Bryson Family Christmas 2011

On Tuesday we went to the Bryson Family Christmas at Uncle Craig and Auntie Winnie's house.  It was a lot of fun and has been a LONG time since I've seen so many of my family - the Bryson family is my mom's side of the family.  It also was pretty cool because we were all there - all 4 of the kids and their spouses were there, all their 15 of their children and all 15 of the great-grandchildren - as well as Grampa and Gramma Margaret.  It was a pretty busy day, but overall a good one.

 Jack (Gloria's son) with his Grampa - You gotta love his little smile!  He actually started the day with a fall and had to be rushed to emergency in the city.  He's doing fine, but he did end up losing his 4 bottom teeth.  

The dinner table went from one side of the house to the other, but there were still not enough spaces for everyone!

 Little Eldon (Charlene's son) didn't want to let go of poor Rosie's foot - uh oh.

One side-effect  of only come home every once in a while is that your nieces and nephews don't always know you - and it can take a long while for them to warm up to you.  Although, by the end of the night Avery was calling me "Mom" and her own mom "Auntie Carrie" - hehehe!

And of course we had family pictures - they're all here except the Burgess family as they had theirs done earlier in the day.

 The Bryson Family

The Hargreaves family (missing Julie)

The McGifford Family - yep - that's ours!!! 

Grampa Bryson and Gramma Margaret with the Hargreaves boys and Nicole

Brock and Grampa playing some music together

Jeff and Jennifer 'playing' with Austin (Denise's son)

Then we played 'Minute to Win It' - it was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves!

 Aaliyah (Coralie's daughter) trying to get the cookie from her forehead to her mouth without touching it.

Julianne (Denise's daughter) trying to do the same, but thought that maybe her tongue could catch it - smart girl! 

Then it was onto the next game - move 3 Christmas balls from one string to another with only your lips . . . 

 Braden and Kaleb giving it a try - started out pretty good, but then . . . 

well . . . ewwwww . . . there was slobber all over and they didn't even get 1 ball on!!!

Then it was Shawn and Austin's turn (Denise's husband and son) - well - they tried a different way about it and . . . 

They were successful!!!  They got 1 ball to the other string, hanging successfully and boy was there a lot of laughter and screaming when that happened!!!

Next it was onto trying to make a little red pompom stick to your nose that was covered with Vaseline . . . but not using any body part to touch the string hanging around their neck . . . now that was a hard one!!!

 Jenn and Jeff trying their best to make it happen

And then it was onto Christmas in the Balance - balancing a yardstick on a paper towel tube and hanging 10 ornaments on it without it falling over.

 Gramma McGifford and Emma tried their best . . . 

 and Uncle Craig and Ryan (Denise's son) tried hard too . . .

 but the winner was . . . Uncle Craig and Ryan!!!

Then the Extreme Nutcracker, where you need to stack 8 nuts using only a candy cane.

Auntie Olive and Launa were giving it a try, but Launa was the clear winner! 

The Christmas Story was read by Uncle Craig and then it was off to singing carols as a huge family with myself on the piano.  Navia even got to play her Christmas Recital songs - O Christmas Tree and Jingle Bells - which she loved doing!!!

 

The Hubert kids were given a Kinect for Christmas so our Kaleb had a lot of fun playing it with them.

Denise and I

The best part of the entire day probably was just reconnecting with family that I haven't seen in years . . . it's amazing how after graduation we all moved away - spanning from BC to Ontario and all the way down to Florida!!!  It was a great day being all together.

Busy Weekend - Piano, Piercings & Gingerbread

Navia turned 6 on Thursday and she's been wanting her ears pierced for a very long time so we promised her that this weekend we would finally do it . . . and she was a trooper!!!  She was very excited and although it hurt a lot, she braved it with tears welling up in her eyes . . . but she LOVES them!  She's been telling everyone we meet that she has pierced ears - even the strangers at the store counters!!!  (Although you can't see the video with the emails you can watch the video of her getting them done on there original website.)

Emma also had her Christmas Piano Recital with her new teacher Hillary.  "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" has been playing A LOT around this house!!!  She did really really well and can't wait to play it for everyone this Christmas (or maybe it's ME not being able to wait until wait!!!)

Then it was time for the annual gingerbread house making!  This year instead of making one altogether, we found a package of 5 mini village houses - which was perfect for our family!!!  The kids have decided that from now on they each need their own house!

Navia had to get in on this picture - hehehe!

Oh, and Emma also got her first 'real' haircut - she's been wanting the front of her hair to be side-swept over her forehead and so that's what we did - she is LOVING it!!!

MYC Recital Videos - posted a bit late

Well I posted about the kids' piano recital a little while ago and you can read about it here, but oops - I guess I kinda forgot to post the videos of the kids playing, so here they are:

Emma playing 'Barkey's Boogie', from the Conservatory Canada Grade 1 repertoire.  This is her 4th year playing:

Kaleb playing 'On Top of Spaghetti', from the Sunbeams 3 MYC repertoire.  This is his 3rd year playing:

Navia playing 'Measles' from the the Sunshine 1 MYC repertoire.  This is her first year playing:

Enjoy!

ps - if you're getting this on an email feed you'll have to actually come to my site to view the videos - www.baileymoments.blogspot.com. 

Piano Perseverance

As a Music for Young Children teacher it's just a given that all our children will be taking piano lessons . . . no questions, that's just how it will be.  Braden and I truly value music and everything that it teaches and although there are some tough times when children take lessons we believe that we work through those times and keep on persevering and we pray that our kids will understand why we are doing this - maybe not now, but hopefully later on in life.  I've heard soooo many parents say that they wish their parents would have put them in piano lessons or would have made them stick it out through piano lessons, but in all my years I have never heard a parent wish that their parent hadn't put them in lessons! (and I'm one of those kids who wanted to quit, had to keep going and am so thankful that I wasn't able to quit because I wouldn't be doing what I am if my parents let me just give up - Thanks Mom and Dad!)

Since January piano practice hasn't been a fun thing in our house.  There have been tears, temper-tantrums, arguments and voices that haven't always been as they should.  It has been the opposite of fun - for both the kids and us parents.  It would be so much easier to just let the kids have their way and not practice and just pull them out of lessons.  Sooooo much easier!!!

Then yesterday morning happened . . . 

I was upstairs getting ready and I could hear the kids talking and Kaleb practicing the piano.  The conversation started to interest me so I kinda snuck to the corner to listen to what was going on.  Just to give a little history, Kaleb and Emma have both been working on very hard songs (they are both learning new techniques, with Kaleb having to play a straight rhythm in his left hand with a mix of straight and syncopated rhythm in his right & Emma is learning a song that continues to go hand over hand, having to find the notes really fast, etc).  Anyways, they've been practicing a lot and these songs aren't sounding nearly as hard as they originally thought they were.  So, back to the morning - I heard Kaleb call Emma and Navia to the piano and ask if they wanted to hear him play his favorite song, "The Water Snake".  The girls stood there and listened as Kaleb totally rocked the song (which he couldn't even play hands separately last week).  They clapped for him and told him how good he did and how much they loved the song -  which was sooooo cool to listen to.  

Then I heard Emma ask Kaleb and Navia if they wanted to hear her favorite song.  Kaleb got off the bench and Emma got her music ready and started playing "Drifting Clouds".  She did an amazing job!  As soon as she was done the kids clapped for her and started telling her their favorite part of the song.  Emma was just beaming!

Navia couldn't just sit there anymore - she ran and grabbed her books and said that she wanted to play a song too.  So she opened her book up, found a page and started playing while singing her "hops" and "busy beavers" an octave higher than what she was playing.  She did a great job too and was so proud of herself and her older brother and sister let her know how she played really, really well!

They came upstairs and asked if I had heard them, which I told them that I did and was soooo proud of how well they each played their songs and then I heard a bunch of "it was sooo easy", "I could play it with my eyes closed", "wanna hear it again?" . . . 

So what did this do to the inside of me?  My heart was smiling and I was so wishing that Braden could have been there to sneak with me (he's in Paris for a couple days for work).   I know that it's all worth it - the tears and frustration.  There will always be hard times when it comes to learning anything, but it's worth working through those times to get to the good times and have fun with the new skill.  Hey, the kids have been on count-down to their lessons so that they could show their classmates how well they can play . . . what's with that!!!  So cool!!!

So there's my little story - about my 3 amazing children who cheer each other on, praise each other when they do something well & although they have hard times they are sticking with learning an amazing skill and doing incredibly well!!!   You should come over and hear them sometime!!!

Thanksgiving Visit from Gramma & Grampa McGifford

Gramma and Grampa McGifford came to Ottawa for a week and it was pretty non-stop activity for the kids . . . which we're now paying for - hehehe! Oh - and so are you because this post is kinda picture heavy - but hey - we have to take lots of pictures when you only see them once or twice a year!

They flew in on Thursday night and that's when the showing off started.

Kaleb wanted to show off how strong he was using Navia as his weights.

Then it was off to piano lessons and Kaleb choose to have Grampa as his helper. Grampa did a great job helping him!

Friday morning came bright and early (especially because Gramma and Grampa were still on Saskatchewan time!!!) and we had to divide up to get everything done. Grampa was on dentist duty with Kaleb. Because we only have 2 vehicles he was the lucky one to bike - so Kaleb and Grampa biked to the dentist and then they biked Kaleb to school. Unfortunately they kinda forgot his backpack - so Kaleb went off to class while Grampa biked home to find it, and when it wasn't at home he had to bike back to the dentist's - found it, and biked back to the school. Kaleb came to pick it up and Grampa said good-bye, walked outside and then found Kaleb's waterbottle. Yep - another trip back into the school but this time Grampa got to go all the way up to his classroom to deliver it. So a little trip to the dentist ended up giving Grampa a whole lot of exercise and no nap time!

While Grampa was keeping busy, Navia was on a field trip with her class to Valleyview Little Animal Farm she felt pretty lucky because Gramma and Mom were able to come along with her!

It was so funny watching Navia and her friend on the see saw - the boys on the other side were a lot heavier so that each time the boys hit the ground the girls flew up in the air and just screamed and laughed like crazy! There was no way that you could watch without joining their laughter.

It took Navia a little while, but she found the perfect pumpkin to bring home and show Grampa and Daddy.

We got home in the afternoon we had lunch and then Navia and I took Grampa and Gramma to Watson's Mill in Manotick - just 10 minutes away from us. The Mill is gorgeous with the stonework and being right beside the river, etc - it's a nice place to just hang out.

Grampa bought Navia some duck food from the Mill and they had fun feeding the ducks. When she moved from the rock they followed her to the grass and one even started eating from her hand - which she said "feeled ticklish".

The miller saw that dad was interested in how everything worked so he turned on one of the water turbines so that we could see it all moving. It was really neat. The miller told us to come back on Sunday and he'd be grinding flour - which seemed like a pretty cool idea.

If you know my mom you know that she couldn't have a grandchild here without taking pictures of them - and this is a pretty good one of our not-so-little girl!

When we got back Navia and I started on dinner - she's a big help in the kitchen you know . . .

. . . while Grampa and Gramma went to the school to pick up the kids and walk them home - which of course meant a stop at the school playground.

Whenever there was spare time you'd hear "who wants to go on the trampoline" and well . . . Grampa would usually head out there and they even got Gramma to go on too!!!

On Saturday we decided to go out pumpkin picking - not just to a farm that had them already picked, but to an actual pumpkin patch. This was a first for Grampa and it was a lot of fun for all of us.

We took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and then the hard task of choosing just the right pumpkin began.

Navia found her "perfect" pumpkin pretty fast.

Kaleb thought this was the perfect one - but then found another one which was the perfect one - and then another one, and another one and well . . . finally he decided on one with Daddy's help.

He kinda liked that there was a worm stuck to this one . . . boys!?!?!?!

Emma had a lot of fun finding hers - which again took a while.

When we got back from the farm we started on making our Thanksgiving desserts - well - the kids did! Emma and Gramma made a couple of great pie crusts for the pumpkin pie and the deep apple pie, while Navia and Daddy made the pumpkin pie filling and I worked on the Chocolate Cheesecake (yep - that's what Daddy ordered for Thanksgiving dessert - weird, but yummy!!!)

On Sunday we went to our church in Stittsville and then to a restaurant for lunch. I love it when someone else cooks!!! On the way back home we stopped at Watson's Mill to see the working mill - which makes the entire place shake.

Emma took a turn as making flour the manual way.

When Gramma is around it's the only real time that we can have a family picture . . . Thanks Mom!

Emma took a turn behind the camera too - taking Gramma and Grampa's picture. I'm thinking she takes after Gramma!!!

On Thanksgiving Monday Daddy and Grampa took the kids out fishing while Gramma and I started on the meal prep. By the time that we got out there they were on their second fishing spot.

This one had some great leaves to play in, which was an added bonus!!! If you don't like destroying leaves and all out leaf war, then I'd suggest you quickly pass the next pictures because there was a lot of that going on!

The kids had fun showing off their airplane flying skills to Grampa and Gramma so that they could see how high they can fly in the house.

After our Thanksgiving dinner we were pretty stuffed and decided to go for a walk before we started into our desserts (yep - it is plural!!!)

We went to Hog's Back Falls and had fun just hanging out there.

We were trying to stretch Navia so that her tummy could eat more dessert - and by the amount that she ate, I think it worked!!!

On Tuesday it was back to school and work. Gramma and Grampa went to meet Mom's aunts for breakfast while I worked on my lesson plans and the kids were all at school.

Grampa has discovered how much nicer our internet speed than theirs. I'm actually thinking that they should NEVER get high-speed because Grampa would just turn into an older version of Kaleb - hehehe!

When Grampa and Gramma come over the games come out. I was able to catch just a couple pics of what this looks like - they are competitive, but also the older ones are really good with letting Navia have a chance.

Gramma and Grampa also did some gardening around the place (okay - Grampa did the lawn and Gramma more of the gardening) and Navia had fun helping out.

On Tuesday nights Kaleb and Emma play basketball while I'm teaching. This time they had family there to cheer them on.

They had to leave early Wednesday morning (7am - yikes) and when the kids woke up the first thing they talked about was wishing that a week was longer than seven days because they had so much fun with their grandparents . . . and well, I kinda agreed. It is so nice to have family around and watch the kids just love them and have fun with them. The hardest part is definitely saying goodbye.

So . . . remember that if you come out here we will have a hard time letting go of you . . . we miss our family a ton and love them even more!!!