A Wonderful Weekend

This post is a few weekend's behind....but I am catching up!

One of my favourite part's of the holiday season is getting together with family and friends. We were so happy to be able to spend some time with Leanne, Joad and Jennie. It is so amazing to watch the girls -- they just love their playtime together.

We waited for Paul to get home from work and then we had a potluck dinner and caught up on family news. After dinner the girls played their favourite game -- running after each other while pushing shopping carts or strollers. It is so sweet to listen to them giggling and shrieking while they run around the house.

We then gathered in the living room and the girls opened their gifts. Is was so much fun to see the excitement on their faces as they began to understand the gift exchange ritual. They loved tearing off the paper and playing with their new toys.

Afterwards, we put the girls in their pyjamas and tried to get pictures of them together. Maelyn pulled Jennie onto her lap and the two of them just couldn't stop laughing. They were all over each other -- hugging and then falling over together, launching themselves into the cat beds and falling forward onto their stomachs. They were hilarious!!

We love that the girls are going to be able to grow up with one another and we are looking forward to many more Christmas celebrations together...

The next day we prepared for our next celebration, this time with Paul's family. We were excited about getting together with his cousins -- especially since it was our first gathering with his extended family.

We spent time together talking, laughing, and getting to know one another. His cousins are all wonderful people and we loved having them get to know Maelyn. We enjoyed a meal together and then celebrated Andrew's 40th birthday.

Maelyn loved playing with Andrew's kids -- especially Robin. She copied everything that he did and was his shadow the entire night. They spent much of their time chasing the cats! Neltje helped to look after Maelyn and Robin during dinner, which was a huge help.

We loved getting to know more of Paul's family and we are looking forward to regular family gatherings.

On Sunday it was my Dad's birthday and we celebrated with a yummy sushi meal, ice cream cake and presents. Maelyn especially loved that she got to visit with Auntie Kara, Uncle Cam and Jake!

I don't know who was more excited about the cake....hehe!!

Later that day we snuck in a visit with Auntie AM and Julia. We were so happy to be able to see them before they left for Sarnia.

Maelyn loved the sled they got for her!!

The ornament they gave her is one where you can record her voice -- a great memory of her first Christmas with our family. Maelyn, however, thinks that it is a phone....she keeps holding it to her ear and saying 'Hello?'

Julia opening her gift from us....

What a weekend! Packed full of time spent with family and friends -- the best kind of weekend, especially during the holidays.



Santa Fun

Almost every family I know has at least one good 'visiting Santa Claus' story. Our story of Maelyn's first visit with Santa Claus is no exception...

We headed to the mall with Nancy yesterday morning -- couldn't believe how cold it was! After all the snow that has fallen over the past few days, we are now well into full snowsuit mode...

We explained to Maelyn that she would be visiting with Santa Clause -- but she wasn't very impressed with the idea.

We thought that it would be a good idea to let Maelyn see Santa and watch the activity going on below. We hoped that she would see the happy and smiling faces of the other children and decide that visiting Santa was a good idea...

We had so much gear with us, including the stroller, that we decided to take the elevator to get to Santa. We loaded into the elevator with another family and then 'kerplunk!' Yup -- the elevator stopped halfway between floors! We were all a little shocked and in disbelief, but after a few minutes of waiting, we realized that the elevator wasn't going anywhere. We pushed the emergency button and an automated voice told us to 'stay calm and that people have been informed of the issue.'

Luckily the elevator had glass sides, which helped us to feel less confined. It also made it easier for mall patrons to gawk at us while we waited patiently for help to arrive.

Thankfully we were stuck in the elevator with a very nice family who also has kids. Jonas (22 months) and Lennon (3 months) were accompanied by their mom and grandma -- and we all got to know each other a little better that morning! Especially after we spent more than an hour stuck in the elevator...

Thankfully I had brought quite a bit of food with me that morning, thinking we would be heading to Nancy's house after the mall and needing a lot of snacks for Maelyn. We passed out the snacks to the kids and then entertained them with Christmas carols, the few toys we had and with watching and waving to the people in the mall.

911 was called and we waited and waited for help to arrive. We were all relieved when we saw the firefighters arrive...

We finally received the good news that we would be leaving the elevator shortly....

They pulled the elevator back up to the top floor, very slowly, and the doors were finally opened...

And we were greeted by a crowd of firefighters and mall personnel....

The firefighters were asking if everyone was okay and our new friends made the good point that the kids had behaved and weren't screaming -- so we were fine!

The mall manager came over and kept apologizing for our predicament. He said that he wanted to make it up to us, so he gave us gift certificates for the mall -- at first he offered us a free lunch, but we just wanted to get home with the kids for lunch and nap times. He then found out that we were there to visit with Santa Claus and he told us that we wouldn't have to wait in line and that we could have any package of pictures we would like -- what a great deal! :)

We finally headed to our original destination -- Old Saint Nick. Our new friends got a family picture taken and it turned out beautifully! A great way to commemorate an interesting experience...

Maelyn, however, did not think that visiting Santa was a good idea at all. We got within feet of the area where Santa Claus was and she started shaking her head and clinging to me, her legs and arms wrapped tightly around me. I figured that we would give it a try, so we went to sit beside Santa.

He tried to win Maelyn over with a candy cane, but nothing seemed to work. I asked the ladies to just take the shot -- I didn't mind a screaming Santa photo.

The package of pictures we got also came with a stuffed animal and of course, she chose the cat.

In the end, we had a very interesting morning and we even made new friends -- the free stuff helped to make the day that much better as well! We couldn't stop laughing about what we had been through -- what a story to tell Maelyn about her first trip to visit with Santa Claus.



Cute pics

Cute pics of activities around our house over the past few days....

Maelyn and Katelyn...two cute froggies!

Kisses!

So what's new in your world?....

Too bad we couldn't get a picture of Maelyn then trying to sit on Katelyn's chest...haha!

I am so cute!

Where am I???

Here I am!!

Wintery Fun

What a great weekend for winter activities -- with our first big snowfall of the year.

Auntie Kara and Uncle Cam went in search of the perfect Christmas tree on Saturday and Paul and Maelyn tagged along. We never had real trees when we were little, so it was a first for my sister and for Maelyn. By all accounts, everyone had a fabulous time and are looking forward to a new family tradition.

Today the snow began to fall in earnest. We were excited about being able to play in the snow with Maelyn for the first time -- and it was fantastic!!

What is this white stuff???

Hmmm....looks interesting...

At first, she was irritated with the snow getting on her pretty purple boots....she kept brushing it off...

Making her first snow angel with our neighbour, Lauren...

In the beginning, Maelyn was weary of the snow. She didn't quite know what to make of it all. It didn't take long before she realized just how much fun the snow could be and she jumped right in! She would throw herself backwards in the snow to be able to catch snowflakes on her tongue -- she did this over and over again. She also discovered that snow could be quite tasty -- food was falling from the sky!

Catching snowflakes on her tongue...

Mmmmm.....this is good stuff!!

After a wonderful afternoon playing outside, Maelyn grabbed her teddy bear, a blanket and settled herself in for one of her favourite episodes of the Wiggles.

Apparently we wore our little miss right out -- she fell asleep at the table for the first time!



Wintery fun was had by all -- what a great weekend!

Christmas Joy

The arrival of December 1st meant that Maelyn could open the first door of her advent calendar. Although I have a few interesting ideas for advent calendars as she gets older, this year I kept it simple. I got her a Toy Story chocolate calendar and was excited to introduce another tradition to Maelyn.

Trying to figure out what it is....

Opening up the first door....

 Mmmmmm.....chocolate!!!!

And then she found out that she could only open one door at a time...


.....sweet Christmas memories!! :)

Referral Day Anniversary

One year ago today we saw our first glimpse of our beautiful daughter. I cannot believe that a year has already gone by since that amazing day!

I will never forget how tense it was waiting for our referral, knowing that we would find out if we had a boy or a girl -- someone who would become a part of our family. It is hard to describe the peace we felt when we finally knew that we had a girl and that this little girl was our daughter.

What a difference a year can make -- last year we were getting ready to move, Paul had just had surgery on his leg, we weren't parents yet....

Maelyn at 15 months old...one year ago...

Maelyn, one year later...

We are looking forward to the next year and the adventures we will have as a family of three! :)

The following are links to posts that I made the day we got our referral for Maelyn.....enjoy!

http://janandpaulsexcellentadventures.blogspot.com/2009/12/we-got-call.html

http://janandpaulsexcellentadventures.blogspot.com/2009/12/its-girl.html
 
http://janandpaulsexcellentadventures.blogspot.com/2009/12/introducing.html