I still can't believe it....

We finally broke down and did it.... we bought a mini van on Boxing Day. A 2005 Toyota Sienna LE (of course). Most people go out and buy TV's or hit the mall for new clothes on Boxing Day but not us!

I was hesitant about it at first but now I realize it was a good decision... if I can ever learn how to park it! There is so much more room for the kids now and all the gear that has to be packed along with them. And now the girls can even bring a friend (or 3) along with us if they want :)

As far as mini vans go it is luxury on wheels... it has all the bells and whistles that you can think of which makes Dave and I feel at least slightly cool still. Hannah is loving the power sliding doors... now she can get in and out all by herself like a big girl. We moved Victoria up into the bigger car seat from the little bucket seat and she has a bit more room now too :)

The van is SO much larger than the Rav4 and I am adjusting OK to driving it but parking is another issue! I have a severe parking complex after the 'buggy corral' incident and the fact that the van is as big as a boat isn't helping. For now I have been parking really far away from all the other cars!

Dave is keeping the Rav4 for commuting back and forth to work. The guys he carpools with will be happy... they were bugging him about not having cup holders for their drinks in the Scoupe.

I posted the Scoupe for sale on Craigslist and sold it in 24 hours! I couldn't believe it! I had a guy respond to the ad right away and he came to look at it and bought it the next day. Score! I have been selling lots of things on Craigslist lately but the Scoupe is by far my best work yet :)

Here's a picture of our new ride....

Merry Christmas!

Well Hannah's sparkly reindeer food worked and Santa found our house last night :) We spent the morning at home opening presents and Hannah was a present opening maniac! Every time she found clothes in a present she tossed them to one side in search of more fun things... typical kid I guess. Victoria was even scratching at her presents and tried to open a few before Hannah took over for her.

We went to my Mom and Dad's place in the afternoon and had another present opening extravaganza there... we were all spoiled again this year :) Hannah started to get a little tired of opening presents and I had to help her and Victoria out to get through the monstrous pile.

We all got lots of lovely gifts... a great BIG Thank You to everyone! The girls have enough new clothes to outfit an army, Dave is excited about the Canucks game he's going to and I am looking forward to trying out my new vacuum :) Wow am I ever old!?!

(Hannah and Victoria's Haul... sick isn't it?)

I also have to mention that my Dad did some shopping of his own for Hannah and Victoria this year.... he bought them beautiful enamel and gold globes and had them engraved 'Hannah's World' and 'Victoria's World'. They are really lovely keepsakes that the girls will have forever. Way to go Dad... who knew??

We had a great supper with my Mom, Dad, Brad, Kara & my Grandparents... it was a really good turkey!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas full of love and laughter!

~Tammy

P.S. Happy Birthday to Kara :) Your birthday cake was yummy!

Busted!

I just caught Hannah putting on lipstick, she says she looks pretty.... what do you think??

Friends & Fire Trucks

Today my long lost friend Christy came to visit us :) Christy and I used to work together at All Critters Animal Hospital and we have re-connected recently thanks to the internet! She is living in sunny California now but has come home with her husband Jeff to rainy BC for Christmas. Christy is solely responsible for getting me hooked on blogging and she shares with me an interest in photography, though she is much better at it than I am.

It was so nice to visit with her and Jeff today! Christy took some pictures of Dave and I with the kids... I will post them when she sends them to me ;) But I just realized now that we didn't take any pictures of Christy and Jeff visiting with us! Hannah was being a little bratty so I was distracted... that is my excuse.

Thanks for making time to visit with us Christy & Jeff! Hopefully we will visit you in California soon.... although you may change your mind after Hannah's lovely two year old behaviour you witnessed today!

This evening was fun too... Tanya, Jeff, Tysen & Joshua along with Phil, Helen, Sam & Adam all came over tonight for pizza. Thankfully the rain stopped and after we ate we all walked over to the 'North Pole' house in our subdivision to see the Christmas light display. The Township of Langley Fire Department came by and played Christmas music while the neighbours served hot chocolate. Hannah's friend Emily and her mom came by too. Hannah and Tysen got to climb aboard the fire truck which was fun for them :) Then we walked back to our place and watched.... you guessed it... The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Shrek the Halls with the kids. Dave and Jeff cracked open a bottle of Scotch and had a few Christmas drinks...

The kids exchanged Christmas presents with each other... Hannah and Victoria were spoiled and are enjoying their new toys :) A big thank you from both of them!

Christmas is almost here.....

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY TO KARA W! ( Dave would like to point out that if things go sour with Daryl she is officially a cougar...jk)

5 more days until Christmas....

Hannah is starting to get REALLY excited about Christmas! She is talking about Santa ALL the time now. Victoria obviously doesn't have a clue what's going on but Hannah's got her back because she is asking Santa every time she sees him to bring Victoria a Care Bear :)

This afternoon my mom and I took the girls to the Christmas train at Bear Creek Park. Hannah enjoyed the train ride and the conductor let her toot the horn after so she was pretty happy :) Santa was there too and Hannah marched right up there and got up on his lap. She has seen Santa so many times now that she knows the drill... get on his lap, smile for a picture and then collect a candy cane. While we were waiting for the train Hannah made herself a reindeer hat (she decorated it with stickers with some help from Buggy) and she also made a bag of 'reindeer food' with oats, sugar and sparkles. The lady told Hannah that on Christmas Eve she is supposed to sprinkle the reindeer food on the lawn and the sparkles will shine bright so the reindeer can find her house. I wasn't sure she understood what the lady was saying but she must have because when Dave got home from work she told him all about her reindeer food and what she has to do with it. Too cute :)

Tonight before bed Hannah put Victoria in her doll stroller (with some help of course) and pushed her around the house. Hannah thought it was hilarious that Victoria was in the doll stroller. Victoria loved it and she was giggling away!

Afterwards the girls watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer together on the couch... finally the first night we haven't had to watch The Grinch!

Victoria's Portraits

I took Victoria over to Wal Mart for her 6 month portraits tonight.... the photos won't be back for a few weeks and I will send them out when I get them back :) I did however purchase the CD with all the poses so have a look....







She was so happy the whole time :)

6 Months Old (Already!)

Victoria is 6 months old now.... when I saw my friend Samantha's newborn baby the other day I just can't even remember Victoria being that little. Time is just flying by so quickly.

Victoria had her 6 month check up this week and the Dr. says she is doing great :) She is still a light weight though... she only weighs 14 lbs 8 oz! By 6 months technically they should double their birth weight so she is a little less than that. But she has grown another 2 inches again! What she lacks in weight she makes up for in her beautiful smiles :)

I got out Hannah's growth chart to compare and at 6 months Hannah weighed 14 lbs but she was 3 inches shorter. So far Victoria still seems like she is going to be on the taller side. She's so long and lean... she definitely doesn't get that from her mommy!

Victoria's eyes are really blue still... I can't remember at what age Hannah's eyes changed colour. But Hannah's eyes were never as blue as Victoria's are... I keep wondering if they are going to stay blue or not?

This morning the girls went to have Breakfast with Santa at the elementary school by our house. It was really good... they had a clown, magician and a balloon animal artist. It was much better than the breakfast we went to a couple weeks ago :)

Dave and I are going to go to the Keg tonight for dinner before the Bon Jovi concert. I didn't end up going to the Keg last night for my staff party... we went to a restaurant called Pearl in White Rock instead... but it was still really good:) So tonight I will get my Keg bread fix.....

Cookie's Skating Party

Hannah and Victoria went with some of their friends to Cookie's Skating Party this morning at Twin Rinks. All the kids got to skate for about half an hour and then they had a little Christmas party where they made crafts, had cookies and hot chocolate and then Santa came and brought each of them a present at the end.

Hannah really enjoyed the skating.... she was skating (shuffling) with the walker all by herself. I had to help 'steer' her a few times so she didn't crash into people but she did quite well on her own this time. She kept saying 'Look at me! Look at me!' to anyone who would listen to her :) I think she was a bit proud of herself... and her mommy was pretty proud of her too!

Victoria got to come out on the ice this time with us in the stroller. At one point near the end Hannah ditched the walker and was holding onto the stroller and pushing Victoria for a bit.

The little party afterwards was not very organized (I think it was better last year)... but Hannah did manage to make a little sled ornament for the Christmas Tree.

Hannah was excited when Santa arrived but she got a little upset after a few older kids jumped in front of her in the line to see him. She ended up near the back of the line and it was difficult to get her to wait her turn without her having a meltdown. When she got up to sit on Santa's lap she asked him for a 'Big Present'... this is what she keeps asking for every time she sees Santa. (When you ask her what kind of 'Big Present' she wants then she says a ' Shrek Movie'.) Santa gave her a sticker book and a colouring book to take home and he said that if she was a good girl he would try and bring her a ' Big Present' :)

Victoria slept through the whole party... no surprise there. Victoria is a good sleeper... anywhere, anyplace, anytime.

Tonight I am going to The Keg for the South Point Staff Christmas Party... I can't wait...mmmm Keg bread :) And tomorrow night is the Bon Jovi concert and then the CAPTIN Christmas Party... My parents are taking the girls for a sleep over. I am excited!

Hannah uses MSN

Hannah has discovered MSN... she loves the little emoticons that you can use. She is now sending little emoticons back and forth to my friend Christy. Hannah is giggling like crazy... she thinks it is great. Poor Christy has to have her message screen taken over by dancing pigs and bouncing frogs! Sorry!

Christmas in Williams Park

Tonight after dinner we went to 'Christmas in Williams Park'... the park has a bunch of light displays set up and you can just drive through in your car. The Christmas light displays weren't that great but Hannah thought they were pretty neat so it wasn't a complete waste of time. I guess when you are only two years old any kind of Christmas light display is exciting :) I really liked that we didn't have to get out of the car... we got to stay nice and warm which is good because Hannah is still not feeling that great. She is having a hard time kicking this cold / cough she has picked up. I'm just glad Victoria hasn't caught it from her...yet.






Oh yeah... I forgot to mention in my last post... Hannah got a spot in the pre-school class that I registered her for! Yay!

The Trees are Up!

I finally got around to putting up our Christmas Trees! Yes, we have more than one! We have a 'people tree' and a 'pet tree'.... one is decorated with ornaments for the kids and the other is decorated with ornaments for the pets. I know, I'm strange :)

Tonight I tried to get Hannah and Victoria to sit nicely together so I could take their picture in front of the 'people tree'. It was like our failed family portrait session all over again... Hannah won't look at the camera and smile... Victoria doesn't want to sit with Hannah and keeps crying... Hannah keeps pushing Victoria out of the way... etc. etc. I can't wait until they are older and take better directions!

So this is the best I could do photo wise before I gave up and walked away with a little bit of sanity left (I think!)





My friend Christy is coming home from California for Christmas and has agreed to do a family photo shoot for us (she is a really good photographer)... Boy does she have her work cut out for her! She might change her mind after the first 5 minutes :)