Christmas 2008

Christmas morning, the girls jumped out of bed, excited to open their various gifts.




for some reason, Skye is really into doing surveys these days, something she learned at school. she had been wanting a clipboard to help with her surveying activities, so she was quite pleased with this gift! :)



playing time continues after a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs & sausages!


we headed out to romp for a bit in the snow


on Boxing Day, Uncle Mike and Auntie Megan joined us and the girls had another round of opening gifts!





Auntie Megan trying to take a picture of Claire with her fancy new phone...

and again...

and again!

Claire gives up

Gingerbread house - averting disaster

so we made a gingerbread house again this year and it was very nearly a complete disaster! i baked the dough, but must have left them to cool too long on the cookie trays, so they were stuck! glued rather. i managed to get 2 pieces off the tray without breaking. the roof pieces were completely shattered and so were some of the sides!! i managed to glue all the pieces back together with the icing and hoped the house would hold. as i was putting the house together, it fell apart! poor Skye, she was so nervous! well, we have what we call a Gingerbread Shack this year. there are white "glue" patches all over and even a hole that Skye made into a window. :) but Skye had fun with it.

Claire got to decorate her first mini house too this year. fortunately for her, her house was intact. :)

one of the walls collapse!








the roof sags a little, but you can't really tell that in the photo! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

you won't be getting a Christmas card from us, as usual, but here is our Christmas greeting to you. one is a scripted version, the other unscripted. :) enjoy, and may you and your family have a wonderful Christmas this year.


Christmas greetings 2008 from slkim on Vimeo.


Jackson Five's Santa Clause is Coming to Town from slkim on Vimeo.

Christmas fun

i've been lagging behind with Christmas this year... i think my plate has been so full with all the snow shovelling and all the writing i've been trying to finish. BUT here are some photos of some of our Christmas activities as we wait for the big day. we visited Olbrich gardens where they have a train exhibit every Christmas. Claire LOVED the trains and was glued to the railing for a long time. she kept saying "candy cane" afterwards because there were these beautiful huge sticks of candy canes on the trains. :) we also stopped to see a Santa, but Claire was terrified of the "old" man! only Skye wanted a picture with him. :)

Skye's ballet recital

last week, Skye had her final ballet class for the year which is a recital for the family and friends to attend. here are some shots as well as a movie from the recital. i've posted lots more movies from the recital at vimeo, so please watch! :)

Skye goes to a ballet school called Storybook Ballet. they focus on the drama of ballet at this early stage, not so much on getting the steps right. every week, they read a story during class and then after learning some ballet steps, they dress up in costumes and act out parts of the story they just read. for the recital, the girls were all dressed up for "Cinderella."






here is one video of the recital. i've posted several more, so please watch! in this one, you will see how Claire disrupts the dance!! :)

Skye's ballet recital from slkim on Vimeo.

Our various activities indoors

Skye works on a garland



Skye made a "mole house" with some clay.



finally, the girls decorate the tree and have a great time doing it!

Snow, snow, and more snow (this was an entry title last yr too!!)

yes, there is so much snow everywhere already and no prospect of any of it melting any time soon! here are some shots of our activities in the snow. i'm sure they'll all start to look the same soon!! :)

i took the girls sledding for the first time over the weekend


today, after snowing all night and most of the day, the girls and i went outside to shovel. Skye, rather than helping me, decided to build a slope for the sled. :)


frozen Claire...


Skye goes sledding on her slope


"Mum, look at my snow coach."

Thanksgiving and Claire's birthday party

here are some photos, belated. i'm busy trying to catch up here!

for Thanksgiving, we had friends and some of Phil's graduate students over for dinner. we had a great time! i had cooked a 23.5 lb turkey, but unfortunately, we forgot to take a photo of our big bird.






the day after Thanksgiving, we had Claire's birthday bash. :) many of Claire's friends came to celebrate and Phil's parents and brother Mike and wife Megan joined us as well. it was a good time. and Claire was just great with all the attention thrown her way! :) here is the birthday girl!


Claire's 2nd Birthday party from slkim on Vimeo.