Christmas Dinner with the Knopps

Ryan's family came to our house on Boxing Day for a big Christmas dinner. I love bringing a "taste" of the South to Canada on occasions such as this, so I was in my glory working in the kitchen that day. We feasted on deep fried turkey (trust me, once you've had a deep fried turkey you will never be able to eat an oven cooked turkey again!) cranberry dressing with gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, squash casserole, deviled eggs, peaches-n-cream corn, cranberry sauce, and biscuits. Denise brought a delicious pumpkin pie and chocolate mouse cheesecake for dessert. Ryan did the honors of carving the bird, and then we all proceeded to put on a few pounds at the dinner table!

After dinner, the kids enjoyed opening their gifts from Grandma & Grandpa and all the aunts and uncles. It was slightly chaotic with two toddlers and an eight year old, but it was so much fun watching them all run around and playing together.

Happy Boxing Day!

The day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day in Canada. It originated centuries ago when the wealthy would give their unwanted and extra boxes of gifts from Christmas to the lower social class. Now, it is SHOPPING HOLIDAY for post-Christmas sales! Needless to say, with all of the snow that we have, I will not be taking part in any of the Boxing Day Mall Madness this year. Instead, I am busy shoveling the driveway (for the umpteenth time), cleaning the house, and cooking a Christmas feast for all of Ryan's family so we can celebrate Christmas with them this evening. I'm sure I'll have many pictures and a few stories to post about that later!
I did manage to build a snowman for Reagan yesterday after I shoveled the back patio during the BRIEF intermission in snowfall!

White Christmas

The first few days of snow, I thought it was beautiful. I even got a kick out of shoveling the driveway the first few times. Now... I'm so ready for it to stop snowing and start melting! We've got over three feet, and there is still more to come for the next couple of days.

It's Christmas morning! The past few days have been a whirlwind of excitement for Reagan... she was constantly counting down the number of "sleeps" before Santa would get here. It seemed to be all she could talk about. So we expected a very restless night of sleep and an early wake from her this morning. We were wrong. She must have been exhausted from all of the waiting, because she slept in this morning until almost 8:00! Once she was awake and moving, we all made the journey down the stairs to see if Santa had left us any presents. He left Reagan a whole bag full of presents!

We took Reagan to see Santa at the mall over a month ago, and she told him that day that she wanted "The Little Einstein's" movie for Christmas. That is what she would tell anyone who would ask her from that day forward. So she was surely a happy girl when the first present she pulled out of her Santa bag was her movie!

A Cinderella tea set!

Oh boy! Get ready for some noise. The only other gift Reagan asked for was a keyboard... and she didn't start asking for it until about three days before Christmas. Luckily for us, Santa must be a mind-reader because he already had one packed away in his sleigh for Reagan!

All done! "There's no more presents!"

Reagan was quite pleased to see that Santa ate some of the goodies that she made for him.

Christmas Eve

We've started a new family tradition, and boy was it fun! Not only does Santa get milk and cookies when he makes a stop at Reagan's house, but he will also get goodies made out of Rice Krispies. Reagan helped Mommy & Daddy to make two houses, a Christmas tree, and a snowman. We really had a good time making our delicious creations... we just hope that Santa enjoys them!

By the way, Mommy shoveled the driveway twice today so that Santa would have a place to park his sleigh and reindeer tonight. There is close to three feet of snow on the roof and along the ground, so we decided the driveway would be the safest place for Santa!

Firsts

Today was a day of firsts! We have now had our FIRST snowfall of the season, which gave us about six inches of snow. Reagan made her FIRST ever snow angel, all by herself. She must have seen someone do it on one of her many Christmas shows, because she just walked outside and started making one immediately. And I shoveled snow for the FIRST time in my life today. I never had to worry about shoveling snow in South Carolina... it doesn't snow enough there to worry about, and I'm sure my Dad would have done it anyway. Ryan is "plow man" during the winter, so he always shovels our driveway. Not this year though because he is still recovering from his second back surgery. So I got busy with the shovel and went to work. Ryan was impressed and said that we have the cleanest driveway in all of Langley. We may have the saltiest driveway as well... I think I used too much! But hey... it's not slippery or snowy! The forecasters are calling for up to another foot of snow by Christmas, so I am guessing that all of the firsts will be repeated in just a few days!IT'S SNOWING!

My little snow angel!

Playing in the snow... and loving it!

The cleanest driveway in all of Langley!

Second Surgery

We are now home from Ryan's second surgery in less than three weeks. After the fiasco of last week (finding out that Ryan needed surgery again, going to the hospital and getting ready for surgery to then only be sent home, and then waiting all weekend to find out when his surgery would be) we didn't think life could get any more chaotic. WE WERE WRONG! After over a dozen phone calls yesterday to the hospital and to the neurosurgeon's office, we finally found out that Ryan's surgery was scheduled for today at 3:10 pm. The neurosurgeon's office called to tell us this. So imagine our surprise when we get a phone call this morning at 10:30 asking us why Ryan was not at the hospital for his surgery yet? According to them, his surgery was at 9:45AM. WHAT?! So we jumped into the car and set off for the hospital, which is an hour away from our house. Thankfully they had held the O.R. for us (something that is unheard of around here) and Ryan went into surgery shortly after noon. The neurosurgeon came to find me around 2:30 to let me know that Ryan was in recovery and that all had gone well. He didn't offer much of an explanation as to what had happened or how it had happened. All he said was that he removed the bulging part of the disc, and that he also found two "fragments" from the previous surgery. So we are hoping that means that it was done right this time! He did also say that Ryan's recovery would be twice as long now since he is recovering from two surgeries. I was never allowed to see him because they didn't have a room to "admit" him to. He had to stay in the recovery area and the surgical day-care for 6 hours, and no visitors are allowed in either department. They finally released him, and we are now at home. LET'S HOPE THAT THIS TIME WE DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK!!!!!! I'll keep you posted as to how things are going the next few days.

Let's Do Something TRICKY!

"Let's do something tricky!" is a comment I hear from Reagan nearly everyday. Most days, multiple times a day! She is such a little dare-devil, and never hesitates to try something new. Lately, she has become an all-star cheerleader. It's as if she has been doing it for years... she just goes right up. She especially likes to use my old pom poms when she is chanting "Go Canucks Go" or "Roll Tide Roll." I guess she just didn't cheer loud enough for Alabama to hear her yesterday... too bad!

Don't have a heart attack when you see these pictures Great-Gran. I promise we are always careful!

Bad News

I hate to have to post this. Ryan is going to have to have another back surgery. His pain was better for the first few days after his surgery, and then it suddenly came back worse than ever. His neurosurgeon only practices out of the hospital that is almost an hour away, so I took him to our family doctor that is just around the corner. The Dr ordered an emergency CT scan, and the results showed that the same disc had re-ruptured. So we phoned the neurosurgeon who told us to come to his hospital immediately and that he would operate that evening. The nurses had Ryan all prepped and ready to go when suddenly the anesthesiologist was called to do an emergency C-Section. Then someone came in the OR with a ruptured bowel, so we were sent home. After I made enough phone calls yesterday to drive all of the hospital staff crazy, we now have a new surgery date scheduled for Tuesday December 9. Momsey and Pops were supposed to fly back home today, but have thankfully agreed to stay and help us until this nightmare is finally over!

My Pretty Girl

She's the prettiest package under our tree!

Oh Christmas Tree

I absolutely love Christmas. I decorate the entire house... every single room. And it is so much more fun this year than ever before to experience Christmas through the eyes of a two and a half year old. Reagan is enraptured with the season, and her spirit is contagious. She helped me decorate the tree, and she and her Daddy put the final decoration on together. Since Ryan can't lift anything over 5 pounds due to his back surgery, I held her while he helped her!

Pops Little Helper

Pops is still working away. He and Reagan worked in the cold for hours putting up all of the outdoor decorations. Well, maybe it was more like Pops worked for hours and Reagan would go out every once in a while to help! She snuggled up on the couch with him later that night to help him defrost while they were reading all of her books.

Thanksgiving

This was the first year since I have moved to Canada that I was able to spend American Thanksgiving with my parents. It was so much easier preparing the feast with them here...Pops was in charge of the turkey, and Momsey was in charge of Reagan! Dinner was delicious, and we all went to bed that night a few pounds heavier.

Ryan's Surgery

Sorry that it has been awhile since I have made a posting, but we have been more than busy around here. As you may remember from a previous post, Ryan has been waiting for back surgery on his L5/S1 since early this summer. HIS DAY HAS FINALLY COME! On Wednesday, November 19, Ryan underwent a successful back surgery to relieve the horrible pain. He is still in quite a bit of different pain now as he recovers, but we are so grateful that the previous pain is gone completely. He should heal from surgery in the next 6-8 weeks and his life can finally return to normal. We are also grateful to Pops and Momsey for flying up to help us out during this time. They arrived the day before Ryan's surgery, and have been absolute life savers for us. I was able to spend surgery day at the hospital with Ryan without having to worry about Reagan for a single second. I honestly don't think that Reagan even noticed that we were gone! And I have been able to tend to Ryan every day since the surgery with no problems at all due to Pops & Momsey entertaining Reagan 24/7!

So, here are a few pictures of how we have spent the last couple of weeks. Ryan was told by the surgeons that he would not be allowed to enjoy our new hot tub until his incision completely healed, so the morning of his surgery he and Reagan got in for a last minute dip.Reagan has been watching Ryan lay around and relax from his surgery for the past week, and she is starting to imitate him! Smart girl as he is being waited on hand and foot these days!

And of course she has to imitate Mommy too. Luckily she doesn't have an internet connection on her computer or we would have to create her a Facebook account as well!

Since she hasn't been able to "rough house" and play with her Daddy like she normally does, she has decided to torment Dixie every day lately. Thankfully, Dixie is such a good girl and puts up with it!

I've been working Pops like crazy since he has been here. One of the first things I had him do was put our Christmas lights on the house a few days after Ryan's surgery. Ryan had done a few of them before his surgery but just couldn't finish with the pain he was in. Reagan loves to watch them twinkle. She calls them the lights on her princess castle. Pops of course was ready to eat her up while trying to keep her warm to see the pretty lights!

Uncle Reece & Auntie Marla

Uncle Reece and Auntie Marla came down from Vernon for a short visit, and they brought Reagan an adorable set of "puppy tale" books. Little did they know that with giving the gift, they would be stuck reading those books to Reagan over and over and over again the whole time they were here. She loved it!

Superstar

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Today marks the middle of the semester for Reagan at gymnastics, so I made sure to remember to take my camera to class. Reagan is such a superstar! She loves walking on the beam, and flipping around the bar. Her best friend in class is a little girl named Sammi, and the two of them are as cute as can be the way they run around the gym holding hands. I am so pround of my little gymnast.