Quiet Kitchen Moments

Sydney has been thoroughly enjoying her new table and chairs that she got for Christmas. It is covered with her new books, finger puppets and stickers and she could not be happier. Since Christmas morning we have had a lot of quiet moments at this little table... and I am loving it. 

Mrs. E

Braving the Cold Weather

We have been stuck in a deep freeze or the last two weeks. 

Edmonton has been an absolute ice box with temperatures dipping well into the -20C zone and into the -30C zone with windchill. We have been hunkering down in the house as much as possible but unfortunately .. you need to step outside at some point. Sydney keeps telling us how cold it is. She says "Cold mommy! Brrrrrr!" Just in case we were not aware of how freezing and miserable it has been. 

Mrs. E

Christmas Day 2012 ~ Dinner

Christmas dinner was absolutely delicious. 

After a busy morning with breakfast and gifts, it was nice to get dressed up and go to David's parents for dinner. They put on a full Turkey dinner with a few Ukrainian additions and we all ate until we couldn't anymore. I honestly think that Sydney ate her weight in Turkey.... that kid loves her lean meats!

After dinner we broke out the foam blocks and books to play with and Sydney and Gido had some fun with reindeer antlers. 

Before she went to sleep so that David and I could go to a movie, Sydney gave David's great aunt Liz (who is well into her 90's) the longest good bye cuddle. It was so sweet and it reminded me that we need to appreciate these special moments between generations. 

Mrs. E

Christmas Day 2012 ~ Opening Gifts

Opening Christmas gifts with a toddler is so much more fun than it is with adults.

There is something magic about watching a small child enjoy Christmas for the first time. They are excited and completely in love with Santa. It is so sweet and innocent. Sydney was an absolute riot on Christmas morning. She was patient and waited to be given each gift. After each gift was opened, she would inspect it and then say thank you and give huge hugs all around. She was the epitome of polite and thankful. I am so proud of how she handled herself. 

Trying out her new table and chairs

Gift overload

Inspecting the contents of her stocking

She opened every gift on her own

Trying out the table once it was moved into it's new home in the kitchen

Sydney's first bike!

Mrs. E

Christmas Day 2012 ~ Breakfast

Christmas morning this year was at our house. 

David and I woke up early to ensure that everything was in place and to get started on Breakfast. David's sister and her husband and their parents all arrived and we went to wake Sydney up at around 9:30. When David and I went into her room to wake her up, we reminded her that Santa had also stopped by the house. She exclaimed "Oh Yes!" and got so excited. We went downstairs where we showed her that Santa had eaten all of the cookies and milk and left her a thank you note. Then she ate the crumbs from Santa's cookies....

Our mantle all dressed up. We had to turn on the TV fire so that we didn't melt any of the chocolate in the stockings.

For breakfast we had waffles, fruit, bacon and mimosas (virgin for me). David also made Sydney some sesame street pancakes using her new Williams and Sonoma pancake molds. Getting them perfect is definitely going to take some practice. Near the end David realized that they would look better with some red food coloring.

One of the better Elmo pancakes

Working on some bacon

David's dad is always in charge of the waffles

Everyone sitting down to eat

Sydney enjoying an Elmo pancake

Mrs. E

Christmas Eve 2012

In our house we love Christmas Eve traditions. 

When we chose to have kids, we decided that one of the most important things that we needed to establish was family traditions  There is something about having something to look forward to every year... a certain constant and comfort in knowing what to expect. 

One of the traditions we are working on establishing is our Christmas Eve tradition. The location of our Christmas changes every year (we are on a Lethbridge, Phoenix, Edmonton rotation so that we can be with all of the grandparents) so we knew that we wanted to create a constant. 

We start with going to a Christmas Eve casual dinner, followed by a church service. When we get home, we make cookies for Santa and get into our pyjamas. We then write Santa a note (or in Syd's case she draws him a picture) and set up the cookies, carrots, milk and a note. We then hang our stockings for Santa to fill and sit down to have a cookie and listen to David read the "Night Before Christmas".

This year, Sydney was old enough to help make the cookies and sit through the story. It was so awesome. 

Helping daddy unwrap the cookie dough

Making cookies of all shapes and sizes

Drawing a picture for Santa

Hanging the stockings on the fireplace

Sydney was so proud that she had helped hang the stockings

Everything ready to go for Santa and his Reindeer

Reading Night Before Christmas

Mrs. E