Holiday Wrap up

In a word, the holidays were...AWESOME. It was such a fun holiday for many reasons. Ethan is taking only one nap a day and Maddy can go a day without napping. This made getting to holiday events and doing general activities very manageable. With Maddy being three this year, she was really excited for Christmas and she understood the magic of it all a lot more than last year. Finally, it was wonderful to have Josh home for a whole week! He's been so busy lately and it was nice to see him get some rest and have fun with the kids too.

Our first Christmas was with my family and we celebrated the actual day a little earlier. Cousins Frances and Pippa were in town and the kids had a great time playing. It was so cool to see Ethan up and running around with the bigger kids and he loved the attention he got from his cousins. We had a nice dinner at my parents house, complete with Christmas crackers (I'm not sure how that tradition started, but it's now a Lee-Young tradition and the kids get a kick out of the toys inside).

Cheers!


Ethan LOVED unwrapping the present this year.

Gong Gong trying on his new robe.

Po Po and Auntie Jo

On Christmas eve, we celebrated with just the four of us. A little sushi take-out followed by opening presents (We only do stockings and gifts from Santa on Christmas morning) and we were one happy family. Maddy helped to put cookies out for Santa and mandarins for the reindeer. I was pretty amazed that Ethan didn't ask to eat the oranges, but perhaps he knew they were for someone special. :)

Look at those smiles. It's present time!

Leaving treats for Santa and his reindeer

Christmas day was nice and quiet for us. Stockings were opened followed by a yummy breakfast and then my family came over to hang out and play in the afternoon. The following day we saved for cleaning the house, laundry and packing for Revelstoke. We did sneak a quick trip out to the Carousel at Burnaby Village Museum just to get out of the house. Maddy decided that she was ready to go on the big horses this time and she loved it.

The next morning we packed the car nice and early and started our long drive to Revelstoke. What a trip that was. Ethan doesn't like to be in the car for long, so I packed a bag of toys to distract him. Little did I know that all the toys I brought only entertained him for about 1.5 mins each. So I had to improvise with many finger puppet shows, funny voices and fruit leather as a last resort. I'm glad to say that we made it there without too many stops and we even got to go back to the Amsterdam restaurant in Kamloops again (We haven't been able to stop there for a while because it never matched properly with nap and feeding times).

That evening we celebrated our last Christmas of the year with the Blommesteins. As I sat eating my Christmas dinner, I had to smile to myself and enjoy how nice it was to not have to go and nurse or to prepare a different dinner for Ethan. We sure have come a long way in just one year. Presents were a lot of fun to open as we got to see the surprisa people made for everyone. This year Josh and I had each other and because things were just so busy for us in the month leading up to the holidays, we didn't have time to make the surprisa. Sorry babe! The most memorable moment for me was when Ethan started to 'get' the whole present thing and he signed for 'more'. The look on his face when we told him the next was for him, he faced just lit up and he signed a sloppy, very happy 'thank you'.

I just love the look on his face in this picture.

Opa opening his 'Surprisa' this year.

Kaes got a Transformer and everyone had a turn trying to 'figure it out'.

The kids did so well together, helping each other out and then sharing the toys.

During the week in Revelstoke we had a great time. We played out in the snow, made a great snowman and built a make shift sled run in the Oma and Opa's backyard. We also visited the pool, went sledding down a real hill (Ethan loved this!), had lunch on the ski hill and I even got to go cross country skiing with Lyn one afternoon. Oma and Opa kindly offered to babysit the kids and Josh and I were able to go out TWICE!

Ethan's first sled. He didn't quite get it at first!

Auntie Lyn and Uncle Aaron

Maddy enjoying some cuddles with Oma

For new year's eve, went out for dinner with the adults leaving the kids at home with Oma and Opa. It was a lot of fun to get out and enjoy some adult conversation that wasn't interrupted. When we got home, the kids were still up and we played the present game before bed (This is a game that we play every year, but we ran out of time on Christmas). Ethan sat with Josh and was really into rolling the die and even understood that he had to choose a present. After the kids were bed, we watched a movie to wait for the new year.

The Blommesteins 2010

It seemed like the week went by in a flash and it was time to pack again way too early. This time I made sure to pack A TON of miscellaneous items to entertain Ethan in the car. Did it work, you say? Let's just say I'm seriously considering a portable DVD player for future trips! We did make great time and didn't stop until Hope for lunch. With the exception of the frantic driving conditions, (Ethan crying, not the road conditions) traveling is really great. I love not having to time it with nursing (as we can easily just throw food back there) and we can now get a whole lot further before having to stop.

A new year...time to refocus and get back in to routine. Our January calendar is quickly filling up and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has to bring for us!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I know it seems like I'm saying this every time, but stayed tuned for photos. We just haven't gotten around to downloading them.