Evidence

God is funny... he has given me this wonderful daughter with many opposite traits to myself... just to test my patience! I was a neat freak as a child and still am!

Found another picture that kinda goes with the theme of this post. This is what happens within seconds of Melissa arriving home from school... she explodes and then disappears upstairs leaving a trail behind her!

Snow-play

So we have been blessed with a decent amount of snow here in the Fraser Valley! Much to Melissa's excitement, yesterday was a snow day from school :) The sun was out and she spent a few hours playing in our yard...

Brody & my view from the safety of the front window...

Splat!

We put out some snacks for the birds. Didn't attract exactly what I had in mind... a huge flock of crows came and devoured the stash :(

A video of Melissa's slide she made...

Christmas Day with the Klassen Family

The Christmas excitement continues with a family gathering at my parents.

Auntie Darcie had a little baby time with Brody... won't be too much longer and there will be another cousin in the family! How perfect for Brody to have one his age :) (March 18th is the due date.)

The cousins checking out all the presents under the tree... locating which ones are for each of them!

Posing for the camera...

Preparing the dinner in Mom & Dad's newly renovated - out of a magazine - kitchen...

Pixel and his cousins...

Papa & the grandchildren reenact the nativity story...

Brody in the middle of much excitement during the present opening!

A Jack-in-the-box from the Brown family :) Surprisingly he didn't startle at all from it. It was like he knew what was coming and just sat there with a smile!

Melissa received a puppet show curtain which crafty Auntie Darcie sewed...

Nani & Brody :)

A Barbie mobile for Melissa!

Pixel and his new winter coat we got him!

Nani & Papa receiving the theme photos of Brody...

All these photos were taken by my BIL Jason Brown as you can probably tell :)

Christmas Morning - T4

Christmas morning the kids woke up to an assortment of presents gathered under the tree!

Opening their stockings...

Melissa got lots of scotch tape... she loves to cover crafts with tape! Now she can do this without me griping about how much she is using ;)

Glittery bobby-pins! Brody is even impressed!

Brody digging in on his stocking...

This was a present from Melissa to me. It is baby Jesus in a manger of hay, made from popsicle sticks, toilet paper, brown paper & a few pieces of tape!

Brody gave his sister her first Ken doll... :) Don't remember the Ken doll being so metro-sexual when I was growing up... pink shirts and washboard abs!

Brody got a Sophie giraffe to chew on... he got right to it!

A Christmas Card / Poem that Melissa wrote for Brody...

If you can't hear her words clearly here is what she says:

"To Brody love Melissa

My Santa Hat it has zero corners
Zero corners has my Santa Hat
But if it has zero corners
it would not be my Santa Hat

Love Melissa
6 years old"

Christmas Eve with Nana & Pop Thomas

This year we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with Nana & Pop Thomas. Before we left, we let Melissa open one present from us. This year, all she said she wanted was high-heeled shoes, scotch tape & cardboard boxes! Well... turns out she got much more, but the first present we let her open to go with her Christmas dress was a pair of high-heeled shoes. She was very pleased as she click-clacked around in them like a little lady :)

A picture of our little man in his sweater vest!

Gift opening under way... a lucky year for Melissa as she got to open her presents as well as Brody's (this too for the advent calendars!). I'm thinking next year Brody may want a piece of the action himself!

Melissa giving a special present to Nana, a Christmas ornament she painted all by herself.

Finally... the last and largest present (and the first one Melissa had spotted when we got there)...

A very happy girl with her new Barbie house!

Brody & I taking a break after all the gift opening!

Mini Christmas Tree 2011

In keeping with tradition, Melissa was sure not to let me forget to take her picture (with Brody) by our mini Christmas Tree as we have done every year in the past.

2011 - Melissa 6.5 years / Brody 5 months




Here is a flashback to the past:

2010 - 5.5 years


2009 - 4.5 years


2008 - 3.5 years


2007 - 2.5 years


2006 - 1.5 years

Christmas Photos

This year instead of a family Christmas picture card, I inserted photos of the kids into cards. This is Melissa's school photo and Brody had a photo session with the Canadian Baby Photographers who did all the cute (cheesy) staged photos below :)

Let me know which is your favorite of Brody!

Christmas Cookies

Melissa's Christmas School Performances

Boogie Woogie Choo Choo Train

Waddly Atcha... a song I remember from my childhood!

The Gingerbread Man Rap

Jolly Jumper

So this video is from 2 weeks ago (Brody is 17 weeks). It is one of the first times he was in his Jolly Jumper. Nothing too exciting, but I imagine in a month or two the progress of his jumping skills will be substantial!

I have been meaning to blog more, but somehow it is one of the last things on my list... have to pick my priorities :P I'm sure in a few weeks we will have some cute Christmas pictures to share!

Found another video I uploaded a few weeks back when Brody was 16 weeks. This is him smiling and cooing. He has recently taken his cooing to a whole new level, we compare the sound to cats yelling (like when they are in a fight!). I'll have to get it on video too!