Can it be true??

We hear that winter is finally on it's way! HOORAY, though we can only cross our fingers that it is really going to stay a while. With forecasters predicting sub-zero weather for the next week, we finally put down the tarp for the rink and started the flooding process. As you can see, the kids were pretty flooded too . . . but everyone had fun and we're looking forward to some ice skating soon.

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy 2007 to all our faithful followers! We hope you enjoyed as happy a season as we did. I must admit that this was by far the best Christmas ever for me. Despite the holiday rushing around, we managed to carve out more "family time" this year and created a few new holiday traditions. One of my favorites is the "staying at home and lounging in jammies till 3pm on Christmas day" tradition.

Perhaps part of my enjoyment of the season also was in watching our kids explore and discover all the magic of the season. Naomi really "got" the whole Santa thing this year and was SO excited. We put the kids to bed on Christmas eve and at 11pm I went up to make sure that they were tucked in before the adults retired. Naomi sat bolt upright, looked at me and shouted "WHO ARE YOU!".

I replied, "It's just mommy".

"Oh, but I can't see Rudolf", Naomi said.

"Honey, he's not coming inside. He will land on the roof."

"Make sure he eats all his carrots!" she replied, rolling over and falling back to sleep. I left the room chuckling like the big guy himself!

The nicest gifts that we will ever have is the joy that our kids give us. I love to sit back and watch each of them. It is a wonder to me that all these little miracles are here today, despite all the odds that we had to overcome for each of them to be here. Now that our family is complete, it's nice to be able to acknowledge that the sadness that I used to feel at this time of year has been replaced with such happiness. OK enough with the sappy stuff.

Christmas Eve we celebrated with Papa Tom - who probably had thought his days of spending the eve of Christmas assembling and wrapping had ended. We rudely reminded him otherwise. Aside from enjoying our visit with him, I was so glad to have an elf to help put all the toys together!

Boxing Day we headed to the Clarke Retreat (aka Roxy, Auntie Heather and Uncle John's home), where we relaxed, enjoyed family time and celebrated the holidays. Being a competitive family, there is always some sort of challenge going on in the Klassen extended family -- and this Christmas gathering did not disappoint. I'd like to congratulate my Taboo team on their fantastic win against Queen Taylor's "Jock" team.

December is a busy month for us. Not only is it Christmas, but it is also both Joel and Naomi's birthdays! Joel and I celebrated his birthday on the 23rd by getting a sitter and heading to Peterborough for a night of fine dining at an amazing Thai/Malaysian restaurant. The food was WONDERFUL and we really enjoyed a meal to ourselves. It was a new restaurant for us, and one that we look forward to frequenting again. Naomi took the opportunity to remind Joel of how old he was by singing to him, "It's Raining. It's Pouring. The OLD man is snoring!". We all thought that was hilarious.

Naomi's 4rth birthday was celebrated Safari style with a party on the 29th. She was delighted to be able to dress up like. . . a cheetah - who'd have guessed. Thanks to my two friends Andrea and Foxy, even the cake was in cheetah theme (you should have seen Naomi's eyes lit up at the sight of it). I can't believe that Naomi is already 4 years old. To say that time flies is certainly an understatement. Every day we are amazed at all the things that she has picked up along the way. Most of it is good, and some of it is downright priceless. Like the day that we were driving home and she commented that we were driving on Hardwood Road. If you live here, you would know that we live off of Harwood Road and so Joel corrected her. Immediately she looked at him and said, "Daddy, is the road hard?". "Yes Naomi, it's hard." "Well Daddy then it's HARDwood Road". And that was that -- call the township there is a typo in the name of the road!

We rang in the New Year with many of our Cobourg friends this year. A while ago we got the idea to rent the Harwood Hall (which is 5 minutes north of us) and to invite all our friends to have a family oriented New Year's Eve celebration. It was a terrific time of eating, dancing and fireworks, and the bonus -- we raised $200 for the Children's Bridge Foundation in the process. You can see more details of this charity at http://www.childrensbridgefoundation.com if you are interested in learning more.

January 6th gave us opportunity to celebrate with Gram and the rest of the family. Naomi, Lilah and Myles always look forward to a visit from their cousins, and this time were especially pleased that Venrick and Maui were here for the first time too.

Myles was happy to see his older (though smaller) cousin's Maui and Lauren. He has become a crawling, chattering little man. We've had to "proof" the house in the last month as he started scooting on Christmas Eve and is getting very good at finding the stairs (particularily if the girls are beyond them). Myles loves his sisters and loves lots of action. Which begs the question - where did the past 10 months go???

So here we are in January 2007. Like I said earlier, where is the time going?? Joel & I are headed to Jamaica (without kids) at the end of this month. I can hardly imagine what it will be like without the kids, but I think both of us are looking forward to some time together.

And with that update, I will sign off for now. Hope I have apeased the folks who have been begging for an update recently - and 'm also letting the Wentworth's know that it's their turn now! ;P

Wishing you and yours all the best for 2007!