2012 in Review

Our annual year in review video:


2012 Vimeo Version from Meagan McCance on Vimeo.

For past years see 2011 and 2010

Christmas

well, I'm so happy this year! At first I was a little sad because my parents were gone and it seemed like we didn't have anyone to spend Christmas with. But then Sarah and Nick came and we just chilled all day and the girls were in heaven. I think Sarah and Nick may just be their favourite people!

Christmas Sunday (the 23rd) was a hit....meaning, no one was sick!! Yay! I really really wanted to get a picture of the girls before church with their hair done and everything...but we slept in. So we tried one after church. A little bit scraggly, a little bit hungry and a little bit tired. This was the best I could do. lol. I think they look like angels! We spent the evening at Nate and Tans for a delicious Turkey dinner with the whole family! It was amazing!

 
Christmas Eve: we went to Becc and Jar's we ate and ate and ate and ate. And of course the kids performed the Woodruff version of the nativity:

The Angel came to Mary to tell her about her upcoming pregnancy

and then the other Angel arrived...and Mary said "what's the babies name...and can it be a girl". And she thought about it, and said "nope, it's a boy and it's Jesus"

And then they all got together...a sheep or two tried to escape. But they still all sang praises to baby Jesus, who we're grateful turned out to be a boy!

 Christmas Day: Presents!! now let me tell you...we have a special little family. We ALL sleep in! So around 9:00 am the big girls woke us up...they were soooo excited to open presents. We started with our stockings. Then put gift opening on hold, ate a HUGE brunch (aebleskivers, bacon, eggs  etc). Then we skyped with mom and dad...and THEN around NOON we finally opened gifts!!! Different for sure...but perfect!

So...Hailey is the best gift opener...always excited and always showing it. In this picture, the excitement is mixed a little with disbelief! See...a few weeks earlier I caught her snooping in my closet...discovered that she'd found this Barbie makeup kit...and therefor made her return it to the store! Probably the meanest mom in the world. BUT of course I bought it back when she wasn't there and we still gave it to her! So it all worked out in the end, and she learned a little lesson about snooping. She now has makeup on every day!

Cait certainly enjoyed her gift from Sarah!

Paige...this picture is pretty much why parents love Christmas so much. Soooo cute! And it was just a Barbie...but a Barbie is just what she wanted!

A glimpse of my house after presents...messy!

Boxing Day: We went to Claresholm to celebrate with Ben's family. They rent out the church every year and the kids just run around and play. So fun. We also had a little gift exchange for the kids... and a million gifts from Nana and Grandpa. 

 Candy!! Why bother buying this kid anything else?

and the best moment of the day...the snowman building contest! I think Ben wins!!

Anyway, Christmas this year was all sorts of magical! We missed my parents a ton, but it helped to have my family so close by! Thank you Sarah and Nick for spending the day with us...we LOVED having you here! And thank you to my beautiful for girls for being so in LOVE with this holiday and enjoying every moment! And thank you to my perfect husband...for everything - and especially my new camera! It's a keeper! Anyway, I've got to get my 2012 recap video uploaded and I'll try to post it later!! 

Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings etc.

Christmas prep

Christmas Preparations are well under way. We've been a bit under the weather since Mexico... so things haven't been all that exciting. But we've tried out best.

We sent letters to Santa

Paige couldn't reach...so Hailey thought her three inch advantage would help. lol

We decorated a gingerbread house...and the kids had full artistic license

We made sugar cookies

And at them...of course

We did some Christmas crafting (Michael's premade kits...that's the way this house rolls)

We've been reading a LOT of Christmas books

And we even attended the cutest Christmas concert ever!

It's been a pretty good Christmas season. Cait didn't really want to be involved in any of the activities....so she didn't get any pictures taken. Scrooge. Kidding...she's been pretty happy to crawl around and eat crumbs off the floor while we ignore her. Kidding. Sort of. 

Mexico 2012

Well...I'm starting to really get used to this yearly Mexico thing. It's just sort of nice. Well a LOT nice. I'm so grateful to my Aunt and Uncle for inviting us down every year! We LOVE and look forward to this week every year! Anyway...we clearly went to Mexico again this year. Each time is special in it's own way, but this year was fun because we took our kids...and a ton of my cousins were there with their kids. So it was pretty much just solid play time for the kids! We missed my parents though (they are our travel buddies, and discovered that travelling without them is way harder then we'd expected. We were outnumbered by the kids you know).

Anyway...preparations for the trip were slow and LONG. Half of us go the stomach flu, and my parents left on a mission all the week before we left - we stayed pretty busy with all that. So things were definitely put into mad rush mode by the end of the week. BUT we got it all together and made it to Mexico. The girls were angels on the plane. Even Cait - who we were the most worried about. She was about a week into fighting a pretty intense bladder infection and we were worried that she would cry the whole time. Instead she slept the whole time...and was patient in our three hour delay.

Sunday: We arrived in Mexico pretty late Saturday night...so it was fun to take Cait out in the sun on Sunday morning. She LOVED it. But sadly we kept her in the shade the rest of the trip (her antibiotics and sun don't mix too well). We spent Sunday relaxing around the pool, boogie boarding, getting groceries, etc. It was a GREAT first day.

Monday: Another great Beach day. Another great Pool Day. Some Dirty Taco's and an awesome dinner in Punta de Mita. Imagine a restaurant to yourselves (and the 20 other members of your party), live music, a table for the kids to eat at (while watching Nick jr), a waiter to spoon feed your kids because they are too distracted to feed themselves, and the waves crashing on the beach just a few feet away. Seriously, it was awesome!

The kids had a poolside dance contest. So cute!

Tuesday: Ben and Hailey had the stomach flu. Which meant they slept all day...never even saw the sun. So Paige, Cait and I partied at the Beach, and relaxed on our balcony.

Crawling....a favourite for this little girl

iPhone movies during nap time

Post bath pictures with the elephant towel

Reading books during nap time

Wednesday: The day started out GREAT!! We got to witness the hatching of a turtle nest just steps away from our villa. It was AMAZING! We watched well over a hundred baby turtles make their way to the ocean. Seriously....such an awesome thing to be part of. We finished off the day with some shopping at the market in Bucerias and dinner back at the resort.

Look at those little guys...so tiny and adorable

Do you see them? The Turtles? I think I see 8 in this picture.

This turtle is just waiting for the surf to take him away

Starting to feel a bit better...I guess dinosaur towels brighten any mood

Already adjusted to the heat....long sleeved shirts!

Thursday: Ben and the girls hung out at the resort and I got to go Zip lining with my cousins. Ben may just be the best hubby ever. He went last year and I couldn't go cause I was pregnant...so he made sure I got to go this year. It was soooo fun! Then Thursday night we took the girls into La Cruz for Dinner at Frescatti's. It's a sweet little Italian Restaurant. It was soooo nice to eat normal food. I really do love Mexican food and all the dirty tacos we ate, but I was craving some tastes from home. And I KNOW Ben and Hailey's stomach's appreciated it as well.

Friday: our last full day! We spent the whole day pool and beach side. Oh wait...I actually spent 2 hours in the spa. Like I wasn't spoiled enough having a day without kids the day before...Ben decided to surprise me with an 85 minute massage and 25 minute facial. Hello husband of the year! I also  had Ben catch a few pictures of me Boogie boarding so I could add them to my '30 by 30' bucket list. One of my goals was to go boogie boarding in mexico...which I have done before, but just wanted to make sure I did again! I also was supposed to eat shrimp and actually like it. AND...I did!! But there are no pictures to document that moment. But I did order three different shrimp dishes while in Mexico...and each time it was delish! Anyway...we ventured back to La Cruz with my cousin Emily and her family for dinner that night. We asked some ladies we saw on the street where they'd recommend we eat for dinner and they pointed us in the direction of Philo's bar. So we headed there and had some great pizza! The place was clearly a tourist spot - meaning only white people were there. But that's sort of what we were looking for..or at least what our weak stomachs wanted. The place was awesome! We were the youngest people there by at least 30 years but loved every second of it. The best part of all was the live band! I think it was the owner and his buddies? Anyway, they played great music for dancing and the kids LOVED every second of it! I'll have to try to upload a video of them dancing! It was a magical evening! The perfect way to end the trip!

Only my kids could be cold in Mexico!

Eating her favourite thing...the beads on my bathing suit

My main man

Me...Boogie Boarding..the waves were weaksauce this day

We always had the BEST sunsets from our room!

Saturday: Check-out, return the rental car, and eat one last Mexican Taco at Marlin Tacos across from the Airport. mmmm. They were yummy! Hailey and Paige were GREAT on the flight home. Cait not so much. She cried on and off for a good 2 hours. And then slept for an hour and was ok the rest of the flight. Everyone was pretty patient with us...but wow, that baby was sad. As it turns out, we all have colds now. That may have explained her extreme crankiness...she probably had a hard time equalizing her ears. I know it took me over 24 hours to equalize after we landed...thanks to my cold.

Anyway...the trip was GREAT! The company was even better! I LOVE this place and hope we get a chance to go back again one day!

p.s. some of these pictures or pretty low quality - we didn't always have a real camera with us, so made due with stills from our video camera or iPhone. 

It's December...

And I have some November to catch up on.

Since we last spoke, a few exciting things have happened:

This little lady learned how to crawl:

This Family of mine finally got together for some pictures:

These parents of mine got their mission call...and LEFT on their mission a few weeks later. Well they actually never got the call, but they figured it out:

This little lady lost her first tooth (and her second too...but that was December):

 This little friend came for a visit to our house...and plans to keep our kids in line for Christmas:

This little lady got the stomach flu (as well as the rest of the family...me first, and then the others at at the worst possible time - in MEXICO)

AND...we went to Mexico. Well that's technically a December thing. So I'll post about that one later!

When I have time...