Christmas highlights so far...

Some last minute Christmas baking with Auntie Susie...

Christmas Eve (we miss you Craig & Jen!!) ...

Opening presents...

Christmas Day... opening more presents...

Puzzle time with Grandma Esau...

And of course, a quick clip of Ava in all her sillyness...

Such wonderful & exciting NEWS!!!

I am absolutely THRILLED to announce that my wonderful sister Vivienne is ENGAGED!!! We got "the call" late last night, and although we already had a sneaking hunch that it was coming, it was still SO great to hear the big news! Yesterday was Viv & Rich's 1 year anniversary of dating so it made it an extra special day for them.
Congratulations again guys! We're so excited for you and can't wait for you to begin this journey of married life together. You couldn't be more perfect for each other and we love you both so much!!

And here's a close-up of the ring. Its absolutely beautiful!!

December Update

I have been completely blown away by how quickly Christmas has crept up on us this year. Its literally days away now and yet I still haven't grasped the fact that we'll be opening gifts and eating turkey at the end of this week. How can it already be that time of year again? Is it just me or is time honestly speeding up with each new year? I don't know, but its seems crazy to me.


We had my staff Christmas party on Friday night and as we were leaving at the end of the evening, Jon commented on how weird it felt to be wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. He said it just didn't feel right to be saying it yet and I couldn't disagree with him on that. It's just come so quickly this year.

Thankfully we're done all of our Christmas shopping and everything is wrapped and under the tree. The only thing left to buy is a gift for my Dad, but we already know what we want to get him--- its just a matter of getting it. Other than that, I have a bit more baking to do, and then we're ready for the festivities to begin :)


This is going to be a really busy week for us. Between work and basketball and gatherings, it will be a miracle if we can keep everything straight! My boss leaves for holidays on Wednesday so tomorrow will be a really busy day for me. And Jon has basketball every single night this week. He has a game tonight, a practice tomorrow night, Wednesday is another game, Thursday is a game and depending on how they do, could possibly be two games, Friday is a game and Saturday is a game. Plus, my best friend Jen flies home for the holidays on Friday night AND my sister's birthday is Friday as well. Then Sunday is the big Esau extended family gathering at Grandma & Grandpa's, after the gathering we have a friend's Christmas party to go to, Monday (Christmas Eve) is Christmas with my family, and Tuesday (Christmas day) is Christmas with Jon's family. Aaaahhhh... I'm exhausted just from writing it :) So indeed... this will be a busy week. But well worth it I'm sure. Hopefully once Boxing Day rolls around, we'll be sipping hot chocolate and relaxing........ but again, I emphasize the word 'hopefully'! :)


Other than all the upcoming chaos, life has been pretty good. We've had quite a bit of time with our favorite niece and nephew, which is always rewarding. Last night we had Erich & Naomi over for dinner and the Survivor Finale. I'm not really a Survivor fan but for some reason we starting watching it this year and just had to see who would win. Unfortunately, the ONE person I didn't want to win, won after all. Oh well... guess its just Survivor :) It was a fun evening though! Thanks again for bringing that delicious lasagna Naomi!!


Well... I should probably get on with my day. I haven't accomplished a whole lot yet and I do still have a fairly lengthy list of stuff I'd like to get done, so with that... have a great week everyone! And Merry Christmas in case I don't make it back to my blog during this insane week :) Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!

Our sweet little winter marshmellow...

"But Auntie Bonnie, its ONLY for looking at, we're NOT eating it yet..."

I got a very sweet phone call from Konrad on Wednesday night, requesting my help on his Gingerbread house. Who could possibly turn down such an offer ? :)

Konrad in all his "silly-ness"... Almost done...

"Can I help too!?"
Ava is still a bit young to help with the decorating so she and Uncle Jon found a way to entertain themselves... :)


At last, the finished product! The kids needed to burn off some energy and decided to do so with some 'spinning exercises.' It was pretty funny to watch, especially because Ava joined in too. Unfortunately, Jon didn't get very much of Ava's spinning. She grew a bit tired of it and decided to play instead :) (And I just realized that Jon took the video sideways and I have no idea how to rotate it... sorry, you'll have to turn your head to the side to view it) :)

Not much to report...

The title pretty much sums it up. I haven't posted in a while for two main reasons. 1) I haven't had the time. Life has been "non-stop" lately, resulting in very little time on the computer, and 2) Nothing exciting to post about. Though things have been busy, I quite sadly, have very little to share with you.
Jon did have his first basketball tournament last weekend though and I got a few pictures from their final game (you'll have to excuse how blurry they are... I was too far away and all the movement didn't help either). They played well and ended up 3rd out of 8 teams, which isn't bad considering it was their first tournament of the season. Jon is absolutely loving his coaching position and its been really neat to see him "in his element." Coaching is definitely a passion of his and I'm so proud of the great example he is to his players. It will be cool to see the team develop over the next few months.

A very blurry 'Coach Jon' from a distance

The guys in action

Erich & Naomi brought the kids to the final game. They were surprisingly content to watch and seemed very proud of their Uncle Jon. I think Konrad was a little disappointed though to find that Uncle Jon was coaching instead of playing :)

Team time-out...

I figured I would add this video of the kids at half time. Konrad was in his own little world out there and as Naomi said, "as far as he's concerned, he's playing basketball..." :) It was pretty cute to watch him run around with his "game face" on. But one thing is for sure... its all fun and games until somebody gets hurt :) ...