Christmas Morn'

Another Christmas come and gone... Why do they have to be over with so fast?? And this year we did things differently in the Officer family. We spent a full day with each side of the family instead of travelling back and forth, back and forth - cutting visits short. So our celebrations this year lasted three days, and still it was too short! The children were spoiled rotten, again. Some highlights - personal DVD players; Nintendo Gameboy Advance and games; Barbie kitchens and princess carriages; a Blackberry Pearl for Marc; new handbags (yes, plural!!) and shoes and perfume for me and new curtains for my bedroom - well, the promise of new curtains once I call my designer to come on over with her book of fabrics!! Soooo excited about that!! The list goes on and on. We are so blessed to be surrounded by family that love us so much. And we are doubly blessed to be surrounded by family that all get along!! We LOVE spending time with each other. It is a hoot. And the kids thrive on the bonds they have with each and every single family member. But with all this celebration, I seem to have lost track of the days. I have not been to work since last Friday - and tomorrow I do have to go in for a bit to see what is going on. Sigh. How depressing... But then I am off again for the weekend and yet another very short week as we close down for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and then I go back again next Friday for the day... I guess I can't complain. Well, sure I CAN complain, but I shouldn't - graditude in my heart, blah blah blah... hee hee

Have a wonderful rest of the week all, and a good weekend!

Ciao

More Stanley Park Pics

Christmas in Stanley Park

If you haven't been to Vancouver to visit Stanley Park, you must! It is magical at the best of times, but during Christmas they turn it into a winter wonderland. Last Saturday we went to ride the train and walk the park etc. for the day. It was a blast. And the kids had so much fun. Here are a few pics from the day.

Ciao all

Merry Christmas

Wishing you much peace for Christmas.

Ciao all.

The BIG Brag

My Ethan has done it again. He finished testing yesterday at Taekwondo and has graduated to Brown Decided belt (brown belt, black stripe)! Yeah!! Now, by far, this has been the most difficult belt for Ethan. He not only had to memorize his brown belt form (46 moves) but he also had to re-memorize a lower belt form (another 36 moves) and then perform these two forms perfectly and then break his boards with a front kick and a forearm strike and do his self defence and sparring on top of it all. And now he has to do all of this with power and control. No more half hearted moves... Wow. Nothing to laugh at. Not an easy feat to accomplish. I am super proud of him. And his masters were also very proud of him - he won an award at testing for his dedication and perseverance. Awesome. Just when I feel maybe this is not the thing for him, he surprises me. Proves me wrong each and every time. Way to go Ethan!!

Oh, and he also brought home his report card - awesome!! My kid is a super genius. No joke. Can't get any prouder there!! Good day all around.

Things that have caught my fancy

All courtesay Pottery Barn. Man, I do enjoy their stuff. I have been inspired by these simple images to re-do my mantle in the new year. Exciting. Love when I find inspiration in simple things.

Ciao all

The Wall

Well, I think I have hit the proverbial "brick wall". I am exhausted. Completely. Our church dinner was a bit hit Friday night, but it was a lot of work, and I am done. I mean really done putting on parties and doing dinners and cooking and cleaning up for everyone else. People all say "thank you", but you know, it does not cut it. NOT to sound mean or anything, but really - y'all have NO idea the work and stress and planning that has to go into putting on two parties for close to 100 people each. Not to mention that this has taken up like 6 weeks of my life and the money I have had to fork out to cover things... So "thank you" does not go a long way. I am being mean. I should stop while I am ahead. I am just really tired...

Yesterday I finished all my Christmas baking. Yeah. That was a great accomplishment. So I made coconut balls and chocolate bark and two batches of sugar cookies and a batch of Aunt Mary's cookies and pecan tarts. I think it is enough. Now I need to pick up tins to give all of this stuff away! Can't have it in my house = my jeans wont' fit anymore. And the jeans cost way more than the ingredients for baking!! (Marc - don't read that part!! hee hee)

Well I have work to get back to. Good thing I am going home in about an hour. Did I mention I was tired??

Ciao all.

In full swing

Christmas is in full swing at the Officer household. I have just finished a batch of Aunt Mary's Cookies (which to me taste like nothing, but Marc grew up on them and now my kids love them - go figure...) and Crystal's Chocolate Bark. Thank you!! It is most awesome!! I would post pictures of this all, but my pics won't download from my printer - there is some technical glitch with the program... I need Marc to fix this. Pics to follow soon.

Yesterday my mom and Bella and I went out shopping so that my mom could finish all her Christmas shopping (which she did), but really, who needs an excuse?!! We went to Coquitlam Centre and to H&M. LOVE it! Spent money. Should not have. Need to go back without Bella in tow. She dragged me down. Totally cool stuff at totally reasonable prices. I am hooked. Then we headed out to Winners and again found a whack of stuff. It was just one of those days. I have been steadily losing weight for almost a year now. And yesterday I found a suit that was gorgeous. But I looked at the size and thought, no - it won't fit. Well, if it wasn't for my enormous chest, this suit would have been perfect! The jacket fit in the arms and in the back - just would NOT go across my chest. And the skirt was great - grey pinstripe pencil skirt with a bit of a flair at the bottom. Lovely. So now I am contemplating chest reduction surgery. No joke. I have lived with this long enough. I am not happy with the largeness of my upper half. And modern medicine can fix what I cannot seem to get rid of, no matter how much weight I lose. We will see where this goes.

Well, I have laundry to do and cleaning to do. I also have a Christmas dinner for 75 to prepare for - that is tomorrow night. I am tired already and the day has just begun. Such is life.

Ciao all.

Christmas came early

For me, anyways! These are my two new editions to my house. The first painting I won at our school fundraiser on Friday night. And here is the kicker - my darling and TALENTED friend Kim made this painting for us to auction. I put my bid in and at the end of the night I was chosen!! Too funny! I have three other pieces of Kim's art work in my house already, so I see this as fate. This was meant to be for me!! hee hee I think it is so funny that I ask Kim to do this for the school and then I end up winning it! But I LOVE it and it fits perfectly with my home decor. Meant to be. And does it not look like a big old piece of chocolate cake?? How can you NOT love this?!! ha ha

My second edition does not come from me, but my husband. We were out shopping yesterday and we went into Urban Barn. They still have this cabinet I am eyeing and so we went in to see if they have dropped the price yet. And as we looked around I noticed Marc talking to the sales gal. Did not think anything about it. Then I saw him standing at the till to pay. What?? I go walking up to him and ask what he is paying for. He says he bought something for the house... Hmm?? Usually he does not take an interst in the decor because I am so picky about it all. But this is what he bought, and I LOVE it!! He has awesome taste. So now as you head up the stairs to our third floor, these two signs greet you. And when you walk through our front door, you can see these two signs up the stairs. I think they are perfect - their message is clear - Welcome Home. To our home.

Have a good afternoon all.

Ciao

From my house...

Just some of the decorating I have been doing. I have come to the conclusion that I have an obsession with balls and letters...

This is a huge rusted jingle bell that I have outside on my front porch - one on either side of my living room window. Totally cool. And it is nestled in boughs of cedar. Smells good!! I also have boughs of cedar covering all my railings on the front porch.

This basket sits on my island in the kitchen. It is filled with red balls and jingle bells and the JOY letters. I made those last year. Super simple.

This bowls sits on my table in the living room. Again, filled with balls that glitter and shine - very sparkly when the lights are out and the Christmas tree lights hit the bowl.

This was my last project. This JOY sign is all glitter! Easy to do, but messy. VERY messy. But it is amazing again when the lights catch it. Love it. And yes, more jingle bells... I just can't help myself...

Ciao all.

My weekend in review

Well, it sure was an interesting weekend... On Friday we got a heavy snow warning and sure enough by Saturday morning we were blanketed. But that did not stop us from venturing out and having our Breakfast with Santa as planned. We had 62 children show up for breakfast and pictures with Santa and crafts. They made these cute button wreath ornaments and candy cane bead ornaments shown below. Love how they turned out!! Now these are proudly displayed on my Christmas tree. More memories. Love that.

This is what my front yard looked like as of yesterday morning. Crazy. And the shot below is of my back yard. You can see how hard the snow is falling. We ended up just staying home yesterday from church. Not worth venturing out. Too many crazy drivers out there. Too many BC people who have NO idea how to drive in the snow. Especially our snow which is damp and heavy and tends to freeze = black ice everywhere. Gotta love it!!