Well hello to the minute few who actually read my blog. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!
Christmas was Great! Ryan was so excited and finally into it this year. It was exciting for both Dave and I because of that. Shane just wants to get his hands on everything which makes for good reflexes!
Well, Friday the 22nd of December, we spent the afternoon with Suzanne, Mike and Jared. We always like to get together before Christmas and exchange a little something with each other. Well, Sue out did herself. Never mind that she had been going to school everyday and holding down three jobs, but she also managed to make me my annual ambrosia treat and spoil me and the boys rotten. Ryan got a set of dominos and kinder surprise which he had never had before this. Sue seemed surprised. Shane got a real cute cement truck with mega blocks in the back. He pushes that thing everywhere. Sue spoiled me rotten. There was a stocking full of wrapped little goodies. I showed Dave all that I got from Sue to show him what a real stocking should look like. Ha, what a laugh. Not that I'm complaining, but I got a Terry's chocolate orange and some Tim Horton's gift certificates in my stocking from Dave. Anyhow, we had a nice visit and by the time I got home, as I was walking in the door, Jared called me to tell me that he had finished putting together the bionicle set that I got him. WOW! He is the lego master. 211 pieces in like less than 2 hours. Amazing!
Christmas was a whirlwind! Christmas morning was so cute. Shane has been going through this separation anxiety thing so have been having him sleep with us again come the middle of the night. So when Ryan got up at 7:45 (halleluya) (don't know how to spell that word) anyhow, he came in and we said our good mornings and Merry Christmases! I asked Ryan if Santa had come and he said he didn't know. I told him to run downstairs and check. Well, he came running back upstairs, jumped on the bed yelling Santa was here! Santa was here! Our stockings are all full of stuff and the cookies and chocolate milk are all gone! Well, we were just so excited, that I asked Ryan if Santa left any presents under the tree for us. He said he didn't know. I said, you better go check. Well, he went running downstairs and then promptly back up them. Santa was here! And he left presents! Lots of presents! He moved the couch all by himself! (We had the couch diagonally across the front of the Christmas tree so Shane couldn't get to it) I said NO WAY! (Ryan had so much excitement in his voice he was almost yelling) Yes! He did, the couch is moved and there are a whole bunch of presents! I said to him that we all better get dressed so we can go and open them! We all got up and after Ryan was dressed he quietly asked if he could wake up Kaitlyn as of course the stipulation would be that everyone had to be awake and present before we could open any presents. I said sure, so he knocked on Kait's door and all you could here was, I'm getting dressed buddy! We all came downstairs, gathered our stockings and met in the living room to do the gift opening. It was great! Ryan was so excited that when all the presents were all open, he wanted more. I told him that his birthday was in like three weeks and to hold his horses. He got so much stuff he didn't know what to play with first.
That afternoon, Dave went and got him mom around 3pm. Well, she got Ryan the coolest table hockey game. He absolutely loves it. He cheats but he loves it. Everyone got spoiled for the second time Christmas day. We had a great Ham dinner with homemade scalloped potatoes and carrots for supper. Can you believe it though, I totally forgot to make the dessert. I thought about it several times, but totally forgot. Man, how stupid. I still shake my head in disbelief. Later that evening just as we were finishing supper, we got a surprise visit from the McAuley's. It was present opening time again! That was a lot of fun. I felt so honored to graced with their visit on Christmas day! Seriously! Usually I only see family. It was nice to see them!
Boxing Day Kaitlyn was going home as her mom had plans for them. Only fair, so Dave and Kaitlyn took off around 9ish. Dave was going to pick his mom up on the way back as I was doing the big turkey dinner for the "other" Macfarlanes. Bo, Jenn, Ben, and Danny were coming down for a couple of days. It's so nice that we have the bigger house and we're able to have people stay over and I actually got to use my dining room twice! Because I had forgotten to make dessert on Christmas, I made both desserts that I had planned for Boxing Day. I made pumpkin cheesecake and Sex in a pan. Deelish! All the boys played so well together. Poor Danny was sick and had an ear infection. He did come around eventually though. When it was time to leave on the 28th, he didn't want to go. The boys really liked to play the hockey game Oma bought! It was a big hit! Both Dave and Bo took Oma home that night. The next day I made waffles and bacon and Bo, Jenn and the kids went to visit Oma for lunch at her place. I didn't want to serve turkey to them again so we had another ham dinner. For them it was new. The next day they were taking off home, so I made eggs, sausage and hashbrowns. Hearty breakfast for the road. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go up and visit them this summer. Want to see their new place! Also, on the 27th, our nephew Jordan came for a visit and stayed over one night with us and one night with Oma. Wow, 20 at the end of January. What a great guy he's turned out to be. Dave, Bo, Ryan, Ben and Jordan went the Bruin's game and Jenn and I watched the new movie I got for Christmas, RV. Danny and Shane were doing a little bit of the sleep thing.
Oh, just before Christmas, I think the Thursday or Friday, the washer had a meltdown. I was talking with my uncle on the phone when Dave came rushing upstairs calling emergency. I came downstairs to an ankle deep flood. It took us over two hours to get all the water up. Dave then took all of the towels to the Laundromat to get washed. It was only a wash as our dryer at least works. I had a repair guy come and look at it and he said it was circa 1980's and wasn't worth fixing. The pump was going and there was a hole in the boot. He managed to tighten the belt as best he could to get the pump to go. He said it might last one load or 100. He couldn't predict but said not to waste money putting in to it. Well, Sears of course was having a boxing week sale and I noticed they had a washer on for $299. SOLD! Dave called in on Boxing day to order it and it will be delivered on the 5th of January. Thank you to my Uncle Gary, and Aunt Betty for the gift certificate to Sears as we are going to put that towards the new washer. Fantastic! I can't wait. Even though the set won't match. The washer will be sparkling new and white and my circa 1980's dryer is an ugly goldish/almond color. You know the one! The dryer works great at this point so I really don't care. No one sees it behind the cupboard anyway.
The days have gone by very fast. Of course this weekend I have spent doing my New Year cleaning. I know, I know, I do clean on a regular basis, but growing up it was tradition to make sure certain things were done before New Year's. I cleaned my stove. I really wanted to do the oven, but I have to find the manual as it is a self clean and I don't know how to do that, plus I didn't have a new foil tray for the bottom. I cleaned out the microwave, and all appliances. I washed my floors, did all the bathrooms and our shower upstairs. Then I took by New Year's shower. Dave and John went to the Bruin's game at 5pm. I was in bed by 11pm. Whoopie Happy New Year! How exciting when you have kids eh?
Today was real laid back. I finally got sit my big butt in front of the TV for a while and now I'm taking down the Christmas tree. Dave took down the outside Christmas lights already. So, that's about it, I'm off to finish the dismantling of our tree!
Goodnight!
A couple of sick boys two weeks ago. Now I have been battling it this past week. Still stuffed up, a bit of a cough and can't smell a thing. I hope to be over it by the end of the week.
Here is a picture of the cookie bouquets my matron of honor and bridesmaids and I made as centerpieces and favours for Dave's and my wedding in 2004.
Well, the Langley Craft Fair went well! I was quite pleased with the outcome and I still have stuff left over, enough for my personal use. Very happy about that. Thank you for all of your help and support Sue! I had a wonderful day with you even though we got diddly crafting done!
Last Saturday was also Breakfast with Santa. This is the first year Ryan was excited to see Santa and he actually sat on his lap. He asked Santa for an grater. We'll see if Santa comes through. ;) Shane on the other hand was none too impressed with jolly old St. Nick. So, I guess it will be another five years before he's willing to sit on his lap. I put Shane in the same outfit Ryan wore for his first Christmas. Soooo cute. Nah, they're not brothers. I'm glad that it fit him. Not much else exciting happening here. Helping Sue with her Christmas cards. She's coming over on Saturday so we can get her 41 cards done. She has chosen to do the faux postage card that I did. If you want to see it, you'll have to link to my craft blog. I've got the postage all cut out, stamped and watercolored. That's the time consuming part. Now we have to emboss the actual cards (easy) and mount and staple the ribbon to the Let It Snow! parts. It shouldn't take us long at all.
