Party Queen

This kid loves a party. Even if she doesn't love ice-skating. Or cake. No matter.

We didn't make it to the parade for reasons I won't go into (at the clinic with L) but we had a great afternoon.

Christmas Decor FAIL

While not nearly as spectacularly misguided as the decorations I shared with y'all a couple of years ago, today I encountered a puzzling tableau.

Friends, apparently nothing says Christmas like a FOREST FIRE.

It's so hot that the reindeers' antlers are GLOWING.  Like festive branding irons.

You can't really tell in the picture, but the lights on the trees and in the garland in the background are red and orange.  RED and ORANGE.  

Brings a whole new meaning to chestnuts roasting on an open fire, doesn't it?

On that note, I wish you a happy Friday.  We are heading out to the Santa Claus Parade tomorrow.  WISH US LUCK.  

Hopefully there will be some of these fiery decorations around because it's supposed to be cold.

Skyfall

Taxi $27
IMAX ticket with reserved seat $20
Hotdog and fries and drink $15
Post-movie snacks $17

Seeing James Bond movie with girlfriends: PRICELESS

Seeing Daniel Craig flirt with Javier Bardem: SOMETHING BETTER THAN PRICELESS

Is it hot in here? *fans face*

Go see it. All the awesome Bond stuff and a great story. Also: very tasty ladies, Dame Judy and Albert Finney! Love love love.

Posting with a minute to spare!

Lady Lunch

I've been catching up with my friends lately by booking them for weekday lunches.  Today I got to see my pal Brigitte and she suggested this place:

Ham. Bar.  

Turns out it's an apt name because this is what you see as soon as you open the door:

Yep.  HAM.  And lots of it.   

We had the house speciality -wine.  

Ha ha, just kidding.  (OH YES WE DID)

For non-liquid nourishment, we split the charcuterie plate and it was MEATABULOUS:

Everything from prosciutto to pickled beets to headcheese. HEADCHEESE, Mom.  And it was delicious!  

I forgot to take a picture of us so I'll give you this example from a girls' night dinner we had last month.

  Basically the same idea except today I had my eyes open for the entire meal.  Except when I was eating the pâté because OH MY it was magnificent.

Merci Brigitte!  J'ai adoré mon dîner!  

PS - dear readers: don't hate me because my life is kind of awesome right now.  Kthxbye.

Fasten Your Seatbelt

I was dropping Alice off at daycare (before heading to the park for a FREEZING workout - so not like yesterday) and her teacher and I were having our usual morning chat.  I think it's really special, the relationship parents have with their child's caregiver, because they are arguably the only other person on earth who knows your kid as well as you do.  The good and the bad. The DETAILS.  I love Carine.  But more importantly, Alice loves her.

Everyday Carine tells me how Alice slept (always 2 hours), how she ate (always like she doesn't get fed at home) and then I get the anecdotes about her wee personality.  Recently it was about the fuss she put up about the sleeping bag thingy on the stroller.

This child has clearly been drugged because the Bundle Me is TORTURE.

I didn't even think to warn Carine that I had not yet used the Bundle Me with Alice.  Which I should have since my children seem to be, um, INFLEXIBLE about new things.  She told me (with very wide eyes and much hand gesturing) how strongly Alice DISAPPROVED of the Bundle Me.  She eventually got over it once Carine told her she would zip her in there completely if she didn't calm down.  Because it really is a plush and cozy straight jacket.

Alice got over it and she hasn't had a problem since.  Well played, Carine, well played.  

Liliane, on the other hand, still eyes the Bundle Me with suspicion.

ANYWAY, this morning Carine was telling me about another one of Alice's special reactions and she says (translated into English), "it's rare to see such a strong personality on such a little kid.  Usually it doesn't show itself right away."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing.  You think THIS is bad?  She's the EASY one.  Liliane, now she was tricky.  But Carine didn't really believe me since she sees Liliane everyday. 

 "But Liliane is an angel!"  

My heart warmed because don't we love it when people compliment our kids?  I stopped myself from guffawing again because it made me realize, yeah.  She IS awesome.  I sometimes get so caught up in describing her as "strongwilled" or "spirited" that I forget that she is just plain sweet most of the time.  

ANYWAY, you've heard me talk about that before.  Back to Alice.

Then Carine says, "you better tighten your belt with Alice!"  

Which I think is the equivalent to "hang on to your hat, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"  But I just laughed again.  It can't POSSIBLY be as bumpy as it was the first time around.  Although Alice does have veerrrry strong opinions and likes to broadcast them loudly, she also sits still for a long time looking at books or watching a movie.  She is curious but not unrelenting.  

When she wakes at night, it only takes a quick diaper change or hit of Tylenol if she's teething and maybe an extra cuddle before she goes back to sleep.  Three minutes, tops. 

These enduring qualities of my youngest child give me hope.  

Also the whole "we didn't break the first one so we must be doing something right" perspective helps, too.

Maybe it's the Bundle Me.

Contents of this package may be deceptively trickier than they first appear

Bite Me, Fall Weather!

So this is what I was doing this morning.  Suntanning!  

Ha ha, no.  

I do Cardio Plein Air workouts on Monday and Thursday mornings (and sometimes also Tuesdays thanks to my recent Reese's Peanut Butter Cups free-for-all and upcoming Birthday Cake Oreo Cookie PMS Management strategy.)

These should seriously be illegal

 ANYWAY, it was like 15 degrees this morning which made doing pushups almost fun. 

I got distracted though when SOMEONE showed up with her daycare.  Hi Alice!  Actually I hid behind another Mama so that she wouldn't see me and flip out.  HEY! You're going to the park WITHOUT ME?  I took pictures instead.

But it was wild (and when I say wild I mean HEARTWRENCHING) to watch her toddle around with her friends, having her own life and everything.  Without me. Le sigh.

I guess it just makes it all the sweeter when my babies are at home with me.

Wrestling. 

Yeah.  I think our life is pretty good as it is.  

Worthy

At church this morning the Pastor asked us if we were living lives worthy of the freedom we have.

Whoa.

I hadn't really thought of it that way but now I need to add this to my prayer list.  Help me live my life in a way that is worthy of the freedom I enjoy every single day.   A tall order, I thought as we sang Battle Hymn of the Republic.  And later during Amazing Grace, a classic I've sung a thousand times, something else hit me.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

By God's grace *I* have come through life's trials unscathed.  My little life with my first-world, really-not-problems, problems.  So imagine the power of knowing that God's grace will lead each and every soldier home to their families, or Home to heaven.  War is ugly but the sacrifice that the men and women serving in the military make for each other and for all of humankind is nothing but beautiful.

Speaking of soldiers, I spoke to my Grandfather this morning.  I wrote about his incredible story last year, but to sum up I will steal this from my cousin Keith's Facebook status today: My grandfather - fought in WW II. Shot in the chest, captured, escaped, and then walked across China to Burma. Amazing. 92 years old and still lives on his own. Awesome. 

Today there is a ceremony at the local Legion, he told me.  His hearing is getting pretty bad so we didn't talk for too long.  He was doing his morning exercises when the phone rang and he hadn't yet had his breakfast!  I was able to thank him for all he had done and wish him a wonderful day before saying goodbye.  Such a cool guy.

Take a minute to thank someone you know in the armed forces, past or present.  Reflect on the sacrifices that have been made on our behalf and be grateful.  Maybe by God's grace, we humans aren't such a lost cause after all.

Potpourri

Went to see ARGO today with Stéphane and really REALLY liked it.  Excellently written suspense, wicked casting, even some dark humour.  I mean, we know that they make it out but hoo boy it was stressful.   

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Our weekday routine is that I pick Liliane up first, then we go get Alice together.  Now that it's dark at the end of the day, she informed me that we have to TICKTOE across the street.  Because the squirrels have BIG CLAWS.  So, TICKTOE Maman.   And I do.

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Alice finally succeeded to take a bite out of the bar of soap in the bathtub today.  All attempts to grab it out of her mouth failed and she swallowed a chunk.  Yum.  She eventually stopped crying and grimacing and we gave her some yogurt to help with what must be a nasty taste in her throat.  Poor thing.  But I'm pretty sure she won't be doing that again.

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Our upstairs neighbours have people over and someone is wearing high heels.  On a hardwood floor.  Honestly, how can that NOT be annoying?  Plus they are ENGINEERS for crying out loud.  Maybe all their brain cells are being used up engaging in all that loud conversation and raucous laughter.  #cantwaittomove

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Alice has a new thing where she comes up behind me, grabs my legs and buries her head in the back of my knees.  Usually when I'm making dinner.  Then she gets kind of all giggly and takes a bite out of my thigh.  Or if I happen to pick her up, my shoulder.  My yelp of pain/surprise only makes her laugh harder.  Zombie in training?  Extreme teething?  Whatever it is, I get kinda twitchy when she's around these days.

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I think I am addicted to the explanatory subtitles at the end of TV shows or movies based on real stories.  It's the reason I sometimes watch Intervention.  I realized as I was watching RAY the other day that I only stopped what I was doing to actually watch at the end, during the subtitles.  Those are my FAVOURITE.  Not sure why.  Bonus points if real archival photos and video are mixed in so we see what the real people looked like.  I know, it's weird. 

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Tomorrow is Remembrance Day.  In honour of our veterans we won't indulge in the Piercy family tradition of listening to Christmas music on Sundays.  We can start next week.

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Back tomorrow. 

Choredom

Tonight after dinner Alice picked up this wet washcloth and toddled around, cleaning stuff.

I took this picture because although she was trying to wipe down the inside of the fridge, this little scene drives me CRAY-CRAY.  Don't just stand in front of the fridge letting all the cold air out!  Yet another thing I never imagined saying.  But there you go.

Aaaand, breaktime.

She went to sleep not long after this without a peep.  If this is a new trend, I like it.  I like it a lot.

Anybody have big plans for the weekend?  I think we are trying to get flu shots tomorrow.  You MUST be doing something better than that, yes?

OBAMA MAMA

I have a friend from high school that I was so happy to find recently on Facebook.  Hi Martha!

Yesterday I asked if anyone in my circle of friends was a Republican and had anything to say about the election.  It's a legitimate question because between Twitter, Facebook and this here blog, I rarely see anyone who is pro-Republican.   Turns out all my friends are hippies.

But lovely Martha happens to be a fan of the GOP and she explained her disappointment on my Facebook page.  Then she asked me why I was so excited about Obama.  

Good question.  

How can I possibly comment on a government that has nothing to do with me?  I can't without sounding like a total jerk.  Obama is cool, Romney is not.  See?  JERK.

But I can comment on my perception of the Obama administration based on where he stands on the big ticket items.  

I did a quick review of the two parties and their platforms.  For the record, this is always how I choose my candidates.  I have to compare how they stand on the issues so I don't get swayed by the one with the best hair.  Oooh, I love her outfit! CHECK. *smacksforehead*

Healthcare - As I understand it, more people have more access to more services.  Romney would prefer to change that because it's too expensive.  I think that healthcare is a worthy place to spend money. 

Military - Being at war means big money for certain people.  It's bad enough to have to fight for your country based on principals (I agree with taking out the Taliban, yes) but don't just hang out over there indefinitely allowing other people's children to be sacrificed.  FOR MONEY.  

Lady Parts - I happen to agree that abortion should be available but I can see why a Christian would argue against it.  The problem is, personal beliefs don't have a place on the political stage.  Period.  Also if more than one of your candidates makes wildly inappropriate comments about women, rape and reproduction, there might be some adjusting to be done.

Gay Marriage -  I am aware that Bible condemns homosexuality.  But I also don't see the sense in denying people the chance to commit their lives to each other based on what's in their pants.  WHO CARES.

Just to be clear: I am a Christian, I believe that the Bible is true and that Christians should be free to share their faith.   But the Bible speaks so often of love, acceptance, encouragement and our duty to help others.  And I don't find a lot of that reflected in the Republican platform.  It's hard to ignore the fact that there is a lot of money and a lot of votes in the Bible belt.

But this is my perception from up here in Canada.  

Thoughts?

(Back to regular, non-political, hopefully witty content tomorrow!)

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

So this happened a few weeks ago.  I feel sometimes like events in my life don't really count unless they have been properly documented on the blog.  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook just don't cut it? Hello, oversharers anonymous?

I don't know what that says about me, let's pretend we didn't have this conversation.

ANYWAY, we took Alice for her first haircut a few weeks ago.  While we loved her funky fountain 'do, she was starting to pull out her elastic everyday and well, time to move on.

This is the beginning of her signature "I'm all done now so I'll launch myself out of this far from the ground sitting arrangement and what is all the screaming about?" move.  She likes to do it when she's finished eating as well.  It has kept my reflexes sharp I tell you.

Awww.  October 14 was Liliane's due date.  I love it when things line up that way.  

Voilà.  A done deal.  With a leftover birthday cupcake to celebrate.  

Just for fun, I thought you'd like to see Liliane's first haircut back in 2008.  Once I stopped crying about how skinny I used to be, I had a good laugh remembering the whole experience.  She loved it.

In other news: OBAMA!  SQUEE!  So happy.  I realize that US politics don't directly affect my own life, but just knowing that the most powerful country in the entire world did something right and forward-thinking and SMART makes me feel hopeful.  Unlike, for example, what watching The Walking Dead does to me.  Or eating chips and Halloween candy before bed does to me.  And since those things aren't going to change anytime soon (oooh Maman likes her zombie/Reese combo), I'll take my optimism where I can get it!

Preferably on CNN.  In case you were wondering.  I seriously got goosebumps everytime Wolf announced that they had a MAJOR PREDICTION (DUN DUN DUN + patriotic graphics).  Of course I missed the biggest prediction of them ALL (Obama FTW!) when I had to cuddle a teething toddler back to sleep but that's OK.  I got to witness the fateful Ohio declaration and that was cool.

Just curious: any of my readers/lurkers.disappointed with the outcome of the election?  If yes, why?

I Got Nothin'

Kinda running on empty today, so please forgive me for phoning it in with this:

And running away.



Will attempt to get a good sleep (if OBAMA WINS) and rally for tomorrow.


Anybody else glued to CNN?

Urban Garden Post Mortem

I actually turned the heat on today so I think it's time to admit that summer is over.  The snowflakes I saw falling this afternoon helped convince me.

Knowing this day was coming I have been retiring the plants of the urban garden one by one to that big compost heap in the sky.

Bye Petunias, unlikely star of the garden this year.  I couldn't bear to watch you shrivel up in the chill so you left about 10 days ago.

I took this last week.  Blooms in October! Such a treat!  I will remember that for next year.

I am keeping that pot outside (snowflakes be darned) because look!  There could be more flowers!  Plus my little lobelia plant is still hanging in there.  I took this today:

The thyme and sage have both been successfully relocated indoors.  Not sure how long this will last but it works for  now.  

Yes, those are my feet.  You know it had to be cold if I was actually wearing socks. 

In other news: Liliane spotted a Christmas tree in someone's window today.  Maman!  We have to DO that! In her mind, once the Halloween decorations come down, time to start stringing mistletoe!  

Apparently some of our neighbours have the same idea.  I wonder if I have to explain the concept of time to them, as well.  Don't you find that SEVEN WEEKS of tinsel is a little, um, excessive?  I am very pro-Christmas but even *I* would get a little bored by mid-December.  In our house it was never before December 1st. 

When do you start putting up decorations?  

Is it Weird that I'm Sad About a Chair?

This is Melissa, Stéphane's niece.  She's so cute.  

Also cute is Alice's head in the foreground as she made a beeline for Melly's feet.  I have no idea why she does that.

 Melissa and her adorable husband Graham are expecting a baby this spring and needed a rocking chair. 

If you have read this blog you know that we are not having any more kids and no longer need our rocking chair.  *sob*

 They came for brunch and left with the chair and matching ottoman.  And as much as I love the newly liberated space in the living room, it feels like the end of an era.  Or something.

WHATEVER. MOVING ON.

BeeTeeDubs: pumpkin french toast was a hit!  I made waaay too much so I'll have to eat leftovers all week (le sigh) but it was delish.  Also, here is the recipe for brown sugar bacon.  (For you, Graham.  Except I didn't use cooling racks, I just put the bacon directly on the fail and drained the bacon on paper towel afterwards. I know, CRAZY.)

Once our company headed out (my sister-in-law Debbie and Stéphane's nephew Kevin were also there.  No photos but trust me, they are cute, too) Liliane and I got down to making some toasted pumpkin seeds.  Her class did it at daycare so she was super excited to show me how to do it.

 Like every other kid EVER she finds it equal parts GROSS (or GROTH if you happen to have a lisp) and HILARIOUS to touch pumpkin guts.  

I had a good idea, eh Maman?

Yes you did.  A crunchy end to a delicious day.  

Saturday Snackin'

A rare beast in this house - food that everyone loves. 

 Three minutes in the microwave and BOOM!  Guilt free noshing.  

Except if your microwave stops working.  Then you have to boil them.  But we worked some super handy magic on our misbehaving machine and voilà!  She works again.  (And by magic I mean, unplugging, dusting 3+ years worth of crap from underneath it, plugging it in again and HA!  We are amazing.)

Since I have officially overdone oh for real OVERDONE the chocolate this year, these soy beans are just the ticket.

I will be eating them for the next six months.

Except for tomorrow because we are having company for brunch and I am making this recipe.  It's already chilling in the fridge!  Go ahead, click the link.  Simple Bites is an excellent website with lots of great food ideas.  Also, one of the editors is a transplanted Vancouver girl like myself.  Hi Aimée!  You make me want to be an urban homesteader!

Anybody else have big brunch plans tomorrow?

Friday Photo FAIL

This is one of my all-time favourite pictures of my girls.  Gorgeous, right?

Well, for every perfect picture of my photogenic children, there are a pile of these:

Just keepin' it real over here.  

Have a great weekend y'all.  I'll be back tomorrow.  

This is Halloween

Anybody else have the music from Nightmare Before Christmas stuck in their head?  Anyone?  Just me?  Alrighty then.

I am willfully ignoring the work I should be doing right now to bring you the very first post of NABLOPOMO.  Because THAT IS HOW IMPORTANT YOU ARE TO ME.  Also - excellent procrastination technique.  What?  It's WRITING.

Stéphane worked from home so we both went to pick up the girls.  In costume!  

Snow White.  She would only wear the wig for a photo.  It came off 2 seconds after this picture.  

Oh well.

Alice was Yoda!  We figure this was our last chance to choose her costume before she could actually use WORDS to tell us that she hates it.  

Pre-candy spread.

 Expensive Fancy dessert NOT made by me.  Just for fun.  

 Best pumpkin in our neighbourhood.

 The last and most awesome house - they gave out shots for the parents!  I took rum.  Yum.

Given enough Cheezies, Alice will eventually give up on hating anything.

 

The booty

Although nursing a pretty serious candy/crap hangover today, we had a lot of fun.  The rain had stopped by dinnertime and it was even a little warm.  There were lots of kids but not so many that we couldn't get around.  We went out for an hour and got a decent haul.  Liliane loved every minute and even Alice enjoyed herself, glowering under her Yoda ears.

Did you have a Happy Halloween?  Am I the only one feeling a little queasy today?