How can you not be proud?

Mathieu got a Three Cheers at school :)

From blue to yellow, and a really fun lunch...

Mathieu is now a Yellow Belt Kyokushin karate student, and he surprisingly have the skills to show it. I went with him to see him pass his belt and was impressed by how good he is with his katas, especially for a seven years old. I'm not sure I would be able to do so well. To pass his belt he had to spar with some kids of his group and that was ok because he was not allowed to touch. His last fight changed everything because as one of the highest grade in his class he got to spar with a black belt who he was allowed to physically as hard as he could. I've never seen such a smile on a kid's face...

After going to yellow, four parent groups and a bunch of kids went to have a celebratory lunch at Score's. I can't state how much fun we had. So did the kids. A real nice time.

We came back home to a surprise. Sabrina and Suzanne had made an excellent batch of cookies.

Welcome Back! and Mathieu reads his first book

Mathieu read is first real non-baby book by himself tonight. He was surprised that he could. It begins.

A great traveller from China. Maybe the reason the plane was delayed by 30 minutes leaving Paris?

My own sandwich

Mathieu thought I was too slow making dinner tonight so he made himself a sandwich. It's his first time, on his own initiative. I turned around and the sandwich was made. While it's not amazing in itself, what I find interesting is that he just did it, without asking, surprising me.

Family Past: Fêtes de Noël 1952 au Manor House, Williamstown, Ontario
When my mom was young she really liked horses. "Mon amoureux de l’époque André Boucher était le jockey des Devaux (il était aussi apprenti orfèvre chez Birks) et les courses terminées ils rejoignaient leur quartiers d’hiver, le Manor House à Williamstown en Ontario tout près de la frontière du Québec. J’ai passé plusieurs fin de semaine dont celle de Noël 1952, à ce moment là je voyageais par autobus et comme la photo le démontre, il y avait de la pluie verglaçante cette fin de semaine là aussi. J’ai assisté à la naissance de Cookie le fils de Goldylock; au marquage des agneaux (j’ai même fait de l’équitation sur une brebis, on a bien rit de moi) Je m’occupais des chevaux avec André, j’ai visité les fermes appartenant aux Devaux, gérées par des Amish ou Mennonites (je ne suis pas certaine). Au retour de nos expéditions (à l'heure du thé) Mme Devaux nous faisait toujours un chocolat chaud que nous prenions dans la bibliothèque ou il y avait toujours un feu de foyer, on jouait aux cartes avec elle, on lisait. Le soir de Noël on a diné dans la salle à manger et après pris le café dans l’aile est (qui est ouverte au public maintenant) un salon d’époque ou il y avait un piano à queue et de nombreux divans, plusieurs grandes fenêtres avec des rideaux de velours, assez impressionnant. Dommage mes souvenirs sont vagues c’est à peu près ce que je me rappelle. Cette partie de ma jeunesse fut des plus agréables, j'ai passé quelques étés à Blue Bonnet ou il y avait des courses de pures sang à ce moment là, mais c'est une époque très lointaine mais souvenirs sont flous (comme mes photos). Je voulais en savoir plus j’ai donc consulté Google et voilà ce que j’ai trouvé, je vais surement faire d’autres recherches; quand les écuries ont brulées , y avait-il encore des chevaux? J'espère que non sinon quel drame!"

Mathieu is very proud

He read his first book tonight. It was a bit a wax-on, wax-off moment for him for he didn't know he could read it until he did. And the entire family was there to see him do it. He was very proud of himself.

For the past week he's been practicing a list of words for homework. I've taken these words from the book "Biscuit and the baby". So every night since Monday he's been huffing and puffing while learning how to read the words, not understanding why I was doing this. Then tonight, after a bout of complaining I took the book out and he was able to read a few pages by himself. Sabrina was able to put two and two together, of course so she told him what had happened. He was happy and left it there.

When Suzanne got home, I gave him the book and he was able to completely read 95% of it by himself, even words he hadn't seen. Needless to say we were really proud of him. I could see he was really proud of himself and it feels good.

Bravo Mathieu :)

Both are very different with how they learn and I have found it hard to get him to actually read. Sabrina is easy; show her something interesting and by herself she'll go and learn a lot about it, slowly, methodically. Mathieu needs to be pushed, will complain all the way until something happens and then he's off with a bang learning and loving it.

Really cool.

Suzanne is CFO of Moment Factory

It was a hard secret to keep but Suzanne is now CFO of Moment Factory. She's #4 in the org tree, right there after the three founders. A great new experience awaits her. Congratulations, we're all proud of her.

'If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, get on, don't ask what seat.'
Eric Schmidt to Sheryl Sandberg

Three 3-cheers ceremonies, three 3-cheers; Art

Sabrina just got her third 3-cheers in as many ceremonies. At the end of the month, the entire school is reunited in the gym and one or two students of each class is presented with a reward called 3-cheers in front of everyone for special accomplishments. Sabrina just got her third three cheers. Very proud.

First it was French, then English, now it's math. Way to go love. We're so proud of you.

The kids have become very artistic these days. Here is Sabrina's work...

Mathieu is into zombies...

And here's a two-mast radio control great ship...

Pool, pool, pool and tooth

This is our first day of summer holiday. We spend a lot of time in the pool. Suzanne and I will go in twice, Mathieu and Sabrina thrice. The pool mom is often reminding me (and for good reason) that I wanted to get rid of it two years ago. Then we got salt, and a heater.

An uneventful day you'd say, even if when Suzanne came back from the office we had some Subway, then went to drop clothes in the bin for unfortunate people, and then trekked to Costco to get most of our food for the week.

Uneventful except for:

Mathieu who just a few weeks ago could not put his head under water and today was able to go in the deep to retrieve a yellow ring.

Mathieu who lost his second tooth (the one he thought he lost yesterday at the theatre, but it was only a kernel).

Short Term ForecastUpdated: Sat, Jun 23, 2012, 7:15 EDT

	Saturday MorningMorning: 6:00 AM - 11:59 AM	Saturday AfternoonAfternoon: 12:00 PM - 5:59 PM	Saturday EveningEvening: 6:00 PM - 11:59 PM	Saturday OvernightOvernight: 12:00 AM - 5:59 AM	Sunday MorningMorning: 6:00 AM - 11:59 AM
	Chance of thunder- showers	Chance of thunder- showers	Mainly sunny	Clear	Sunny
Temp.	19°C	26°C	23°C	14°C	19°C
Wind	N 15km/h	N 10km/h	NW 10km/h	N 5km/h	SW 5km/h
Relative Humidity	60%	47%	38%	55%	43%
P.O.P.	40%	40%	20%	10%	0%
Rain	close to 1mm	less than 1mm	-	-	-

Armed conflicts and attacks Palestinian militants fire rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel severely injuring an elder. Israel launches a missile strike in return, killing two Palestinians. (The Jerusalem Post) (BBC) In a Mexican Drug War related crime, 14 mutilated corpses are found inside a truck outside of a Mexican supermarket. (Reuters) In the Pakistani city of Quetta, armed people on motorcycles kill eight people; targeting Shias. (Al Jazeera) Arts and culture 100,000 people attend the first day of a two-day music concert at Hackney Marshes in London, which forms part of the build-up to the2012 Summer Olympics. (The Guardian) Business and economics Tens of thousands of Ulster Bank customers continue to struggle to access their cash after days of problems. (Evening Herald)(The Irish Times) (Irish Examiner) Greece's new coalition seeks to slow down austerity by proposing a two-year extension to the period allocated to it to meet bailout targets, without further cuts to salaries and pensions. (BBC) Disasters At least eight people are killed and 44 injured after a bus carrying Czech tourists crashes in Croatia. (AP via CP-24) At least 51 people are injured after a bus carrying pensioners crashes in Ireland. (RTE) (Irish Examiner) A major clear-up operation begins after a month's worth of rain falls in 24 hours, causing flooding across parts of northern England.(BBC) 2012 Atlantic hurricane season: Tropical Storm Debby forms in the Gulf of Mexico with a warning issued for the US state ofLouisiana. This is the first time since 1851 that four storms have formed before July. (MSNBC), (AP via the Province) 76 monks are taken to hospital following an attack by a swarm of bees at Chedi Luang in Thailand's northern Chiang Mai Province.(BBC) International relations Ecuador's ambassador to the UK, Anna Alban, is reported to be flying to Quito to discuss WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange's attempt to gain political asylum. (The Guardian) Latin American countries come together to express concern over the ousting from power of President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo, with Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez vowing not to recognise the government of the newly-installed Paraguayan leader. (Al Jazeera) (BBC) The United Nations sustainable development summit ends in Brazil with a warning on corporate power. (BBC) Law and crime A United States judge dismisses an injunction from Apple Inc. against Motorola for patent infringement. (PC World) After a five-day trial in the High Court, 27-year-old assistant tutor Luke Cooper, who is completing a PhD in international relations at the University of Sussex, is awarded £35,000 over a front page Evening Standard article and £25,000 over a follow-up piece in theDaily Mail. These articles threatened his future academic prospects during the November 2010 march against government cuts.(Press Association via The Guardian) Politics and elections Voters in Papua New Guinea start going to the polls for a general election. (The Sydney Morning Herald) Results in Egypt's election are now expected tomorrow as Hosni Mubarak languishes between life and death. (Associated Press via CBC) Hundreds of people demonstrate against next week's visit of Elizabeth II to Belfast. (BBC) Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner becomes the national security minister of Trinidad and Tobago. (BBC) Sport UEFA Euro 2012: Spain tear through a feeble France team in their quarter-final meeting at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, with Xabi Alonso scoring two goals on his 100th international appearance. (BBC) (The Daily Telegraph) UEFA punishes Russia for a third time over the misbehaviour of their fans. (BBC) Alan McDonald, former Northern Ireland captain and veteran of his country's 1986 FIFA World Cup campaign, collapses and dies suddenly at the age of 48. (BBC) (ESPN) (Sky Sports) In athletics, Ashton Eaton sets a new world record for the decathlon in the US selection trials for the 2012 Summer Olympics. (AP via ABC News America)

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