Christmas Time

Well, truth is...I'm just a terrible blogger.  I say this every time.  Maybe one day I'll get better, but don't hold your breath!

22 months old (Nov. 14, 2015)

Christmas is almost here.  We have had such a mild winter it barely feels like it.  We do have snow on the ground and have had a few chilly days, but so far it's been an unusual winter.  Lennon is very excited about all the Christmas decorations, trees, and lights.  We have had our tree and decorations up for about a month already.  She saw Santa at a brunch we go to every year - I wasn't too sure how she was going to react but she was totally fine with it!  We took her to the Calgary Zoo's Zoolights the other night.   They put up a ton of Christmas lights throughout the zoo.  She loved the lights but was then absolutely mesmerized by the fire pits they had set up throughout as warming stations.  We had to stop at pretty much all of them.  If you ask her about Zoolights she will say "fireplace."  

I guess I need to think back a bit...November...November seemed to fly by.  We have just been busy with day to day stuff really.  Fred's work and school are keeping him very busy.  All is still going well and we cherish the weekends when he doesn't have classes.  Lennon is more and more active all the time.  She still loves her swimming class and is becoming more comfortable in the water.  I think we'll continue with that for sure.  We try to get together with one of her little friends once a week, which is great.  Mostly we spend our time at the grocery store (she loves Costco! Oh, and Cobs bread is her absolute favourite - maybe it's the samples? yes, it's definitely the samples!), running errands, and just playing at home.  Fred and I got a chance to get away on our own for an extended weekend in November.  Grandma L and Pugga came to stay with Lennon and we went to Vegas!  It was a great time.  We walked a ton, ate good food, and relaxed lots!  Lennon had fun at home too so that was good.  It was nice to get away and have that time together.  November, unfortunately, also brought some tragedy to the Brinkman family.  My Uncle Neal and Aunt Janna were in an accident.  She passed away at the scene and my uncle suffered some serious injuries.  It was heartbreaking news and a grim reminder of how precious life is and how in an instant everything can change.  Uncle Neal is recovering well, although I'm sure the emotional healing will take much longer.

Now we're almost at the end of December already.  December always seems busy.  We've had lots of parties and get togethers to attend.  It just makes the month fly by.  Lennon is a few weeks away from turning two (what?!).  We have lots planned over the next few months, including some travels for us and Grandma B and Gramps visiting for Lennon's birthday!

23 months old (Dec. 14, 2015)

There are the last couple of months in a nutshell.  So, more about Lennon...she is turning into such a little girl.  I don't think we can call her a baby anymore, although we do.  She's losing that baby look and is definitely a toddler now.  She still talks up a storm and her vocabulary is quite something.  She speaks in sentences now and often refers to herself as Len.  "Len sit on the couch," "Len do it," "Len put the boots on."  It's adorable.  We pretty much have full on conversations all day long!  Today I had to laugh - we were folding laundry (she loves to "help") and she saw some underwear and said "Daddy's underwear, Len wear underwear too, older"  I said that she had to learn to go on the potty, that she was old enough to try and then she could wear underwear.  She replied, "ya, poop on potty first."  I said, "yup and then you can wear underwear," and she quickly said "bra too."  Haha!  Let's work on underwear first, Lennon!  Can you tell that she follows me everywhere and watches everything or what?!  She has taken to having showers now too.  She hasn't been in the bath tub in quite a while - she would rather hop in the shower with one of us.  Growing up fast!  Lennon still loves music and sings songs randomly throughout the day.  She quite often wakes up from a nap singing too.  Oh, she's a lot of fun!  She does have her moments though too.  She can get whiney and will use the whine and cry to try to get what she wants.  We are in toddler territory here!  Anyway, it's unbelievable that she's almost two.  That has go to be the quickest two years ever!

Happy girl!, Selfie with Daddy, Selfie with Mommy (serious face)
My two cuties, Checking out the tree, Helping with laundry

Zoolights, right side pic is Lennon staring at the fire!
Lights at Confederation Park
Visiting Santa