Christmas 2008

C. acting as the shepherdess carrying baby Jesus in her sling

Baking sugar cookies for gifts - L. having a ball with flour!

Carolling at the hospital - was amazed that the kids were not afraid when they saw sickly and elderly patients; the kids went up to the patients and were very tender towards them

Reflections...

We were in the car yesterday and dh and I were talking about some people we knew who were going away on vacation without their kids. I said I was really angry, and Chris turned to me and asked me why. This was how the conversation went:

Chris: Why are you so angry, Mommy?

Me: Because some people don't spend time with their children and read to them, and play with them. ( Pause). Does Mommy do that?

Chris: No! You do nice things to me everyday, and spend time with me, and read to me, and play with me, and love me.

Needless to say, I was over the moon. My daughter actually understands that this is how I'm loving her.

Not that I'm against couples going away to build on their marriages or to take breaks. But I realize I'm really passionate for children, and get really worked up when I see that parents are not spending enough time with their children . My daughters have taught me time and again that all they want and need are for Daddy and Mommy to play with them and just BE with them.
For example, we were planning to go on a mission trip to Thailand. We prepped the girls, prayed with them every night, talked about going on a airplane, and at least Chris was really excited. But when the airport was closed, and we explained to Chris that we weren't going anymore, she wasn't disappointed. She was just so happy that Daddy was home for 6 whole days, and that we hung out and did things as a family.

Covenant EFC Vacation Bible School

We did VBS for the first time in my church, and I offered to help, not knowing what I was getting in to. It took a few months of planning and preparation, days of setting up, and days after the camp to recover from the sheer exhaustion. We set up the room to look like a Mayan jungle. Other rooms were decorated to look like a Native American village, Hawaii, Medieval Castle, Ancient China. It was amazing to see the creativity and effort of all the teachers. We were supposed to teach the ten commandments.

It was a blast running it, and although it was challenging at times to have my little 'caterpillars' with me ( I was Ms Butterfly) throughout the camp, the great thing was that the gals came back singing the camp songs. One of the songs was ' Obey, obey your parents'. The night they came back from the camp, they were talking to each other while lying on their beds. One would pretend to whine, and the other would say, " Obey!"

Hand Flowers

We made these hand flowers - cutouts of the kids' handprints, rolled them up and attached a straw to each flower. Then we put them in a vase ( a cut plastic water bottle) to give to a friend who gave birth to twins and had complications and so couldn't have fresh flowers in her ward.

Thought it looked really nice and it was really easy to make. Got this idea from http://www.oureverydaythings.com

My Birthday Celebration

I'm the kind of person who thinks, " Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm gonna eat some worms". So the day before my birthday, I was throwing a little pity party for myself, thinking noone will remember my birthday. But thanks to Facebook, I received many well-wishes from friends from all over the world. That made me happy. :) Then, came my birthday, and I received smses from friends wishing me a Happy Birthday again.

My dh took the kids and I to the nice pizza restaurant at the Botanical Gardens, but we were turned away because he didn't make a reservation! I was disappointed, thinking I wasn't even going to get a slice of cake on the house on my birthday. We were starving by then, so I asked if we could take-away, and the waiter said yes. We got out our picnic mat, and it turned out to be a great birthday dinner under the stars!

The Smartest Giants in Town

We read The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson, and had a dress-up activity where Chris and Laura got to put on Daddy's clothes. :) It was hilarious! NB: The blue 'pants' that L's wearing are dh's boxers.

Polliwalks shoes

Check these shoes out! My neighbour, author of http://www.oureverydaythings.com, was at the playground holding her kids' shoes, and I just did a double - take to look at the cutest shoes. I learned that they are called Polliwalks shoes. I came home and showed Chris the shoes on the internet, and she had this smile and longing on her face that made me hope Santa Claus would make a mental note and give her a pair for Christmas.

There are different animal styles and really great colours, and the soles of the shoes actually make the footprints of those animals. You can see them at http://www.polliwalks.com. I wish they came in adult sizes too... drool...