A little taste of Christmas 2009

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I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus

Karen
AKA Mommy

An adult evening out...

Last weekend we were lucky to get out and have ourselves an adult only evening. We shared dinner with my cousin Colleen and her hubby Alan and my sister Nancy and Kevin. We had a great evening catching up and just being together. Definitely have to do that more often. As you can see in the picture my sister loves having her picture taken and was trying to be mysterious....LOL

Thank you Colleen for the great cookies...they were quickly eaten and enjoyed.

Love you guys!

Pictures this Christmas Eve

Here are a few shots taken this evening. We had Nancy and her gang over...we played Charades and we had a lot of laughs...Santa is on his way...and you can see some of the letters that were made for Santa..Cookies(peanut butter and chocolate chip) were made tonight...and Milk of course for the big guy.

Pictures from my Christmas Party last weekend

Presley and her wishes for Santa

Sorry that the quality is not better..but I thought she was too cute...I had to share.



It is Christmas Eve....Santa is on his way...kids are asleep....everything that needed to be done is done....a huge sigh of relief...

Hugs,
Karen

Friends in Beijing

I have some friends of mine, Doris and Dan who are in Beijing with their new daughter. They have been together for a week now and things are going great. I thought I would share this great picture.It is just amazing that I get to help wonderful people with their adoption journey's and finally get to see them holding their precious children. Who could ask for anything better in life..they will be making their way home on Christmas day.

This is for James

Who doesn't like to rock n roll all night and party everyday. This is James' most favorite band. I thought it was funny.

Snowball Fight - Too funny

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My 2009 Christmas Party

Well it was a great weekend and already the week is upon us. We were running from one thing to another all weekend but we had a great time. Saturday morning we got up early and had breakfast with Santa. We than headed off to Quinn's Farm as they were having a Christmas Craft Fair and they also have a wonderful bakery on site where they make some amazing stuff. We bought some decorations for our home...some little pictures made out of wax..which I will have to frame sometime...as well Grandma's tortiere. We will be dining on that tonight actually.

James and the boys than went to film their play that they are doing as part of their Christmas show which is coming soon. Once done with that they started to deliver their popcorn that they had sold over a month ago to fundraise for Scouts Canada.

Once that mission was completed..or almost...we had dinner...and than headed out to skate. They had a great time and than proceeded to check out the lights and decorations around our beautiful little town.

Sunday came and it was my annual Christmas party for my families who are or who have adopted from China. We were about 100 people and it was so nice to see all my great friends and of course all the kids. Lunch was served, crafts were flying everywhere and the kids shouted Santa Santa...and the jolly man in red made a guest appearance.
Each kiddie sat on his lap..or tried to...and all received their gift. We played musical chairs and fun was had by all. These parties are so special to me as I get to see all of the children as they grow. Each year we have some families whose children have just come home and that just melts my heart. To see a couple or a family who have waited so long to hold their child in their arms and finally have her or him..it is just precious.

Just recently Hannah, Emily, Milana, Georgia, Taiga and Daphne have joined our big family...and we are so happy to have them home.

Here are a few of their pics..
















Afer the party we headed home where we just vegged out and got ready for the week ahead. Homework was started..at least we tried to..but everyone was still very excited about the party and the fun they had. So much for homework..

This week is my last full week at home alone...as next week the kids start their Christmas vacation and than January 4th I start back to work.












This weekend we head off to LIttle Red Riding Hood.



Hudson Village Theatre presents its 9th annual Christmas Pantomime! Fun for the whole family! Farmer Hood's Chickens are being whittled down by the big bad wolf, Granny Hood needs her cottage decorated, and Red needs a new dress to go to the village dance. Tom the Woodcutter wants to take Red to the dance. All these things collide in the wood, ending with the wolf caught, Granny's cottage done up nice and Red and Tom on their way to the dance.

This will be our 2nd year that we will be attending their Patomime. It was very funny last year and we all enjoyed it. Even poppie is attending(aka My dad)

And than next week is Christmas...can you beleive it.....so many things left to do..

Have a great week,
Karen

Our Motley Crew...

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Madison and the snowman

Run for your life

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Check out what we have been up to..

We have been putting on our dancing shoes or should I say elf boots and having a great time.

Check it out: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/eDsleyfaKO7jovhuFW5M

Hugs
Karen

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer -Too funny

Welcome to our world...the kids are excited for Christmas...they were so funny tonight.
Here is a peak into my night.

Karen

Maria's big house of Hope

This was done in Memory for Steven's daughter who was adopted from China and who passed away a year or so ago. He has done such incredible work to help those children in China who are waiting for a family to call their own.

All I really want for Christmas...

Every child deserves a family of their own......adoption is such a wonderful gift...embrace it!

Karen

The hustle and bustle of Christmas

This weekend we are having Breakfast with Santa at a local church. Presley is just so excited and sometimes cries at night that she misses Santa. She received her personal message from Santa yesterday and she was thrilled to watch it as he spoke to her. She waved to him and wanted him to come and visit NOW! All of our kids received one from Santa including James..who was on Santa's naughty list. Hmmmmm Santa told him he had to be nicer to his wife..LOL

You can check it out at: http://santa.sympatico.ca/watch/03c61487d09dd3fd1844989f34889e60

Sunday will be my yearly Christmas party. There will be about 100 people there. So lots of fun this weekend. I think we will take a drive as well on Saturday night around our neighbourhood. We do this every year checking out all the pretty lights and decorations.

Happy Holidays from our Family to Yours!

Well time to update the site....November was Kennedy's 14th b-day ...can't beleive it. My baby girl is 14 already. God I am getting so old. Kennedy wanted to see New Moon so off we went to drool I mean watch Robert Pattison and Taylor Lautner. These boys are too cute...and of course with every shot of no shirt on in the movie the girls hooted and hollered. Was too funny...

The house is decorated and we are almost ready for Christmas. Outside and inside it is very pretty. The kids are getting excited and I can't beleive that in 18 days The big man in red will be making his appearance once again.

December is filled with parties and get togethers with friends and I do enjoy that part of the holidays and this time very much. My sister Nancy will be holding the 25th dinner celebrations this year. I will be having Christmas Eve at our place.
I think a round of family BINGO will be in order as well as loads of hot chocolate and lots of little goodies.

The new year looks like it will be starting off on the right foot as I have a new job. I will be working for a company called Raymark. The job is something that I have not done before but I really look forward to the new challenge.



The kids went skating this past weekend with Santa and they had a blast. James indicated he was going to try and make this an activity that they do every weekend if we can.

This weekend I host my 5th Christmas Party for the families and kids that I have come to know over the many years. I volunteer my time helping families through their adoption journey and it is something that is near and dear to my heart. This Sunday we will once again come together(about 120 people) to celebrate the holidays. I love to see all the kids..they all hold a special place in my heart. Good times.

My friends Dan and Doris will be heading for China tomorrow to begin their journey to their daughter Daphne who is waiting for them in Jiangxi, China. It does my heart good knowing that they will be holding their little one in their arms when we are having fun at the party this coming Sunday. To them I wish them a wonderful trip and may everything go smoothly.

To our friends and family who follow our blog...we thank you for following along and hope to see you over the holidays.

May this holiday season bring good health, lots of love, laughter and good times.

As 2009 rings out...we hope 2010 will be a spectacular year!!!

Hugs from our family to yours!

Karen & James, Kennedy, Madison, Jagger, Colby, Jaden and Presley, Bailey, Piper, Jynx and Esme.

Jason and Deanna..my little brother & his girl

Hi all,

Many have asked me if I had only a sister and when I said I have a little brother as well they were surprized. I don't have many pictures of my dear brother...so I found this one and thought I would share it with you all. It is a beautiful one from their cruise in 2009.

Deanna and Jason will be getting married on Jan 8, 2011 on a cruise ship...we are so hoping that we will be able to attend.

Here they are....what a nice couple. Congratulations to them both once again!




Hugs,
Karen

Missing Teeth, Park Omega, Madison's 12th Birthday, Jagger's Surgery and Halloween...

Here are a bunch of pictures from October until now...we visited Park Omega which is a wonderful park about an hour from our place. We head down there every year as our family loves to go there...you drive through the park, you can walk on some trails, rent a golf cart and go through the park on designated trails...just a lot of fun.

Madison's 12th b-day also came October 15th and she had a skating party and a sleepover with some of her closest friends and family. We had dinner and a cake and she enjoyed her special day.

And well...Halloween...gotta love it...the kids dressed up..and so did James and I..Presley wanted to be a rock star so Gene Simmons and Kiss became our theme(James favorite band of all time).and we had a wonderful time. Of course Kennedy and Madison don't want to hang out with Mom and Dad and family..so we drop them off to hang out with their friends..so we didn't really see them dressed up..hence no pics of them really. Loads of candy is now everywhere and can you beleive it....Christmas is next...7 weeks to go. Time to get looking at those decorations.

We have had 5 teeth go missing in the last 2 weeks. Jaden has lost 3 and Presley has lost 2. The tooth fairy is tired of coming to our house so often. LOL.

Jagger had surgery this month and came through like a real trooper. He was so brave. He has stitches in 3 spots and you would hardly know he had anything..other than he is walking like he rode a horse for a week. We are so proud of you Jagger...you came through with flying colors. Thank you Dr Jednack and the Children's hospital once again. I think we have a gold pass for that hospital.


Below are some pictures of the great little fort Colby built in our backyard last week..it is still standing and it is pretty neat I must say. He goes to Cubs and he is very excited about camping and building forts. He is so good at doing those types of things. My little engineer in the making.

Some pictures of the week!

You will see below some shots I took of the kids this week. I bought second hand a bunch of dress up clothes for the kids to play with..they are having a good time with them. Even Madison and Kennedy.

















Until we chat again..
Karen