Christmas photos

- Lois and Brent skiing on the lake on Christmas Eve

- trying out the new sleds on Christmas Eve

- Leaving Santa's note by the fireplace

- Molly on her new trumpet

- Jacob feeling it on his new horn

- Puppet theatre from my sister and brother-in-law. The performances have begun.

 - On the new cross country skis

-Kate working on the rink (which is now melting with our above zero temperatures)

- Zoë pondering how many bowls she'll need form Christmas dinner

New Year's Resolutions

From memory my last year's resolutions were to blog more (ouch, total fail), complete my first triathlon (did it, although I really should have learned to swim first), and possibly to enjoy my kids in the moment (well, harder than it sounds, but it was 95% enjoying the moment and 5% wishing the moment included more sleep and fewer temper tantrums).

This year's resolutions:
1. Complete my first marathon to celebrate my 40th birthday in May. And to do it under 4 hours.
2. I'll try to blog more, but what I'm pledging to do is to at least blog every Sunday evening to give a weekly catch-up
3. As Zoë gets a year older, do more to surround her with more Chinese culture/traditions/etc.

Two Stories from Today

Christmas photos to follow, but in the meantime here are a couple of great conversations from today.

1. Driving Around With the Kids Talking About The Weather

Me: The roads are pretty clear - no snow on them
Molly: But I think it's going to snow soon
Me: I don't know, I haven't heard anything about any snow coming
Molly: Well, maybe the snow doesn't talk to you baba


2. Miscommunicating With My Mother-in-Law

What I Heard
Lois: Do you have any Baileys to put in the stew?
Me: No, I think we've run out but we do have Amarula
Lois: What's that?
Me: It's African, but it's basically the same thing
Lois: Okay go ahead and put it in.

What Lois Heard
Lois: Do you have any bay leaves to put in the stew?
Me: No, I think we've run out but we do have Amarula
Lois: What's that?
Me: It's African, but it's basically the same thing
Lois: Okay go ahead and put it in.

Follow-On Conversation Tonight
Lois: Yes, I would like a drink. Maybe a Baileys?
Me: No, I put the last of it into the stew
Kate: You put what in the stew?
Me: Baileys. Your mom asked me to
Lois: No I didn't (giving the that-guys-nuts look)
Me: Yes you did (giving her the don't-throw-me-under-the-bus-now-you-crazy-woman look)
Kate: How much Baileys did you put in the stew? What on earth were you thinking?
Me: A couple of shots. And she told me to put Baileys in the stew!
Lois: Bay leaves, I said bay leaves.
Me: Oh shit.

Molly's Night Before Christmas

The original video is 7 1/2 minutes long (it's a really long poem!!). This is edited down to the first two minutes. She's amazing and she seems to have her mother's knack for memorization.

Molly Singing Rudolf

Mom's Photos of First Christmas

- The perfect spot for street hockey - no need to yell "car"




















- The twins on Santa's lap. Molly asked for diapers for her doll. Jacob asked for slippers. They're only spoiled because we spoil them, not because they demand spoiling!

- A brief respite amid the Christmas chaos

- Zoë enjoying a ride on one of the twins' new suitcases (ready for Cuba!)

- Kate and I ran another Snowflake race, while the kids built 5 snowmen with their grandparents.

- Our snowy street

- Trying out the new toboggan.

- Our very own Spiderman, sporting his new slippers. We decided to write to Santa to explain that he no longer needs to be brought slippers on Christmas day.

- What's more fun than jumping on your parents' bed?

The Christmases Thus Far

- Molly and Jacob were a little shy with Santa this year. Zoë wanted nothing to do with him (although she likes the concept and "Santa" is one of her clearest words. Besides "no".)


















- That looks like enough presents for the real Christmas morning, but that was just from/to my parents. Jacob was convinced that Santa had visited during the night and was not willing to give any credit to the actual gift-givers.



- Opening the calendar of M&J&Z photos the kids made for them

- Mom enthusiastically opening her triathlon gear - themed present.

- It's always a good sign when the gift bag is as tall as you are

- Or if it's big enough to crawl inside

- The dollar store gifts are always the most popular

- The new family toboggan

- Table set for Christmas Dinner (take one). This photo shows my favourite Christmas ornament, the silouetted winter scene that Kate and I picked up in Dresden during our pregnant-with-twins trip

Kate as Walter Gretzky

If everyone goes down for simultaneous naps this afternoon (big if) I'll post a bunch of early Christmas photos and videos. For now, here are two images of our initial rink-building effort. The ice is still pretty soft so we're just doing prep work - maybe hoping to skate by Christmas day. It's also my first chance since move-in to take photos of our house from the lake.

- Plus bonus photo of the local birdlife enjoying our feeder

Lake Freezing Over

The lake began freezing over two days ago and now it's almost completely covered. Here are some photos of us exploring the winter wonderland pre-freeze.

Hanging some home-made decorations on the tree and working on various art projects with Kate

Here are the kids playing together at home today. Helping their little sister so she doesn't miss out on a chance to fall on her head!

November Photo Catch-Up

Running Stuff
- Since you asked (Lindsey), I'm going to follow a 14-week training program from the Run Less Run Faster school of thought. Mostly because, Run More Run Faster isn't really an option with my current lifestyle. So it'll be 3 quality runs per week plus some cross-training. The promised land of having all 3 kids in nursery school commences at the beginning of February, so I'm hoping to do most of my running during the school mornings.
- Yesterday, we both ran the first race of the local Snowflake Series, and there was even snow on the ground to make it feel festive (and to provide excuses for slow times). So that 5km has to give us some momentum to get training. In case you have to ask, yes of course Kate beat me, by over a minute.

Techie Stuff
- How unfestive is it that I already gave Kate her Christmas present, a Sonos sound system, under the guise that the Christmas season would be more fun with music? We love it. Wireless. Controlled from my iPhone and/or computer. Easy, immediate access to our whole computer library of music. Plus streaming internet radio. Two different zones of music (infinitely scalable to more rooms), which can play different music or synched. And it took me about 20 minutes to install. It's insane.

Mom's Great Photos
She takes way better photos than me and I still forget to post them half the time. Shame on me.

- Molly and Jacob emptying the rain barrel before it freezes (obviously this is from a few weeks ago)

- Three monkeys on Zoë's bed

- Full speed Zoë

- Showing off their new sweaters. Hilarious facial expressions.

- Waiting for our flu shots. Not a peep from any of the kids. Possibly a whimper from me.

- Ice cream anyone?

- Plus, here are a couple of shots of the gang in their new Christmas jammies, courtesy of our friend Sandy

Things You Need to Know

1. I've committed to doing a sub four hour marathon for my 40th birthday in May. Yes, 40 is coming.

2. Sean and Erin continue to be the best big cousins ever. All efforts to bring them home with me from Montreal this weekend were sadly rebuffed by their mother.

3. All three kids slept in until 7am this morning. I believe that's a first. So, what to blame my lack of productivity on now?

4. Molly and Jacob went to their first theatre production on Saturday - an adapted version of Little Red Riding Hood. One hundred kids in the audience and only one couldn't handle the intensity of the drama. Molly, about 10 seconds into the production, shouts "I don't want the wolf to eat Riding Hood". Two minutes later, shouts "When are we going home, I want to go home now". Spends the rest of the play, in my arms, at the back of the theatre, continuing to shake like a leaf. I was really hoping my girls were going to end up with my wife's tough genes, not my mom's, Beth's and Erin's. Ah well.

Belated Halloween Photos

Here are our Halloween unicorn, leopard and pirate.

Jacob insisted that he was a "good pirate", especially after his sword got broken. Molly said she was a flying horse and frowned at anyone who said she was a unicorn. We trick-or-treated to half a dozen friends' houses before escaping the chilly night.

One of the bonuses of Halloween candy seems to be its effectiveness as a reward for waking up from naps with a dry diaper. We may be out of diapers at sleeptime by Christmas at this rate.

Dragon Day Videos

Here are three videos:

1. Zoë eating her Dragon Day cake

2. On the bridge onto "our" new island

3. Bonus coverage of Zoë from just before our move

More Dragon Day

Here we are outside trying out the trike and enjoying one of the last warm days of the year.

Ours is the last house on the left.

Zoë insisting that she can push her trike up onto the bridge all by herself

Don't ask why Jacob is biking with a sword. Let's just chalk it up to Halloween and pretend it never happened

The best thing that Don and Sara left behind at the house - this digger is how Jacob learned to pedal

Zoë knows the snow is coming