Full House

So many changes in my little family!

Steve, Elysia and I have moved from our little home in Langley to an even cozier home in Burnaby.  Steve and I want to buy a house, so we figured the best way to do that was to downsize for a while and save up a down-payment.  So we moved!  Hellooooo Mom and Dad's!!

We did a lot of work getting ready to move in.  First we had to get our house ready to be rented out...paint, paint, paint!!!  Then we had to get the basement at my parent's home ready for us...paint, paint, paint!!!

It was worth it!

This is my new little sitting room.  My Mom painted those lovely pictures behind the sofa.  They are now hanging on the opposite wall, and look awesome!

Here is the little fireplace we got to warm up our room.  It makes the sitting room so much cozier!  Cody likes it too (although he really loves the awesome shag rug!).

This is going to be my spring-time project.  I'm going to paint it white.  Hope it turns out!

The room is big enough to include our little kitchen table.  It's nice that my family can sit together.  Steve and I enjoy coffee here, and Elysia likes to play in this room.

There is still a lot more I want to do.  First of all, Elysia's room needs a facelift.  New paint, curtains and lighting are definitely in order!  Then I'm thinking about re-painting my sitting room.  I like the room, but it's a bit darker than I really wanted.  I would like it lighter and am thinking of a grey-blue.  I'm just really getting tired of painting!

Amidst all this redecorating we also had Christmas!

This is Elysia and I on the Stanley Park Christmas Train.  It was fabulous!  We went with our neighbours from Langley and had a really wonderful evening.

Another train ride!  This time it was Lougheed Mall.  Dad seemed to enjoy this train ride more than Elysia though. 

December is baking time!  Here is my first attempt at making a gingerbread man...pretty sad!

Second attempt turned out much better.

Here is my Mom and Dad's lovely tree.  I thought it was really pretty.

This is Steve's and my tree.  Steve insists on a real tree.  I would love a fake one, but I have to admit that the real one is beautiful and smells so nice.

OK, I threw this picture in because I thought it was just so darn cute.  Elysia loves making a mess of my laundry.  Not fun to clean up, but so adorable to watch her having fun and smiling like this!

This is Elysia wearing her Christmas dress and shopping with Grandma Shaw.  We spent the afternoon at this little shop where Elysia got to see Santa and look at the lovely Christmas displays.  She looked so cute, but unfortunately her visit with Santa didn't go very well.  Hopefully next year the big guy in the red suit won't be so scary!

This is another pic I just had to throw in.  Cody decided to take a nap and use Elysia as a pillow.  They are such buddies!

The big, goofy dog.

Sigh...what can I say?

It doesn't snow a lot here in Vancouver, so we love it when it does.  Driving in it isn't fun though!

Elysia and her Daddy Christmas shopping at Lougheed Mall.   

My Mom's Christmas Village.  Pretty awesome!

Elysia hanging out in her toy basket.

Elysia at her music class.  She loves music!  I really hope that is something she always loves.

As you can see, December was a really busy month!