Super Deal!

I have been eyeing up the 'Willow Tree' Nativity series but hesitant to spend the money. It is quite pricey especially when you add up all the additional pieces on top of the basic set. I got my hands on a couple of 50% off coupons for the Potters Christmas Store and usually the Willow Tree stuff is excluded from any promotions. I lucked out... they were including it in the 50% off coupon this weekend only :-) There wasn't much left on the shelves but I managed to get the Nativity Set and the set of Wisemen. I really wanted to get the stable as well but I only had 2 coupons. I would have had an extra coupon but Dave 'accidentally' threw it out a few weeks ago thinking I wasn't going to use it.

So crafty Dave went out this afternoon to get his hair cut and stopped into Potters while he was out. He pleaded his case to the cashier that his wife really wanted the stable and he threw out the coupon etc. etc. He must have gave a convincing performance because the lady took pity on him and gave him a coupon to buy the stable.

I am happy with my new set :-) Next year I am going to get the coupons again and then add to the collection...

Aunty Sherry sent the girls out 2 big bags of Christmas ornaments for them to decorate their own 'Enchanted Forest' themed tree. The girls had fun hanging all the decorations and they love having a tree of their own.

Preschool Christmas Performance

We had our first snowfall this week :-) It only lasted for one day before the rain washed it all away but the kids managed to get out there and build a snowman (with a bit of help from their Daddy).

This morning was Hannah's last day of school until the New Year and they had their little Christmas performance. Hannah was under the assumption that she was going to be Mary in the play but she was actually the 'Long Road'. As you can imagine there were a lot of tears and upset when she realized that she was not Mary. At one point last week she wanted to drop out of preschool... I really had to talk to her about it and convince her that she was going to be the best 'Long Road' they ever had. Eventually she came around and her attitude improved... this morning she was excited about the play. It helped that Buggy, Uncle Brad and Aunty Kara all came to watch her too :-) So when her turn came she said her line nice and loud full of confidence. Afterwards she came up to me and gave me a hug and said "I really was the best Long Road they ever had!"

After the little nativity story/play the class sang some more songs and then sang a few Christmas carols. All the kids were cute... I love watching them all :-)

Hannah has just informed me that there are only 7 more sleeps until Christmas... she is keeping track!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town...

I thought I better get these pictures up on the blog before I start getting complaints again ;-)

Dave and I went to The Keg for dinner on Thursday night and we had a babysitter for the kids. The babysitter said the girls were good (who knows if she is telling the whole truth or not) but I thought it was pretty funny that the babysitter put Victoria to bed in her PJ's and when I checked on her when we got back she was asleep with her bathing suit over top of them! When she got up the next morning I asked her why she put her bathing suit on and she said "I go swimming lessons in my dreams!"

Friday at preschool Hannah made and decorated a gingerbread house and I helped out in her classroom. You can imagine how messy it got with 20 kids and bowls of icing...

Friday evening we went to see Santa's castle and a Christmas light display. Hannah and Victoria saw Santa so much this weekend that Victoria is now a pro at hopping up on his lap! She doesn't hesitate at all any more :-)

Saturday morning we went to 'Breakfast with Santa' at the school and the kids ate their pancakes in record time so that they could get in line to see the clown for balloons. Then they posed with Santa for another picture... we are really racking up the Santa photos now!

After having breakfast with the big guy in the red suit we were off to Josh's 3rd birthday party :-) Happy Birthday Josh!!

Then the kids and I went over to Mandy's place for pizza and then we took all the kids to Williams Park for some Christmas festivities. They got their faces painted, had pony rides, a horse drawn carriage ride and..... you guessed it another visit with Santa!

This morning Hannah and her Sunday School class participated in Advent with a small reading. The kids all wore little headbands with sheep faces on them while the said their lines. They all did a great job :-) I didn't have my camera with me so no pictures :-(

After church we took the girls to see The Princess and The Frog at the movie theater. It was Victoria's first time going to the movies. She was very excited and she sat fairly well (the big bucket of popcorn helped!)

Alice In Wonderland

The last event of this crazy weekend was the Alice In Wonderland play this afternoon in Chilliwack. Hannah and I left for church early this morning and then from church we went straight to GG's place in Chilliwack to have a quick lunch and then off to the play. The play was 3 hours long! Good call on my part for not bringing Victoria too!

The kids are going to bed early tonight... they have been up late all weekend and they are pretty exhausted (and so am I!)

Here's a few photos of Hannah with some of the cast from Alice In Wonderland... she was so tired afterwards that she slept in the car the entire way home from Chilliwack.

Waiting for the show to start and afterwards meeting Alice.

Getting an autgraph from 'Little Alice'

With the March Hare and the Cheshire Cat

With the Queen of Hearts and then fast asleep on the way home :-)

Aladdin and Hockey

Last night Hannah and I went to see Aladdin: The Panto with my Mom and Kara. It was quite good :-) Hannah enjoyed the play and afterwards she met some of the cast and got their autographs and took pictures with them.

This afternoon the kids were both in good moods so I took advantage of it and snapped a few pictures of them in front of the tree.

Tonight we took the kids the TWU Titans hockey game versus the Vancouver Canucks Alumni. It was FUN! The kids were super excited about it. Hannah has a little crush on one of the players and he got us the tickets for the game. Hannah made a sign to take to the game and of course because Hannah was making a sign Victoria had to make one too. We had great seats behind the players benches and Hannah was jumping around, cheering and waving her sign all night long :-) After the game the kids were hanging outside the dressing rooms like little groupies. One of the coaches from the TWU team went and got all the Canucks to sign a program and he gave it to Dave... so Dave was pleased to get all the autographs!

For Kara...

I got Kara's not so subtle hint about my blog not being up to date. Actually I was a bit surprised that Christy wasn't on my case about it but then again her blog is behind too so she can't really get after me!

Thanks for the guilt trip Kara... I made some time this afternoon to download some random pictures that have been sitting on my camera for the past couple of weeks. So here are some pictures for you...

First of all Hannah and Victoria have been keeping me very busy lately (hence why the blog is lagging behind!) They have had lots of birthday parties, school, lessons, play dates etc. on top of all the usual mischief they get into around the house. For example... Hannah snuck a pair of craft scissors up to her bedroom and gave one of her Barbies a hair cut. Thankfully she did not cut her own hair just Barbie's! Barbie now is sporting some side bangs which are in style anyways right?

Victoria on several occasions now has taken to putting 'make-up' on her face using markers. The Crayola markers are labelled 'washable' and while I find they do wash well out of clothing it does require a fair amount of scrubbing to get it off of little kid's faces. In this photo you can see her artwork on her face but for the record she also rolled her shirt and pants up and decorated her stomach, legs and feet as well!

Last weekend we decorated the house and put our Christmas tree up :-) As you can imagine the kids are beyond excited about Christmas approaching. I plan to take a nice picture of the girls dressed up and sitting in front of the tree but I am having some difficulty convincing the kids to take part in that. I will try again this weekend and post pictures when I take them!

Hannah and Victoria have a Nativity Set that is for kids so they are allowed to play with it (unlike the rest of the decorations in the house that I am constantly policing!) Hannah put all the people in her White Spot pirate boat the other night and turned it into Noah's Ark.

We took the girls to see Santa last Saturday and it actually went well :-) This is the first year that Victoria did not cry and although she was a bit apprehensive at first she did warm up to Santa and sat for a nice picture. I was pretty happy considering the week before she saw Santa from a distance at the mall and she bolted off in hysterics.

Hannah has asked Santa for an Ariel bath doll and Victoria (at Hannah's suggestion) asked for a Sleeping Beauty bath doll. Hannah was talking Santa's ear off and when Santa asked her if she was a good girl this year she said "I was a very good girl but Victoria broke my Polly Pocket dolls so she was a bad girl." Nice. Nothing like ratting your little sister out to Santa!

Santa tried to ask Victoria a couple of questions and as usual Hannah kept answering on Victoria's behalf. Then Santa asked Victoria something else and when Hannah started to answer Victoria yelled "Let me talk!!" at Hannah. It was hilarious!

I took a couple pictures on the sly while standing behind Mrs. Claus so these are not the actual pictures we ordered... but the ones we ordered turned out pretty good too :-)

I am finished all my Christmas shopping, wrapping and cards :-) Now I have to move on to baking... see this is all another reason for the lack of blogging!

Last Sunday Hannah was chosen to light the first Advent candle at church. She was very serious about it... she practiced walking with a lit candle and lighting another candle from it all week at home. On Sunday after the service began she walked with a small lit candle down the aisle to a piano accompaniment and then she lit the large pillar candle at the front of the church. She did amazing :-) She walked nice and slowly and she didn't set anything on fire! She was very proud of herself and she got lots of compliments after the service from people on the great job she did. On the 13th she will be reciting a verse with the rest of her Sunday School class so she has been working on memorizing it.

I think that brings us up to speed... we have another busy weekend this weekend so I will have more pictures to add in a few days. Tonight Hannah and I are going to see the play Aladdin with Buggy and Kara... Tomorrow we are going to the TWU hockey game versus the Canucks Alumni... and on Sunday Hannah and I are heading up to Chilliwack in the afternoon to see Alice in Wonderland with GG.