of Christopher smiling :) He actually had fun at the party and met up with his friend Max...and they went back to Max's house for a while and we picked him up on our way home....but of course they were clever enough to hang about until Santa arroved with all the candy ;)

Holly...or mistletoe???????

Abigail had her face painted at the party...with very pretty holly........but the Mom of this little boy wondered if it was mistletoe ;)

Abigail and this little guy were so cute together - I so wish I had had my Nikon camera with me to get some good shots of these two together! Abigail shared a lot of her candy with this little boy (a three year old - I guess she is like her Mother and likes younger men lol!)

I guess the little boy wnated some marshmallows so Abby took him over to get him some....they took off his hat and put some in his hat and then Abigail tipped the whole box into his hat and they walked off together enjoying their 'stash'....it was just so funny! They stole all the marshmallows for the hot chocolate and put it in his hat...but everyone was watching them and laughing because they were just so cute! Abigail spent the rest of the party with this boy and me and his Mom just kept laughing :)

I just wish I had had a better camera to get better and more pictures :( my camera got so cold on the sleigh ride that it was really slow!

Entertainment...

The Entertainment at the party was Mrs Claus and her (very tall) Elf!!!!! They performed magic and generally entertained the children - it was really good! They had Santas naughty and nice list.......they also did the draw for the door prizes and Laurence won!!! He won West Edmonton Mall passes :) yay - thats worth about $60!!!!! :)

You can spot my crew in some of the above pics - including Laurie on stage getting his prize and Abby on stage dancing and playing :)

Christmas party

Yesterday was our community league childrens Christmas party....it was so much fun......last year I stayed at the hall while the children went on the sleigh ride, but this year I went on the sleigh ride with them...it was so nice with all the snow on the ground and we all sang Christmas songs as we went around the village....the horses had bells on them and the driver was a wonderful singer! I sat at the front with Susannah.......it was such a lovely traditional way to celebrate Christmas :)

We rode around by the lake and saw the people out on the ice on their ski-doos and we drove all the way down to the fire station and then back around to the hall in a loop :) it was about a 25 minute ride...it was very cold but worth it!

Sunday...................

Yesterday morning Lloyd and I headed into town to get the groceries at Costco.......Before going though we called in to Nadysepttwins house to pick up the cookie dough I had ordered from her. She is so nice and sooo pretty!! And her home is lovely - I love the design.....so many houses here are so open plan and you open the front door and people can see practically the whole house - I hate that! But Nady's house is designed so you can't see any of the house - just the main foyer and I really like that idea!

So it was nice to meet Nady at last!

At Costco we got a few Christmas things but decided we need to go back later this week to get the Christmas things so we focussed on normal groceries...but forgot half of the stuff we needed lol! They had all their magazines at 50% off though and as a magazineoholic I HAD to make the most of that so I picked up three :)

We also found some gorgeous crackers that will match my table colours for Christmas Day...so I am happy about that!

After shopping we headed home and packed away the groceries.....then the children got dressed up and we headed off to the Christmas party.......

Last few snapshots from the festival of trees......

A few pictures taken during our trip to the festival of trees.....the children by the water foutain at the top of the shaw conference centre....Sam loved the green light shining at the festival...he just wanted to walk about in the green light ;) Abigail had her hand painted to stamp her hand on a gift bag. The children came home with so many crafts they had made and even craft kits to do at home - tree ornaments and tiaras etc etc...it was such a great event!

Gingerbread houses......

There was an amazing display of gingerbread houses made by various companies/ schools and organizations from across the city.....we had to pick our favourite and vote for it....My favourite was the San Francisco tram/ trolley................the detail in it was incredible........

Which is your favourite?

Paint spinning

The children had a go at paint spinning - creating gorgeous spiral patterns with paint dropped onto spinning cardstock! What a great idea! They had to have them 'blow dried' afterwards :)