December update

December was a busy month for us. On the first Friday in December, the kids had a PA day and we took a trip downtown to go skating at Nathan Philip Square. Austin is quite a good skater now that he's learning to play hockey and he spent most of the time teaching Alex to inch her way forward and how to stand up when she fell down.

After skating, we checked out the Christmas windows at the Bay and then wandered through the Eaton Centre to check out the decorations before meeting Ryan for dinner.

That Sunday (Dec. 9) was the PCL kids Christmas Party. As always, the kids had a great time doing crafts, getting their faces painted, going on a wagon ride, drinking hot chocolate, and of course, seeing Santa.

The following weekend, we had our annual family Christmas party at our house -- with eight families invited (that's a total of 18 adults and 10 kids). As usual, it was chaos, but a lot of fun.

Earlier that day, Alex had her parents' viewing day at her ballet class -- meaning that it was the first time we got to watch her since she started back in September. They didn't do a performance (that's in June) just a regular class. But it was a lot of fun to watch and she seems to be really enjoying it. She's registered for the winter session and has already asked to be registered for the spring session.

On December 18, the kids were off school for the one-day elementary teachers' strike so we decided to make the best of it and I took the kids to Casa Loma. The idea to go there stemmed from the fact that Austin was supposed to go on a class trip there that day which was (obviously) cancelled. There were special holiday events going on and the three of us had a really good time. I never really thought to take them there before, but they really enjoyed exploring the place.

On December 22, Austin's hockey practice was turned into a family skating day. Unfortunately, Alex was sick (she was sick for the better part of the two weeks leading up to Christmas) so Austin and I went by ourselves. His coach gave all the parents a hockey stick and Austin taught me how to shoot a puck for the first time in my life! He was pretty proud of himself for teaching mom something.

My sister Alison, brother-in-law Billy and two nephews arrived from California on December 21 and we spent as much time with them as we could (although given that Alex was sick and they were sick when they arrived, we did miss out on some time together). But we made the most of our visits and had a really great time together. Austin, Alex and Teddy really enjoyed being together -- and I'm sure as soon as Julian is old enough, he'll be right in there playing with them.

Christmas morning was spent, just the four of us, at our house -- where Santa treated the kids very well. By lunchtime we went to my parents house where we spent the afternoon and dinner there. On December 26, we drove to London, where we spent the day with Ryan's mom and Graham. On December 27, we headed over to Ryan's dad's house where we spent the day with him and Kirsten. And yes, all three family days meant present opening and turkey dinners!

By Friday, December 28, we headed home, exhausted. And spent the next few days reorganizing our house and finding homes for all the new toys!

New Year's Eve was a low key evening. We invited friends of ours and their 4-year-old daughter over for dinner. The kids stayed up late watching a movie (but were still in bed before midnight) and the adults had a late dinner followed by evening playing cards.

Now the kids are back at school and life is back to normal. Ryan is extremely busy at work right now -- since the hospital he's building has to be turned over on March 3. And work is going well for me as well -- it slowed down a bit in December but is picking back up. I'm enjoying this work-for-myself thing now that I've gotten used to the kids being at school all day.

As for the kids, there's still hockey and ballet on Saturdays. And they're both doing swimming lessons once a week. And Alex is also taking skating lessons once a week -- we figured it was about time that someone other than Austin teach her how to skate!

In case you missed it, here's the most recent slideshow: