happy holidays



wishing you a very merry christmas. i will take a break from blogging until the new year.  i plan to visit with friends, get up a mountain, light candles, sit cozy by a fire, stay up late, and eat too much.  hope you have a fabulous holiday. see you in 2013.  warmly, connie (and stefan and kai). 

weekend pics

tis' the weekend of lights, friends and too much food!  so much awesomeness to be thankful for:

• on friday, an afternoon tea with suji followed by a holiday party at sam, dan and jacob's house (i ate so much chicken wings!)
• on saturday, an afternoon of shopping and consuming the most delicious comfort food with the lovely patrycja... followed by the gorgeous festival of lights with sam and jacob... and then followed by more comfort food with my boys
• on sunday, brunch at our place with darrin, alexia and their little one kara followed by a lovely meal at the home of our friends jason, dede and their adorable girlies

and there will be more of the same throughout the holiday... tis' the season!

 



 

 

 

 







 





kai reading to kara... so. very. adorable.



butter!





 

chloe's creation



winter solstice

today is the shortest day (and darkest/longest night) of the year in north america. in vancouver, the sun will set at 4:16pm leaving us with only about 8 hours of sunlight. 

officially the beginning of the winter season this means colder days, pots of soup, cozy blankets, snowy mountains, hot chocolate, and hibernation.  sounds good, yes? 

my little guy is happy too... today is the last day of school for winter break (2 weeks!).


photo from here


the winter solstice also means that the days, from now on, will get brighter every day.  i like my soup and cozy blankets but very excited for spring to show up.  to celebrate i hope to partake in the lantern festival tonight... if i can fit it in between a late afternoon tea with a friend and a holiday party...

have a lovely weekend.

the things we do...

i ate at a subway.  it was kai's suggestion for the dinner portion of our date night last thursday when we went to see the lion, the witch and the wardrobe.  i really didn't want to eat there when there was other yummier fare like sushi or indian and so i tried to dissuade him... to no avail.  he was adamant subway was where he wanted to dine (he had a taste of it when we were in toronto, my brother took him; and he sees the grade seven students munching away on subways during lunch).  

i didn't want to disappoint him by pulling the mom card so we dined at subway much to his delight.  when i picked him up he hesitantly asked, "are we going to subway for dinner?" such a huge smile came over his face when i said "of course."  he ordered his subway - turkey with almost every single topping they had and mayo was his sauce of choice.  i ordered mine - a veggie with almost as many toppings but with an italian zesty sauce. we each had a baggie of chips and iced tea.

kai happily devoured his subway.  mid-way through our meal he asked me, "so, do you like it?"  when i responded with a "yes, it's actually quite yummy!" he proudly stated, "i told you it was good.  so can we come here more often?"  i smiled at him and said, "probably, just remind me that i liked it in case i forget."

it delights me to see kai happy.  we had a lovely evening eating subway and watching a play.  what a privilege.

 



the (family) holiday photo

 

 

come christmas i wish i had the perfect family photo of the three of us to make into a holiday card.  but it's not meant to be.  so i resort to one i have taken of kai at some point during the year (there's always one i can use) and make it work.  our families love to receive a photo of him so all is good in the end.

but i am always thinking about that imagined, perfect holiday photo of the three of us. amongst the many photos snapped over the past year there's very few photos of the three of us and not one is holiday card worthy.

you see, when i try to take a family photo it brings out the absolute worst, stressed out part of me.  by the time i am taking the tenth photo (on self-timer) my boys are done.  actually their patience runs out after photo number three has been snapped.  so the photo that i try to capture doesn't happen - smiles are no longer genuine, the boys are grumpy, and i have lost it.  it's always a bad idea. 

one day i am sure stefan will outright refuse to pose for a family photo, he isn't much into forced happiness.  i get it.  and kai, i'm afraid he will likely need years of therapy to undo the harm that i cause whenever i announce that i would like to snap a family photo. 

nothing good ever comes from a forced family photo.  yet i know i will continue to persist, hopeful that this time will be the photo i am after. 

i will learn one day.  but not today.  today i am grateful that i have a family of three that i can pester to indulge my crazy family photo crusade (and learning of the horrific news in connecticut, i am enormously grateful... what heartbreak).

weekend pics

it was a quiet and "magical" kind of weekend.  firstly, we had two girlies in the house.  for almost 24 hours the girls outnumbered the human boys in the house.  the girls, the daughters of our friends jason and dede, had a play and sleepover with us - they were delightful, polite, and the perfect guests.  the kids ate pizza, crafted pompom mobiles, baked macaroons, chased the cats, ate candy, and went to bed late.  it was pretty awesome. 

 

 

 









 

 



sugar and candy, but of course!





kids did a fine job, yum!

kai taught the girls to 'beatbox'





the girls taught us some playground games... brought back memories!

 





kai and the girlies, 2008



in the morning, after a pancake breakfast, we went to the north pole.  in true polar express style, we were invited aboard a train at the pacific central rail station to enjoy a half-hour christmas magic show.  the conductor shared interesting facts about trains and upon disembarking, the kids received a souvenir ticket to imagine.  which reminds me, i need to dust off the christmas books for some holiday reading - kai and i enjoy reading and watching the polar express each year... a holiday ritual.



speaking of magic, on thursday night (not technically the weekend, i know), kai and i watched a showing of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe held at the pacific theatre.  i must admit i was a bit skeptical about how two actors could do the story justice and do so on a tiny stage that had nothing more than an armchair, a footstool, a chest, a blanket, an umbrella stand, and a wardrobe filled with coats.  thankfully i needn't have been worried, their adaptation of this magical story was remarkable.  the actors were superb, effortlessly weaving between different characters to bring narnia to life. incredible, really.  kai was enthralled.  i was enthralled.  we hope it comes back next year, we want to see it again!

 





the third magical event to occur was the (almost) completion of kai's science project.  we just found out on friday that kai has a science project due on tuesday (tomorrow).  kai neglected to bring home the information way back in mid-november! he knew since mid-november!  so, guess what my boy was doing this weekend (after the girlies left us)?  he worked hard for many consecutive hours... and the science project, about habitats and their animals, inspired the boys to watch some planet earth.

other scenes from the weekend:





new cat toy provided lots of entertainment





greens, very much needed amongst all the sugary treats we have been ingesting... it's a little crazy friends!