Brunch

Although holidays have officially started for Jon (YAY!!!!!), he left Monday morning to go into Chemainus and help out with Project Breakfast, since they were doing a hot breakfast day. I think he really misses doing that, and connecting with the high school kids before school and feeding them. It's pretty sad that our church hasn't kept up with this minstry... but we are really glad that Laura and Alycia are partnering together to keep it running! While he was out, I was cleaning the house and starting to get ready for us being gone for 2 1/2 weeks, and I turn to go upstairs and I see Quinny sitting here, quietly talking to Henrik. I snuck a picture and a short video before she caught me... but she was telling him "Henrik I am so proud of you for not hissiling so much at Dani anymore. You guys need to get along because if you don't, Mama will get rid of our new kitten and we don't want to her go away. I love you Henrik and I love Dani so much too, you can be best friends! I will help show you how". She said other things too, but that was the gist. So adorable. She loves her cats so much! We are all pretty happy that they seem to be getting along so much better these days! I think it's wild what she absorbs and takes in. She is so tender hearted.

 More packages! It's been fun, having the packages come in slowly, a few each day! We get very excited when a new one arrives! haha

 Raquel is a packing Queen. It is amazing what she can fit into these boxes! We tried to convince Quinny to spread out the presents over Monday and Tuesday, but she wanted to open them all immediately. Since we are leaving Wednesday, I caved, so that she could have time to enjoy her new things before we have to leave

 Hugging her new game, and trying on her new towel! I LOVE how excited she gets over everything. She kept saying "oh this is the best present!" to every one haha!

 Jon and I got packages too! His big present is a new, sweet quad helmet!! I am VERY happy that he now owns a helmet... keep that head safe! He was pretty pumped about it too, he wore it on his head for a while... he also got pj pants that he put on immediately and ditched the jeans, and wore the PJ pants all day long haha. There was a new hat in there also to add to his large and growing hat collection

 New slippers and a new apron! Pretty cute! To go along with the apron was her own tupperware kid set of mixing bowls/measuring cups/spoons and a spatula/roller for her kitchen to play with! But since its real, she can also pull them out and use it to help me bake! She played with that all morning long! She also got this cd player and disney princess cds - the player has this microphone attached so she can sing along. And sing she did... very loudly for a long time haha!

 Linda Kerr at church gave her a new tiny nativity set that she doesn't use at her house anymore. Quinny set it up and kept re arranging it. She said to me here "Mom! Now I have 3 of my own Away in a Manger sets (ever since learning that song, thats what she calls nativity sets), so I have lots like my Nannie does!" It kept her busy (along with her other new things!) pretty much all day while Jon and I cleaned and re-organized our house!

 Fort building with Dad! On Sunday night Jon went out for a beer for a while with Jacob Dorian and then on Monday I went out for coffee with Dana, Dixie, and Mary. I like that we each have very close friends who we confide in and can enjoy spending time with and who encourage us, pray for us, and love us. It was time well spent, and its nice for each of us to go out and come home after bedtime is done, to a quiet home where we can just then hang out with each other for a while.

This cookbook was in my present box! YAY!!! Beyond excited about this! Gilmore Girls is so much about food, thats part of its charm. Each recipe talks about the dish and which episode it came from, and whose kitchen it was prepared in. It's so fun! We had a brunch planned for the next day with the Eassons, and I immediately started flipping through to find Sookie creations that I could make!

 

I baked muffins - these apple spice ones were UNREAL! So so good. I also made double chocolate chip muffins. This brunch is going to be awesome

 

We got up today and set the table with Nana's dishes and made it look all pretty and festive. We were having "community family Christmas and Mel and Andrew's birthday" brunch to celebrate! Along with the muffins, I also made french toast with croissants instead of bread, and topped them with a caramel sauce with bananas. Thank you Gilmore Girl cookbook!! Jon made sausage, bacon, and scrambled eggs, and the Eassons brought juice and fruit. It was a feast! And the company was the best part. We had such a great morning together.

The girls put on 'shows' for us - singing and playing guitar. It was pretty cute. I love this stage of life, with all the performances.

Sweet baby Holly! She was wearing all clothes that were Quinny's - onesie, sweater and pants. I love that all three of the girls have worn these tiny outfits! She is such a content little baby. That could definitely change, but its so fun to see her and get to know her. I could snuggle this little face all day.

Love love love these people. I am so glad that they are our people, and the ones we do life with. We could not have lucked out more in the friend department! We had such a great morning, easy and lovely, full of laughing and honest conversation. My favorite kind of day. We gave the girls their gifts, and they gave Quinny a blue (so it looks like a Elsa Frozen one) tutu that she can decorate herself!! It comes with jewels and ribbon and sashes... all sorts of things that we can glue on! It was perfect. She is so excited to make it. I love that Mary combined Quinny's love of princesses with her love of crafts. So thoughtful! (part of Ady's gift included a giant box of Lucky Charms, because she's never had them before... pretty sure the girls ate all the marshmallows out of the top half before they even left, and Ady was already asking for more... win! haha!)

Snowtime. We still have a decent amount at our house - the rest of Crofton has pretty much melted, but because we are up higher, ours has lasted longer.

Quinny loves snapchat. She's always asking to look at "the funny faces". 

Tonight I stayed home from youth group because I was feeling pretty awful. Jon went, and her and I made hot chocolate and watched The Grinch. We tried to watch it last year a few times, and overtime she could say that it was pretty scary. I figured that she was bigger now and could see more of the humor in it. We talked about the Grinch is actually very funny and not scary and how he is nice at the end... one scene still resulted in this face

I couldn't help but laugh, the poor girl! I LOVE The Grinch, its one of my favorite Christmas movies. She has to like it! But I'm not heartless, so I asked if she wanted to turn it off, or cuddle and keep watching. She wanted to keep going and cuddle. So we watched majority of it like this

And by the end, this was her big smile! She said "Okay Mama, I do like The Grinch. He's just a little scary when he yells at them a lot. But he is also silly. I like when his heart gets bigger" So it was a win! Yay! Despite not feeling good, it was a nice, quiet night together - our last one of the holdays! We leave tomorrow for 18 days, between Alberta for Christmas and New Years with the Lampards afterwards! It is going to be so busy, but so fun. I cannot wait to see my family.