Christmas 2010

Well, the holiday season is (finally) over.  The official tally is: 4 family events, 2 get-togethers with friends and 3 work parties.  I am actually a bit relieved to just get back to the grind!  I loved spending time with my girls and my family and friends, but I think we all need to get back into a routine.  The late nights are catching up with us.  Here are a few snapshots of what we did during the holidays:

2011, here I come!

The Castle of Nightmares

My daughter Brielle received a cardboard princess castle from her favourite cousin for Christmas this year.  The box said "Some Assembly Required".  Understatement of the year.  It took me about an hour and a half to assemble the sections and connect them, including one break to curse a blue streak. 

As I marvelled at my engineering prowess, my daughter said " Are you going to do the stickers now?".  Stickers?  I then took notice of the tiny shapes, each one numbered, that covered every area of the cursed castle!  I took a deep breath, counted to ten, and stickering commenced. 

The children silently drifted away, leaving me alone with my nemesis: tiny, shiny stickers.  550 stickers to be exact.  Three hours later, I let loose a cry of triumph and stood back to admire my work.  Some stickers were crooked, some not even remotely over their designated square, but, it was finished.

I finished the castle last Monday. No one has played with it yet.

P.S.  Please excuse the poor image quality.  I had developed a bit of a palsy by the end of stickering that caused my hands to shake even more than could be helped by image stabilization!

My December

What a crazy and busy time it has been in the Blake household this year.  We have been going to parades, shopping, enjoying the arrival of Nan and Pop from Newfoundland and mostly just battling multiple viruses.  Is it just me or does it seem like the viruses are running more rampant than usual this year? Anyway, thought I would share a few images of our December goings-on, just for something to do!

So from top left, clockwise:

1. Brielle and her friend Ethan playing in the snow.  I don't think there is anything better to do on a nice winter's day.
2. My children forced my hubby to don one of their hats...so of course I snapped a quick picture to hold for further blackmail! As you can see, there was much giggling.
3. My youngest, Emery, who clearly enjoyed every ounce of her free hot chocolate at the Santa Clause Parade.
4. Our tree this year is a little sparse, since there seems to be an entire box of decorations that have gone missing...
5. My oldest, Brielle, got this fantastic shiner when she tripped over my feet and face-planted as she was trying to chase her sister to "wrestle".  Ahhh, karma.
6. The lovely craft I made with my girls.  It was accomplished with only two major meltdowns; one for me and one for Brielle.

And one last picture before I go.  Here are my girls playing in one of the best toys ever: the cardboard box.  We got a new TV and while my husband got it set up, there were no little hands "helping" because they were playing in the box.  Win-win!