Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas morning at our house this year, I think we've only ever done this once before. We had such a great time opening presents together and watching our kids glow with excitement. So fun.

Nathan had the best expressions by far this year, each present was so exciting. I loved watching his face.

Opening an exciting gift from G&G King, that we can't wait to set up in the spring!

In the afternoon we headed down to Vernon for dinner, more presents and partying with my family. Turkey dinner and a great game of killer bunnies was enjoyed by all. We also are proud to say that thanks to my mom and dad, we now have a new addition to our family, a new shiny Wii!! We are so excited and have been playing all morning. Yay for Christmas! So fun to be together.

A Visit from Santa on Christmas Eve....

and new Christmas jammies!

On Christmas Eve, as tradition in our family dictates, our kids put on a Christmas pageant along with their uncles and aunt who were great sports. It truly was a pageant unlike any other. I've never seen a nativity where Mary (Lucy) and Joseph (Nate) fight over who to put in the manger, a baby or a stuffed sheep. Only to have Mary, in a fit of rage throw down the baby and climb into the manger herself. Or a nativity where Joseph finally throws off his head peice and refuses the gifts from the three wise men. Oh it was so great. The highlight of the pageant was definitely the angel of the Lord played by Jordan, who had the only speaking part of the night (aside from the narrator), which she made up on the spot and did so perfectly.

Mary was so done.

We were so happy to host Christmas Eve this year, our first year ever, to have Christmas year at our house. We had Grandma and Grandpa Lee, Great-Grandma Lee, Jared, Britt and Zach all come over for appies, treats, performances, carols and games.

With Zach on piano, we had a great time singing carols and Christmas hymns together. I love singing with my family because we have all four parts and several pianists, so fun. The kids also sang Christmas songs they had learned in primary. They have such beautiful voices, but I may be a bit biased.

Santa's Workshop

We were so happy to have Grandma and Grandpa King come and visit the week before Christmas. We had so much fun playing games, going to movies, visiting Santa and learning how to make Bernice's delicious almond roca while they were here. I'm not sure how, but somehow Jordan and Jared managed to squeeze work and school into the busy and fun week. Jordan also had her Christmas piano recital while they were here. Jordan once again, totally rose to the occasion and completely rocked (in a piano-recital sort of way) her rendition of "Good King Wensenslas" and "Sleep baby, sleep." One of the highlights of the week was visiting Santa and his workshop which is located right here in Salmon Arm. I know, crazy!

Nathan in particular was mesmerized by the toys displayed in the workshop, which really was quite impressive.

Jordan and Nathan with the jolly old man himself. We were the only ones there so Jordan got to have some good conversation with Santa and had the opportunity to ask some insightful questions about how he comes down chimneys and why he didn't eat all the cookies we left him last year. Although she definitely had him on his toes, Santa definitely held his own and left Jordan quite satisfied with his responses. Hopefully we're not doing irreparable damage to her by letting her believe in Santa (I never did, but wished that I had.)

Lucy, understandably, completely freaked out by the old man in red. Poor thing, but the picture is so great.

A glimpse of our November

So this morning Lucy needed a bath

because.....

...... she got into my makeup and destroyed my nice lipstick. That's right, I had nice lipstick. Actually it was some lipstick that mom didn't wear anymore so she gave it to me, but still, I loved it! She was so very proud of herself. When I put her in the bath, it was amazing to see all the places that she had managed to smear lipstick. Lucy gets into stuff, everything in fact. A couple of days ago, i found pink toothpaste smeared all over our bedroom wall. She came in as i was cleaning it off and pointed and giggled hysterically, thrilled that I had found her masterpiece. I explained in my best stern mother voice "no, we don't do that," only to have her come in two minutes later with the same toothpaste ready to paint again in the same spot. I think I really got through to her. We love our little lulubelle.

The first part of November is seriously a blur because we were all sick. I honestly don't remember much at all except for constantly giving the kids motrin, cleaning up Lucy's vomit and sleeping and when I wasn't sleeping, I was thinking about sleeping. I'm pretty sure that we had the H1N1. And we survived, who knew. On remembrance day, we were all feeling better so we attempted to have a normal day and took the kids out to Margaret Falls. It's a gorgeous little 1 km hike to a very pretty waterfall. It actually reminded me of being on Vancouver Island. It felt so nice to get out with the kids and enjoy some fresh air after being couped up in the house for so long.

The other night we had a French Bingo night at the school where Jared was the Bingo caller. As I'm sure you can all imagine, he did a fantastic job. However it was quite the night for me. Imagine me at a table playing three cards at one time (well, two I guess, but helping Jordan with hers as well) and trying to keep track of our active little Lucy. Nathan finally went to the front to help jared call numbers and I took Lucy out to the hall. I left jordan with some friends. Well, one of the friends ended up winning and was so nice to our little kids, she gave Jordan an eraser from her gift basket and came out to the hall and game me two erasers, one for Lucy and one for Nathan. Well, at the end of the night, nate was pretty disappointed that he didn't win the monster trucks and didn't want to leave. I told him when we got to the car he could have his eraser that Makenna had given him. To my surprise he perked right up and practically ran to the car. When I gave him his little green happy face eraser, he just stared at it and said "This can't go anywhere, it's not fast, it doesn't have wheels." Oh no! "Oh Nate, sorry bud, this is an eraser, not a racer!" Needless to say, we had one grumpy boy on the way home. It must be tough being a three year old.

This is the kids after their primary presentation at church back in October. The great thing about having a small primary (group of young kids) is that all the kids have huge parts during the presentation. Even Nathan, our three year old sunbeam had three speaking parts! How awesome is that! Jordan and Nathan both said their parts really well, but what I was most impressed with was how well they knew all the songs and they just sang their little hearts out.

Last month Jordan had her first piano recital at St. Andrews church. She played Jack be Nimble and played all two lines like a total pro. I have to admit, my heart was beating so fast as we entered the church from feeling a little anxiety for Jordan but mostly from remembering past recitals of my own. She had her second recital on Friday and played Good King Wenseslas. Mom, dad and Britt were gracious enough to come from Vernon to see our little rockstar. So we have definitely entered a new era in our lives.

We were so happy to have Grandma Lee Audrey with us.

We were so proud of our beautiful Jorji!

P.S. We were going to take family pictures tonight for our Christmas card, but last night Jordan and nathan were wresting on the bed and Nathan fell off and hit his eye on the CD player and now has a little black eye. Also Jordan woke up this morning with an orange/red swollen face from an allergic reaction she had to some product used at a birthday party yesterday (from a facial). Now that I think of it, maybe we should have taken them anyway, they would have been hilarious.

Happy Halloween!

We are the odd couple. Andi is just a country girl trying to make it big in the big city. One day she met a guy she thought she would never fall for. But something happened. Something magical.

We were so happy to have Jared's sister Jess come visit us this weekend. We knew it would be a perfect weekend for her to come because she loves Halloween as much as we do! We had such a jam-packed weekend. Friday was Jordan' s first piano recital followed by a halloween party in Vernon. Jared dressed up for school of Friday so yes that means that he went to Jordan's recital in costume. It was fun introducing him to Jordan's teacher. It was even funner having him walk into my grandma's retirement home to escort her out to our car. We started our halloween festivities at at about 2:30 on Saturday and didn't stop till late. Jess took the kids to the mall earlier in the day and had their face painted. That's how Nathan became a vampire grass hopper. We had so much visiting with Jess and having her with us for all the festivities.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, TO ALL AND TO ALL A FREAKY NIGHT!!

Notice the movie playing on the garage door. We set up a projector behind the door and showed Monster, Inc. for the trick or treaters. We even set up some chairs for those who needed to take a break.

Andi thought I looked so hot in my punk outfit. Was it the skinny jeans, the tattooed arms and neck, the floral collar, the eye liner and blue lipstick or erect hair. Take your pick.

We all love dressing up for Halloween!