Sophia's Ski Day

Wasn't it just yesterday that Alex and Rachel were on the bunny hill learning to ski? Can't believe it but Sophia is learning now. She still had a little bit of a cold so I was trying to convince her to stay inside with me and Halmoni while Papa went skiing with the older girls. She thought that was a terrible idea. She persisted and ended up skiing the afternoon away. Poor Papa....his back was aching. She is scared of Papa letting go of her so they go down together with her between Papa's skis. She's just getting used to feeling how skiing is suppose to be but doesn't stop or know how to turn on her own. After each run, she would say, "Again!". And Papa would complain about his back. I laughed a lot. (also, that black sled in the background is ours. We need it to load it up with all the ski gear and pull it to the ski hill. It got stolen!!! So we had to walk back carrying all the junk! We prefer to believe that some family 'took' our sled by mistake thinking that it was theirs. So we are going to get another one and write our name all across it. Enough ranting.)

Sophia looking cool on the magic carpet.

Papa and his aching back. Sophia all smiles.

It looks like this was an apres ski snack. In truth it was a before ski snack. It took us so long to get ready to get the kids onto the hill. The older girls feet had outgrown their ski boots. So we had to replace the ski boots and then get the bindings adjusted on the skis. It took SO long. I lost my patience at the ski guy (he said it would only take 30 minutes! but it took almost double that). Then I found out he is our new neighbor up at the ski hill. Crap!

Chocolate cookies and hot chocolate. Healthy!

Apres ski play date at our place.

Christmas 2011

Santa Brunch on Friday afternoon. Delicious food, choir singing Christmas carols, and a Santa visit. It was a wonderful afternoon. Was wishing we could make it a tradition to go with the WHOLE family. Dreaming....

Christmas dinner was SO delicious. Cheers everyone!

Papa assembling doll house. Girls helping and excited. In their Christmas jammies (which they kept on all day long).

All dressed up for Christmas Eve mass. We were so blessed to be asked to light the advent candles during the mass as well as carry baby Jesus up to the altar. Well, Sophia was asked to carry baby Jesus up during the procession at the beginning of mass so we all accompanied her. I was so nervous that she would drop the heavy ceramic figure while walking up the aisle but she did great. The older girls participated by holding up the 'C' and the 'H' which spelled Christmas during the homily. Was a special night for our family. Halmoni was SO happy that we went to church and that her grandkids were participating in the mass.

Love Sophia's jacket. Thank you Sonia!

Love the matching gold outfits. Thank you Susan!

We have a tradition of letting the girls open 1 present on Christmas Eve. But they kind of modified the rules and opened 2 presents. One from each of the sisters to each other. So sweet. This is Rachel thanking Alex for her stuffed dog.

Halmoni came to B.C. without any hat and gloves. Or boots. She gave me the hint of what she wanted I guess. haha.

Love the pjs. I bought them at a craft fair. Reminds me of Little House on the Prairie for some reason.

Sophia's reaction to Alex's gift to her. A beautiful picture of the book,

The little Engine that Could, that Alex spent weeks working on.

A blessed Christmas 2011.

Outdoor Skating

We have 2 friends who have made outdoor rinks in their backyards. The girls absolutely love skating. It feels like such a Canadian thing to do in the winter. Skate outdoors, get cold, have some hot chocolate or some munchies and then go inside to warm up. So much fun. We were lucky enough to have been invited to both rinks in the last week.

Sophia's First Christmas Concert

We all cheered her on. We were all so proud of her. Alex and Rachel skipped school so they could watch her sing. She has the biggest cheerleaders in her life.

Surprise!

We celebrated Papa's 40th birthday this weekend. Can you tell from his initial reaction walking into the room that we really got him?!!! Love the 'WTF' expression on his face!

Sonia, his sister, flew up from Toronto to surprise him at his party. He was so happy that she came out.

By the time it was cake time, Papa was happy and drunk. Wish I had his speech on video. He was so happy that everyone came out and shared this special night with us.

Halloween 2011

Papa's pumpkin creativity just continued on this afternoon.. The girls saw this owl in a craft book that they have and wanted to make it for weeks now. We ran out of time yesterday and so with half an hour to spare this evening...Papa saved Halloween by making it for us. The girls were thrilled.


Papa glue gunning it. haha

And our girls ready to head out to go trick or treating. So full of excitement!

Pumpkin carving 2011

Today was pumpkin carving day. So much excitement. Such a mess. So much fun. We each had a pumpkin to carve. Both the older girls wanted to carve out bats. Sophia carved a little pumpkin with triangle eyes. I carved 'a nightmare before christmas' pumpkin. And Papa spent over 2 hours carving his special pumpkin. He's so proud of his work.

Monster cupcakes for school tomorrow. Decorated by the Chungs. Can anyone say sugar overload?

A little down time on Saturday morning before all the Halloween activities start. Seriously...Halloween has become a weekend of parties. More celebrations than any other holiday for the kids. Crazy. Crazy fun for the kids.

Sophia looks 'normal' but she has been fighting a fever for 2 days now. I guess the Tylenol is working with all this energy she has shown this morning.

October 2011

Life is good. Busy. I'm working a lot so the house is in shambles. The girls are all noisy and happy (and very messy!). How do full time working moms do it balancing work and home? Last week I fed Papa ramen for dinner one night and the girls pancakes. Because I didn't go grocery shopping and all the meat was frozen and I had a hungry family.

But we found time to bake these cupcakes and decorate them. Fun times.