Christmas Day

Christmas Day....we started at our house, had a quick cinnamon bun breakfast, opened presents (Cooper claimed the big one and then hid in the tree when he learned it wasn't for him) and then headed out into the snow again to go to Brad's family's house. There we made a late breakfast of eggs benedict (what's Christmas day without benny??) and later ate dinner with the family and opened more gifts. Despite being Christmas, it was a bit of a miserable day as Joel was very sick. We took him into the walk-in clinic on Boxing Day and he's back on antibiotics. He has improved over the past few days but I am looking forward to him being better completely! Seriously, he's been sick since September with a multitude of illnesses. Anyway, Christmas is over for another year. It has been a difficult one for a few reasons which I won't go into. We are looking forward to our trip to PG on Wednesday. It'll be good to be with you guys.

Our Handsome Boys

Christmas Eve

We spent a bit of Christmas Eve out in the snow. We had a wonderful time making snow angels, making a snow man and just trying to walk through it all! Brad says this was the most snow he has ever seen down here and it sure made for a lovely white Christmas. However, it also made the Breedveld Christmas Eve party very small as we were the only ones to show up. It was a nice quiet evening though of good food, singing carols and watching Scrooge.

Believe

Take a few moments and reflect on the words of this song. It's from the Natalie Grant - Believe CD. I hope you believe too.

I Believe

In a land far away time stood still, long ago
There were shepherds in fields
Or at least this is how the story goes
The story goes
Woman with child and a man with no room
Born in a manger foretelling it too
This is how the story goes
But it's more than a fable
And it’s more than a fairytale
And more than my mind can conceive

I believe
The Wisemen saw
The baby boy the angels called the son of God
Heaven’s child, the great I Am
Born to take away my sin through nail pierced hands
Emmanuel has come
I believe

Two thousand years still the story lives on
God’s gift to us, sent to earth, wrapped in flesh
His only son
His only son
And the heartbeat of heaven confounded our wisdom
But it’s still the simple truth that set me free

I believe
The Wisemen saw
The baby boy the angels called the son of God
Heaven’s child, the great I am
Born to take away my sin through nail pierced hands
Emmanuel has come
And I believe

Precious child how can it be that God’s great plan
For history would send you to the lonely tree
That you would come for one like me

I believe in a cross
I believe he came for one, he came for all
Heaven's child became a man
Gave his life for me in spite of all I am
I believe
I believe
Oh I believe
Christmas lives in me
I believe

That's what you call SNOW!!

I have waited 6 winters for this. PGers eat your hearts out. Finally a winter that you can be jealous of us for!! We have snow and it's not -20!! Yes, I will have stuck my foot in my mouth in the next few days as we watch it all disappear but for now we are enjoying deep snow and sunshine (the sun came out once we came inside). Joel is finally becoming a little snow monster. He loves it and doesn't want to come inside "never, ever" (as he says). We have to thank the Leboes for the awesome snowsuit. I'm so glad he's getting use out of it - good thing we didn't send it up with Uncle Mike!

'Tis the Season

Christmas is almost here! We are currently enjoying the fact that it finally feels like Christmas. It is snowing outside and it is lovely. It almost feels like home. Brad and I have both mentioned that it has been hard to get into the "Christmas spirit" this year. It has been a very busy fall with Nathan joining our family, a two week trip to PG, a 10 day trip to Florida and suddenly Christmas was upon us. We are happy to be snowed in, although we do have the winter tires on finally, so we aren't too scared to head out! I just wish other people had them too.... So anyway, now that it is snowy and the gifts are wrapped, we can just enjoy what Christmas is. Celebrate Jesus. Celebrate the best gift of all, the birth of our Saviour. He came to give us eternal life and for that I am in awe. He came as a baby, grew to be a man and died a horrific death for each of us so that we could be saved. That is what I want my focus to be this Christmas. Keep Jesus in the center of it all.

Christmas Thomas

A couple of weekends ago we took Joel and Nathan and Uncle Mike to see the Thomas train at Art Knapp's. It was a cold and drizzly day but we had fun anyway. We spent lots of time inside looking all the stuff they have in that store. Joel especially enjoyed the 2 Thomas tables they have set up for kids to play with while Mom and Dad do some Thomas shopping!

Decorating!

On Sunday we decided to put up the tree. Joel hadn't been feeling well all weekend and didn't nap that day until we found him asleep at 5 pm on the couch. Joel is doing much better thanks to some antibiotics - same one he had last year at this same time (hopefully this isn't a yearly occurence). Nathan is really enjoying the lights and all the attention he is getting from Uncle Mike. Christmas is 2 weeks away. I am totally not ready for it and yet I just want it to be here. I don't handle the stress of getting things done for Christmas very well. I just like to enjoy the season. I am full of random thoughts right now, mostly grumpy ones so I am going to end this post right now and potentially edit it later.

Best friends

Sorry Dad, this picture is for you! Seems like Cooper can make friends with some....

Yay! No cavities!

Today Joel had his third dental checkup. He did great!! He sat in the big chair and had his teeth cleaned, had fluoride and let the dentist poke around a bit. What a relief that he actually seemed to enjoy it! Thanks Amanda for breaking him in! I also think the TV helped a lot! Afterwards the boys and I walked around the mall and Joel insisted on going in to see Santa. Seeing as there was no lineup, I thought maybe it was a good time. So we got a great picture of Joel and Nathan on Santa's knee too! Sometimes they can be so cooperative!! Our scanner doesn't work though so you'll just have to take my word for it that it turned out so well. Even the people taking the picture were surprised!

Faces of Nathan - Our happy boy!

Just some more

I think Cooper wanted to come....

Epcot

We only have these pictures from Epcot. Oops! Guess we'll have to get some from the rest of the family!

More Magic Kingdom

We spent a few days here. There is so much to see and do. We watched 2 parades, fireworks, went on the rides, had lunch at the Wilderness Lodge one day and with Winnie the Pooh and his friends another day. We had a wonderful time and we were so glad it was sunny, although we could have used a little warmer temperatures - mid-teens is not really warm for Florida. It was a great trip. Thanks for the memories!!

The Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's castle, by day and by night.

Animal Kingdom

We also spent one day at the Animal Kingdom. I love this park. It is so green and lush. There are themed areas - Africa, where we rode the safari a few times and even saw a lion roar (so cool!), Asia - where we rode the new, awesome, Everest roller coaster and the Kali river rapids (thank you to the strangers who gave us their ponchos - no wet underwear this time), and Dino land where the kids enjoyed a ride. And okay, this day it was warm enough to take off my hoodie.

Hollywood Studios

What used to be MGM - this was a very busy day as we were only going to this park once and there is so much to do! Best of all was no line up for the Tower of Terror, my absolute favourite ride ever!! Joel and Rachel got to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater and enjoyed the Clubhouse Mickey show.

SeaWorld

We enjoyed 2 days at SeaWorld. On the first day we took in a few of the shows and then the kids jumped on the rides. Joel loved the roller coaster! The second day we walked around looking at the animals - manatees, penguins, alligators, sharks, dolphins and then let the little kids enjoy the rides again. The picture on the bottom right is our view of SeaWorld from our room. The coaster on the right is Kraken and the one on the left is Manta - opening in 09 - reason enough to go back!!

Getting There

After a very early morning, we got to the airport and hopped on the plane to Florida. With just one stop in Chicago, we were there! Joel and Nathan are the BEST travellers. Joel loved pulling his suitcase through the airports and got to see the cockpit on one of the flights and earned a couple of "wings" from the flight attendants. On the flight from Chicago to Orlando we got to see the space shuttle launch - the ride Mission Space at Epcot has given me more of an appreciation for what those astronauts go through!! We were met at the airport by Grandma and Grandpa, grabbed our bags and began our busy vacation!

It's no wonder....

No wonder that clothes aren't fitting Nathan as long as they did Joel.
No wonder my back and shoulders are so sore.
No wonder my 2 month old baby is wearing 6 month clothes.

The kid weighs 15lbs 5oz and is almost 25 inches long!!!

What on earth am I feeding this kid?? I thought Joel was big. He was a pound less.

Sorry I don't have any recent pictures. The cameras are packed. We are preparing to go on a little sunny (I hope) vacation on Friday. We'll have lots of pictures when we get back!

We are doing well. Nathan had his 2 month appointment today and he is above the 100th percentile. He got 4 shots and has slept for most of the day. Poor little guy.

Joel is pretty well potty training finally. Tonight is the 3rd night in a row that he has not worn a diaper to bed and we have not had to wash his sheets yet!! Yay for Joel!! Go figure he decides to do it right before our holidays. He's doing well during the day too but it's hard to trust him when we go out so I still try to put a pull-up on him. I know, I'll have to trust him soon!! We are very pleased with him but I just bought 2 packs of pull-ups. Guess we'll save them for Nate! At the rate he's growing he'll need them soon! :)