Thursday 27 December 2012

Christmas morning, and the PJ's.

There's nothing like seeing little kids on Christmas morning, and the way their eyes light up when they see the tree (and more importantly what's under it of course).
The kids were great. They waited patiently for Liz to make breakfast, breakfast was then inhaled, and the three families dispersed to our various areas to open our individual presents in our own parts of the house. After some play time with the newly acquired presents, we had a nice lunch and then gathered in the main living room for the farmily present opening! These were mostly presents that would wind up in the playroom as 'general' toys, and the concept was surprisingly understood. There was some apprehension the younger boys might not understand that the present they just unwrapped was technically for everyone, not just them, but we needn't have worried. Wrapping paper flew, and the babies happily sat down and played with the nearest toy while more was unwrapped. The last presents opened were matching Christmas PJ's that Katie made from scratch for all the kids, and after a little struggling (who wants to get changed while there are toys to play with, right?) all the kids were proudly sporting their PJ's. They were already a wriggling mass of Christmas joy (heh) and we desperately wanted a photo of them all wearing the new PJ's, but weren't sure how to get them to sit still. They are, after all, mostly under 3. So, after some pleading, and eventual bribery, the kids all had candy shoved in their mouths to make the photo happen. And it did! They may not be smiling, but it's still a pretty fun photo anyways. It's all about making memories, and being able to look back at this photo 5 years down the road and say "I can't believe you were all that SMALL!"

Liz made a simple but tasty breakfast.


The Godbeer kids sitting down to enjoy! Think Ethan might be a *tad* excited?


Elijah understands the need to clean up before we unwrap gifts. Very thoughtful.


Hannah and Ethan wait patiently for the first gifts to be handed out. Gabriel? Hello?


Jon starts the presents!


Ethan patiently began opening this big box...


...which quickly devolved into this madness. All good fun though!





Jeremiah shows off the new digger he unwrapped!



At one point Evelyn was dutifully handing presents out to the kids...until she got to her brother and wouldn't hand it over. Heh.


Elijah might have enjoyed his candy cane a little *too* much. That look says "you ain't taking this away from me...."


Charlotte was also a sticky red and green mess after her candy cane!


Evelyn shows off her pink tutu that Auntie Laura made for her!


Amidst the new food and kitchen toys. The babies all looove playing kitchen!


Elijah and Charlotte, newly changed into their PJ's.


The older kids join in the kitchen fun..


These blocks were also a hit. They're a little more versatile than lego, and have some neat parts you can build onto for some interesting creations!


The Farmily kids, 2012! Merry Christmas everyone!!




Saturday 8 December 2012

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, to the wonderful tunes of Charlie Brown's Christmas, we set out to decorate the Christmas tree this evening before the kids went to bed, and...well Christmas arrived. It went amazingly well! Only one ornament broke, and it was completely an accident, not from goofing around or being crazy with the ornaments. We call that a win! Here are the photos from our evenings' entertainment.
Charlotte, and her collection of decorations at her reach. Hehe!

Most of the bottom of the tree looked like this.

Elijah, jumping in.

"That's better mum, now I can SEE the ornaments on the table!"

Ethan, in deep concentration getting that ornament on.

Success! Back for more...

Evelyn and Charlotte mostly just emptied the boxes for us. Thank you ladies...

"I want THAT one!"

Gabriel with one of the giant stars Katie and Marc had kicking around.

Jeremiah found the candy canes! It will be interesting to see how long it takes one of them to remember they're there and try to eat one...

The crew!

Another shot of the crew.

Viola! Our beautifully decorated Christmas tree, all ready for the 25th. Now the question is...is the Farmily ready for the insanity that will be...Christmas day?? Stay tuned to find out! (haha)


Saturday 1 December 2012

If it was colder, we'd be buried in snow!

The title says it all, it's been raining a lot these days around here. But, after almost an entire summer without it, I think we're all content to live with it for a while.
We start pruning today, so let the season of cold and wet afternoons begin! It's times like these that we appreciate the hot-tub again. After not using it for the summer months, we forget how nice it will be to jump in after a chilly afternoon hugging a pair of pruning shears!
Other than pruning, there are still some odd jobs here and there to get done, but the biggest project we have recently completed was renovating part of our large barn into a band 'jam' space for some co-workers of Katies! It required some framing, insulation and drywalling, along with some carpeting and a little electrical work, but overall the project went quite smoothly, and the band hopes to be able to move their stuff in as quick as possible. Go team for finishing by December 1st! A lot of hard work went into making that happen.
As for the household, we bundled up the kids after lunch today (it was pouring rain) and headed down to the field to pick out our very first household Christmas tree! Bryan and Lynn had planted Christmas trees on certain parts of the property several years back, and we are lucky enough to be reaping the rewards. So, we trekked down there, soggy boots and all, (the kids had to jump in every puddle imaginable, and they may have taken their own puddles home with them later) and carefully selected which tree would be the lucky tree to decorate our living-room. Now, a smart move here would have been to measure out our ceiling space before selecting said tree, right? Nah. Winging it is way more fun. As a result, the ceiling above the spot we had picked in our living room for the tree to sit was too low, and we mis-judged how big our tree was by a long shot. It's taaaallll. Beautiful! But tall. So, after some living room shuffling, (and some tree-shortening) it now sits proudly in front of the large bay windows for all to see. See for yourself!
We still need to decorate it, and we're hoping the kids can handle the responsibility! We'll need a few chairs to reach the top, that's for sure!