my biggest clothing purchase off Ebay

I love Ebay. I've bought my double stroller off there, lots of kids clothes, some clothes for myself (especially maternity!), Boyds Bear blanket and pillow, our comforter for our bed (which we got for a third of the price as the same one at the Bay - and we still love it five years later), gifts for people, FABRIC!!, Sunday shoes and dresses for the girls, etc, etc. I love finding things for a better deal than the stores, and being able to avoid the malls. I buy some things second hand in good condition, but a lot of things brand new.

So I came accross this auction for size 5 girls clothes - 6 complete outfits (3 that included a matching jacket), and a size 6 fancy dress (that we'll be saving for Elayna's Christmas concert next year). I received the big box yesterday and am very pleased with the quality of all these new (and good brand names) items (tags still attached). All of the clothes have room to grow but she can wear some of them now already (she's just outgrowing size 4 but not quite a size 5 yet). I'll be putting some aside for September when she starts kindergarten (which will be nice for the back-to-school budget). I would definitely buy in bulk like this again! It saved on shipping and I'm done for awhile with her!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Thought I'd squeeze in a post before the first day of the new year is up. We had a fun time last night at some friend's celebrating the stroke of midnight while our babes all stayed home and slept. Then today we went toboganning for the first time with our kids and they LOVED it! Even Alyssa - she was letting out big laughs as she watched the girls go down. She even went down once with Chantel and me (strapped to me in a carrier). We went toboganning at a hill just off the highway (thanks to Jen's quick eye) and even had a fire with hot chocolate after. Then we headed to friends for dinner and games. It was a fun filled family day and a great way to start the New Year!

Alison, Chantel, and Elayna getting ready for another ride down the hill!


Enjoying the campfire.


Alyssa relaxing on our (Star Trek?) sled.

new cuddly jammies

I thought I'd take some pics of the girls in their new cuddly jammies tonight. Well the first pic ended up being the best:
and about thirty pics later I realized that I should never tell them to say "cheese" cause this is what you get:

and then this is them really not cooperating:

then I finally got some good smiles out of them but Alyssa found the ceiling more interesting:
and one of the last pics turned out cute except you can see that Alyssa had had enough by this point so she's pretty teary:

winter fun night

We had our annual "night-out" with friends last night and decided to include the kids this year. We first went to Minter Gardens for the train ride which was very exciting for the kids, then we all came back to our place and the kids did mini gingerbread houses. Then the "big" kids went downstairs to settle in for a Christmas movie while the little ones went to bed. Then when they all expired, we put all the big kids to bed too - we had 12 kids aged four and under ASLEEP in our house! It was great and I love it that all our friends put them down and didn't try to keep any up.

The adults got to have such a fun night with our gift stealing game - which was hilarious - Brad's abs are still hurting from all the laughing. And even with all our hollering and socializing (we are not a quiet group of eleven), the kids managed to stay sleeping. Then we played some games until we realized how late it was. And I loved hosting it (I didn't have to move my kids at the end of the night for once), and it was an easy clean-up.

Hopefully we can do something like this again next year as the kids had such a blast, they're still talking about it and had GREAT naps today!

some cute pics

Alyssa sitting on her own! Maybe we'll finally switch her to a big carseat (since she's supposed to have moved over 2 pounds ago already!).

The girls showing off their new Christmas jammies (E & C also got the robes and slippers to match).

very first snowman

The girls had fun with Daddy playing in the snow this morning making their first snowman!

Warming up with hot chocolate after!

gingerbread men

This morning we went to our regular bible study/story hour but since it's the last one before Christmas, we had a bit of a party instead. The kids made candy cane's with eyes and antlers, colored some pictures, ate a LOT, and decorated gingerbread men. The ladies had a choice of stamping a candle or making a decorative orange (preserved with spices and cloves, it's making my house smell really nice right now!), and we also ate a LOT! It was a fun morning out and the girls did really well and were very proud of their creations.

So what do you think? Do they look as different from each other as my two girls do? It's funny how I often get comments that Elayna and Chantel don't look like sisters - but yet they still have lots of characteristics from Brad and I. But when it comes to their baby pics, I'm always looking at the clothing to figure out who is who (good thing they were born at opposite times of the year to make that easier on me).