Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I remember when New Year's Eve meant getting dressed up, going out for a nice dinner, enjoying some wine with friends. And tonight I am updating the blog at 10:30 p.m....However, we did enjoy a nice dinner with our friends the Thornton's earlier this evening, which was a lot of fun. Gone was the dressing up and wine (at least for Steph and I) but at least the friend part hasn't changed!!! Really blogging now is the only way I could guarantee that I would be up at midnight to at least give Scott a Happy New Year kiss!

Ethan and Christine are enjoying playing together these days, which is great to see. Ethan, Christine and Olivia also had a lot of fun playing with the cushions of the couch while Dash and Troy looked on. Olivia was getting tired near the end but we missed the "window" and she is now wide awake playing with Scott downstairs.

Ethan is now dressing himself these days...this is the outfit he picked for this afternoon - although the pants didn't last long, as most of you who have visited know, Ethan prefers to be in his underwear, no matter who is over...I am not sure what this means for the future....

He also received a Fisher Price camera for Christmas. He is enjoying getting people to pose for pictures. He took a number of me this morning. I thought that camera just made it look like he was really taking pictures, so I wasn't really concerned about appearance, that was until Scott downloaded the pictures...Either Ethan is a horrible picture taker or I need to go on a serious diet...unfortunately I don't think Ethan's picture taking is the problem...

My neat (not eater)!!!

On the 23rd and the 25th we headed down to St. Catharines for some Christmas dinners, the first at my brothers and the second at my moms. It was good fun and the kids were spoiled with lots of presents. Here are some pictures from Christmas Day at my mom's. Scott and I also must have been good this year because we were also spoiled by all - including our BC family members!

Christmas this year with Ethan was lots of fun. This year was filled with much more anticipation. We left Santa a nice note and some snacks and Ethan went to bed easily so that Santa could come. He woke up once around 2:15 a.m. to check and see if it was morning but luckily went right back to bed when Scott told him that it wasn't time yet. The next time was around 8:00 a.m. - which was much better!

Here is Ethan and Olivia playing with some of Olivia's new blocks. Ethan is at a stage where he really doesn't like Olivia much - never wants her to come with us, never wants to share anything with her etc... This is likely normal big brother behaviour but hopefully they will start to be able to play nicely together soon. Santa wrote Ethan a letter back saying that he needed to be nice to his sister but the Santa effect isn't what it was a couple of days ago!

He has such a beautiful smile....my little sweetie!!

Ethan with his moon sand...it is a fun toy but not as "neat" as they claim....he still manages to get sand all over the floor...

Here is Olivia walking around with her shopping cart from Santa.

Here is a really bad picture of Ethan opening some presents...

Olivia is giving her little brother a kiss with likely a bit of slobber!!

We go for Troy's three month check up on Friday. He is continuing to grow at a fast pace. He is almost in 12-18 month clothing. He has outgrow most of his 6-12 months stuff and don't even try to put on any size pants - his stomach is too big, only one pieces outfits for now. I have so many outfits he never had a chance to wear....A turtleneck that fit Ethan at 9 months almost fits Troy now (and Ethan was not a small baby)!

Happy New Year everyone!!! 2007 had its highs (especially the birth of Troy) and lows - we are hoping that 2008 will be filled with many more highs (and very few lows)! The next blog will likely be after Scott, Troy and I get back from a mini-vacation on the 13th..I can't wait!!