Christmas Newsletter 2008

This year has been a whirlwind and I have no idea where the time has gone but wanted to take a few moments to share some of the exciting events that have happened this past year. It is the one time of year that we really try to reach out to all those we love and especially those who haven’t heard from us in some time.

I am sure that most of you know now that we have been posted to Winnipeg, Manitoba. We rec’d the posting message in March and should have been in Winnipeg by July but there were apparently other plans for us as it took almost 6 months to the day to sell our house in Greenwood. Trying times! HA!HA! We closed the sale on the house and headed out here mid-September and adjusted to life in a hotel room for a little over a week. Very interesting with the 3 kids that’s for sure. I thought I would love going out to restaurants to eat and having someone clean our room but it sounded more glamourous than it actually was. HA!HA! We have since settled into our wonderful new home. We knew that it was meant for us from the moment we stepped foot inside and it has been a wonderful blessing ever since. We live in a quiet neighborhood in the South end of the city called Lindenwoods. We have been welcomed very warmly by our new church friends here and have been blessed by many invitations to dinner and social functions.

Alex is 6 ½ now, in Grade One and has continued in a French Immersion program. He is loving it and I am amazed at how easily he adjusted to new friends and a new school. He is losing teeth like crazy and already has 4 of his grown up teeth in with 3 more on the way. He’s missing his 2 front top teeth which I think is just perfect for this time of year! HA!HA!

Kristin will be 5 end of Jan/09 and has started a dance class where she is learning Tap, Jazz and Ballet and she is really enjoying it. That girl was born to dance! We decided against preschool as it was a little late to register and it is really nice to have her home for a little bit longer. She has a friend Amy who comes to play once or twice a week and she really looks forward to that too.

Nathan celebrated his first birthday in October and has been a pure joy. He has 12 teeth already and is trying to talk up a storm. Over the last few days he has been really trying to take a lot more steps so I think the walking phase will be just around the corner. He has started a screaming phase lately so we are working on Baby Signing with him to see if we can reduce the frustration levels and tone things down a bit. HA!HA!

We were able to have a little company as Richards parents were able to come and celebrate Nathans birthday with us and visited for a week. We look forward to many more visits from friends and family.

Richard has been working like crazy. He is still flying the Hercules C-130 in Search and Rescue and they have a very busy squadron here. He is lucky to have a number of guys on the squadron that he has known for a long time so that made the transition for him a little easier. He is enjoying a little hockey on the side with some of the guys from church and we have been busy with renovation plans for the basement.

I am adjusting to life in the prairies. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit homesick but to be expected after having lived my whole life in NS. The temperatures here are crazy and tonight for instance it is –26 with a windchill of –41. So glad for a nice warm house! HA!HA! I am enjoying having no commitments as I had a very busy volunteer life in Greenwood but have been able to just enjoy settling in and spending time with the kids and Richard. I know it provides a greater stability and the kids are really responding well to it.

We have enclosed a photo and apologize for the quality. The cropping and copying went awry at some point but at least it is a current photo taken Nov 28th at our church Christmas dinner.

We hope that everyone is healthy and happy and has enjoyed a wonderful year as well. We look forward to the New Year and all that 2009 has to bring and wish you and your loved ones a wonderful new year.

Love,Tanya, Richard, Alex, Kristin & Nathan

Oh What fun it is to Ride in a One Horse Open Sleigh

Well, I have no pictures to post today of our adventure as in my great haste yesterday I forgot the camera. However we had such a great time I would feel remiss if I didn't post a little something about it. We had friends of ours who live just outside the city invite us along on their annual sleigh ride. We bundled the kids up in as many layers as possible and still have them be able to walk (Ha!Ha!) and off we went. Cold does not describe the weather accurately, especially with the wind but it was an exciting adventure. The sleigh was pulled by 2 beautiful gray draft horses and had bales of straw for us to sit on. There were about 21 of us in total and we all piled on. All of our kids were very happy when we made it back to the van and my toes were happy too. Then we all went back to their house for a chili dinner and a night of fun and games. Overall, one of the best days we have had in Winnipeg so far and it is starting to finally feel a little more like home.

Here are a few recent pictures of Kristin and Nathan. He has moved on to the bottle and real milk now and it won't be long before it is just a sippy cup. Where is my baby going??

Kristin's Dance Class

Kristin has been loving the dance class she is in on Tuesday mornings. I was able to take a video this morning of some of the things she has been learning.

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow

The kids are loving the white stuff even though it's not the right kind of snow to really build anything with. The low temps are keeping everyone in mostly but even Nathan needs to get out every once in a while even if it is only for a few minutes and it takes longer to get dressed and undressed than you actually stay out. HA!HA!

Here's a video of Nathan outside playing with Alex. His siblings are the only ones who can make him laugh like this!

The Santa Claus Parade

Last Saturday, the 15th of November we went to the Santa Claus Parade in downtown Winnipeg. Being in a city of 750,000 didn't know what to expect for crowds or how early we would have to go in order to be able to see so my friend Allison(from home) and I scoped out the parade route on the Tursday before. We figured out where to park, what time to go, how we would get there with the detours etc. It was quite hilarious actually.

The parade started at 5:15pm and we decided to go to the end of the route and wait there. We arrived about 3:45pm with the kids all bundled up and their camping chairs in tow. We got a great seat and had made sure we took lots of food to keep them occupied. We even went so far as to take hot pizza wrapped individually for each of them. We seriously looked like we were moving in with our 2 families of 5. The parade was so amazing. Kristin sat on my lap and just kept saying...."This is the best parade ever!" over and over again. HA!HA!


The gingerbread train float.

This one looked just like Cinderella and Kristin was quite impressed!

Nathan and Sam all bundled up

SANTA!!!!! His Float was quite something. It was so high they had to let him take a detour from the other floats as it wouldn't fit under the overpass.

Kristin watching for Santa

Here he comes

Ben, Alex and Aidan trying to stay warm

Nathan and Daddy

Mommy and Nathan...so stylin I know but I was warm and that's what matters. HA!HA!

Nathan when we first arrived....out for the count.

This is what it looked like when we first got there. Pretty deserted but it filled up quickly. It was a great day and we'll look forward to it again next year only we have already got the plan in place! YEAH!!

Nathan's First Haircut

Richard has been hinting for some time that Nathan was due for a hair cut and I was able to hold him off with "He isn't even a year old yet" but alas the time had come. It was getting to the point that when he wore a hat he had some serious hat hair which was quite funny.

So we decided the high chair was the best place to start and then we finished it on Daddy's lap. Nathan was not very impressed with the whole process but we started just after supper so he had been in the seat already for a while.

Step one - wet the hair! HA!HA!

Step 2 - the cape and scissors

Step 3 - Say bye bye to the hair



Step 4 - My little baby transformed into our handsome little man. Even with the frown! HA!HA!

Think inside the box

My little man is too cute! Richard set Nathan in this tiny little box and he started doing all kinds of funny things. Thought I would share as he is such a cutie!

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow (Think White Christmas)

Well I knew it was inevitable but I was really hoping that it would hold off a little longer. When we got up on Friday morning it was a winter wonderland. The kids of course thought it was great and took to the outdoors right after breakfast. Alex stayed out until it was time for school which is saying something! HA!HA! I took a few pictures of our birdfeeder in the backyard. It was such a beautiful sight and we have a big picture window in our dining room that we can watch them which is great. I have heard the snow can last from now on until the spring which is going to be a long winter! The up side is that everyone is starting to turn on their Christmas lights and anyone who knows me, knows it is my favorite time of the year so I am loving that. Wishing everyone wonderful weather!!

We are a hit!

Up close and personal. Richard was trying to take a picture of the one on the ground but them with the delay in digital he captured the other one landing.

Video of Halloween

A short clip of Alex and Kristin starting out on our trick or treating journey.

Happy Halloween!

Well Halloween 2008 was a lot of fun. It was our first in Winnipeg and we weren't sure what to expect especially for weather but it appeared as though we brought NS weather with us or custom ordered it for the evening as it was moderately warm and quite enjoyable.

Nathan was dressed as Tigger and stayed home with daddy to pass out treats. Kristin was a Fairy Princess riding a Unicorn and Alex was Batman. This is the first time we were in a subdivision with so many houses so they brought home quite a haul and we didn't even do the whole street. We went up one side and back the other side stopping at our house. Kristin decided she was done and Alex had made a new friend from the street so he came in, dumped his bag and went out again. It was a great night.



"Trick or Treat."



Coming up to the door.



Nathan, Kristin and Alex sitting on our front steps. Nathan was more interested in the hanging ghost than the camera. Ha!Ha!

Halloween Carnival Oct 30th

It seems like these days Halloween goes on for a whole week instead of just one night! HA!HA! First Kristin wore part of her costume for dance class on Tuesday morning. Then we went to a Halloween carnival on Thursday night at the church. (pictures to follow) Then came Friday...... Kristin attends a preschool story time at one of the local libraries on Friday morning and they wore their costumes there, Alex had a Halloween party at school so he took his costume as well and then the ACTUAL Halloween night on Friday night. They thought it was great!!!




Here is Nathan playing with Sam (My friend Allison's youngest son)


Kristin passing in one of her ticekts to play the water gun game. They had a styrofoam block with golf tees stuck in it and ping pong balls on each. They gave the kids a spray bottle and they had to know the balls off the tees. Kristin was very acurate but she was also VERY close. HA!HA!



My Green goblin cupcakes. They were a hit as I made 4 dozen and they were gone!



Kristin up front, Alex (aka Batman) behind her and then their friends Ben and Aidan.

Pumpkin Time

We had a great time carving pumpkins this year. This was Nathan's first as he was only a week old last year, however he was a real pro once he got started. The other 2 had already begun and then Richard cut the top off of Nathan's and scraped the inside so it would be a little easier. Then he tipped it towards Nathan so he could put his hand in but all he did was look at the pumkin and then look at Richard as if to say, "what do you want me to do?". It was too funny. So Richard held out the little plastic shovel he had been using to pass it to Nathan and then "accidentally" dropped it into the pumpkin to see if he would go for it. It took a few tries but as soon as he finally did put his hand in he brought out a handful of stuff, passed it to Richard and then went in for another handful and just kept going until it was done. It was great.
This picture was the first handful, still a little unsure of the whole thing. HA!HA!

Here is Alex digging in. This has never been his favorite part but he still does it.

Kristin on the other hand tells us this is her favorite part, getting messy. HA!HA!

The finished products: Kristin drew hers freestyle (far left), Alex really likes Pokemon so I got creative (doesn't happen very often), drew a picture from one of his sticker books and then with Richard's assistance in the creative design managed to carve out something resembling his fav. Pokemon (middle) and then Nathan's was a fun design we printed off the internet.

Nathan's first response to pumpkins was to try to lift one. Never mind the fact it weighs more than he does! HA!HA! He wouldn't give up either until it rolled over.

Nathan's First Birthday

So Nathan celebrated his first birthday on Oct 22nd. Oma and Opa were here from Alberta and we had a lovely Roast dinner with all the trimmings in celebration of our little guy. He is such an amazing addition to our family. He is so happy, pleasant, content and everything we could have asked for. He loves pointing at things, talks up a storm, really belly laughs at his brother and sister when they are being silly and just loves life. As for the sleeping part, hopefully we won't have to wait until b'day #2. HA!HA!


Alex and Kristin were "big helpers" for the unwrapping! HA!HA! Kristin had decided that her gift to Nathan would be a card that she wrote herself and then she wrapped it up in giftwrap and presented it. She then of course had to open it for him and thought it was great fun.

He didn't have any trouble eating his cake. I decided I would buy his cake this year as things were so crazy with the move and it took Ruth and I forever to decide on a cake that would suit everyone's tastes. Finally the bakery girl came over and asked us if we would like to sample a Strawberry cream cake that was new and proceeded to take one from the display. She gave us generous portions and we decided it was the cake for us. Very light and creamy, and Nathan agreed! Also with it being Strawberry it reminded me of the valley so we had a little piece of home with us.

"What am I supposed to do with these things?"

He was absolutely enchanted with the balloons and the banner that we had up. He almost tried to crawl right out of the high chair. It was too cute!

The Kinner Clan reunited

We had the pleasure of Richard's parents coming to visit us for a week and they had a great time with the kids. Opa had never met Nathan so that was wonderful and Oma hadn't seen him since he was born so a lot of changes. Here are a few pictures of our time together.

Kristin and Opa reading a story in German




The kids with Oma and Opa at The Forks downtown







Oma feeding Nathan



Alex and Opa playing an Animal Wildlife game





Our postponed Thanksgiving dinner so we could enjoy it with family.



Nathan enjoying a "walk" with Oma.