Christmas Sharpe Squad Style!

Well, Christmas was as awesome as I thought it would be! Jack loved it once he got over the fact that we were on the go constantly! Just a warning, I took a TON of photos, so be prepared!! Santa was really good to everyone here, and he came complete with some big surprises!


Christmas Eve was at my parents house. We have the Hayden family Christmas with my dad's family, then have our own family Christmas afterwards. It was busy and late, but overall things went really well. Here are a few pictures...

Will and my cousin Gerry


Jack and Will on Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lori's gift to them


Jack with his cousins Kennedy and Owen


Boppa and his two boys


Will in his new rocking chair. Jack thinks it should be his, even though he already has one!


Jack in Uncle Kevin and Aunt Lori's gift. Inside the BIG present was a whole bunch of presents. Nice thinking, Uncle Kevin.


THEN.....we drove home from my parents house. We got onto our street and I pushed the button for the garage door. Mark then told me that Santa had come early. When the door got all the way up, all I could see was my BRAND NEW DODGE NITRO!!!!!!! Apparently I was a VERY good girl this year, and someone loves me a whole lot! I couldn't believe it! I quickly helped Mark put the kids in bed (maybe not so much help), and ran back down to the garage to sit in it. I love it! It's the hottest ride in the world!



After all that excitment, I still had to finish getting ready for the next day. After Santa had done his thing, I took some pictures of what he left for the boys. Between the new car and my excitement for Jack in the morning, I hardly slept at all!


Jack with his new vaccum


Will in his new Excersaucer


Construction Man Jack


He also really got the hang of opening presents!


Daddy helping Will


At my aunt and uncles...a whole new sea of presents!


Helping Boppa and Momma open their present


Will and Jordan


At Mark's mom and dad's friends for Mark's family Christmas. Linda bought these reindeer antlers for all the kids and wanted a photo of them all together. It was not the easiest thing in the world to try and manage, and not something all the kids wanted to participate in at the same time. Unfortunatley, this is the best photo I could get!


LOVE this photo...Aunt Laura is getting some serious cuddle time in before she heads back home!


Mommy and Rod...the antlers really completed our outfits!


Thats another Christmas over! Best wishes to eveyone, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!!!!!!!!!

Pre-Christmas Excitment!

It's almost here! Jack can hardly wait this year, which is making things alot of fun. As long as you tell him "Santa is coming soon", he's fine. If you say "Santa is coming in 2 more sleeps", he'll freak out, and cry that it's not NOW, and then throw the mother of all temper tantrums. Very thin ice!
Mark's sister and brother in law are hear right now from Edmonton. We're pretty sure the kids have all grown a foot! Jack was pretty excited to see his cousins, but you could tell that despite all my efforts he was a little bit confused. They're here until after the New Year, so I'm sure he'll be fine by then.
Here are a few photos...

Jack and Daddy building the Gingerbread House


The finished product...if we can only keep Jack away from it!


Jack and Hannah reading.


Will and Uncle Wad (Mark and I call him Rod)


Will and At Ora (or Aunt Laura as she is known to others)


Jack and his new Soldier Bear. Uncle Rod brought each of the boys one from Edmonton. The bear is dressed in the same camoflauge that Uncle Rod wears. Jack took the bear to school for Show and Tell. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. He's quite proud of him, and nearly ripped a kid's arm off for trying to touch it. Jack named the bear Uncle Wad.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

Keeping with the Sharpe Squad tradition, we headed to the field to cut down our Christmas tree on Sunday. NOTHING beats a real tree. The place that we usually go to mysteriously closed down (which we didn't find out till we drove about an hour to get there), so we headed to about half an hour away from Belwood to a place called Wintersinger's Tree Farm. It was great. A hayride by tractor took you out to the field, you walked until you found something you liked, cut it down, then the tractor picked you back up and took you and your tree to be shaked and baled for the car ride home. Jack especially liked the tractor ride, and couldn't wait for Mark to cut down the tree. They have a really great program there as well, called R.E.A.C.T. (Real Evergreens for Afghanistan Canadian Troops), which sends real trees to families of soldiers serving overseas. What a great way to show support to the families who will be alone for Christmas.

Jack and daddy on the wagon ride


Jack and Will in the field...we put Will's carseat on the sled. He slept the WHOLE time.


This is the one!!


The strongest of men. It took both of them to drag it!


Tonight we decorated the tree. Jack could barely sit still during dinner, he was so excited. He really seems to be getting Christmas this year, and the smallest things have him so thrilled. Anyways, Mark brought the tree in and set it up. Jack tried out all the lights (many times), and had a great time hanging the balls. Mark has an ornament collection that his mom started for him a really long time ago that is all antique cars. He has over 20, and they're really quite neat hanging on the tree. Very suited to Mark. Jack thinks they're amazing! We may have to move them higher up, we noticed a few driving across the carpet!

Let there be light...this is a new favorite pic of mine!


This is the chunkier of our elves...he's quite a little pig when it comes to eating. Gearing up for the holidays, I guess!


Hanging the ornaments so intently.



The finished product! The angel is happiest sitting at that weird angle.

Shop Till Ya Drop!

Well, out of the blue one day, Mark says: "lets go shopping in the states for Christmas". Huh??? Anyone who knows my husband at all knows how much he HATES shopping (although he has remarkable taste in everything). I jumped at the chance, because noone knows when the opportunity will come again. We jumped on the car first thing Saturday morning, dropped the kids at Mark's parents, and headed to Walden Galleria in Buffalo. I have to say, though, that I was more excited about spending some time alone with Mark (there was no "Jack, stop kicking my seat" all the way down). We got over the border with only 2 cars ahead of us, and headed straight for the mall. We got some good deals, and Mark did enjoyed himself quite a bit given his hate of shopping. He found a bar in the mall early on, and bailed out after 2 hours. We enjoyed a nice dinner in the hotel that evening, and looked forward to the chance of sleeping in a bit. Wouldn't you know that we were both wide awake at 7:00 the next morning. We did a bit more shopping, and the headed home. We had NO problems at the border, no wait or anything. It was alot of fun, and I got a lot of shopping done!

A very quiet dinner!