The girls got ice skates for Christmas, so we took them ice skating at Robson Square. It was lots of fun and the girls really enjoyed it. I think we’ll have to do that again!

The last two weeks have been a little crazy around our house. Christina just completed the two-week OR course at work, which meant she was working every day for the last two weeks instead of her usual part-time shift. Our Mom’s graciously agreed to watch the kids on alternate weeks with her Mom watching the kids the first week and my Mom taking the second. My Dad was able to join us for a few days as well. It just wouldn’t have been possible without them. THANK YOU!

Even though we’d told ourselves that we’d only go every couple of weeks, we’ve been visiting our new house every weekend. It’s very exciting to watch it being built and imagining how the rooms will look. We visited it again today and the house is really coming along. The basement and garage concrete slabs were poured this week, and a lot of major plumbing is in place. All the walls are framed and roof is finished. All the windows are in, but the doors are still sitting in the den, waiting to be installed. They framed the kitchen island and the fireplace this week.

We spent Christmas in Kelowna this year with Christina’s parents. It was the first time since they moved to Kelowna and we really appreciate Lori and Ian flying us all out with their Air Miles. We were also joined by Christina’s siblings Scot and Amy, and her grandparents, Verna and Dave. It was a nice large family Christmas and a fun one for both the girls.

Christina’s parents had a special surprise for the girls when we got there: a homemade skating rink. The girls each “conveniently” received a pair of skates and a safety gear from Santa a few days early. It was the girls first time skating and they really enjoyed it.

We were back in the Lower Mainland for a few days after Christmas so Christina could work, and then we were off to the Island for some more visiting with my family. We spent a couple of days in Comox with my parents and then a few more in Victoria to celebrate New Years with my brother’s family before coming back home today. We gave a mini remote controlled apache helicopter to my Dad for Christmas this year and he and I had a blast mastering the controls, flying it all over the house. Natalie and Jasmine really enjoyed playing with their cousin Teagan and the three of them kept us all very busy.

We stopped by the new house as soon as we got back to Vancouver. The latest addition is the roof and the overall exterior is really coming together. Over the next few weeks we expect that they will finish the roof and start putting windows and doors in. It’s lots of fun watching it come together.

We went by the new house today for a look and boy has it changed! They have completed most of the framing on the floors and walls. Although it doesn’t have a roof yet, the basic structure of our house is there, including the interior walls. We took a brief walk through our new house for the first time. Very exciting!

We began December by completing the sale of our townhouse and moving into a rental townhouse just down the block. It’s nice to be able to stay in the neighbourhood a bit longer. The place is great. We already feel very settled and are able to finally focus on Christmas.

We had three Christmas parties this year. It’s been great to see everyone and celebrate together. We especially enjoyed my work’s kids Christmas party with lots of crafts, face painting, food, and even a visit from Santa. It was a great time and kids really enjoyed it, although Jasmine wouldn’t go near Santa.

Natalie participated in the church pre-school Christmas pageant again this year. It was entertaining as always, and she made a cute angel.

The girls were at their 1/3 of a year marker yesterday and today with Natalie 3y4m and Jasmine 1y4m. They are both growing up so fast that it is hard to keep track of all the changes. Jasmine continues to add new words to her vocabulary although “No” and “Stop” seem to be her favourite. She loves to sing and dance along with the music and is quite good at both. Natalie’s memory and extroversion continue to surprise us. Just the other day Christina was paying for her groceries and had forgotten all about buying stamps, but Natalie remembered and took the initiative to politely ask the cashier, “Do you sell stamps?”.

We’ve been very busy over the past few weeks packing up our house. Since we’re going to be moving to a smaller temporary place until the house is built, only a small subset of our belongings are coming with us and the rest is going to storage. It’s been quite a task finding time to pack with two small children and a very busy work schedule, but we’ve managed to pull it off and are just getting the last few items packed before our move on Tuesday. Thankfully our temporary accommodations are just down the block so we don’t have to change much else in our life for now. We are very eager to get the move over with so that we can focus on Christmas.

The girls are still enjoying all their programs although some are wrapping up for the year. Natalie had her ballet dance recital on Friday and I took off that end of the day to watch. It was very cute and she did a great job. Great work Natalie! Both the girls are still in their swimming lessons and doing wonderfully. Jasmine and I swim together, while Natalie swims with just the instructor now.

We continue to monitor progress on our new house, and visited it again just this Saturday. They have finished most of the foundation now and should be filling the dirt back in soon. It’s exciting to see it take shape, and we can’t wait for them to start on the main floor! We may not be able to visit again until after Christmas, so we’re hoping to see lots of progress by then.

The girls have a toy mailbox that we store behind a chair in the living room when it’s not in use. The girls can still get to it and Jasmine has made a habit out of playing with it back there, probably because it is away from Natalie. We’d never really given it too much thought, but today I looked back there when she’d gone to play with it and found her holding three different socks and noticed another sock spilling out of the mailbox. When I pulled it out I found the mailbox stuffed FULL of socks. We’d been starting to notice that a number the girls’ socks seemed to be missing, but didn’t realize just how many. She must have been stashing them there for weeks. Who knows what else we’ll find as we start packing up the house!