Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & all that Jazz...

Merry Christmas & Happy New!

 The build up of Christmas seemed to last so long, and now in a flash it's all over and back to reality...We had an amazing holiday with Kirk off for a full 10 days...he barely checked in the whole time which was a nice treat! We had a lovely time together and the kids had a blast on Christmas Day and so did we!

Kirk has some big things happening at work, he started back yesterday with some
 major presentations, he's going to be a busy guy the next few weeks...

I am off Thursday with my Sister in law Jane to Vegas!! I am very excited to be going, I am a little sad I am going to miss Alyssa's first day of Hockey which is going to be this Saturday, but she'll have her daddy and her Papa's cheering her on!

I'm trying to get my house back in order after all this Christmas Craziness and get everything perfect so I can leave with a clear conscience... I thought I would highlight our Christmas vacation and when I get back I will post some pictures..Kirk bought me an awesome new Nikon 7000 camera for Christmas, its amazing!! Don't ask him what he got :(

Christmas Eve Dinner - Was spent at Kirk's Sister house...we had a lovely dinner with our Traditional Meatless dishes
Christmas Morning - We spent at home the 5 of us...Santa left Blake a new Train Table complete with all the accessories one little boy might need...The girls got Cardboard playhouses with a ton of crayons and markers that they can color themselves...Alyssa also got an Easy Bake Oven with some cake mixes, and a Princess Celestia Pony...Leah got inside her house and Abby Cadaby Doll and a Princess Dress of her very own, complete with all the accessories one little princess might need...I got an amazing Nikon 7000 camera that I can't wait to figure out!
Christmas Dinner - We spent with my parents at their house, we had a lovely turkey dinner and the kids loved running arounds Grandma's house
Boxing Day - There was a slight change in plans that day that ended up with Kris, Jane & kids over here for lunch and gift exchange...The kids were in their glory with all the new things to play with and dress up in!

Through the week, Kirk and I had a Date
We bought Kirk some new suits for his meetings, me some new clothes for Vegas, had a lovely dinner out and ended with Drinks with Kris & Jane while all 5 grandkids slept at Mommas....

We had a great visit with my Grandparents in their new retirement home...Its awesome! I want to live there!

We went to our little Niece Maja's 1st Birthday Party...It's hard to believe she is already one! She is pretty close to walking!

New Years Eve - Kris & Jane and Kids came over and all slept over...after the kids went to bed we played some board games, played the kids new musical intruments and danced into the wee hours of the morning...It was a ton of fun, that is until the kids woke up! Thankfully they were pretty kind,the first ones up were Sophie and Alyssa at 8:15am

Alyssa had a sleep over with Sophie...We went to the Science Center, The Pet Store, Had family Pancakes, Napped together, Had movie nights and an all around perfect 10 together...

I can't wait to share some picture from my new camera!! I'll be back after Vegas!!! Still so much to share!!

Santa

We have been trying to go see Santa for weeks now, something always came up and tonight Daddy was home sick with the flu, so a Brave Papa Murray ventured to the mall with me, on what was I'm sure one of the worst days ever to go to a mall...

Alyssa was grumpy going and almost flat out refused to go see him...Leah was excited to see Santa but when it came time, Alyssa's little face lit up and she happily sat with Santa and chatted while the other 2 screamed...

The wait was 1 hour, the whole time with Santa was likely less than a minute...he handed them each a candy cane and off we went to collect our picture...The babies were very pleased with their candy from "Anta" and sadly Alyssa dropped hers not too long after...Not that fun of an hour but at least we got a picture!

Thanks Dad for helping me out, there is no chance that would have happened if you hadn't have come!

Just for fun here is last years

Winter time fun...

Time is just in fast forward over here the past 2 months, I can't believe Christmas is this weekend! Gulp! I have faith I will have everything ready and perfect but thinking about makes my head spin a little! I am mostly ready with the big stuff, (other than my Kirk who is likely getting a few IOU a gift at a later time kind of gifts...)

We had Kirk's Christmas Party out in Banff this weekend, it was a lovely time and it really felt like Christmas in the mountains, we woke up to a beautiful snowfall which made for a pretty slow drive home...

The babies have been having fun out in the snow, we haven't gotten them out a lot but enough for them to have had some time to play, get cold and come in for some Hot Chocolate...

Leah has had fun shovelling the driveway with Daddy...She lasts outside for about 15 minutes then she's done...She loves her Cow hat and mitts and almost flat out refuses to wear boots...I don't usually argue if its a quick trip but it was a big ordeal to get her in the darn boots...

 Blake wasn't too sure about the snow, he was a quite concerned that his car had snow on it...We had brought it inside before winter but he was getting so mad that it wouldn't drive on the carpet, we finally just put it back outside and a giant wind storm flew it off the deck where it got majorly snowed on...He did look pretty stinking cute in his monster hat...

 Alyssa loves the snow, she could stay and play out there all day...She likes her sled, her slide, her swings, making snow angels and building snowmen...I hope over the holidays we can get outside more for sledding etc...thankfully the temperture hasn't been to ridiculous yet...

We've had the tree up since Alyssa's Birthday, I just failed to post about it...It was suppose to be a magical night, we had our traditional Rum and Egg Nog, our favorite (or I should say my favorite) Boney M Christmas CD that I've been listening to since I was a kid...and pulled out all of our bins of Christmas stuff...Alyssa was so excited to put the tree up...she patiently waited to put on the ornaments and organized them and protected the breakable ones from the 2 little ones...We had some light issues and could NOT get them lit on more than one little section...It ended up turning into an 4 hour totally aggrivating night, the babies went to bed with an unlit, undecorated tree...and we let Alyssa stay up until 10:30 so she could actually put up some decorations... 

In the middle of this post last night, I was interrupted with a crying Alyssa who had just gotten sick in her bed...She got sick a few more times in the night...Please PLEASE fingers crossed we don't have a repeat of last years Christmas with all 5 of us sick...So far the babies are ok...Knock on Wood!

Happy of the Day...

This picture makes me Smile!!!



Alyssa's Birthday Parties

This year I decided to do a smaller party than our Puppy Party last year (HA!)...I attempted to anyways!

I told Alyssa she could pick 2 friends to go to "Color Me Mine", which is a little paint your own pottery studio right down the street from our house...Alyssa picked 2 little kids Layla and Braxton from her Preschool class...they are always together at school so it wasn't a shock she chose them...Layla is a whole year younger than Alyssa and just can't get enough of her, its pretty cute to see...there was lots of others she wanted to invite but I tried to keep the #'s low...Her Bestest Bestest friend cousin Sophie was an automatic...

It was lots of fun, the little kids painted for an hour while us mom's watched and drank coffee...Alyssa meticulously painted for the whole hour and wasn't even close to being done...We left and went to Boston Pizza for lunch and presents...After that the others went home and Alyssa and I went back and spent another whole hour so she could finish her perfect little Ice Cream Sundae (Piggy) Bank...

I thought we should also do a small family birthday too...but then as it turned out I thought it was maybe better to do 2 smaller family parties, Kirks side and my side...Sheesh...in the end I should have really just done 1 big party...although I don't think Alyssa minded having 3 parties!!

I still can't believe our girl is 5, it seems like a Milestone Birthday...Half a decade old...

Hope you had a fun time at ALL your parties Alyssa!

5 Years Ago...

Happy 5th Birthday Alyssa Marie!

5 years ago we welcomed a Beautiful 7 pound Baby girl into our family...5 Years ago we became parents and started a new journey down the road of parenthood...

We longed for a family for so many years, and even leading up to our little Alyssa's Birth it all felt so surreal...We knew we were having a little girl, we had picked her name almost as soon as we found out it was a girl...We had Alyssa's room ready for her, all painted pink with a white crib and hanging canopy above, outfits hung in the closet picked out specially for her, diapers stacked in the drawers and everything just perfect...and we were ready, I was very uncomforable and we were so anxious and nervous and so ready to meet her...

I remember crying quite a lot right before she was born...they were turning on the lights in the little baby warming bed, more people were coming in and out, and despite being in labour for 24 hours, it just didn't feel real...How could a whole human life just suddenly appear, and the craziest thing of all is that she was ours! We were going to be her parents forever...what if we weren't good at it, how would be know what she needed, and were we going to be good enough for her...

The moment our little miracle was born and placed on my chest, it finally felt real and I held her tight and told her I loved her, I remember being surprised at how heavy she felt...she was perfect and we felt so overjoyed we were her parents, and from that second our whole world changed...

Its really hard to believe its already been 5 years...

Alyssa has been such a good girl, she was an easy baby and has always have a mild disposition...she is sweet, caring, sensitive, creative, smart and witty and a pure delight to be around...It has been the best 5 years of our lives to be blessed with such a wonderful little girl...

We love you so much our Beautiful Baby Girl!!!

Flashback Friday

I didn't really think my girls looked the same, but seeing some old pictures of Alyssa I can certainly see the resemblance. I just showed Alyssa some pictures and she said, Oh wow we look exactly the same!

Leah December 2011

 Alyssa December 2008

 Alyssa December 2008

 The whole Gang December 2011

 A poor quaility phone picture but too funny not to share...

Little Miss Grumpy Pants