Only 6 weeks apart and absolutely smitten with one another.
♥
Keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
Category Archives: in photos
Cousin Love
Cousins.Christmas Day {2012}
Our Christmas was lovely this year. We awoke to our usual morning call – “Mama, Mama! All done! All done! Grae Grae had a nice sleeeeep”, had a little family snuggle in bed, and made our way into the living room so that Miss G could open the little gifts in her stocking. It was filled to the brim with bath fizzies, miniature kitchen utensils, wooden stamps, a couple of little clothing items, an owl puppet, and some of her very favourite nuts and treats. Grae opened the tiny packages carefully, admiring each before moving on… She was thrilled with all of her new goodies.
With her stocking opened, we took a little present break and made a big Christmas breakfast together.
Brad and Gracen’s jobs? Playing with our freshly made gingerbread play dough and entertaining the crowd.
With breakfast eaten and cleaned up, we gathered back around the tree for our gift exchange. Gracen opened her gifts (plus helped everyone else open their’s) and spent a few minutes investigating each, before thanking the gifter and moving onto a new package.
She was hugely spoiled with new clothes {these little black boots included}, games, puzzles, a doll stroller, and wooden kitchen accessories, as well as this giant dress-up kit filled with all kinds of costumes and accessories.
After a lazy rest of the morning and early afternoon {plus a good nap for Miss G}, we all got dressed and ready for the big Ogasawara family Christmas dinner.
My mom and Rorie were able to come out and join us, which Gracen loved. She toured around the house showing Grandma Sue the gifts she’d opened earlier in the day and then settled in to play with her gingerbread play dough again.
As usual, christmas dinner was absolutely delicious. Gracen’s favourites included the turkey and rosemary smashed potatoes.
Afterwards, us adults visited with full bellies and glasses of wine while Grae snuck in a few last minutes with two of her very favourite new things – a vintage doll from Grandma Sue and a stroller to push her around in from Grandma Charlotte.
It was a good day. And only the start to our special days with family this holiday season…
Merry Christmas from our family to yours.
♥
A Christmas Eve Tradition
Christmas Eve was always special for me growing up. We usually spent it at my Grandma and Grandpa Routhier’s house with all of our cousins and did Christmas dinner, mass, and our big gift exchange that very same night. It was the one night of the year when my brother and I got to stay up as late as we wanted and eat all the treats (including pop – gasp!) without having to ask our mom first. I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but we always said that we celebrated on Christmas Eve because we were French.
While Brad’s family does the classic Christmas Day celebration, we’ve held onto a tiny piece of my childhood Christmas Eve tradition with a little gift opening for Miss G on the night of the 24th. Each year, she gets two small gifts to open – one a new pair of Christmas jammies, and the second, a special Christmas book to add to her collection.
Tonight Grae opened candy cane-striped footie jammies (her favourite) and a hardcover copy of A Porcupine in a Pine Tree: A Canadian 12 Days of Christmas under the glow of the Christmas tree. After a warm bubble bath, we read her new book as a family and tucked our little candycane-striped girl into bed for the evening.
♥
Keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
A Gingerbread House for Grae
Grandma Charlotte and Auntie Judy have had plans for a gingerbread house decorating afternoon in the works for several weeks now. While Auntie Judy took charge of making the gingerbread pieces and assembling the house, Grandma Charlotte collected all kinds of {healthier} decorations so that Miss G could decorate and snack a little along the way too.
With all of the prep work already done, today, we popped over to Auntie Judy’s house {conveniently located just down the farm’s lane way} to let Miss G decorate her first ever gingerbread house.
After Auntie Judy whipped up a quick batch of frosting, Gracen got started with ‘painting’ the icing onto the house using a popsicle stick.
Her decorations included all kinds of dried fruit and nuts, as well as sesame sticks and breadsticks, and while not the most traditional of decorations, Grae didn’t mind one bit.
She completely covered the roof and two sides of the house, then decided that doors and windows were required on the front and back.
Afterwards, with the help of Papa, a fence was added to the backyard.
Tadaaa! The finished product.
♥
Keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
A First: Snowman Building
Those of you who know Vancouver, know that snow around these parts is a rarity. It barely makes an appearance, and when it does, it’s for a very brief amount of time. Before long, it begins to melt and the city is a slushy rainy mess in no time. This time around, however, we were lucky enough to hang onto much of yesterday’s snow, plus get a fresh batch early this morning. To make the most of it, this Grae and I spent the morning outside playing, walking, and sledding in it, plus we shovelled our walkway and sidewalk, as well as those of the neighbours on either side of us.
This evening, after picking up Papa from work, we decided to stay out and enjoy it just a little longer… This time by making Miss G’s first ever snowmen.
Meet Tess. A mama snowman (snowlady?) who is 2 years old.
Gracen loves her so.
And despite how it may appear, this is a kiss and not a nose nibble.
Tess’ plastic hat just wasn’t working for her. Time to switch it up. This one has Grae’s stamp of approval.
Meet Yess. Mama’s baby boy snowman who is 1 year old.
I’d say she had a great first snowman experience… Now what to tell her when her beloved Tess and Yess begin melting away…
♥
Keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
The First Snow {2012]
Though not a lot, Miss G has definitely seen snow before. But today, when she woke up and I whisked her off to the window to show her the surprise that had arrived overnight, she said to me, “Mama? What’s dat white stuff?”
With that, we promptly layered on some winter gear on top of our pajamas and headed outside to play in the {barely there} first snow of the year.
“Dis is snow? Santa likes snow.”
Perfect snowball making snow.
“Yook, Mama! Yook what Grae Grae has.”
Snowballs.
A collection.
Attempted snow angel.
For the freezer.
♥
To keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
Stanley Park Bright Nights
Today my little lady and I headed down to Stanley Park for our second year at Bright Nights. Last year, Miss G was just a tiny little thing still riding around in the Ergo, but this year was a whole new ballgame. She rode the train and pointed out things with one hand while holding my hand with the other, she cruised around the displays taking in the lights, she made friends with the Frosty the Snowman mascots that were strolling around the park, and enjoyed a warm milk and a bag of popcorn as a special treat.
Here’s our evening in photos…
All aboard!
Beautiful light displays.
Through the tunnel.
Chillin’ with Frosty.
Firefighter Grae.
The happiest little girl.
Taking it all in.
Magical.
“Mama, take Grae Grae’s picture!”
Warm milk to end a lovely {and chilly} night.♥
Just for Fun: Santa Photo Comparison
While we don’t have a Santa photo for Gracen’s very first Christmas (we were living in Kuwait and didn’t really have the opportunity there, so we planned on getting one taken in Paris while we were on vacation, but ended up spending 3 and a half days in the Frankfurt airport and never making it to France due to weather conditions…), here’s a comparison of Grae’s santa photos for this year and last. It’s amazing what a year does, isn’t it? In the first one she still looks like such a baby, and in the second, she’s clearly a little girl (*sob*).
♥
To keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
Gracen Visits Santa {2012}
Gracen’s always been a shy little girl around people she doesn’t know (men more than women for some some reason). In fact, she started really playing strange between 3 and 4 months old when most babies are still so young that they don’t mind being passed around in the least.
Last Christmas, when we went to visit Santa at a nearby mall, we were thrilled with the fact that both the photographer and Santa were very sensitive to Grae’s cautiousness. Santa took the time to come over and talk to her while she was still in my arms and let her pet his velvety suit, and the photographer set out a little rocking horse for her to sit on instead of having to sit on Santa’s knee. The session went really well, the photos turned out beautifully, and our little girl left happy and excited about Santa Claus, which was the most important part.
Given the great experience we had last year, there was no question in my mind that we’d go back to the same place this time around. We’ve been talking about it for the last week or so, and though Grae’s seemed really exciting about seeing Santa, I could definitely sense that she was a little uneasy with the sitting on his knee part.
When we arrived to the mall this morning, we lined up, and enjoyed the entertainment provided by Santa’s playful elves. Gracen went around collecting their trading cards and loved seeing the tree, hugging Frosty the Snowman, and inspecting Santa’s kitchen as the line up moved through Santa’s village. When it came to her turn to visit with Santa, she was happy to give him high fives, but didn’t want to sit on his lap. And you know what? That was absolutely fine with me. Having my little girl feel nervous or uncomfortable all in the name of a photograph is just not worth it in my eyes. Instead, she sat on his rocking horse long enough to snap a couple of quick photos, and then asked to be taken off. Here are the shots we got this year…
I love how the first one starts out very seriously, in the second you can see a cautious smile sneaking out, and in the third she looks like she’s having a good time.
In the end, the photographer asked if she’d like to sit with both Mama and Santa, and she agreed {although she doesn’t look overly thrilled}.
Overall, I’d say the whole thing went pretty well. The photos are a perfect representation of Grae, after our mini photo shoot was done she snuck back to give Santa a quick hug, and she hasn’t stopped talking about him since.
♥
For those of you in the Lower Mainland, these photos were taken at Richmond Centre. I’d highly recommend them as the elves, photographer, Mrs. Claus, and Santa are all absolutely lovely and great with little ones. They have several package options all available for $25 (we always get the disc of images so we can print and use them as we like) and there’s plenty of entertainment as you wait in line. For more information, click here.
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…
♥My Baby’s Not a Baby Anymore
We had plans to attend a morning story time today, but when we woke up to no rain, I knew we had to make the most of it and get outside. Grae agreed without hesitation and immediately suggested going to the beach. In particular, the beach with the “biiiiiiig ladder and biiiiiig slide”.
It’s still kind of crazy to me that my baby girl can do all of the things she can now…
*sigh*
♥
What Happens When Papa’s Home…
Oh my word – this just kills me.
♥
MORE of Our Family Photo Session
Today Gracen and I headed downtown to pick up our photo order from Bethany. (Which, by the way, Gracen was so excited about. All morning she said, “Befany’s a niiiice yady. Grae Grae yike Befany. Befany take Gracen’s picture! We go see Befany now?”)
I don’t know if it’s because these are our first ever family photos, or because I {obviously} think Miss G is the cutest child ever, or because Bethany is AH-MAZING at what she does (okay, so it’s probably a combo of all three), but I’m just over the moon with how our photos turned out. Here are some more of my favourites because I just can’t help myself.
♥
If you haven’t already entered to win a photo session of your own, and you live in the Greater Vancouver area (or will be visiting the area sometime between January and April of 2013), visit this post immediately for details.
A First: Family Photos {& a Giveaway!}
Getting family photos done is something I’ve wanted to do for the last two years. Yet somehow, I just haven’t made it happen. There was excuse after excuse after excuse… It started with we’ve got way too much to do before returning back to Kuwait with a 20 day old baby, to it’d probably be really hard to find our kind of photographer here in the desert, to let’s just wait until we’re more settled back here in Vancouver. The problem with the whole situation is that before long, you have a 2 year old {who is going on 5} and a single family photo that was taken in the living room with a blanket draped over the mantle and a camera propped up on an ottoman and a stack of books. Not good.
So when Bethany, of Images by Bethany, contacted me and offered us the opportunity to have a family photo shoot with her, I jumped on the opportunity. I had originally met Bethany at vancouvermom.ca‘s Top 30 Mom Bloggers celebration, where she took head shots of each of the 30 mamas, so I already knew how beautiful her work was. We selected a date and planned to meet at Granville Island, a place we love and frequent regularly.
Somehow, amidst a rain-filled week, our shoot landed on a gorgeously sunny afternoon with not a rain cloud in sight. We met with Bethany, she immediately made friends with Grae, and we got started.
Now if I’m being honest with myself, the biggest reason we probably haven’t had family photos done until now is that I really don’t enjoy having my picture taken. The awkward poses, my smile that quickly becomes fake… It’s just not my idea of a good time. But with Bethany, it wasn’t like that at all. In fact, it kind of just felt like we were walking around the island chatting with a friend who occasionally snapped a photo or two. And to me, that was the best part. It felt natural.
On the night of our viewing session, Brad and I made our way downtown to Bethany’s beautiful little studio. She greeted us with hot tea and world’s most amazing organic doughnuts (made of locally-sourced ingredients no less!), and turned on a slideshow of our images. They were stunning.
The photos spewed Gracen’s little personality and made the simplest of things – walking hand in hand, collecting leaves, marching, and buying bread – look beautiful.
We’re so very grateful to have our very first set of family photos and I’m beyond excited to share that Bethany is generously offering one lucky Mama.Papa.Bubba. reader a chance to win a complimentary family portrait session of their own! The prize includes a 1 to 2 hour photo shoot in a Greater Vancouver location of your choosing (a $350 value!), an in studio viewing session, a month long online photo gallery, and an 8 x 10 print of your choice (a $30 value!) HUGE, right?
The contest is open until Sunday, November 18th and there are multiple ways to win (be sure to leave a separate comment for each).
To enter to win a complimentary photo shoot with Images by Bethany:
Leave a comment below telling me your idea of a perfect Greater Vancouver photo shoot location.
For additional chances to win:
–> ‘Like’ Mama.Papa.Bubba. on Facebook, then come back and leave a second separate comment saying you did so (or that you had previously).
–> ‘Like’ Images by Bethany on Facebook, then come back and leave an additional separate comment saying you did so (or that you had previously).
–> Tweet about the giveaway {Lower Mainlanders: Win a FREE family shoot at www.mamapapabubba.com ($350 value)!} and leave an additional separate comment saying you did so.
Don’t forget to leave your email address! The winner will be announced on November 19th and contacted via email.
♥
Details: Family portrait session will be done on location (Greater Vancouver area only) and will be 1 – 2 hours long ($350 value). Session must be booked for January – April, 2013. Includes an in studio viewing session, a month long online viewing gallery, and an 8 x 10 print of your choice ($30 value).