Dutch Christmas

I'm still catching up on this weekend but as I am so tired right now I thought I'd just right about something 'easy'.

This weekend was "Dutch Christmas" in our house. For those who don't know what it is it is when SinterKlaas comes to visit the children. Generally, from what I understand, he comes for supper on Dec 5th and then leaves gifts for the kids. We have changed it a bit more to work for us. Dec 6th SinterKlaas comes and leaves something for the kids. Generally after church (since that's when Mommy can have a few minutes to 'find' them) the gifts arrive and the kids get excited.

I love doing this with the boys since they really truly begin to get excited about things going on. They are just so overjoyed for Christmas and this helps keep them in the spirit.

I managed to snap a quick photo of the boys in front of the tree this year:



Here are the boys sitting with their SinterKlaas gifts:



Opening gifts:
















Every year when gifts are open they find a book and something else as well as their traditional chocolate letter. We have always had problems finding Quinton's Q since it's not too popular so people don't buy them as much to sell. So we generally ending up getting something else close. Q got an "O" this year:



This year along with the normal gifts the boys got 'dutch cookies'. I'm honestly not 100% sure what they are but they are good and the kids can eat them like there is no tomorrow!

I managed to snag a photo of the boys getting their first bites of chocolate:




Something I Love Game:

I love alot of things. I've listed a few already: my blue angel, grandmas ornament, snowmen candle holder, precious moments figures, and hot chocolate. Today is my tree. I know that everyone loves trees, but I love the way ours looks, how its decorated and just the general feel of it. Here is our tree:




Blessed:

Today I am blessed by my parents. My parents have been so wonderful to us in this past month or so and we are so blessed by them. Today was no exception. Last night we received some money to buy Kyler a new snowsuit as his was WAY too short. As well as that we were also able to get the boys some new clothes. I'll post more about that tomorrow but sometimes I can never understand how blessed I am. This is truly helping.

O Christmas Tree!

You love Christmas trees, right? They are one of the things I love about Christmas. Admit it, you do too! I love everything about them. The buying, decorating, smelling. Everything!

I love them so much that our Christmas tree day starts out so early in the morning and just keeps going. It's wonderful! For years we have always gone to the same place to get trees. It is about 3 to 4 hours from here, depending on traffic but we still go, even when we moved to Toronto.

We did our Christmas Tree Shopping on Saturday. Here's how our day started:

6am - the alarm went off and Arnold and I started packing the car. We got everything in the bags (snow pants, coats, mits, boots, scarfs, ect) and into the car. We also got the breakfast bowls ready (this year it was peanut butter sandwiches with cereal and juice cups). And I started the water for our hot chocolate.

6:45am - Wake up the boys and do our potty break and get their first layer of clothing on. Then they get out to the car and we warm it up a bit. We start getting the last minute things in the car, say our prayers, and head out.

7am to 10am - driving time. this year we stopped at 2 different rest stops to hit up the bathrooms. That's what happens with 2 small bladders.

10am - arrive at Sloans/Emerald Tree grounds. Nana and Papa were waiting already for us. So they helped the kids get into their snow pants and get their other layers on. While we were waiting for Aunt B, Uncle James, Amber and Lisa the kids found a Tree for pictures. They walked up the stairs and we got their photos:



Once Aunt B and her crew got there we got a photo of Nana and Papa and their grandbabies:



We got into the ground and made our first stop at the horses for a quick ride. This was the first year Quinton got to go. And this is the last year the kids need parents to go with them. Next year Kyler and Amber will be old enough to go without us walking with them. I didn't get any photos but when I get one from Nana I'll post it. We headed out to get our trees right away. We do this every year, get a tree then have fun. We had to take a wagon out because the trees are so much further back. Here's our cute driver:



And I know this one is fuzzy but it's the saws that are for use. They aren't sharp but they work. It's cool to have them around. This year Uncle James brought an electrical one but the blade was too little, and Arnold remember one and it worked perfectly. What a smart man!



All of the families headed out and we got to look for our perfect tree. Before we found our perfect one Quinton did.



Here we are in front of our tree. The only way to get the kids to smile was to say "Kraft Dinner" That's why I look funny:



Nana was giving Lisa a lesson in using her camera. Start them young!



We put the trees on the back of the wagon and the daddy's took them back to the front. We waited for the horses.



Arnold ran back and got the camera and took some photos of us on the wagon.



The driver loved Q so much she put him right on top of one of the horses:



While the Daddy's went and got the trees shaken and tied up and on the car we hit up the cookie store! Here's most of us in front of the sign:



I didn't get any decorated, Nana did but I was too busy making my own!

We left the cookie shack and started searching for a fire pit. We couldn't find any so we ended up further away. It worked out better. While we got to the fire pit the daddy's got the lunch from the car (potato and bacon soup, marshmallows, hot dogs, buns, fixings, cups, drinks, ect). Here's Nana with a hot dog she was going to make but dropped instead:



And here's Papa after he cooked it (he eats anything! I remember him drinking our cookied milk all the time when we were younger):



The kids went on a train ride.




While they were on the ride Aunt B and Uncle James hit up the tinsmiths booth and got something (we did too but I'll show you that jem later). They got back just as the ride was over.



Their crew left and we stuck around a bit longer with the kids. Here are the boys playing on the playground:





Daddy went and played for a bit and Papa did as well. Q just wanted to run "Fast" all over the place so Papa just stood in one spot.

Here are the boys with their favourite people:




Nana and Papa went home after this. Nana was so cold she was shivering. So they headed out and we headed to the hay maze.





Once we got back to the car Quinton was so surprised to see the tree we took a photo of our tree, and our special treat!




After a long drive home we finally got the boys into their bath and the clothes into the washing machine. I made the boys some hot chocolate while we started supper. It must have been around 5pm. We started watching "The Flight Before Christmas"



After we had all showered and changed we worked on the Christmas tree. Decorated it and got it looking beautiful. The boys got to put the star up on the tree (something else we had gotten from the tinsmith at the tree cutting place)





Something I Love Game:

I've been trying to figure out what to put for my something I Love because well... I just spent a whole post about my Christmas tree I love. But as I was going through my photos I found something I *LOVE*. It doesn't matter how much I have I will always love it. Arnold is incredible at making it as well. In Fact if I had to pick between his and a store kind his would win, no questions asked. What am I talking about? Hot chocolate



Blessed:

I am blessed by my husband. I know I have talked about my family and friend but I'm truly blessed with Arnold. People have told me alot this week that they wish the had a husband/wife or "That's why I need a husband/wife". I love Arnold so much and I love how much he does for me. From the dishes, laundry, helping with the kids, working so much, and just being wonderful when we are out as a family. He is such a support, and totally completes me. I love you Arnold.

PA days

Personally I *love* PA days. It's wonderful for Kyler to be able to stay at home. I have to admit, as much as I love them I wish Kyler understood the idea of staying in bed a bit longer.

Almost every PA day we have had we made it a PJ day. We hang out at home, watch movies, eat food and just chill out. Sometimes we go somewhere but generally we like just staying at home. Today I wanted a PJ day but we had to change that. Yesterday after Kyler got home from school Mr Brown called and said our book orders were in. Since I needed 1 more thing to finish up the Alberta gifts and it was in that order we said we would be there the next morning.

So this morning we headed out around 9am after checking the weather.



I made sure the boys got their snow pants on, hats on, mits on, scarfs on, and our boots. We headed out to the school and visited with Mr Brown for a bit. We got our books and checked to make sure that Kyler was doing well, and he is!

Then we got to chill out at the park, and I do mean chill! It was cold out there. I snapped a few photos of the boys:




























We came home and got to have lunch. The boys are now watching a new movie from their order!

We are spending the rest of the day cleaning up, packing, and getting ready to go to get our Christmas Tree tomorrow!


Something I love Game:

I LOVE today's 'something I love'. It's my favourite thing ever! I have been really careful with this never wanting to break it or lose it or anything. I didn't put it out last year because I was worried the boys would hurt it and that would just put me in tears.

Today's "Something I Love" is from my aunt and uncle and cousin. Every year for a few years she would buy me parts of the set and I loved them. Here is the complete, for me, nativity set of Precious Moments:




Blessed:

I am blessed by the teachers at Kyler's school. Everyone there is so wonderful and take time to talk with us no matter what's going on. Mr Brown and Ms F are wonderful teachers to my kids, well just Kyler for now. I love how much they have taught Kyler and even Quinton (who now knows most of his body parts because he is there before school when Mr Brown asks the kids to touch different body parts to make sure they are paying attention).

Power of Prayer

Have you ever thought about the power of prayer? It means so much to some and so little to others. Some people ask for good thoughts, warm fuzzies, wishes and more and others ask for prayer.

I've been thinking about this lately, how wonderful prayer is. God can do so much when you just pray to Him. He can bless you, help you, encourage you, and so much more.

In 1st Chronicles 5:20(b) it says

He {God} answered their prayers, because they trusted in Him.

How cool is that? God answers their prayers just because they trusted in Him. What an incredible amount of trust. It's like when you used to do 'trust exercise' with people, you would close your eyese and fall backwards and hope people would catch you. God caught them. He loves them so much that He would/will do anything for you if you just trust Him.

Another favourite verse of mine is found in Matthew 17:20. It says

I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain. "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Have you ever seen a mustard seed? A friend of mine made bookmarks for everyone in youth group once and it had a mustard seed attached at the top of the bookmark and one at the bottom. They are SMALL(about 3mm)! Just that amount of faith and you can do anything with God. Isn't that incredible?

What else I think is cool about prayer is watching it work. Sometimes no matter how hard we pray, how much we pray and how long we pray things don't happen for why or how we want but eventually it does work out for good. It's hard to see it. I remember being so upset that things weren't working out for the best with me. Eventually, looking back, I realized it wasn't ment for me.

I love watching the power of prayer work in peoples lives, weither they know it or not!

Something I love game:

I took some photos yesterday of things I love so I could pop one out here and yet I'm not sure what to use. Todays "Something I love" comes from my Mother-In-Law. When Arnold and I were dating she bought me a gift. I don't even think it was at Christmas, I think it was a *just because* gift (btw those are sometimes my favourite ones). Now every year I pull it out. I dont' always use it for what it's ment for, infact I think I have only once put a candle in there, but I love it just the same. Normally it ends up with random change, things I found around the house or recepts but it is loved just the same. When Arnold and I were talking about how we want our lives to work and how we want to celebrate things when we got married we talked about how Santa is a part of Christmas but we like things that aren't always about Santa Claus. So we thought snowman would work. After all at that time we lived in Alberta and were surrounded by snow! So these snowmen are the cutest I have ever seen.



I am blessed by music. I love music. I've been listening to Christmas music on and off for a while now and I just love it. It makes me happy. Some of those carols are just so sweet sounding and are beautiful by people who have redone them lately. Its incdreible. I am so blessed by music and the people who sing.

An e'mail from Santa

The boys got e'mails from Santa this morning. Here's the e'mail/video:

Kylers

http://santa.sympatico.ca/watch/6091f5bacae188bdf9ebad5594dfb1f7

Quintons

http://santa.sympatico.ca/watch/49eae5e4b94813d85438ab1ab93b67ad


Something I love game:

Today I was trying to think of what I love that I could post. I have lots of ideas so I'm putting some on hold in my head for now but today's is something new to me. This year I got 2 boxes of stuff and a big bag full of things my Grandparents didn't want any more. Grandma says she can't decorate anymore so these are her old decorations. I pulled out what I wanted, what I wanted to give to my sister and her kids and then I pulled out 2 Christmas balls. I wasn't sure what they were and why there were only 2 but as I looked at them closer I realized something. There as one from 1980. That's the year my sister was born. And on it says "Grandmas First Christmas". It's so sweet. I put that one in my sisters bag for sure. I found one from 1982 that says "Christmas 1982" I kept that and it's my "something I love" for today:




Today Quinton and I started our first handing out of gifts. I realized looking at my list that I have alot of gifts to deliver and I can't do it all at once, it just wouldn't work. So I'm breaking it down. Today was the Church Staff. I gave gifts to everyone on the church staff (Sue, Pastor John, Pastor Wayne, and Steve). We had fun dropping them off and visiting with everyone. Quinton delivered Pastor John's card to him and they opened it up and read it and checked out the snowflakes and letters, it was so cute! Once we finished up there we headed home and are now chilling out until Kyler is ready to come home from school.




Just an FYI for those in Toronto, or who want to come and visit. Kyler is in a "Winter Celebration" Concert on Dec 10th at 1:30pm at his school. I have to walk him down at 1pm so we will be there. Please, if you want to come feel free! He would love having more people watch him. I'm starting to get sneak peaks at the concert. I think he is singing "Suzie Snowflake" and maybe "Jingle Bells". He keeps singing those songs all the time now.


Blessed:

I am so incredibly bless by my boys. No matter what kind of day I'm having or how much I'm going crazy, even if its due to them, they can always make me laugh. Yesterday Quinton kept telling me I had a big bum. He would make sure I knew what BIG meant. And he would say how much of a little bum he had. Today he told me I had a big arm and big hands and they were so pretty. There's something to make up for yesterday! I think if he wants to keep a girlfriend/wife though he might want to learn to be faster at completments.. and maybe ones that don't include BIG!

More things Christmas!

I noticed a few people are putting up their decorations! I can't wait to see. I managed to get up some more and hopefully I can snag a few more photos.

December 1st! Can you believe 2009 is almost over?

First things first.... Dec 1st brings me to a new 'game' I want to play. My Goal is to take a photo of something that I love every day and post it(and these are in no order).

Today my # 1 thing is my Blue Angel. I got her a few years ago in an exchange I was doing with some friends on an online group. It's BEAUTIFUL! I love it so much. Every year she sits close to the top and looks so pretty. The boys oohhhh and ahhhh over her.



ok now More things Christmas.... My husband keeps asking me what I want for Christmas. I'll be honest what I *really* wanted off my list is already taken care off. I got my hair cut and coloured and I got my sewing machine. Aside from that I don't really have much that I *really* want. I did figure out that I would really love to have the money to go to my Scrapbooking Retreat in March. It's about $300.00 or so and I would love to have money for that.

If I couldn't have money and had to have *things* I would like to work on a 'room' in our house. For me, since I seem to spend alot of my time there, I would like to work on my Kitchen!

Things I need/want to make my kitchen more workable:

A Knife Block from Lee Valley

A Kitchen Aid Mixer - pink please

New Mixing Spoons - I want all of them, really I just wanted slotted and normal.

New dishes - but in black, and I'm good with square ones! Also another colour like blue or white or green

New cups like this or this'ish

Mixing Bowls

Aside from that I would like some new cookbook . It doesn't have to be something like that but something fun. I think I want to try a few different books. Ones that keep kids in mind are good too.

See I can do 'easy' Christmas gifts!



Ahh and to add to the bottom:

I'm so blessed to have family and friends who love me so much. Last night we had over 6 people over for supper than jumped to 9 people for games and hanging out (not including the 2 crazy boys under the age of 5). I love that God has given us some great friends and family.