Lowell & Julie: week 25

Week 25 and this child is supposedly as long as a skate blade. I should be more specific- LOWELL'S skate blade (around 13 inches long)... not the skate blade belonging to a tiny child. And how appropriate given that the NHL lockout just ended... profoundly fortuitous!

I bravely dusted off the ol measuring tape to check belly size progress. It's currently 38 inches around, which is a mere 4 inches smaller than I was at WEEK 40 (42 inches) with Fraser. 15 weeks to go, and I'm moderately terrified about how many inches I have left to grow. I was sort of hoping this picture/comparison would show my dramatic size... but it doesn't (boo hoo). I really don't look that big in my current week 25 state (I blame/credit the outfit choice)...

1. Christmas part 2- Christmas with the Ts!

Our time at the farm started out with Grandma Jennie's funeral. This was both a sad event-- as Grandma Jennie died rather suddenly/unexpectedly and will be missed-- and a celebration of the life that she led, and the knowledge that she's in heaven.

(When Great Grandma & Grandpa met baby Fraser in October 2011.)

The funeral really was special and unique. For starters, several of the family brought the blankets and paintings that Grandma had made, and they were added to her "in progress" quilt collection to make a bright and lovely display at the front of the hall.

There were various tributes starting with the great grandchildren who sang 'You are my Sunshine'...

By the way, there are currently 27 great grandchildren, and 3 on the way (from left to right due in April, May & June)!

Julie Anne & cousin Erin continued the tributes by reading a compilation of memories from all 22 grandkids, and two of Lowell's aunties read memories from their generation. The eulogy was written by Lowell's Dad, and if you know him BUT AT ALL, you know that the eulogy would then be unconventional to say the least. He wrote it as a dialogue between two people after watching a hypothetical movie entitled "The Life of Jennie". It was beautifully done and totally respectful... but also full of humour (again, no surprise if you know Lowell's Dad).

Another highlight of the funeral was a video that Lowell had prepared. 6 years ago, Lowell was editing/converting a video interview that my Dad did with my Grandma G. As he was watching, he thought, 'Why haven't I done this?! I still have all 4 grandparents!' So he did. He interviewed all of his grandparents on video. He edited an 11-minute clip of Grandma Jennie talking about her upbringing, how she met Grandpa, a tid bit about each of her kids, and an emotional message for her grandkids. It sounds like it could be potentially creepy to have the one being eulogized give a message at her own funeral, but it wasn't... it was really special, and the source of tears AND laughter.

So all in all, a true celebration of the T family matriarch.

Here are Lowell and Fraser with Grandpa George...

After a lovely luncheon and naps, we switched gears to our Christmas celebration.

For starters, the grandkids slipped into their comfy cozy PJs courtesy of Dave & Lori...

This year, we did a couples white-elephant-type game exchange AND a kiddie game exchange. The kids got to start and were ready to tear into the gifts...

Then Fraser hung out with Auntie Erin and watched while the adults did THEIR exchange.

There were some fun ones in the mix... Ticket 2 Ride, Things, Domino Trains, Scategories, and Apples to Apples. The idea behind the game exchange is that we then not only add to our personal game collections, but we have fun new games to play while we're together as a family. My personal favourite was "Things". Some really hilarious stuff comes out in that game!

The next morning after breakfast, the kids got to whack the pinjata that Marti made for them. Since Fraser was the youngest, he got to start (with Auntie Erin's help)...

I don't have pictures of the girls hitting it, but some of those wee gals had some seriously impressive power behind their hits... especially considering they were both blindfolded AND spun around before their turns.

I loved watching Fraser interact with his girlie cousins. He was truly captivated by them..

I thought it was especially cute witnessing the antics of Carmen (the eldest cousin) and Fraser (the youngest cuzzie) together...

And also Katelyn giving Fraser some piano lessons!

Of course, we mustn't forget some reading time snuggles with Grandma!

Obviously there were also plenty of giggles with Grandpa, but somehow none of THOSE precious moments were captured (at least not on OUR camera).

One of MY personal highlights was receiving one of Janelle's famous massages. Oh my... heavenly. I totally lost track of the time as I was transported into lala land... beauty! Thanks Janelley! I also love braiding the little girlies' hair, so as per the norm... that was also a highlight.

A special thank you to Lowell's Mom who made us all feel so welcome AND prepared an extensive/delicious Christmas dinner despite having an extremely emotionally draining and busy week with the loss of Grandma. In fact, the T family celebration was a stretch for everyone, and I'm so grateful for all the hard work that everyone contributed (in particular our ma and sisters) to not only make it happen, but make it memorable. To sum up... it was a short but sweet time with the T family whom we love dearly!

2. We rang in the New Year with our good friends Zab, Ruth, Bret & Sheena. Zabu is like Lowell's Indian brother (you may recall his wedding in May), and he and Ruthie came down from Edmonton for the occasion. We chatted, laughed, ate, played games, LAUGHED more, and before we knew it, it was 2013! We then spent most of the next day with the same fabulous crew (which included a home-cooked Indian meal by Zab & Ruth...mmmmmmm)!

Oh, and Fraser has a(nother) girlfriend! Hailey, Bret & Sheena's youngest, is 3 months older than him, but they definitely stole each other's hearts. We were in the kitchen when we heard giggling and peeked around the corner to see these two sitting at the kiddie table, laughing with glee as they took turns taking sips of milk and passing the cup back and forth. So adorable!

January 1, 2013 marked exactly one full year that Lowell consumed NO candy, desserts, chips, pop, or any sort of unhealthy snack. He decided to embark on that little adventure as a personal challenge (to see if he could do it), and also because he does better with all or none (as opposed to moderation). I ate most of what he declined, however, so this large belly of mine is certainly not all baby! So proud of Lowell, though... what a feat!

3. Let's just take a quick sec to talk about Fraser as I know I'm going to look back on this post when baby #2 is 15 months old, and wonder what the heck Fraser was up to. He has popped 5 molars (that makes 14 teeth total), likes to half-feed himself with a spoon (MESSY!), continues to produce/imitate new words/sounds daily, and has a very clear use of the word "no". He's a content, easy going child in general, but when he doesn't want something... HE'LL LET YOU KNOW! With a firm "NO!" He's so serious and adamant about it, but it is very hard for his mama to contain her giggles! He's definitely not short of giggles himself, either. He'll often just start laughing for no reason (well, no reason that we can tell), and we can't help but laugh along which creates a delightful cycle of laughter. Oh what a kid!

He has this turtle toy thing that has been his personal little music player (as he walks by and presses buttons to re-activate the music/talking as soon as it stops), but recently he has been able to climb it and "ride" it himself. He calls it "YELLOW" (well, more accurately "yeyow") as the yellow button is always the first one he presses and the toy says "Yellow!" loud and clear. So, if he randomly calls out "YEYOW", then he wants his bouncy turtle toy. Obviously...