Prayers, Positive Thoughts...whatever you got.

We received absolutely heart breaking news on Boxing Day....my dearest friend for the past 20 years Chantal, has a daughter Alivia who is three years old. She was complaining of tummy aches. Chantal noticed that her stomach looked swollen so she took her to the hospital, after blood work and ultrasounds they were sent to another hospital for more tests, from there they were quickly sent to McMaster hospital in Hamilton. The little angel has been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer. She under went surgery in order for them to take a biopsy to determine what stage they are in. She also has had a shunt inserted in order to start chemo. Things are very fragile with her right now.

My heart is broken for Chantal, Craig, Alivia and their two older boys Mathieu (my godson) and Andrew. I cannot imagine the heartache and pain they must be going through. How does this happen to a sweet 3 year old? Why does this happen?

Please keep them in your thoughts. They will pull through this I know they will. I am hoping to drive to Hamilton on Friday to visit with them and attempt to help out in anyway I can.

We love you Liv. Stay strong.

Riley and Alivia days after Liv was born.



Riley and Alivia at the Great Wolf Lodge

One of the nicest gifts....

We received one of the nicest and most thoughtful gifts from my bother Ryan and my soon to be sister in-law Hillary today. They created a published photo book that reads like a story about our trips out to see them and their trips here to see us. It is entitled Riley and Simon's Trip to the Snowy Mountain and Other Adventures. We love how they remembered the kids exact lingo from our trips and included it all in the book. Thank you Uncle Ryan and Aunt Hillary it is a priceless gift. We missed you tons before and miss you even more now.

Daddy is in heaven...

Jason is in love with his Christmas toys....

Village Of The Blue Mountains

Today we spent the morning in the Village Of The Blue Mountains. It is one of our favourite local places to visit. The kids love playing on the rocks, going into shops, watching the skiers and enjoying the Starbucks.

Cottage Christmas

We packed up and headed to the cottage on December 27th. The drive there was a little crazy due to freezing rain. It became a whole lot crazier when we tried to go up a hill on the road into the cottage and ended up sliding back down backwards. Thankfully there is another road in that we were able to take. We arrived safely to find hardly any snow and rain, rain and more rain...so much for the ice skating and tobogganing we told the kids we would do all weekend.

We had a nice evening with Jason's family and opened Christmas presents in front of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.



Once again the kids were spoiled.






One of the gifts for Simon was a hockey set...the kids loved it and played hockey in the hallway together.




Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, G.G., G.G.2, Aunt Rosemary, Uncle Rick, Sara and Brian.




The next morning we lost power due to the storm and the kids were going stir crazy so Jason and I took them into Hunstville to go to the shops and have some time out of the cottage. When we returned to the cottage later that afternoon, still was no power or heat. We decided that it would be best if we packed up and headed home. It was a short stay but nice to spend some time up there with family.

Food and Drink

We only had four adults in the house and one of them can not consume any festive drinks but let me tell you the other three did a great job. Bailey's, champagne and bottles and bottles and bottles of wine. In fact, I came down stairs after putting the kids down for a nap and Jason and my mom tried to convince me that they opened a bottle of wine that said "consume before 3:00 on it."

As for food, I guess I thought I was feeding an army. I bought a 23lbs turkey, potatoes, turnip, stuffing, peas, mushrooms, cabbage rolls, meat pie and homemade baked beans. Seeing that kids haven't eaten in 9 days because they are still sick and I can only consume a very small amount of food we have a ton of leftovers. Here is our Christmas dinner.

This is the one time of year I wish we didn't convert our dinning room into a playroom.


I also baked a cake for Baby Jesus' Birthday.

Time To Play!!!!

One of our house rules on Christmas Day is to wear nice P.J.'s because that is what you will wear all day long. The day is about comfort, playing, food, drink and togetherness. The kids played, played and played all day long.

Here are the kids having a tea party on the new Beauty and Beast Tea Set.


Fun with the craft supplies.


Playing the monkey game.


A game of Hungry Hippos



Santa even came for Newman.

Christmas Morning

Our morning started early...as usual. We were all down stairs waking Nee Nee and Papa up by 6:15. Riley's expression when she saw all of the presents under the tree was priceless.



Both of them went crazy when they saw the gifts they asked Santa for under the tree. Riley asked for a vanity and an Ariel doll. Simon asked for a tool bench and Hungry Hippos.





They were showered in gifts...Sleeping Beauty, bath toys, fire truck, dump truck, helicopter, dress up clothes, Hot Wheels, My Little Pony, books, easel, craft supplies, clothing, P.J.'s etc., etc., etc....






The new baby...Hugo, H.S. or Baby Hubs which ever name you want to call the babe even received presents.


Jason and I also got spoiled by Nee Nee and Papa. My mom went over board for me....and I love it....some wonderful perfume and a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings...unbelievable. Thank you Nee Nee!!!!!

All this present opening only took a good 3 and a half hours:)

Happy Christmas Eve

Our Christmas wish of having two healthy children is not going to come true. Sadly, they both are still pretty sick. It has been 8 days of clingy, needy children who like to play musical beds all night long.

We did take them out to mass tonight....which I regretted doing almost instantly. Both Riley and Simon were not well during the service. Simon's temperature spiked back up and they both laid in our arms.

After church we came home for dinner and to get into our special Christmas matching P.J.'s. Each year I buy the kids matching jammies, this year I looked for a long time and had no luck finding jammies that are unisex in their sizes. I saw these cute ones and couldn't resist.



Here they are choosing the cookies for Santa and putting out the carrots for the reindeer.



They just couldn't resist a little bite of the reindeers carrot.




When we asked them where they thought we should leave the milk, cookies and carrots Riley replied "by the chimney, of course"



Here is the tree stocked with gifts....thank goodness we decided not to go over board this year....YIKES!!!



Some more presents with a scary Nee Nee head:)



We wish you all a relaxing, funfilled Christmas. Good Night.

Baking Again

The kids and I have set a record for cookies baked this holiday season. We have not tried anything too adventurous but we sure have baked...chocolate chip, peanut butter, ginger sparklers, oatmeal, brown sugar, macaroons, brownies and tonight sugar cookies.

Because there is nothing else to do....

I have come to realize that I may be a tad bit insane. Christmas is crazy busy...shopping, baking, wrapping, cooking, parties etc... We also have two sick and NEEDY kids on our hands, this is day 7 UGH!!!! On top of this I am 9 months pregnant and have issues that can not be discussed in a public form, we are trying to prepare the house, nursery etc...for the new babe. So don't you think it is a great time to paint your bedroom and your powder room? I apparently thought so....

I guess we are due....

for sickness. It was one year in September that Riley or Simon had any type of illness other than a minor runny nose. Well, our time is up and has hit pretty hard. Riley started with coughing on Wednesday. We kept her home from school on Thursday to try to get rid of it before it got any worse....no luck. Friday evening she got worse...a lot worse...major coughing, runny nose and a temperature of 102. It was a hard night of playing musical beds for us. Saturday morning she was carried to the couch and stayed there the entire day and night. NEVER has Riley stayed this still for that long nor has she ever been this sick. She didn't eat anything Friday evening or all day on Saturday. She refused ice cream, popsicles, jello and everything else we tried to get her to eat.

On Saturday, Simon started with the coughing and runny nose. Saturday evening he was coughing non-stop. We were up at least every half hour with Riley and/or Simon through the night. Both Jason and I spent some time in all three beds, Riley moved into our bed and Simon and I ended up in Riley's after sleeping for a bit in a chair together.

Sunday came and things started to look better for Riley. She invited Grandma and Grandpa over and played for a little while with them. Still no eating or drinking. Her fever was down....until about 12:00...fever spiked back up and she fell asleep in my arms sitting in a chair. Simon was continuing to cough but eating, drinking and playing normally. After we all had a little nap Riley seems to be slowly on the mend. Simon however has just begun. He spiked a fever at dinner time, refused to eat or drink anything and went into meltdown mode. I rocked him in the chair at 6:00 and he slept in my arms until almost 8:00 when I transferred him into his bed. It is now 10:00 and Jason and I have been in there 4 times already...another sleepless night ahead.

Here's hoping that both of them recover before Christmas. Not a nice way to start our holidays:(

Montessori Christmas Party

Another day, another Christmas party! Friday morning Riley and Simon's Montessori School had their Christmas party, it was a fun morning filled with friends, food, crafts and Santa.

Simon was the leader of the parade. He started marching around the hall and others followed, including Riley.



Time to sit on Santa's knee...again. Thank goodness they both ask for the same thing every time.



Some cool shades in the loot bags from Santa.


Time to craft then right back to marching.