santa is a comin'

So i'm down here all by myself in Raymond at my mom's in a quiet house. That hasn't happened since ours and Regan and Rhonda's arrival on Tuesday. The kids are BOTH asleep. (after a 6 am wake up today, fun fun) The parents are out braving the stores on the last Saturday before Christmas. Derek is hopefully in Utah as I write, finalizing everything with the car and will return sometime tomorrow with our late car our early christmas present, depending on if I want to be positive or negative about the whole thing. We are getting a 2007 Honda Accord. I'm soooo excited. We got such a good deal on it that it just might be worth all the hassel. I'm not super excited that it is a standard, and there are no heated seats (i don't know how I'll make it through the rest of an Edmonton winter without them!), but other than that, it's perfect. I'm just hoping and praying Derek makes it across the border now.

So far we have been having a fantastic time. I'm pretty sure I'm well on my way to welcoming the 5 pounds back I said good bye to over the past month. (great to have ya back love handles) Alli is non stop hyper already from sugar everyday with Lucy. They are so cute together playing and bossing eachother around. And James is accomplishing way too many things for my liking in this big house with space to roam. Climbing up stairs is the one I'm not too excited about among others. He makes me nervous. He has no fear. He has fallen SO MUCH. But, he's got to keep up I guess.



and yes, they are eating a bowl of sprinkles.



Here's the picture of the kids with Santa. Since my scanner isn't working I took a picture of the picture, so you know it's quality.



Well, I've got one kid on my lap and I hear the other one calling my name. So hope everyone has a merry christmas!

25 questions for christmas

I stole this from whit since i thought it looked fun. so you get a long list instead of pictures today.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for sure!
2. Real tree or artificial? we had an artificial 90% of the time growing up and now i have an artificial, but someday i think i'll try a real one.
3. When do you put up the tree? first week of december. i get too excited if i put it up sooner!
4. When do you take the tree down? oh first week of january or so.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? i was pretty excited about my barbie car, it was a jaguar. how cool is that!
7. Do you have a Nativity scene? yes, but it's a breakable with nowhere safe to go this year, so it's staying in the box this year, sad i know.
8. Hardest person to buy for? ummmm, the inlaws. they never ask for anything. my dad too.
9. Easiest person to buy for? the kids for sure!
10. Hot coco or apple cider? love the flavor hot chocolate
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? well the plan is mail this year and i'm just about ready to send them out! so if you want a card from me make sure you send me your address!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? i fell asleep watching elf last night. soooooo funny, it's gonna be my new favorite for the holidays. me and my sisters used to fall asleep watching sound of music on christmas eve, but it's not a christmas movie at all.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? well, this year i started in november and i have never done that before. i was so proud of myself for starting early i forgot to go again and finish, so i'm staying strong to the last minute shopper!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? NEVER! i love all my presents.
15. Favorite things to eat at Christmas? EVERYTHING! turkey dinner and the leftovers, chocolates, crackers with various toppings, triffle at the baldry's, that cranberrry gingerale, everyone else's homemade christmas treats, just to name a few.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? i love the white!
17. Favorite Christmas song? ALL OF THEM!!! whenever derek chooses christmas music it's bing crosby, alli can really get down with the jackson 5 christmas songs, and i just like anything i know the words to so i can sing along
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I guess I travel to raymond every year, but when we live there someday, i'm sure there won't be much christmas travel.
19. Decorations traditional red and green or something else? I like the red and i like the green, but not so much together. my tree is red and gold. and i like green and gold together. but it's got to be really cute if it's gonna be blue or pink christmas decor.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star, i don't love the star on my tree, but i'm a general fan of stars.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? same as whit (and a LOT of people i'm sure) jammas on christmas eve the rest in the morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? i'm also with whit here, driving on snowy roads and bundleing and loading the kids in and out in the snowy weather.
23. What is the “silliest” family tradition you do, or miss doing? ok, i'm not sure i should fess up here, because i guess my family gets a little cockoo when we spend a night together. i'll just say one. we have a burping contest in the hot tub on christmas eve. it's disgusting! oh i'll tell what i DON"T miss ( i think my mom FINALLY quit the past year) is oyster soup for christmas eve dinner. i cannot believe my mom kept that tradition alive for so long. how many of us had to vomit before she got the hint?! after i got married it was just a done deal, christmas eve dinner at baldry's.
24. Which looks best, theme trees or homey trees? i like a homey tree that is kinda matchy
25. Gingerbread or sugar cookies? mmmmm cookies! i can't choose!

I really wanted to scan on the picture if the kids with santa, but my scanner is not working. We took them the other day and I was a little worried Alli wouldn't like Santa. Because as per usual she is obsessed with shrek. And there was a little Shrek the Halls show on last week and Alli has only seen it maybe 17 times since. There is a part where Santa is eating gingy's friend and the make it all scary. Everytime she sees it she runs to me and says, Mom Santa scary! So I was worried she wouldn't like to go see Santa. But we got there and she could barely wait her turn and went right up and sat on his lap. She was pretty shy and hardly talked, but Santa sure wasn't shy. he probably kissed her like 5 or 6 times! It was werid. So beware of the kissing Santa if you go to Southgate. Oh and James could have cared less about Santa obviously. He was recovering from a bloody nose. That kid! The worst part is, it's his second bloody nose in 7 months of life! And the worst mother of the year award...to me!

in case you were wondering...

we are still driving this car. it is 20 years old. it is very cold around here. it does not have a block heater. it is an adventure getting behind the wheel every morning.



in case you were wondering, james is still loving his food, and he started crawling the normal way. no more g.i joe scoot. he's now onto trying to pull himself up to standing, haha, nice try james.



in case you were wondering, alli's room got very cold every night while the rest of the house was like a sauna. the vent was closed, oops.



in case you were wondering, my tree is up! i love my little baby tree, and so does james, the decorations are all a little higher up. alli tries to blow out the lights like candles, and she calls the tree "amaaazin" (amazing) it is pretty much the cutest thing i have ever heard.



so, there ya go. that's what we are up to around here...just in case you were wondering!

ouch!

poor little james.

doesn't quite understand when to stop crawling...

then BONK! into the wall.

this picture is the day it happened. he looks tougher today with the rainbow of bruis colors, and it really stands out on that bald head.




i'm sure this will be the first of MANY

he is the son of derek after all.

the son of a dad who...
-taught himself how to ride a bike at age 3 (no training wheels) and then went on to teach his 3 year old little brother the same thing.
-pulled a chainsaw off the table around age 4 (no it wasn't on) but he's still got the scar from the stitches.
just to name one of the MANY incidents of stitches.
-played football for way too many years (only one surgery and one broken bone thankfully)
-made his sister so upset she came at his neck with a fork and stuck it in his neck too (but i'm sure he desreved it)

he is a boy, so this is just the beginning of bumps and bruises and who knows what else, right!