Thomas Three Christmas

We celebrated Christmas morning, just the three of us. We all slept in (quite likely the last year we will get away with this!) and after breakfast I called Melissa over to the living room where the Christmas tree was loaded with the long awaited presents. (I think she truly thought we were just using "you have to wait until Christmas to open your presents" as another ploy to put off giving her the toys she wanted.)

Melissa's reaction to the presents which appeared under the tree on Christmas morning...

Melissa & I, the Christmas tree and presents to be opened! 

(we should have used the timer on the camera so Ken could be in the picture). 

The LONG awaited new Dora game! Ever since we bought this game with her, Melissa would try everything she could think of to talk us into letting her play it before Christmas! I must say she was very creative!

A special present from her friend Kiera. I think Kiera received the same game so maybe one day they can both play it together (we'll have to start practicing!)

A beading set... which has already provided hours of entertainment. She is very into making necklaces & bracelets which she wears with great pride!

A joyous moment, as you can see, was when she opened another Dora / Diego Megablocks set...

We didn't wait very long to start building with it...

All I can say is they didn't make lego sets like this when I was a kid! 

Christmas at the Thomas'

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve with Nana & Pop Thomas. This was an exciting evening as it was the first (mass) gift opening for Melissa this season. It was great fun to share in her joy!

Opening a gift with Pop

Playing with her new Dora Megablocks set. Kelly, (the cocker spaniel) as always, has to be right in the middle of the action! At times he can get jealous of Melissa being the center of attention as he is used to being Nana & Pop's 'only child'.

Pop joins in on the Dora fun.

Nana's specialty... peanut-butter-balls, a Christmas tradition. This is Melissa's first one, and I'm pretty sure she liked it!

Story-time with Nana reading "Christmas Mice".

Merry Christmas from Missy

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours... 

       we wish you a very merry Christmas!

Mini Bowlers

This past Friday we went on a bowling playdate. At 10 in the morning it was a surprisingly quiet time to be at the bowling alley - we were nearly the only ones. The girls rolled a few balls, but seemed more interested in playing together and eating snacks!

Me and the two cute little bowlers! 

Milan lining up to knock some pins down...

And the release...

Melissa with what looks more like a chuck!

(At some points there became quite the collection of stalled balls on the lane!)

The little bowlers seemed to have worked up quite a snacking appetite for little fish & duck crackers!

Nothing like a picnic at the bowling alley!

Christmas Light Show

Thursday night we took the girls to The Enchanted Garden, drive through Christmas light show at Brian Minter's Country Garden in Chilliwack. 

Kiera & Melissa shared a bag of popcorn as we waited to board the train.

Santa stopped by for a visit with the girls. They both were quite hesitant of the man in red, but they weren't too scared to pass up a candy cane! Kiera even offered him some popcorn.

The train was a single file bench pulled along a train track (certainly caught us by surprise!) Here is the gang... Farha looking well rested with their 3-week old baby Riley nestled in a cozy sling. 

The front view from my seat as we round the first corner.

I took many pictures of all the lights, but they honestly don't do it justice at all. It certainly would cost a lot to power all of them!

Back inside we found Mrs. Claus...

who read the children as many stories at their attention spans could handle!

"Somewhere over the rainbow"

Melissa's favorite song at the moment is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". She sings it to herself (and us) quite regularly.

She puts a lot of effort into enunciating each word.... hopefully she isn't copying how I look when I sing!

You may notice that she had the hick-ups while she was singing this :)

Waiting for Christmas

I think Melissa is almost as excited as Nana is for Christmas to come! Last week we went on our annual Christmas shopping trip with Nana. When Nana came over she came bearing Christmas outfits for Melissa. Melissa was excited to get dressed up in them and pose for the camera :)

Baby Riley

12 days ago we had the pleasure of visiting Kiera's brand new baby brother Riley (who arrived on Nov. 29th). Melissa and Kiera were more interested in playing together than ogling over the baby :)

The girls playing Kiera's new Hungry Hippos game which Riley brought for her! Nothing like a quiet game ;) I have feeling Riley will have to be good at sleeping through these things!

Me holding baby Riley (mamma don't go getting all emotional now!)

I even got a fair bit of eye time in... not too bad for a sleepy 4 day old baby.

Melissa & her best buddy... they just can't get enough of each other!

Santa Parade

This weekend we went to the Santa Parade in Mission. Even though it was very cold, Melissa enjoyed the 65 festive floats!

First we went out for dinner with the McMillan family... Kiera & Melissa sparred with their knives (briefly) while we waited for dinner to arrive.

We arrived at the parade just as it was starting, and happened to notice that Pop (manager of the Mission Chamber) was on the judging stage.

This was lucky for us, as we had almost the best seats in the house as we perched off the front of the trailer deck.

Floats would stop right in front of the judging panel to show their float off... do a little dance, or whatever to impress the judges!

Melissa had a great time, waving at all the floats, saying "Mawy Cwismas"!

Family Photos

Early fall we had our annual family portraits taken at Mill Lake. Here are just a few of the favourites.