Perfect Canadian Saturday in Winter

We had a wonderful Saturday playing pond hockey and playing in the snow with the neighbourhood this weekend. It was very Norman Rockwell, or whoever the Canadian version of Norman Rockwell is. Brendan and I made an igloo while Rob played hockey and the twins slept. Isn't fresh air great?

More January Pictures

Aha! Just figured out how to add more than 5 photos at a time! Here's to lifelong learning...

The twins first time 'skating'! We went to the rink for family skate time last week. You can do some pretty cool spins holding onto a double stroller! As usual the twins took it all in happily with wide eyes.

Next milestone; Heidi is working hard on rolling over this week. So far she has only made it onto her side, but it's only a matter of time...

My Harry bear!

The twins (and Daddy, who keeps snuggling them in beside the twins) are in love with their new soundmaker sheep and giraffe. Sheep makes an eerie whalesong noise that mom is not in love with, but I seem to be outvoted 3 to 1, so it's the new soundtrack of our house.

The super fun looking set up at Brendan's skating lessons.

Brendan had his first real dentist appointment this month. By real appointment, I mean 20 minutes in the chair where the dentist "counted his teeth" and the hygeinist polished his teeth and brushed them for him. By real appointment, I mean $105! Argh!

Harrison and Heidi are starting to look a little more alike at times these days.

My Heidi is turning blond, very slowly

Brendan got his haircut yesterday a little shorter than usual. Talk about people's looks changing. I barely recognize him. Not to mention the fact that he is playing by himself on the computer. He's growing way too fast for me :(

January Photo Post

We went up to Barrie 2 weekends ago for Mike (Rob's brother) and Tara's baby shower. She's due in early March, not long to go now! I took her up a few sentimental items, like my compression stockings for ankle swelling and the last of my maternity clothes that I decided I had no business wearing anymore, even though they're way more comfortable than my pre-pregnant with twins jeans.

I'm not proud, but I finally did it. I dressed them up in matching clothes. They both had very similar brown and white striped onesies and brown pants so I went ahead and dressed them both up in them to go see Mike and Tara. In a show of solidarity I dressed up to match too, ha ha.

Heidi's turn

It turns out Heidi loves it even more than her brother!

Jumperoo!

It's been a quiet week here in Lonsdale. We were up to visit uncle mike and auntie Tara for their baby shower. We now have fancy stroller envy...

Dad looked after all 3 kids while I went out for a night on the town to see Cirque details Soliel. He really is superdad.

This morning we dusted off (and hosed off) the jumperoo to try for the first time. There was mostly just a lot of hanging around, but they'll figure it out!

5 month photo

Before and after pics!

Amazing Memories!

The 2 wolves next door were named Cree and Zeebie. Several times a day they would start to howl back and forth. Amazing! I checked dog - sledding off my life list on this trip with a loop around Lake Placid with Brendan. It was hardly a break neck pace (one of the dogs was able to have a pee while trotting along mid-ride) and Brendan was totally uninspired but it was a real rush for me! One of my proudest moments of the trip was watching Peyton and Brendan learn to skate for the first time on the frozen puddle in our back yard. They were fantastic and Brendan refused to come in until I had provided him with a branch and rock so he could "play hockey". He hit "the puck" twice before he finally agreed to come in for hot chocolate (it had gotten dark out, and I thought he might never go in). Not bad for his first time up on skates! We went to an incredible gorge (High Falls Gorge) 10 minutes from our condo and I took an obscenely large number of artsy ice shots. Brendan also had an obscenely large tantrum at the bottom of the gorge (right where the echo was loudest). Ah, the memories!

Unsuccessfully Relaxing In Placid

I am no good at sitting still, so even on this supposedly low key vacation I still dragged my family all over. Here are pictures of us out on the trails hiking around the condo and Lake Placid area, and the Olympic Museum (Lake Placid hosted the Olympics in '32 and '80). It was wonderful having Blaze with us for a rare vacation; he so often gets left at home. Once he discovered there were wolves living next door at the Wildlife Preserve though I don't think he thought it was quite as wonderful as we did. Brendan probably drank more Hot Chocolate in this one week than he ever had before in his life, but it was the perfect warm up treat after being outside, and he was just so elegant with this tiny mug that they had at the condo!

More Lake Placid Photos

The kiddies are in bed and I thought I would try to sneak a few more photos up before anybody woke up. These are pictures of our New Years Eve festivities. Harrison's passport came through in time and Matt kindly delivered it to us when we all met at a truck stop just outside the border. Convoying down in 3 vehicles and attempting to grocery shop with 6 adults and 6 kids felt festive enough as it was! We had a pre midnight countdown for the Brendan sized kids, then started our appetizers and exotic drinks (see Mike's Tiny Guinness's) before watching the ball drop and toasting the New Year with champagne. Goodness, I love tradition! This was our 15th annual New Years together, now that's something to be proud of!

If all goes according to plan there should be 2 more posts after this...

Home At Last

Happy New Year! It seems like we've been gone a lot longer than a week. I think I posted about the twins first Christmas, and Brendan's presents are scattered everywhere, so I feel like it's still Boxing Day on January 9th! Before I forget, Happy 5 month birthday also to the twins. Taking the "Paddington Bear" photo will have to be a priority for tomorrow; today Heidi seems to be sleeping off a bit of a stomach bug. It's not bothering her (of course, nothing does), but it's bothering her parents who have changed 7 dirty diapers in the last 24 hours. In contrast she usually has one every other day. Our trip to Lake Placid was great! As a first test for the twins travelling ability it went very smoothly! I shouldn't really be surprised, but it's still nice to get their first big trip away under our belt, so we can start planning the rest of their world traveller lives. Brendan is a slightly different story. The phrase "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" springs to mind. He was great 85% of the time. The other 15% of the time we were hiking. Rob and I have decided that it is perhaps time to put family hikes on hold for a while until Brendan is a little more interested in forward movement. I'm quite sure that will happen just as the twins learn to walk... The condo was wonderful, everything I had hoped for. I love to plan, but hate to be in charge, so it was a real relief that the accomodations, and the destination were as great as I had expected. The trip was meant to be a ski holiday, but the snow is as minimal there generally as it is here, so we opted instead for hiking, visiting the wild animal rehabilitation centre beside us, shopping in the town of Lake Placid, tubing, visiting the Olympic museum, skating on the frozen puddle at our condo, visiting with my brother's family for an impromptu visit and swim at their hotel, dog sledding and mostly drinking and sitting in our hot tub on the deck. So, really a pretty full trip after all!

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Ah, both babies crying... will have to update more next time. Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year, Nancy