Man, Oh Man…I’m missing the natural light…outdoor sessions…all of it!

Although, it is nice to have a fresh coat of snow on the ground-everything looks clean again & it makes a great backdrop too!

I’m not going to mention her age here…

But as you can see my mom is  a beautiful ‘spring chicken’!!

Happy Birthday Mom!  Love you lots!!!!

We couldn’t miss the torch…it was coming right through Thamesford so we could easily walk to the end of our street to see the FLAME!

While we were waiting, Jer & Eric were acting so silly…this is my little double J’s…

At least for our dutch heritage!

It would be quite something if we did not receive a family set of chocolate letters…Eric thought it was AWESOME…A CHOCOLATE “E”…perfect!!

The BIG day…my favorite day of the year!  Jesus’ Birthday!

We start off the day at church!

After, we head to my parents for a traditional (including cranberries that are thrown out after the meal EACH year) turkey late lunch (around 2)..because there are too many appetizers out (chips & dip, sweet trays etc)!!!

In the past we have opened gifts a totally separate day, but that was becoming tough to coordinate with so many different families and gatherings so we do it on Christmas Day now.  Karen always hands out the gifts, youngest to oldest!  We were all spoiled rotten again…

Since the kids are getting a bit older now, the adults had a chance to play some games!  (something I love to do, if you haven’t noticed!)  For Christmas we received Wits & Wagers as well as Dutch Blitz so gave them both a practice run!  Amazingly enough, Dad even joined in on Dutch Blitz…Dad has 2 games Euchre and Crocinole…so that was something VERY different!  LOL

This is Karen handing out the gifts…with her decorative flashing Christmas Light Necklace…I’m pretty sure that it’s not Stella & Dot!

This was the only thing on my mind today!  GROSS…

Sitting at the hospital I thought “OH NO, I didn’t take my picture yet…”

We were home around 10:30PM and I snapped this…

The last party for Eric’s Birthday…we’ve already covered the Streutker party and the Weverink party so this is his friends party!  I should also mention that he sent treats in to his friends and had a special day at JKCS school as well!

Must be fun turning 4!  He was spoiled with gifts and attention!!!

This is also the day that Eric’s Uncle Mike was carrying the Olympic Torch (click on the link to view photographs taken by a family friend Peter Rauwerda)

Also the day of the Church Candlelight Service and Sunday School Christmas Program.  AND the day of the Santa Claus Parade in Thamesford!

A bit much…we had to make choices…

For Eric’s Birthday we let him have his choice for one meal…happened to be waffles and strawberries so that was breakfast…we went to church, had lunch and then Grandma & Grandpa (the hitting ones from Aylmer) arrived!  Just in time to open gifts!  VERY EXCITING!  Here is a picture of Eric realizing that he got the Leapster he’s been asking about (almost daily) for several weeks!

We played with all his new games for most of the afternoon…then Grandma & Aunt Tracy came to babysit (so Kev & I could attend the candlelight service) and they took the kids out front to watch the parade (it quite literally goes right in front of our house)…