Christmas excitement!

Wow-Wii. Tomas must've been REALLY GOOD this year.

Toria loves it all!

How much fun we did have this year! The kids are great.

The Big Dig

My 5-year-old daughter is telling all her friends that we are living in a castle surrounded by a moat (literally)!

My front entrance (with the plywood drawbridge)... miss the step and you're falling 7 feet down!:


The back yard:


The courtyard:


The worker:

How to achieve success on Boxing Day

[Note to American readers: Boxing Day in Canada is kind of like Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) in the U.S. - it is HUGE! Most of the electronic stores open at 5 or 6am and regular stores also open early - the savings are HUGE.]

All times are in the A.M. as in MORNING.
6:00, alarm goes off
6:20, out the door
6:30, arrive at Wal-mart. Shit! it's supposed to be open 24 hours but not opening until 7am. I tried to confirm the times last night but website said 24 hours and no message on phone. Will need to make note of this for next year.
6:32, drive to Future Shop - yep, it's busy, I'm not standing in line. Back to Wal-mart.
6:45, standing in line at Wal-mart - #34 in the queue. I am standing in line with 80 people when the doors open. 40 are teenage boys and their fathers (presumably looking for cheap video games). The other 40 appear to be small business owners as I later see them with two or THREE carts full of toilet paper, Dish washing liquid and Rice Krispie squares (I didn't ask).

7:00, Through the door. Find a guy in a blue vest looking overwhelmed at the mass of people entering the Electronics department - show him the cut-out ad of the Flash Drive that Todd wants. I taped the ad onto my 8 1/2 X 11 'master shopping page', ask "WHERE IS THIS?"
7:02, Yippee - got the 8GB flash drive for $50
7:05, I can't find the next item on my list. Find a guy in a blue vest wandering through toys - show him the cut-out ad for remote control off-road monster trucks taped to my 'master shopping page'. Ask "WHERE IS THIS?"
7:06 He has no idea. Wal-mart can't find the remote control off-road monster trucks (only $14!). Wal-mart now has 4 people looking for the trucks... I have to keep showing them the ad (T.G. for my master shopping page with the actual ads!)
7:10, Wal-mart staff have found the trucks! - they were forgotten in the loading dock.
7:15, have the R/C trucks, now I only need a few groceries and toiletries... maybe I need toilet paper, too????
7:30, HOW CAN WAL-MART ONLY HAVE 2 LANES OPEN ON BOXING DAY????
7:50, back at the car, zooming to The Bay (a big department store, kinda like Macy's)

7:58, #8 in the queue at The Bay.
8:00, they have crappy stuff here. Why am I here? Make note for next year.
8:20, wandering the mall.

8:40, #1 in line at the Calendar Club - buy the 3 calendars the kids and I selected then hid on Dec. 24th.

8:45, driving to London Drugs (this contains a huge electronics store despite the drug store name).
8:55, #90ish in line
9:01, through the door. Oh great. See an official looking employee, show him the cut-out ad I taped onto the 'Master Shopping Page' . He has no idea where it is but yeah! he's the store manager. He has now got people searching. They can't find the voice recorder I am looking for. [So soo sorry (or not) to all the people who were in line before me and are still looking for someone to help them - I snagged the Store Manager - na na na na - he's got all the electronics people helping ME!]
9:08 Staff found them. They were unmarked and in a bin under the camera counter. Store Manager is not happy - he does not like when the customers (& him) can not find stuff that we, the customers, are too buy. I am so happy - I've always wanted one of these but they used to be big and huge and majorly expensive. This one is $30 bucks and teeny tiny.
9:15, bought the teeny tiny voice recorder (a Sony!) and a box of Milk Chocolate Pot of Gold chocolates (Hey, I haven't had breakfast yet). London Drugs has every cashier open (take note Wal-mart!)

9:20, #6 in line at Hallmark Cards
9:30, through the doors, choose 2 puzzles of the 50% off rack and 1 roll of wrapping paper that is generic enough I can use for birthday gifts (60% off) . Chit Chat with another mom from the school.

9:47, HOME! [And the kids woke up at 9:22 so I've barely missed any of their day. PLUS I've been shopping for 2 1/2 hours.... and the deals I got!]

And if you think I am crazy...
My sister woke up at 4:30 to leave the house at 5am to drive 2 hours, across the Cdn/U.S. border, in the WINTER, to see what sales she can find in Minot, North Dakota. You go girl!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to All

I don't have any photos to show you as we've been too busy playing the Wii today! What great fun it is. I've learned that I should never get into a fight with my son because he is a MUCH better boxer than I am. As for my daughter - she may become the next Annika Sorenstan - she is a golfing machine. I'm exhausted - the Wii really is a workout.

Todd made an awesome dinner - turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy - the whole nine yards and now I am totally stuffed... although I might have room for a little bit of Bailey's.

I hope your day was great!

Things that make me go 'hmm'.

I think the owner of this behemoth thought that "Gee, if I park over the 'Small Car' only sign no one will figure out I'm twice the size of the Smart Car parked next to me" (that you can't even see in the picture because it's so small).

I was squished into the left before snapping this photo on my way out of the parking lot.

In other news - my 7-year-old son has informed me that I will need to sell my car and by a hybrid car because I'm ruining the environment, melting the Arctic ice, and thus, killing the Polar Bears.

Fa la la - Christmas Concerts!

What a great holiday performance! My children are true stars. Here are some photos:

Toria & her phenomenal teacher, Mrs. H. Then Toria singing her song!


Tomas is SINGING the song! [You may ask - why is he not wearing a shirt with collar? As most people, including Tomas, know I have a rule: If you're going somewhere important you must wear a shirt with a collar. (Tomas has 2 shirts with a collar - one for the summer and one for the winter). Ha, I was thwarted by a teacher. They were singing a multi-cultural song and she told them to wear a bright coloured shirt so they could be like a multi-coloured flag of many countries)]


The children paused long enough in their frantic excitement of counting down the days until Santa to pose for this picture!

Muddy Mess.

We've survived a birthday party (20 kids), the actual birthday, a truck parade, and some wild weather (-2 C to +15 C) in 12 hours .... OK, that might not seem like much but it is crazy for us Islanders.

And finally, the entire perimeter of our house is being dug down to the foundation. This has involved jackhammering out the sidewalk, a slice of the driveway and the back walkway.

It is a mess. I hope to post pics on the weekend.