Gracen absolutely adores the little colouring book we made for her ‘Christmas in January’ stocking. She loves pointing out her family members and having me tell her about what’s happening in the pictures. We’ve already coloured 4 pages today, and it’s still morning!
All we did was take some of our favourite photos of her and her cousins, pop them into Photoshop, and turn them into line drawings rather than photos. Then I printed them all on card stock, bound them, and that was it!
Here’s a little peek at some of the other pages in the book:
Here’s my cool girl helping her Mama with grocery shopping.
This is my all time favourite picture of Grae and her cousin, Kinslee, who is exactly 6 weeks younger than her.
Of course, her cousin, ‘SuperChay’, had to be in the colouring book.
And here’s one of her cousin Korbin’s pages.
The best part is that while we colour, we can talk about all the fun memories that fill the pages. This photo was taken when Grae’s cousins came to visit us in Vernon and we all visited the pool for Chayton’s birthday. I have a feeling these little colouring books will become a yearly tradition in our family. :)
Today we headed out to New Westminster to check out the Royal City Kids Fair. Although the fair wasn’t great, the Quay did not disappoint.
The boardwalk was beautiful! We walked up and down the walk, greeting people and puppies along the way. Grae loved watching her pinwheel twirl in the wind.
We stopped every now and then to pop in the markets, watch the birds fish from chunks of ice, and watch the tugboats come and go.
One of the highlights was definitely this boat playground. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a shot from the outside, but it is basically an old boat that’s been anchored into the boardwalk and converted to a children’s play area.
Gracen loved it. We’ll definitely have to bring Papa down here sometime soon.
A few days ago it appeared as this little fig thief was working on her own… But after walking in on this today, it’s clear that’s she’s got a partner in crime. :)
Such a fun way to start the day. I wish it would stick around, but I have a sneaking suspicion that all of this snow won’t last much longer…
This morning we headed down to the States to stock up on groceries. Luckily we had this little shopper along to help fill the cart. :)
This morning we woke up a wonderful surprise – SNOW! Not the wet, messy snow that turns to puddles within the hour, but real, light, fluffy snow!
Naturally, Grae and I quickly got dressed and headed out to scour the stores for a little sled. It took a couple of stops, but we found one! We got dressed, got Grae strapped in, and toured in the neighbourhood for most of the morning.
Grae waved to other walkers from her sled, and if we so much as paused at an intersection, she’d immediately start signing, ‘More! More! More!’ Hopefully the snow will stick around for a bit so we can enjoy it for a few more days.
Miss G definitely has opinions and preferences when it comes to things she wears. Today she put together this little outfit with some of her new favourite things from last week’s Christmas celebration. She loves her Tippyknits wool scarf and rubs her face on it while announcing how “pretty, pretty, pretty” it is. The quilted pink sweater is from her Grandma Sue and she won’t let you forget that. While wearing it, she constantly points to her sleeve while saying, “Manmaw” (grandma) and nodding her head very matter of factly. The green bag is made of recycled chocolate milk tetra packs and she adores it. She fills it up with whichever goodies are in need of being totted around and wears it on her elbow like a designer purse. Throw in a crocheted hat, her party shoes, and a giant carrot, and you’ve got an outfit! Strangely, it kind of works. You go, Grae.
This little lady seriously cracks me up. This morning we were hanging out in the the living room. She was reading books and I was doing laundry. Suddenly, she got up and disappeared around the corner. Not a moment later, she zoomed back through the living room with her arms full and her eyes lowered to the floor. I walked into her room and turned on the light to find this. A little monkey with a snack, bowl, and mouth full of dried figs. Apparently she was hungry!
Well, after a lovely week in the Okangan, it was time to head back to reality today. The good news was that the Coquihala was open this time around, but the bad news was that the roads were ROUGH. It was slow going pretty much the entire way down and they ended up shutting down the highway shortly after we had passed through. Luckily for us, Gracen did better than we ever could expect her to do on such a long trip. Being strapped into a rear-facing car seat for 8 hours is no fun, you know. As much fun as our trip was, it’ll be nice to get Grae back into her own crib and get back to our little routine.
Bradley and the bubbas in the ball pit.
Gracen was in ball HEAVEN!
Gracen playing with the alphabet blocks on the side of the wooden school bus.
Bus driver Kins and climber Grae.
Papa built Gracen a little hideout in the toddler play area.
She was more than willing to test it out.
Where’s Grae?
There she is!
Here come Papa and Grae down the giant slide!
Wheeee!
Christmas dinner complete with homemade perogies!
Grae had a little help polishing off her desert.
Grandma Sure and her grand babies.
Notice how Miss G is the only one not loving the pre-present photo session? I blame it on a bedtime drawing near…
Gracen opening her very special (and very large) gift just from Uncle Gary.
I wonder what it could be… Keep unwrapping, Grae.
Wow! Her very own wooden art easel! I can already see many finger painting sessions in this little artist’s future. Spoiled girl.
After opening her easel (and many other gifts she was spoiled with), she moved on to helping Papa with his.
After a wonderful day spent with family celebrating Christmas, this little lady was ready for bed. We tucked her in, and once her cousins were all down for the night, Bradley, Gary, Roz, and I met up with some friends and went out for the evening to celebrate Roz’s birthday. Grandma Sue had generously offered to stay home with all 4 munchkins while we enjoyed a night on the town. It was the first time Bradley and I had been out together since having Gracen, so we were a little nervous about how the night would go, but everything went great. When we tiptoed into the house at midnight, everyone was sound asleep and Grandma Sue hadn’t heard a peep.
Gracen and Korbin are bundled up and ready to hit the slopes.
Grae and Kinslee in their twin sleds.
The crew.
“Skating” while cozied up in her stroller.
Dinner in the warmth of the cantina.
It was a lot cooler today than yesterday, but that didn’t stop us from heading out on our second snow adventure.
We got Grae bundled up and snuggled in her sled…
Then headed down the lane…
And up “the hill”.
We found a nice little path and with Brad at the top and me at the bottom, sent the little lady down the slope.
Apparently we were a little too ambitious with the length of our sled run because poor little G took a tumble about halfway down. Oopsies! Parenting fail. She’s such a little trooper that she just laid there until we came and rescued her.
We did a couple more runs and then headed back down the hill.
By the end of it, we were all chilly and Gracen was unimpressed that she had to wear Mama’s mittens when she didn’t even want to wear her own. Time to call it a day.
The one thing we really hoped for when preparing for our trip to the Okanagan was snow. Lucky for us, Lumby has plenty!
After a lazy morning, we layered Gracen up, put her in the sled Grandma Charlotte had borrowed from a friend, and headed out for a walk.
Gracen LOVED being pulled in the sled. Especially when Papa ran and her little sled zoomed down the icy road.
Although she’s terrified of Bella when she gets too close, she quite likes when she’s nearby.
When we went to head, Grae frantically started signing “More! More!”
So we found a snowy little slope…
Here she goes!
Wheeeeeeee!
So much fun.
Despite the cold, our little snow bunny enjoyed every minute. I’m almost certain we’ll be doing the same thing again tomorrow afternoon. :)
Well, the roads didn’t want to cooperate with us today… We checked the highway reports early this morning to find out that the Coquihala had been closed due to a huge accident and they weren’t expecting to open it for a long while.
Our options included heading home in the usual direction and taking the detour route (which seemed to be the longest, busiest option), or heading home on the slow and windy Crow’s Nest highway and hoping for the best. Of course, we picked the Crow’s Nest. The roads were snowy and slippery in some parts, but all in all, they weren’t terrible. By the time we made it to Princeton, we’d gone through the worst of it and decided to stop for a little break.
Saying that Gracen was ecstatic to be out of the vehicle is an understatement. Sadly, after letting her cruise around the snowy parking lot for a good long while, we had to strap her back into her seat for the rest of the trip. She was not a happy camper to say the least.
The rest of our trip consisted of clear roads and a couple side of the highway potty breaks. It took us well over 8.5 hours to get here, but at least we have no where we need to be for the next 7 days. Yay for that.