Snow much fun

Last weekend we had a couple big storms like the rest of North America and we got a lot of snow.  That made the perfect opportunity to try out Sophie's new toboggan that my mom and dad got for her for Christmas.  Sophie is very tall now and has grown out of the one we have used with Lucas and her for years.

These first two photos are of Sophie on her first little bunny hill on the front lawn of our old house when she was 2 1/2 years old.  She loved it.  Laughing and cooing and smiling from ear to ear.  We went up and down and ran in big circles and had a grand time.

Sophie is an adventurer at heart and loves all the action she can find.  The faster and the higher the better for this little girl.  Now that Sophie is almost 8 nothing has changed.  Lucas is the same and loves all the big roller coasters and so do I!

Sophie's new toboggan is really nice and long and will last her many years.  I can sit in it with her easily and the little sides keep us in quite nicely.

Who is that sweet angel?

Head first!!

Lucas was a great big brother that day and helped pull Sophie up and down the street.

Sophie and I made a few runs down our front lawn into the road and she loved it.  Of course there are no photos because if it isn't me taking them it generally doesn't happen ;)

Lucas made some pretty good runs right to the other side of the street.  There are definitely advantages to living on little side streets!

This photo isn't great but it shows the little polar booties Sophie has on.  I got them here on clearance and they are awesome.  They are very adjustable with the velcro straps and kept her feet nice and warm.  We have been using them all week to go to school (well, the 3 days that we didn't have no school/snow days) and she has kept them on really well.  They didn't even come off once while tobogganing and she often had her foot outside the toboggan dragging alongside!  Finding boots that stay on her feet is an impossibility most of the time and it has been way too cold for the knit ones that her great-grandma made for her that we love and usually use.  There are lots of options at this store as her feet grow as well.  Because Sophie has a hard time regulating her body temperature and gets cold very easily and very quickly it is a relief to find great products that will keep her safe in the cold!

Playing with light and mirrors

Now that Christmas is over, done in what seems like the blink of an eye, we are having fun playing with the new toys that are here.

Sophie received some great new toys, she seemed so hard to buy for this year but between Santa and I she has some new faves. 

This mirror is awesome.  It has a few buttons that when pushed it plays some music and lights up.  The mirror is large and can be placed vertically or horizontally.  Sophie loves it.  It has a really nice large steady base that fits on her tray or anywhere else we need to use it.  She has been having a ball checking herself out!

Another hit is the Dancing Water Speakers.  These speakers have a small amount of water in them that sprays with the beat of the music that is being played, it also has lights that come on and off to the sound of the music.

 

She had a great time watching the light show on the ceiling and listening to her music.  I am hoping to make this switch adapted so that she can turn the music on and off and make the light and water show happen herself. (the photos are horrible because the room was very, very dark except for the light from the speakers)

Merry Christmas!

 

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

 

 

Bubble wrap art

Sophie and I were home this afternoon waiting for the ice storm to arrive while the boys were out swimming.  Sophie has been a bit congested the last day or two so we decided we would lay low so that she can rest up before all the chaos that Christmas will bring. 

She was quite happy and seemed excited when I suggested we make some art so I grabbed some stuff and we went to it.  I have done bubble wrap painting with Sophie a few times and she really seems to like it.  The most exciting part of the prep work is pulling the tape pieces, she just loves that noise and squeals with delight.  So needless to say we pull a lot of tape pieces off the roll.

Once the paper is all taped down on her tray I let her choose the colours, she was quite happy with red and green for Christmas today and she chose to use the red first.  Next I have her help me paint the bubble wrap with her large handled paint brushes and then she does the pressing down on the paper once the bubble wrap is loaded with paint.  We got out the brayer too which she loved.  I try to let her do as much as I can by herself.  Sometimes I need to help her arms up on the tray, sometimes I just need to let her know when it is ready to go.

When we had filled the page and I thought she was worn out I started to put the paints away but Sophie kept banging on the paper.  I asked her if she wanted to do another painting and she was all smiles.  So we used some construction paper and this time added some puffy glitter paint.  I helped her roll the bubble wrap to get the paint onto the paper.  Then we went back and added the puffy paint to the original painting and used the brayer again.  We will definitely use the brayer again because she loved it so much.

We hung her paintings up on the wall to dry and we will get them displayed for Christmas.  She was covered in paint when we were all done and was pretty worn out.  I have a whole bunch of holiday craft ideas to do with the kids so I am excited to only have one more day of work before a week off!
 

The Christmas tree

I am so happy that our tree is all decorated and ready for Christmas morning!  This tree is so tall that Lucas and Jason had a difficult time getting the star placed on top, it actually took about 6 tries!  Our tree is filled with ornaments that we have collected over many years and I think it looks beautiful.

 

Our tradition for as long as I can remember is that Lucas places the star on the top of the tree each year when it is all decorated.  My dad used to be the tree topper-offer when I was young and I love that Lucas is following in his footsteps and loves putting the star on to finish the decoration.

 

 
Sophie is always happy to be part of the festivities and we have been singing a lot of Jingle Bells which seems to be a new favourite of hers.  She has been doing a ton of winter/Christmas crafts with her nurses over the last little while and I have some ideas for the coming weeks as well.

We had a couple feet of snow which put us all in the mood for Christmas but most of it has melted now.  I am sure it will be back in plenty of time for Christmas Eve.

Getting ready for Christmas

Over the past few days I have been getting all of the Christmas decorations out and trying to make the house a little more festive than the usual junk pile look.  We were incredibly blessed to be gifted a new to us Christmas tree, it is spectacular and it goes right up to the ceiling.  I can't wait to get it completely decorated but it is well on its way.

This evening Lucas and Sophie wrote their letters to Santa Claus.  I helped Sophie write hers and she loved watching Lucas write his.  I was asking her what kinds of toys she would like and I am becoming more and more certain that Sophie is answering yes questions with a "ya".  She always does it appropriately and it has become more and more regular over the last year.  I think it is one of those things where you don't want to get your hopes up but even her nurses are noticing it.  She was answering "ya" tonight to questions about Lucas too.  He was putting on a show with his nerf gun and she was loving it.

Sophie's top front tooth is just about ready to fall out and we have been on high alert trying to make sure that it doesn't get swallowed or disappear.  Sophie is a bit of a tooth Houdini and wouldn't you know she did it again.  She has swallowed or spit out at some point three of her teeth over the last two years when getting her adult teeth.  She was having some blood in her mouth the last two days but I couldn't see any on the loose tooth area on the top.  I was really puzzled and checked her mouth and wouldn't you know she was missing a bottom tooth!  I didn't even know it was wiggly.  She has three more wiggly teeth but I think that the front one will be first, the new tooth is even pushing it forward quite a bit but that sucker is holding on just to torture me!  I think she is going to have a toothless grin for Christmas though.  Hopefully the tooth fairy is ready to make some repeat visits.

The start of Advent

Today was fittingly the first day of Advent and it is December 1st so we were able to start the Advent calendar.  Last year I made an altered Advent calendar, December 1st on that calendar is to decorate the Christmas tree.  Well, I got as far as setting up the Christmas tree and some other decorations around the house but we never got to actually decorating the tree.  It was a long busy day so that will have to wait a day or two!

Lucas and Sophie had fun opening the first day of their chocolate calendar today.  Sophie enjoys it because it is something that Lucas is doing with her and Lucas enjoys it because he gets two pieces of chocolate.  I enjoy it because it means the countdown to Christmas is on.

This photo is from December 1st, 2007 when Sophie was about a year and a half old.

These photos are from December 1st, 2008

 Sophie getting the sniff test

 

These photos are from today :)  They have grown so much!

 

 

There are so many Christmas traditions in our house and I have to get in gear if everything will get accomplished before Christmas day is here.

Ready, set, go!