Today we headed down to our favourite beach to enjoy our last couple of hours with Grandma Charlotte. We played on the playground for a little bit and then made our way to the walking path (towards Cornwall Ave and Starbucks), to which Gracen immediately exclaimed, “Drink! Drink!”, knowing that a steamed milk with cinnamon was in her near future… Smart little cookie! Puppy kisses, puddle jumping, sea glass collecting, and extreme swinging were also involved. Here’s the proof:
Mondern merry-go-rounding.
A dreary day treat.
Splish splash.
Searching for something special.
With Papa’s help.
Taking it all in.
“Catching Papa”.
Extreme swinging, courtesy of Gma Char.
‘Hello down there!’
‘Wheeeeeee!’
Our morning ended with a tuckered out little lady falling asleep on the drive home (an hour before her usual nap time), therefore missing out on saying goodbye to her “Manmaw”. Oopsies. Although she didn’t wake up desperately searching for Grandma like we thought she might, she did remind us about where Grandma sleeps and where she sits at the table several times throughout the remainder of the day. Not to worry my sweet girl, Grandma’s last words were, “Make sure that foamie doesn’t go too far – I’ll be back at the end of March!” Days spent in the backyard gardening with Grandma are coming very soon, Miss G.
Today we got in a full day of quality time with Grandma Charlotte (a.k.a. ‘Gma Char’). It involved a Granville Island visit, some shopping, several tea parties, plenty of cuddles, and a giant Costco trip. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty great day. Here are a few photos I took along the way.
Grandma Charlotte was in town this weekend doing some professional development and visiting a friend, so we got to spend afternoon with her today. Gracen kept her busy with colouring projects and countless storybook requests. Grandmas don’t need rest, do they?
Gracen adores the little family and friends photo book she got in her stocking while we were up in the Okanagan.
I’m fairly certain we’ve “read” it at least 5 times a day each day since she got it. She carefully points to each person’s face and either tells me the person’s name or waits for me to tell it to her.
“Manmaw” (Grandma) and “Ee-Doh” (Gido) are easy peasy.
Grandpa Dave still gets called “Ee-Doh” most of the time, but we’re working on fixing that.
Inevitably, someone in the book is always “pretty, pretty, pretty”. Today Grae ran her little finger over Auntie Rozi’s hair several times and announced, “pretty, pretty, pretty”. I asked her, “Grae, do you think Auntie Rozi is pretty?” and with big eyes, she gave me the biggest, most serious nod ever. Aw, Auntie Rozi – Grae thinks you’re pretty!
Here are a few of the other pages in Miss G’s book:
Making the book was super easy. All I did was round up some photos, add the text using Pixelmator (the photo editing program I use), and printed them out. I picked up the little album while grocery shopping, and it cost next to nothing.
We’re still waiting on a couple of photos of great grandparents, but Gracen loves this little book anyways. The best part is that Little G always has her loved ones close by. :)
Gracen absolutely adores this little sweater from “Manmaw” Sue. In fact, I think she’s worn it everyday since she got it. It doesn’t matter how much it clashes with her outfit, it’s the only jacket she wants to wear right now. Oh, and just in case you forget who it’s from, she’ll remind you every few minutes by pointing to her sleeve while announcing “Manmaw” and nodding her head convincingly.
This afternoon we all got together at Grandma Sue’s house to celebrate a belated Christmas together as a family. It was the picture perfect day for it too… The weather was crisp and giant snowflakes filled the sky and covered the ground. Mom had saved her Christmas tree and the house was still decorated for the occasion. Here are a few shots of Grae’s second Christmas this year…
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.
Late last night, the Kossowan crew arrived in town from Cochrane and this afternoon we all met up at Silver Star for some tubing and ice skating. Here are a few snapshots from the day…
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.
After thawing and grabbing a snack, we all headed back outside for round 2 of skating. Gracen loved being pushed around the ice in her chariot and we stretched our time as far as we could before packing up and heading down the hill for bedtime.
This morning Gracen awoke at her usual time of 6:30 a.m. and was thrilled when we gave her her stocking filled with little treasures to root through…
She’s been patiently eyeing up the pretty packages scattered along the living room floor for days now while we’ve been reminding her that they are “for looking, but not for touching”. Today was finally her lucky day and she took unwrapping her packages very seriously.
She carefully opened each little stocking gift, ripping off tiny bits of paper until each present was fully revealed.
After all of that hard work, she finally got to enjoy her gifts. True to our tradition, this year she got Christmas jammies (which she opened on Christmas Eve and wore to bed), a special Christmas book, a new ornament for the tree, a few stocking stuffers, and one bigger item – her vintage table and chair set. She’ll also be getting a few handmade gifts at our ‘Christmas in January’ in the Okanagan, but shhhh… She doesn’t know that yet.
Grandpa Dave, Grandma Charlotte, and Uncle Brett arrived to our place shortly afterwards and once everyone had a cup of coffee in hand, Gracen opened her packages from her grandparents and uncle.
Talk about being spoiled. She got some new clothes, shoes, winter gear, hair pretties, books, and blocks.
Of course she loved Papa’s Steve Jobs biography just as much as her own gifts. :)
After present opening, it was time for stories with Uncle Brett while Mama, Papa, and GC prepared brunch.
Christmas breakfast, complete with a tree-shaped egg and a brand new Christmas dish set from Great Grandma Shirley.
With a messy breakfast out of the way, Grae got dressed in her pretty little Christmas clothes and shoes.
The rest of our day pretty much looked like this. There was a lot of lounging, reading, snacking, and relaxing involved.
Of course there was also lots of playing with her new things for Miss G. She absolutely adores these photo blocks from GC and GD.
Back to eating! Last year, Grae wasn’t yet eating solids, so this was her first ever Christmas dinner. She even tried a few of the Ukranian foods Mama’s family always had at holiday meals while growing up and liked them all.
Our hope was to take a decent family photo dinner was cleaned up and put away, but unfortunately, that mission proved to be impossible. Five grown adults and a baby in one shot led to silly faces, hysterical laughing, crossed eyes, and a random Cabbage Patch doll joining the family. But you know what wasn’t impossible? Getting 15 great shots of a too-busy-to-sit-still-for-one-minute toddler. Haha! Weird how that works. Ogasawara crew, you’re a tough bunch!
Our night ended with a light tour walk around the neighbourhood, an overly excited little lady being tucked into bed, and a few generously-poured rum and eggnogs. All in all, it was a lovely first Christmas back in Canada and I can’t wait until we get to do it all again in the Okanagan with the other side of our family.
Tonight Grandma Charlotte and Grandpa Dave arrived for the holidays. Gracen very anxiously awaited their arrival in front of the window and luckily they made it just in time to have a good visit before she had to go to sleep. I have a feeling that this is going to be a Christmas full of spoiling. :)