The Setting of 2010...

Here are some pictures I captured of the last sunset for 2010!







What a gorgeous day we were blessed with to close off a year that has showed us SO much!!

2010 was a year filled with growth...

finishing off a job that took me 100% out of my comfort zone, but taught me I had nothing to be afraid of...

surviving a 6 month drought with Jim's work that found us seeking the Face of the Only One who knows our future...

enjoying the work that comes along with a "fixer-upper" home such as ours...

seeing the progress in a job well-done!!

getting to spend our first summer in our new home!

taking the huge step out of a paid job to stay home with the girls...

and with that step, picking up the extra job of "homeschooling"

witnessing, first-hand, the joys of our steps of faith...we've never once regretted our decision to homeschool! what a freeing, bonding, growing, relaxing, fulfilling, encouraging job i have...not that it doesn't have it's challenges...there ARE certainly moments through days where I wish (and so do the girls) that we had some space, but that only teaches us more about how we work together as a family and how we deal with trying circumstances!

finally getting our heads above water with Jim getting his job back, only for us to find ourselves back in the same boat now for over 2 months! But we know God is faithful...and He has a pleasing plan for our future!! We now see this as a period of time in which we are to grow closer to Him and to each other, and we look forward to the day when His plans for us will be shown!

All in all an incredible year! One that I entered into having chosen to SAVOUR...and one that has certainly taught me to do so!!

Now...stay tuned for my words for 2011!!

Have a blessed and happy New Year celebration!!

Christmas 2010

well now, THAT was fun!!!

here's a picture-walk through our holidays...i hope yours too were enjoyable, and filled with laughter and love!!

Christmas Eve



Karys ~ 5 yrs

Avery ~ 3 yrs


And the stockings were hung...finally!!
(if you're not friends with me on Facebook, you wouldn't know that these things have been talked about getting done for a WHILE now!!)


Jim's parents decided to come and spend the holidays with us, which is an added bonus ~ having all of both families right here!!


It's Jim's family tradition to open all the presents on Christmas Eve, but mine to open them on Christmas morning. SO the compromise we've worked out is: the kids get all his family's presents of Christmas Eve, and my side on Christmas morning...it kind of breaks things up a bit so as to attempt to avoid being completely overwhelmed!


SCOOTERS!!!!!!

Unfortunately i didn't snag a picture of the girls with my Mum, but my lil sis did...so, i guess i'm waiting on her!


~Christmas Morning~

Stockings...

Chapter books!!


a TAD too early for Dado!!

I am quickly realizing that as I found myself completely caught up in the hubbub of it all, i failed to capture many moments of the day on camera :( but here they are setting up one of the several "big toys" the girls got this year...which entailed a LOT of snapping and screwing and batteries - most of which we were completely unprepared for!!

They LOVE "tooling" with Dado!! and now they "can"!!

SO...from here on out you'll simply have to imagine: for brunch we enjoyed a delicious meal of waffles with whip cream, strawberry sauce and bacon...and for dinner, we had a traditional feast of turkey with all the fixings!!

Another year has come and gone...Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year. So much anticipation and excitement building up to a frenzy of food, family and gifts.

We are blessed...and now look forward to the dawning of a New Year and all that comes with that!

::Merry Christmas...::

...to you and yours!! And a very blessed 2011!!

love, US xoxo

::Sissy is Five!!::

okay, to be honest, this on snuck up on me! i mean, i KNOW, i have been teaching this girl Kindergarten for the past 4 months...but FIVE?!?! Already?!?!

i'm still in a bit of disbelief, but we DID enjoy Karys' day...fully!

it all started the week before the girls' birthdays when we headed into town for, what the girls thought, a trip to Costco!

and although we DID fit in a much-needed visit to the big-box-suck-your-bank-account-dry-store...our main intent for the trip across the water was....

Stanley Park's Bright Nights...with our favourite girls!! Unfortunately, we failed to snag a picture of all five girls...but fun was had by all! An event most certainly needed to be repeated next year!!

it was crisp and cool, a perfect addition to a wonderful Christmas event...and a great way for us to celebrate their birthdays...doing something simply... enjoyable!!

so, once their actual birthdays rolled around, it was nice to be able to just focus on the day and what we were going to together to make the entire day enjoyable and dedicated to the girl at hand:) (in case you're not aware, our girls birthdays are 5 days apart, and then our anniversary falls 9 days after that, so this is an expensive, blessed month, to say the least:))

Karys birthday comes second, but certainly not the least!! she has come to the age where she can remember the traditions we do for birthdays, and get excited with anticipation about what's to come!!

so...here she is, with her birthday pancake...and early presents from Gram


and later that day, we had set up a surprise for her!!!


4cats just opened a new studio here in the local mall, and i could not be more excited!! I thought it was a perfect way to allow Karys some alone, big-girl time on her special day! so i signed her up for a 2.5 hr course and we told her right before!! she was so excited!! and had a great time!!

Later that day, we had some family over for cake and presents...and Karys liked nothing more that to have undivided attention!!


the shirts suits her perfectly...and she LOVES her new game!!

all in all, it was a great day celebrating my first baby...turning five!!

here's my baby, 5 days after her little sister was born!!

so cute!!

mummy loves you Sissy, i love seeing you become such a little lady, a better sister each day...and such a big helper to me!!

::beanie is three::

so, the birthday girl's morning started as all birthday mornings do in our home...with a birthday pancake, or two:)

in this collage we have the birthday girl patiently waiting for her #3 pancake to cook, posing for Muma in her birthday "outfit" - chosen and put on my the big girl, herself! And, an excited face ready to eat a yummy pancake!

(remember to click on the picture to get a bigger image)

the rest of the day was dedicated to Beanie...she chose what we did, she chose what we ate (to a certainly extent!) and she chose her guests for her special birthday dinner! Funny to think her favourite people are all 10x her age...or more!! So, we had the requested "noodles" for dinner...was that at ALL a surprise?! nope...

and here she is tearing into her presents and munching out on some birthday cake!!

all in all, it was a great day celebrating our baby...

what a different a couple years makes!!!

baby girl, mummy loves you and looks forward to celebrating many, MANY more days dedicated to YOU!!

::no fail...super simple::

Play-dough!!

wanna know how to make it??

Check it out here at my simply homemade site:)

::dance, dance, dance::

yes, the birthday posts are coming...i have the pictures uploaded and just need to do the posts:)

but lookie what we've got heeeere!!!

last week we had the privileged of sitting in on our girls' dance classes (3) to see what they've been learning this term!!

avery, i believe, is the youngest in her class, and has had quite a difficult time letting me go...but she has stayed a few times and certainly enjoys the class when she does decide to let go of her inhibitions.

all the little "ballerinas" in her class are SO.CUTE!! and...SO.TINY!! so, it's extra special to see them....




Karys is in her second year of ballet, and is a natural!! She LOVES her class, and LOVES her teacher! (which i was happy for, because it's a new teacher this year)



she is also in her first year of a combined class of tap and modern dance...this one was SUPER fun for us to watch as we had NO idea what she did in this class...or how she was doing!


she likes this class too...but maintains that ballet is her FAVOURITE!!

we love our girls...and love getting to be a part of what they love!!