Early Christmas gifts

Since I won't see my little ones until the 26th, I took advantage of one off this week's many Christmas parties to give them early presents.  Emma Lou got the Les Paul style uke and Oscar got the fender.  Let the discordant rocking begin!

That's for sure!

Special treat after the bath.

Boys' night

Emma is at a sleepover.

Oscar: boy's night!  Time to play chess on the computer!  Cause girls suck at chess!

Grey cup preparations

In my perfect world, cfl football is played in Bavaria, with good beer and pretzels.
Here's a small step towards perfection...

Can we watch some hockey please?

The kids and I killed time (not a very generous characterization of taking a bath -them not me-eating cupcakes, playing guitar) waiting for the game to come on, but I put it on in time for us to watch 5 minutes of pregame.  20 minutes later they still hadn't dropped the puck...
Anyway we managed to catch the first before the kids went up to bed. 
They've been up since 6 so that Oscar could be on the ice early this morning so I figured an 8 pm, bedtime was fair.  Nothing to do with me falling asleep on the couch...

Ready for world series

Unfortunately no stations that I get are carrying the games.  Is this capitalism? How many sports channels do you need to subscribe to to get the bloody world series?

T shirt says it all

Kids are so lucky to have had such a great thanksgiving with their grandparents.  The little turkeys were stuffed by the end of it.  Grandma took charge of the spread with a little help along the way from grandpa and me.
The kids did their part by being keen observers and polite little hosts.  Rabid football fans, too!

Thanksgiving leftovers

Day two is even better!

Thanksgiving

Grandma and Grandpa paid a visit to John Adam for the first time, helping out for the annual thanksgiving breakfast.  It was good for Emma's class to finally meet the grandparents Emma has been talking about for the past few weeks.
Next week Emma will be presenting the family cookbook, written by grandma, to her class as her family treasure.

Operation distraction

We had to explain irreconcilable differences to the kids yesterday.  I think it was the toughest thing I've ever been through, and this is just the beginning.
I took them to a fun, familiar place, the Jean Talon market, for most of the afternoon.  We also bought a few things at Wal-Mart and stopped at st-viateur bagel.
It gave them a chance to just hang out with dad, ask a few questions, but mostly just carry on with life as usual.
Weather was beautiful, people were nice.  In other circumstances, it would have been a perfect day.

Oscar practicing skating

With the only girl on the team.  That's him in the Canadiens jersey behind the girl in white.

Care package from Korea, take two

The kids' fairy God-mother rained gifts(RAINed?  Like the Korean pop sensation...) on them again.  Completely gratuitous giving- the best kind!

Included were karate socks that had the boy trying out his moves.  This one is called The Tangled Mantis.

First hockey practice

Oskie had his first practice today.  6: 45 AM.
There was positive, there was negative.  No crying.  Some skating.  Lots of sitting on the ice.
Best part was lots of dads from school and soccer, and lots of friends.  Tomorrow is going to be a great second practice...

Good sports

A few trials side, Emma's team came together nicely by the end of the season and even won a game or two.  Nice to see Emma running like a trooper even on days when she was a little under the weather.

The end of a great soccer season

Just too bad Abdul was at the airport and not in the photo.

I'm sure this just means that years of marketing worked

But there seemed to be something so poignant about Oscar paying for his first hockey gear with Canadian tire money.

Oscar lost his second tooth

As with the last one, the adult tooth is already in, so crooked for the moment...

Recycling

One malt bag, $ 3.90 of webbing, (and about 4 hours of sweat from a first time sewer) = two custom grocery sacs.

Rocky

One thing you can do when it's cold and rainy.

Trying to have fun in Hampton Beach

Admittedly it's not all the beach's fault.we brought some of the rain with us, but our parade is certainly getting soggy at this point.
The kids barely mind.  In fact, they're happy NOT to go in the water.  Maybe because it's 16 ° C...

Oscar lost his first tooth!

The orange bits in the back are carrot-as per the dentist's instructions.
His adult tooth is already in, so it's a crooked, not a gappy smile.

One stressed out robin

Decided to lay her eggs in our mulberry tree-right next to our front step.  I guess I'd be stressed too if my eggs looked that delicious.

Super hero

Starlings invading a nest with a baby sparrow in it? Not in my back yard.

The festival continues

Twister from uncle Yan

Happy 8th Birthday!

8! Yikes!
I remember my 8th birthday.  I got a bmx bike with a racing plate on the front with a couple of 8s on it.  Good times!
My little giraffe will have some buds over for a sleep over.  Girlie stuff!

Mr. Attention Span

Hopefully his incredible patience will serve him well.  For the moment we use it to babysit him.  Oskie!  Count the beans.  Put these pennies in date order.
On our Christmas vacation as we drove across Saskaberia we had him scrape all the frost off the inside of his window for about two hours.  Never ending task, meet limitless patience.

Ped day

And face paint to match the outfit Grandma gave Emma.

Home for the Holidays!

(OK, I know I'm month behind).  This trip was a long time in the planning and we did our very bestest to make the most of our time out West (Westest?) 

We even flew West-Jet, which has nothing to do with anything, but shows the lengths to which we went.

All our efforts paid off!  We got the full western experience, of course all the good stuff, but also the other stuff, the stuff that makes you stronger and builds memories.  We drove 8 hours across the barren prairies - I mean fertile plains.  We froze our nachos in the bitter cold - I mean, we felt the exhileration of having our nachos fro- Ok, no good way to say it.  It was cold.  But that's OK, it's Christmas dammit!.

Most of all, we got to spend just the right amount of time with cousins and aunts and uncles and second cousins and great aunts and uncles and most importantly, Grandma and Grandpa.