We went to visit my sister and her family in Ontario for 10 days. It was so fun to see their new house, and for the kids to spend a lot of time with their cousins.

Kepler spent most of the plane ride like this, he was so excited to be on an airplane!

Jesse and Jayna

Gibb and Samantha playing bop it

Eating the pomegranate faster than I can peel it

Playing Hullabaloo

Playing Wii

Samantha had to do homework, boo

Cassandra being her amazing self and making fresh cinnamon buns

Cassandra had her Primary class over for a class party. Jayna just heard the word party and went and put on her fanciest skirt and shoes. Then she was wondering where all the Sunbeams were. But she was still excited for the "party", even though it was eight 12 year old boys eating pizza, haha! She told them "My mom's not sure yet if we're coming back for Easter and Halloween." I told her I was sure that we weren't coming back, but I wish we could too!

Tobogganing!

Brett, Jenny and Milo came to visit for a couple days, and I barely got any pictures.
Milo was so cute on the sled!

Playing at an indoor playground

Poor Jayna was kind of miserable, but being a trooper. She had some really bad luck while we were gone with being sick, getting an ear infection, and breaking out in hives all over her body for 4 days.

I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with a bunch of old friends while we were there. I had lunch with Cindy and Jill (but no picture yet).

Dinner with Aleccia, Charissa, Kayley, Janeth (and Alison)

Aleccia and me

Jayna with Aleccia's nephew and baby Ethan, he's such a cute, happy boy, and him and Kepler have the same birthday!

Me, Cassandra and Sami the night before Sami left. I think this was around 1 am and Sami still had to pack and leave for the airport at 6 am.

I still don't have all the pictures yet, but I figured if I didn't post this now, it might never happen. We're so glad we went, it was definitely worth it. But so sad to have the party end!

While we were gone to Ontario Jayna completely broke out in hives and we have no idea why! It started small and just kept spreading. It was crazy! At about 2 am one night she woke up with it all over her face and swollen lips and decided to take her to the hospital. They had no idea what it was from, but gave us some good meds and cream to help clear it up. Poor Jayna was pretty miserable for a while. She also had an ear infection while we were there, so she really had a rough few days!

Christmas morning we woke our kids up at 6 am. Yep, that's right, we woke them up. Only because all their cousins were awake and ready to open presents, but it was pretty funny having to tell them to get out of bed to see if Santa came, it felt very backwards. It was hilarious waking Jayna up because she was sick and had an ear infection so she couldn't hear very well. We were yelling "JAYNA, wake up! It's Christmas, let's go see if Santa came!" And she was just looking at us, and yelling "What?" Haha, but once she figured it out she was so excited.

So happy that Santa brought her Woody!

Kepler, Sami and Samantha

Already setting up lego sets

Checking out Brett's amazing lego set he built

Kepler all day "Buzz! I got Buzz"

This kid was SO happy with all his toys. He barely put these 2 down all day. Grandpa would have been proud to see him open his "sweet boat"!

Best family pic we could get, Jayna wasn't feeling the greatest

One of the most exciting things that happened this year, was that my other sister Mona had her baby on Christmas Day! It was pretty exciting, we can't wait to meet cute little Zara!

I can't believe it's already over for another year. It was so special getting to spend this Christmas with some of my family, and for the kids getting to be with their cousins. Thanks so much for having us!

Christmas Eve day I played a big game with the kids while Cassandra and Sami were cleaning and getting food ready. It was so fun! Everyone had a different kind of store or service and we all went and shopped at each others houses. Kind of hard to explain, but we played games like this all the time when we were kids.




Christmas Eve there were about 40 people over at my sister's hosue, and it didn't even feel crowded. The kids were playing and watching a Christmas movie in the basement and the adults were upstairs eating and talking.

Cassandra and me

Samantha looking cute!

Kepler staying up way too late, but happy with kie kie

Jayna putting out her stocking

The kids in their Christmas jammies

The kids were so excited, but exhausted from staying up so late. When Jayna was going to bed she said to me "Mommy, do you think I'll hear Santa say Ho Ho Ho when he comes? If I do I won't get out of bed, because then he might not leave me my presents."