The Christmas Ball

Vanessa got to experience her first Christmas Party for dance. She put the curlers in this morning and donned the dress without a fight. She was very excited! It was at a country club. Vanessa won a prize too! They both looked so beautiful. Heather got to wear her first heels and was excited to put on a little makeup.

Seasons Greetings Everyone

We would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy Happy New Year. It has been a busy year as you can see if you browse through all the blog posts from this year. Our highlights would of course have to be our first family vacation to Disneyland. We are planning a trip to New York City this March and we are very excited to see a place that we know a lot about through movies and tv but have never been too. I am sure it will be amazing. We also will be going to the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are happy to share this with our children. We hope all of you are well and that this recession that many of us have suffered through will just go away.
Feel free to comment at the bottom of the blogs.
Wishing you all the best. Love Belinda, Todd, Heahter and Vanessa.

Christmas Concert

Heather sang in the school Christmas Concert on Tuesday. Of course we chose the wrong side of the gym so we had to zoom in as much as we could. We had to giggle at all the little girls in their Costco dresses.

First Snow of the Year

We got a little bit of snow so far this year but it has vanished quite quickly. Looks like Chrismas will be green this year

Pancake Breakfast at School

This was the second year that the school hosted a Santa Claus Pancake Breakfast. The kids got to sit on Santa's knee.

Build A Bear Birthday

Heather's best friend and Heather went to build a bear to selebrate her birthday. Her friend will not be around for her birthday on the 23rd so we celebrated early. Heather chose a pony of course.

First Gift of Christmas

We started a new tradition this year. Each person gets a new ornament to hang on the tree. Heather got a Barbie on a horse since she loves both. Vanessa got a Toy Story toy box with Woody, Buzz and a Dinosaur, Todd got the "major award" leg lamp from the movie "A Christmas Story" and I got Jack Skeleton from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

Community Christmas Parades

The girls were apart of the Christmas Parades in two local communities because of the dance school. Vanessa participated in her first parade. Mom and Dad enjoyed not having to entertain her for the hour before the parade started. It sure was cold!

All I want for Christmas is.....

my two front teeth! Heather lost her first top tooth and the second is on its way out.

Officially a Brownie

Heather had her initiation ceremony last Tuesday night. She is now officially a Brownie. She is in the Dryad group which are tree spirits. I remember I was an elf. She will be busy collecting badges and doing lots of different activities. She is so excited.

Remembrance Day

Heather was in the Remembrance Day parade with her Brownie group. She was right at the end of the parade. Our long time family friend Bill was in the front with the pipes. We weren't able to say hi but it was nice to see him well.

Trick or Treat

We had a wonderful Halloween night. About 160 kids came to the door and the kids had great weather for trick or treating. Todd was able to put up his new pride and joy that he ordered when he saw it in the Martha Stewart Magazine. It makes noise and lights up and took most of the width of the driveway.

Halloween Party

We had a great Halloween this year. We hosted our first Halloween Party. We set up a photo booth in the downstairs bathroom so we could take pictures of the kids making scary faces. We had brain cassarole (mac and cheese) and Montezuma's revenge chili. The kids had black punch and worms and dirt cupcakes. After a few crafts and games, the kids went downstairs to watch ET on the big screen.

First Dance Out of the Season

Vanessa made her dancing debut and entertained the seniors at the local care home. She had a great time with her big sister dancing the Bairn's Reel. She was so funny because she was telling all the other kids what to do like she was the vetran on the dance floor. Heather also did a couple of other dances and performed really well.

Vanessa Finally Gets Her Big Girl Bed

Todd has now almost completely finished Vanessa's bed. W bought the plan online and then Todd with the help of friends, Rob, Eric and Peter, helped build the bed into a reality. Vanessa really likes it and she was excited to pick out the colors she wanted. Todd just has to put the roof molding on and it will be complete. We have had to change bedtime routine a bit as it is hard to read stories in bed and give hugs and kisses. We now do it all before she climbs into bed.

Bears for Thanksgiving

We had some extra special guests for Thanksgiving weekend. I was out barbecuing steaks on the patio when I noticed a lot of the neighbors looking up the hill on their sundecks. I asked what they were looking at and they said, "Bears!!!" Two houses up they were on the fence and eventually made their way through our yard three times. Watching climb the fence was amazing and one of the cubs ripped off the last of my strawberries as the mama stomped through my vegetable garden. They came up pretty close to us but kept moving on.