Happy New Year! Welcome 2010!!!
Here's some pictures of what we were up to during our school vacations. Funny that the children and I both had the same days off from school and are both returning back on Monday. Who knew I would be looking forward to school holidays just as much as they do?! :)
This is a picture of my friend's child taken at a Bar Mitzvah that we went to at the Fort Garry Hotel. It was very nice and my kids had a great time with all the activities and lets not forget the candies that were there. I love going to the Fort Garry, since not only do we get to dress up a bit, but it's almost always a Kosher event for us so we can eat to our hearts content. Yum!
Happy Hanukah! I used a very special Menorah for my candles that my friends' gave me for my wedding. This was the first year that each of us lit our own Menorahs. The kids had a fabulous time! We weren't going to let Akiva light his own but he got so upset about the older two doing theirs that we relented. It made Hanukah that much more meaningful to all of us. As Naftali said "This was the best Hanukah ever!"
This was on the 3rd night of Hanukah when we finally relented and let Akiva light his own Menorah. I love how you can see Yitzy's hand guiding Akiva's to the candles. Symbolic of the guiding hands of parenthood.
And what would Hanukah be without doughnuts? I took this shot at the children's school play. They did a fantastic job. In fact I would say it was the best play so far in their short school lives. Akiva is still singing his songs at the top of his lungs...every morning at 5:30 am! I really hate the song 'dreidle, dreidle, dreidle' by now. We also went to a fun party where the kids got to make their own doughnuts. They were covered in powdered sugar and jam by the end of the night, but so worth it to see their smiles while doing it.
Introducing Daisy! My mom got a new St. Bernard puppy over the holidays. She's adorable. I spent quite a bit of time with her, taking her for walks and playing with her. My kids aren't loving her too much right now because she likes to nip and jump but hopefully once she gets a bit bigger and more trained she'll settle down. Just watching her roll around in the snow and stumble along is worth the hassle of taking her out.
Speaking of rolling around and stumbling in the snow...here's Akiva enjoying one of our days spent outside. Thankfully it wasn't too cold this day and we had just had a good dump of snow so we were building a 'pseudo' fort in the backyard. Akiva is more interested in eating snow than much else. I really hope he doesn't find a 'Daisy patch'. We didn't get outside as much as I would've liked since the temperatures were just waaaaay too freezing, but when we did, we had a good time.
Christmas Eve...I was at a friends' house for her family's annual party. This is her sister-in-law and new baby niece. I really wanted the opportunity to take pictures of the baby since I hadn't met her yet and she's so cute. I specifically had them sit in front of the tree so it would be a reference point when looking at the photograph later on. It was a busy night with a couple parties and a dog to walk. For a Jewish girl, I sure had a lot going on that night!
Boxing Day family dinner. Although not the best shot technically, I still like it because it's so rare to get most of the cousins together at one time for a picture. My kids love hanging out with their cousins and my brother John has the best house to host these kind of get-togethers. It's too bad we didn't have all the cousins in for the holidays. I'm lucky to have so many brothers and a sister since between us, we have produced many children who love to hang out with each other. Nothing like family.
Here's Naftali at Canad-Inns water park in Grand Forks. We have now gone 3 years in a row at this time and I think my kids think of it as Paradise. They talk about it all year round and love being there. What could be better? Get to stay in a hotel, eat junky cereal and treats, go swimming, play in the arcade, and watch tv in bed, all without leaving the building? They are already talking about next year...save me now.
My sweet little Adina in her new pink butterfly towel. One of the presents she received over the holidays. For some reason my kids love getting animal towels. It's getting harder and harder to find ones they didn't get the year before. They do get good use though since my kids love their nightly bath. So that's a quick re-cap of our vacation time. We also had some play-dates, I did a lot of school assignment shooting, spent some time with family, went to movies, hung out at the Forks, had the kids in a winter camp (which they loved), ate tons, and pretty much just spent quality time together without the stresses of school schedules every day. It was awesome!
