Dora and Diego

Last week one of the things I had on my calendar of events list on my blog, was the Meet Dora and Diego! Jason's travel plans to the Island got changed due to Samuel's off-health, so he said he wanted to go into Langley that day to do some store audits. I quickly piped up and suggested we all go together so we could see what this Dora and Diego thing was all about. I knew you had to get free tickets ahead of time to get photos taken with them... but I didn't know that that's all this was! It was a Meet and Greet. Didn't really matter though, we saw them enough from the side and still got a picture of them too. I thought they'd be doing a little performance/show or something... but nope. And anyhow, their costumes were quite something ~ they looked rather contorted! LOL. It was fun none-the-less and not a wasted trip since Jason wanted to go there anyway!

It's Christmas Time in the City

We received my first Christmas Card in the mail last week! Thank you to Moeko for this musical greeting! Moeko was our Student from Japan that stayed with us in October for 3 weeks.
Merry Christmas to you too, Moeko!!

Aloha!

Well, the next best thing to going to Hawaii ourselves is having our Parent's enjoy a vacation there this month and bringing the paradise treat of Pineapple for us to savour! Thanks Mom and Dad! Here are a few other things they brought back for us... and as I write this, my brother Matt is on the airplane on his way to Honolulu! I am quite jealous but hope for a wonderful trip for him as well!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Last Saturday (I am behind with my posts; better catch up before the season gets too busy!) I was supposed to take my kids and have my Siblings join us to go across the Ferry to visit my 92-year old Grandparents... but we had to cancel at 6:30am because Samuel just wasn't up to par with his health. I did feel like getting the kids out of the house for a little venture (Jason was at a day-conference), so we went to the Santa Parade at our Mall. We ran into Patti, Madison and Wyatt right away and spent our time with them! Thanks, Patti, for keeping the boys with you while I fed Gabi quickly!

Elijah high fiving Rudolph:

a quick hello as Santa makes his way into his chairElijah, Wyatt, Samuel, Madison and Gabiringing bells and singing along with this Mrs Claus:the wonder of it all:

Preschool Fieldtrip 2

For preschool today, Elijah had a fieldtrip: Pizza Lunch and Bowling! It was a great time having a little pizza party with his classmates and either one parent/grandparent and then bowling... they had the gutter guards up which was perfect and needed for preschoolers and had 3 children to each lane to play a full game.I had to encourage him and remind him before each turn to roll that ball down the lane HARD... too often it went sooooo slow all the way down to the pins - easy to lose interest in watching which pins will get knocked down. He did well though and most importantly enjoyed his second time bowling! Elijah, Jaiden and Hayley

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

This is a recipe I received at one of my Bridal Showers from Cristal P., whom I used to babysit for. Elijah asked, while pulling out a bowl and measuring cups, to make cookies today... so I agreed and this is what we chose today:


1 1/2 cups butter/margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa
2 3/4 cup flour (I used all whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
chocolate chips


Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and cocoa. Mix well.
Add flour, soda and salt. Mix well.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake at 350* for 8-9 minutes. (do not overbake)

Bear

In Elijah's preschool, every child gets a turn to take home Bernard the Bear. While the bear is at home with Elijah he needs to dictate a story for me to record and he will illustrate it for the black binder; and these books came in the drawstring bag too with Bernard: Bear Snores On and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. There is also another book that has a picture of each child in it; the story starts out as Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see? I see ___child's name___ looking at me... and goes through each child in this handmade book. Elijah is so excited to have Bernard at home tonight!

This morning I went to my Bank to get a Free $10 Gift Card for Chapters/Coles/Indigo Bookstores. I got one! They were giving away one of these to the first 25 customers... all because of their new longer hours. I don't really go to the bank ever, but for this reason I was there before 8:00 to ensure I had that $10 in my pocket!
I knew exactly what I wanted too... and we went and spend the gift card this afternoon at Coles. Jan Brett's newest book, "The Three Snow Bears". This story is a Nunavit version of the well-known Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It's a good one with beautiful illustrations! click on Jan Brett's name to go to her website; games, books, colouring... I think this bank may be giving these cards out each day to the first 25 customers, so if you want more info, leave me a comment

Visiting Friends

On Saturday we got to meet Baby Luci-Ann, Devin and Sherry's newest addition! What a sweetheart; it was so good to meet you Lil' Luci-Ann!
After we met Luci-Ann, we headed out to our Friend's house for dinner! Thanks Aaron and Jen for the wonderful hospitality! Here is Jessie, the youngest of the Family. 17 monthsJessie and Samuel played a bit together! At one point, Jen and I asked "where are the two youngin's?" Well, here we found them both at the bottom of the long set of stairs...trying on shoes... Samuel found a fun pair of yellow Crocs and Jessie liked Elijah's Spiderman shoes - something you won't find in their household (3 girls)And Mrs Jen took out a new game by Cranium called Hullaballo! Bethy, Sophie, Elijah and even Samuel enjoyed this game!Thanks so much!!

Major Toy Recall

Most of you have cable out there and would have probably seen the News on Thursday regarding a major toy recall... I found a site that lists such toys made by Matel.

Click this and then look at your toys! This is quite important because these toys, with matching codes, contain toxic material - you want these away from your children!

AND 4 types of Curious George "dolls" that have been sold in Canada also contain too much lead in them... click this to see which ones.

I keep posting this post and then come across more sites with more recalls on this lead-matter. Lots of Polly Pocket toys, which are popular among many little Girls I know...click here to VIEW list.

Keep looking below for quite a few new posts over the past couple days...

Canadian Baby Photographers Ltd.

Canadian Baby came last week for a photo shoot of Gabriella. Last night they came to show us all 12 shots of her (all very cute) and try to sell us on a package or at least some prints... everyone gets a free picture and this free calendar; we bought 3 more 5x7 proofs off of the salesman too.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Today at Walmart we happened upon a little Honey Nut Cheerio and Bee Movie display... this is what they were doing:little photo shoot with Jerry Seinfeld as the Bee!

mmmm, good!

Today I received a call from very dear friends of ours, Devin and Sherry! They had their second baby early this morning!! Hooray! Congrats! (more details to come)

So, I said to Elijah, "let's bake them some cookies" because I really wanted to try out my new Pampered Chef scoop! And, thanks Tracey - my Pampered Chef girl, I LOVE this scoop! I can't believe how quick and easy it is to get a batch of dough onto the cookie sheet and no-mess-hands!!! Love it!

If you want one just like this before you start your Christmas baking... let me know and I'll pass you along to my friend, Tracey! :)

Here is the recipe of what we baked this morning:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cup flour (I use all Whole Wheat flour and it works good!)
½ tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
chocolate chips

Beat first 3 ingredients.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Stir in remainder.

Bake 9-11 minutes @ 350*.

a bit of a playdate

On Tuesday, Korinne, Mercy and Koby came over for a visit and to drop off 2 rubbermaids jam-packed with girl clothes for Gabriella to borrow! Thanks so much! I had to take a picture of Koby and Gabi side by side... Koby 5.5 months and Gabi 4 months. Too cute!And here is Gabi in one of the adorable outfits in the totes... a Princess onesie from Disneyland with a tutu (spelling?)! I love this!We are so blessed to be able to borrow these clothes! Thanks for sharing Korinne and Mercy!

Faces

Pour out your heart like water before the FACE of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children. Lamentations 2:19
Elijah - age 4Samuel - 22 monthsGabriella - 4 months

Spirit of Giving

Starting to Christmas shop? Starting to make wish lists for yourself and shopping lists for others? What about giving a gift to those in need around the World in Honor of someone on your list? (click this first)

Here is one way you can do this: through Samaritans Purse Christmas Catalogue;click right here to view it.


OR my brother Matt, has suggested buying gifts through World Vision Gift Catalogue; click this!


Great way to bless those who are hurting this Christmas season and to cross off someone on your list that has everything already! Or a Grandparent who gives you back what you've given them the next time you see them... or a gift to be sent across the Country... you can request Honor Cards that you can send to these people with a description of the gift you chose in their honor! It's a wonderful idea... I've done it many times and plan to do it again this year!

Four Months

I am using this Teddy Bear to take pictures of Gabi with from birth to a year...Gabriella is 4 months old! Wow; I think I say that everytime! She is giggling when we tickle her; she rolled over from her tummy to her back today; she grabs for things that I am holding while she is in my arms; what a little sleeping beauty.

Sayonara

Three weeks has come to an end already. Boy, does time go quick or what? (I can't even believe that my wall calendar is displaying November for me either!) This morning we bid farewell to our Student, Moeko. She's on her way home... We had a great time with her: scrapbooking, cardmaking (thanks Sarah!), lots of shopping, baking...etc. Moeko speaks wonderful English ~ it was great to have you in our Home! Come again!
Here are some of the Students performing at the Sayonara Party on Friday night:And then this morning, Farewell Photos:Misa, who stayed with my Parent's, is with us in this photo

Caramel Apples

Alexa, Anita and I and Moeko and Mie all got together yesterday morning to make enough meals to feed an army or well, fill our freezers! We made 5 different meals and each got about 3 of each... what a meal-making-frenzy! It was sooo great to have Moeko and Mie with us, thanks girls! They cut veggies, formed meatballs, assembled casseroles... you name it! We really appreciated their extra hands! Here they are:
Then last night we made caramel apples for something fun to do with Moeko, on her last evening with us. They were yummy, sticky and fun to make and eat!