Jill in the Box

At this time of year lots of surprises come to the door in cardboard boxes.

Oh, this one is full of joy!

Is that me?

Daddy helped Smudge make this card for Mommy for Christmas. It has Smudge's picture on the front, and when you open it up it has her talking, then it plays some Christmas music.
It took Daddy hours and hours to get Smudge's voice recorded. Every time he set it up she would be VERY QUIET and not chatter at all. Then when he would try to cue it up again, she would chatter away until he pushed the record button, then total silence. We all got a chuckle out of that. Smudge loved the finished card though and was quite taken with the fact that it played music when she opened it.

Here is a short video of her carrying the card around and dancing to the music.

Poodle Ears

The A Team gave AC this most unique hat for Christmas. It makes me laugh every time I look at AC wearing it because it looks like he has poodle ears when he doesn't have the strings tied up.
Thanks for the smiles and chuckles gals.

Bling

A new sweater...

...and a little bit of bling...
...and I am all set for a sparkly New Year.

In Her Glory

AC posted a blog about D3 and her marvelous creations here. As you can see from this photo she was in her glory surrounded by cookies, coloured icing, sprinkles, sparkles and sprackles. She had a blast decorating Christmas cookies, and we enjoyed watching her have so much fun.
Here she is working on the Christmas Elf collection. This was just one of the many themes she worked on that day. Each cookie was a work of art.

On the left in this picture are the Place Card cookies for the dinner table. The family photo gallery is on the right. She really did get a good likeness of each of us.
The only problem with these most remarkable cookies is that they look too good to eat. Eat them we must though, and they are delicious. I think it is all the extra love that goes into the decorating of them.

Relaxin' Side of Christmas

Ahhhhhh, don't you just love the relaxin' side of Christmas? All the cooking and fussin' is done and now it is time to nibble on leftovers and RELAX!

Hope you all had a warm and wonderful time with family and friends. We sure did.
Talk to you again soon.

Beary Christmas

Times are busy and hectic, but I wanted to take a minute to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

AC posted a collage picture of the three of us here, but I thought it would be fun for you to see one of the individual pics he had to work with. He really does a great job with his collages doesn't he?
Merry Christmas All!

Company's here and Santa is coming so...

...I am signing off for a few days. The A-Team arrive at midnight last night and the "party" with them will continue right through to Christmas Day when they fly back to Vancouver. I'll try to post a picture or two for all you Smudge fans out there, but you might not hear from me again until the New Year.

I hope you all have a wonderful, warm and joyous Christmas with family and friends.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the cutie today. She just had her hair washed and I managed to get two barrettes in her hair for about five seconds, but they didn't last much longer than that. Sigh!




She has such pretty hair, but she fights like a wild cat when we try to trim her bangs or fuss with her curly locks in any way.

Play Time

E and his Mommy came over for a Play Date this week and lots of fun was had by all.

Cookies and milk were on the menu - Yum!
It wasn't the most relaxing morning for E's Mommy. She had to balance her coffee cup and two kids. Sheesh!
Wouldn't you love to get at that tree E?
Let's pretend we want to play on the bench, and when Mommy and Grandma aren't looking we'll will make a run for the tree.
Who me? I wouldn't dream of getting into mischief.
Let's have a little nap before the big caper.
I can't sleep. How about you?
Nope, I just can't get comfy and doze off.
Oh dear, it's time to go home. We'll have to plan the tree caper for next time.

Grandma's Cape

I haven't had time to get today's pics off the camera yet, and I know certain family members anxiously look for pictures each day, so here is one from last week to tide you over for today.
Smudge loves to grab my cape as soon as I come in the door and traipse around the house in it. She looks pleased with herself doesn't she?

Gives Me Conniptions...

But Smudge loves it!

Sparkling Snow

I tried my best to capture this amazing sight with the camera on Friday, but just couldn't do it. This is the best picture, and it still doesn't capture the pure magic of the scene.
It was snowing, but the sun was also shining and the air looked like it was full of sparkle dust. Truly magical and beautiful.

Tired Girl

Daddy has been away all week, and Smudge has had Mommy up for hours every night. Yawn! Those darn teeth really do keep a girl up at night, and she gets plum tuckered out. Mommy is dragging a bit this week too after all her sleepless nights with the Wee One. Hurry home Daddy.

As a result of her sleepless nights, Smudge was very tired the other day, but wouldn't settle for a nap. Groan! She came to me for a rock and a snuggle, and wonder of wonders, she zonked out in my arms while we were listening to music and singing together. She usually bounces for a bit, rocks for a bit, and then bounces some more. As I was rocking her and singing to her, I thought she had become very quiet.

Grandpa took a picture and then got a blanket to wrap her in. The music played on, we sat and talked, and she slept in spite of all the noise and activity.
Oh the joy of snuggling with a sleeping baby. What a treasure she is.

Smudge Lesson for the Week - Don't fight taking a nap when you need one. It will do you a world of good, and you will feel so much better when you wake up! Are you ready now bloggers? Grab your blankie, put your feet up and ZZZZZZZZZ!

Up Down

The newest song and dance.

Enjoy

SC Festive Special

We joined the kids for lunch at Swiss Chalet on Sunday, and all enjoyed a Festive Special. Yum!

Smudge thought she would go incognito...
...but came out from under the glasses when the food arrived.
She thought the chicken and fixin's were mmmm good, and quite enjoyed the ice cream for dessert too.

Getting Ready

Time to pick out the perfect outfit to wear to all the Christmas Parites coming up.
I think Smudge has found hers. Cute huh?

Canvas

A little piece of paper on the high-chair tray just didn't do it anymore. This budding artist needed a bigger canvas, so Mommy rigged something else up.
Lots of room on this "canvas" to create a masterpiece.
Smudge thinks this is pretty neat! So do I

Light Up the Night

Friday night we joined about 4,998 other people at the Light Up the Night Celebrations in Almonte, and it was a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous night.

We stood in the crowd of 5000, in the -7 cold night air for two hours, but we were warmed and thrilled right down to our toes.

Here is a short video of the stage at the end of the evening with all the participants joining in for the singing of Christmas in the Valley.




The whole evening was entertaining, but the highlight is always the Fireworks display at the very end. Here is a still picture of this year's show, but AC has a video of last year's show that will give you chills. If you haven't looked at it already, you must go do that RIGHT NOW! You will be glad you did.

A Quiet Moment

The Smudge is one very active little Munchkin, so when we see her sitting quietly reading to a friend it warms the heart and is worth capturing and sharing.


Smudge Lesson for the Week - During this busy time of year be sure to take some time to be still, and relax with a good friend.

Have a good weekend. Talk to you again on Monday

Everything is a toy

My sweater was hanging over the back of a chair the other day, and Little Miss Creative decided to make a tent out of it. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her from my vantage point across the table.

First Christmas Cookie

This was a first for Smudge. Up until the party on the weekend, a cookie has been an arrowroot or other plain biscuit.
She thought this ginger cookie with icing on top was quite wonderful.
Yum!

More Party Fun

Smudge wanted to get her little hands into every box or ornaments we had for the tree. We gave her this box of tissue paper and she had a grand time making a fine mess.
She really concentrated on her work of re-arranging the tissue paper.
Then it was time to model Grandma's necklace with her new dress.

After all that work she had to take a break and read for awhile.

Tree Decorating Party

We were all too sick to stand out in the cold for two hours and attend the Santa Claus Parade this weekend, but we did manage to get together Sunday afternoon to put up the Christmas tree.

After the tree was up and the lights on, Grandpa and Mommy contemplated what to put on after the ribbon...

...and Grandma was called on to fix the star on the top of the tree.
Smudge sure made things interesting and The Tree decorating party was the most memorable one yet. She wanted to get her little fingers right inside the tree and give the decorations a shake.
We distracted her by giving her the Tree Skirt to play with. She put it on like a cape and went right over to her little mirror on the fridge to admire herself.
Cute, cute, cute.

Fun and Games

I was going to save these pictures to post next week but AC posted a couple on his blog this morning so I thought I would put mine up too. So you lucky Smudge fans, you get two posts today.

Smudge does love to spend time at the bathroom sink, standing on her little duck stool, playing in the water, looking at herself in the mirror, playing peek-a-boo, fussing with her hair, and jabbering non-stop. AC shows the stool on his blog, I got her reflection in the mirror. Enjoy!

Shall we have a game of Peek-a-boo?
Always fun to do with a friend...

"Are you taking my picture Grandma?"

"How does my hair look? Is it just about perfect now?