Old video clip!

I just came across this clip of josh on his second Christmas...It is pretty cute hey?
ps man he really grew into his lips hey...holy cow his lips were big!

Douglas Annual Christmas Party

Every year the douglas clan gather at Christmas time! It is a time for the cousins kids to play and visit with the aunts and uncles and hang out with your cousins. This year Ryan and I decided to spice it up with some games...cause if you know ry and me we love games. The aunts took care of the food and WOW it was delish. Uncle Phil bbq'd a roast that was heavenly, and trust me there was enough food to feed the whole neighborhood. Our version of Christmas jeopardy was won by Suzy and Alex...They were good! Rumor has it Suzy was studying all night for this one! It paid off she was on fire. Alex you were no slouch either. The best part was Ry had them all come up with there individual buzz in sound which were honk honk, dong, and hey! Trust me it was hilarious. Our evening also included a surprise visit from Santa himself, he had almost all the kids roped in, until Josh says oh that's not Santa that's Papa Jim, Santa has glasses.....cause that's the difference between Jim and Santa...glasses come on I know you were all thinking the same thing its the glasses:)

We also had a game of which Parent and Child know each other best, its along the lines of the newlywed game. Tracey and her ma flew away with that one....Ryan and his mom tied with Auntie Gail and Kathleen. Maybe next year guys!

How cute are they?

Christmas!

Christmas is such a fun holiday. Having children to enjoy this time of celebration with is so amazing. We had a terrific Christmas. It was a bit sketchy there, both boys were barfing up on Friday so I thought we were in for a quiet Christmas. Amazingly they both woke up the next day looking and feeling much better. They weren't totally themselves we had a few interesting moments. There was a Christmas Eve Skate at the community rink so we thought it would be a fun family activity to venture to. Our kids loved the idea on the way there, but once they were on the ice they both had melt downs. It was actually quite comical. Some of you may of saw us there, ya we were the family with the two screaming boys arms outstretched following there parents around the ice. Ry and I finally looked at each other laughing and said ya lets cut our losses and go. Once we left everyone was fine and after a bit of rest at home their spirits were up once again. That evening we went with nana, papa, grandma, grandpa and cousins to church at Brunette Fellowship in Maple Ridge. We were blown away by the Christmas service. It was so child friendly. They included the kids in a few songs, and had some awesome music, one lady shared a short testimony and then at the end they had goodie bags for all the kids. It was really cute. After the service we went out for dinner with Nana and Papa, then back to our house to prepare for Santa's arrival. Our kids were soooo excited. They set out their cookies and milk along with carrots for the reindeer of course followed by a Christmas story with dad and off to bed.

We woke up the next morning to Josh "mommy daddy its Christmas its Christmas, oh hold on a second I will be right back" before I could adjust my eyes to an awaken state he returned "ok I am dressed lets go downstairs". We had a few stall tactics but they only got us so far. Once our kids saw that Santa had come they were bouncing with excitement. Our tradition (passed on from Ryan's parents) is that the stockings are hidden around the house, so the first job of the morning is to begin the stocking hunt. So the boys did just that. The morning was full of the reading of the Jesus Birth, gift opening and breakfast. We had to wake our little princess up at 10am, she hasn't been feeling all that great she had a bad cold, and has been sleeping quite late. We woke her and she had some catching up to do with her gifts, but her brothers were very capable aids. After we finished our morning we headed over to grandma and grandpa's for more Christmas fun. We had the same fun festivities there accompanied with an amazing dinner mom made. It was delicious. Christmas Day is my moms birthday, I always feel bad for her having to cook this huge meal on her birthday, but she never complains. And trust me the feast was grand and delicious. We had a competitive game of Rumoli that night....of which I was of no threat, I borrowed more then I ever won. Don't even remember who was declared the winner...Maybe Sharon, Becky or Cara Lee. We had a terrific day with family.

A sweet moment:)

Ryan and I went to pick up our kids today after they had a sleep over at their nana and papa's. While we were driving home I asked the boys if they missed me, before they could answer I said "Oh I know Josh you just cried the whole time asking where's my mommy?" He laughs and replies "No I didn't cry". So I then did the same for Caleb, his response "No I never cry." A few moments go by and Josh speaks up "Mom when we were eating the cookies that you sent I thought of you." I said "OH thank you Josh that is so sweet", he said "ya cause you made them so I thought of you." A few more moments go by and Josh says "you know I didn't cry but I had two tears run down my cheek when we were getting Abby a bottle cause I was thinking of you." What a sweetie hey! Even though I know none of it is true. It is nice of him to try and pretend that he missed me:)

One Christmas Down and Another to GO!

How lucky are we, we get to have two Christmas Celebrations. Marc and Nat are off to the UK for Christmas so we had an early celebration with the Douglas clan this past weekend. We started off our holiday at Seymour mountain for some tabogganing(sp). I was a bit nervous at first I have not been in years, but after a few runs it was all good. Although I did get Nat pretty good one time in putting my feet down early, she got a refreshing spray of snow...oops! I still say we were gonna go through the fence! The kids had fun too. After our fun in the snow we went to Nana and Papa's house for a yummy soup supper and games. That night Josh and Caleb wrote a letter to Santa with their Auntie Natalie, explaining the circumstances. Left carrots and cookies, and some oatmeal glitter out on the deck so the reindeer would find there way! We slept over that night, and the boys woke up the next morning very excited as Jolly Ol'St Nick did find his way after all. We had a great Christmas Day, with Nana and the boys acting out the Christmas story with a paper dolls! And of course way too many presents! We ended with a Christmas feast! It was tons of fun. Now this weekend we get to do it all over again, how perfect is that. I think this could be every kids dream, two Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

The Future of the NHL

Well folks look no further, two future NHL'ers stand before you. Today was the last day of skating lessons. Wuhoo, actually I can't complain at all it was Ryan who took them each Friday while I was working. Josh was in formal lessons and Caleb and daddy were out to skate.


Some of you may know the rough start we had to this whole skating lesson thing this year. If you don't I will give you the short version! On Josh's first lesson(of this year) he was asked to leave the class 10 minutes in, and join the primary one level (he was in primary two). There was other issues there with how they handled it but hey after a bunch of phone calls and a strong letter I think they know how we felt. Regardless Josh had fun with it and didn't seem to notice the shuffle. He passed his Primary One class! Way to go Josh. He is a very cautious skater, which is so funny because he was always so fearless he has changed so much when he was four I am telling you a whole new personality came now that he is 5 1/2 we are finally getting use to this new person. The one thing his teaching did not check off was "skates with speed" which gave us a good chuckle because you will never see anyone more turtle like then our Josh. Gotta love him!





Now as for Caleb, the boy has speed! He will jump on the ice stick in hand and move about freely with confidence. Today I saw him playing pass with his dad on the ice, it was way too cute. Of course Caleb insists on having a good brawl with his dad too, drop your gloves and stick and go for it! The only problem here is this little guy fades fast. You get about 15-20 max minutes out of him and then he is done. But we think that is pretty good for now, especially at 3 1/2yrs old. I think Caleb is definitely ready for some lessons and will thrive on the teacher interaction. But I think you have to be four so we will see what we can do in the New Year.

Memory Lane!

Christmas Time in the past:) Look how cute they are!!!! 

Caleb's Shoot

He is pretty easy going, as long as he keeps his eyes open:) 

Joshie's Shoot!

Josh, same-o same-o, on his own or with the crew! 

Abby's Shoot!

Abby was a bit easier one her own! 

Christmas Photo Op!

Seeing how I didn't have it together enough to make it to get pictures done before christmas we had a photo op at home today...it was quite funny! Here are the highlights! 

Hmmm Where have we Been.....

It has been a while since we have posted anything at all! Well let me fill you in as to why. It has been crazy around here. Tis the season.....Of birthdays in our family sheesh! We start off with Auntie B's birthday on Nov. 24, Abby Nov. 26, Papa J Dec. 4, Connor birthday party Dec. 17, Mom's Dec. 25, Dad's Dec. 31, Nana's Jan. 23, David Jan. 29. The craziness set off with Abs birthday, that was great. We decided after her birthday that we would tackle the painting that we needed to do in our house. So last weekend we painted like crazy, Saturday took a break to go to the Santa Clause Parade, came back and painted til 1am. Had church and a birthday party afterwards followed by more painting. Monday I accompanied joshes class on a field trip to Abbotsford, for a play called Jillian Jiggs. It was cute we were on a school bus with about 60 kindergarteners, it was quite the experience. On the way home it was a challenge to keep them awake. The bus driver got my attention "man down" as I hustled down the isle to try and wake kids up before they fell into the isle. Monday night was another birthday party, Tuesday birthday dinner at our house for Papa and yesterday was Christmas shopping. Which leaves us at today! I am determined to get this painting done! We are over half way done but it is a big job. I better stop writing in here and go paint:)

She eats the cake

Finally she gets into it, and chows down on her yummy birthday cake....it was a slow process!

dah boys in the basement

The bear party takes on a new meaning when you let the boys take charge of the events!

Mr. Robot-o

David provided the entertainment while Abby opened her presents!

 

Eating the Cake!

My First birthday cake! Mmmmm yum. I think it was a hit! Took her a bit to finally get to the cake but once she did she finished it off. 

Happy Birthday Abby!

We had Abby's First birthday Party here tonight. It was lots of fun! I have lots of pictures to show ya and some video's too! Her theme was "My Beary First Birthday", see she has a bear that she adores, she will not sleep without it so we went with the bear theme. The evening started off with dinner, then a game of Blurt for Abby! What is this you ask, well it is a modifyed version of the game Blurt. We thought up words pertaining to Abby, read the definition and the contestants had to blurt out the answer. We had team kids vs, team grown ups. The kids totally won... After our game the winners helped bring in the cake! Abby took forever to eat her piece. Ate it like a true lady...I don't think she was very messy at all. When I think back to Josh he was covered from head to toe! Finally Abs got to open all her cool gifts, she did very well! Thank you Family!

Her First Giggle

Seeing how I figured out this video thing....Here is Abby's first giggle caught on tape. It is from April 2005. Pretty cute if you ask me.

Testing out the video link!

I am seeing if I can actually use this video thing-a-ma-jig. Matt K was king enough to educate me on how to do it...now we will see if I am a good student!
This is from June, Joshua's birthday. Darth Vader came to visit and it really left an impact on poor Caleb. All he has to hear is the Vader March and it sets him off. Hope this works!

How can They be so Different!

Tonight we were getting things ready for Abby's birthday party on Monday. It is her birthday TODAY! She is officially 1 year old. I can't believe it was only a year ago we met her for the first time. I can remember the day still all to well...The painful parts are hard to forget! Abby was born at 6:25pm November 26, 2004. It was a Friday and she had me busy the whole day at the hospital. We were there just before 9am, and it felt like it took forever to get things rollin. We feel very blessed to have her in our family now.

Okay but back to tonight, the boys decided to help me make abby's birthday cake. They were super helpful! When it came time to clean up Caleb definitely took the cake...hee hee. He couldn't get enough of the batter.

Now Josh on the other hand....I think the sugar got to him. He kept leaving the kitchen to return in some unusual costumes....As you can see. Ryan and I have never laughed so hard. Gotta love him!