Our Christmas

It was perfect. We cooked our turkey on Christmas Eve, and had our friends Kevin and Sheryl and Mike over for dinner. Too much food, too much wine but lots of fun. Christmas day started with Marina sleeping until 9am (thank you Santa!). She was thrilled with the kitchen that Santa brought her. Our neighbours Bruce and Betty or - Grandma Betty and Poppa Bruce if you ask Marina, came for Christmas brunch. The day was extremely relaxing. We went to our friends Travis and Lani's for Christmas dinner where we enjoyed the company of about 18 other people it was a nice end to a perfect day. Boxing day consisted of more food, more wine.... and more visiting. We spent the evening with our good friends Steve and Shelly and their kids Jessie and Chiara. Jessie and Chiara had several friends over and Marina was in her glory with the older kids (they are all college age). They showered her with attention! Soon, it is back to reality... less food, less wine. I definately think we will wait until January 2nd for that though.

Happy New Year to you all!

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Dear Editor:
I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says " If you see it in The Sun, it's so."
Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West 95th Street
September 21st, 1897

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there ia a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas, how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not belive in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus coming down, but what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all of the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart a baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas to all our cherished friends and family.

Love John, Erin, Marina and Taylor.

Granny

Marina and John are in Victoria spending some time with Granny Jean. Today is her birthday and the visit was a surprise. This post is for you Granny. Happy Birthday and enjoy the time with your special girl...

Stewart

Marina and I went to Stewart for a week to spend some time with my family. Marina had so much fun with her cousins. These pictures are of kids on the snowmobile track they have around mom and dads house and out the back. Wyatt and Lane each have their own machines and I was amazed to see how good they are at handling them. Marina rode on the back with Wyatt (keep in mind he is 4 and she is not yet 3!) and they had a ball! She held on tight - and Wyatt went slow so not to scare her. I couldn't help but laugh everytime they passed because they are so tiny! It was so cute. Lane took me for a ride on his machine - I felt like a kid again. I had forgotten how much fun it is.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow....

We had snow! This is Marina's first snow man of the year. She had a ball building him, his first nose became her "snack", and she was not so sure that she wanted him to wear her hat. Now that he is built, she is spending lots of time looking out the living room window at him. What a treat to have the snow stick around. He has survived two days!

Fuzzy Red Socks

When I was a kid I was having nightmares that snakes were biting my toes while I slept. My dad came to my rescue one night during a snake attack, and told me that snakes hated fuzzy red socks (I happened to have a pair in my sock drawer) and that if I wore them to bed, I would be safe. I wore fuzzy red socks to bed for a VERY long time after that. Marina has just taken to wearing socks to sleep - no snakes in her dreams but socks are the new fad. I thought of you the other night dad when the socks happened to be red...

Cousins

They are Marina's favourite boys! She constantly talks about her cousins. We don't see them nearly enough. This is a picture of them searching for the perfect Christmas tree! Their tree always looks perfect so they are really good at their job.

Happy Halloween!

What a fun night. Marina aka "Superman" did not take long to get the trick or treating system figured out. She had so much fun, and her big eyes got bigger with each candy that was dropped into her bag! Thanks to the Berton family for the costume, she had a great time showing her super hero muscles at each house we stopped at. Our Superman turned into SuperMONSTER at the end of the night - too much candy and excitement I suppose. So Happy Halloween to all our family and friends hope you all had a safe and fun filled night.

Sunny Prince Rupert

This post is for all our family and friends in the Burns Lake, PG area! Today was a beautiful sunny day in PR. Yesterday our neighbour even mowed his lawn! We had hot chocolate on the porch this afternoon - and to quote Marina "it was so delicious!"

Grandma MeMe's Princess

At least it is more than a top hat mom!

Before and After

Family Day #2

"We all had trouble sleeping lastnight and awoke to a barking dog at 7:00am. We went to breakfast, packed and got ready for court. Auntie Moira quizzed us on questions that we thought we might be asked. Tatiana and Vladamir picked us up at 11:00am...

We passed an amoured truck with lots of soldiers - Tatiana said that they were transporting a prisoner from the courthouse. Our appointment was for 2:00pm, but court was late and we did not get in until after 3:00pm... We became a family at about 4:30pm. Vladamir our driver who had waited patiently by the car for so many hours broke into a big smile when we arrived back at the car. As soon as he was certain that court went well, he went to the trunk of his car and pulled out a beautiful mum flower for me...

We went for a celebration dinner and then to the drugstore to buy some things for you. We came back to the hotel and organized to bring you home tomorrow. There is a nice crib in our room just waiting for you to arrive. A lady at the front desk named Marina helped us to translate the directions on the Russian formula can. Mom made her first bottles tonight - I hope you like them! "

From our travel journal entry - October 25th, 2004. Two years ago today - we became a family. Family Day - October 25th - we will always do our best to be together. Today Marina was home from day care, mom and dad took the day off and we are having a ball. Lastnight Marina and I made a cake - she picked sparkle cakewith smartie icing. This morning we voted and the majority decided - it was cake for breakfast!

We went to the library and read some books, Marina was to select one to borrow and she picked a Wiggles Video! We had a great day, that included a desperately needed hair cut - lots of laughs and family fun. Two years - I can not believe it.

Future NHL'er

We took Marina skating for the first time tonight. She loved it! After about five minutes she wanted us to let her go. I highly recommend the double blade starter skates that attach to their shoes for anyone that has a toddler wanting to skate. They help them stay steady on their feet - Marina had a ball. I am sure we will be public skating a lot this winter.

Uncle Blair - I hope Alexa is on the ice practicing - lets remember they are going to be line mates on Team Canada!

For those who have mentioned you can not leave a comment on our blog - I have altered it so that you do not have to have a blogger account to leave a comment.

Painting Pumpkins

Fall has arrived. The pumpkins were impossible to resist at the grocery store. Marina bought a bunch of small ones, and the other night we painted them. By the end of the art session she had almost as much paint on her as on the pumpkins. Stay tuned family - you may be the lucky recipient of one of the masterpieces!

Potty Time!

Who knew peeing on the potty could be so exciting and cause for such celebration. Marina is potty trained, with only the odd accident when life is too fun to stop for a pee. She seems to think that potty time is party time - and loves to share this experience with her friends. Chris happened to be that friend tonight and was lucky enough to be invited to the party.

Block Party 2006

September 16th - the block party of all parties! 4th Avenue West held a rocker. The weather was perfect, we had food, drinks, a bouncy castle for the kids, an AWESOME band and so much fun! Fantastic way to meet all your street neighbours. By all accounts everyone had a great time and the planning for "Block Party 2007" has already begun...

Update - So I have absolutely no idea how to make these photos larger - any help? Chris? This has been sitting as a draft on my blog for awhile now, so I am posting it as is - sorry!

Marina's new buddies

We have a group of Stellar Jays that have decided our back yard is a great place to hang. Marina has been leaving peanuts out on the gate every morning on our way to school/work and she is fascinated that they are gone when we get home. Today she put her peanuts out and then sat on a chair and watched the Jays come and pick them up - she was so excited to actually see what was happening to her peanuts. To top it off, there were a couple of big deer in the back yard eating the grass - what a show!

Summer

It is hard to believe it is almost over. Summer is a busy time for us, disappointing that we do not get away more during the summer months. No camping this year, that is a bit depressing. We are already booked for one month in Hawaii from Feb. 17-March 17th, so that will help me feel a bit better about missing summer! Marina was in day care full time and was able to get outside a lot. This photo is our afternoon at the carnival a few weeks back. She was afraid of the rides at first, but one trip on the Ferris Wheel with mommy and she was hooked! She rode all the kiddie rides by herself, ate cotton candy, won a stuffed toy all by herself, and got to pee in the grass because she could not hold it (I actually think that was her favourite thing)

We enjoyed a ten day visit with Chris and Jim in early September - They were able to spend tonnes of time with Marina. Chris cooked for us every night (I am calling her my wife now) and Jim did lots of odd jobs for us. It was so great to see them, and for Marina to have such quality time with them.

Busy Weekend

Saturday we had a visit from Janet (our social worker)as it is time for her to file a report with the Russian Consulate on Marina's progress. Marina was really good, although the first words out of her mouth were "goo goo ga ga" (she has just recently started with the "baby" talk.) She then told Janet that she was too shy to talk - that lasted about five minutes and then we could not shut her up! Marina is really into playing with babies right now. Her special baby is named Russia and I am "grandma" and John is "grandpa", so she was explaining all of this to Janet. Janet said she was very happy with her progress, that her vocabulary is fantastic for her age, as is her actually understanding of what is being said. Marina was 9.5 months before she even heard an english word, it is sure hard to believe that when you hear her talk now. Since I have no recent photos worth sharing I have added this shot because of its sentinmental value to us. The very first photo we took of Marina about five minutes after we had met her. It seems like so long ago now.

Tuckered Out

Even Marina was exhausted on the 29th. She had a big sleep on the couch (first time ever!) and no, she did not have any gin and tonic!

The day after...

The 29th of July was a tough day... Marina had me up at 7:00am. I gave her a box of Dora bandaids and brought her back to bed. At 7:30am I heard "mommy, I am finished playing with my bandaids..." my cue to pull my ass out of bed. The day got much better. John Maunder was staying with us, and Sheryl came by to help clean up. The clean up was really slow until we started pouring gin and tonics!

Wasn't that a party

It was a great night.

BBQ

So we always have known how blessed we are with friends, and they managed to surprise both of us during the party. They all got together and bought us an AMAZING BBQ with all the extras. John loves to BBQ, and it was the perfect gift. So thank you everyone!

You say its your birthday...

Cake time! John did some weird karate move and whacked all the candles on the cake instead of blowing them out. They shot in every direction, hitting people as they flew! Apparently he thought they were completely wax - but they were actually wood. Nice!

Chubby Bunny

During the hunt, Sheryl had every one come back to the house. They had to shove as many marshmallows into their mouth that they could fit while saying "Chubby Bunny" Travis won this part - no question... 16 marshmallows! Imagine!