Bouncy Ava

When there is a lot of snow and you are housebound, you find things to keep the kids entertained. We decided Ava was now big enough to try her bouncing seat. She absolutely loved it and had a blast jumping up and down. She also loved it because we put her in the doorway that leads from the kitchen to the office so she had a clear view of both rooms and could see Mommy or Daddy at all times. This is what she likes best!

Scenes from Day 2 of Big Snow

The next morning after the snow had stopped falling from the sky and the sun came out - the world outside was impossibly beautiful. I took some pictures to always remember that peaceful white scene.

The Blizzard of 2010

So it turns out the weatherperson was right - we got hit by a storm and hard! We had about 24 inches of snow out there. We loved it. Life moves so fast in this area and we move fast in our family as well - always running and hardly ever stopping. I love inclement weather because it gives us a chance to stay warm and cozy together and just enjoy everything coming to a halt.
Lorne spent a good part of his day trying to shovel out parts of our driveway. The snow was extremely heavy and coming down very hard and fast. It was quite a workout. Preston had fun helping daddy in his own way.Jasmine was excited to go out in the snow and we wanted Ava to have a chance to play in it too. We carefully dressed the girls to keep them warm and it didn't hurt that they looked absolutely cute at the same time.It was funny when Lorne tried throwing Jasmine into the snow. She landed in the snow but didn't go to deep into it - that is how wet and heavy it was. Ava and I joined in the fun but only stayed out about 20 minutes since we were getting cold and wet.It was a totally fun day and of course we could get to the shop to check it out but we knew no one else was going to try and go either so we relaxed and had fun together.

Impending Doom

Weathermen are seldom right. Seldom. But - we listen to them anyway and when our local weatherperson forecast a mighty blizzard coming to our area panic ensued by the community population. Fortunately, have an extra fridge and freezer in the garage, we were prepared but I headed out to the store just in case there was anything we might need that we didn't have. It was a good thing I didn't need milk or eggs.

Corporate Research

So we have been asked by many who live far away if we can ship cupcakes. We would love to do it but it is hard to do and we wondered how other cupcake places do it so we ordered some cupcakes from Saint Cupcake. When the box arrived, we decided to share it with Titi so we invited her over for dinner and after dinner we dove in to check it out.The whole concept of Saint Cupcake is an interactive experience. You get the cupcake deconstructed and it is your job to put it all together - you get to ice the cupcake and cover it in sprinkles and then eat it. Not everyone at the table was keen on the do it yourself thing but it was fine by me.We also tasted all the components individually so we could rate how they tasted. It was pretty unanimous at the table that the cupcakes tasted very chemically and full of preservatives and the icing was not good at all.All in all - we weren't impressed and we don't think we would want to ship our cupcakes this way.

Opening Ava's Presents

Christmas was very hectic and since we left early the next morning for our fabulous vacation, we never had a chance to focus on Ava opening her gifts from the family - she got a chance to open her gifts from Santa but not from everyone else so we took some time and opened them together. It was super fun to watch her open her gifts when she was fully rested. What a sweet baby we have! We even found there were a couple left for Jasmine to open!

Wise Men Day

Coming from a multicultural background, I was raised in an environment where we had some traditions that were different than everyone else I knew. One of these is the observance of Wise Men Day which happens on the 6th of January. This is the day that the Wise Men reach baby Jesus and shower him with the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.
Traditionally in South America, the night before, you put out a shoe for the Wise Men to fill with gifts for you and usually these are way better than what Santa brings on Christmas.My mother and grandmother wanted to do something fun for the grandchildren so we brought over the girls' shoes and ours the night before for the Wise Men to fill.We went to my mom's house the next night (January 6th) to see what the wise men had brought us. It was so fun and Jasmine and Roman were so excited. Everyone dove in and at the end of the evening there were smiles all around. Thank you Wise Men!