2013 in pictures ~ december

tea, eh?
bible reading
toboggan hill pile-up
christmas toys
santa visit
dinner table princess
p for phebe
sister hugs

tobogganing!

My girls love tobogganing! They certainly don't take after me, because to be perfectly honest, when I'm standing at the top of that hill I get some minor heart palpitations. The height, speed and out-of-control feeling is not my thing - you can tell I'm a total adrenaline junkie, can't you?! Ha!

Just as well Baba likes a bit of an adrenaline rush!

One of the comments Phebe made after the first run made me chuckle a little: She got off the sleigh and said: "I don't like the spreading in my face!" - I think she was talking about the snow spray!

boxing day games!

My Phebe girl, during a riveting game of 'Honeycomb'... she is always acting the clown.
I adore that about her!

christmas day

It was exactly the day I always dream Christmas to be.
Lots of delicious food, two deliriously happy children, relaxing, cozy...
I could go on.

For dinner I made... ham, turkey, walnut/apple/celery/olive bread stuffing, roasted brussel sprouts,
turnip & carrot mash, maple syrup roast parsnips, garlic mash potato and roast potatoes. Yum!

If it wasn't so much work, I'd make the same again tomorrow!

the night before christmas

There are two very excited girls in our house tonight!
I mean, REALLY excited!

And I love that I get to read them one of my very own childhood books on Christmas Eve.

ho ho ho, merry christmas!

In her best Santa voice!

her imagination!

Phebe has an excellent imagination. During play, she used to lean on Lilah a lot, she would follow Lilahs lead and basically do what she was told to do! But more recently, Phebe has been doing her own thing, sure she still loves to play alongside Lilah, but it is nice to see her gain a lot of independence during play. Especially when Lilah is at school, Phebe sings and chatters away to herself non-stop. In fact, there are many times in a week Baba and I will look at each other and quietly ask, does she have an "Off" button?! To be honest though, I love my little chatterbox. She is so sweet and funny!

At the supper table last week, Lilah announced that she wants to be a nurse when she gets older. Phebe listened for a second and then declared: "Well, I want to be Dr. Maharajh!" ...and in case you don't recognize the name, Dr. Maharajh was her very own heart surgeon! I'm so thankful her experience was such a positive one. So much so, that now she wants to be just like him!

I took these picture of Phebe playing today... in case you didn't know, heart surgeries are performed around here on a daily basis!

annual santa visit

Look what we did today! Now to peel my girls off the ceiling!

Yes, they were THAT excited! Funny, because I've chosen to be 'that' parent and I've told both of my girls the truth about Santa. That was really hard for me, but I have my reasons. I've always wanted honesty with my girls, mainly because of their story, adoption and all the questions that already have and will continue to surface about their birth, birthparents, etc. I also want them to know that the (real) story of Christmas is true, that our Lord Jesus' birth, death and resurrection really did happen, it's not a fairy tale and it's not pretend... I never want them to question that.

And even though they know Santa is 'pretend', there is still a huge part of Santa that my girls find magical. I like that.

it's beginning to look...

...a lot like Christmas!

wordless wednesday

christmas cards

Finally finished... 89 cards!
There was a lot of tea consumed.
They are now in the mail.
Phew!

she wrote her name!

Wow Phebe! You never cease to amaze me, with your quick little mind.
There's been a lot of 'peoples' drawing recently. But a drawing of herself, along with writing her name underneath!

Let's just say I'm a proud Mama!

wheelers pancake house!

What a great way to spend a snowy Saturday!
Our girls were thrilled to hear we were heading to the Maberly Conference yesterday, not to mention it's held in a pancake house.
The pancakes and sausages are THEE best! And the setting is picturesque.