Visitors, visitors and more visitors-we had many visitors this year, both family and friends. Some stayed for a while, some just for a couple of hours. Any visit is a great visit though! Here is a picture from just before the Seattle Melanchuk's left to go back to Seattle. It was great to see them again!
Summer vacation- Part of Brad's vacation this year was taken while his brother was here. We met them just outside of Edmonton and took the kids to Millenium Place in Sherwood Park. Here, our boys play with their girls at the Lions Park in Cold Lake while Darryl and Amanda played tennis one morning.
The new store- Brad's work changed locations this year. Here is a picture from Grand Opening weekend. If you saw the store just two weeks before, you would never have believed the transformation. Having seen the hours that Brad put in, and knowing he was not the only one putting in those hours, makes it a little more believable but still pretty remarkable. Brad especially loves his own office at the new store. Ryan especially loves that it is next to McDonalds.
A BIG surpise- In early November, we discovered I was half way through our third and final pregnancy. Baby boy #3 will be arriving mid to end March of 2010.
Christmas 2009- Christmas is always a favorite time of year. It's busy, but it's enjoyable. Especially when we take the time to enjoy the childlike things and re-experience them through the eyes of our boys.
Summer projects-Here you can see two projects Brad spent the rest of his summer vacation working on; a fence and a sandbox. I think Brad likes the sandbox as much as the boys do. 
Goodbye Bug- Hello Saw Stop- We finally sold the bug in the fall. Part of the money went towards the purchase of a table saw for Brad. Google SawStop and watch the video. It is an amazing piece of machinery.
New car seat-Adam graduated to a forward facing car seat this fall. He loves it!
Pre-Christmas visit-Here is Adam on the way to Edmonton to pick up my mom who came to visit us at the end of November for two weeks. Ryan was especially excited to visit with Gran-Gran, but for Adam this was probably his first real memory of my mom since he was just a newborn when she was last here.
A new camera-A birthday gift for me from Brad, I am enjoying getting to know the ins and outs of my new camera. I'm especially excited to use it more and share more pictures this year. Especially chronicalling the end of this pregnancy and the birth of our last baby. 
Christmas Eve I make a ham with mashed potatoes, vegetables and stove top. There are usually fresh rolls as well. In addition to the meal, I am usually cleaning my house in preparation for family coming to join us for the Christmas Eve meal and before the "big" mess of Christmas morning. Sometimes I have desert ready too and this year I had part of one made, but we didn't get around to it. We talked to Brad's brother over the computer for a while, talked to my parents as well. Then before it got too late, we went out and took a drive to look at the lights. The combination of the lateness (it was already after 8) and the slick roads, we didn't stay out too late.
Once the boys were in bed, I cleaned up from dinner, helped Brad with some last minute wrapping and by midnight we were done, thinking the boys would be up early in the morning. To our surprise, they both slept in and it was almost 9 before we got up and began to unwrap gifts. Every year I encourage Brad to buy something on his own for the boys. It's not that I mind doing the shopping but since he isn't usually around when I do it, I am never sure if this is really something boys will like or if it is something Daddy will want to play with them. I know Brad has enough stess during the holiday season at work and has precious little time to shop but he always comes through. This year he bought Ryan a little off road race track with two battery operated trucks. Instead of wrapping it, we just set it up by the table and wondered how long it would take them to notice it. 
We opened stockings and then had some breakfast of cinnamon buns. While we were eating, the boys finally noticed the track and took a couple of minutes to play with it. Adam was so excited, he even left his soother on the floor as he went to play. Ryan loves to sit inside the track so he can easily reach his truck no matter where it is on the track. 
While Ryan was excited to open gifts and play with the toys, this year he was really interested in the opening part. It was easy to get him back to opening gifts by saying we could play later. Adam however is at the point that Ryan was last year and he wanted to play with gifts once they were opened, so we all took turns opening some of Adam's for him (especially the clothes).
After the gifts were opened, we put the boys down for naps and began to clean up a little bit before getting dinner started. I forgot to brine the chicken but it still tasted ok, just not as tender and juicy as when I do. I also forgot to put out the Christmas crackers I bought for the boys. And to put the ham back out. And I think there was something else I forgot too. One year I want to get a picture of the table with all the food on it, set with the china, candles lit, BEFORE anyone decides to help themselves. And one year, I'd like to actually be able to feel a little a head of the game on Christmas day and be able to have a shower and get dressed for dinner and not be in my pyjamas all day. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to stay in your pyjama's all day sometimes, but as a SAHM I don't get much opportunity to dress up. Even this year, being pregnant, I had friends who lent me some nice dress clothes and I had a couple of different "Christmas-y" outfits I could have choosen from.
At the end of the day, it' such a long day and we have such an early morning the next day because of Brad's job, that cleaning up from dinner seems such a chore, and this year with my hormones running crazy anyway, all I wanted to do was cry. I didn't feel like I got to enjoy the day much. It was probably more my hormones than anything, although having not quite finished my own dinner before people begin asking for dessert, was a little much. Especially since it was the same dessert from the night before and I still hadn't made the second part. So I finished my dinner while making the 2nd part of dessert and served it up. To top it off, it's not even something I like but I make it because it is expected- because one year I didn't make it and it was a big deal. Now if someone wanted to make it and bring it along, that would be wonderful. But more often than not when this is suggested, I end up with multiple people trying to cook too many things in my tiny kitchen because ingredients are brought but they are cooked and assembled at my house. That's more stressful to me than just doing it on my own.
