Susannah sings solo.....

Not that you can tell she is singing here, but Susannah sang a solo in the school in the school concert tonight at times others joined in but large parts of the song Susannah is singing alone - and then at the end Susannah comes back on and singing completely solo.

It was WONDERFUL and afterwards soooo many people were congratulating her and people came up to us and congratulated us.  Susannah said she was really sad that the show is over and there isn;t another one for another year - she has enjoyed it soooooo much!  I know she will LOVE being at Vic.  It certainly makes me consider whether she should go there earlier - or we should at least give her the option of going there for Junior High next year......

sorry the pictures are so bad - iphone snapshots because I decided not to take my camera and just to enjoy the play :)  Chris did video it though ;)

Sam's tree.....

Sam fell in love with this tree today outside of gymnastics club - it was a bit like a fort as they could go under it and stand up :)  He asked me to take their picture under it - so of course I obliged ;)

He may not like Santa....

But Sam doesn't mind having his picture taken with Frosty at all :)

Another hard day at the office.......

Festive family movies....

We've been curling up as a family to watch a lot of Christmas movies lately.  Last night we watched 'Home Alone'  - a fabulous movie!!  Of course, we've seen ita  million times but it's a classic that you never tire of :)

It was new to Sam - or at least he didn't remember it from last year, being so little, and he's at that special age where that type of movie is soooo funny to him - the idea of baddies getting hurt by a little boy!!!!  :)  He was giggling away and saying 'thats hilaweeous'......

A few nights ago we all watched 'National Lampoons Christmas Vacation' - another classic!!  Lots of groans and laughs :)

We've also watched Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (lol not festive but sweet), Santa Buddies, The Grinch, and The Santa Clause..and Lloyd and I watched Four Christmases

Still on the list (amongst others) are:

The Polar Express
Miracle on 34th Street
Jingle All The Way
Elf
A Christmas Carol

and I'm sure we have other Christmas dvd's tucked away down there....and of course there will be family movies on tv too - I also happen to know of a few dvd's Santa may be bringing.....

We have the fire going, the Christmas tree lights on and the other lights off and we curl up and watch the movie.....sometimes have treats and often the cats will join us - by the fire or on the sofas with us.....

What Christmas movies have you been watching?   Which do you plan to watch?  Which are your favourites?

Thursday Thirteen.....

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I hope to do before Christmas....

1.  Take Abigail to her last gymnastics class today.

2.  Go and see Susannah in her Christmas concert tonight - I am told she is the new Rihanna....she sings in the concert and is one of the lead parts in the concert and after the concert yesterday she was told constantly by people that she is going to be the new Rihanna lol.....she came home VERY happy....her brother came home rolling his eyes because he was tired of people going up to him and telling him how great his Sister was - he was NOT impressed - he told her she sings like a man ;)   Ooooh sibling love ;)  Susannah plays a CTV news reporter in the concert.

3.  Have a day out with Lloyd on Saturday.  Chris will spend the next two days at the Legislature taking part in a mock-Legislature, so after dropping him there early there on Saturday, we plan to spend the day out together- have a festive lunch somewhere and just enjoy a day out.

4.  Enjoy next Tuesday when Lloyd has a day off :)

5.  Go and see A Christmas Carol next week :)

6.  Go to Staceys  open house!!

7.  get caught up with my Christmas journal tomorrow!

8.  Have a gingerbread house making party with the kids and their friends.

9.  Have a lovely visit with Val and her family.

10.  Ring the bells for the Salvation Army Kettle

11.  Get a new paper trimmer because mine got broken by a certain someone....

12.  Stay healthy and have everyone else stay healthy for Christmas

13.  Make the Rice Krispy Christmas cakes and decorate those with the kids AND the gumdrop wreaths....and Susannahs candies for her friends - none of which can be made until next week - we have everything all set to go so we should be fine.....

Breakfast at Tiffany's

...well, not quite.  Esso actually ;)

Val Emailed this morning and asked if we were busy - so I cleared my schedule and we headed out (yes I KNOW my rule last night about never leaving the house again until Spring didn't last long...but pancakes were calling so what could I do?????).

It was soooooo much fun at breakfast - I don't think we stopped laughing all morning!  Embarrassment mostly!  Val insisted on bringing these horrendous children named Abigail and Sam with her - oh my - their behaviour!!!!  ;)  The things they say!!!!  The entire restaurant was silent except for us and I'm sure it was because they were all listening to us!!!  And laughing at all the hilarious things we were talking about and giggling about!

Sam told the waitress that Grace always lets him go off in to the kitchen and get his own suckers so she told him not to change things and he should just go ahead and do as he always does - so he did and he showed her he knew where they were - and he came back with two....then a little later they came over with fortune cookies but Sam's didn't have a fortune so he complained and they came back with a new one which had a FAB new fortune in it for him :)

Anyway, I had a great time this morning - so glad I DID venture out into the cold :)  

Thanks Val!!

The finished products....

Susannahs (above)

Sams (above - with what looks like bites out of most lol)

Laurences (above - he also made my heart)

Abigails (above - including her yellow cat)

Oh yee of little faith.....lol!!!

My friend Val has such little faith in me......this morning I told her I was going to be baking gingerbread cookies this afternoon.  Instead of asking me what recipe I would be using, she asked me if I would be using the 'package' or the 'tub' method ;)   Sigh.......she knows me too well ;)

Yep she was right - I was using the Pilsbury package method!!!  But boy does that stuff smell good!  And sadly it tastes good too - even in it's raw state!!!  And it's soooooo handy to keep in the fridge for those afternoons when the kids want something to do :)

So this afternoon we pulled out the cutters and some dough and we made some cookies just in time for the big kids to get home from school and join in the decorating fun :)

One day though Val I will surprise you and I'll pull a Martha on ya ;)

Mini pillow craft...

I picked up these little craft kits not long ago and Abby and Sam made them this morning - and finished them off this afternoon....Sam has an ice cube in a tissue because he helped me a little too much with the hot glue gun ;)

Too funny!!

Susannah is busy making and decorating little journals for all her friends for Christmas - she noticed that before gluing down the inside cover, if she holds the notebook up, it looks like a pair of guys briefs ;)  Too funny ;)

Yes Val - even Susannah has a warped mind lol!!!  I guess thats growing up with three brothers ;)

Take two chip packs.......

pop them in the oven:

Watch what happens:

Wear the results:

Somehow Tess thinks I'm this amazing miracle worker who knows how to MAKE or BAKE chip packets....hhhmmm maybe she thinks I work for Lays or something hahahaha ;)  but I told her I had chip packs in the oven and she asked me how I make them ;)  I love you Tess but I think Susannah must be your Daughter!!!  (Only Val will get THAT hahahaha).

Anyway, Sharla, over at The Blessing posted a Snow Day idea on Monday and I thought we'd have time to do this yesterday, but no, so we ended up doing it today!  They really enjoyed watching their packs curl up and slowly shrink.  I hole punched them and tied some ribbon through so they could wear them as charms on necklaces :)

Sharla is right, it is neat that despite them shrinking right up, you can still read all the fine print on them :)

Oh well....

Some people can ice cookies like this:

Me?  Mine are more like.......this:

lol!!  Um....not QUITE the same effect ;)

I like Laurences better:

When you leave Facebook

It's as if you've fallen off the planet!!!!  You just stop hearing from people!  Kind of funny!   ;)

It makes me happy to hear......

We had a discussion about tradition at dinner the other night.  It was lovely actually.  We ate by the glow of the Christmas tree and had some candles lit and I had surrounded the candles by baubles (or tree ornaments as they are known here lol - Susie laughs when I call them baubles).  and the light sparkling off the baubles on the table was just gorgeous!  We've been having dinner like this a few times lately and it makes dinner time so special!!  I recommend it - the actual meal doesn't have to be anything special - but add some candles or turn the lights down and eat by the glow of the Christmas tree lights!!!  The kids will LOVE it!!!

Anyway - back to the topic!!!  We were discussing traditions and I was asking each of the children how important our family traditions were to them.  Susannah and Christopher were quick to say how much they love to wait until late in the afternoon on Christmas Day to open the gifts under the Christmas Tree.  This made me so happy - Laurence disagreed and then Chris and Susannah shot him down and explained their reasons and then Laurence changed his mind and they all agreed that when they have children they will continue the tradition because they love that it makes the day and excitement last longer.

Susannah loves all the special ornaments and unwrapping them all and seeing the same ones each year - I love opening up the boxes with her and hearing her cries of 'Oh I LOVE this one...'ooooh this is my favourite'.  I think Laurence is the same too as he has his favourite ornaments he is drawn to...

Christopher loves our Gingerbread house making contests and is sooooo looking forward to that this year - he has BIG plans!!

They all complain about our annual Fall walk BUT I know one day they will be glad that we have those family pictures!!!  Probably not until they have families of their own though ;)

They all feel certain foods are an important part of Christmas and I know they'd feel Christmas would be 'wrong' without them....and Christmas crackers!!!  Christmas just would NOT be Christmas without those!!!

One thing the children did mention was that their friends go to Church on Christmas Eve and they thought they'd like to try that one year.......so I will check out the services and see about Midnight Mass or what time the services are on Christmas Eve....

It was a lovely conversation over beautiful candle and festive light - which I think will become a tradition in itself :)