Oh Boy

So it seems like I've created an addiction for myself... I can't seem to stop montaging! I love it! I have other stuff to do when Dani is napping - getting ready for Christmas and a houseful of company - but this is much more fun. With about a dozen adults and kids coming in for the holidays, you'd think I'd be doing something else! But I can't help it - and the house is basically ready. All I really have left to do is pack Zac up for his trip to Saskatchewan (which includes doing laundry), wrap Chris's gifts, download all the songs to Zacs new iPod shuffle (sshhh - it's his Christmas present!) and get groceries. Maybe that's a lot, but I can handle it. I think.

Hmmm. Maybe I will go toss in a load of laundry, and come back a bit later to finish up this last montage I'm working on.

;o)

Amy's Montage

Make an online slide show at onetruemedia.com

Zac

Make an online slide show at onetruemedia.com

Sick

So sick, so very very sick. All of us have been down with a cold for the past week of so. It's been rough, but I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Zac went to school today, after missing a cub meeting, swimming lesson, and worst of all, his school Christmas concert earlier this week. I feel so bad about that - he has never missed anything like that before. But what can you do.

I started to play around with One True Media (found it off your blog Estelle, Thanks!) and so I will be posting up some of my creations... hahaha. Enjoy!

Montage

Make an online slide show at onetruemedia.com

Yesterday

Last night Amy and I went over to a girlfriend Becky's house for a hot tub girls night. It was really nice to get out of the house - without either being attached to kids, or just going to the bank/walmart/postoffice. Those are my usual hangouts. But last night was good. I needed it. Becky is the one with the little boy Jacob who is one day younger then Dani. Becky also has 2 girls aged 4 and 5 as well. So her husband took care of the kiddies while we relaxed in the hot tub. It was super windy out, so steam and mist were whipping around our heads, but it was good!

More nice...

Dani slept last night from 10ish till 3, then 430 till 830. I could get used to this! Hopefully it stays so nice...

So, Amy gave me a couple shirts for Maggie, and here she is in her Harley shirt. We think she looks a bit like Goldie Hawn in the movie "The Banger Sisters". Maybe it's just the hair - we'll have to see what it looks like after her trip to the spa...

Gotta love the Elvis lip.

This would be Goldie in the movie...

When Chris's Dad Dave was here, he gave us some pictures of his trip to Thailand, Cambodia, Bangkok and more. After seeing the pictures, I can see why he is planning to move there!

These are some trees and roots that have grown over these really ancient temples. Amazing.
All these awsome carvings are everywhere!Pretty cool arcitecture...

nice...

So last night Dani went to bed about 1030pm, then woke up at 4am for a bottle and a change. We were back to sleep at about 5am until 10am. How nice is that!

This week has been pretty busy. Mondays Cub meeting was moved to Tuesday, so Tuesday had me taking Zac to swimming lessons at 4, then all of us packing up to go the the Scouts play at 630. The play was cute - I'm pretty sure the kids made it all up themselves, with little help from the leaders, because I couldn't really understand what was going on at all. There were some strange characters for it to be a Christmas play, but whatever. Zac had fun. The Cubs got to sit right close up, and the "actors" would through candy and stuff out at them. Dani slept through it all - even the screaming of kids and blasting of air horns!

Here is one of the leaders on the stage the Scouts put together for the play. It was just here in town at the Elk' s Hall. That's not really Rudolph hanging on the wall back there...

It was kind of interactive, because they held up flash cards saying "Awwww!" and "Thats what Girl Guides do!" for the cubs to yell out when certain things would happen. The girl in the blue dress was a Princess that all the kids yelled "Awwww!" at each time she came on stage.There was this boy dressed up as a witch, and there was a magic mirror. I got the connection to Snow White, but not to Christmas. Maybe the dwarfs were elves...? The kids shouted out "Boooo!" when the witch came onstage.

Dani wore her Christmas dress to the play...

Wednesday brought out another window repairs guy, to look at our stupid doors. A week or 2 ago, when it was 40- C outside, we were practically sealed tight shut into our house. I couldn't open the back door to let the dog out, so I ended up being able to wrench the front door open to toss Maggie out on a leash. Anyways, it was cold, and our doors froze up, so we called in the guys. Supposedly they have fixed them, but stay tuned cuz I don't think we've seen the last of the All Weather Window Repair Guys.

I took pictures of the ice built up along the edge of the door once Chris came home and got it open. This was half melted off too!

Then last night I had my shower the girls at the bank threw for me and Dani. We got together at the new branch (nice place! especially decorated for the holidays) and had snacks and opened presents. What a lot of super great gifts! It was nice to catch up with the girls, because I have been off work since July, and only saw some of them the few times I went into the bank, instead of using the ABM.

Tonight I have to get Zac and Nick to swimming lessons, then I think things will wind a bit down over the weekend. Then next week there will be a few appointments (hair for me and Maggie too!) and a little babysitting for the neighbors (Nick's little sister Hannah (2 yrs old) will come hang out for a bit while his other little sister Sidney (3 mos. old) gets a skin tag removed from her lip). Then I'm expecting company for the holidays starting around Thursday. Should be fun!

Check it out

http://www.reginaspektor.com/index2.html

Here's my new favorite artist. Click on "music", then click on either tape "songs" or "begin to hope". Turn it up! Loves it!

Big Brother love

Just wanted to share a story about how nice my son is. It's funny how he never stops being so awesome and amazing. I guess that's why we put up with all the hard times! And speaking of hard times, we have had a bit of a tough time with Dani and her sleeping. (This just sets up where the story begins...)

When we first brought her home, we had her in a bassinette beside our bed. She slept in there at night, and in her crib in her own room during the day, so she was closer to me. After a couple weeks, she seemed to sleep way better in her crib, so we busted out the monitor and let her sleep nights in her crib. Then, maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago, she decided that she didn't like the crib, and only would sleep for longer then 20 minutes in her swing. With it swinging. With the ocean waves sound on. Talk about a fast way to kill LOTS of D batteries. Sleep deprevation plays alot into making decisions in these kinds of situations, and we chose to let her sleep in the swing, for a while, so we could get some rest too.

So, the other day, Chris gets up to get ready for work and to help get Zac off to school. It's probably about 7:30am. I've just gotten baby and me back to sleep an hour or 2 ago, so I'm in bed and Dani is in her swing. Well, when Chris went into the livingroom, Zac is already dressed, but the lights, t.v., everything is off, except a dimmed lamp next to Dani that I keep on all night. Dani is all snuggled up in her swing, swaying back and forth, sleeping soundly, and Zac is sitting in front of her on a gliding rocker stool, sliding back and forth along with Dani and just staring at her. How nice is he. That just struck me as being the cutest thing.

And FYI, Dani is back in her crib now. Sleeping about 5 hour stretches in the night. It's getting better!!

Merry Ho-Ho Ha-Ha

Thanks to my sis-in-law Allison for providing me with the following Christmas Carols for the Disturbed. Please don't take it personally if your "Disturbance" is named.

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are

3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas

4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Busses and Trucks and Trees and.....

6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me

7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why

9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooooh look at the froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells ... ... ... ... ...

dress up time!

So these are pictures I took today of Dani. I got to play dress up with her, and she did so good. I got 10 shots of her in one sitting, without a single cry! Then it went downhill fast though... So these pictures are hopefully going to be used in a photograph we got taken this summer for my parents 40th anniversary. It was one of those old-fashioned looking ones with us dressed up as outlaws. My whole family (which is now 15 in the immediate) was able to get together - I posted about it in September - and I was 8 months preggo with Dani. We are trying to photoshop her into the picture, so hopefully one of these shots work!

More Pics

Just a few more honeymoon pictures... This is looking towards the switchback we were about to go up to get over some mountains.
There were just a few forest fires that we came across on this trip. The fires were on both sides of the hiway here, but there weren't any really big flames, just lots of small patches. So I guess it was safe enough not to close the roads.
Nice view!
Sunset sky.

Me waiting for the ferry to cross from the mainland to the island.
Along the way we went for a little hike to some waterfalls. See where I'm hiding?
This is the waterfall. Super gorgeous.
We got some other tourist to take this shot of us. The waterfall was behind us, and we thought they would include that in the pic, but I guess not.
Some rock formations Chris found along a river at one campsite we stayed at.

Honeymoon

Yesterday I finally found my missing pictures of the trip Chris and I took after our wedding to BC. Just thought I would share a few... Chris and me.
Maggie out the window - she spent most of the driving time underneath my seat, but if we ever slowed down, she was up on my lap in a second!
This is at Long Beach, just past Tofino on the Island.
Some nice road we went down. Turned out to be the wrong way. We had no idea we were even lost, and only figured it out once the road hit a dead end in a reserve. At least it only took us about an hour off course...But, if we never got lost, we wouldn't have found this nice lake to swim in. It was smokin' hot the whole trip, so whenever we couldn't handle it, we'd stop at the nearest lake or river to cool down for a bit.
This is just the hiway. I hadn't been to BC since I was about 5 years old, so it was all new to me. The trees blew me away. They are so thick along the roads, they have to cut them back, and they are like solid walls.
This was taken at Port Alice, on the north end of the island. This is where my Mom and Dad bought a house. Very nice place! You cant really tell when the pic is this small, but along the right hand side of the big tree, a little more then halfway up the photo, you can see there was an eagle. Well, it looks like a dot, but it really is an eagle!

Crossing on the ferry.
Some nice forest...
Looking up at a tree...
Chris and Mags in what I keep calling the "Enchanted Forest" but I know it isn't called that. I can never remember the name. Chris would know, but he's at work right now. Cathedral Grove! Just came to me now!
Me and Mags in the same place.