a big deal

{a little girl's first updo is a big deal, no?}

{so what do you say...one pigtail or two?}

the princess beast

Well, it's begun. It's December and the madness that accompanies this month is officially underway. I have four things to be at this weekend and have said "no" to two other invites...and it's only the first weekend in December. But I love it...I do. There was a bit of an adjustment coming back from the island...no more 2 adult to 1 child ratio....sigh.

Speaking of the island, I have a few pictures of the "Dyck girls annual Christmas bake" to put up, before I move onto the here and now. Due to my tyrant children, my mom ended up doing most of the prep work and baking of the cookies, while me and Em tended the flock.

There is one thing we ALWAYS do together...a rock solid tradition....watching White Christmas and icing the sugar cookies. You've haven't heard beautiful until you've heard Em and I's rendition of "Sisters." Truly..we should record it one day.

{sugar cookies}

{snowball surprises...a chocolate chunk baked in almond shortbread}

{white chocolate and raspberry thumbprints}

{tiger butter, with this year's new entry : nutty chocolate bark cups}

{all plated and ready to be delivered!!!}

On Tuesday night, we decked the halls of the Edelman home! I had high hopes for this night...but they were dashed, and reality prevailed. I was thinking we would have special snacks, music playing, read a Christmas book and marvel at the beauty of twinkling lights and ornaments with a history. You know laughing, smiling, special memory time. Ha!

It was after nap time, both girls were fussy, supper had to be made etc, etc, etc. Next year, I will be way more prepared, but, in the meantime, I sure am thankful for the four stockings (all handmade by my momma) that hang over our fireplace...four...WOW!

{vintage christmas candles from MCC...flashback to grandma dyck's!}

Each year growing up, I got a new ornament from my mom...an angel a year. I have a beautiful little collection for our tree...30 years of ornaments (almost), and we have collected many more over the nine years of our marriage. Maybe one day, I will have a designer themed tree, but for now, I love this eclectic, nostalgic tree that visits us for the month. The following pictures are our new ornaments this year...Maya's bear, Halle's frosty (she says "crusty"), Steve's moose, and my hand carved German snowflake....I love them all!

The girls LOVE the tree...Halle started asking for it when we saw them going up in stores. She even pointed to the corner of the room we put our tree each year and said "Put the Christmas tree RIGHT THERE!" She was 20 months old last Christmas, I can't believe she remembers that! Every morning she wants the lights on right away, and she frequently thanks me for "my Christmas tree."

I might as well give a little Halle update now, while we're on the topic. Along with the tree, she loves the nativity scene we have and puzzles, between the two, she can be busy for hours! She is even doing 48 piece puzzles by herself...little genius!

Halle is also starting to love Christmas music. We have the VeggieTales Christmas CD, so she is picking up on a few songs. Her favorite by far is "For unto us a Child is Born." She belts it out! So, if you're in Superstore and hear, "won-der-FUL, coun-sel-LOR, almighty GOOOOOOD, the everlasting fod-der, the princess beast (prince of peace)...that's just us...being festive.

The big sister is talking up a storm these days...some things I don't want to forget:

~ she misuses the word clever..."that dress is so clever!"

~ calling Maya" sweetheart" lately..."Sweetheart, don't yell sweetheart."

~ If Maya ever cries loudly, she says, "Don't do that to ME, Maya."

~ If I ever call her precious, she says, "no mom, I'm Grammie's precious Halle."

~ When I put her down for a nap she says, "goodnight mom, have a good day, see you later..I love you."

{little sister into everything}

{big sister disturbed that little sister was "eating the Christmas ball"}

And then we have Maya. Oh Maya. I love you, but you're driving me bananas. Two weeks tomorrow, she will be nine months old...no teeth, no forward crawling...just like her sister. She is a BEAR lately though, whining loudly, and generally voicing her overall discontent. Perhaps teething is part of it (Halle got her first at 11 months), but I think she is frustrated with her immobility. She can: move on her tummy backwards, in a 360 degree circle, rolls all over, she can pull up at the right height of surface and cruise around the coffee table. This is not satisfactory..she wants to crawl and walk. Today she stood alone for 8 seconds, and makes her body rigid when I go to put her in sitting position. She has really taken to walking with us holding her hands. This in itself is all fine, it's the fact that she bellows every time I leave her on the floor. If I have to cook, go to the bathroom, get something for Halle, load the dishwasher...i do it to the sound of her WHINING!!!! Thank goodness she is such a good sleeper, I do get SOME peace and quiet.

And, to be honest, I'd rather her stay immobile till after Christmas...whining out of frustration is better than whining because you just pulled the Christmas tree down on your head :)

{no more pictures mommy!!!}

{OK...no more}

on your marks...

{going..}

{going...}

{going...}

{gone}

We are home! After a wonderful trip to the island and a long day of travel, we are back with our favorite guy (even though he didn't vaccuum). AND, I am playing with my birthday present - a new 50 mm lens. These pics are a preview...completely unedited. It's a very cool lens, but I have a lot to learn...it also has no zoom, so it's much more physical! Anyways....14 phone messages and 29 in my gmail inbox, not to mention a gazillion other things that need attending...gotta GO!

my BIRF-day

Tuesday, the 24th marked my twenty-ninth birthday (or, BIRF-day, according to Halle...she said this many times to me! ).Yep, that makes it less than a year until thirty, friends. Unlike others (ahem....my husband) I have no issue turning thirty. It's kind of weird, but I'm not afraid of, or dreading it....bring it on.

My girls and I spent the day with my mom and sister...pretty sweet birthday set-up if you ask me :) The only thing missing was my hubby...but we had our trip last week, so I really can't complain. I was greeted with a bag of some of my favorite things that morning: magazines, a Starbucks card (thanks Dad!), Lindt chocolate bar, and some E-fruit gummies (not so soft and fake tasting like the other kinds).

We had an adult dessert planned for after Em's class that night, but Halle knows that BIRF-day's include cake, and since Halle would be in bed at that point, we did the candle thing in some mini cupcakes at lunch. Here we are, three generations ....and my most specialist girls!

Supper, traditionally is the birthday person's choice. I was thinking chicken, or stirfry, or something along those lines, but a certain little sister put a bug in my ear, and that bug travelled to my stomach and created a craving.....for sloppy joes!!!! So, for my birthday dinner, we dined on messy, meaty goodness and yam fries. I cannot remember the last time I had a sloppy joes, but they were awesome!!! Thanks for the idea Em, and thanks for making them Momma!!!!

{messy, meaty goodness}

{our evening entertainment...Biggest Loser!!! I LOVE this show}

{I bet Rudy didn't eat sloppy joe's for dinner!}

And dessert....ahhh, dessert. My pick was pavlova. My friend Sharon always makes this and I love it...yum, yum, yum! Our version was a traditional meringue nest topped with a lemon cream and mangoes and fresh raspberries....mmmmm! Jealous?

{me and my mom...we were both there for my original birthday}

Last night, was the final festivity...girls night out at Moxie's! Kind of a funny mix, but it worked great. My longtime (since Gr.9...with a couple blips...my bad, Heath) friend Heather, and Em's pal Jessie, (a sweet little engaged, nursing student I got to know a bit when she lived with my folks briefly) met Em and I for some drinks and dessert. It was a bit of a gluttonous few days people.
We are a group of gals at all different stages in life (seriously dating, engaged, married, and married with kids). But we had lots of laughs, ate gooey desserts, counted boys we'd kissed (uh-oh...I won that one), and told stories (Heather won that one...I can't repeat it, but trust me).

{heather and I}

{jessie and em}

It was a great few days...thanks to my ladies :)

my little dust bunny

You run into a few problems when you can only "crawl" backwards.....

little gems

Before Steve returned to the mainland, I got my sister to take a couple shots of our family, so that we would have something to put on our annual Christmas update and Steve's fundraising letter. My sister is awesome...she managed to snag a few good shots of us and our two little people, despite their (the little people's) best efforts to foil my plan.

In the process of trying to get that "perfect" picture, Em captured some great little gems. These shots show a much more realistic picture of our little family of four...one child or the other crying, looking away or physically trying to escape....but, also tickles, giggles, little kisses and big smiles.

So, until we can all smile and look at the camera in perfect unison, we have these little gems... and I love them!

Oh yeah, and it's my birthday today...but more on that later :)

rested, refreshed and ready...

On Friday morning, Steve and I ventured up the Malahat....by ourselves. We began our adventure under blue skies, big puffy clouds and multiple rainbows...not just the little half rainbows, but the full ones that stretch from one end of the horizon to the other. We had quiet conversation, hot coffee and excited anticipation.

Our first stop, was at Colin and Sarah's new house...adorable! As is my precious little nephew Rupert...he loves his auntie! (And, his auntie loves him!) We had a great, too short, visit, but well enjoyed. Sarah filled our bellies full of a veggie, chicken and cheese quiche, fresh scones and fruit salad...yummm!

We couldn't check into our hotel until four, so we went to Rathtrevor beach to walk around and take some photos. The remainder of these pictures are from there and from our resort. We are sooo enjoying our relaxation time, but we definitely miss the girlies. Tomorrow morning, we head back to Victoria ...rested, refreshed and ready to hug our babies!

eggnog and eggs

One final, quick post before I head to the island tomorrow...for 11 days!!!! Steve and I will be staying up island for a few nights alone; we will leave the girls in the capable hands of my parents and sister. How do I feel about this? ummmmm....SLEEP!!!!!!! My girls both sleep pretty well, but I am looking forward to waking up when I feel like it! So excited to have some alone time and rest time with my hubby. I have left Halle overnight multiple times, and have no qualms whatsoever leaving her side. Maya, is different. I have never been without of reach from her for more than a couple hours. I have NO concerns in regards to her care....she will be fine. I just hope she doesn't make strange or act up for her Grammie and auntie. I am glad that Halle will be there with her...a huge piece of her daily normalcy.

These photos are all from a fun night we spent with Bryce (Steve's youngest bro) and Ali....we love these two!!! Lots of fun...lots of laughing. Ali dug right in and entered princess land with Halle...princess costumes...princess puzzles...princess castles...princess barbies. Halle basically dragged her from station to station. You have quite the admirer Auntie Ali!

{my first batch of eggnog lattes this season}

{almost as good as my eggnog french toast!}

{Halle said more than once, "Uncle Bryce is silly!}

While we frolicked amongst the princesses, the boys were playing Halo...classic Uncle/Daddy quality time...if it isn't Bryce in that chair, it's Colin (before they ditched us for Nanamio...no bitterness). How long do boys play video games for??? Anyone???? Seriously, are there 60 year olds out there playing Xbox?

Now... I am a wife to a Youth Pastor...my brother and my brother-in-law also both hold BA's in Youth Ministry/Work, so I sometimes get exposed to some pretty interesting things....transporting crickets and goldfish across the room in mouths, near death experiences with cinnamon, eggnog chugging (ALWAYS results in puking), duct-taping kids to walls, coke and mentos (more spewing)...oh, really...I could go on at length. The latest was this egg trick. Apparently if you press on opposite sides of the egg with your fingertips, it won't break.

I, of course, knew this was bologna...of COURSE I could break the egg!!! Megan takes the challenge....

....and FAILS!!!! Unbelievably weird feeling not to break that egg. I did have one slip-up and lost a little protein popper down the drain. But, when I did it correctly, despite all my amazing strength...it remained intact.

Random, I know....but, when you're at a boring Christmas party this year...ask if they have some eggs!

AND....if you're hosting a Christmas party this year and someone asks for an egg, you might want to spice things up pretty quick :)

Next post coming to you from the ISLAND!!!!