Halloween; 3 Cheers; School Pictures

At the kid's school, at the end of each month all the kids are reunited to celebrate the students who achieved really well during the month. Usually, one or two students are chosen for each class. This month Sabrina was chosen for her English course.

Also we finally got Mathieu's school pictures samples... Kindergarten! wow!

The highlight of the day was of Hallowe'en, of course. Sabrina went out as a which, and Mathieu as Spiderman. The amount of candy that was collected was huge. Consider also that since I was out walking with the kids, no one was at the door giving our candies so we only gave about 50% of our own stuff.

OSM

I had the opportunity to go to the OSM to see "Beethoven habite a l'étage" with Sabrina's class. It was simply amazing. We used to go out so often before we had kids and I think we forgot to appreciate it at the time. The feeling of awe I got when we entered the concert hall was really cool. Here are a few pictures.

The bus ride was good, with teachers I like as well as the usual parents. A real good field trip.

It's so rare that I'm on pictures I put them in when I can.

Suzanne hard at work at voirgrand.tv

What a day we've had! A relaxing one that is. Mathieu is still sick but getting better. Suzanne and Sabrina went to Costco and almost got killed, but were saved by Mercedes' technology. Sabrina has already chosen her Christmas dress.

All in all, a great day...

My great boy

Mathieu was sick last night. He went to bed around 4:00pm and only woke up at 5:30am this morning, still feverish. We took his sister to school and came back here. Around 9:00am, Mathieu told me he was feeling better and said:

"Can you take me to school?"

Now doesn't that make you feel proud of your son? With reservations, I brought him to school making sure that he's going to call me if he feels sick.

Ferme Guyon Visit; Sho Dan

Today we went to visit La Ferme Guyon, a few kilometers away from Chambly. It's a really interesting place with a huge barn that's like a mega general store. And when I say general, they have everything.

I had no idea what to expect 

Yes even the Christmas stuff was out

They also have a haunted barn. Mathieu and I went for a stroll in it. He didn't want to let me go, but it wasn't that scary.

He had no idea...

Perhaps the most fun place was the butterfly house. It was just a big wow. There are over 30 species of amazing butterflies flying over you, sometimes landing on you without your knowledge (I had one on my head). Most butterflies come from Mexico or Costa Rica, from where they are shipped in their cocoon.

He kinda didn't like it that much

"I'm not a bug person"

Saby is not crazy about it

This beautiful blue one was on Sabrina's shoulder for a good 10 seconds and she didn't know

Sometimes you just didn't know there was one there

One landed on my head. Another peed on my finger, to the kid's horrified delight.

A quick lunch at Chambly's Subway. Check Suzanne's Instagram pictures.

Tonight it's dinner time with Sophie and friends. We went to Sho Dan, one of the best sushi restaurants in Montreal. I'm pretty sure everybody enjoyed their meal.

Sophie and Suzanne

Daycare, Pool and Food

On Fridays the kids have their swimming lessons. It's gruesome work for them as they tend to go back and forth in the pool for a little less then an hour. I usually spend that time chatting (yelling) with either Kim or Pascal. We arrive home very late and do not eat before 7:00pm which is way off our schedule. So today I decided to do a crock pot dinner.

Pork and veggies, ready in 8 hours

Here are a few pictures of my two fishies

Sabrina

Mathieu

Brome Visit

I went to visit mom today while the kids were in school. We did some cleansing this weekend and I found a lot of stuff that belong to her so it gave me a good reason to go back home.

We worked on a collage of all the dogs she had over the years... There were a lot. I remember some fondly.

Meanwhile we got our pool closed up for the winter. We had such a great run this year. If you look at it now, the level is pretty low. It's not going to last for tomorrow we're expecting lots of rain. Maybe I should have waited a few weeks more?

Suzanne came home early and we went to get the kids at school. On the way back Suzanne just couldn't believe how much Sabrina can talk. And so she does, talking all the way from school to home. Our little quiet girl is so amazing.

Quiet Sunday

Today we worked hard at cleaning and organizing. We got rid of stuff in the kitchen that was just too much, freed a lot of place and cleansed a lot. My drawer with all the cooking utensils was so full it barely closed and it was very unpleasant to get something from it. It's now solved. And our tupperware drawer was just a big plastic mess. Solved. Mom, I'm going to bring you some nice tupperware that doesn't fit in there, plus some other trinkets.

After the hard work a good break :)

Birthday Day #2

Last night we went to St-Hubert for Mathieu's birthday supper. Today the kids and I are going to McDonald's (Mathieu's first choice) so that they can play in the interior park. During the day Sabrina and Mathieu play a lot with Sabrina's gift to Mathieu: Lego Batman Video Game. Mathieu is also hard at work building his helicopter:

It's been a lego birthday. He also got two robots from Grand-maman Pierro that he loves a lot (pictures pending). At night we had the cake, of course. It was really good. My cake and Suzanne's icing is just really good.

It was a great day. Suzanne worked outside, I did a bit of work, we were even able to spend some time together, something we don't have much time to do these days.

Mathieu's Birthday; Apple Picking; The Pumpkin Patch

Today was a great day. Mathieu is six years old and is a great guy. He's doing well in everything he touches which is great. I had the privilege of accompanying the school's kindergarten group apple picking. It was really fun. It was great to see how Mathieu is integrated within the group. I also had the time to see how good Ms. Marina was, in case we are to change him to the English side. I like her, she's a lot like me when it comes to raising kids.

On the bus ride, they sang "happy birthday" to Mathieu and Tyler (born the same day)

Mathieu with friends

Apple Picking

On the way back

The Pumpkin Patch

The kids had a lot of time to play in the park. It was a tad nippy for the teachers and parents, but the kids who were constantly moving didn't feel a thing.

Who's going to sleep well tonight?

Having been on many outings with Sabrina's group, I can see that the kindergarten group seems to be as good. A testament, perhaps, of the quality of the teachers and staff?

Mathieu chose a certain restaurant for his birthday supper. Can you guess which one:

The day the earth stood still

After it moved like crazy. At 12:20am I got woken up by an earthquake. It was as intense as if there was a train track beside the house and a train was going by, full speed. It's been a while.

Sabrina was physically ill today, throwing up, and didn't want to go to school because of a paper I was supposed to sign that she forgot. The paper was a something she had to write 25 times because she didn't do all her homework on time. If you know Sabrina, you'll know she stresses about homework everyday, making sure she doesn't forget anything. So she was a wreck. I had to go talk to her teacher, Mme Maryse, to get Sabrina in the school. Her teacher told me Sabrina, "c'est une soie". She was still sick at school though but yet didn't ask to come home. Her beautiful grey sweater is a wreck though.

Realise that in the same breath she brought me this paper...

Mathieu's Birthday

The kids and I packed our stuff and went to Sophie's and Nick's camping grounds to celebrate Mathieu's big family birthday. Siri got us there easily, even if it's tricky back country roads. On the way the kids took pictures with their iPods.

Mathieu takes a picture of Sabrina taking a picture

Arrived the kids didn't waste time to go play all over the place. The beauty about the camping grounds as that as long as they tell us where they go, they're relatively free to go as they please.

Sophie's Trailer

Sabrina rode the buggy with Alex while Mathieu drove the truck to the trailers

Free, Free, Free

What are they plotting ? :)

We celebrated Mathieu's birthday in Nick & Amy's trailer (it was a tad nippy out there). Mom made the cupcakes with some real cool candles. She gave Mathieu some Legos he will be playing all day on Monday. Nick and Sophie's families got him a remote control heli. Real nice.

Look at the cool candles

As good as it looks

Mathieu is a big hugger

Gift from Zach

We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner happily rinsed with great wine (I only had one glass, but the following was simply excellent).

Met the owners, they love what they do. For the type this wine was ****.

It's not camping without some helicopter flying and a good camp fire.

Never thought it would be so fun

My feet were warm, my derriere was cold, it was sublime

We had a real good time. Too bad Suzanne was in Quebec city filming her show. Thanks Mom, Sophie, Amy, Nick, Chris, Zach and Alex for the precious time. There's nothing like family.