Christmas Eve

Proving yet again that she is afraid of nothing and no one, Katie was a fabulous sport about Santa... Maddie was probably more excited than ever to meet the big guy and tell him her special wish (a doll house). The result? My gorgeous girls and the big guy himself...

Yes, that's a beret. Maddie told me Katie looked like a police officer. I don't disagree...

Merry Christmas wishes to everyone - I think I might be more excited for Christmas day than the kids. Can't wait to see everyone's faces for all the surprises there will be wrapped under the tree.

2011 - 'Twas a good year...

xxoo.S

Remember last Monday?

Remember when I was an actual blogger and posted things in some type of coherent order? And actually within a reasonable amount of time, so as to make my posts kind of timely and in context of actual life?

Yeah. Me neither.

So HALLOWEEN! It was on Monday. Like 5 days ago... So? What are you gonna do about it? That's right, I'm just getting around to posting about it now. AFTER my rant about Blockbuster closing down and the obliteration of an entire era of movie renting for a generation (me) and the subsequent art of living life unplanned + at the last minute (us) and the beauty of purchasing bad-for-you-food in an impulse, yet justifiable setting (REESE BITES).

I had priorities, okay?

So back to the offspring. And their Halloween stuff...

We carved our pumpkins during the chaos of Sunday afternoon football transition (aka just before the 4 o'clock games started). It was all before dinner, but after nap-time convenient like, and featured: 1) a distracted Daddy wielding a sharp knife, 2) a grumpy baby who could have TOTALLY slept for another half hour if it wasn't for her stompy, loud-as-an-elephant-in-high-heels sister, and 3) a 4 year old who was about as INTO pumpkin carving as she has been in the prior 2 years we've been foisting this tradition onto her. Which is to say, NOT AT ALL INTO IT.

Yo - this is gross, y'all.

Monday morning I got Maddie dressed up for school, only to walk back home, guzzle 2 cups of tea, get my darling Kates also dressed up (completely against her will and better judgement) and trek back to the school 15 minutes later for the Kindergarten parade. Which turned out to be possibly my favourite moment thus far in unemployment - and now I know, for the future, take Halloween day off. Because being able to attend shit like that? Is THE Awesome.

Hey Mom! Look! I'm in a parade!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with me trying to convince Maddie that, no, it wasn't time to go trick or treating yet, and no, she didn't need to wear her costume for the ENTIRE day. It wouldn't, like, negate her ability to earn candy later on or anything, if she just took off her princess dress for 5 seconds to eat her pizza. I also tried to get a cute, non-costumed-pic of the girls wearing their Halloween shirts.

It didn't work out so well... 

By the time it was late enough that the girls could actually GO trick or treating, Katie was ready to pass out. She didn't nap so well - still sick from the weekend (teeth + cankers on her tongue (eww) = horrid weekend for her + us) - so she was a bit of a zombie before and during. But zombies are in, right? And yes (because I know you're wondering), Cinderella DID come by our house and THREW UP PRINCESS CRAP ALL OVER our Maddie. If it was plastic and sparkly or light blue, she wore it.

Zombie Butterfly FTW! We are so current.

In the end, we collected enough candy that Maddie actually had to come home and trade in her swanky McDonald's happy meal bucket for another - and since I have her on a strict 2-3 treats per day ration, I expect the candy should last us right until I get the Christmas baking started.

Which means she'll be on a sugar high for approximately 7 weeks.

Saaaa-weeet.

xxoo.S

Hippity Hop

Easter came for two little girls this year. While Katie (obviously) didn't participate in the egg hunt this year - she loved watching Maddie (her favourite past-time anyways) and I had visions for next year's Easter already. Maddie got her "little Rapunzel" she so desperately pined for this past month. Katie got a new ball for the backyard and some Crayola baby markers to call her own.

The Easter Bunny even set a tea party to create more ambiance! What a clever bunny!

 My childhood dollhouse has a little balcony on one side - from which "little Rapunzel" hung her hair all morning.

Matching dresses and white cardis - I love Easter. Also - say hi to a random Seamus pic - we took several "family" pictures before I thought about including the poor little scruff.

Hope your weekend was just as enjoyable!

xxoo.S

Because I'm lazy...

Too lazy to actually form a proper post anymore... so you get bullets...

• Katie started solids last week - on Thursday to be exact. This was after I spent the last week and a bit trying to avoid grabby little hands while eating (yes, she sits on my lap during most meals - what?). I started to feel a bit guilty about eating in front of her after these kinds of displays, so we started on rice cereal. She is a messy eater and still very grabby. Clearly she thinks she can feed yourself. Newsflash to the 5.5 month old... You can't.
• On Friday night, we spent 2 hours trying to figure out why our Christmas lights outside wouldn't turn on. I despaired that we may have to call an electrician (and yuck to that expense right about now) ... and then Hubs found the problem. One of the ends of our extension cords was sitting in the gutter in an inch of water. Yeah - water and electricity don't like each other.
• Maddie spent the past 5 days visiting Grandma and Grandpa Vallier - which meant a VERY quiet house for us. And eating takeout Thai food for dinner. And not having to sweep the floor after every meal. And having freedom to run errands in the afternoon (prime naptime). And realizing just how effing easy life was with just one kid... wow - so. easy.
• She came home just yesterday and spent the entire evening spider monkey-ing (this is our inside word for crazy clingy cuddles) either the Hubs or I. So for once, I think she missed us too. That's nice...
• One of my productive tasks was getting all the presents wrapped and under the tree - Maddie wasn't home 45 minutes before one of the presents was opened. I told her, "We don't open the presents yet - we have to wait until Christmas", only to be told that she didn't do it. She "Din't do anything Momma" ... apparently we have magical presents that open themselves.
• I hate to say it out loud (as we spent 5 months thinking Maddie was actively teething and expecting to see her first tooth any day now) (no seriously we really did - 5 whole months) ... but I think Katie is teething. She's very gnawy and grumpy and sleepless and agitated and rashy. Sounds like teething, right? Ask me again in a few months...
• I officially have 90% of my Christmas shopping done. 95% of my Christmas baking done. And the cards are getting mailed today. That's not really an update as much as it's a bragging note. I'm super-awesome. (To everyone who is done everything already - shut up).

xo.S

At least she's not crying...

We broke our record of crying for Santa this year. Instead Maddie just went mute and stared at him in horror at every attempt he made to chat with her. But she did give him a high five and managed to hold back the tears while sitting on his lap.

Katie remained oblivious the entire time - just stared at me like, "Dude - when are you going to get me out of this dress? I'm over the dress, okay?"

If you're wondering about the look on Maddie's face, this is the absolute closest we could get to a smile out of her. I think Tyra would be proud - she's clearly smizing for the camera!

xxoo.S

Christmas-y

I'd forgotten just how hard a baby makes getting anything done. Actually - as I write that, I realize that's not totally fair. Christmas 2007 Maddie was just a wee 2 month old. And they sleep. A LOT. They're also happy in pretty much anyone's arms. Which means getting a few consecutive hours here and there to decorate and bake and shop and do all the other stuff required to get ready for the holidays is not so difficult.

A 5 month old? Well, that's a bit of a different story. I got a lot of our indoor decorations up on Sunday (after the Hubs got home) - and the tree has been put up... but still not decorated. And my poor mantel sat half-decorated for several days.

It was making me itchy.

So... after everyone went to bed last night, I indulged in a little one-on-one time with my lovely mantel (it's a corner fireplace, meaning it's large and a bit awkwardly shaped and... just never get a corner fireplace - trust me).

But now I can rest easy that at least this one corner of the living room is DUN.

(Also, please ignore the stockings - I have PLANS y'all... which may involve crafting... or may involve spending some hard-earned $$ at the local craft show this weekend - we'll see...).

In the meantime though.... twinkly lights!

And yes, clementines are a perfectly acceptable form of holiday trim - 

in fact, at Casa Vallier we call them Christmas Oranges!

xxoo.S

Our new tradition

I could wail and whinge on about the tough tough extra super hard weekend I just had being single-mom to two RASCALS who didn't give me a moment's peace... but I think I've done enough whingeing this month, non?

So instead I'll give you the cheery bits - I jumped the gun and broke my mom's rule about decorating before the first weekend of December - screw it - I love Christmas. I love the music. I love the decorations. The twinkly lights and yummy cinnamon scented pine cones. I love Christmas baking. I LUUUUUUURVE shortbread (especially my ultra yummy melt-in-your mouth church-lady recipe that I should get around to posting about some day). So our tree is up (well, partially, waiting until tonight to actually dress it). Most of my doo-dads are up around the house, and the mantle will be dressed up after a quick trip to the local Supercentre for some fresh cedar.

Maddie also LOVES Christmas. "I love your decorations Mumma!" is what I heard about five trillion times yesterday. Which? CUTE - right?

She wasn't so much into the actual decorating as she was in running around all sugar-high and happy about the transformation of our living room. "Santa's coming!!!!!!" she'd scream. I tried my best to explain that he wasn't coming tomorrow or anything. It didn't matter. She's All. About. Santa.

So after dinner, once the Hubs was home and fully doing his part in assuming all child-rearing responsibilities for the evening, I thought - this is a great time to introduce our new tradition!

The Elf on the Shelf.

I ran across this adorable thing during my recent shopping bonanza at Chapters. It's a little toy elf doll that sits and watches down over your child and reports back to Santa nightly on their good (or bad) behaviour. He's magical - so you can't touch him or he'll lose his magic and won't be able to report back to Santa. Oh - and he's in a different spot every morning (because of his nightly trip to the North Pole of course!).

So not only can we totally use this as a "be good - the Elf is watching" behaviour-check, but it's also fun for Maddie every morning to come down and look for where the little Elf is watching from today. It comes with a story book about this new little Elf and all the "rules" that comes with him - it reads very lyrically and is beautifully illustrated. Oh and at the end of the book you name your new Elf and commemorate when your family adopted the tradition. Such an ingenious idea!

We named him "Rocky"

xxoo.S

I wasn't compensated in any way for this glowing recommendation - it's just something we bought and love...

The new Santa rules

Last year's Christmas was a little less fun than we'd like it to be. With us all fighting holiday colds (well, the Hubs failing the fight and managing to catch pneumonia), me being first trimester pregnant (tired, hormonal and nauseous) and about one TRILLION presents under the tree - it was a hard day. So hard in fact, that we had to take a break from opening presents. Yes, you heard me. Take.A.Break. It was the glazed look on Maddie's face while unwrapping and her zero enthusiasm over the gifts that gave us a clue that she might be just A BIT overstimulated.

So after about a million meltdowns (on all our parts) and a living room that looked like a Toys R Us exploded in it, we took stock and decided to institute some new present-giving "rules" this year. And don't worry, the grandparents have been well notified, so it's not like I'm breaking the news to them on this blog!

Main rule? Each child can receive no more than ONE toy from each set of grandparents. Books, clothes or donations to their RESP's - well, have at it. But actual play-toys? Limit is one. If the limit is exceeded? Then extra toys will be promptly donated to the local toy drive.

It's not about being scroogy on our parts - it really is about the amount of toys that we have in our house already. (Oh, I know there are parents out there reading this, thinking HELL YA!) I actually look around and am at a bit of a loss as to what we're even going to get the girls this year. They have so much - which is a great, wonderful, first-world complaint to have - I KNOW.

But this brings me to the point of our new rules - it has to stop somewhere, right? I really don't want the expectation of that kind of...err... materialistic debauchery every Christmas - because, whoa -- it's just too much.

And so... the new Santa rules are born. We'll see how it goes. Both my mom and the Gramma V have skirted the rules by giving Maddie a few toys "just because" recently.

Of course they have, right?

xxoo.S

No YOU'RE a princess...

Halloween afternoon was (as always) a rush of pumpkin-carving / dinner-making / final-costume-touch-up-making. I've already promised myself that next year will be an "order pizza for dinner + get Timmies for the walk" kind of night.

Maddie loved the pumpkin carving even less this year than she did last year..

This is called "look of disgust".

Her princess outfit - before it got covered up with her winter jacket. Oh Canada!

The traditional shot of her walking with Daddy

This house deserved it's own photo - see that scary freaky lady on the right? She's an animatronic scary zombie witch who pops out every few minutes. Yikes...

BFF L with her little one (who is keeping one eye on the scary zombie witch)

The LOOT!

And in case you're wondering what little K is up to...

Well, guess who learned to bounce! this weekend?

xxoo.S

BOO

We attended a costume party last night and as self-declared costume-phobes, this is the best we could do. I think the make-up showed an A+ for effort - I mean, we could've just cut a few eye-holes and called it a day.

Katie got in on the action with a superflous themed-onesie.

Boo! We're ghosts! Be scared!

xxoo.S

Happy Canada Day!

Maddie's all, "WTH do I do with this?"

It only took me until Katie was one week + a day old to dress them in coordinating outfits.

I think I showed restraint.

xxoo.S

PS - for those of you all wtf'ing me on the timeliness of these posts? Well, I'm trying to keep it updated, except I'd write half a post and then not finish to publish, so yeah, I'm fudging the "post" dating on here right now. Whatevs... It's called "documenting our lives" people... not "be date-sensitively-accurate on your posts". 

Maddie pics

Laziness... the first thing to go is the blog, apparently. Have been meaning to post some pics from Christmas holidays for some time now, better late than never...

Maddie + Daddy at the Whitby Santa Claus Parade

Baking Christmas cookies with me (my first attempt at "roll out + cut shapes" cookie dough - they were good, but a bit weird because I used whole wheat flour)

Completely ignoring Baby Cole on Christmas Eve. But don't you love her fancy sweater?

She doesn't look impressed here because Christmas Presents were Over.Whelming. But that's another post for another time.

With a sick daddy and exhausted mommy, Maddie got to sit and watch more than her fair share of Disney movies over Christmas vacation. And the battle of chair supremacy continued with Simon the Cat.

"Helping" Mommy shovel the back patio on New Year's Eve. Intense work, I tell you...

xxoo.S

You can say it - she's adorable

That face that you see - it is Maddie's way of nicely showing disgust at me trying to get her to help me remove the pumpkin guts. Yeah, she wasn't down with that at all...

Maddie, on Halloween night, dressed as a little bug, with her buddy, Cole the Lionheart.

Note the impulse makeup craftily created from some of Mommy's lipgloss. Try not to note the spaghetti sauce stain that I couldn't get out of her only pair of pink leggings.

Wing shot!

xxoo.S