Christmas 2017- part 2 (Christmas Eve)

This year Auntie Wendy & Uncle Chris were unable to host Christmas dinner so we decided to do something a little bit different. We all love Greek food so we headed to one of our favorite Greek restaurants with Nana, Papa, Auntie Debbie and had a feast. It was fun!

 

Serenade

 

We have an annual tradition of opening one gift on Christmas eve. Normally pajamas….this year did not disappoint. Onsies are a bit hit with Claire & Rhys’s age group so they were gifted some Christmas ones. Lucky us that we had a white Christmas eve!

 

Christmas 2017- part 1 (pre-Christmas)

My parents arrived in Victoria November 28th to stay with us for several months while my Dad underwent cancer treatment at the BC Cancer Agency. My Dad did not start treatment until January so we had a few months to settle in, get healthy and spend some time together. Christmas was fun having Nana & Papa in town for. We did SO many activities!

To start the season off the kids wrote letters to Santa and we decorated and trimmed out Christmas tree. My Mom loves Christmas and had fun helping us decorate our home.

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Rhys’s 8th Birthday Party!

One of Rhys’s favorite activities is dodgeball! There isn’t a lot of dodgeball activities for kids his age so we got creative and found PISE (Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence) hosted birthday parties that were active and fun!

It was a quiet at their facility on the weekend which was perfect for the party. The kids ran around and had a lot of fun, the team leaders were excellent, we had yummy food and most importantly we celebrated our awesome clever son turning 8!

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Claire’s 8th birthday party!

Claire decided to have a sewing birthday party. Last year I signed up for some private sewing lessons for Claire & I to learn to make doll clothes for her American Dolls.

The Makehouse is a super fun store that hosts kids camps. It was a great place to have Claire’s party at. She invited a bunch of her girlfriends, we had yummy food, a lot of sewing time making forest animals. It was a great celebration for our smart and loving daughter turning 8!

 

 

 

Claire & Rhys turn 8!

The passing of time really does seem to speed up when you have children. Their growth and development is amazing and so fast. To all those people that told us to enjoy every moment as they grow so quickly…you were right!

Claire and Rhys turned 8 on December 17th! This year they wanted to have separate birthday parties. They have always had shared birthdays so this year we were game to try it out — future blog post 🙂

To start we had a little family birthday morning…complete with new pajama onesies, some toys and elf on the shelf greeting the kids. It is our tradition to have a nice breakfast and gifts on the table when the kids wake up. It is hard having your birthday among Christmas activities and decorations. We try to make it extra special for Claire & Rhys.

 

Before 6am wake-up…kids excited and we are tired!

Nana & Papa move in…

September was a tough month. My Mom was diagnosed with dementia and my Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer… just days apart.

For my Dad’s cancer treatment he would have to travel quite far from where they live in Alberta. This would involve a lot of driving in the winter months, hotel stays, my Mom being left alone in the hospital, restaurant food etc.  Jimmy & I decided it would be best if my Dad had treatment in Victoria so we could support them with healthy cooking, a cozy place to stay and the BC cancer clinic is just 5 minutes away from us. Luckily my Dad’s doctors in Alberta agreed that being treated in BC was the best option.

My parents moved into our home late November. We thought it would just be 3 months but it turned into 6 months as my Dad’s treatment was delayed. Not going to lie…it was tough. It isn’t easy sharing a small home with your parents/ in-laws. However, my Dad did great through his treatment and my Mom did great as well. They had a personal trainer, went on daily walks, ate healthy food and my Mom was seeing a wonderful Naturopath who specializes in cognitive health. The fact I haven’t lived with my parents since I was 17 and that these are Claire & Rhys only living grandparents made the time they spent with us memorable and special regardless of the difficulties. A BIG thanks to Jimmy for being as patient as he could be with his set-in-their ways in-laws taking over our space 🙂

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This is a photo of my parents (Tricia & Vern) in Mexico on a trip we shared in 2016 ♥

 

 

Jimmy’s 41st Birthday!

Jimmy turned 41 on November 19th! To celebrate the best Dad and husband we could ever ask for we had a few fun events planned out.

We started off celebrating Jimmy with a small morning soiree at home including gifts (fuzzy slippers, new book, star wars pajama pants!) with the kids followed by breakfast at Whitespot 🙂 Jimmy & I also had a date night to celebrate. We headed out to Hermann’s Jazz Club and met up with friends from Portland! We ended the festivities with Jimmy’s favorite ice cream cake- yum. Happy Birthday Jimmy!

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Song!