Brian the Monkey

Gretchen is in the Green group at preschool and their little group mascot is Brian, the Monkey.  Brian came home with Gretchen for a short visit.  We decided to take him to one of our favorite places . . . the library!  We're pretty sure he had a great time!  

January Phone Dump

Happy New Year!  Vancouver did an early countdown downtown, so we went with the McTaggarts to ring in the new year with free sugar cookies and a great band . . . at 7:30pm.  It was perfect for our crew!

We flew home on Ryan and I's eleventh anniversary.  Eating goldfish crackers and watching cartoons with my girls at 1:30am isn't the most romantic way to celebrate a wedding anniversary, but the flight home could have been worse and my handsome husband was waiting for us with a smile and beautiful flowers in London.

The garden centre in town had several of these book displays that the girls loved playing in!

I wanted to take her back in her Cinderella dress but it just never happened.  Such a fun idea!

I still have to check when things are too quiet and I don't hear her, but half the time now the silence is because she's "reading".

Puddle jumpers!

A hot chocolate treat with Uncle Joe's Starbucks gift card.  Yum!

I've always wanted to have a bunting . . . ya know . . . just because.  Hosting a baby shower this month gave me the perfect excuse to make some!

Some Christmas packages that took their sweet time in getting to us (still thankful to be able to mail at US rates).  I was grateful to have made the post office run with just Bridgette since we were in the little car!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

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!