Santa and Princess Navia

This past weekend was a busy one. Saturday started out with our traditional Santa Breakfast at the Community Center. The kids got to eat pancake breakfast, do crafts and then see Santa Clause. As we were standing in the line Navia looked up to me and said that this was her favorite day of the year. Awww!

Then the day got even better for Navia - in the afternoon we had her Princess Birthday Party! The only way that we could keep the Christmas decorations up was by making the house pink - so pink we did . . . Braden and I stayed up late making Martha Stewart pom pom's that we hung all around the house - 13 in total! As a note to future pom-pom makers - this is easier said than done . . . cheap, but it takes a long time to do!

To try and make it a little "pink-er" I made a pennant from scrapbooking paper, hole punch holes and ribbon. Best part about it - I can always take off the "5th" and make it generic for a future birthday - yay!!!

Navia also wanted cupcakes this year instead of a cake (which was soooo much easier for me) and I happened upon amazing princess cupcake picks so that I didn't have to make them myself - yay for me!!!

And the newest flowers . . . marshmallow pops!!! Yep - take a marshmallow, dip it in melted chocolate - I choose pink (from Michaels) and roll in sprinkles, topped with a smartie. Let them set and ta-da . . . and yummy treat!

And for loot bags we combined them with a thank-you note from Navia so that saves us time later on with making thank-you notes to send to each princess.

The girls had a blast all coming in their princess dresses.

They each made their own gingerbread house (I had pre-made them then night before with royal icing so that they would be ready for being attacked by the girls) and there was a lot of candy to choose from. They decided that they weren't going to put doors on them because there was an evil step-mother witch that was trapped inside and they didn't want her to get out - they had wild imaginations, that's for sure!!!

We played princess games like "Hot Slipper" (hot potato), "Princess Says" (simon says), a treasure hunt for Princess Tattoos that they put on their hands/wrists, some balloon games and then they ate their cupcakes and marshmallow pops and opened up presents.

2 hours after all the fun started the parents arrived and picked up all their princesses and left us with a house of quiet and a little girl who was soooo excited to play with her new toys! It was a success!!!

Navia's real birthday was on Wednesday, December 15th and she started the morning out early - wanting to open up all her presents in our room. She received her longed-after Lalaloopsy Doll (that Braden had to drive an hour to find the only 1 that I could find that I had put on hold - yep - they're really hard to find right now!), Barbie furniture from Gramma and Grampa McGifford (she put it all in her bookshelf pretending that it's a barbie house . . . little does she know that will be coming for Christmas!!!) and even a DSi XL from Grampa Bailey (a combination Christmas/birthday gift - just like her older sibling got a couple years ago from Grampa and Gramma).

Daddy took cupcakes to school for all of Navia's class and she had a great day with her name on the announcements and then coming home and playing with her new toys.

Happy 5th Birthday Navia - - - you are loved higher than the sky and deeper than the ocean!!!

December 16th, 2005

December 15th, 2010

a sneak peek...

Yesterday was a busy day in the Bailey household . . . I'll post about it when I catch a few zzzz's, but here's a pic to give you a little hint as to what one of the activities was . . .

Advent Activities and . . . shhhhh

I've posted a couple years ago about our Advent Calendar and the kids still LOVE it. You can see the post here. Well as of December 1 we needed to start opening the pockets and doing whatever they told us to.

Advent Calendar Day 1 - Watch a Christmas Movie

It was too bad that both Daddy and I were working during that time, but the babysitter and the kids were able to watch a Home Alone movie, which they LOVE!!! Grampa and Gramma Bailey gave them the movies when we first were moving out here and they watched them over and over in the van on the way out. They have great memories of them and still giggle and are shocked when they know exactly what's going to happen - so cute!

Advent Calendar Day 2 - Read a Christmas Book

This is a tradition that starts at the beginning of December, but is continued most every day of the month. I've been collecting various Christmas books and try to add new ones each year. When the tree is up we set them under the tree for the kids to read through by themselves and also to choose from when it's family reading time. We always start the books with "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson. Braden and I received this book from Braden's Mom on our first Christmas together as she told us about her memories with reading the book to her family and said that every family needs at least one copy of this book. We remember Mom and our kids love it - Imogene and all!

Advent Calendar Day 3 - Find the Biggest Christmas Tree that's Lit Up

Okay, well, this one was a failure. We thought that Parliament Hill had a big Christmas tree, but, well, oops! They didn't.

The plan was to go to the Hill because the night before we knew they had just lit it up. The kids still had a blast seeing the snowflakes on the buildings, walking around, talking to the RCMP officer and just hanging out.

Emma at the Eternal Flame - you can see the Center Block behind all lit with snowflakes.

While we were at the Flame a RCMP officer drove up to us and started talking with the kids - giving them each something special (pins and flags). He was a VERY friendly guy, we almost weren't able to leave because he just kept on talking - but in the good way! As we were leaving he grabbed a little boy and said "Mom, take a picture of us", but the problem was that wasn't MY boy! We had a good laugh and he came out at took pictures with our kids and then the mom of the "other" boy did the same.

The National Arts Centre has this exhibit of Oscar Peterson at their building so the kids had fun pretending to play the piano and get their pictures taken.

Okay - this really is a picture of all of us, but my arms really aren't that long for fitting us all in - but that's Navia's cheek - hehehe!

Advent Calendar Day 4 - Go on a Wagon Ride

The church that we attend had a Christmas in the Country afternoon. We all went our to a ranch and the kids could look at the animals (buffalo, goats, sheep, horses, pigs, chickens, etc) and then they got to try their hand a lasso-ing, cook marshmallows over the bonfire, go for a wagon ride and just hang out. The kids LOVED it (said it was the second best farm they've been on - Gramma and Grampa McGifford's being the first, of course!) It was the coldest it's been and we weren't all ready for it. So it was really only -9 Celcius with the windchill, but hey, we've been having some great weather and this was cold!

Yep - the wagon ride took us on a highway - - - hmmmmm . . .

We had all brought homemade goodies so afterwards we had hot chocolate and yummy, yummy treats. It was a good afternoon. And to top it off we went to our friends' place in Kanata for dinner after and were able to warm up with amazing chili and fun conversation.

Advent Calendar Day 5 - Decorate your Christmas Tree

After much discussion and convincing that we didn't need to go cut down our own Christmas tree this year (like we do every year - see this post) we went into the basement and pulled out our used only once Christmas tree. The kids decided that it wasn't that bad and we started decorating.

We kinda have a tradition of the parents doing the lights and ribbon garland and then the kids get the ornaments from me and have Daddy help with placement. Yep - I'm kinda controlling about them all ending up in one place and this saves me time because otherwise I WILL redecorate it when they go to bed - I truly will !

See - I'm handing out the ornaments . . .

I don't know if Daddy will be able to do this next year for Emma!

And it's done!!! The first fake tree that the kids remember that took a lot of convincing is now up - yay!!! Let the Christmas season begin!!!

Navia has been asking for a Barbie house for her birthday and Christmas and although there are many to choose from at various stores Brade has opted out of them all. He wants to build her a special Barbie house with drawers at the bottom to store "extras" and when you're finished playing there will be doors to close so that she can continue the next play-time without Mommy asking her to clean it up. Hmmm - Daddy's pretty smart! It will also be the perfect size for her - not too big or too small - Navia size! He just started building it tonight and plans on having cedar shingles and everything . . . I'm glad he's doing it and not me!!! But, I'm thinking that it's going to look pretty terrific when it's all done - Navia's a lucky girl!

Shhh - don't tell Navia because he's building this in the garage and the little girl has no clue!!! Don't ruin the surprise!!!

Good-Bye Movember!!!

It is officially the first day of December, which means the last day of Movember is over and gone - yay!!! Thanks to everyone for donating - it looks like Canada has raised over $19 million & all countries together have raised over $57 million for prostate cancer research and awareness - pretty good considering it's a bunch of guys not shaving - hehehe! Oh, and all the money hasn't come it yet either - so the guys did really well!

So last night it left - slowly but surely. The scary part was when he was only half-way through and contemplating leaving the rest - yikes!!! Check out the pics . . . aren't you glad he finished the job too?!?!

He went to pray with the kids with the last stage and Navia laughed at him, Kaleb said he liked it and Emma . . . well . . . I had a camera to catch her expression.

She banned him from coming to her school until it was all gone! Do you really blame her?

Green in the Colour - Grey Cup 2010!!!

(sing with me...)

"Green is the colour, football is the game

We’re all together, and winning is our aim

So cheer us on through the sun and rain

Saskatchewan Roughriders is our name"

We just wanted to "pop" in and remind everyone to watch the game tonight . . .

Grey Cup 2010

SK Roughriders vs Montreal Alouettes

Our family can't wait to watch and cheer on our favorite team - can you tell who it is by the pics?!?!?!?!!!

GO RIDERS GO!!!

"Let’s show our pride in the Green & White

We will fight, Green & White

Sing loud and clear till the game is won

The best is yet to come!!!"

Movember - Final Stretch!!!

Day 25

Yep - in just 5 days Braden's face will change - again - but this time it will be a quick one - a few swipes of a razor and ta-da . . . his face will be empty of any "stylish" hairs! This has been a great thing for him to do and it's interesting how many other guys you see doing it and wearing "I heart MO" buttons and shirts . . . it looks like the guys around here are embracing this cause like women have been doing for year concerning breast cancer. Navia loves how her teacher has a fuzzy face too - but just under his nose :)

The kids are having a harder and harder time finding places without any "fur" to kiss on Daddy, but love touching the "furry" parts and squealing with "it's itchy!" - so cute to watch!

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far, but there is still time, so if you are wanting to donate before this is all said and done to prostate cancer research and awareness just clickHERE and it will take you to Brade's donation page. So far Canada has raise $14, 927, 666 for this cause and every penny counts! (and just a little interesting fact . . . Canada has raised more than $10,000,000 more than the USA, but only 700,000 more than Australia. Great job Canada!!!)

Mustaches & Musicals . . .

This week Emma had another first . . . her first audition for a musical!!! Yep - her school is putting on "Seussical the Musical" and they had vocal auditions yesterday, which Emma said that she's pretty sure she did a great job!

Auditions were open for Grades 4 - 8 so we talked about how the solos probably would go to the older kids, but she was so honest and said that she thinks being a "who in who-ville" (the choir) would be lots of fun and it was just her first year so she'll have other years to have parts. We listened to her song and she did a great job - yep - we're proud parents!!! We'll let you know what the outcome is when we find out.

And we're half-way through Movember . . . the month that Brade is growing his mustache to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. It's funny watching Navia go to kiss Daddy right now because she has to aim for the "no fur" parts of his face - and sometimes that takes a little concentration! If you are still wanting to donate you can click here to find Brade's "MoSpace" page. Thanks so much for your help in this! Right now there are so many men walking around with "interesting" looks - it's really cool seeing them all join together in the fight against cancer.

pssst - Dad, are you jealous of his "sideburns"? I remember Mom always asking the hairdresser to shorten yours as you were wanting them to grow as they did in the "old days" - hehehe!