Ho, Ho, Hum, Another Year Is Done: Pizza Parties, Poutine + Loads Of Poop.

Oh the weather outside is frightful and the kids are undelightful, off to the drugstore we go, shovel the snow, shovel the snow, shovel the snow...

Though it's 4 degrees Fahrenheit outside with a -15 degrees windchill, our home is no more desirable a place to be. Fernie is in a fitful, sleepless, teething hell and Noah's as ferocious, unpredictable and temperamental as a wildebeest with a hangnail as he fights off whatever's ailing him.

I am dying to get outdoors--out into the nearly 2 feet of fresh snow recently dumped upon our Canadian homestead. There are snow angels and snowmen waiting to come alive and plowed powder drifts the height of Godzilla to jump our way into. But, alas, the sickies are keeping us cooped up inside with the stale, brittling tree and dusty holiday decor. All that's left to do is reflect upon the month that passed with such flurriful haste and bundle up enough courage to begin the great post-jolly-season-tidy.

Noah's 3rd birthday and preparing a Christmas morning for two, for the first time, kept me bustling a good part of December. Noah had a wee fête mid-month clad with a monkey mask craft, top-your-own homemade mini pizzas, pin the banana on the monkey and story time with "Curious George and the Pizza". It was a simply lovely time. Christmas morning, too, went by with lovely memories to keep and cherish but in our minds, only, as we didn't get the first picture of the grand gift opening affair--video only. What were we thinking? I wanted much of the present exchange with the kids to be homemade and though I didn't finish all of the projects that were on Santa's list, I'm happy with the outcome--consumer-free as it could be.

My Dad and sis hoofed the 16+ hour drive up from the Carolinas on the 26th and managed to forage their way up and out of the house only once (aside from a few grocery store ganders) to partake in Noah's first ice skating effort and an uniquely Canadian poutine feast (fries topped with cheese curd, gravy and any other vein clogging topping you can shake a defibrillator paddle at). Only shortly after our dining experience, they both took on differing but equally miserable ailments that rendered them couch bound for the rest of their short visit. New Year's Eve was equally non-eventful. We all managed up a game of scrabble with wine and made it to approximately 11:31 p.m. when Noah awoke crying from his first fever to date. After several trips upstairs to quell his moans and whimpers, I threw in the towel and spent the midnight hour scrunched in the dark in a sweaty toddler bed with not even a clock near to mark the arrival of 2012.

So, there you have it. 2011's laid to rest. 2012's here. What this year will bring remains a mystery and god willing, it's all pleasantries only.

Happy New Year to All!

Noah and his homemade birthday candle

Birthday Sis & Daddy

Storytime--"You naughty little monkey"

Christmas morning--Fernie shows interest in Keith Richard's new biography

Liking the wooden chew worm that Santa brought

Christmas snuggles

First time on the ice: "A" for effort

Victoria Park

Nursing a sick Pop Pop and Auntie Meg

Dueling guitars