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Today all seven mommies and all seven babies got together at Beth and Clara's house for a mommy group Christmas.
We met up at 10:30am and while it seemed like we had only been talking for a few minutes we realized that it was lunch time.
We all brought things for a potluck lunch and we were full when lunch was through.  
Each of the babies swapped names a few weeks back, so after lunch we did our gift exchange.
Hannah had Hadley's name and gave Hadley a Winnie the Pooh bath toy that sticks on the wall and has three little figurines (Pooh, Tigger and Piglet) to go with it.  (She tried it out tonight and loved it).  
By 1:30pm I think all the little ones were exhausted from all the craziness that comes with that many kids in one room.  So we called it a day.
From there we headed to Melon Heads since we were already in Whitby.  It was time for Hadley to receive her second haircut.  Contrary to the first time she had her hair cut, she loved it.  She jumped into the little pink car and drove her little heart out.  She made little car noises vrumm, vrumm, and turned the wheel with vigor.  She was also given two My Little Ponies to play with as well as a spray bottle and comb.  The lady was fantastic and while I thought I may have to worry about keeping her in the chair, I actually waited for her to finish playing after her haircut was complete.  She smiled and giggles and had a lot of fun.  YAY!
It was a little more expensive then Tiny Tots in Pickering but the extra $5 seemed to be worth it!

- Leanne Verkley

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For Christmas Brian and I bought Hadley her first pair of skates.  
I had been looking for them last year as I wanted her to try skates as early as possible as it seemed like a very Canadian thing to skate as early as possible.
So this year Brian and I found the smallest size single blade skates made (kids size 6 ~ just her size).
So for the record Hadley can tell all of her friends that she skated for the first time when she was only a year old (21 months technically).
We took her to the free skate at the Pickering Rec Centre sponsored by Tim Hortons.
After getting Hadley's skates on we stood her up on the rubber floor and she seemed to have decent balance although she still held onto our hands.
We took her out on the ice just after the zamboni cleaned the ice and she loved it.  
Brian and I took turns gliding around the kids learning section of the ice with her.  (No chairs or pylons or the like were available so we held her under both arms for the first while and later Brian and I each took a hand and she glided or tried to walk between us).  
We also picked her up a few times and skated around the entire rink while holding her and she seemed to love how fun it was to move so fast.
She giggled and smiled the entire time.
After the hour on the ice, Hadley fell asleep shortly after we put her in the car seat.  
Everyone had so much fun!  What a great afternoon!

- Leanne Verkley

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This year after being out on a Christmas road trip for four days until December 30th we decided that a night at home would be good for New Years.
We had great fun with the company of Jenny, Ryan, Owen and Shawn K.
We played board games, Wii, toasted the countdown with Dick Clark and stayed up until 2am before calling it a night.  Ryan, Jenny and Owen spent the night while Shawn K. drove home as he only lives a few minutes from our house.
Hadley went to bed easily at 9:30pm so we went upstairs at midnight and put a hat and party favours in her crib as we did last year and took a picture and wished her a happy new year.
In the morning we had pancakes and then we played one last board game before Ryan, Jenny and Owen left.

I am tired but here I am at 1:20am writing in my blog.
Our lives are full and blessed and I am excited to see what the new year holds for the Verkleys!

- Leanne Verkley

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December 27th we went to Kitchener to spend Christmas with Brian's dad and family.  We enjoyed great company, we were spoiled with gifts, we had yummy food and the evening went late with a movie (Mamma Mia).  
We spent the night and had a wonderful breakfast as well.
December 28th we headed to Listowel to spend Christmas with my dad.
There were the usual people in attendance (Dad, Brenda, Amanda, Joe, Mandy, Jason and Jayden - well Jayden was new this year).
This year however we enjoyed more great company.  My grandma and papa Jack came, as well as my aunt Nancy, Uncle Kent and cousin Megan.  
It felt so good to have everyone around.  Truly it felt like Christmas.
There was so much food and again we were spoiled with gifts!
It was fun to buy for Jayden this year and Hadley had so much fun opening more gifts.
This year the only thing that was missing from Christmas was a visit with my mom as she lives in Surrey BC.  I thought of her lots and talked with her throughout the week of Christmas so that was okay and I am glad to hear she is feeling a little more settled now.  So that is more good news.

While we had one less Christmas than normal we are blessed with a lot of family so we decided to continue our road trip and travel on December 29th to spend a day with Brian's uncle and aunt and cousin (Phil, Doreen and Kiana).  
Hadley and Kiana played, coloured, read books and had a great time with Kiana's doll house until bed time.
Hadley stayed up despite my efforts to relax with her on the couch so after just over an hour of trying, I gave up and she stayed up with us as the adults played Ticket to Ride.  This was such a fun new board game that I had never heard of before but I may actually seek this out to add to our collection.
By midnight we all headed to bed.
Hadley slept in until about 9am so that was okay.
Just after lunch on December 30th we headed to Brian's cousin Meaghen's house to visit with her, Brian's aunt Dona, Brian's mom and Brian's grandma. His uncle Bernie was working unfortunately.  
We did this quick visit just before heading to Brian's uncle Joe and Aunt Patricia's house.   Brian's mom came also and we visited with Joe, Pat, as well as Brian's cousin Christine and her husband Tim who were home for the holidays from England.  Hadley took to Christine very easily despite this being her first ever meeting.
I am telling you, we are blessed with lots of family.
After getting caught up, we decided that Hadley really needed to get to bed at a decent hour so we left by 7:25pm and she was asleep in the car by 7:30pm.
We drove around three hours home, unloaded the car with all our presents and overnight stuff and then went to bed shortly afterwards ourselves.
Hadley slept until 9am the next morning.  (13.5 hours  ~ She was really behind on some sleep and it was a great time to catch up!)

We were blessed and spoiled again this year!
Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas special!

- Leanne Verkley