Merry Christmas from the Birds!

Deerfield Wives Christmas Gathering

The wives of Deerfield got together for a festive Christmas gathering this week! We ate, drank and opened presents! Lots of Fun! Merry Christmas Girls!

Merry Christmas from Owen!

Crafting Up Christmas!

This past week, we have spent a bunch of time creating Christmas crafts to decorate our tree, and for presents! Owen has really become a little artist. You will often find him at his art table drawing, colouring and crafting. His spot at the table has a permanent box of markers and colouring sheets left beside it, as he is always colouring during dinner times. Griffin has just started to get the drawing bug... this week he has drawn a self portrait and pictures of mommy and daddy and grampie too! Very Cute!


I love the snowman ornaments made from finger prints!

Christmas Carols at The Lorne Brooker Show

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Today, the boys had a taste of what it feels like to be a celebrity!! Well kinda!!
Lorne Brooker our neighbour and friends invited the boys to the station to sing Christmas Carols on his show with Andy Forgie! He even let me bring my friends along!
All of the children had a great time.... for the first 15 minutes. Many of the people calling in were requesting slow songs the kids didn't know, but they sure sang along with the songs they did!
It was really fun! Thanks Lorne!

We then came back to my place for a Reindeer Party... reindeer cupcakes, ornaments and even food to feed the reindeer on Christmas Eve! They children had a great time and it was fun chatting with the moms too!

Build a Bear (Reindeer)

The boys absolutely adore Rudolph and his other reindeer friends, so when we saw Rudolph at Build a Bear, we just had to have them!

We kept it a surprise from the boys until we arrived at the store and the look on their faces was worth the highly overpriced stuffed deer (I believe those were Tbirds words!).

Owen called his Rudy and Griffin called him Comet (of course)!

New bedtime companions for the holiday season :)

All Aboard!!

This weekend we went on the Santa Train! An hour train ride with Santa, musicians playing Christmas songs, hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies! It was a wonderful event with very fond memories made. I am not sure if the boys or myself and Tony enjoyed it more!

It was worth the drive to Orangeville!

Our Holiday to do List

Over the holidays there are a few things I really want to do with the kids....

{Some Family Fun}


First ride the Santa Train, which we are doing this weekend. It is an hour long train ride with Santa with treats and stories and fun! Griffin has been asking to go on a train ride for quite some time, so what better than a train ride with Santa!
Here is the link:
http://www.santatrain.ca/

{Some Build a Bear}



As a special treat after the Santa Train we are going to stop and take the boys to Build a Bear and let them build their own Rudolph. Rudolph is the most popular Christmas character in our home (aside from Comet, whom Griffin just adores). We even have a special tradition on Christmas Eve, where we go and make magical treats for the reindeer, sprinkle them out on our front lawn, and when the reindeer food disappears, the boys know that Rudolph has snuck in and left a special treat for them on their bed!

{Some Crafts}

These look really cute and yummy!



I have the canvas, we just need to make the handprints


{Some Sharing}


Hand out the Snowman treats we made for the boys friends!

{Some Fun}

and lastly, throw a Rudolph Party for their friends...

I've Been Really Good

{my wishlist}

Festival of Trees

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Our monthly girls night turned dressy in November! We decided to dress up and go out to the Festival of Trees Cocktail Party. It was a lot of fun looking pretty and going out! We had a blast!

A Visit With Santa

We took the boys to the Safety Village last weekend to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. This is a great little event where the boys get an opportunity to chat with Santa and ask questions like:
Owen: What would you like for Christmas Santa?
Griffin: Where are the reindeers Santa?

A Shopping We Must Go!

I spent last weekend with Lisa and Tracy on a shopping excursion to Syracuse and Watertown! We shopped, shopped some more, ate my favourite ice cream, shopped some more, spent the night at a wonderful hotel, and then shopped some more!

Thanks ladies for a wonderful weekend

Elliot is Back

Our beloved Elliot the Elf is back!

The boys love this tradition... on December 1st, the boys run downstairs to find where Elliot has landed. We welcome him, and tell him we are glad he is back (especially the parents)!
Every night, Elliot flies back to the North Pole and reports to Santa whether the boys have been naughty or nice. Oh.... the power of this elf!

Of course there are a few rules, we cannot touch Elliot or he loses his magical powers and he must be found in a new spot each day. I believe Tony has already ran downstairs at an early hour remembering to move him quickly, and even once when I was in charge the boys found Elliot laying sideways on the island.... quick explaining was needed on this one!

The magic this little elf brings into our home is a blessing....we love you Elliot!

Cookie Exchange

I love a good Christmas cookie.... and a cookie exchange is a great way to have many different kinds with the simplicity of only baking one kind!

My chosen cookie was a gingerbread cookie topped with icing and coconut! Love gingerbread :)

Here is the recipe from Martha Stewart:

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

4 teaspoons ground ginger

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon finely ground pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 large eggs

1 cup unsulfured molasses

Royal Icing

Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Gingerbread Snowflakes - Martha Stewart Recipes

He Shoots, He Scores

Owen is in his second year of TimBit hockey and he loves it!

Last night Owen's team played at the Bull's game. They were brought out to sing at the National Anthem and then again to play at the second intermission. Owen was pumped! He was really excited to get out there and score a goal on Bullie!

Owen scored two goals against Ringo... and with seconds left he just missed his third shot! It was very exciting to watch as he raised his arm in the air to show his excitement in scoring. Owen is quite humble and tries very hard not to smile as hard as he can we he is proud of something he did, and last night was no exception, but when he got off the ice, he couldn't wait to tell me he had scored twice. He was very proud of himself, and I was too!

Last night Griffin fell in love with Ringo and Bullie! We followed them around and he insisted we develop the pictures on put them on his dresser for him right away.

Happy Birthday Theo

We celebrated Theo's birthday on Friday night! Good Fun!

Dear Santa

Top Three Rules for having your Picture taken with Santa:

1. You must hunch over

2. Smile until it hurts

3. Request Santa keeps his hands to himself!

Do you think it was a requirement to hunch over to take pictures with Santa? Seriously.... even Santa is hunching over!!