Year-End Feast

Mike and I were saying, what a great way to start the New Year - to know you have a new little life coming into your world! Not sure who's glowing more!

Mike and I have been on cloud 9 since we found out another baby is on it's way. Caitlin doesn't actually comprehend it... in fact, she has no idea how much her world is going to change!!

Anyway, in light of recent events and the fact it's New Year's, Mike bought some flowers both his girls :) Caitlin loved hers, and ran over to check them out. Thanks daddy!

In honour of today's holiday, we thought we'd have a treat. What a pretty little gingerbread house!

Time for smashy-smashy!!

Maybe not the greatest idea to hand a 2-year old a meat mallet!

She's tasted gingerbread before, but nothing beats the taste of your own smashed house!

We always do a special dinner on New Year's, just for us. Mike made it extra special this year :)

Even Caitlin wanted to help!

Scallops, mushroom risotto and asparagus - my fav!

And to top it off, dessert was a orange-soaked citrus pound cake with raspberry infused raspberry whipped cream and berries! Don't know how we found room for this after another enormous meal... but somehow I found room ;)

Happy New Year's everyone! Here's to a wonderful year with new beginnings :)

Big Surprise!!

We've been doing so many family dinners for Christmas the past few days, that when we went to go cook something tonight, there wasn't much in the fridge in the way of food. So we decided to go out for some grub. Caitlin got the kiddie meal, and she's caught on to what comes after the main course...

You guessed it, ice cream!

After dinner, I had to stop by Shoppers Drug Mart for a little something. I'm actually back-dating this post for one big reason... we had to tell our families first, we couldn't let them find out on my blog!

WE'RE PREGNANT!

I had been feeling really tired over the holidays and a little bloated (but attributed both to the fact we had been eating massive amounts of treats!) but realized at dinner tonight that I was 'late'. So we bought a test not really thinking anything, but I had a gut feeling that I already knew what it would say. Sure enough, it came back positive!!

With Caitlin, I took the test on my own and surprised Mike - he didn't even know I bought one. I wrapped it up in a jewellery box and gave it to him as a gift (it happened to be our anniversary, so he thought he was getting a watch! HA!). This time, I took the test and set it aside for Mike and Caitlin to watch it. My sweet little girl and her daddy got to tell me I was pregnant this time!

We are so excited! Although we were going to start trying for another next month, having the surprise come a tad early is a blessing. Number 2 is on his/her way! Yaaah, Caitlin is going to be a big sister!

Boxing Day Cannelloni

After a full two days of Christmas, we woke up to start the third! We did one last run in the sled at the cottage and packed up to head to Mike's parents place for Boxing Day Cannelloni.

Caitlin zonked out in the car pretty quick!

When we got there, you guessed it, more presents!

It sure was nice seeing all the family the last few days - it's neat to see Caitlin open all her goodies. Her cousin Cristian will be doing the same next year!

Santa Came!!

Caitlin woke up this morning to find that Santa did indeed stop by the house with a load of toys and treats!

We let her open her stocking first...

And then had a nice breakfast which she gobbled up :)

Then back to more presents!

Once we finished, we packed the car and headed north to the cottage because Santa stopped there too! And look what he brought - a sled! Perfect for going down snowy hills :)

She had a great time and after about a 1/2 hour of up and down, it was time to go for a nice walk in winter wonderland. Such a beautiful winter day!

When she got back, Grandma read a new book called 'The Perfect Bear' which Caitlin got for Christmas, and signed by the author who happens to live around the corner from grandma and grandpa. Grandma even made some of the characters to match the book - including a Raggedy Anne.

It was then time to decorate the table!

And good timing - Caitlin must have been hungry because we caught her helping herself to stuff inside the fridge...

We did a quick change into Christmas-at-the-cottage attire with a family pic:

And admired a pretty snow globe before we sat up for a big feast!

And what better ending to the day than some sweet treats!

Christmas dessert also featured figgy pudding - of course we lit it a blaze and Caitlin blew it out. Not sure if she liked the brandy that the cake was soaked in, or the actual cake itself... probably a little from column A, and a little from column B!

Christmas Eve!

Santa's coming! And to kick off the holidays, we celebrated Christmas Eve with an annual dinner at Mike's extended family at the farm with an amazing seafood meal.

Caitlin donned a Santa dress made by grandma, and made the rounds for hugs with everyone :)

She had a ball playing with all of Sienna's toys - and even discovered a doll crib which she deemed big enough for herself...

Aside from the dollies, she also really liked Sienna's toy laptop. We'll have to get one for Caitlin because she truly gravitates to it every time we go over. She even taps on the keys with two hands while wiggling her head to imitate 'pyping'!

Caitlin nibbled on treats all night long; at every chance she got...

I was a bit more liberal with her eating chocolate, except her face was constantly covered with messy snacks! Here she is - face smeared with goo - just in time for a picture with her cousins :) Way to go mommy for not wiping her face!

Present time!

Merry Christmas everyone! What a great start to the holidays :)

Lone Advent Stocking

This morning is Christmas Eve morning!

Caitlin came downstairs - and after a month of conditioning her to know that she gets to open stockings made by grandma which deliver a little surprise - she looked up to see one last, lone stocking.

She reached right for it, no time for breakfast mommy!

Success, now to find out the surprise...

It's a...

It's a...

It's a wind-up flipping doggie!

Cool gifts grandma - thanks for the fun this past month, they sure beat having chocolate! Even though she can have milk products now, we'll definitely be continuing this neat tradition :)

Abominable

Caitlin's new favourite movie, is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; fitting for the holiday season!

Since we bought this flick, we watch it at least 4 times a day. Her absolute favourite part is when the abominable snowman makes his entrance, followed by the elves making toys... probably because daddy makes a big deal about the big snowman :)

Here she is watching it with us, getting ready for the man in red!

Silly Hat

We made a quick trip to Costco this morning to pick up a few odds 'n ends before the holidays... it was pretty crazy!

Caitlin was happy enough to go, however it was encroaching on her naptime. She humoured me while we checked out and remained content, while Dani smiled away at the camera :)

This isn't one of Caitlin's normal toques; I actually bought it as a gift for someone else, but she fell in love with it when she discovered it in the bag, and decided to claim it :)

Daddy's B-Day

Caitlin and I celebrated daddy's birthday tonight with a great dinner, and a fantastic cake!

Her favourite part was not the chocolate turtle ice cream treat, but singing 'happy birthday' and blowing out the candle.



Happy Birthday Dad! We hope you had a great day :)