Christmas in Photos

The kids with their pile o' gifts on Christmas morning:


With the manger at church (Amanda always has to visit the manger on Christmas morning to make sure Baby Jesus is there!):


Amanda opening her big gift from Santa. I love this picture because the look on her face is the classic look of every kid opening up the gift they wanted most of all:


(I can't say enough about this Tag system - Amanda absolutely loves it! She loves the stories and the games, and her reading is improving all the time. I'm also very impressed with the vocabulary and concepts it introduces. My only complaint is that there aren't a lot of titles with a focus on concepts other than reading [numeracy, etc.] but I'm sure that will come with time. Highly recommended!)

Goofing off at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas day:

Day 4: Shadbolt Centre to See Bobs & Lolo

Several weeks back, my Mom had told me about a Christmas event at the Shadbolt Centre at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby. I took a note and thought we might try to attend, but then I found out that one of Amanda's very favourite singing groups, Bobs & Lolo, were going to be performing! So of course we had to check it out.

I was quite impressed with the event - there were tons of activities and it seemed very well organized. It was pretty crowded though, and since it was just me and the kids (Jeff had choir practice to attend), it was a bit of a challenge maneuvering the stroller through all the people. It was especially fun once Sam woke up from his nap, took a look around at the totally unfamiliar place, and started screaming. Good times! I was able to take him out of the stroller and carry him on my hip with my carrier, and he was pretty good after that.

There was face painting:

No offense to anyone, but this was probably the saddest face paint Amanda has ever had. This was supposed to be a princess, in case you can't guess. I suppose that's what she gets for asking for something so complicated!

Amanda with the winter fairy:

She's looking just a hair short of terrified in this photo! :)

Bobs & Lolo performing:


Amanda wanted to draw a picture at the art station. The easels were set up with pastels, which she's never used before - they are sure messy! Here is the picture she drew of Bobs & Lolo (click through to see the photo on Flickr, with notes describing all the parts of the picture):

Crack Me Up

Today when we were leaving Amanda's preschool, she said something funny while we were walking to the car and I told her that she cracks me up.

"Hey," she said, "I have a shirt that says that!". (She had a shirt from Old Navy two Easters ago that was really cute, and that she wore for quite awhile.)



She suggested that maybe Sam would be able to wear it when he got bigger. I tried to explain that it's kind of a girly shirt and that he probably wouldn't want to wear it. But she was really upset that it was such a cute shirt, and she really wanted him to be able to wear it.

Finally I told her that it was kind of like the song from one of her favourite albums these days, Snacktime by the Barenaked Ladies. (Aside: if you don't have this album, you must buy it! It's great music for kids and highly listenable by adults too. Definitely a must-have.) The song is called My Big Sister:

I like my big sister.
But I don't want to wear her coat.
It may be black
It may fit perfect
But you and I both know it's a girl's coat

Now I can handle some hand me downs
But shirts and sandals are out of bounds
Balls and games and such I don't mind
But a coat is over the line.

This song is HILARIOUS. So we sang it together, substituting "shirt" for "coat", and by the end we were laughing hysterically together.

I think she got it - she hasn't mentioned it again!

I Need a Weekend to Recover from My Weekend...

It seems that the pre-holiday rush has already begun! This weekend was full with all kinds of activities. Even though it's nice to have lots to do, it never seems like we get a chance to relax!

On Saturday morning, Amanda's favourite musical group, Bobs & Lolo, was appearing at Coquitlam Centre as part of their celebration to welcome Santa to the mall. Yes, Santa actually arrived this weekend...it seems now that he always arrives the first weekend after Remembrance Day. As far as Amanda is concerned, having both Bobs & Lolo and Santa Claus in one place at one time is pretty much the pinnacle of coolness, so we had to check it out!

We figured the mall didn't realize how popular B&L are, because they had set aside only a small area for the performance and it was packed!!

We were off to a rough start as Amanda insisted on sitting on the 'A' on the big carpet they had laid out, even though it was at the furthest corner from the stage. Once the music started she was torn about whether to stay on the A or move closer and dance...plus, people were edging her off the A which was causing some distress. She had a few minutes of teariness and we finally had to tell her she had to cheer up or leave! She was starting to depress the other kids! Finally she shook it off and moved up towards the front of the carpet and enjoyed the rest of the show, dancing away. Personally my favourite was when they sang Cindy Seahorse, a slow story song, and Amanda danced her princess dance - complete with twirls and a very serious princess look on her face - throughout.

After Santa made his appearance and the crowd dispersed, we headed over to the Christmas train they have set up - I think this is the first year they've had this and Amanda really enjoyed it.

We didn't do our Santa photos yet - somehow it seems way too early. Probably we'll wait until the last minute like usual and end up waiting in line for hours!

Saturday evening Jeff was singing in a concert, but the kids and I headed over to my aunt Allyson's house to celebrate Chris' 19th birthday. It's hard to believe he is 19 already! Amanda had a great time running around Allyson's beautiful house with her cousin Tristan and generally being a monkey. Sam was remarkably well-behaved, and it was nice that I had lots of arms to hold him so I got a bit of a break! Contrary to his normal "needs to be jiggled constantly", he was content to sit in Nana's arms for a good chunk of time.


Sunday was our usual busy day - church followed by lunch with Jeff's parents. After a brief rest at home we headed out to a surprise birthday party for a friend of ours. They had just moved into their brand new house on Saturday, so his wife invited a whole bunch of people over for dinner. Seems like a great way to do it - no one is expecting anything to be tidy when you're in the middle of moving! Their new house is beautiful and once again Amanda had fun running around with friends while Sam enjoyed being passed around.
All in all, a fun but exhausting weekend!

Free Stuff!

Don't you love it when you get free stuff in the mail??

A couple of weeks ago I entered a contest on the blog for Urban Baby & Toddler magazine. Last week I found out that I won a pair of See Kai Run shoes (9 to 12 months) for Sam!! These are uber-trendy and retail for around $40 here. So, yay! I was so excited to receive them in the mail today in their cute little package:

Disney Princesses on Ice!

Although I've tried my best to stay away from the deluge of Disney Princess merchandise available for preschoolers, Amanda is completely obsessed with them, especially Ariel. She loves to play Ariel (to the point that the other girls at the daycare now often refuse to play it with her because they're sick of it!) and at home she's always telling us that she's Ariel and we can be Ariel's mom and dad, or whatever.

When I saw Disney on Ice advertised I took a big breath and decided to buy some tickets for Amanda, me, and my Mom. I was prepared to splurge on better seats, but they were already all gone! So we ended up in the blues, which surprisingly were still pretty good. I didn't tell Amanda about it until the evening before, and I don't think she really got it. Even when we got there, she seemed a bit confused by the whole idea. She asked if it was a "concert", so I think she was equating it with Jeff's band concerts (not that there's anything wrong with them, but they're pretty old hat to her by this point). Once the show started she understood better what it was, and she enjoyed it very much! The show itself was pretty incredible (I hadn't been to one before)...great music and great skating, although Belle did fall on her rear end at one point. :) The Disney Princess paraphernalia available at the show was truly beyond anything I have seen before...$10 for cotton candy?! $12 for a snowcone in a flounder cup?! A light-up Ariel wand for $20!?!? (OK, so we might now own one of those...ahem.)

I think it would be more fun in another year, especially now that she'd know what she was looking forward to. It would be fun to make this an annual event.

Again, more photos on Flickr, but here are a few:

Hanging out with Grandma before the show started:


Amanda's photo with Ariel. Even though it was $15 (!!), she is so crazy about Ariel that I couldn't resist. However, you'd think for that kind of money they could have at least made the photo in focus?


My little princess down by the ice at the end of the show:

Random Acts of Amanda

Although she hasn't seen The Little Mermaid, Amanda is obsessed with Ariel. Now that her hair is getting long, she loves to put her head back and swish her hair back and forth on her back, saying things like "I a Mermaid" and "I have beautiful red hair".

A couple of months ago we bought her a book called Dora's Eggs, about a somewhat dimwitted chicken who is very excited by all her beautiful eggs, but quickly realizes her friends' babies are much more fun than her eggs. Until suddenly - CRACK - the eggs break! She's heartbroken ("My eggs! They're broken!") until one by one, little chick heads pop out. It's really quite a nice story and it has beautiful, simple, colourful illustrations. Amanda loves it, and it seems to really strike a chord with the maternal side she's been displaying lately. One of her new games is to say, while sitting on the potty, "I'm sitting on my nest", then..."My eggs! They're breaking!". She acts surprised at the appearance of her "chicks" and cuddles them, making sure to tell me not to step on them.

So today, these two obsessions of Amanda's merged into one. While sitting on the potty this evening, she started in with the "I a Mermaid...I a beautiful Mermaid Princess". Then, out of nowhere, she decided to add a word. But not just any word, our girl...because we are the proud parents of a "beautiful Mermaid Princess Chicken".

Thank God she didn't put her new identity together with the fact that we'd eaten chicken for dinner...

A new favourite shot...fun in the bathtub:

Aquarium Fun

We invested in a membership to the Vancouver Aquarium this spring, and we've definitely been getting our money's worth! Amanda absolutely loves the aquarium. She has a stuffed Baby Beluga that she adores...he's gone through a succession of names, starting with Baby Bugga, then Baby Booga, and now Baby Bogo (she knows this isn't right but gets a kick out of saying it wrong then laughing). She can sing the entire song and loves the beautifully-illustrated board book as well (some of her very early words were kayak, narwhal, and puffin...go figure!).

Amanda now knows the aquarium so well that she directs us to where she wants to go...her favourites are the seals, sea otters, dolphins, and belugas. Here are a few of our favourite shots from the aquarium this summer:

Engagement Party

We've been having some computer issues, so it took awhile for us to upload our latest photos of Amanda. Last weekend we went to a sort-of-engagement-party for Mike and Cristina at the home of Cristina's grandparents. It was a beautiful party - Jeff said it reminded him of being in Italy! Between the huge back deck with tables all laid out, the enormous garden full of fresh produce, and the chicken coop (!!!), it was hard to believe we were in the middle of Burnaby! It was nice to meet more of Cristina's family. Amanda had a fabulous time hanging out with Cristina's niece Isabella and nephew Alexander, as well as the other kids in attendance. Isabella and Amanda are going to be flower girls together at the wedding in October, so it's nice for them to spend some time together! We were also introduced to a new kids' CD, Songs for You by Jennifer Gasoi. Amanda absolutely loves this CD, and it's not too hard on the parents' ears, either! Highly recommended. She has already learned what "manger six pommes" means...go figure!

A photo of the happy couple...


An adorable photo of Amanda and Isabella...


Goofing off with Grandpa on the swing...