Christmas Holidays 2009

December 21--"Jungaroo"

The kids were restless while away from school for the holidays, so we arranged a playdate with Aunt Steph, Uncle Tony and the kids at a new playspace called "Jungaroo." We hadn't been there before, but the kids loved it! There are lots of slides, climbing activities, etc., all in a jungle theme. Daddy got a picture of Andrea coming out of the snake slide with his phone.


Then, he snapped one of her up in the jungle treehouse. She climbed up all by herself!

After, we all went for brunch at Jerry and Jenny's. It's nice to have the kids so close in age, so we can enjoy days like this together.

December 23--Christmas Baking

Mommy had some desserts to make for Christmas Eve, and each of the kids helped in their own way. Kevin kept an eye on the cookies for me. He was also an expert taste-tester.


Andrea's job was helping me decorate the cupcakes. Since cupcakes are her favourite dessert, she made sure each one had some of EVERY kind of sprinkles on it. She was also a cookie/cupcake taste-tester, of course!


Christmas Eve

(Now, this is the part where Mommy gets a seriously nasty virus, and is in bed from Christmas Eve until New Years' Day. From here on in, most pictures/stories are borrowed from other people, as Mommy could not participate. Daddy was in charge, and took the kids to all the major holiday events--he's the best!)

Our Christmas Eve get-together was a bit different this year. The Market Family has grown exponentially, and Great-Gram's little house has been bursting at the seams these past few years! So this year, she rented a hall, and had dinner catered in for everyone.

Here's the kids receiving their Christmas gifts from Great-Gram. Kevin, as usual, turns to Papa when he gets overwhelmed!


Then, Santa made a special stop by the hall (even on this very busy night!) to visit the kids and bring them each a gift. Apparently, Kevin surprised everyone by running up quite willingly when his name was called, and sat with Santa to receive his gift, even though he doesn't look all that impressed.




Here's Great-Gram with MOST of her great-grandchildren (one newborn, Mikenna, is not in the picture; plus, Reed was born on Christmas Day, and Nathan was born since this post): Izzy, Andrea, Kevin, Hannah, Addison, Jordan, Jocelyn, and Morgan.



Christmas Morning/Day

Santa came!

Santa brought Kevin an Imaginarium train table set, and Andrea got an HP mini netbook, plus some little items in their stockings.

Finally, Mommy no longer has to fight to get onto her own laptop! Andrea is hooked on the Nick Jr. website's games. She knows how to get on there, and play most of the games, by herself. Santa knew this would be a great gift for her (and Mommy, who gets her laptop back to herself now!).

Kevin was a little overwhelmed by his train table at first. It makes all kinds of train noises as the trains run over the tracks, across the bridge, through the mountain, etc. Andrea loved it right away, and he soon followed her lead. Within minutes, they were both running full speed around the table, with trains flying down the tracks!


Daddy's gift from Mommy: a Blackberry. Well, sort of. He STILL hasn't decided which model or carrier to go with, so he had nothing to open from me at Christmas. So, I wrapped up one of Kevin's toy phones and taped a Blackberry picture to it. I do what I can.


Andrea still loves anything princess and dress-up, and one of her gifts from Grama Marty and Grandpa Rick was just what she needed--a new princess dress! (She's outgrown most of her other dress-up stuff). It's a bit big, which is great, so she can have it for a while. She was thrilled!


Kevin, as usual, takes time to warm up to anything new/unusual. It's not surprising that his gift from Grama Marty and Grampa Rick, a remote-controlled rescue vehicle that spins around and has flashing lights, scared the heck out of him at first. (On the other hand, Daddy loved it. He even took it to Aunt Rosie's house later, and continued to play with it throughout the holidays!)


Kevin liked it after he watched it for a while. He's checking it out while he takes a rest on the floor among the pile o' gifts.


Boxing Day

On Boxing day, Daddy and the kids went for the traditional Gagnon Family gathering at Aunt Petesy's house. I dressed Andrea in her new outfit from Grama Marty, and she wanted to model.



Santa made an appearance for the kids at Aunt Petesy's, too. The kids also enjoyed the kiddie gym equipment in Aunt Petesy's basement. Actually, her kids had outgrown some of it, and we received the kiddie treadmill a few days later! (Andrea's on the glider in this picture.)

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, Rod and the kids went to a party at our friends Ed and Lisa's house. Andrea has only met some of the kids who were there once or twice before, but she soon settled in to having fun with her new friends. Here's some pictures they took of her enjoying some snacks (the first picture with Ed and Lisa's oldest boy, Matt).


Kevin, as usual, was mostly content quietly following the others around, or amusing himself.

Kevin was ready to come home around his usual bedtime, but Andrea stayed at the party a bit longer. In this picture, she's sitting with Daddy while he plays cards (their back is to us). Dave (sitting across) has his two girls (Synthia and Gabrielle) with him, who Andrea had a lot of fun with that night. Andrea lasted until about 9:00 PM, and then she was ready to come home.
Even Daddy and Mommy couldn't quite stay up to see the New year in. I think we went to bed about 10 minutes before midnight!

New Year's Day--Hannah's 1st Birthday!

On New Year's Day, we went (even Mommy finally managed to get out of bed!) to Aunt Steph and Uncle Tony's for brunch, to celebrate Hannah's first birthday. Yes, she's the family's New Year's baby! Her Hage family was there to celebrate, too. I think Hannah was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention.

These kids always have fun when they get together: Izzy, (Hannah), Dana, Adam, Andrea, and Kevin!

Kids always love the mirrored doors on Aunt Stephanie's coat closet. Gram Gagnon caught Kevin admiring his adorable self: "There's Kevin!"

Children of the Modern Age . . .

Whatever Andrea does, Kevin wants to do. So, seeing Andrea on her new netbook, playing games, makes Kevin want to go online and play games, too. The problems are 1) that he's not quite ready/skilled enough to play Andrea's level of games, and 2) Hey, didn't Santa just bring a netbook so Mommy could have her computer back? That plan isn't working so well, when Kevin wants to play online games now, too!

How can I resist this face? :))