The BEST Christmas ever!!!

craftilocks

some Wii action

sitting pretty in front of their pressies

before the chaos

christmas cheer

Well it has been declared at our house that Christmas 2009 is the Best Christmas Ever!
It all started Christmas Eve with a lot of snacks and a game of Skip Bo. Then to bed to try to get some sleep for the big day.
Christmas Morn started early for some (Willow was up at 5) and the rest of us were up at around 7.
We opened our presents, had a yummy brunch and then set up the Wii. What a fun game. For a break we went out to play basketball, played some Dutch Blitz, and then back to the Wii. Dinner was amazing with a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing.
Boxing Day looked pretty much the same.
We also discovered some amazing walking trails right by our house.

We have had such a happy time. We miss our families and their presence would have made everything perfect.

wii who what

just one question. who was this wii for?

it is toooooo much fun.

i will post some Christmas photos tomorrow because i have to play some tennis right now.

come on it's exercise.

you'd better watch out

On Wednesday night Sundee had her big concert in school. She performed beautifully despite the fact that she was very serious.
Smiles were not on her agenda as she was concentrating very hard.

On Thursday was her debut at the mall. According to her "people were just staring, who were these famous people singing in the mall." After school we were shopping at Thrifty's and she noticed the hidden cameras in the store and just knew that they were on her. "They must have seen me at the mall this morning and know I'm a rock star." The pockets of most shoppers seemed suspiciously bulky to her as well and it was believed that they had cameras in there. We did manage to buy our groceries without incident and make it out to our car with out the paparazzi on our tail.



Three cheers for the choir.

rock and roll

Seeing as I'm on a roll with posting ( who knows when I'll get to it again) here's a photo of and up and coming rock and roll star.



Her dad is so proud.

the boxes are gone

We have moved, we are in and unpacked and things are starting to feel normal. Well as normal as they get around here.
We absolutely love our new home. It feels so cozy and warm, we have an electric fireplace upstairs and a wood burning downstairs. We have the entire house to ourselves and it's amazing how that can make a difference in your life.
The girls have a funky seventies basement to themselves, complete with wood paneling and mirrors- EVERYWHERE!!
Now it's on to getting ready for Christmas. We decorated the tree and mantle and wrapped some presents. The morning after I put the first present under the tree Sundee could hardly contain herself she wanted to open it and for Christmas to be right now.
Here are a few photos of the tree and soon I'll post some of the house.

speaking of scary

i don't know which is scarier, Halloween or getting the pumpkins ready to carve.
i think willow would pick the latter.



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mini

Miniature World. That's where we were on Sunday. It was pretty cool, with war scenes, trains, mini towns, dollhouses and the circus. I thought it was amazing with all the work that would go into it. In the end I found that "it creeped Ter out". He was convinced he would have nightmares. Who knew something so little could be scary.

our castle

These are more like during and after rather than before and after. But you get the picture.
All of our work is done. What do you think?

And yes it truly is a castle because of the moat that Ter dug around it. All to protect the princesses the live inside.

Tofino

us at cathedral forest
hot choc in the am to warm up
mackenzie beach
being chased by a wave
willow at sunset
sunset
my fave sign right after lost shoe #1 creek

This is last weeks news but better late than never. I finally got my photos on the computer so here you are.
We had THE BEST time camping. We left on Saturday morning and had a wonderful drive. It's a 5 hour drive and we stopped in Coombs for breakfast and had a yummy cinnamon bun, then we stopped at Cathedral Forest and went for a walk amongst the massive trees. We were about an hour from our destination when Ter spotted a Smoky the Bear sign and right behind it ( i'm not kidding) was a huge black bear. It was the first bear any of us had seen since our move here. We didn't get a photo but it was so cool. We stayed at a campgound on Mackenzie Beach. It was so beautiful. When we got there we went for a walk on the beach and explored some islands. Then we set up our camp, made our fire from scratch and roasted some weinies for dinner. Following that we made smores. And not just any smores. Substituting just plain ole chocolate with a peanut butter cup kicks it up to gourmet. It was amazing. Sunday we drove around and checked out the town and some other beaches. Ter and the kids were brave and faced the ocean. BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! We played on the beach and had a fun time. The nights were cold but I brought along my heater so I was pretty toasty, my heater's name is Sundee. We had on many layers .
Here are some of our favourite things on our trip:
Ter- watching the kids run around, exploring the islands Scott Loewen style
Tam- the campfire, smores and being so near the ocean
Willow- swimming in the ocean
Sundee- the camping - she wanted to stay another week.

Wow

It's been ages since i've written here. Seeing as I was laying on the couch all month you'd think I would have done a lot more.
It is hard to believe that summer is over and school has started.
Today was the second day. So far so good.
According to Willow yesterday was the best day of her life. She is meeting new people every day and continues to introduce me to new girls that are now her friends. It's very exciting.
Sundee has a soso day yesterday but today they got to do crafts so all is well.
They should be in their classrooms by Friday and then things will get back to a schedule.
It's so weird to come home to an empty house. Today was my first full day at home alone (maybe I should make a movie) and it was amazing how much I got done. I missed them though.
I am having trouble downloading photos at the moment so I'll post some as soon as I can.

my birthday

I know it's a bit like yesterday's news but I'm finally getting around to showing you my beauty of a cake that the girls made and decorated for me. It was my favorite part of the day and super delicious!

Father of the Year

The award goes to .........Tery Loewen.

What a dad to take his two girls to see the new Hannah Montana movie.
Not because they begged, pleaded or even asked.
Just because he wanted to. awwwwwww.

We finally got our back hedges done. This happened about 2 weeks ago. Thanks to Damien for the ladders and doing one side and Tery would did the other side. I dragged the branches to the back and made a huge pile. It was about twice as big as the photo (that was already halfway into the burning portion of this job). The pile was as high as the lattice on the back fence and all the way to the compost bins. One weekend we spent trimming and the next weekend was for burning. Tery made a huge fire and we burned those branches for 6 hours, after we were done the pile of ashes was ginormous. We checked it today, one week later, and in the middle of it were red hot burning coals. Crazy.

Good Friday

We had a really GOOD day. Tery bought Willow and Sundee fishing rods for Easter and so we went fishing. We went out to Langford Lake which is only 5 minutes away. After getting the rods all hooked and bobbed we cast out and got ready to land the big one. We waited, and waited. We cast and cast. We asked "how many minutes does it take to catch a fish" and then we waited some more. Today was not our lucky day and we left empty handed. With our hearts full of hope for the fish we will catch next time.

Spa Day!

Oh it's good to be a girl! It all started with a bubble bath (those photos were withheld for obvious reasons), then a beautiful lunch of finger sandwhiches, cheese, crudites and "champagne". Following lunch Willow started with a facial. Sundee opted out since it said it would make you look years younger and that's not the image she's trying to portray these days. She enjoyed a relaxing pedicure and massage and manicure. Willow finished with the pedi and mani as well. Now everyone is all relaxed and beautiful. It's pouring rain outside and Spring Break is almost over. The spa is now closed and we'll end it snuggling in front of the telly watching a little High School Musical.
Like I said, it's good to be a girl.

i want to ride my bicycle

it was sundee's first time without training wheels. we thought she did really well.
as you notice, she had a little trouble taking corners and was quite upset when she fell.
"What's the point of video taping blood?" was her comment.

glorious

this is what we woke up to this morning.
it's going to be a fantastic day!

words

I find out that I am never to old to learn new words.

Handankle - the new word for wrist.

How cute is that?