Boxing Day

What a fun Boxing Day we had! Uncle Clarke and Aunt Gayla rented out a skating rink in Penticton and the entire Rowe clan headed over there for an afternoon of skating and hockey. It didn't start so well for us. Daniel fell asleep in the car on the way there and was not pleased to be woken up. He and I sat in the stands for a while to watch everyone and wake up while Adam got his new snowsuit on and headed out onto the ice with Grandpa. Adam wasn't so sure about the whole ice thing, but he didn't mind it. Finally, after about 15 minutes, Daniel said, "Maybe I want to go tating now." He got his cheese cutters on (double-bladed skates that go overtop of boots) and heading onto the ice. It didn't take him long to be laughing and having a great time. He usually went out with Grandpa, sometimes with Daddy. I asked him if I could take him but his decision was, "Well, maybe no. I want to go with Grandpa. You too slow!"

Grandma and Auntie Lauren got a few turns, too.

Daniel had a great time zipping around the ice with Grandpa.

Our little family on the ice. We're not the best skaters but we had fun!

Half the ice was used for a hockey game but we stayed on the tamer side, where everyone was just skating around. Occasionally, Grandpa and Daniel would zoom by. They fell a few times, but Daniel always came up laughing.

Daniel even got to try out a bit of hockey. He liked it. I hope he didn't like it enough to want to actually play hockey. I don't think James or I could handle 6am practices!

After skating, Aunt Judy brought cookies and hot chocolate for everyone, which was a huge hit.

After skating, everyone headed over to Auntie Kim and Uncle Peter's for a lasagne dinner. It was a big party, with 25 people there. Some were visiting, some playing Lego and Ninja Turtles, and there was a Connect 4 tournement going on. It was a nice way to wind down.

Adam kept showing off his cheese face to all the cousins. What a show-off!

No Boxing Day gathering is complete without an extended family Rock Band. Aunts, uncles and cousins all gathered in the TV room to play or watch. Even Daniel got to play the drums with cousin, Tyler. Somehow, Adam slept through it all.

What a fun day! The boys were exhausted by the end of the day, but they had a great time. In fact, the whole trip was fun. The next day, we had a nice, quieter, visit with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Campbell and headed home on the 28th. Fortunately, our drive was pretty uneventful. It snowed a bit around Manning Park, and the road got a bit icy, but it was good ther rest of the time...until we got to Hope. There we drove through a huge freezing rain storm. Then we were stopped outside of Chilliwack for 45 minutes behind the scene of an accident. But, we still managed to get home in about 8 hours, which is pretty good for us!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! After much anticipation, the day finally came and the boys had a really good time. They got an easel and art supplies from Santa. Adam loved the easel. I guess Santa saw how much he liked the one at Strong Start (the drop-in preschool we go to). Daniel was more interested in the Hot Wheels colouring book.


First we opened stockings, one of the traditions that is a bit different between the Rowes and the Terrys. We always used to open presents first, then stockings. James' family does stockings first, then presents.


Grandma and Grandpa really got into the Christmas spirit.

So did Adam!

The boys spent a lot of time with their art stuff. I guess Santa knew what he was doing when he picked it out for them.

When Auntie Lauren and Uncle Duncan got up, we opened presents. Grandma and Grandpa gave the boys a cool driving game, which both of them loved and, surprisingly, shared really well.

Auntie Lauren gave Adam a puppy that barks and moves when you pet it. Adam loves all things animals, especially dogs, so this was a great gift for him. He's not getting a puppy any time soon, so this will be a good substitute.

After presents, we bundled up, got in the car and drove to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Rowe's for brunch and presents. The boys got new snowsuits, which they really needed in this weather. Daniel was still wearing his from two years ago (size 18 months!) and Adam was just wearing a fleecy outfit in the snow. No wonder they cried everytime from being too cold!

The boys fell asleep on the ride from Okanagan Falls back to Summerland and had a good long nap before Auntie Linda, Uncle Mike, cousin Courtenay and her boyfriend, Josh, came for dinner. The turkey turned out well, as you can see from the paparazzi that was photographing it!

After the delicious turkey dinner, the boys went to bed, the adults played Yahtzee or Scrabble and visited until the guests (well, the ones who hadn't all but moved in) went home. It was a very nice Christmas. Christmas has been so fun this year because Daniel has been so excited and Adam feeds off of his excitement. We were very lucky this year!

Christmas Eve

Great-Grandma and Grandpa Campbell came for lunch on Christmas, to visit and do presents with us. They gave the boys toques and mittens, which they really needed. The boys had gone out in the snow earlier that morning and had come in 10 minutes later, in tears, because their fingers were so cold! The boys gave them a photo calendar, which I think they quite liked.

A rare picture of James and Leah:

A very sweet picture of the great-grandparents with their two favourite great-grandsons.


After the Campbells left, Uncle Duncan finally arrived after about 8 hours of driving through a lot of snow. Then we had dinner and played games.

Daddy decided to show the boys the Norad website where they track Santa's progress around the world. Daniel thought it was pretty cool. And, of course, James loved looking at all the satellite imagery and telling us how it all worked! :)

Grandma and Auntie Lauren came to check out where Santa was heading next.

Cute boys in their matching jammies:

Then we hung some stockings and set out cookies and egg nog for Santa and some carrots for his reindeer.

Santa's cookies didn't last too long. I don't know if you can see it, but the boys' mouths are full of Santa's cookies!

Adam was so exhausted that evening that he had no problem falling asleep. But Daniel had a tough time settling down. We had told him that Santa wouldn't come if he was still awake. After he went to bed, any time he heard a noise, he'd get all worried and say, "Quick! Go to sheep! Santa comin'!" Finally, after almost an hour, he fell asleep. And Santa did come!

Carolling party at the Rowes

The day we left for the Okanagan was quite an interesting one. It had snowed about 30cm the night before, so we had to dig the van out of our parking spot. It took us almost an hour to just get off of our street! Then we had to head over to Canadian Tire to buy chains for the van. Finally, after all that, we were able to head out on the road. Fortunately, the roads weren't too bad and we made it to Summerland in about 8 hours - that included driving slowly and stopping for dinner. Not too bad.


The next day, December 23, we settled into Grandma and Grandpa's house for the week. After dinner, we went out to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Rowe's house for their annual carolling party. The boys had a great time being the only young kids there. We were excited to hear that Ryan and Jennette are expecting their first baby. Finally, a cousin for the boys to play with. (Well, a second cousin once removed, or something like that!)


We all gathered in the basement to sing along with Great-Grandpa on his bass, as well as the rest of his band, which included some neighbours, some cousins and friend, Diego. The singing was a little off-key but it didn't matter because everyone had a good time. Daniel had a great time playing along with the band, first on the triangle and then on Josee-Anne's violin. Adam just loved wandering around and socializing!

While the adults were singing and visiting, the boys were discovering all the fun things to do at Great-Grandma and Grandpa Rowe's house. They had fun playing "jail" under the stairs and running around like crazy.

Finally, Santa came to visit! Daniel was surprised to see him and Adam was in awe. But Adam still wouldn't have anything to do with Santa. Daniel went up for the two of them, though, and got a bunch of chocolates and candies.

Daniel got into the chocolate right away, as you can see, and Adam couldn't get away fast enough!

After getting three bags of candy, and eating a few, Daniel decided to walk around the entire room and offer his candy to everyone else who was there. There were probably about 50 friends and relatives there and he went up to each one and said, "Atooz me. You want some?" Everyone was so impressed with how polite and generous he was. He didn't mind at all that most of his candy was gone by the end of the evening. James and I were pretty proud of him that night!

The boys lasted a long time and we didn't leave until about 10:30. They were still in high spirits...but quickly passed out once they got in the van!

Christmas with the Terrys

We celebrated Christmas early with my family, since we were spending Christmas day with James' family this year. All the Christmas traditions were the same, just four days earlier.

We ate lunch as soon as we arrived and then headed downstairs to open presents. The boys were very lucky with all the gifts they received. They got a few toys, soome new clothes and a couple of new DVDs. Daniel enjoyed opening his presents...until he found his Batman motorcycle. Then all he wanted to do was play! Adam, on the other hand, really didn't care much about opening presents - maybe next year.

Each of the boys made James a painting for his office as their Christmas present. Hopefully everyone at work will appreciate his fine taste in art!

The boys gave me a cute little story, dictated by Daniel and written by James. It's so cute!

After the boys' naps, we opened stockings. I think that was Daniel's favourite part of Christmas. he loved all the little presents.

Here are Gramma and Grampa opening their stockings.

Uncle Neil and Aunty Gloria went to an ugly Christmas sweater party and modelled their sweaters for us. Gloria made them herself - so talented!

Very festive jewellery, Adam!

Then we had our turkey dinner. I was impressed that both boys ate all their dinners. I don't think they ate anything at Thanksgiving. They looked very cute with their Christmas cracker hats, too.

Daniel knew how to win Gramma over. Give her a kiss and she'll give you seconds of dessert!

Adam enjoyed his supper. Here he is showing off his messy face, as well as his bumps and bruises from falling on the stairs and falling in the snow during the day!

While we were there, the crazy snow started. It snowed all day long and, by the end of the day, we had over 30cm of snow! Grampa went out a few times during the day to shovel the walk and Adam decided to help him. It wasn't easy when we finally decided to go home, but we all managed to dig out our vehicles. We left the next day to head up to the Okanagan and, while we were gone, it snowed even more! We really missed out on a memorable Christmas in the Lower Mainland.

Overall, it was a very nice Christmas #1. It was a quiet day, with a bit of excitement in the evening. :) Dinner was delicious and everyone was very lucky with all the gifts they got. Merry early Christmas!