Merry Christmas!

I've been pretty excited this year for Christmas -- besides Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus in the hay, I have to admit that what Santa is going to bring me has been much on the mind these past few weeks. Last night, he finally came, and what a coming it was!

Our Santa presents really topped off a great morning of stockings, Christmas breakfast, and present opening. I'm just glad I didn't have to clean up!

Thank you and Merry Christmas to all!

Thomas the Gingerbread Train

Wow, is my mom cool or what? Who would've thought you could make a train out of baking products? But there you have it -- three nights ago mom presented us with a gingerbread train (which Isaac and I promptly named Thomas -- big surprise there!) and we got to decorate it with an assortment of yummy candies -- ju-jubes, mint lifesavers, twizzlers, Mike and Ikes, candy canes, chocolates... not to mention the icing itself being rather nice!

And I don't want to hear about how we're not wearing tops -- it's not our fault mom and dad don't trust us to keep our shirts clean and muss-free.

Santa is Coming Soon!

Well, of course he is, and I know so because everyone at school has been talking about it lately! I've been talking about how I hope Santa brings me Superman or dinosaurs. If I have to choose (which I probably will), I'm going with dinosaurs. We were at a birthday party the other night and Isaac and I gave the birthday boy dinosaur Megablocks -- I was probably more excited than he was about the present and hope I get something just like it for Christmas.

Unlike previous years, we bought an artificial tree this year -- it's so big it fills up nearly half of our living room! Mom and dad are glad they won't have to worry about it drying out and catching on fire, or forever vacuuming up the needles that fall off. We got to hang the ornaments on it this morning and did a mighty fine job, if you ask me, particularly on that bottom left side, don't you think?

Trick or Treating

For Halloween this year, mom had to lengthen our beloved Tigger and Eeyore costumes so they would still fit us, and they still look as cute as ever! We first went trick or treating in the mall with Sydney and Natalie Wong. Here's our group photo:

Then we retired to our house and had pizza for dinner...

...before getting back out in the neighborhood for another round of door knocking.

Considering that between Isaac and I, we managed to accumulate a big mixing bowl full of candy that lasted nearly two weeks, I'd say Halloween this year was a pretty successful venture! Say goodbye to our costumes though, because next year mom's pretty sure the torsos will be too short for us. Maybe next year we can be Buzz and Woody instead!

I Love Snow!

After playing in the snow all afternoon, I kept raving about how much I "LOVE" snow. Isaac and I especially had fun tasting it and making it into snowballs. I did get in trouble for tossing one of them at a moving car, but other than that, we had a great afternoon. It was a bit chilly outside, but we were both toasty in our new snowsuits, boots, and mitts!

Whaddya mean it's not a Wagon Wheel?

Can no one see the resemblance but me? I mean, how was I supposed to know the big Wagon Wheel wouldn't taste as good without first trying to take a bite out of it?

Computer Whiz

When we visited Uncle Andrew and Auntie Liew a few months ago, Uncle Andrew let me play computer games on his laptop. At the time, I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I have since mastered the use of the mouse, and enjoy playing games on sesamestreetworkshop.org or thomasandfriends.com or bobthebuilder.com. I even know how to get to the sites myself using the browser bookmarks! I don't get to play as much as I would like to, but it's fun when I do (and educational, of course!). One of my favorite games involves buying lemonade from Elmo's friend Zoe, and I have to count out either 5 pennies or one nickel to pay for the lemonade. I'm quite good at it!

Virtual lemonade is all fine and well, but when mom lets me have a drink of real lemonade afterwards, it always tastes so much better!

Toolman Tang

This has been a week of serious renovations in our room. Electrical outlets replaced, new hanging light fixtures installed, storage units constructed, bunk bed erected, toddler bed assembled. I mean, there was some serious construction going on in our room. Dad took pictures not only of the final products we put together, but also of the fantastic help I offered (see above). I'm trying to remain humble, but the fact is, I'm quite sure that without my help, dad would not have been able to finish nearly as quickly as he did! Hurrah for me!

Check out the sweet bunk bed though! Being the oldest, I get to sleep on the top bunk, which is so close to the ceiling mom and dad had to make a new rule for me not to reach up and rub off the popcorn texture. The first night it was built, I didn't want to sleep up so high and instead slept on the bottom bunk with Isaac, but after having a chance to expore on and around it all the next day, I've decided it's pretty cool. The guardrails go all the way around the sides, and the ladder is really sturdy and not at all scary to climb. Now I love my bed!

I'm not scared anymore!

If I tried to list all the things I'm scared of, I'd probably run out memory before I'd run out of terrors, but if you asked me for the short list, it would definitely have to include bugs, dogs, being in front of people, and parts of certain movies (the robot in The Incredibles, the owl in The Secret of Nimh, Peace's fiery hands in Sky High, Sid in Toy Story, the sharks in Finding Nemo...). Strike one off the list though, because today will go down in history as "The Day I Conquered My Fear of The Dark Hallway," for this afternoon, I exited Apartment Canada and navigated the halls to the exit all by myself. And the first thing I said when I got to the car (where mom was already buckling in Lilly and Isaac) was "Mom, I went down the hall and I opened the door and I went outside all by myself, and I'm not scared anymore! I was all by myself, and I'm not scared anymore!" See below for the photo log of my perilous adventure:

Out the apartment door and to the left,

down the long hallway and through the hall door,

up the stairs and through the exit to the outside,

down the porch stairs

and to the car (right beside the dumpsters) -- congratulations me!

I Live in Canada

Yes indeedy, I sure do. Although somewhere along the line I got confused and started thinking that Canada encompasses just our apartment, as evidenced by my frequent query, "Are we going home to Canada now?" as we turn on to our street from church or school or errands or wherever we happen to have gone to. Mom and dad are thinking about putting up a sign up in our home that says "Welcome to Canada"!

So, Lilly mentioned how we went camping a couple of months ago in Central Alberta. She had her two minutes of fame -- here's mine!