Deck the Halls 2009

Looooooooong time no blog. Story of my life this year. Boooooooo. It's been an insanely busy month. Chris and I went to Winnipeg the first weekend for his staff party. It was held at Celebrations Dinner Theatre, and was a HOOT. We had a great time. It was the first time since we've had children that we've actually left them behind and traveled somewhere. For about twenty-seven hours. Thanks to Mom and Dad who made it possible.

Dad's been doing great with his chemo. It's a bummer they can't go south this winter since Dad will be tied up with bi-weekly appointments, but that won't stop them from some weekend getaways here and there.

Cooper's birthday was on the 6th. That was the day we were coming back from Winnipeg. On Tuesday, the 8th, we had his birthday party. I made the invitation list based on the first six names of classmates Cooper gave me, intending to have the party at our house. I ordered THEEEEE MOST AMAZING cake. There is a local girl who could seriously win major awards for her cake artistry. Please note that everything was edible...even the map. She's fabulous. Not only a gorgeous cake but delicious too! Here are a couple pictures from the party:





I've managed to do a little Christmas shopping over the past couple weeks. Next exciting events of the month were the boys' Christmas concerts this week. I have a couple pictures and video from each, but I don't of course have permission from all the parents for posting so there are just pics of my boys. The videos are pretty cute too. Oh and this first picture was a weak attempt at a fun artsy picture for Christmas cards...



First was Cooper's concert on Wednesday:




Next day was Carter's...my handsome boy in his new sweater from Grandma :)



Last but certainly not least, I embarked on our fourth annual traditional Christmas tree decorating time-lapse video. Videos from previous years are available for viewing here.

Yesterday I went for my (approximately) quarterly hair appointment. I got my hair trimmed and had my highlights refreshed. By the way, I'm done work for the rest of the year. Yesterday was my last day. Today was very enjoyable. I took the boys to school then went for my eyebrow appointment. I did some computer work this morning then had a great lunch with Cindy and Leeanne. After lunch Leeanne and I did a little shopping then came here for some of Kelly's fabulous carrot cake. Chris's Dad made dinner and brought it over for us and we had a good visit. All in all a pretty good day!

Sweet December

Well, we nearly had a snowless November. It snowed yesterday and I'm guessing it's here to stay. There were fender-benders all over the place. It's insane how people don't realize they need to switch to winter driving once the snow arrives!

Last week was a short workweek for me. I needed to use up a couple vacation days before the end of the year. On Thursday I was home alone for the day and did some much-needed rearranging and tidying in the kitchen. Friday was not as fruitful; I spent a large, annoying chunk of it trying to find printer ink to finish printing invitations for Cooper's birthday and a few other projects I've been wanting to tackle. I'd been checking Wal-Mart regularly and they apparently won't be stocking ink anymore for the printer that IJUSTBOUGHTFROMTHEMTWOMONTHSAGO!!! I had a hissy fit and made plenty of phone calls. Much to my amazement (and subsequently delight), I received an email back from Kodak only a couple hours after I contacted them. The ink is also available at Canadian Tire and Staples and a couple other places. Surprisingly, our Canadian Tire had some and I also placed an order from Staples. I should be all inked up for the next while.

On Saturday night, I had a PartyLite candle party with a few friends and my Mom and Aunts. I made some great munchies and we had fun snacking and playing games and shopping for candles. Sunday was a pretty lazy day spent around the house.

Last night our nephew Dominic stayed over since he had an early morning bus to catch to a school sporting event. I had a date with the girls to go see Twilight: New Moon. I'm not into the whole Twilight book series but I did find this movie more enjoyable than the first one. I also enjoyed the movie snacks nearly as much as the movie.

Today we all got our seasonal flu shots. Chris picked up the boys to bring them in and this time Cooper was NOT a willing customer. I was soooooooo bummed when he was flat out refusing. He's always gone very willingly and completely unafraid. Obviously it's too soon after the H1N1 shots we got last month and he remembers having a sore arm. We did manage to make him get it and despite the fight he was settled quickly.

We came home and Chris had stopped at the dollar store to get the boys a little something for their heroic (ahem) efforts in getting their flu shots. They played together for quite awhile without incident with the army toys Carter had picked out. Cooper opted for an egg that is currently submersed in water pending the hatching of a snake. We had a snacky supper with hors d'oeuvres from M&M. I put the finishing touches on Cooper's birthday invitations and got a few other things printed. All my boys fell asleep while I printed and cut everything out. I managed to squeeze in a decent Bejeweled score (2nd place) and it's still early in my books. I haven't taken any pictures lately; maybe I'll try bribing my family into a Christmas picture so I can attempt getting some Christmas cards done before the Easter Bunny arrives...

Oh...and the title of this post? December is sweet because I counted the days I work this month...the sum? ELEVEN. Sweeeeeeet.