Surprise flowers!!!

Aren't they lovely???

Clients of mine were so pleased with a report that I wrote for them (the writing of said report was SO BORING, I thought I'd never get it done!) that they tried to send me flowers about a month ago to thank me.  When some time went by with not a peep from me, the risk consultant checked in with me and discovered that I had never received them.  Lucky for me, the client tried again :)

I love the Christmas-y feel of them, and I LOVE how good they smell!!! 

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4 - Giving is Receiving!

As part of our Christmas season, I like to try to get AK interested in giving to those less fortunate than us.  I stopped in at the Discovery Center at Camana Bay and got a child's name off of the Giving Tree.  We were given a 1yo girl to buy for.  I did most of the shopping on my own, but I did take AK last night to the book store to pick out a Christmas book for this wee one, and she did help me wrap the other gifts I'd bought.  We dropped the whole lot of it off at the Discovery Center last night. 

I think AK somewhat missed the point this year, she seemed to understand it a bit more last year, which I found surprising.  Perhaps it's because I didn't do all of the shopping with her, plus we didn't spend as much time talking about it as we did last year.  Nonetheless, I'm happy that we did this together. 

We were able to do a bit of shopping at Camana Bay afterwards and there was a big Christmas Market going on as well which we checked out.  I didn't buy much - just one small soap for AK's stocking but we did see a friend of mine holding a bake sale.  She had delicious coconut squares and she gave AK a broken gingerbread cookie...  after I chatted with her for a few minutes, I turned around to find the cookie gone...  AK just about inhaled it!

Quite frustrating considering AK has hardly touched her lunches for school this week :( I know she must be eating enough as she's got plenty of energy and her, shall we say, "output" is just fine.  I just hate to unpack her lunch and find most of it untouched.  I realize that kids go through phases with eating and I just have to stick this one out...  shame there won't be many treats for AK if she just won't eat her healthy food!

Next Christmas post will be about Santa photos!!! 

Special Ballet Class!!!

Last weekend was a special time at ballet - parents were invited to watch the class!  The teacher has had the viewing windows covered to keep the students from being distracted - which I completely understand - however, it keeps us parents in the dark as to the kids' progress!  Seeing this class was truly the highlight of my weekend...  AK was SO happy to be showing off for me and the other parents.  I couldn't stop smiling and I was so proud to see her dance her heart out! 

Beautiful dancer

Dancing in a circle

Taking a break - look at that yawn!

Tip tap!  I think AK looks SO grown up in her tap shoes. 

I got a bit of video as well - check it out here.  This makes me really excited for her spring recital, which is still months away!  I'm curious to know if my family sees a lot of me as a little girl in AK in these photos?  I know I catch a lot of glimpses of what I think I looked like :)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3 - WEE Care Christmas Concert - Pocketful of Starlight

AK's Christmas concert was last night.  AK was blessed with the part of a "Wise Man's Associate" and she sat on the stage for most of the concert to play her part.  She did a great job and really enjoyed flipping her cape over her head :S silly girl...

I took a bit of video last night - check out AK performing with her class here.  Unfortunately I was at a bit of a bad angle so I don't have a great view of AK but you can see how much she enjoyed being on the stage!  She was so excited for the concert - she kept talking about it for the days leading up to it.

We skipped out of the after-party and headed out for ice cream with the Babbs, our usual post-WEE Care concert tradition!  AK really enjoyed some cotton candy ice cream. 

My birthday weekend (slightly overdue post...)!

What a fantastic 35th birthday celebration I had!!!  It started off with this: 

Beautiful view from our room at the Ritz

Champagne and strawberries!  Yum! 

What a beautiful pool area the Ritz has

Richard and I decided to take advantage of a residents rate that the Ritz has so we booked ourselves into the hotel over the November long weekend.  We had a great weekend of good eats, good drinks and lots of relaxation.  Once we checked out (which I didn't really want to do!), Richard played a game of golf and I hit up the Westin spa with some girlfriends.  It was great to be pampered and to get caught up with them - life has been so busy for all of us and it was so nice to connect.  I enjoyed a lot of birthday emails and phone calls too - I am very spoiled.  After working the day on my actual birthday, Mike and Julie had us over for supper.  Yum.  Roast chicken, all the fixings and CAKE!  Julie makes the best cakes ever. 

A couple of days later, AK was able to join the celebrations.  She sent a really sweet voice note singing "Happy Birthday" to me, I tried to figure out how to upload it to share with you but I have no idea...  anyone have any ideas on how to work with an .amr file?  Didn't think so... 

AK set the table ALL BY HERSELF!  AK is in her pyjamas as we had a pyjama popcorn princess party :)

The sparkler goes right there!

Sparkly!

Look at this beautiful card AK made for me! 

Such a gorgeous girl

As I mourned the loss of my youth (ha), I stopped to reflect on where I was a year ago.  How quickly life changes...  a year ago on my birthday, I had been in Honduras with a new group of people, new friends, and I faced some challenging adventures.  It was an amazing weekend that really opened my heart up to new possibilities...  and here I am, a year later, having just celebrated one year of dating with Richard :)  AK and I really love having him as part of our family and I am SO excited to see what the next year will bring the three of us! 

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2 - Decorating!

Yesterday, we put up this Christmas tree that seems to be on its last legs, strung it up with not quite enough lights, and then placed Christmas ornaments in a very unbalanced way...  this somehow gives us one absolutely perfect tree!!!  I didn't take any pictures of the decorating process but I got AK to pose in front of the tree today for me.  Doesn't take much convincing to get this diva to strike a pose!

AK had a blast with the decorating...  she was in the thick of it all, from trying to get the tree together, to checking out the lights...  and she very carefully placed nearly every single ornament on the tree (hence the concentration of decorations near the bottom!).  She absolutely delighted in every single ornament...  we Skyped with Richard's parents as we decorated, and she very proudly showed off many of her favorite ornaments.  When we Skyped with my folks later, she was pulling over her very favorites to tell Grandma and Grandpa about them.  I really enjoyed her reactions as I myself love looking at the ornaments and reminiscing about them - perhaps where they came from, or who gave them to me.  It's a special process and I feel like AK is embracing that as well! 

We played some Christmas tunes and Richard and I enjoyed some "special" coffee in our Christmas mugs...  we got all the decorations sorted out and there is definitely a Christmas feel about our house!  I have to admit that I am struggling a wee bit with AK's propensity towards "undecorating", if she likes a decoration enough, she will take it down to play with but of course she's not quite grasped the concept of putting it back when she's done.  This just adds a whole 'nother element to cleaning up every day...  redecorating...  Christmas Cheer will come in handy during my cleaning stints ;)

Who put that cheeseball under the tree??? 

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1 - Parade of Lights

Waiting, waiting, waiting!

 I decided to do 12 Days of Christmas with AK...  starting on Saturday, we have done something special related to Christmas celebrations or festivities.  We kicked off with the Parade of Lights - a parade of boats decorated with Christmas lights.  Could have chosen something better...  the Parade was lovely but slow, AK was happy to see the boats but was only interested in a glance at them before wanting the next one to come along!  We did kill some time by taking some family portraits...  now to figure out which one goes on the Christmas card :) ha!  Once the Parade was over, the long-awaited and amazing fireworks finally started!  That was definitely the hightlight of the evening for all of us. 

Despite the lengthy delays waiting for the Parade and then the fireworks, we made a lovely evening out of it.  We got to Camana Bay early and got ourselves a picnic supper from Black Trumpet, then found a nice spot to eat it and wait.  AK amused herself by running around and making friends with kids around her.  She is such a social butterfly and it really warms my heart to see her talking with new people.  We may need to revisit the concept of Stranger Danger though!  A lady gave AK the glow stick that you see her with above, and she thanked her with a wee kiss on the cheek!  So sweet...  AK revels in the comfort of being within close range of me and knows that she is safe. 

We were happy to get home and AK enjoyed opening the first box on her Advent Calendar.  I found a really cool one shaped like a Christmas tree that has re-usable boxes on it, so I put some M&Ms and a small Christmas ornament in each box.  Every night, AK gets a little treat and puts the ornament on the little tree in her room.

I mentioned to her the other day, when she was misbehaving, that Santa was watching her and didn't like it when she is naughty...  hoping to get some better behavior...  well the thought of Santa not bringing her gifts brought her to tears.  Oops.  I don't think that's going to be an effective way to keep AK in line! 

Funny family!

Silly girl!

The family that sticks their tongues out together...  well...  sticks their tongues out together!  :)

We look alright once in a while!!!