A brand new year!

Wow! Did the holiday season ever pass quickly! I can't believe it's all over :(
But what good times we had.
In December, Paul & I were able to attend both of our work holiday parties - his at the NAC, and mine at a funky restaurant called the Social. Our kids had two parties of their own too - the Bell party and the Multiples Family at Midway. Loads of fun, with lots of Santa sightings!
My brother's family drove into town on the 22nd. On the 23rd, we had our annual neighbour get together - this time at Jeff & Heather's across the street. Paul & I were lucky to have a built-in babysitter by having my oldest neice Amy stay with us, so we were able to enjoy a good night of poker. Ya - nothing says Christmas like losing your money a couple of days before - ha!
Early on Christmas Eve, we woke to primp (ha) ourselves for our first family photo - like, I mean, ALL of us (on my side.) We met at the RCSS and were done and THRILLED with the results within 30 minutes. Here they are (note, the quality isn't great as they're scanned - apparently on a dirty scanner!) :





We came home after the photos and the kids all had a great nap (Paul & I prepared the house for the next day, did some last minute wrapping.) Then we headed out to Deb's house for the evening. Tanya joined our families (well, she is family!) and we hung out, had festive bevvies and tonnes of great food and got home around 11:30 (I think?) We got the kiddies settled, then Santa and Rudolf paid a quick visit(YES Chantal, Rudolf did indeed CHEW the carrots with his teeth!) and Paul & I were off to bed.
Paul & I were up around 7:15 on Christmas morning to start working on breakfast. Peyton was up shortly thereafter and BURIED in Little People (her Santa gift.) Paige followed not long after and all three were up & playing by 8:30.
Deb's family, followed by my mom & Dan's family were in by 9:00AM, and Paul's parents were moments behind.
A couple photos:







The gift opening was NOTHING short of CRAZY - we have THREE kids to open gifts for! So Paul was busy getting breakfast off the ground, while I was desperately trying to make a mental note of who gave who what - but man, was that hard. My mom and mother-in-law were helping out with the kids and opening their gifts, but needless to say, we have NO pictures of this time - there just wasn't a spare moment to be had!

When it was all over, we sat down to a wonderful breakfast - 15 people - while the twins napped. Everyone helped cleanup, while Paul's father got the turkey ready and everyone was out the door somewhere around 12:30 (phew!) I got Peyton off to bed just as the twins were waking up. So we fed them and then I spent LITERALLY over 2 hours just breaking down the packaging on the children's toys - holy CRAP the toy packaging is just plain brutal, and my hands were killing me!

When Peyton got up from her nap, we bundled everyone up and went out for a nice long walk - note the GREEN Christmas!


We came home, put the twins down for their PM nap while Peyton played with her new things. Erin & Peter came over around 4:00PM followed by Paul's parents about an hour later, and we all enjoyed a (much more quiet) dinner of Turkey + all the yummy fixings. We opened MORE gifts and it was an early night - Peter & Erin were heading to Cuba on Boxing day, after all :)

Boxing day was leisure - I, of course, hit the malls, looking for those great deals. There were some, but I certainly didn't go nuts. Ha. A few pics of the kids and their new playthings:








New Year's Eve we went to Chantal & Colin's place - small, nice gathering. We knew we wouldn't be there for long as both Paul & I were exhausted. It seems something's gotten into Paige, and she's decided to not sleep overnight anymore. I wont harp on it (suffice to say it's not been a fun couple of weeks) but we did enjoy the couple of hours we were out - Peyton was entertained and the twins were spoiled with attention and we got to eat great food (yummy cheese - well most of it anyway!) But we were home by 8:30 and I think lights were out by 10:30. Yeah, lame I know but this is life with 3 under 3!!

We got out for another long walk on New Year's Day, and I wish we'd thought to snap a picture that day too, because it was so different from one week prior - we'd had freezing rain over a bit of snow and the roads were a mess...but it all melted by about 3PM and I'd go so far as to say it was hot out! Weird.

So that was our holidays in a snapshot - wonderful, family time.

This week is Paul's first week back to work (full week) and I am desperately trying to get the girls back into their nice routine. Making some headway - last night was the first in almost 2 weeks that Paige DID sleep the night - but I'm going to continue to cross my fingers...

In other FANTASTIC news - we lined up a Nanny for when I return to work. A sweet girl who's just finishing up Psychology at Carleton, and will be doing ECE sometime in the future. Rachel will be starting to come out - at least once a week - starting next week, and she will be with us full time when her school year is up. Which just happens to coincide with when my mat-leave is up. Man, WHAT a relief!

And in OTHER news - and I'm not sure I've mentioned this yet - but for anyone who doesn't know, Chantal & Colin are expecting # 1 - in May. And we're so very excited and happy for them. Maybe a boy? Likely not, if the girl trend keeps up! Either way, it's all good.

Gotta run ... hope everyone is well and that you've all had a great Christmas too!

update is coming...

Lots to write about but unfortunately, Paige has got me 100000% occupied. Oh, and that includes overnight too - so the rare moment she catches a daytime nap, I'm trying to catch up too.

Despite that, we're all well, Christmas was great, New Year's was quiet.

Will load pics as soon as time permits.

Kari

Close ups of our teeth

So De was over tonight with her super-duper camera.

Both babies were happy to show the goods:

(Oh, by the way, Paige's SECOND tooth popped through today!)
























Aren't they pretty??

We Are Family....

Just posting a quick picture!




Paige is in the red sweater, Leah in the white.

We've got teeth!! And one of us is mobile!!

Well, in Leah's case, that's old news. She got her first tooth about 6 weeks ago, and her second appeared a couple of days later.

But Paige was a little behind in the teeth cutting - her first appeared on Saturday.

Gone are my gummy babies :(

Here's Leah, showing off her pearly whites:













And Paige, not showing her barely poking through tooth (but cute none-the-less.)















And finally, Paul & Paige being silly:









And our last little bit of news is - Paige is on the move. As much as I hoped that they would hold off until at least Christmas is behind us, I suppose I really don't have much say. She's not quite crawling yet, but she is slithering and able to move around quite freely. I suppose I'll have to pull out the playpen again - arg! Ah well, it was inevitable, I guess. Leah doesn't seem to be at all even CLOSE to trying to move (I think she only rolled once in her 8+ months) but she may surprise us...we'll wait and see.

A visit with Santa

Such a busy time of year - between Christmas parties and shopping and all, time is just slipping by. I can't believe Christmas is only a couple of weeks away!

Today we went to Bell's Children's Christmas Party. Little Ray's Reptiles, face painting, clowns, and .... SANTA! Oh bliss.

Peyton's been known for her attempts to convince others (her grandfather) to go tell Santa what she wants on her behalf - she's been a little too afraid to do it herself.
But today - she did it! Climbed up on his lap, stated she wanted the Little People Schoolhouse, she got a gift (Dora doll) and a picture taken, and it's all good.
The twins did very well - rather, all three did very well, considering we were missing the PM nap all around. Leah got a bit screechy towards the end, but if she didn't, I would wonder if something was wrong. Ha.

Paul & I have been out twice in the last couple of weeks for work parties - it's been a treat. Erin & Peter watched the kids last Friday night, and Rich & De watched them last night. No one missed us either night, apparently! (although I don't know how much Erin & Peter enjoyed the "poop up to her neck" gift Paige gave them.)
Rich & De have offered to overnight one of these days...we'll maybe take them up on it in January when the Christmas hecticness is out of the way. Having said that, I phoned De AFTER 10:00 AM this morning and WOKE HER! I can't remember how to sleep in, I think.

So that's the news for now - not too much to report.

And here are the kids....

For your listening pleasure

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Sneak Peek at Christmas Outfits

We had a professional photographer come to the house on Saturday morning. I couldn't catch a pic of Peyton (thank goodness the photographer did) but here's a first glimpse of Leah & Paige.

Also including a picture of Peyton in her Christmas Nightie. :)

Nice Weather = Outings

Let me tell ya, we're happy to see a blue sky - this fall has been SO grey.

So we got out today - here's a couple pics.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Rich

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Water Babies

Well - they're just over 7 months old now - it's been a while since my last post.
Needless to say...we're busy! But also - where the heck did time fly? I keep thinking that it was just August - like, September & October....GONE!?!

Leah & Paige wrapped up their swimming lessons just last week - they passed Aquatots-1, and we're so proud to say that they did not miss one single lesson! Ha, I remember the days of getting Peyton ready and off to her lessons...it seemed like such a big deal. Little did we know....
Paul & I (again) SINCERELY thank Rich for being the reliable (usually Paige) partner for the 9 classes. And also Erin, who stepped in the week of Paul's (minor) surgery.

The girls are sitting unassisted now - Leah started about a week and a half before Paige. This alone has made our lives a whole lot easier. They're quite happy to be sitting amongst a pile of toys and things to chew on. There are, however, little spats that occur on occasion, over a toy, typically. Leah, our gentle & sensitive angel, happens to be the more stong, aggressive toy stealer. But Paige is no pansy, she just moves on to something else. They've been reaching out to touch eachother too (or grab an ear, handful of hair...you get the idea.)

They continue to be very happy babies. They love company and are so responsive to kisses & cuddles - just the way babies should be.

Hallowe'en was fun this year. Peyton was a princess by day, and a rabbit by night. She had an absolute blast trick or treating. Paul & Rich started her off on the street, then Paul took her out to Erin's clinic, then out to his parents street. She woke up the next day asking to do it all over again! So we explained that it's done for a year, but CHRISTMAS is coming! Her response? "No Christmas. I don't like Christmas, I want Hallowe'en." Ha.




So I'm in the midst of figuring out what the heck we're going to do with these kiddies when I return to work - which isn't too far from now! A bit of a daunting task, but things seem to have a way of working themselves out, so not to stress, right!!??

Christmas shopping is also well underway - it's going to be such an exciting year. We're hosting my family for Christmas breakfast, then Paul's family will be here for dinner - busy, busy times. But thankfully, we wont be packing up and dragging the crew around. Really, that makes things so much easier (not to mention everyone will be napping in their OWN beds.)

Well...that's pretty much all I have time to add right now. I'll try to get a few more pics off, and will write more again soon.

xoxoxoxo