Christmas, Here We Come

It is with horror that I realize that I haven't truly posted since our trip to Jamaica, but horror is hardly the proper emotion to open a Christmas post with so I'll move on...


It's been a busy month or so with a wide array of new acquisitions around our house. That's about as optimistically as I can paraphrase the month of breakdowns we've had at our place. Our 2010 truck fell victim to yet another small repair and Rob snapped, so 5 days after returning home from our trip we had surprisingly switched it out for a 1 year newer, nearly identical navy blue Ford truck. Just in case that wasn't enough excitement, our water pump quit without warning, then the heat pump on our furnace, then the dishwasher. That's not entirely fair, the dishwasher stuttered twice briefly before it refused to turn on one day. The woodstove then stopped drawing, we're still working on that one. The hard drive burnt out on our new laptop unexpectedly on my birthday, our ever reliable Corolla didn't turn on two days later in a patients driveway, and 3 hours after Rob finished putting a new starter in the Toyota, our toilet stopped flushing. On the upside, the whole chain of events has now moved into comic absurdity and I asked Rob the other day after he put in a load of laundry "Did the dryer start?" "Yes." "Wow! Well that's lucky!"

Our new truck - which looks exactly like our old truck, especially now that it's covered in road salt and filled with baby seats and hot wheels cars.

 



 

Decorating the tree

 

My work party - Brendan made a Christmas squid. He's very creative.

 

Sadly no photo with Santa for this year - Brendan sat on his lap, Harrison gave him a suspicious high five and Heidi would come no closer than 15 feet.

 

Train World took over our basement for a time - nice to see their interests all come together! Well, briefly. Heidis interests quickly become driving her shopping cart filled with stuffed animals all over the tracks, Harrisons interests quickly became trying to jump off the couch over the tracks (rarely succeeding) and Brendans interests became trying to guard his train tracks from inevitable destruction. Never a dull moment!

 

 

 

I got to attend my first Junior Firefighters night (Rob and Brendan go every other Wednesday). Here, Brendan pretends to choke while Carson gets ready to administer a pretend EpiPen. Brendan actually showed an impressively large amount of dramatic flair!

 

 

 

 

Speaking of dramatic flair, the third shadowy figure from the left is Brendan as Shepherd Number 1, delivering his line with astounding volume and projection!

 

Somewhere in here was my birthday. I don't have any photos of that since I sat on the couch and did nothing. It was lovely. That's not quite true. While Rob was trying desperately to make the work computer come back to life I did go downstairs and back up the hard drive on this laptop that has all my photos on it. I may be an optimist, but I'm not crazy.

 

 

We didn't quite know how to wrap it so Brendan got his Christmas present from Rob and I before we left for Ripley this weekend. He has grown out of his well loved 12 volt hand me down jeep, which can no longer pull his weight up the septic hill of the front yard. We figure he has a lot of years of driving ahead of him and several siblings behind him, but I still don't know how to explain to a 6 year old that this is in all likelihood the biggest Christmas present he'll ever get. PS Check out the epic snow tunnel he and Dad built in the snow this week!

 

Our Ripley Christmas always starts with the Anderson dinner - that's a lot of cousins!!

 

Heidi - all warmed up to the crowd by the end of the night

 

Happy Harry - off for a walk in the snow at the Owen Sound Festival of Northern Lights

 

Mr. B keeping warm

 

With Mimi and Papa

OK, I truly don't understand why the computer won't put these in chronological order but if I speak harshly to it, it may decide to suddenly crap out too, so I won't. I'll finish here with the photos from last weekends Christmas in Barrie with Mike and Tara (who will be spending Christmas Day in Toronto with Tara's family).

 

Nerf guns and dinosaur robots, toy cameras and hair barrettes; Christmas, here we come!

 

Only at Tara's house could the stiletto parade have been considered a normal part of the evening.

 

 

The Lock Family Christmas Photo!

 

Just in case I don't get back to the computer in the next 48  hours (and I think we can consider that a mathematical guarantee),

 

 Merry Christmas!!!!

Liebing Life

I have been awarded a Liebster Award, which is sort of like a blogging chain letter, with the intention that you answer a series of titillating questions and award 5 other noteworthy bloggers you follow with a mention on your site and so on and so forth. Sadly, the other two ladies/moms who I knew who had blogs have committed to spending less time talking about hanging out with their kids and more time actually doing it (as opposed to me), so you're just stuck reading my question and answer series. Enjoy, ha!

1. Are you a day person or a night person?
Night owl, for sure, for sure. I like that morning person isn't even an option here!

2. Why did you start your blog? Bored on mat leave? Keeping family up to date?
To try to notify people that the twins had finally arrived since we anticipated not having wifi in hospital. Ah to think something that was supposed to be short lived ...

3. What would be your death row meal?
My mom's polynesian pork tenderloin with ginger and soy sauce. It's amazing. So much work, but amazing.

4. Do you believe in horoscopes? Why/why not?
Seriously?

5. What is your favourite holiday?
Easter.  Easter in the Cole household is an epic event with 3 easter egg hunts and decorating easter eggs complete with voting in categories like best use of colour and most disturbing egg!


6. What is your favourite Christmas song?
Halekaleke mala. There's no way I succeeded in spelling that right.


7. What do you take in your coffee? Tea?
Cream and sugar. And none of this milk nonsense either. I have just recently discovered the difference that actual 18% cream makes. When I'm out at a restaurant. While I can be superior enough to sneer at milk, I'm also still too crippled by my clinical cheapness to actually buy real creamer for home.


8. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer?
Cheap.


9. Did you watch the entire series of Breaking Bad? If so, how long did it take you? If not, when are you going to?
I watched the whole first season and apparently am the only person in the whole world who found it disturbing and depressing.
10.  What cheerios do you like the best? Original, multigrain, chocolate or honey nut?
Multigrain; they've got that little bit of sweetness, mixed in with the naturally sweet taste of the moral superiority you get from eating healthier sounding food!

Jamaica!

Wow! Got home on Monday from a phenomenal week at The Sunset at the Palms in Negril, Jamaica. A tiny resort with just 83 treehouse bungalows on stilts in a Jamaican jungle of palm trees and gorgeous flowers. Non stop red stripe beer and jerk Chicken. It was heaven. Jamaica, I miss you! Bob and Gail did a great job with all the kids at home, but were delusional enough when we got home to describe their week as "fun". Hopefully they recover soon!

Phew! We made it!

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks but a very, very memorable time in the Lock household. Getting this posting up is my only goal for this weekend, but to do so I am currently hiding in the bedroom (thank goodness for laptops!) hoping Heidi doesn't notice my absence and start banging loudly on the door, wailing pitifully. It's so distracting when she does that.

Adam and Alison arrived two weeks ago and we had some wonderful times hosting them on and off during their stay in Canada for Mike's wedding. Thanks to the wonder of Skype, they knew them both and in the end were a MASSIVE help during the wedding and Hallowe'en. Adam even got to carve his first Hallowe'en pumpkin!

We got our family fully outfitted for Mike and Tara's wedding, but sadly never got a picture everyone all dressed together (It was a very, very busy day). This kills me. I am not above redressing them up in their tuxes and dress in a week or so when it has all quieted down and forcing a fake wedding photoshoot in our living room. In fact, the stuff is all hanging on a hook in our room for just exactly that. Watch for the photo on all your Christmas cards, if it goes well! Rob's tuxedo was a rental however, so you'll just have to take it on faith that he looked very handsome.

We were up to Toronto on Thursday night for a cocktail reception the night before the wedding. This night will be forever recorded in history as the first time Heidi was allowed to hold a cell phone. 50 new people all trying to make friends with her in one small room was about 50 people too many and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was all that would keep Princess Xenophobia calm (fast forward to the middle of Mike and Tara's reception speech when she had to be removed to the hall for hollering "PHONE! PHONE!" as loudly as she could - ah well, win some, lose some). The party was lovely with lots of tasty snacks and lots of people to see. The next morning we were up early to get Heidi and myself settled at the Old Mill and get Brendan, Harrison and Rob to Mike's hotel for pictures at 9:30. Heidi and I had a fun time exploring the never ending labyrinth of corridors, elevators, ballrooms, gardens and pathways at the Old Mill, all of which were GORGEOUS! I hope Mike and Tara's pictures turn out beautifully!  Heidi and I would alternately hang out in Alison's room and explore. The elevator was by far the most popular destination. Heidi even found a button that made a loud alarming noise. What fun! Eventually it was time to get dressed and just as she had done in our "dress rehearsal" at home, Heidi screamed and railed when I tried to put her lovely flower girl dress on. "NO DRESS! PANTS!!! NO DRESS!".  Not a great start. So we worked out a compromise whereby she allowed me to put the dress on, if we could then go out and ride the elevator. Then we came back to the room and put on the tights ("NO TIGHTS!! NO LIKE IT!!"), then back to the elevator. Then back to the room for the shoes. Then it was time for photos. By the time the wedding was all over and we were headed home I was so exhausted from cajoling and negotiating, pleading and begging I was ready to vow to never take the kids out of the house again. In hindsight we came prepared with family to help, new toys to bribe and new games on phones but what I should have brought was more hard liquor. For myself, myself I mean. We survived photos and I hope Mike and Tara get some decent ones despite four (dear Ellie and our 3) unmotivated child participants. Next, the ceremony. (You may be wanting to get yourself a drink of hard liquor at this point - sorry I hadn't meant to tell every detail, but Heidi didn't figure out where I was, and it's nice and quiet in here, so I'm in no hurry to finish up). Yes, so the ceremony. Brendan was a star! He carried a cool antique truck loaded with the rings down the aisle with decorum and elegance and handed them to the officiant exactly as per instructions. Thank heaven for 6 year olds! Heidi refused to hold the eldest flower girls hand, then the younger flower girls hand, then Brendan's hand, then Harrison's hand and began to rage just as the processional music began, but then miraculously followed the girls when they began to walk. I only just nudged her a tiny bit from behind (with desperate whispers of "go, go!"), but it was all the forward momentum she needed, and she just kept going. If Brendan walked the aisle with decorum and elegance, Harrison walked it with joy and panache, proudly carrying the tiny basket of flower petals he had absolutely, unequivocally refused to give up. He began scattering them before he was even up the steps of the chapel and someone whispered "Not yet" in his ear. He proceeded to spend the majority of the service at the front of the church beside Rob repeating "Not yet..., not yet..., not yet..." to the crowd in this loudest stage whisper. Oi.

From here, they were finally off duty, officially. The twins put on quite a show chasing each other round in infinite circles on the dance floor between courses at dinner and Brendan, London, Avery and Ellie all joined them for some entertaining interpretive dance. They didn't knock over the cupcake table or any of the wait staff so we called the whole day a success and sent them up to bed in the hotel room (thank you so much Aunt Ruth!). Rob and I had a lovely night visiting with family from far and wide. It was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful setting, Tara looked stunning, the speeches were fantastic across the board. The dinner was delicious and there was a even a candy buffet to round out the indulgence. I do wish I had more pictures to share, but hopefully Mike and Tara's photographer was prolific and will be sharing his photos soon!

 

Thursday Night

 

Mike, Adam and Harrison

 

Speeches. Yes, these are out of order. Sorry.

 

 

 Fast asleep at the end of an eventful day

 

Oh my gosh! I almost closed out with no mention of Thanksgiving or Hallowe'en! We hosted Thanksgiving for the Cole clan (only our second turkey ever!) and managed to put together a very serviceable dinner. John and Betty and family made great use of the trailer as a Bunkie/in law suite, and Rowan and Brendan spent hours playing Playmobil in there on their own. We had a birthday party for Rowan, a day up in Madoc with a trip to the OHara Mill Pioneer Village, lunch at my favourite coffee shop, treats at the Goldmine Bakery, a trip to an epic playground and a visit to Ivanhoe Cheese. We fleshed the rest of the weekend out with standard Cole family activities - board games, walks, cheese eating and beer drinking and even had a very non standard Cole family soccer game, thanks to Wyatt!

 

 

 

 

And finally, Hallowe'en! Rob and I attended our neighbourhood party the night we got back from the wedding, and Rob won best male costume! For the 31st, I was very nervous that the ever strong willed Heidi would refuse to wear her costume, and in the end it all turned out fine. She refused to put the head up (which was really cute, I would like to point out), but Alison and Adam miraculously showed up to save the day with a toque to complete the outfit. Harrison went as his dearly beloved Sleep Giraffe, and Heidi as her Sleep Sheep. Brendan made an amazingly accurate replica of his favourite Beach Buggy (and driver - from a video game that is a cell phone app that he plays when we drive long distances) with his dad over the last 2 weeks in the garage. It was a work of art! He even won most original costume for grade 1/2 at school!! So proud! It rained, yes, but not hard and Alison and Adam came back to Londale and helped the kids go door to door. In the end they had an obscene pile of candy, and that's all that really counts!

 

 

 

Rob and I are counting down the days (15!) until we take a little time to recuperate from our crazy October - Rob's Mom and Dad are coming to look after the kids for a week while we jet off to Jamaica. It'll be our first time leaving the twins for a big trip, but they'll have much more fun (and treats) with Mimi and Papa, so we're not worried at all. The next time I post, it'll be pictures of little umbrella drinks and me fast asleep in a pool chair. Ohhhh, 15 days....