Christmas Fun

We had another great Christmas this year in Nova Scotia. Here are some Christmas highlights. Santa Claus! Ryan got to see 4 different Santas this year at various Christmas parties, and he was somewhat curious about all of them. At least he didn't scream or get scared of them. He knows the word Santa because we have a Santa pillow that he likes to play with.

We continued on with a tradition we started last year of making a gingerbread house. Adam and I got into a bit of a frosting fight at the end because we had so much left over! Now that Christmas is over we've started eating the house and it's pretty darn good for a decoration!

This is Ryan's Christmas stash. He got some cars, a recorder, and a French dictionary from us, a xylophone, bath toys, and goldfish from Santa, a train and a mug from friends, a stuffed nativity set from my aunt, and a pull frog and puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa Hatch. Ryan loved his new stuff. Favorite--GOLDFISH. He was beyond excited about those things and stuffed his face so full that he was drueling goldfish. Next favorite--train. We were a little bummed that he liked a present from a friend better than the rockin' cool cars we'd picked out! He does love the cars too, though. :) He likes to drag his pull frog around the house. Usually it's upside down and sliding on its eyeballs. Oh yes, and I can't forget the leg warmers that I made them. Let's just say he wasn't overly excited about opening them.

We made a nice Christmas dinner. We made a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, peas and candied yams, and I finally bucked up and made my first rolls. They were perfect. We'd invited a few different families over, but we were too late in asking and in the end had Christmas dinner by ourselves. This actually ended up being a very good thing, because we had to have our turkey dinner sans turkey... It wasn't ready until an hour after we'd eaten everything else. That would have been pretty embarrassing.

We loved getting to have lots of family time together while Adam was off school. We went bowling twice, tried out a new swimming pool, cut out snowflakes, went to a museum, went to a hockey game, had some friends over, visited other friends, played in the snow, went to several Christmas parties, tried out some new recipes, drove around looking at Christmas lights, watched a few movies, Skyped a lot with our families, and played, played, played at home. It's been nice to have another quiet, non-stressful Christmas.

Crafty

I made this Christmas arrangement today and was so pleased with it I had to post. :) It's fun, festive, and smells oh so good! Really I just had to show it to my friend Heather, who is an arranging pro. I hope she'll be proud!

Fall in Nova Scotia

Oh man is Fall in Nova Scotia beautiful! I have just loved looking at all the colorful leaves this month. It's so nice to be surrounded in so many vibrant colors!! Now the leaves have mostly fallen, but I wanted to show a picture of my new favorite house in the area. It probably doesn't look as neat when it's not Fall, but I just fell in love with it this month.

Halloween 2009

Ryan was a turtle for Halloween this year. We borrowed the costume from a friend and I was so in love with it that I couldn't stop smiling all day when he was wearing it! (Thanks B) Ryan got to visit Daddy at school on Friday (along with most the other Utah Dental Dads' kids) and then have a photo shoot on the Dal campus. I loved watching the turtle go through all the green grass. The trouble was, I could hardly get him to get down and crawl on it. He just wanted to walk! It's too bad that once they make up their mind the like walking they don't want to crawl anymore.

1st Birthday!

From This...

To This....

My little boy is 1 year old!!!

For his b-day bash we opened presents--wooden blocks in a wagon and a little red potty--and then had strawberry shortcake. Ryan HATED the strawberries, liked the cake, and LOVED the whipped cream. :)

On one hand I can't believe it's already been a year that Ryan has been part of our lives, and on the other it seems like we never had a life before him. What a sweet little boy he is. I love the pitter patter of his hands and knees crawling after me down the hall while he says "Mama Mama!" and the huge grins and hugs he gives me. He fills our house with tons of light and laughter.

What does this 1-yr-old do?

Smiles. Laughs. Jabbers. Splashes. Throws balls. Bangs blocks. Pulls everything off shelves. Opens baby-proofed cupboards. Eats anything that's not food (especially shoes). Sometimes eats food--always if it's meat, pretty much never if it's fruit. Naps once-in-a-while. Sleeps at night. Signs "milk" and "more". Says "Mama" and "good". Brushes his teeth with his flexible banana toothbrush (seen above). Walks while you hold onto his hands. Climbs up any stairs he can find. Reads books (Favorite--Moo, Ba, La La La). Copies all Dad's crazy noises and runs away laughing hysterically while Dad chases him. And today? Peed in the potty. Doesn't know it, of course, but that will come.

The Donation

I finally got my first real haircut since Jr High! About time, eh? Here's what I sent to Locks of Love.

The new Do. My sister-in-law Tara cut it and she did great! Sadly, I can't style it well on my own. I struggle with mirrors... You should have seen me try hot rollers. Very bad idea.

Canada Day 2009

We had our first Canada Day last week and we loved it!

In the morning we went to the Citadel with the Billos. We liked watching the guards marching and seeing the 21 gun salute. We saw the Tattoo parade which was awesome. There were military bands from several different countries. There was even a marching bassoon in the Belgian band :) I loved that the parade was all music and not just local advertising and a bunch of kids riding their bikes. We went to the Commons and ate lunch while watching a fun dog show. After that it was time to head back home so that Adam could continue studying for the boards. Blah. :(

Later in the evening we went to a BBQ with ward friends and loved getting to see everyone. We cut out on the fireworks so that we could put Ryan to bed. It was sad to miss them!!

Ryan was a true patriot!

Though this has nothing to do with Canada Day I thought I'd let you see what Ryan's new favorite treat is. Oh man does he get bad onion breath!