Tuesday 31 December 2013

A Little Bit of Christmas

I just love the gift giving part of Christmas.  I love the hunt for the perfect gift for each person, & then watching them open it.  We opened our gifts as a family on Christmas Eve this year.

IMG_0707 Chancery was delighted to receive some My Little Ponies.

 

IMG_0709 Asher had conveniently stated, “I wish that I could see inside my body!” a few days before I attended an Usborne Book party, so he received the See Inside Your Body book!

 

IMG_0715 Asher gave me The Book Thief Book (and so did PChad!) apparently they both knew what I wanted

 

IMG_0722 Chancery was over the moon to find 2 new nightdresses in her present!

 

IMG_0726 Asher was not quite sure about the slippers & mittens he opened, but that boy has lost so many mittens this school year!

 

IMG_0738 PChad loves Volkswagens!

 

IMG_0747 PChad decided to stop trying to fight against my love of hoodies.  He gave me a really nice one, so that I will be happy & warm whilst wearing it, & he will be satisfied that I am a bit dressier than normal!

 

IMG_0751 A Volkswagen tablet case?  How perfect!

 

IMG_0760 Asher asked at one point, “Why do I keep opening books, books, & books?”  Then he answered his own question, “Because books are awesome!”

 

IMG_0787 Chancery wrapped a little gift on her own for Daddy…

 

IMG_0788 And it was 2 McDonald’s Happy Meal toys!

 

IMG_0811 Another Volkswagen shirt!

 

What could be better than seeing that delight?  Celebrating Jesus’ birth!  The ultimate gift all wrapped up in swaddling clothes.  It’s pretty awesome to think about!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Monday 30 December 2013

Dinner Dislikes

We were having Moroccan Chicken a few nights ago for dinner, & the kids have definite parts of it that they do not love.  Usually at the end of the meal we find all the tomatoes from their portions still in their bowl, but the raisins are always a favourite!  The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of raisins, but since I love them too, I tend to add almost a full cup!

 

So, we were dining on our Moroccan feast, & Asher turned to me & said, “Mummy, I do not really like these egg peas.  They are not my favourite.”

 

“Egg peas?” I inquired, “What is an egg pea?”

 

Asher: “These little brown round things.”

 

Me: “Oh, you are silly!  Those are chick peas!”

 

Asher: “Well, I couldn’t remember what they were called, and anyway chicks do come from eggs!”

Sunday 29 December 2013

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 7.5 years

Chancery – 5 years

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IMG_0838 Asher: “Today I’m showing everyone one of my trains!”

 

IMG_0839Chancery: “I don’t have anything to show to the people.”

 

IMG_0840 Asher: “Let’s think of something you can show to them.”

 

IMG_0841 Asher: “Looks like we are all out of time, Chancery!”

 

IMG_0842 Chancery: “Let’s just show them a nice picture of us, Asher!”

Friday 27 December 2013

He Knows Me Well!

PChad just walked into the room a few minutes ago & asked, “What are you watching?”

 

Me:  “The U.K. Christmas special.”

 

PChad:  “Is that Robbie Williams singing?”

 

Me: “No, it’s Gary Barlow.”

 

PChad: “They sound the same.”

 

Me: “Well, they were both in ‘Take That’.”

 

PChad: “He sounds a lot like Robbie Williams.”

 

Me: “Robbie already performed.”

 

PChad: “I thought so!”

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Sunday Pictures – Christmas Edition

Sunday was a snow day, & since I knew we’d be taking Christmas pictures, I decided to just wait rather than take pictures of the kids in their jammies!

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Asher – 7.5 years

Chancery – 5 years

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IMG_0812Chancery: “I’m being a reindeer!”

 

IMG_0813 Asher: “I got a new Sonic the Hedgehog DS game!”

 

IMG_0815 Asher: “See?  There are 4 games on it!”

 

IMG_0816 Chancery: “I like your tie, Asher!”

 

IMG_0817 Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Monday 23 December 2013

A Lesson in Innocence

Saturday night we went out to dinner, & a few booths over, we saw a familiar face.  Chancery was trying to figure out who we were talking about, so she started pointing to various people.  We have tried teaching her that pointing at people is bad manners, so we were trying to discourage her pointing to everyone in our vicinity.

 

Asher decided to weigh in on the conversation, “And especially don’t point with your middle finger, Chancery.  It means a very bad word.  It means the ‘S’ word.  I don’t want to say it, but it’s S-T-U… you know what.”

Thursday 19 December 2013

Snow Days

Sunday we had a big snowstorm in the afternoon that left us with about a foot of snow.  Monday & Tuesday were cold, but nice days, then Wednesday we had another snowstorm that left us with another foot of snow.  The kids had no school, so in the afternoon we sent them out to make a snowfort!

 

IMG_0680 It was tough getting around, but we told them that under the picnic table looked like a good spot, so they had to navigate their way up onto the deck.

 

IMG_0681 Chancery got there first & decided to decorate the entryway with some mitten prints.

 

IMG_0682“Hello, we have arrived at what will become our fort!”

 

IMG_0683 But then Asher became overcome with the urge to belly flop onto the big pile of snow on the top of the picnic table!

 

IMG_0684 What fun!

 

IMG_0685 It was still salvageable at this point…

 

IMG_0686 But then the kids started scraping all the snow off, & it wasn’t much of a fort…

The main idea was to get the kids outside to get some exercise, & in that case, the mission was accomplished!

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Experiment Time

A few weeks ago, Asher decided to do an experiment with snow.  He wanted to see how long it would take snow to melt, so he took some snow from outside where the temperature was 4°C.  The temperature inside the house was 20°C.  He took pictures of the snow every 5 minutes.  It took 1 hour & 15 minutes for his chunk of snow to melt completely!  We asked if he wanted up to put the results on Facebook, & he was adamant that we ‘publish’ it!

 

 

What did I expect would happen?

-I expected it to melt in 3 days.

 

What did I like best about this experiment?

-That it melted in only 1 day, & it was easy.

 

What did I learn from it?

- I learned that whenever you take ice in your hand, it would take about half an hour to melt.

 

Anything else you’d like to say?

- When it’s in a cup it takes 1 hour & 15 minutes.  And not half an hour.

Sunday 15 December 2013

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 7 years

Chancery – 5 years

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IMG_0671 Chancery: “Hello, everyone!  Asher is reading some jokes to me!”

 

IMG_0672 Asher: “Where does a polar bear keep its money?”

 

IMG_0673 Asher: “In a snow bank!”

 

IMG_0674 Chancery: “These jokes are not very funny, Asher…”

 

IMG_0675 Chancery: “But I do like snow banks!  Maybe we can play in the snow after church, Asher!”

Friday 13 December 2013

Natural Art?

See what happens when you pour molten aluminum down an ant hill.  This is some really cool art!



HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

Sunday 8 December 2013

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 7 years

Chancery – 5 years

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IMG_0662 Asher: “I made a lego airplane.”

 

IMG_0663 Chancery: “I coloured, and then cut out, some dolls.”

 

IMG_0664Chancery: “I coloured this one pink, because I love pink!”

 

IMG_0665 Asher: “My plane can fly very, very fast!”

 

IMG_0666 Asher: “It started that only 3 people could sit in my plane, but then I made it so 6 can go on it.”

 

IMG_0667

Chancery: “I wish we could go on the airplane & visit Grandpa & Grandma!”

Wednesday 4 December 2013

“The Deal”

Every night before bed, we ask the kids to say what their 3 favourite things were that happened that day.  A few nights ago when I asked Chancery, she said “the Deal” was one of her favourite things.

 

Now, the kids are not allowed to watch TV or play video games until 5pm, but I had made a deal with them at 4:30, that if they could play nicely together with no fighting or arguing, they could watch TV at 4:45.  About 5 minutes into it, they were fighting & arguing.  I started coming up the stairs, & Chancery said, “No, Mummy, we are talking about it!”

 

They wanted to sort it out on their own.  However, I have 2 very stubborn, opinionated children, & neither one would back down from the injustice they thought they were suffering from at the other one’s hand.  So I had to get involved.

 

It was now 4:45pm.  Chancery asked if they could have a new deal.  So, I told them that if they could not fight or argue for the next 10 minutes they could watch TV early (it was only 5 minutes early, but any extra time is extra fun!).  This time they had a tiff, but they talked it out (instead of fighting it out), & they managed to get the 5 minutes extra.

 

Even though the first attempt was unsuccessful, the second worked, & Chancery said it was one of her favourite things from that day.  Maybe I’ll have to make more deals!

Monday 2 December 2013

Christmas Tree Hunting

Last year was our first year to have a real Christmas tree.   It was not a difficult task to find a tree last year since we had a pine tree right beside our driveway which we had decided to remove, so we just used the top part of that.

IMG_0608 This year we had to go a bit further afield, but we found a really nice tree farm not too far away.

 

IMG_0609 We walked through the trees for about 5 minutes, & saw quite a few really nice ones.  But it was cold, & the colder it is, the faster we decide on a tree, so tree number 3 it was!

 

They even had Apple Cider & cookies to help us warm up.  We really liked that part!

 

IMG_0612 Once we got the tree home, the kids enjoyed playing with the netting the tree had been wrapped in.  It was nice to get a little extra use out of it, since it cost extra!

 

IMG_0614We made sure to set it up straight!

 

IMG_0615 Then it was time to decorate!

 

IMG_0617Chancery was excited to put her own ornaments on the tree!

 

IMG_0618 Asher did a really good job of making sure his were hung just right.

 

IMG_0619 I sorted the ornaments, & gave all the ones I didn’t want broken to Alexa to hang!

 

IMG_0624The tree is ready!

Sunday 1 December 2013

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 7 years

Chancery – 5 years

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IMG_0625 Asher: “We are ready for Christmas!”

 

IMG_0626 Asher: “See, here is our tree.”

 

IMG_0627 Chancery: “I think there is something else we need, Asher!”

 

IMG_0631 Asher: “What is it, Chancery?”

 

IMG_0632 Chancery: “It hasn’t snowed yet, Asher!”

 

IMG_0633 Asher: “Don’t worry, there are still 24 more days, & It’s starting to snow right now!”