Is it Father Christmas or Santa Claus?

I grew up saying Father Christmas, but here in the USA it seems he goes by Santa Claus. Kind of like I say "Happy Christmas" but here it is usually "Merry Christmas".

Either way, today was the day that we decided to take Amelia to visit Santa (yes, we picked the last Saturday before Christmas to visit a very busy mall). Last year, we traveled in lots of snow, just so that I could get Amelia's photo taken with the perfect one. This year, there was no snow, in fact the weather was quite nice. We headed to Washington Square Mall, and after dressing Amelia in her beautiful Christmas dress, stood in line to meet the man in the red suit. Amelia gave Santa a hug and had a nice visit with him. As you can see, she was pretty serious looking for the photo, but of course giggled and smiled tons after. It was fun to watch her and I love to hear her saying ho! ho! ho!

After our visit, we headed back home, and this evening, attended a live nativity, put on by our church at our new Stake Center. It was wonderful, and I have to say one of my favorite parts was seeing the live camel and sheep - a very fun surprise.

So, today has been a wonderful day for our family, all about Christmas, which ended with the true meaning, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Happy Christmas!

Nothing Artificial About It

Earlier this year, I bid on a Christmas Tree, donated by a friend and colleague of mine to a silent auction we held at work. I have never experienced a "real" tree, so imagine my excitement when I won. Since February of this year, I have asked (harrassed) my friend as to how my tree was doing. Finally, this past weekend, we were ready to go and pick it out.

We bundled up in warm clothes, borrowed my friend Alice's truck and set off on our journey.

When we arrived the hunt began for the best Christmas tree we could find.


There were so many, it was hard to choose.

It was fun watching Amelia, as she discovered the pine needles.

My outdoors girl really enjoyed herself.

Even though it was cold, it was a beautiful day and the sky was blue.

We did find the perfect tree, but most of all, we had a wonderful time as a family.

Now the tree sits in our living room, wrapped with ribbon, covered in colourful lights, displaying all of our treasured ornaments, that hold memories of our family's past Christmas's.

I can hardly wait for next year, when we can do this tradition all over again.

No Evidence of a Baby Anywhere

Here's Amelia reading a book in her new twin bed, along with friends George the Monkey and her pup Scamp.

We recently bought this "big girl" bed for her after many sleepless nights (due to fact that she kept jamming herself up in the corner of her crib rails). The funny thing is, Amelia doesn't even come 1/2 way down the mattress. I found the most perfect flannel sheets for her, they are pink with monkeys and her new quilt is also quite adorable (as you can see).

The best part, is that I can now kiss her goodnight when she is asleep, before, I couldn't reach far enough into the crib to do this.

I'm happy to report that her sleeping pattern seems to have settled down again for the most part, and the bed is perfect.

Once the bed was up, We took down the crib (which meant her crib mobile went away), and also removed her changing pad and replaced it with a shelf for her books. So now, as I look around, there is not really any evidence of a baby (well, with the exception of diapers I suppose), my little girl is growing up...fast!

Below are photo's of Amelia in her new bed for the first time...

...Simply angelic!

Sweet dreams my Sleeping Beauty!

Autumn Leaves

I love Autumn, especially because of the beauty all around. The changing colour of the leaves are breathtaking and I couldn't wait to take photo's of Amelia playing in them. A couple of weeks ago, Matthew and I took her to the park on a quiet Sunday morning. The weather was perfect and we had a lovely time together, taking photo's and playing in the falling leaves. When I look back at the photo's taken last year, I am amazed at how much Amelia has grown and changed.

Of course, I couldn't pick my favorite photo's, here are some of them for you to enjoy!




















Happy Fall!

A Woman I Love and Admire, My Nana

This is my Nana, Jessie. I am very sad to say that tonight, I received the news that my Nana passed away on Thursday evening. Being so far away from my family, these calls are dreaded, and I knew something was wrong when I heard mum's sweet voice at the other end of the phone, knowing it was the early hours of the morning in the UK.

As a tribute to her I felt it important to share with you just a few of the traits that made my Nana a remarkable woman.

Some of the words I would use to describe her would include:

faithful, strong, courageous and jolly.

She loved to sing, I have memories of her singing as she cleaned her home. She also sang many times at church and directed the music.

Her makeup was always on and she took pride in her appearance. Mum would fix her hair on the weekend, I even helped myself a couple of times.

My Nana loved the Lord and was not shy in expressing her faith in him.

She stood tall during stressful times, when you or I might crumble.

Her laugh was infectious, like sunshine on a cloudy day,
I hope I never forget it.

She loved to knit and always gave homemade gifts
of clothing or knitted bears.

My Nana had twinkly brown eyes.

She usually ended up wearing her food after eating,
a trait, I think she passed onto me.

Although I cannot possibly express everything I am feeling right now, I just wanted to share with you how much I love my Nana. She was an inspiration to me and I feel privileged to be her grandaughter. At this sad time, it is comforting for me to know that we will be reunited one day, I am grateful for this knowledge.

My Nana was beautiful, had the softest skin, always smelled good and knew how to smile. She will be greatly missed by many, but especially by me.

I love you Nana, until we meet again! xxxx

Our Little Cinders

Amelia was Cinderella for Halloween this year. I found her dress at the Disney store in Texas whilst on vacation this summer, and although it was still a little big for her, I was happy to be able to put clothes underneath it to keep her extra warm. Unfortunately, she wouldn't wear the blue headband I bought for her (sweet little 2 year old).

The weather was great, dry, and not too cold. We had practiced "trick or treat" with Amelia but as we knocked on the doors, it was apparent that she only wanted the treat, so that's what she asked for. What a girl!

The streets were busy, full of families all dressed up, and the fire trucks were even out to wave at all of the children too, which was a nice touch.

Like any true princess, she didn't want to carry her own candy.

She also couldn't wait to get home, before tasting some of it. She just happened to chose the one candy that turned her lips blue.

Below, is a photo of her after we got home, this is what happens when we ask her to smile for the camera, her eyes close tight, it's the funniest thing!

Just look at all that loot.

It was a fun evening!

Cupcake Delight

On the day before Amelia's 2nd birthday, I made cupcakes to take to her daycare. One thing I was excited about, was the fact that I was able to use my new cupcake holder that my mum bought me when she was visiting during the summer. I love it!

Here is Amelia in the morning before daycare showing off her cupcakes.

As you can see, she quite enjoyed the cupcakes...

...or at least the frosting anyway!

Kelly, who takes care of her at daycare, bought Disney Princess plates and all of the other children sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

What a sweetie!

I love my little girl so much.

How Can She Possibly Be Two?

Last Saturday, my baby girl, Amelia, turned two years old. I can hardly believe it and looking back at photo's of her, I am amazed at how much she has changed and grown in those two years. Last week, I went to pick her up at daycare, and as she stood in the room across from me, I looked at her and suddenly saw a little girl not a baby, it was the weirdest thing.

She absolutely amazes me, I love that she can talk now, of course, not in complete sentences, but she does tie her words together. The funniest thing is working out what her words translate into. Imagine, our family lives in a house where English and American-English is spoken (believe me, the two can be quite different at times) and now we have "toddler speak". Some of the funnier words are "boca, boca" which means "water, water", or "peeps" for "sheep". She likes to call both Matthew and I mommy, even though when you ask her who we are she knows that I am mommy and Matthew is daddy.

My little Amelia can be an independent little thing, who knows what she wants, and doesn't always acknowledge you when you call...hmmm, wonder where she gets that from daddy? But, above all, she is a sweet little girl, who is usually well behaved around others, and makes me laugh and smile everyday. She loves music and dancing, but equally enjoys sports, in fact take her toy shopping anywhere and I will guarantee her toy of choice will be a ball.

She likes to look in your mouth with her torch (flashlight), will take her hair bows out at soon as she realizes it's there, and loves to hold onto her hair all the time. She hates having her nails cut, however, will "allow" it if she is promised finger nail polish afterwards.

She loves animals, and can do a great impression of an elephant, and enjoys sitting with mummy to read a book on the "reading couch".

Amelia is such a blessing in our lives, that I often cannot believe that she is our daughter. Who knew that two years ago today, our lives would change so dramatically...and you know what, I could never have been prepared for such a special girl to join our family, I truly am the most blessed mum in the entire universe.

I love you Amelia sweetheart, happy birthday!

So anyway, it's a tradition of ours that we visit a pumpkin patch on our little girl's special day, so this year, we went to EZ Orchard's. It was a rainy day, but to our delight, the sun came out and we didn't get too wet at all, well, all except for our little pumpkin who found out all about puddles. Here are lots of photo's of our fun time at the pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, later in the day she didn't feel so good, and had a temperature of 101.7, but at least we were able to have a little fun.

Puddles, what fun!

Just look at that dark cloud, we were so lucky that it blew over so that we could enjoy some sun.

Daddy and Amelia threw the rings on the steer heads, I have to say though, I beat daddy scoring two out of three...better luck next time.

Next, daddy and Amelia climbed a tall pyramid of hay.

Then it was onto the slide...peek-a-boo!

Mummy and Amelia in the Corn Maze.

Here we are at the petting zoo with the "peeps".

There were three little pigs.

While we were looking at the animals in the petting zoo, we saw some familiar faces, this is Rylee.

They looked on as the calf slept.

Here are Rylee's parents, I work with Nicky, and she has looked after Amelia a few times for us. They are a lovely family and fingers crossed, Rylee will be attending the same daycare as Amelia in just a few months.

Just how cute are these two?

Of course, the last thing we had to do was pick out pumpkins. Amelia knew exactly which one she wanted and carried it in the mud and over to the cart.

Amelia found more puddles to run in, luckily we had a change of clothes for her in the car.

Rylee came to see our pumpkins and Amelia offered "knuckles".

Time to weigh the pumpkins.

Just look at those jeans, they were brand new too, thank goodness for washing machines.

After we got home, and Amelia slept, there was a knock on the door...when we opened it, there stood a lovely young man with the most beautiful balloon bouquet I've ever seen. My friend Alice and her son Ryan, brought them along with gummy bears and a special washcloth for Amelia, talk about sweet. She loves to run around the house with them.

Finally, it was time for dinner. Since she hadn't been feeling well, she didn't have a great appetite, and asked for Fruit Loops, well a girl has to have what she wants on her birthday.

By the way, I made her cake, another tradition that I want in my family, since my mum always made me the most wonderful cakes (she is a fabulous cake decorator. Believe me, I have a long way to go before I get even close to her talent, but you know what, I felt so close to my mum as I thought of all the love she put into the cakes she made for me over the years. Thank you mum, I love you so much!

Thank you everyone who helped make Amelia's birthday so special!