Last day of school

I went to Holly's class a bit early at the end of the day to take them their mini cupcakes (I forgot to take them in the morning). They were listening to Caribbean music and dancing . . . I know Holly will miss going to school during the Christmas break!

Christmas Lights

Tonight we met the Ratcliffes and the Pickells for dinner and then went to the Festival of Lights at the VanDusen Botanical Garden. It was a lot of fun - cold, but not rainy, and the kids had a blast!

Livingstone Lake in the middle of the gardens . . .














Walking on the paths . . . the 3 older girls (Holly, Cassie & Isabelle) are up front and behind are Mackenzie and Simon.

















Gingerbread Wood . . .














Having fun with Daddy - although he looks a bit stunned . . . too many lights, perhaps?!



















Holly telling Cassie a secret.



















Flying Holly!



















Santa's Living Room - the sign on the door said "Santa Puppeteer", but there were no puppets to be seen! Santa was very friendly, though and told the kids some stories about being Santa, and even read them a book.














We saw two angels as we were leaving . . . =)

Santa success!

Holly went to see my favourite Santa - she actually sat on his lap and told him what she wanted and even smiled for the picture! Her second visit with Santa this year . . . a few days after this photo, we saw a Santa at another mall and Holly said to us, "Can we visit Santa again?"! I think she's finally figured out the whole present thing and the fact that if she tells him what she wants, she might get it! We may have created a monster . . . =)

First School Christmas Concert!

Holly's school had their Christmas concert tonight. The JK (Junior Kindergarten) class dressed as elves and performed 2 songs - Jingle Bells and Silent Night. I liked Silent Night - they performed it in sign language while singing.

Cassie and Holly before the show . . .














Mackenzie, Cassie & Holly.














After their performance, Holly had to change into her "pretty dress" for the rest of the evening. My mom and Aunt Ivy came to see the show also - Holly made us take picture of her "one by one" - here she is posing for Ivy . . .



















Videos of the JK performance:

Kids' Xmas Party

Today we went to the annual Kids' Christmas Party for Paul's work.

We were at the front of the line to see Santa and Mrs. Claus - and Holly sat on his lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas!!! A Christmas miracle! Holly has always been quite scared of visiting Santa, so it was great to see her interact with him. It probably helped a little that we know Mrs. Claus!














Daddy & Holly waiting in line for the bumper cars. They rode in one car and I had another - we had lots of fun bumping into each other! Holly also decorated a gingerbread man cookie, had some breakfast (sausages, waffles, & fruit), helped me run the cash register (we brought some of our products from the store where I work), and jumped around on the bouncy castles! It was sooo much fun!

Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree, which we got on December 1st (the official authorized day that decorations are allowed to go up - ask Paul, he's part of the Christmas Police!). Holly picked out the tree at IKEA - it was all tied up so we couldn't see it, but she picked what she called the "perfect tree" and it was! We have yet to be disappointed by a tree from IKEA.




















Some of the ornaments that Holly has made - the blue snowflake and green tree we made with our friends last year. The silver mesh ornament with the white snowflake and green tree she made at school this year.

Disney On Ice

Today we went to see Disney on Ice "Worlds of Fantasy" - it's the first time I've been to one of these shows in over 30 years! I shouldn't have been surprised at the quality of the show since it is DISNEY after all, but the costumes, sets, and just the production itself were amazing & I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had a lot of fun - our friends at the Princess Pre-Show! Here are Cinderella and Princess Tiana (the new princess from the movie "The Princess and the Frog"). They had gorgeous dresses!























The four little princesses:
Cinderella Mackenzie, Belle Cassie, Belle Isabelle, and Tinkerbell Holly.














After we got a few shots of the princesses all together, Holly announced that they would all be taking photos "one by one" . . .



















The show started with Minnie & Mickey Mouse in their car going on an adventure . . .














Cars from the movie "Cars"! It was pretty cool to see real cars on the ice.














Lightning McQueen . . .



















The Little Mermaid - with Flounder and Sebastian.














Under the Sea - one of my favourite songs!


Rafiki - from the Lion King . . .














Intermission - we had the girls sit all together in front of us and the adults (me, my mom, Belinda, Mimi & Jeff) sat in the row behind.














Can you spot 3 Belles in this picture? Bel (Belinda), Belle from Beauty & the Beast and Belle (Isabelle)!














This one has 4 Belles! We added TinkerBELL!














After the intermission, the remainder of the show was dedicated to Tinkerbell. Queen Clarion even flew through the air!



















Spring comes to Pixie Hollow! See how the flowers start blooming around the ice - pretty amazing how they did that - it looked so realistic!