Christmas in Canada {part 3}

This post will wrap up our Christmas in Canada, so there are going to be a slew of photos from memories I don't want to forget!

Besides getting to celebrate Gretchen's birthday, we also got to be with Aubyn for her birthday and my dad for his!  Scott arranged for an adult-only dinner out to celebrate Aubyn and later we went out with Mom and Dad for his birthday to have breakfast at a downtown Vancouver joint!

Lots and lots and LOTS of hanging out with the cousins!

We took a snack break at the play gym and they sat themselves down in order of age. 

Another highlight of the trip was Nana's visit!  She came and played with us for a couple of days.  Time with Nana is always a blessing.  She had just played "Santa" to the kids, passing out all sorts of treats and goodies, and this was the best shot we could get of her with six of her seven great-grandchildren (Finnick wasn't there yet).

Konnor, Tana, and Finnick drove up from Portland to complete the group!  We praised God that the home He provided for the McTaggarts was able to hold eight adults and seven children pretty comfortably!  It was wonderful to finally meet sweet Finnick.  

The boys were catching up! 

Grammy Deb and G-Daddy's Christmas Eve pajama tradition made it all the way to Vancouver!

Finnick opening his Christmas box-o-fun with a little assistance

These two little monkeys snuck off and were caught finishing off the pan of cinnamon sticky buns from breakfast!

Ryan flew home before the rest of us, so we had one family morning together at Granville Island, playing in the kid market, shopping for some angel tree gifts, and each choosing which stall we wanted our lunch from.

One of my mom's gifts to each of her girls was a lunch and shopping trip - without kids!  We had a treasured few hours together downtown.

The kids all got headlamps for Christmas and Rooke scored some "spy glasses" as well!  Kaye K played a memorable game of hide-and-go-seek in the dark one night!

Missing Ryan, but everyone else was together to enjoy the Stanley Park Christmas lights.

It was a wonderful Christmas we won't soon forget!

Gretchen's 4th Birthday

We got to celebrate Gretchen's birthday while in Canada.  She turned FOUR!  It's hard to believe that we welcomed this sweet girl into our family a full four years ago.  Our bunch of Paynes would not be the same without her joy, spunk, sass, or sincere care for others.  I'm grateful she was surrounded by so many who love her so well on her special day.

December 22, 2009

Her last sleep at the age of three . . . wearing her new birthday pajamas from Grammy and G-Daddy!

Her birthday fell on a Sunday, so we started the morning joining the kind people of Trinity & Main Church, which meets in the McTaggart's home and Scott pastors.  The kids were doing a special Christmas song performance on this particular Sunday, so our kids joined in!  Rooke was the king, Gretchen was the "song", and Bridgette sat with Maisy as a little lamb.  They were so cute practicing before everything started:

 Gretchen is FOUR!  Let the present-opening and cake-eating commence!

A jewelry box from Kaye K and Big Daddy (which we are working on using so as to eliminate the trickle of sparkling accessories I find throughout our house every day!)

We gave her a Strawberry Shortcake costume . . .

She requested chocolate cake with white mint icing and pink sprinkles.

Happy Birthday Gretchen Ruth!

Christmas in Seattle {part 2}

We included in our Christmas plans a trip down to Seattle to see friends.  We loaded up a rental car with snacks and writing material in hand, and headed South.

Our first stop was the Heaviland's home to see my dear friend, Jessie, and her family, who graciously hosted us for the days we were there.  The kids picked up where they had left off when the Heavilands paid us a special visit in 2012.  Time with this wonderful family is always a fun blessing and rich source of encouragement.

We spent a morning at the coolest energy-burning warehouse I've ever been to!  Beautiful Jessie was taking care of her growing twins (due in March!) while the rest of us jumped all around her.

It was fun to re-visit some places I have memories from while living in Seattle.  Rooke and I fed the camel and reindeers at this nursery four years ago.

We also got to share in the Heaviland's annual Downton Day where we spent some time acting as tourists in Seattle's downtown streets all decked out for Christmas.

This entire thing is made entirely of edible products and takes the idea of a gingerbread house to a whole new level!  This one was Rooke's favorite of the six that were on display in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel.

  Jessie had the perfect plan for our time together in Seattle.  I cherished every minute I got to spend with my beautiful friend.  

Walking around Greenlake lit by luminaries topped off with Chipotle burritos was a great night!

I was thankful for a chance to catch up with my life-long friend, Brit.  We met in sixth grade, but at this point I consider that to be life-long!  She was my first friend when we moved to Oregon and I'm still grateful for her friendship.

When we lived in Seattle, the community group we were a part of felt a lot like family.  We lived two doors down from the Hurt Family, who hosted the group each week, and you could often find my bunch of Paynes hanging out with the Hurts.  Sarah graciously hosted a happy hour in her home so we could get together like we used to on Tuesday nights.  Except this time, instead of just Sarah's three kids and our two kids going to sleep upstairs, there were fourteen little munchkins!  A movie was in order so the adults could catch up!

We put our kids in their pajamas and kept them up late because it was too hard to end the night with goodbye.  Catching up with friends in Seattle was refreshing for our souls.     

Christmas in Canada {part 1}

The flight over felt like a breeze.  The plane was mostly empty, so our five plus my mom literally had multiple rows to spread out on!  We flew during our daytime, and the kids were ecstatic to have their own personal screen  with shows and movies to choose from.  Add snacks, a few meals, and Bridgette finally taking a nap and we did pretty good making our way from London to Vancouver where Uncle Scott was waiting for us at the airport.

One of the things I was looking forward to most on this trip was meeting my two nephews for the first time!  My sister claims that little Leo was a rough baby for the first few months, but you would never believe it from the chilled out, happy, smiling boy we got to know!  He is precious, and Bridgette might even love him more than I do.  She was infatuated with him - a little too much sometimes!

I love, love, loved the time I got to spend in my sister's home with her family.  Yes, it was a bit chaotic with six (seven, once my brother's family arrived) kids ages five and under running around!  But getting to do normal day to day stuff with she and Scott was so great.  Plus, Aubyn always makes me laugh!  She's such a great mom and I was encouraged by how engaged and patient she is with her kids.  We agreed that having our own space again after a month would be nice, but prefer that it be just down the street instead of half the world away.  I miss her.

The McTaggart's home is never lacking in fun!  We had lots of dance parties in their spacious living room where I tried to the kids could bust out some great moves on the slippy wood floors!

Christmas movie night with homemade caramel corn.

It snowed twice while we were there.  Just enough to enjoy the beauty of everything covered in white, make a lame attempt at a snowman, and have a good excuse for another cup of hot chocolate.

Aubyn led the troops in making snow ice cream!