Cold snap!

David got a few lego sets for Christmas. Just a few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about how frustrating lego is for David. He wasn't able to figure out instructions and had a hard time waiting for his parents to have the time to help him.

Then Christmas happened and his aunt and uncle in Ontario sent him a whole airport. David got sick of waiting for us grownups to help. So he put almost the whole thing together on his own. And then, with his newfound confidence, he put together several more sets. Including this one:

Just look at the pride in his eyes. Cutie pie.

Once the xfighter was put together, we went for a winter walk. To Sendall Gardens. It was very cold.


Uncle Rob walking on the fountain.


Then the kids played with the ice.


And we looked at the ducks.

While I was in awe of the vines strangling this poor tree.

Cap off the year with a bonfire!

So we have these awesome new neighbors. Who, when we invited them to spend New Year's Eve afternoon at the river with us, quickly rushed out and chopped all this wood for us to burn. Oh yeah. Obviously they know how to win our affection!

Despite the fact that the temperature was hovering around zero, the kids all rushed off to the water to play.
We old folks stayed closer to the fire. And were eventually joined by the two littles who just couldn't resist snacking.


As you can tell, it was an amazing day.

Griff was sure he could see fish in the water (his dad kept throwing rocks to help further that belief!) So he and Lizzie decided to entice them out with some fishy crackers.


We roasted some marshmallows.

And then the kids used this decking as an ice rink. Home made hockey. How Canadian :)

SCORE!


I like fire.

The kids like having their pictures taken.

Then we went home for spicy meatballs. After David polished off four glasses of water, Uncle Rob got him a new and bigger glass of water.

More Christmas Break Playdates

When the snow won't come to you, and you can't go to the snow, you learn to make do. So our inventive kids decided that the very thick frost would make for awesome sledding.

Meanwhile, these two staked out the stairwell.


Eventually everyone came in for lunch time.

Well, everyone except these two who were too busy chatting.

Gingerbread Making

Every day Elisabeth gets a little more heavy handed with her makeup application. Here she is after she and Amy gave themselves makeovers.

The fantastic four go for a group hug.

I told her to look pretty. Maybe this is a model face??

The kids decided to have a dance party. We put on some tunes and they got down.


But then we decided it was time to go for a walk. We even found some snow...



That was fun! But then it was time to head to Dave's house for a gingerbread house competition.

Everyone got in on the action.

oh, except Alexis. Just kidding. She played too. But she also ate some very delicious looking/smelling curry.

My house. Note the artful use of shreddies for my roofing. And the pink and purple candies. AND the birdhouse like hole there? Beautiful no?

The beauty of making your own gingerbread houses, is that one batch of gingerbread will make three houses. I am so making them from now on.



Taking a break from decorating to make a phone.

The Lyth's house. Beautiful.

David, Elisabeth and my house. In that order. Notice mine got hit by a tornado? Yeah, so sad. next time the roof will not be quite so steep. In fact, I may go for a fifties flat roofed look...