The blur that was Christmas

I have no idea where this week went. If it weren't for the pictures I swear I wouldn't remember a thing. We've been from Christmas party to Christmas party - it has been a very fun, exciting and busy month but I have to say I am REALLY looking forward to taking down the decorations tomorrow. (or Tuesday depending on how the day goes) Tonight we had our last "Christmas get together"so it is officially over here. On to New Years - we are heading up to the cottage with 4 other families to bring in the New Year...should be fun!

Anyway we spent Christmas Eve with Iain's mom and Larry and a few of their close friends. It was a fun night.

Once we got home and put the kids to bed we got the "Santa" gifts set up and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation like we do every year. My brother (Ryan) came over to help us too.

(T'was the night before Christmas...)(All ready for the kids to wake up to)

Christmas day was a whirlwind...the kids woke up at 8am (so we can not complain). They ripped through their gifts loving everything they got. It was so much fun to see how excited they were. At 10am we headed over to my parents house for another couple rounds of gift openings from my parents, my brothers, the kids cousins...it was chaos but wonderful!(Ty was sooo excited that Santa brought him Guitar Hero)(Vanessa all set to start opening)

(Troy was more interested in climbing on his presents)

(The whole group of my parents "kids")(The kids enjoying Christmas dinner with their second cousin Bryce)
That afternoon we loaded everyone into the car and drove to Hamilton to have Christmas dinner with my Aunt, cousins and their kids. We headed home with a car full of sleepy kids and sleepy parents. It was so nice to crawl into bed that night.

Boxing day Iains dad and sister came over for more gift giving cheer!

It has just been go go go for the last few weeks but it really has been a wonderful time.

Things that make me smile lately...

As much as it is a wonderful time of year right now it is downright stressful. This past week in particular has not been great. Iain has not been home very much with all of his after work Christmas functions, the kids are overly excited a lot of the time, Troy has been waking up numerous times in the night again...I could go on but instead I'm trying to focus on the things I am enjoying right now...
For one - Both Ty and Vanessa got their report cards and had their parent/teacher interviews this week and both did very well. Ty's teacher said that Ty is a favourite student among all the teachers in the school and they fight over whose daughter he is going to marry one day. lol!! He is doing very well academically too. I was more nervous to hear about how Vanessa was doing as I know she is a challenge for us. Turns out she saves her best behaviour for school - what a relief! They said she is well liked, courteous, meticulous about her work and participates really well. I walked out of the school with a big smile on my face and took the kids to McDonalds for lunch to celebrate.

Another great moment this week...the kids Christmas concert. Seeing their beaming faces as they stood on stage was worth the hour and a half Iain and I were stuck in the auditorium waiting for their turn. (the quality of auditorium pictures does not make me smile though...)

Finding Troy crouching in a pot in the living room put a smile on my face this week...Dancing and singing like a maniac to Single Ladies by Beyonce...I can't help but smile when doing that. lol!

Eating chocolate- that makes any situation better for me. (unfortunately the extra pounds it adds does not)

Being told I do not look like a mother of 3...I had to bring all 3 kids to the gym daycare on Friday b/c of the PA day and the daycare ladies all acted shocked that all 3 kids were mine. I LOVED it!! lol!

Spending Friday night with great friends...always puts a smile on my face.

Listening to Ty try to sing the words to "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz - with my ipod on. Too cute!!

Looking at this list makes this week seem pretty damn good after all - no more complaining from me.

The weekend & the annual picture of the cousins

My husband left me this weekend to hang out with some friends in Montreal and I was sooo dreading the weekend on my own but it ended being a really good weekend. Friday night my dad came over to babysit so that I could go shopping with my SIL/personal shopper. We had a great night- found an outfit for me to wear to a couple upcoming parties plus a few sweaters, belts & hair accessories...Saturday morning I took Vanessa to her parents day at Dance class - she was so cute dancing around- she just loves it.
That afternoon my friend Alexis & I took the kids to her husbands kids Christmas party. They had so much fun on the rides and jumping castles. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

(Ty and I on the roller coaster)

That night we ordered pizza, let the kids play and once they were in bed we watched one of my favourite movies - Love Actually. It was another great night - I barely had time to miss Iain- especially given the fact that we both have blackberries now and were in constant contact all day. Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast and I took Ty to hockey practice- from there I dropped him off at his friend Ryan's house- put Troy down for a nap- put a movie on for Vanessa and it was smooth sailing until Iain got home that afternoon around 4pm. He had a great weekend himself but was exhausted. It's nice to have him home again though.

Every year my SIL and I try to take a picture of all the kids together for my mom to send out in her Christmas cards and every year it takes us far too long...This year was no exception- Troy was miserable, Vanessa's hair was out of control and she refused to let me brush it but here are some of our attempts...

Finally after dozens of shots we bribed the kids with smarties...and this is the best we could do - you can actually see the smartie in Troy's mouth lol! It can only get easier as they get older - at least that's what we kept telling ourselves...