December So Far

December is well under way and we are already feeling the burn! I'm sure this is the busiest Christmas season we've ever had.and not just because we have two kids now. Through the month of December we have at least three commitments each weekend until Christmas!

November ended with all the leaves on our trees leaving a beautiful mess in our backyard for the girls to play in. Well, Sofie was a little unimpressed but Livi sure loved it!

My brother also came home from teaching in China for the past 16 months. Livi was excited to see him again and worked hard at writing "Uncle Sean, Welcome Home, Livi" all by herself. She actually surprised me with her perfectionism. She made an error on the first one and refused to continue. I'm a bit of a perfectionist in a lot of areas so I really shouldn't be too surprised but I hope I can help her to relax a little. 

November also brought the first advent. Jon has a rule that I'm not allowed to decorate until December 1 or first advent, which ever comes first. Livi had lots of fun helping us bake for our family decorating party! Our tree is not up yet. We will get a real one but will wait until the week before Christmas to alleviate fighting with Sofie about not touching it. Last year, we think it triggered Livi's asthma too. So, we'll try it out again this year and if the same thing happens, we'll buy a fake tree on clearance for next year :) 

She put her whole body in to pressing the boterkoek in to the plate!

We also got some pictures taken of the girls for our Christmas cards that went out this week. An ex-coworker/fellow blogger/wonderful photographer who is also very interested in adoption for their family offered us a session as a adoption present! I was very excited to use her indoor studio to take some pictures of the girls in the matching dresses I had bought before we even had Sofie home! Because I had bought these dresses early Livi is rapidly growing out of hers! I don't know if it is even going to fit her for Christmas! I needed to get the pictures early! The girls were not the most cooperative for the shoot. They were more interested in playing with the toys than sitting pretty. Sofie is not the easiest to photograph at the best of times. I think we got a few keepers and there are definitely a few that capture each of their personalities wonderfully! Thanks Louise at http://gc-photography.blogspot.com/!

Here are a few of my favorites :)

Sofie throwing things as usual!

Love this one. 

Livi posing and Sofie trying to get her to stop touching her :)

Livi is the ever-doting sister :) I love that she caught a smile from Sofie here!

The Merry Christmas got smudged before even one picture was taken :)

Squish!

Love :)

By far, my favorite. It captures their personalities perfectly. 

Livi posing trying to be the center of attention and Sofie destroying things :)

The first weekend of December was as busy as expected. Saturday, I went to the kids swap and found some onesies for Sofie. I never used them for Livi but Sofie has a habit of undressing and so far she can't get out of the onesies. Some friends we hadn't seen in a very long time came over for lunch, and that evening, Jon went to Vancouver for the night to see a friend's band play and I took the girls too the Christmas parade with my sister. I got to break in my new stroller too! It is wonderful, by the way. The girls had a lot of fun and dealt with the cold and late hour really well! They both loved the music and Livi loved seeing Santa at the end. That Sunday we went to our first family Christmas gathering too! Such a busy weekend.

The week held tons of appointments and get together's. We took the Girls to Circle of Friends, a music sing-a-long time for adults with special needs. You should have seen Sofie dancing! I think there is a video on my Facebook page. We had our last music class of the semester. Sofie will be going again next semester while Livi is in preschool! I got my crown finished. I had a parent meeting for parents of DS kids this week too, a play date for the kids and mommies! We finally got Sofie's CareCard number!!! Yay! I had called, yet again, to try and figure out how to get it and a finally an Enrollment Specialist took pity on my case, gave me her personal fax and called me the next day with Sofie's number! We had a doctor's appointment the next day and got the final round of paper work signed to send in for all her CRA tax benefits and other necessary finalities and benefits! Among all this I got the 24 hour flu and threw up for the first time in over 20 years! Not a fun night but it was over quickly :)

We also had a meeting at the fine arts school we are considering for the girls kindergarten. We loved it. Jon doesn't even want to check any other options out at this point. The principal was lovely to us and totally on board with what we want for our girls. We loved all the art and music covering the halls and classrooms. We loved the fact that Livi will be able to read music when she leaves there! We will need a second car to get them too school and that seems rather daunting at the moment but we have some time to figure that out... and pray!

This weekend is a little less crazy only because our dinner plans cancelled. Our friends were sick. It was actually a good thing they cancelled because Friday night Jon and Livi got the same flu that I had had. They were both better within 24 hours but last night was rough. Sofie has still remained healthy so today I took her to the FVDSS Christmas party. She had a lot of fun on the bouncy castle and running around! At the end of the afternoon Santa came for a visit!

Tomorrow is another Christmas party at a friend of Livi's house. Then Monday, Jon goes back to work... Not sure how I feel about that yet as next weekend is the busiest one yet! I hope the transition of Jon going back is easy on everyone!