Welcoming the holidays . . .

My parents were visiting this weekend from Nova Scotia. Normally we alternate each Christmas between Toronto or Nova Scotia. It's really hard for us to be traveling every single December, and with two little ones this year we decided it was best for us to just stay in Ottawa and celebrate our own Christmas as a family together! I'm really excited to be here. We've done lots of decorating and I've started lots of baking too. The only strange thing is the weather - unseasonably warm here. No snow, no ice, not even cold weather! I guess I'm a Canadian girl at heart, I want my snow on Christmas Eve!!! I guess I still have a week to wait . . .

So the grandparents came to visit, hang out with the boys and drop off Christmas presents from themselves and my sister and her husband. While mom and dad were visiting we took Peter to see Max and Ruby at a live show. It went very well, although the show was a bit slow moving and it was hard to keep a lot of the kids there entertained and happy. Pete did very well, considering he has a bad cold and is cutting a big two year old molar - OUCH! He was tired too as he didn't get a nap. He really had a lot of fun. My mom (his nana) got far better pictures than I did, so I'll post some of hers later on when she sends them to me.

Here are Max and Ruby (big bunnies, brother and sister, for those of you who don't have a toddler and don't have your TV constantly tuned to Treehouse):

Peter sitting with nana and granny, enjoying a sucker before the show:

Pete thought his seat was very cool, esp. since it kept flipping up b/c his butt wasn't heavy enough to hold it down!!!

Mommy and Peter before the show . . . yes I took that myself. The grandmas were too busy wit their own digital cameras! Oh, how times have changed, huh?

David will be fourteen months soon. His new favourite thing is emptying the toy baskets and climbing in them. You can see our dog Rudy at the bottom of the photo, inspecting this whole scenario carefully.

Dad says enough is enough and David is removed from the basket!

Paul caught me in an off moment, in my pjs with my morning coffee, reindeer antlers and all. The boys are watching a DVD. Can't live without my crocs, I'm telling you!!!! Comfort with a captial CCCCCCCCCCC!

I went crazy with the Christmas decorations since we will be home this year!! Here is our mantle over the fireplace:

Our beautiful tree that Paul chopped down himself last weekend in FREEZING cold weather, way before our warm spell hit! I had to take the boys back to the van and sit there with the heat blasting while poor Paul trudged around looking for our tree. It was worth it!!! What a looker this thing is! I took a few pics at night with all the gorgeous white lights glowing, for some reason none of them turned up on my camera.


Here are a few more on top of our bookshelf. Notice a theme here - everything high up where the kids can't touch them???? By some miracle the tree has remained unscathed. David touched a couple ornaments today lightly but got pricked by a needle and seemed to stay away from it again. One week down, no holiday casualities with a 14 month old and a 33 month old running around my house!

Grandad reads to David:

Nana reads to David!: