Lastest Christmas Fun!

Is anyone wondering why all of sudden I have all these posts in one day.  Well to be honest, I have great intentions on blogging, but well, I have a tendency to read other blogs more often than writing on my own.  I am hoping to update this just a little so that we don't look like total slackers when you all get your Christmas cards and go here to look and really notice when the last time I posted.  I promise to do this better, especially being so far away, it is a nice way to let you all know of our latest happenings... well here are a little more ....

1.  Aubrey packing her kitty lunch all over town in preparation of joining Hayden for his Christmas lunch at school.  She carried it all over, saying "lunch at school fun!"  "I lub school"  "my kitty lunch"
2.  We all officially can say we were gifted fruit cake, and all tried it.  Well I don't think any of us will want it again.  Ben's comment was that he thought it tasted like orange rinds with raisins.... yum!
3.  Abby and Ethan's self made concoction of "fruit salad"  lovingly made with out moms notice, ready to serve the missionaries for dinner!
4.  Just a little sign of the tremendous amount of baking that has been done this month.  Between open houses, youth firesides, and 4 advents, Ward Christmas parties, Relief Society Socials, well we've done a lot of baking!  My kids just might cry if we have soup and rolls again for dinner!
5.  Abby waiting patiently for her "friend" Joshua and his family to join us for our advent!
6.  Aubrey and I at Hayden's school Christmas lunch.  Mme LeBlanc and Mrs Ells made banquet tables out of desks, decked out with red and green table cloths, green napkins, paper chains, and all you can drink apple cider.  Aubrey had a great time!  I am sure grateful for fantastic teachers!

1.  A five minute photo shoot after a small snow storm with Ethan for his baptism invites!  Thank goodness he knows the photo drill well and is photogenic!  Fastest photo shoot to date!
2.  Ethan's Christmas concert at Harrison Trimble High School - he sang "It's time to pack the sleigh!" It was awesome!
3.  Ethan and Hayden singing Christmas carols in french with the missionaries after the Ward Christmas Party!
4.  Ben got to go with Abby and Ethan to their Christmas lunch!  Looks like they had a good time
5.  Abby's part in the Christmas concert - they sang "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

Gingebread Houses!

For FHE we made gingerbread houses, or as Aubrey called them, bread houses.  She "iked houses"  they are yummy!  We had a great night, only a couple tears after some roof collapsing, or a surprise "garage" which was a wall coming down!  Over all the kids like it, especially eating the rest of the candy and licking their fingers! 

Christmas Tree!

We started a little tradition last year when we went out with some lovely families in our ward to the former Bishop's Christmas tree farm.  The kids love going out to see the alpacas, to get a wagon ride and search from the thousands of trees for the perfect tree!  After we had a lovely dinner and carol singing.

Christmas Cards

Finally got them done, and I wonder why it's so hard to get my own done!

Merry Christmas to all!

My Aunt Jennifer Loves me!

These are Aubrey's squeaky shoes Aunt Jennifer bought her for her birthday, and we are now benefiting from them now that she is walking - they make everyone smile and laugh every time she wears them!

Mr. Yellow Belt

We now have a a member of the family with a Yellow Belt in Karate - holy cow, watch out, he might getcha!

Last night, Ethan went into his karate class and tested for his yellow belt and passed - he was so exctited! He could hardly wait to get home to call his family in Utah to share the news!

We will sleep well now, knowing that we are protected by our little man incase some one his size tries to break in.....

Good Job Ethan!

Here is a video of his form - I think that is what they call it!

Valentine gifts!

I just thought I would share a few of our crafting projects we did this week for teachers and friends.

The first one is a new "dangerously easy" treat we made for the kid's teachers. Pretzels, Rolos and Canadian smarties (don't get these confused with good old American smarties....) Place the rolos on a square shaped pretzel and place in 250 degree oven for about 3 minutes or the chocolate is slightly melted enough to squish down, but not melt all the way through, then top with your favorite treat like M&M's or Valentine Smarties in my case. (My cute sister-in-law Christa had pecans on them for Christmas) Oh, my are they good! I added a tag made from my lovely and talented friend Lori's new line of digital scrapbook paper from Little Dreamer Designs.

The second one was Abby's valentines for her school - she goes to school inside the Jewish Synagauge so she isn't allowed to bring treats if they are not kosher, so we made playdough instead and cut it out in the shape of a heart! So here is her with her valentines ready for school and her tag I made with Lori's Love Birds line.

Happy Valentines Day!

Here she comes!

OK, it's taken a couple of days to get a good video of her, but we finally got one she didn't get stage fright! So here is a little clip of some wobbly steps from Miss Aubrey!

It's starting - Walking...

she is taking some "baby" steps.... here we go, she'll be off and running sooner than we want!

Look what I made!

OK, so I this obsession of making things, a lot of things. I kind of get obsessed about it and won't get anything done until I have my "project" finished. Well I just would thought I would post what I did yesterday during our snow day! Ben shoveled and I created! (I defiantly got the better end of the deal!)

So I think Ben thought I was making a quilt, because when I had Abby do a fashion show (and to check if twirled good enough for her) he looked at me and said, it's cute, but it looks like a quilt wrapped around her! I think they turned just great, not "quilty" at all!

Oh, I got the idea from Moda bake shop!

Ahh, a Canadian Snow Storm!

Oh my, I thought for sure people were fooling us when they talked about all these tremendous snow storms, schools closing and being stuck in the house for days!!! Well we got one, not as bad as I thought but it definitely a good snow day!

The kids are home with school being closed and even Ben's office closed early. All of our evening festivities got canceled and it looks like we are in for a while drinking hot chocolate and getting a better appreciation for "sea effect" snow storms. We are use to "lake effect" but I am learning that the sea can do the same thing apparently!

We have well over 12 inches of snow that has come down today (can some one translate into centimeters for me please!)

Welcome winter, at last, it took until the end of January, but it came, just like they told us.

Now when does spring come......

Another Birthday! Abby turns 5!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Abby's Sweet Shoppe is open for business! The Cupcake party was a huge success! Abby invited her friends from her class and a couple of neighbors to our house to make "wonderful" cupcakes. Oh what fun!

Each child was greeted by the head chef and given an apron and ate lunch in cupcake wrappers.... after some party games, presents, we each got to decorate cupcakes to take home in to go boxes. Everyone left on a sugar high, but I think they all had a good time.

In honor of my sweet five year old's 5th birthday, here are the top 5 reasons we love Abby!

1. Her voice can melt your heart, and belongs in a cartoon! Her little high pitched voice with such adult words can put a smile on anyones face and a chuckle or two....

2. She is such a good friend. She loves and misses her friends from Utah, but has easily met some new ones here in Moncton. Friends are so important to her, and she is always found running around with one and usually is hand in hand.

3. She is an awesome big sister. Her fashion sense and ability to share is going to one day make Aubrey one happy girl. She is always playing with the baby, but not in a mothering way, just plain old playing! She is always making up names for her and we now often call Aubrey boo bear, little smooth, lulu, my little sweet and other fun names Abby comes up with!

4. She is all girl. She loves pink and enjoys making cupcakes. What's not to love about that!!! Even though she loves everything that sparkles, she can still hold her own, and is a tough little thing thanks to two big brothers!

5. Even though she is five, she is still my little girl, who (as long as she has her blanket and her thumb) will snuggle up and give me as many kisses and hugs I want. She loves continually!

Happy Birthday sweet Abby