A special honour

Shania is on the front page of the local newspaper, posthumously honoured by SickKids as the top individual fundraiser last year for the hospital - over $63,000 - another Shania's FunFair will take place next May.

Black Friday

Dana is off to Buffalo shopping on Black Friday (day after U.S. thanksgiving) - she's crazy...she went with a bunch of Mom's last night and will be back sometime tonight - as long as she can fit through customs with all her purchases...

I took the day off work today to take the kids to school and I luckily got to go on a field trip with Henry's pre-school to the library. We took a tour of the library and checked out a pile of books, cd's and dvd's. Then just the two of us went out for lunch at McDonald's - a great morning!

Here in Markham it has snowed - a lot and enough already - and it's cold - very cold. I miss summer.

Thank you Margaret and Ludy!

What a great day Hannah & I had!





Hannah's friend Julia invited her to a special VIP viewing of the Santa Claus Parade. Julia's Dad was a clown in the parade and with this honour comes the privilege of VIP seats & food and entertainment while you wait for the parade to begin. It's a great idea, you donate money to charity to be in the parade and your family (and very lucky friends) get these amazing bonuses.





I felt very spoiled. Our view of the parade was spectacular and we ate and drank whatever, whenever! The kids had their faces painted, ate, made crafts, ate, got balloon snowmen made for them, ate, oh yeah, and watched the Santa Claus Parade!


Waiting to go upstairs...

A special picture for Mike!

In other news, Jack's hockey team is still undefeated with Jack having lots of support today - Mike & Eri, Charlotte & Bennett, Hannah & Henry, Grampa, Mommy & Daddy all came to watch!





I shot my last wedding of the year this past Saturday and although I will be sorry to say goodbye to the money, I'm so looking forward to some weekends with the family!





Jason & I had a great date night out at our usual watering hole Friday night with our friends Kristy & Brent. They say they had a great time, but I'm still not convinced they were as into our pub full of elderly locals as we always are. Maybe we'll let them choose a more hip location next time! Kristy did say she liked feeling so young though.





Anyway, I'm beat and off to bed early. There's a busy week ahead!

Happy Birthday Ailsa!

So dumb it's funny...

Has anyone watched the movie "Blades of Glory", how dumb is that movie? I actually found it quite funny, silly, mindless and it had a few good lines including "Yeah...it's mind bottling isn't it?"

Pics...

From the Christmas Party...

Christmas Season begins...

Halloween may just be over but Christmas is now in full swing, last night was the CTV/TSN kids christmas party held at Woodbine Centre. The three kids have been talking about this for weeks and the countdown was an excellent threat for getting to bed and staying in bed "if you want to go the Christmas party...." Yes I know, that's not what Christmas is all about but when you have a three year old popping out of bed every three minutes you'll take desparate measures. The kids had a great time, when we first arrived we ate at Burger King, Henry shouted out over and over "this is the best day ever!"...then they went on many rides, played in this huge jungle gym, visited Santa and he gave each of the kids a Christmas present!

It's hard for a three year old to understand the concept of asking Santa for a present for Christmas - then getting a present from him and it's not the same thing he just asked for. Santa may be magic, but he can only do so much.

That Santa is one smart guy - he told the kids that they should get to bed on time! - This should help out until Christmas... All in all a good time - Dana will have to post some pics.

This weekend we spent a lot of time at the rink - Saturday night I took the three kids skating, Jack wanted to go to practice his skating for hockey, to see him try to skate as fast as he can, his little arms pumping, his feet starting to lift off the ice then off he goes, it's great. Hannah is actually skating really well, she loves trying to do the tricks, spins and such. This was also the first time I have gone skating where I didn't have to carry Henry on the ice, he just skated around and he can get up by himself now too.

On Sunday, Jack had his hockey game and when we walked in the locker room Jack found out he was going to be the goalie for the game, he looked really excited and at the same time scared to death. They won their game and had a few good saves, a few players crashed into him in the net, and during one crash all I saw was one of his gloves go flying through the air. He was pretty proud in the locker room after the game when the team gave him 'three cheers for the goalie'. Hannah returned to the rink with her friend in the afternoon for more skating and twirling.

The day ended with the kids exhausted in their beds and all asleep within moments of their heads hitting the pillow. Yeah.

What's up with Jack?

Jack's hockey team is undefeated after 4 games, no goals yet - 1 assist - but the way he parks himself in front of the net I'm guessing it won't be a long wait.

He is really enjoying playing and his skating has improved very quickly. Next Sunday's game is at a reasonable hour of 10:30 am if anyone wants to come cheer him on! It has to be one of the funniest sports to watch - those little kids all trying to get the puck, flopping all over the ice and after two hours they are beat and sweaty, but still loving it.

Tonight at Beavers, Jack moved up a level - he went from a brown tail to a blue tail! They had a little party tonight to celebrate the kids moving up a level and the kids just joining. - J

Henry's Dream

Just lately Henry has been waking up remembering what he dreamed. Well this morning, he came to my side of the bed at 6am to tell me the following:

"Daddy! Mommy said I can only have spit for dessert"

I told him that Mommy didn't say that, and Dana confirmed that she did not say he could only have spit for dessert - Henry calmed down a bit and come lay in our bed.

Don't 3-year olds have dreams about Barney and Elmo?

Can you guess who made each one?

The kids drew the faces and Jason carved them...can you guess which kid drew each face?

what's new this week?

Well, a lot actually!
We had the annual triple birthday party last weekend, beautiful weather and the added bonus of Papa here from Montreal.

Sadly, my Dad's sister died after a year long battle with cancer. Mom and Dad went to New Brunswick for the service and Papa came to stay at our house. It was WONDERFUL having him, even though the reason was so sad. We would have loved to go to New Brunswick too, but will attend a memorial service in the new year. Chooch was a much loved artist in her community and was a wonderful aunt. She was always way cooler than I will ever be and someone I looked up to. When we were kids, she gave the most incredible, creative Christmas gifts, the kinds of things you hang on to for life. In fact, Jack lost his first tooth yesterday and put it under his pillow in a little pewter box with a figure of a fairy on the inside lid that she gave to Hannah when she was born. It is a family treasure! She took me shopping in Montreal at a very impressionable age, I was probably 15, and introduced me to a world of fashion that I adore to this day. Her sense of style and her grace gave her an elegance I could never achieve. She will be greatly missed by all her friends and family.

Jason was commenting on how lucky I was to have Papa here...he didn't ever even meet his grandfather and here mine was helping his great grandchildren with homework and Halloween! It was great also because even when he is in town, he usually stays with my parents and the visits are short and more formal. Papa got to participate in all our every day routines and dinners and really get to know our family. I remember Papa and Mamie coming to visit us when I was a kid in Nova Scotia and how excited we would get when we saw their car pulling into the driveway...it felt like that all over again!

So as I said, Papa was here for Halloween and got to see the kids in all their glory! The were dressed up for school in the morning and didn't take their costumes off until bedtime. Henry wore his to preschool for his party where he taught some break dancing moves! Then in the evening we had a visit from 2 pumpkin trick-or-treaters! Why is Charlotte the only one who knows how to look at the camera? Is there such a thing as wearing out your camera pose? I think I've worn the other kids out already!