.The Boy Who Hated Santa

At our ward Christmas party this weekend Ames met Santa for the first time.

Look, I’m not sure that this boy would have hated Santa so much in other conditions. You see, the room was LOUD with speakers booming the loudest dance music ever right beside Santa’s chair. Ames was on edge the entire time we were there, and it was only elevated when I handed him over to the stranger with the beard. The boy couldn't even stand to be in that room, let alone sit on Santa’s lap. It wasn't great, but you know, the pictures do make us giggle.

 

↓↓↓Here we are in line to see Santa… next to that blasted speaker↓↓↓

↓↓↓The poor little guy wouldn't even dance, he kept running straight out the door into the quiet halls↓↓↓

 

Otherwise, the party was fun. We really love our ward. Wish we could have stayed longer, but at least we got the rest of our Christmas shopping done afterwards and had a nice dinner out.

Ames is a very interesting little 16 month old now. So smart and funny, but really timid and nervous around large groups of people and loud noises. Hopefully this doesn't last forever.

.gusa gram

Here are the latest instagrams and vines from our phones. Also some pictures and videos that were never posted. This pretty much covers all of November up until the present day. Enjoy!

↓↓↓You can’t tell by looking at him, but Ames loves getting rides in this shovel. He screams when we take him out and follows me around while I shovel, trying to get back in↓↓↓

↓↓↓We’re definitely getting our share of snow//Playing with flashlights in the dark↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Tara came to visit from Hawaii. We miss her↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Spending time outside in the cold//He holds so still when the duck is suctioned to his head↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Our awesome friends fed us American Thanksgiving dinner yum!//The comfiest pants alive (from Costco)(and Ames is making a break for the Christmas tree in the background)↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Had to use my crappy old scissors one last time to open this packaging//We often get stuck waiting at the train near our house↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Ames with his friend Rhys↓↓↓


↓↓↓The things that become hats//Our ward has these “pass it on” dishes going around and I accidentally washed the marker off this one. Oops↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓This is –30* C. Coldest day so far//Aaron’s parents are hilarious. I laughed for so long at this comment↓↓↓

 

.Already Prepared for the Holidays

Yes. We are still alive. It's been a while since I've posted anything, and to be honest I've been ok with that. I've been going through a bit of a computer break and have just been using my phone mostly for things like facebook, email and instagram.

I feel like we had a really great month of November. We got together with lots of friends and did ALL of our Christmas shopping and shipping. We've been having so many fun evenings as a little family playing around the house with our boy and listening to Christmas tunes and introducing Ames to everything. He is such a sponge these days and just seems to understand everything. I wish I could describe to you the joy he gives us... or tell you every little thing he does, there really is no limit to his antics nowadays. We are constantly amazed by him.

Sometimes, late at night, after a snowy-blowy day, when Ames is fast asleep, Air and I will go put on all our warmest layers of clothing under our warmest coats and gloves and toques and go outside and shovel together. It’s the most romantic time under the glowing light of our home and the Christmas bulbs around our roof. The sparkling snow all around. We love to do everything together when Air isn’t working, because that is such a small allotment of time. My new favorite thing this year has been shovelling our neighbor’s sidewalk too… because it makes me feel good.

Anyway, I took photos of some of the Christmas things around our home. Welcome Christmas.

↓↓↓Our sad little tree looks like a cactus from this angle, it's having a hard time holding those lights up↓↓↓

↓↓↓These little snowmen dolls and nesting penguins are Ames’ favorite toys these days. He’s obsessed with the “baby” ones and showers them with kisses and hugs↓↓↓

.insta-vine

I forgot to mention that Thanksgiving happened here in mid-October… It was wonderful and delicious. Once again, Air’s Mom fed us an amazing meal without breaking a sweat. I only made the sweet potato soufflé and basically wrecked my entire kitchen.

↓↓↓We watched Fantasia after dinner. Ames loved it.↓↓↓

↓↓↓I caught Ames sitting in this toy bucket too many times and decided he needed his own chair↓↓↓

↓↓↓He loves this little sofa we found as you can see↓↓↓

↓↓↓I thought it was about time Ames gave me a wagon ride//Canadian graffiti↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓finally hung up some pictures in our entry//pumpkin shopping↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Air finally got a Surface Pro 2 (early Christmas)//missionaries over for dinner↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓for days and days we took advantage of the incredible bounty of fall leaves behind our house (now covered in snow)↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓glorious snow↓↓↓

 


Is it just me or did Ames just grow about 10 sizes from the beginning of this post to the end? Wow-wow

.That Halloween Night

I know Halloween was already 5 days ago, but I really must share this night with the blog. This was Ames’ first time trick-or-treating and I have to tell you, it was AWESOME! This may have been my favorite parenting moment so far. My only regret is that Halloween doesn’t last for more than one day...

Come, see the spooky things around our house on Halloween night!

↓↓↓candy, jack o’ lanterns and dirty dishes↓↓↓

↓↓↓spider webs and skeletons↓↓↓

↓↓↓Ames trick-or-treating (and LOVING it)↓↓↓

↓↓↓elephants devouring candy↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Stay Puft marshmallow man taking his kids trick-or-treating↓↓↓

↓↓↓Air’s face glowing in the light of his Surface↓↓↓

WoooOOowwOOooW! Frightening!