Happy New Year with Friends and see you later, 2013

It's becoming a great tradition. We had dinner at Kim and Pascal's place for New Year's Eve. Both are excellent cooks and the meal was just fantastic. The kids played really well together.

And the wines were just so perfect...

It's really the best way to end the year. Thank you so much for having us for dinner. I wish you a great 2014.

Ski and Hot-Tub

Today was an amazing day. We left early to go skiing. The slopes were not busy and we didn't have to wait for long to go up. The trees were still full of ice but it was slowly falling of the branches. There was a lot of fog. It eventually became so thick we had to go back home.

We were a bit in a hurry this morning and we didn't have time to make sandwiches. Mathieu offered to go buy pogos (corn dogs) by himself. Suzanne gave him the money and out little guy took care of business.

By the way, don't look up when ice is falling. A big chunk of ice fell on my face.

We were invited to Donna and Sylvain for an evening of wine and hot tub, while the kids watched a movie. We had a great time even if my end of evening was less then graceful. Thanks so much for the invite.

Snowman and cookie operation

There was no cabin fever today, and the kids played outside. Today was the birth of Mr. Snowman.

After that everyone was into cookie creation mode.

And yes, they are delicious...

It's not Christmas unless we go skiing

While Suzanne was at work the three of us went to grace the mountain for a few hours. There were a lot of people and the slopes were basically a block of ice covered with a fine drop of snow. The post-ice storm landscape was eerie to say the least, with ice everywhere. Still we had some fun even if we waited a lot.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Christmas starts between 6:00 et 7:00 am at our house. The kids are up early, as usual. If Sabrina gets up before us she'll lie down in the bathroom and read. Not this morning! We had two excited kids begging us to come down. They even went to wake Thelma.

It was a very artistic Christmas, as you can see.

Christmas Day is not Christmas Day unless we get to play with our toys. Mathieu built his Lego Coast Guard ship and Sabrina built electronic circuits. She also gave a manicure to the entire family (except your's truly)

I admit that fajitas for Christmas dinner is a bit weird, but it was really good.

Night before Christmas

Today was spent working and cleaning. Suzanne went to get her mom in Richmond, and the kids spent their afternoon at Lea's and Daphne's place. Really, we're just waiting for tomorrow.  A lot of baking took place, and dinner was really good.

After dinner, Mathieu and Sabrina were in their Minecraft world, working together to build their island.

You know when I send you to play outside...

...you end up having a lot of fun doing things you shouldn't be doing, like climbing over the fence, or sliding down a hill in the park with Lea and Daphne in front of their house...

Lot's of snow, lot's of action

So we got a lot of snow, and we did a lot of shovelling. Both Mathieu and Sabrina helped clearing out the driveway and cleaning the cars. Mathieu even helped our neighbour Rolph clean his driveway (his initiative).

Back inside it was time for some cleaning and picking up. Sabrina's is an expert with the vacuum cleaner. She also has issues with perfection :) Mathieu took some of the broken Christmas decorations and fixed them, on his own volition. He's got this thing about fixing things.

Afterwards we go to our "a show, another show and a meal" activity. First we went to the Biodome to walk around and look at Moment Factory's display.

Then we went to the museum Pointe a Calliere to visit and see a show (again by Moment Factory). We had a lot of fun at the pirate's exhibit.

We ended the evening at a nice little Mexican restaurant. We really had a nice day.

Sabrina's Breakfast

Today is the last day of school and Sabrina is having her school breakfast. Once again I had the chance to be there to help and spend time with my daughter at school. It's amazing to see how much they've grown. Here's a (modified) picture of Sabrina and her table, along with two of her best friends whom she's had for five years now.

Afterwards I went to Sabrina's room to deliver some food and took a peek at the room, and at her desk. It was a lot cleaner then I expected! I'm really proud.

Finally Mathieu brought back a certificate today. His reading has progressed amazingly in both languages and he's now to a point when he could almost start reading books by himself. I'm not sure if he shares his sister's interest in books though.

Mathieu's School Breakfast and Humeng

This morning I had the privilege of spending time with Mathieu and his class as they all had breakfast together in the gym. A few parents and I helped their teacher, Danielle, take care of the kids and simply interact with them. We really had a nice time.

I was invited to have Christmas lunch with good friends afterwards. Afterwards I went back to the office to continue the celebrations. It was good to spend time with old friends whom I spent almost ten years with. Here are some of the realizations we worked hard at, some I'm quite proud of: