Ringing in the new...

Happy New Year one and all.  AC and I rang in the new year in style last night with some good friends.  It was quite a change from last year at Riverwood when we had snow up to the rafters at the farm, and our celebration was all about wool and warmth.  This year it was nothing but glitz and glitter with not a speck of snow in sight.

Tree and guests were aglow and a good time was had by all

Frances looks relaxed doesn't she? 

I wonder what Helene was telling Ivy here.

Ivy's house had "magazine layout" beautiful Christmas decor

Guests gathered round the dinning room table around 11pm for a New Year's Eve feast.

There was plenty of room for everyone.

And lots of wine to go around.

At the stroke of midnight we were all ready with glitter bombs and noise makers.  AC had a noise maker with a mine of its own. What a hoot.

Helene had a wonky one too, and these crazy noise makers sent us all into gales of laughter. 

Too, too, funny.

I wish I had a camera with a faster shutter speed to catch the action here.  Helene is laughing so much she can hardly get any action from her noise maker.

Glitter bombs exploded all over the table, and a fine but fun mess was made.

This is kind of blurry, but a fun shot of Ivy getting into the swing of things.

No words needed here.

Good friends enjoying a NYE hug

Coffee circle friends celebrating in style

Audrey and Ray

Ivy and Al, the perfect hostess and host.

NY hug

Thanks dear friend for a fun and fabulous evening.  Let's do it again next year.

Christmas Dance Class 2014

It was fun to attend Dani's ballet class before Christmas, and watch her go through some of the exercises. Rather than try to comment on each pic, I'll let them speak for themselves.

Add caption

Birthday party fun

Now that the Christmas rush is over, and I am back in my quiet house again, it is time to catch up on some before Christmas pictures.

We celebrated Sha's birthday by having a Festive Special at Swiss Chalet.

Buppa got a big hug from JJ

The ham-bone was on the other side of the table.

Hugs were shared all around.

When we got home it was time to open presents.  Dani had a good laugh over the card she made for Mommy

More shenanigans

And even more.

Parties are so much fun

Gifts are fun, but bubble wrap is even better.

Waiting for the cake

After cake, ice cream and presents, it was jammie time

Then down to the family room to watch a movie

All snuggled in and ready for the show to start.

More Christmas concert pictures

Earlier I posted my two poor pictures of the kid's Christmas Concert. The room was dark, and I did the best I could with my little camera, but my pictures were all grainy and blurry.  Needless to say I was shocked when I saw John's pictures taken from the same spot, but with a much fancier camera.  Wow, what a difference. 

Singing Silent Night

Presenting her reading

Cute little camel

It was a delightful way to spend an afternoon and morning.  I would like to give all the teachers a big pat on the back for a job well done.  The acts flowed seamlessly on and off the stages, and apart from the low lighting making pictures difficult for some of us, the concerts were wonderful. 

2014 Gingerbread House

One day last week the munchkins and I put our heads and hands together to build a Gingerbread house.

The work crew

We all got in on the act adding icing sugar, candies and fondant.  This is a view of JJ's side of the roof.  He likes to see and make patterns, and his side of the roof is very orderly.  Danica on the other hand is more of a free spirit, and her side of the roof is a bit more free flowing, as you will see in a later picture when we put Santa on the roof.. 

We had a bit of trouble with the fondant, but JJ and I managed to get some of it to stick on the front of the house.

We had to stop from time to time to ponder what to add next.

Yes, the fondant was not easy to handle, but we managed to get some of it to stick and make grass for the front lawn, and light in the windows. 

The final touches were Santa being placed on the roof (note Danica's  exuberant side of the roof)

And the wreath was added to the front door.  Finished and ready to send to the kid's Christmas Party at Rosie's at the end of the week.

School Christmas Concerts

Busy but fun week was had in our corner of the country. Christmas parties, concerts and dance recitals were all on the agenda.  We had front row seats for JJ's concert, and good sight lines for Danica's, but the lighting was so poor I couldn't get any decent pictures.  Sigh!  I did manage these two blurry pics of Dani's class, but JJ's was so dark, nothing turned out. 

Danica is behind her classmate here, but thought it was worth keeping anyway.

Here she is getting ready to do a reading.  All the kids looked so cute in their housecoats and scarves.   I don't think the shepherds had anything quite so bright two thousand years ago, but you use what you have...right?

Santa comes to Mommy's work

Santa arrived at Mommy's workplace this week, and the kids were invited over for dinner and a visit.

Doesn't someone look beyond excited to see Santa?

JJ  was a little more tentative

Sweet sweet memories