Christmastime was here

In case you were wondering, we didn't do a Christmas letter or cards this year.  I'm not exactly sure why...I just wasn't very inspired.  So no, you're not on the naughty list...I was the naughty one.  :-)

This year was probably the best Christmas ever.  The kids were old enough to stay up late and not be grumpy the next day, yet they still were young enough to be super excited.  Here are some pictures to sum up the last few weeks:

I've mentioned before about our favourite snacky suppers around the tree that we try to do at least once a week in December.  I'll start with that:

Mebira, putting together a veggie plate for our snacky supper.

December 23rd...almost Christmas!

We each pick a Christmas carol or two, blast the tunes and sing along.

Yes, it's December 23rd but I thought we could sneak in one present early.  :-)

Christmas Eve - the big night for our family.  Here we are at my brother and sis-in-law's house with my side of the family.  Such a fun evening!

The newest member of our extended family, Jasper.

Reading the Christmas story...on an ipad.  That was a first.  :-)

The girls and their wonderful cousins.

Our happy family.

Time to dive right in.  Mebira got a ton of Barbie stuff!

G got an e-reader for Christmas - a big highlight.

An ipod dock - a huge hit.

Christmas morning stockings

Mmmmmm....Christmas morning breakfast with fresh berries, cinnamon buns, and bacon!

We saved a present for Christmas Day.

This Christmas has been great because M and E are so happy playing with Barbie stuff all day, and G is reading and reading and reading on her e-reader!

Some rare downtime for E.

G and her e-reader.

Mebira got a few Barbie colouring books and has been colouring for HOURS over the holidays.  This is her favourite place to colour...on the floor.

Arvid and I were a little stressed to make the turkey.  Thankfully, it seemed to turn out quite nicely.

Before dinner Caesar with my bro-in-law!

Arvid and his sister, Lynelle.  We are sad that their parents are no longer around to celebrate with us, but we are so happy to keep up the Schimke tradition each year.

Eric provided some much needed instruction on carving the turkey!

We play charades in order to determine who gets to open presents first...if you can get it right then you get to open first!

The 7 girl cousins hanging out.

So proud to have such amazing nieces and daughters!

Canadian!

Well, we are nearing the end of four years' worth of paperwork!  As of October 30, 2012, Mebira is officially a Canadian.  We received her Canadian citizenship paper last week and are now in the process of applying for her passport, and then all of her adoption related paperwork is FINALLY complete!  Seriously...there has been so much...never ending piles of papers, checklists...from the day we made the decision to adopt until now that it just feels bizarre to finally be done.  :-)

(For those of you keeping track, we came home PRV, applied for her citizenship in May/12, and received her citizenship less than 6 months later.  The website is estimating current wait times as 22 months so I was THRILLED to get it so soon.  Hopefully we will be done with cross border interrogations now.  What is it with the power trips those customs officers are on, anyway?  OK, I digress...)

I haven't posted much lately as life has been busy.  Thankfully, things are looking up a bit...many of the things that our kids were struggling with are starting to stabilize now.  I honestly think that anxiety in one and identity/adoption issues in the other will be lifelong issues that will increase in intensity and settle down again in waves.  For now, I'm enjoying a bit of a breather and time to get ready for Christmas.  I've had Christmas music on steady since October (and I only pulled it out once or twice in August and September) so I'm glad that the rest of the world has finally    caught up.  :-)

I also haven't posted any pictures because our camera has been missing since September.  I have a sneaking suspicion it got thrown out with the wrapping paper after the girls' birthdays since we haven't seen it since.  Good news, though - we got a new camera so I'll attach a few pictures.

Finally a Canadian Citizen!

We love her little afro.  I had her hair in a bunch of box braids and I only had time to take them out so I left it as an afro for a few days.  It's adorably cute but man do I pay for it after in the detangling process!!

I LOVE my girls!!

This was on the night of Arvid's Christmas party.  We had a wonderful night being wined and dined - it was such a treat to get out and be spoiled!