Jia's 1st Birthday!

Our baby turned one today!  What a fun day.  We rented a pool and party room which made things nice and easy for us.  Jia had a great time and that's what counts the most.  When everyone was eating cupcakes, she had a bottle and a jar of butternut squash :)  ;Couldn't get her to blow out the candle.  After the party Penny and girls came over for dinner and a play.  Just before Jia went to bed she did some show off walking for us.  I think we've turned a corner on the walking, she no longer needs someone holding out their hands to catch her, she is just taking off across the room now.  Yesterday she learned how to open doors!  Yikes, we're not quite ready for her to be at that level.  Time to baby proof a bit more.  She is such a busy girl.  What a little doll she is.  Lili says she is growing up way too fast.  I agree, the big girls are growing up too fast too!!

Santa cookies

The girls baked and decorated cookies for Santa, yearly tradition.  Jia decorated one too!  Which was seriously cute.  What a gift our Jia is this year!

Christmas

The girls had a great time of course.  Sufficiently spoiled.  Jia took the new events in stride.  She is such an easy going kid.  Gramma and Grampa got her a Cinderella ride on car, that is such a hit that she sat on it for lunch and then again this morning for breakfast.  Funny stuff.  Lili and Fei got Wii and several games so I don't think we'll see much of them for a few days.  We did manage to get a new TV (Samsung, 42" plasma).  The girls are thrilled.  They weren't thrilled with shopping for a TV but now that they have the Wii and it makes sense they are.  My parents slept over Christmas Eve, I think they were hoping the girls would get up early and be super excited.  Nope, they slept until 8:30!!  All three of them.  We normally make them eat breakfast before we start but after they did socks and the baby was doing so great, we figured we'd just keep going.  In the afternoon we took off to the city to have dinner at the Gardens with friends.  We've never gone out for Christmas dinner before.  Nice to not be cooking!  Eric had the turkey which he said was OK, the girls and I had regular menu stuff.  The lights were fabulous and the rain held off while we were there and started to drizzle as we were leaving.  Lucked out.  We bought our seasons pass and it's good for Christmas day next year.  It was such a nice way to end the day that there is a distinct possibility we'll do that again.   Jia did great.  No fussing at all.  She loved watching the brass band and the carolers. 

Now I have the beginning of a cold, ugh, Jia too.  We're going to a pantomime tomorrow.  We've been going to one the week after Christmas since the girls were really little.  I'm really looking forward to seeing Jia's reactions to everyone booing the bad guy!!  Then we're home to make cupcakes for Jia's 1st Birthday!  Wow, did that ever come up fast!  We're hoping everyone remembers the party.  It's a busy time of year. 

Christmas Train

We rode the train with friends after the girls had their dance party/recital.  The weather was perfect, not too cold and no rain or snow.  The kids had fun.  Jia took that outing in stride.  She didn't look particularily thrilled but there was no fussing and she was busy looking around. 

Tonight we bravely head out shopping to grab a few food/house/baby essentials.  We've also been shopping for a new tv, so that we can move ours downstairs.  We think the girls might need a better tv to use with their Christmas gift.  So, the big burning question of the day, plasma or lcd or led?  We hate shopping for electronics, it's just not our thing.  The girls asked why we needed a new TV and I told them it would be nice for them to have a better TV downstairs, they still haven't clued in.  Hopefully a deal lands in our laps tonight.

Too funny

Getting ready

The girls and the tree are lovely, but LOOK at that FLOOR!

Oh wow.

Can I open it now?  It has my name on it.

Oh look, my thumb just poked right through the paper.

Now Mom is putting the baby gate around the tree!!

Bah Humbug.  It's simply too much fuss at Christmas time.  Mom took Lili and Fei on Friday night.  Eric, Jia and I went out for dinner and to pick up a few things for the weekend.  Mostly we needed wrapping paper.  I bought 8 rolls.  We used it all.  That's just sick.  We only shop for our three kids.  It took me a whole hour just to locate the hidden bounty and get it to the living room.  Another half hour to sort and make sure the piles and purchases were even.  They're not.  Lili and Fei did WAY better than Jia.  Shhhh don't tell Jia.  We're hoping she won't notice this year.  Jia went to bed at 8.  Eric and I were up until mid night working non stop.  Sat. Eric rode.  Mom and Dad kept the big girls and Jia and I cleaned all four bedrooms.  Phew.  I don't normally clean the girls rooms.  Well, I do Jia's but not the big girls.  We're just running out of time and I wanted it done quickly so this one time it was easier.  Of course what I discovered was that Lili can't fold clothes at all and she has way to many bits of treasure.  Fei is a neat freak with her clothes and inside her drawers it's, well, it's just down right pretty.  She folds her little cammies and undies into little squares, I was so shocked and proud when I opened her drawers.  She does however have WAY too much make up and WAY too many head bands.  Too funny.  I was worried they would feel I invaded their space but they both came home and were thrilled that I'd done their rooms for them.  Go figure. 

So, Saturday night the tree just had lights and berries on it so we finally went through the decorations and got the tree and mantel done.  We downscaled the decorating because of Jia and Isabel but it's still festive.  Eric and the girls picked a scotch pine for our tree.  Don't do it folks.  They look lovely but deadly sharp needles on that sucker and we had to wear cloves to decorate.  I should say the girls wore gloves, I just handed them the doo dads after getting stuck by the tree a couple times.  So, it took all weekend but we're ready now.  The new floor is down and it's truely lovely. 

Odds and Ends

Making new friends.

The piano is a beckon for Jia, she must play with the girls!

I just don't have time to blog everyday.  So, I'm cramming a bunch of posts all on one day.  The girls are out of school until the 4th.  17 days off in a row.  Gosh, I sure wish I had all of those days off with them.  I'm at work blogging since there just isn't any time at home :)  I do get five days off for Christmas this year, my flex worked out for me this year.

Jia is getting stronger every day, she is starting to spend the bulk of her day on her feet.  She is seriously on the go.  Into cupboards, drawers and toilets.  We never had to lock anything with Lili and Fei.  Not sure if we're older and lazy, if she really moves more than Lili and Fei did or if our house is simply too big but we're going to have to get some kid safety gadgets if she doesn't slow down!  The other day I wanted to get dishes done so I let her play in the food cupboard and it was amazing how long a bag of potatoes kept her amused.  She is now crawling up the stairs the whole way!  We do have gates, we only let her climb when we're behind her. 

I've always wanted to string cranberries for the tree.  Since Lili has been studying pioneer days I thought it was time.  We all worked together and made a great long string.  It's lovely, we had fun making it.  Now I'm worried that there are fresh berries rotting on our tree, possibly putting red ick on my special things.  Hopefully they dry rather than rot further.  

School Christmas Concert

Such fun.  The whole school did a fabulous job.  We as parents weren't involved at all this year other than dressing our own kids and getting them there.  Next year we'll be able to jump in and help again.  The last picture is of the whole school, doesn't look like many kids when you cram them together on a stage.

Dancing

It's pretty and it tastes good too!

Several times a year the girls dance school performs at a local long term care facility.  This was Jia's 1st time going and she had a lovely plaid dress to wear.  Thanks Nicole for the dress!  Gramma came with us this time and Jia was happy to stay on her lap for most of the show. 

Fun Family Literacy Night

Chomped his head off first!

Hmmm, this guy again?!

She would NOT take her eyes off of Baby Bear!

Our local school district puts on these events for kids up to age 8.  We used to take the girls all the time when they were younger, they've outgrown the crafts and we haven't gone for a couple years.  I got it in my head that it would be good for Jia to go, so, off we went.  She's way too young and the girls are too old.  We had the most fun we could there.  Jia really enjoyed the singing and was thrilled to get her hands on some instruments.  Lili was pretty much happy to decorate and eat a cookie.  She enjoyed watching Jia.  Fei was happy to do the crafts but really they were too simple for her and it was clear she'd prefer to be home putting more time into her art.  I think we'll hold off taking Jia again until she's a bit older.