Christmas in Minnesota

Maya opening her stocking on Christmas morning. She has now learned the word "candy"!

Aidan opening his stocking

Amanda showing off one of her gifts

Maya loving her piano/xylophone!

Aidan got what he wanted from Santa - a microscope!

Maya got an Etch-a-Sketch

Cousin Katy loved her American Girl violin

Aidan liked his Lego plane kit

Maya loving her Curious George book

Aidan received Spiderman PJs from Grandma and Grandpa

Katy, Aidan, and Amanda about to play in the snow - and there was lots and lots of it!

Family portrait - left to right - Amanda, Aidan, Grandma, Mike, Carol, Maya, and Grandpa

The four of us

Katy and Amanda put on a dance performance for us. Here they are signing autographs after the show!

We had a great time visiting with the family in Minnesota and hope they will come and visit us again soon.

Early Christmas in Mississauga

We planned to spend Christmas in Minnesota with Mike's sister and as we couldn't carry some of the larger gifts, we opened a few in Mississauga on Dec. 22. Here are a few photos from the evening.

Maya is starting to get the hang of Christmas and opening gifts. Here she is about to open her Fisher Price farmyard.

Maya's favourite gift was from Cora - a singing frog - here she is dancing along!

Aidan's favourite gift was a new PS3!

Aidan also got a very large remote control ATV from Cora - I think it could do some serious damage!

I gave Aidan a collage of our trip to Texas as a keepsake.

My big (and only gift) was downhill skis. I will be taking lessons with Aidan this winter.

Some Christmas Festivities

Maya and Aidan in their festive attire.

Every day Maya wants to "play" the piano. Here she is in the cute dress I bought her. What a steel for $20!

We also attended Aidan's Christmas concert where he was "fire being" in his class play. Aidan is on the right.

We're looking forward to seeing Maya enjoy her first Christmas with Aidan.

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year!!!!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Deck the Halls

Maya is taken by all the shiny ornaments

Decorating the tree
Aidan did most of the work and is impressed with the finished product!

Oooh! Aaaah!

We hear Maya say that a lot these days. She is so taken by all the Christmas decorations at the mall and in our home.

Every day she wants to go and inspect the ornaments on the tree and presents underneath.

I will post some pictures soon of her helping us deck the halls!

Great News

I have accepted a new job closer to our house with much less air travel, better pay, and more vacation. Yahoooo!

Ahhhhh Bahamas!

A month ago Mike and I celebrated our 10th anniversary and 45th birthdays in the Bahamas! It was very relaxing and a much needed rest from child and eldercare responsibilities. I think we should make this an annual occurrence! Here are a few photos from our trip.

View of the Pool and Beach from our Hotel

Me and Mike at the Garden Restaurant
Checking out a conch at the Atlantis Aquarium

Lion fish

Relaxing on the beach

Started Work Today

Yep, back to work and my horrendous commute. Maya did just fine. I did ok.
I'm lucky to have a great nanny that Maya likes and that likes Maya.

What Maya's Doing Now

Maya is now roughly 20.5 months old. She loves books, scribbling with crayons or chalk, playing ball, and dancing. Maya is almost jumping. She is obsessed with going to the toilet and has had success three times this week! Maya has become quite contrary. All we hear is "NO! "all day long. She is starting to dress herself. She has learned a lot of new words but has not yet started combining words, with the exception of "luv-woo" (so cute!).

More Halloween Memories

We visited an historic home that had a Halloween festival complete with a haunted barn, scavenger hunt, and animal show for the kids. They also provide a number of props for photos.

Aidan waiting (not so patiently) outside the home to get into the festival

We're in!!!

Aidan by the graveyard



Aidan and Maya by the graveyard

Aidan peeking through the pumpkin

Carving pumpkins at home. Maya was really into it!

The finished products

We were only going to take Maya to a few houses but when she discovered that there was candy to be had she didn't want to be left behind! She ended up going out with the neighbourhood kids. Here is the gang outside our house. As you can see, there was quite a vampire theme going on!

A Vampire and a Pumpkin

Houston

Aidan was born in Houston and lived there for one year. He had done lots of research and studied the maps. He knew exactly where he wanted to go!

Here we are with my dear friend Julia (aka "my other sister"). She and her husband Gulzar graciously hosted us. They are both geologists and their house is full of maps and fossils - Aidan was in heaven!


Aidan wanted to go to Hermann Park and the zoo there. We used to take Aidan on this train when he was an infant.

Here's Aidan on board

We visited the zoo as well. Aidan was particularly interested in checking out the robotic dinosaur exhibit. Here he is with the T-rex



Houston has fantastic museums. Aidan wanted to go to the Children's Museum and the Museum of Natural Science.

Here he on a climbing activity at the Children's Museum

He really wanted to go the Butterfly Gallery

Of course, Space Centre Houston was on the list! We visited Mission Control, saw where the astronauts train and also saw the Saturn V rocket!
Aidan wearing a astronaut's helmet

We had to get a photo beside the globe outside the Museum of Natural Science

Julia surprised us with some pajamas that her mom made for Maya and Aidan. Here they are at home sporting them! Thanks for the thoughtful gift, Mary!

Aidan had a great time visiting his "homeland". And I enjoyed the trip down memory lane and catching up with Julia and Mary L.

Our next homeland tour will be to Vietnam, but that will likely be several years from now.