Rockin' Christmas

Bryn wanted to join in on the fun while her cousins entertained us with Rock Band after Christmas dinner.



I'll be posting Christmas photos soon.

Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a magical, peaceful Christmas filled with love and happiness.

Love,
Rae, Girard and Bryn

The Stockings Are Hung...

The tree is up and decorated with all of our favorite ornaments. We've visited Santa. The cards are signed and sent. My shopping is almost done except for a few last minute stocking stuffers. I still have gifts to wrap but that can wait a day or two. There is egg nog in the fridge. We're ready.

Soon Bryn will have her own "computer" and a little digital camera to call her own courtesy of her doting parents and maybe she can take over her blog. I'm sure she'd be better at regular posting than I am.

Last week Bryn and I went to see Franklin's Family Christmas show. She sang her little heart out and danced along with Franklin and put me in the Christmas spirit. With all the busyness of work and shopping I seemed to be lacking the spirit this year but watching her have such a good time sure turned that around. It's amazing how much power a small child can hold, how much joy her smile can bring. 

The last days of fall.

Fun with paints.

Cutting dad's hair.

Caia and Bryn at our adoption group Christmas supper.

The first snowman of the year using almost every flake in the backyard.

Modeling the tree skirt.

Christmas Letter 2008

‘Tis the season when thoughts turn to this most cherished of seasons, when above all else we reflect on our glorious past, remember the good times and the values that we all share, find comfort in the traditions that we have nurtured and nestle in front of a roaring fire, family all snuggly in their blankets, happy smiles and good cheer abound. Yes, for some of us, ‘tis the season for gathering around the hearth — in our case TV — to watch . . . NFL FOOTBALL, because ‘tis the season of Fantasy Football playoffs.

We are happy to note Girard’s team, the Sherpas, is poised for another run at the league championship. And once football season is over, Bryn will be thrilled to be able to watch “my show” on TV rather than football. In fact, speaking of Bryn, since that’s all we talk about, she is a growing, bubbly, boisterous and demanding concern. She has been asserting her independence — which will be good for her in her adult years, but maybe not so good for

her parents now — and she has been amazing us with her comprehension and speech. Lately she has been into rhyming words (“dad, sad, mad” being one of her favourites) and singing.

She sings almost non-stop some days. Raelene, of course, knows the words to most of the songs, being a babysitter of some renown in her younger days and an auntie of tremendous patience in her advancing years. Girard, of course, knows nothing. Both in general and when it comes to kids’ songs, as he has never paid any attention to them, let alone be forced to remember them. “How does that song go?” Bryn will ask him. “Ummm, how does your mom sing it?” he will respond, which brings on warbling that may or may not trigger a memory. Why just the other day Girard for the first time learned the words to Frosty the Snowman (“...with a corn cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal”). Who knew? Well, Bryn taught him.

Bryn’s teaching us a lot about priorities. The value of a good night’s sleep being number one. Also, the value of accomplishing nothing in a day, except reading Elmo books, cooking plastic french fries in a miniature microwave, teaching the words to Jingle Bells, coming up with a surprise for dessert, receiving hugs for no reason at all. Life is full of new surprises and wonders each day, not just for Bryn but for us as well.

Speaking of priorities, work continues to be work, in other words, an interference in the enjoyment of life. These are not great times for the newspaper industry, but we are lucky to have what we have (one supposes). We have led a sheltered existence this year, except for a planned trip to visit friends in P.E.I., which didn’t work out. After stopping in Toronto, we drove home, which is nice if you like trees spoiling the view, but we tried to make the most of it. At least we can say we went “whaa, whaa” in Wawa.

We have visited and hosted many visitors this year. We made a few trips to Regina and Yorkton to visit family. One of those trips was to Regina in October to see Neil Young, Girard’s fave since his teen years, and we were lucky to get tickets for Elton John’s Saskatoon concert which was an incredible show. Raelene and Bryn have been to see The Backyardigans, The Wiggles and Sesame Street Live so Bryn is well on her way to becoming a concert-goer. Alas, we didn’t see anyone younger than 60 or older than 10 on stage in 2008.

This year, Bryn enjoyed sharing time with friends from Edmonton and Rainy River, Ont., and points between. It’s been an amazing year watching her grow into the incredible almost three-year-old she is today. Our baby has grown up fast.

Bryn would wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but she is helping decorate the tree right now. So from our house to yours, we wish you all a magical Christmas and peace in the New Year.

Trick or Treat!

We couldn't have asked for a nicer Halloween this year. It was a beautiful evening and Bryn and I had a great time. Poor Girard missed out on all the fun since he works evenings. We only visited a few houses but she came home with tons of loot. She was our cute little kitty this year and we think she looked adorable.

We've been busy lately with our music and gym classes. Bryn loves music and singing (her latest song is Take Me Out To the Ball Game) and still makes up her own songs all the time to entertain us. She's getting more comfortable in gym and loves the trampoline so much we bought her a little one for home. The other day at gym she was playing with a hula hoop. She had it around her waist and said "Look mom, I'm Saturn!" The days are never boring and we always have a chuckle over something she's said or done.

It seems like she's grown a foot in the past couple of months -- she's now 36" and just shy of 30 lbs.  She loves reading books, doing puzzles, playing with play-doh, coloring and painting "like Pubba". Her latest thing is band-aids -- we go through them like crazy. Her stuffies are covered with them and Bryn always has some sort of owie she thinks she needs a band-aid for even if it just ends up on her clothes. She loves to tease and giggle and is constantly on the go.

Potty training is going slow to say the least. Even with rewards (bribes?) of Smarties and stickers Bryn doesn't have much interest in using her potty. She's still a non-sleeper and is becoming more of a night owl all the time. And (sigh) the later she goes to bed the earlier she gets up. Her favorite question is "why?" and her favorite answers are "I can't" and "no". She's become very good at asserting herself lately and we have a lot of lively discussions, most of them at meal time when she's saying "I don't want that". We've always tried to tell her to say yes, please and no, thank you in a nice voice and usually she's pretty good.  One day during one of our discussions I was trying to convince her to do something and she said "did you say please in a nice boice, mom?" I try not to think about what she'll be like when she's 14 and keep telling myself it's good that she has her own mind. :)

Busy making pizza.

Our little Beethoven.

Having fun on the tramp.

She gets her fashion sense from me.

All dressed up to go to her first wedding.

My girl.

Bryn's Nana and Pubba were visiting a few weeks ago. When Nana pulled out her crocheting Bryn ran and grabbed a pencil to use as a hook so Nana could show her how.

Rembryn.

Papa and Bryn looking through our already well-worn Christmas catalog.