December 2014–A Month in Review

One of the exciting events in December was the evening my friend Deb and I went into Toronto to see Donny and Marie’s Christmas Show.  We had a great time and they are amazing entertainers!  If you ever get an opportunity to see either or both of them in person I would highly recommend it!

Hannah sporting her reindeer antlers after visiting Santa.

I don’t know what it is about this picture but each time I see this view it means something special to me.  It is Hannah walking to school with Ange, her boys and the other family that Ange cares for.  I cannot express how much Ange’s family means to me as Hannah loves being with them and she receives exceptional care!  There is nothing like the peace that is provided knowing that Hannah is being cared for so well!!  Thank you Ange!!!

Helping Grandpa decorate their tree.

Hannah was pretty excited the day she got to wear her pyjamas to school!  There are days I wish I could wear my comfy jammies to work!

Hannah is a great little chef and she was excited to help me prepare parts of Christmas dinner.  She peeled potatoes like a pro!  I giggled at how she lined them up before she began peeling.

Hannah received a new game called, ‘Disney’s Eye Found It’ and it’s been a lot of fun to play it together! 

After Christmas we traveled to Windsor to celebrate with our extended family.  Most of my extended family lives there so it’s great to visit with them!  Hannah with her second cousin Nathan. 

Hanging out with some of my cousins.  Loved this time we shared together!!

Hannah cuddled in with Uncle Tim.

2014 was a great year!  I’m excited to see what 2015 will hold!

Christmas Day 2014

Hannah and I were out of the house bright and early on Christmas Day.  Our first stop was a pj breakfast with Auntie Carol, Uncle David, Katie and Jacob.  Hannah loves to play with their ‘kids’ and they love Hannah! 

After a stop back home for Hannah to play with her toys for a bit and Mommy to pack us up we headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s!  Grandma gave the girls a set of shared heart necklaces that says ‘Cousins Forever.’

Grandpa was (not) surprised when we gave him the helicopter he’d been eyeing in Florida.  I guess it was hard to surprise him when he carried it back in their van from FL to Ontario.  He’s only wishing that he’d taken it out of the box and tried it out in FL as he’d been tempted to as it’s been too cold for him to fly it here! 

I wish he’d done it too as it might have saved our ankles Christmas day!!

One of the unspoken themes of this Christmas was wearing clothes on your head….whether they belonged there or not!!

Mom and her granddaughters.  (Missed you Laken.)

Another Princess Lego set for Hannah!  This one she put together in a couple of hours, mainly by herself!

After a delicious Christmas dinner Hannah and I went to Nana and Papa’s to share some precious time with them too. 

Hannah and I are so blessed to be family and to have such an amazing, loving family around us! 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning 2014

What a wonderful age 5 is!!!  Hannah was super excited about Christmas and all that it entails!

Christmas Eve she was a busy, busy little girl!  After baking reindeer cookies for Santa

she went outside and put carrots on the front steps for the reindeer.

These are the adorable notes Hannah left for Santa and the reindeer.

‘Der Santa. I hop you delivr the prsnts. (Love Hannah with hearts on the other side)’  (Dear Santa, I hope you deliver the presents. Love Hannah)  LOL – That’s my girl!!  I asked her later what her note was about and she said wanted Santa to safely deliver the presents all over the world. Hehe!

‘Der Raders, I hop you fli safli. Lov Hannah’ (Dear Reindeers, I hope you fly safely.  Love, Hannah’)

We went to Christmas Eve service at church and then to a house party at a friends home.  I don’t think I’ve missed this party in 20 years!

Christmas morning Hannah woke up around 7am and immediately realized that it was Christmas morning!  We quickly ran downstairs and the fun began!

After our stockings she insisted I open her gift first!  It’s the pretty one on the right above with the blue and white heart made from jewels.  She made everything in her gift and it was from her heart.  So, so sweet!!!  First she coloured the bag the gift was in.

Inside the bag was a beautiful bead necklace and more decorated foam hearts than I could count!!

The gift she chose to open first was a 2 wheeled Tinkerbell scooter from Santa.  Oh boy was she excited!!  Towards the end of the video I have to giggle when she offers to take the scooter to the garage door because she’s going to wait until summer to ride it.  That’s a Canadian kid for ya!  Even though it was the warmest Christmas in years she was sure she’d have to wait until spring or summer to ride her new scooter!

This was also the year of Princess Lego for Hannah!

She received the ‘Disney Eye Found It’ game and I’m so glad we had an opportunity to play it a couple of times before we had to leave the house.  It’s a neat game as it’s played together as one team so it’s great for team building.  We lost both games but next time that game better watch out!!

As we were preparing to go to Auntie Carol and Uncle David’s for breakfast Hannah checked on her reindeer carrots and was excited to tell me that the reindeer had eaten them!  Cool!!

What a special morning with my amazing girl!!!  And…the day had just begun!