Baking Arts, Kay and a shot at Spring

The learning goes on, Tom has just completed the first in a series of Baking Arts Classes, that frankly were a lot harder than he thought.

Chef Pat Rock was the guide through this field of flour, salt, eggs, and when challenged to create a chocolate butter cream there where 3 pounds of butter involved - yes three!!










The Monday night madness began with a basic pie dough and the creation of an awesome apple pie, followed by tea biscuits and bran muffins, piping skills (which Kay has already mastered), custards, soft rolls, crème puffs, (again a Kay staple) cookies, black forest cake, fresh fruit flans, Swiss chocolate rolls, and ...the best for last Strawberry Shortcake.... What we could pry out of Kay's hand we were able to send to work with Tracy, give to the neighbors and gladly share with friends as this was not a calorie/fat free course! This is the first class where all the work was done in pairs and it was a sad day when 9 weeks into the course his partner broke her ankle and was as they say, chopped (no pun intended) Heather was really depressed and even more so when Tom would send her pictures during class of what she missed, what are friends for!?! Super fun, stressful and he learned a ton.




Kay meanwhile was off on her on independent learning program and was ready to compete for top baker! After showing the Chef and the rest of the class Kay's handiwork she has been invited down to George Brown next semester to meet some of the Baking Arts instructors, here we go....
Kay is the first person in the family to go through a passport change while we have been in Canada. The process which is handled completely online, that is until you get an appointment that both parents and the ward, have to attended, we are glad to say it was a success, well except the picture in which she refused to smile...





























Tracy continues to work hard and impress us with her ability to go from work mode to Mom mode and as Billy says 'she is very nice, gives me food and shelter and lets me sleep inside', if that's not love what is!?! She is now deep into training for one of her passions, the MS150, it was 18 years ago her uncle Alan, her inspiration, lost his battle with MS. She is up at 6:00 everyday walking Nikki and back on the bike after work to train. She is an example to all of us in what determination, self assurance and goal setting is all about! So you may ask yourself 'what does Tracy do in her off time?' the answer : Toronto Girls Roller Derby, what else! Plus the Roller Girl share another passion with Tracy, equality... which is evident by their flag!!
































Billy and his classmate, once again, the top fundraisers for the school this event, Dance Fever! The Cameroon Grade Three's raised over $1400 for the school earning them a pizza lunch, extended recess and the bragging rights for another year! He is also signed up for another year of his beloved, Taekwondo and his goal (after achieving the rank of Black Belt 6th class) is to help teach other kids the sport. I asked the up and coming Taekwondo Master if he would ever want to open his own Dojo, deep thought, wheels turning and the he replied " I don't think so do you how much that would cost? Just think of how much the electric bill would be?!".Thats our little engineer!..

Jimmy has a part time job tutoring one of the neighbors in reading. It seems his ear for music, and thus sounds, has given him the ability to help kids pronounce words properly and he his doing a great job. He takes it very serious, comes home right after school three days a week and works for an half hour or so and he is getting paid which has brought on a whole new concept of saving, spending and money management. He also has taken it upon himself to more proactive in his homework and school work and his recent accomplishment of making the Honor Roll is a result of his goal planning and handwork. He also won the English Award, and taking a line from his Godfather, uncle Jim, we said "way to go Jimmy, now say something in English for us, " Jim Fellows is not funny..."..
More to come...
Love,
TTJKB

Jim and Jen Fellows, Spring Break Camp and St. Patrick's Day OH and a Gymnastics Meet

Last weekend was a super special time around the Loudamericans as our friends, God Parent, Wedding Singer and World Famous Lasagna maker Jim Fellows was in the house WOOT WOOT.
This is Jim's first trip to visit us on one of our " overseas" assignments and he even brought his lovely bride of one year Mrs.'s Jennifer Fellows!!!

The kids were just finishing up Spring Break camps when they arrived early Thursday afternoon. Jim is a huge fan of BBQ, well less the sauce but that's a whole different story, so he requested smoked brisket. Tom fired up the smoker and delivered an awesome meal. We spent Thursday night catching up telling stories and basically feeling the love of Jim & Jen. On a side note: Jim is the only person the kids refer to by first and last name, it has never been Uncle Jim, Godfather, always" Hi Jim Fellows", not sure why but they just do, so by the e3nd of their stay Jen was also calling Jim, Jim Fellows, cute :).

Friday the kids were off to the last day of camp, Tracy to work, Jim & Jen to Niagara Falls and Tom to get ready for the St. Patrick's Day Party which was later that night!!
Jimmy was partaking in another sports camp this time the Elite Basketball Camp, one week of drills conditioning and battling amongst the other :campers" for best team in camp. He, as always, was 110% in and even though he had to miss one of the afternoon games to get his football equipment (more on that later) his team won 'best in camp' 6 games to 1, way to go Jimmy!
Kay was involved in several different cooking camps this break as she has been to so many it was a stretch to find the camps she has not done. This Spring was mainly centered around candy and sweets, go figure. She did make 2 cameo appearances at the renowned Chef Upstairs where there was a collective sigh from the group when she arrived on Chopped day to defend her title.
Billy spent the week at... you guessed it Taekwondo camp... where he honed his skills, went to the science museum and basically had an all around awesome time.

Tracy, Jim& Jen arrived back home in time to help Tom put the finishing touches on the house and then the neighbors, classmates, work friends and general rif-raft descended. The St. Pat's concept is not that big here in Canada but the crowd was into it. Green face painting, drinking beer from a boot, and having a grand old time! Jim & Jen were our Grand Marshals and had a blast. We had to call it quits at 1:00am because...enough is enough!

Saturday was tour Toronto day and after breakfast off we went. Kensingston Market, for those of you who have been here and or follow the blog, know it is one of our favorite places. The shops, street vendors and food make it a real Toronto landmark. We headed off to The Path, for our first time, which is an underground shopping mall, it goes for several miles under ground is connected to the subway, walkways and  allows one to enjoy the shopping experience without having to go outside!
Jim and Jen were introduced to Roots, fell in love and bought a nice set of work clothes for Jen (aka sweats:)). They then took us out to dinner at yet another of our favorite places, Jack Astor's! Once home, Jim set about making the aforementioned World Famous Lasagna for Sunday nights dinner. Tom was the sou-chef and the two of them were up until 1:00am when Jim declared "you know Tom there are only 2 options for the extra sauce, freeze it our eat it", but really there was only one, so they ate the  sauce and drank all the milk in the house, super fun.

Sunday was brunch day and Kay's first gymnastics meet of the year. She was a bit nervous coming off the year she had last year but Kay is Kay and determination is one of her genetic building blocks.
I am not going to go into all the details suffice it to say Kay was robbed of her first place overall title. He coach was super upset and vowed that it will never happen again. She was spot on for the most part, and true to form after the drama on the uneven bars and beam, she nailed the floor, period.
Kay finished 4th overall, received her first ever gold Medal for her performance on the floor. There were several teams there, around 10 all with multiple (10+) team members, Kay and 2 other girls were there representing Discovery and those three girls owned the podium and came away with the best overall team, very proud!

Sunday night we had the best dinner (of course) when Jim makes Lasagna it is expected. Tradition around here is that at dinner we talk about the best part of our day/week and it was unanimous that having Jim & Jen here was the best. There was a time when we would joke " Who the hell is Jim Fellows". I can say Jim is a fantastic Godfather and role model for our kids, he is a great and caring Husband who has an equally wonderful wife, Jim is a Step father and takes the role very serious, he cares about people, loves his Catholic religion and all it stands for and he and Jen are our family and friends, we love you and we are blessed that you were here.!

Monday was off to the airport but not with out one last stop at Tim Horton's......
more to come

Tae Kown Do - Billys on fire!

Billy is killing it in Tae Kwon Do lately. He just tested for Blue Belt and we very cute/nervous. You could see the relief when he passed with all A's and 1 A+ on form. He is thrilled to be a blue belt and is now 1/2 way to black belt. We'd like to make it before we leave Canada as it would be nice to stay in this dojo until the esteemed black belt but we shall see:)

This weekend was his 1st competition of spring. The tournament was in Kitchener (about 90 min away) and we were on deck to check in at 8am on Saturday. Given Toronto traffic, the start of spring break and the fact that Mike, Frankie, Grace and Lucy live near Kitchener, we made a weekend of it.  Tom headed over with the kids int he afternoon and they swam in the pool. We then met the crew for dinner at an Irish Pub (or figure) and got caught up. The girls were enthralled with teh VERY cute drummer in the band saying he looked like Justin Timberlake. I thought he looked more like Daniel Radcliff (Harry Potter) but what do I know. Jimmy was not impressed with the drummer skills, but it was fun to see a live band perform in an Irish Pub.  Billy was begging to go back to the hotel (should have been my 1st clue) and so we called it a night and watched Diners Drive Ins and Dives in the hotel while Kay ate Ben & Jerrys. Sounds like the good life, eh? :)

The next morning, as we were getting ready, Billy started to complain about his throat. We figured it was just sleeping in a dry/hot hotel, so we pumped him up and set off.

In the tournament, Billy did amazing, taking bronze in pomsae (patterns) and silver in sparring. The sparring is nerve racking as a parent. The kids are trying to kick each other to get points and each match is 90 seconds. Its elimination rounds until you have a winner.  Billy seems to have a strategy of ...let the other guy get way ahead then come back. Not good for Mom and Dad's heart and not endorsed by his coaches. In round 1, it ended in a tie.  Sudden death is the name of the game, they put another 90 seconds on the clock and the 1st to get a point wins. Thank GOD Billy got the 1st point 15 seconds into the round.  Billy 4-3. Then, onto round 2, again, he's behind, comes back and wins 4-3 again - he has now secured a bronze.  Round 3, for the gold. He's behind, he's ahead and then the other kids makes a MAJOR play. Billy holds him off and its tied. 4-4.  5 seconds left . The other kid comes in and nails a kick. Billy is silver at 4-5.  Afterwards Billy said, "I should have just slid back and let it go into overtime" when I ask why he didnt, he said "I just thought of it now!"     We are really proud of him though and he said "I'm proud of myself because I did my best".

Now its Sunday morning, the boys are still asleep (its 12:30) and Billy got up, complained of a headache and fell back to sleep on the couch. He's got a 101.8 temp and a sore throat. Poor guy. He's a champion that one...

Luckily its a lazy day and next week is spring break, he's got plenty of time to recover.

Proud of you Billy!!  

l

You are my favorite

I've found myself thinking, almost on a daily basis "man, I love that kid"! I could be thinking about any of my 3 kids when I have this thought and its such a happy, loving space to be in. It also got me thinking about how each of them is so different. We see all those comedies on TV that joke about "you are my favorite" (think Good Luck Charlie for Disney fans) but in the world of parenting, its taboo to say you love 1 kid more than another or that 1 is your favorite. The reality is, I dont love all my kids the same. There I said it. Call child protection and start investing in their therapy! But, here's my counter, how COULD I love them all the same? They are 3 VERY different unique individuals. It would be WHOLLY unfair to them if I loved them all the same, that wouldnt celebrate who THEY are. AND...not loving them the same doesnt mean that I dont love them with the same depth of feeling of intesity. Thats one thing I can say, I love them each so intensely it hurts sometimes (which doesnt always lend to good parenting either:) - think helicopter parenting) So, this is an ode to my kids - You are EACH my favorite (and yes that IS possible:)) Jimmy - you are so incredility smart, talented, engaged, passionate and WAY more socially mature at 12 than I could have even hoped to be at 24. You are thoughtful with your friends, kind, funny, observant, persistent and dedicated. Whether is piano, drums, saxophone, football, basketball, baseball, mathletes, etc.. you give it 110% EVERY time. You try to be better every day and are generous with your friends. You "get" my humor and we have fabulous discussions on "new" music. I love the goals you set for yourself (honor roll, debate club, college) and if you were an IPO, I'd put ALL my money on you. Kay - you are who I wish I could be - strong, fierce, undetered, enthusiastic, unapologetic, confident, creative and courageous. I have never met someone who is more authentically themselves EVERY minute of EVERY day. You never compromise or apologize for who you are and that's the bravest thing any of us could hope to be. You have it all totally figured out. Your passion around cooking and gymanstics isnt just for "hobby" its who you are. Every move you make is a gymanstics celebration of your body and every thought you have is "how can I make ..." whehter its desserts, a science experiement of ghost mashed potatos and meatloaf tombstones (last nights dinner). You have strong opinions and arent afraid to express them. You go girl!! There are many strong women out there who would love to live as you do:) Billy - you make us feel so loved. You are kind, gentle, affectionate, thoughtful, observant, caring and live in the moment. You LOVE being you and LOVE being 9. You take every minute as it comes and dont wish for the future. Your quiet confidence and love of everyone (people and animals) makes you a very calming, loving presence to be around. You freely tell us (Daddy and I) how much you love us, multiple times a day. Your passion to "figure things out" comes out in your Lego creations, the quesitons you ask at school and at home (how does the brake work, what makes a door knob turn, etc). Your brillant at problem solving and will be a great engineer (or whatever YOU want to be) someday. But, most importantly, I KNOW you'll be a loving boyfriend, husband and father. Its the greatest honor to know that you love Daddy and I almost as much as you love Nikki (who you love more than anything or anyone in the whole world.) So...how in the world could I love you each the same?! That would be a terrible mistake. So, I'm going to love you differently - celebrating who you ! Man, I love that kid....

Out into the Polar vortex we go....

Seems that January was full of hibernation so February (as they say around here) is time for rejuvenation, get out there, start a snowball fight, make a snow angel, go ice fishing and wear your toque proudly....

Lake Simcoe is about and hour and half (give or take depending on traffic) north and east of us. Tracy and her co-worker Randy decided it was time for us to hook up and do some fishing. So we headed out last weekend to a cozy cottage on Lake Simcoe in search of the elusive Lake Simcoe perch.
Randy, his wife Kelly and there daughter Erin have ALL the gear and have been going after the Perch fairly religiously all winter, so armed with GPS co-ordinates, Minnows, ice house , heater, a sled to pull it all and Kay we were in great shape.








We arrived on Friday night and proceeded to plan our attack for the next day, have dinner and watch a few movies. The Olympics held our attention for a while however Princess Bride is a ways a crowd pleaser. Tracy's awesome family favorite, Challupas is as well. So after a great meal and a bunch of old fish stories we called it a night.

Saturday morning Randy and Kellie headed out to get a spot and the kids (of course) slept in. The fish were not being cooperative and the day was more towards enjoying the cabin and lunch! Saturday afternoon we went on the road in search of the fish, and it was slow going. The car got stuck a time or two, we finally made it to a point on the lake where we could walk and set up camp. The fishing was slow but we managed to catch a half a dozen fish, and more importantly we had fun and didn't fall through the ice.  well except Remington, their little dog so is exactly the size of an ice hole. He was fun but very shivery. Nikki spent the entire afternoon running after the wind and was exhausted. Saturday night we had another awesome meal of Kellie's homemade chicken chili, more movies (Gremlins), Apples to Apples board game and laughs.










Sunday morning Tom and Randy headed out early to the " hot spot" according to Randy " We always catch fish there" and true to the prediction we did. Between about 8:30 and noon we caught over 100 fish and we kept 36 of them for the upcoming Sunday night all you can eat perch fry!!! While the MEN were out fishing, the rest of the crew headed into town to check out the thrift store (yes, you can all start singing Mackelmores Thrift Store now - we did:)) We came away with treasures - Balderdash, a spring form pan and a crayola coloring kit. Another one of Kays passions ignited. That afternoon, the boys, that is Jimmy and Billy, decided they were not going fishing so they stayed back with Tracy to snowboard, sled, take Nikki for a walk on the lake and get some outdoor exercise. The rest of us headed back to the "hot spot" where we continued catching fish, Kay was red hot, Erin was as well and we definitely had a blast!

Sunday night we had a feast, no other way to put it. All you can eat fresh perch in a panko batter, southern style fried okra, hush puppies, fried potatoes' with mushrooms, buttermilk coleslaw, homemade tarter sauce and a few cold beers, wow what a meal!

Monday, being family day here in the Great White North, we all were able to sleep in and have a relaxing morning before heading back to the big city. Nikki has a new friend and play mate, Remington, aka: Remi. The two of them are about as opposite as you can get but as they say, opposites attract. The video below shows you what the two of them did all weekend, super cute.
A big THANKS, to Randi, Kellie and Erin for inviting us for a super fun time. We plan to go after these perch again and we will differently be heading to Lake Simcoe this summer as it is full of giant Small Mouth...more to come

Elementary Provinvial Report Cards and other heady Stuff

The marks came home with the kids along with several accolades, used markers and some interesting comments.

Billy has been enjoying Grade 3, as all of his buddies from Grade 2 are again reunited in grade 3. The field trips have been a blast, the playground and lunar play area and he comes home soaking wet and smiling everyday, but what has been going on in the classroom? 'William is an enthusiastic student who eagerly takes part in new academic challenges and opportunities to deepen his understanding of classroom material' WOW! 'He is always involved and ask for help when he needs it, an ideal student'. He has landed several high marks and is cruising along without any real problems. In self directed learning Billy has step out of the norm for the Murphy kids and actually received a B+, crazy!
next up for Billy: 'William is encouraged to continue to put forth his best effort and to begin to take on a leadership role in both the classroom and school' Vote for Billy t-shirts available soon....

Kay is loving Grade 5 and getting ready for the end of the year graduation party. She is planning on making each of the 25 kids in her class their very own cupcake resembling their favorite Sesame Street character. She comes out of school each day dragging the worlds heaviest back pack, her lunch bag dragging behind in a kind of bag lady want to be fashion. 'Kay has been fairly successful at making the transition into the grade 5 classroom in most areas'. The is the most PC statement to come home on a report card to date, really not sure what it means, however true to Murphy form Kay is 'encouraged to focus on strategies to help her work consistently and effectively during allotted classroom time' it's Kay... we know that :). 'Kay is doing extremely well in French and is being encouraged to start reading French books at home' Awesome work!  The next steps for Kay: 'with some minor improvements in focus and initiative, Kay will continue to grow and develop as a student and achieve the high goals and standards she should be setting for herself' Her new line of designer baked goods will be out in the late Spring!

Jimmy has been really exploding into grade7. He is now playing the drums for both the 7th and 8th grade bands, the choir, and he is playing piano and has started the saxophone... all while maintaining his football, basketball and baseball enthusiasm, crazy. He has even inched up his score in self directed learning and made the school honor roll. He has figured out the metric system and his math scores are in the low 90's. 'James follows the rules of the classroom and is able to behave accordingly when working with other students' Whew! 'James has demonstrated growth with his overall confidence as a grade 7 student' not that he needs more confidence:)
On a side note there was a competition at school the other day and - as you know -no matter what the competition is Jimmy is all in. It turns out this was a math competition (mathletes). The grade 7 student were competing against themselves to see whom the best 5 students were and they would form a math team for a citywide math tournament. Coming in tied for 5th place, Jimmy Murphy. Jimmy came home from school super excited and relayed the story to us finishing by saying... so you know what mom and dad, I'm now a Mathlete....
We are very proud of the kids and the hard work they are putting in to school!
More to come...

We ARE the Hiber Nation

Wow, its been a long time since our last post and I can honestly say...we don't have much to report. Post the holidays we've sunk into a hibernation state. Its weird how busy and non-busy you can be at the same time. Our social life has been non-existent but none of the Loud Americans seem to complaining.
Tom - is taking a French class and started Pastry 101. He was leery about Pastry 101 as he's not a big baker but figured ... 101 is a pre-requisite to any bread or baking class he might want to take so he was going to power through. Now Tracy is scared as he's LOVED his 1st 2 classes and if you thought chef school was hard on your waistline, pastry classes are brutal! Week 1 = apple pie, Week 2 - black currant tea cakes and walnut raisin muffins. He's in heaven.... again:) Tracy - has had 2 work trips this month with is really hard on Tom as there is no one to share kid drop off/pick up from the myriad of activities. They were both good, 1 to the north outskirts of Canada & Ottawa and 1 back to MPLS. She got to reconnect with a few friends and it was nice to be with people that didn't talk about work the whole time:)





Jimmy - started basketball, saxophone, choir and grade 7 band practice just started. Add to that skating at the school 3 blocks away 3 nights/week with his buddies (girls and boys) and he's got one busy social life. He's having a ball, even had his 1st "hockey" injury - blocking the goal (I wont go as far as saying he was playing goalie, more like he was standing in front of the goal) and his knocked him over. He's got a cut eye that's starting to go black. He looks tough. He's also obsessed with his abs and has started working out with Tom at the club on Saturdays. They are pretty cute together. Jimmy is really listening to Tom about proper weight lifting form and looks ridiculous in his high socks, shorts and basketball shoes. They both come home sore and exhausted.






Kay - heavy into gymnastics and is learning her floor routine set to the tune of I Dream of Jeanie. Her braces have been giving her trouble but I'm not sure how much of that is drama vs actual issues. She's also been ice skating and the bake sale at school this week was a highlight. She and Jimmy are also obessed with a new game - flappy bird. Don't get started, it is hard and addictive. She also is giving Tom a run for his money in the baking category making this homemade from scratch chocolate pudding banana bread cupcakes  and she used her piping skills to decorate them ( she had some help from Tracy)



Billy - got a new retainer and is speak therapist is pissed because its screwing up he's S's and Z's again. We cant win. He's going to test for his blue belt in a month and is busy being invited to playdates and birthday parties.

We have been spending quiet weekends (while is snows and is way below zero - totally non-typical Toronto weather) watching dumb movies (Waynes World and Strange Brew) along with the cooking channel. We are also busy planning all our vacations for the year (too much idle time) Cancun this spring, a warm winter vacation with Tracy's family next winter and the pinnacle of our time in Canada ....drum roll please ... a camper van trip around Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island this summer. Sometimes planning vacations are almost as fun as going on them. Almost... So... that's it - January in Hiber Nation. It"s nice:)           

 

 

 

 

Milestones!!

2 MAJOR Milestones at the loudamericans household yesterday.... Kay = braces - She's hanging in there but the 1st few days have been really sore. This is going to be a long process. They can only put braces on adult teeth so as she loses teeth and the new ones grow in, they'll add braces. Sort of a painful add a pearl necklace. Lots and lots of ice cream for her so far this week:) Tom is OFFICIALLY a Chef - please call him 'Chef' from now on - as in "yes - Chef" :) He has worked so hard over the last 18 months and is so incredibly passionate about food. Its so fun to see him excel in his passion. To celebrate (show off?:)) he made dinner for my team this weekend. It was crazy good. Duck Terrian Chicken galantine, Spanish paella, beef wellington, momofuko brussel sprouts, roast radishes, candied fennel and roast parsnip salad and pavlova for dessert (not to mention wine, champagne and pizza for the kids:) Really an incredible night and great way to ring in 2014 and celebrate all the hard work and accomplishments of 2013. THANK YOU Tom!! Super duper proud of both of them:) Love you both - you are amazing people and we are so lucky to have you in our lives

es.

Over the Hills and through the ice to Michigan we go....

The GTA finally gave up the power ghost and everyone had power and the roads )although full of snow and ice) were manageable as we headed west to Michigan to Grandma & Grandpas along with the Basil's to hang out ski and generally enjoy the winter wonderland that is Little Glen. The first leg of the trip was somewhat uneventful... if you call kids screaming in the back of the Pilot that sparks are flying... well not the car as much as our trailer hitch mounted cargo rack gave way and was dragging along at 70 plus miles an hour! We used some of the knowledge we acquired watching late 80's early 90's TV and MacGyver would have been proud of our short term fix! We made into Midland a bit late and with dinner options at a minimum we went to where all the cars were, the Bowling Alley Sports Bar.

The following morning Tracy took the kids to the hotel pool while Tom went in search of a new cargo rack which proved to be a side track of several hours. Then local Tractor Supply had the item in stock however it required assembly and listening to the store manager lamenting about the first litter of baby pigs his sow had while the store manager, Mike and his son, Dave dealt with the baby pigs. Seems that a pig usually has 5 piglet's however this sow had 15 and was totally freaked out as were Mike and Dave and the fiasco was still going on when Tom wandered in to get the cargo rack - needless to say we did not make it to Grandma and Grandpa's for lunch, early, late or otherwise.

The rack installed, the grocery shopping done, a walk for Nikki, the Arby's drive through for lunch and we were on the way! The kids and Nikki did a great job, we got off track at the same place we always do, in fact when we got back home to Toronto we pulled out our file from last year and sure enough we made a note don't take the turn in Cadillac, which we did, well maybe next year, in any event we rolled into the cottage around 5:00 in the afternoon and a roaring fire greeted us along with several hugs big smiles and the warm feeling that being together brings!

The week was full of great times, fun adventures and cousins playing. The kids went skiing on Sunday and they along with the adults had a blast. We had to take a minor break on Sunday night as Jeff needed to go back home for neck surgery, which went great and he was back on Tuesday afternoon a bit sore, with a neck brace and a great attitude. We watched football basically non-stop and all of us (secretly Jimmy too) were happy the Packers pulled out the victory.

Crystal Mountain offered us a day of skiing in bitter cold temps but 'if Santa could do it then so could we'. The kids had this one run that they did over and over and over, which was straight into the 25 mile an hour wind, kids.... Sleeping bear dunes had the kids paired off into teams of three to try and tackle the dunes on their sleds, final score Dunes 3 kids 0, the wind bitter cold and ice was to much for two sleds (which broke) and the kids vowed " You ain't seen the last of us".











We went through several trees keeping the fire going and hot chocolate keeping the kids going. Dance fever, trash can, ( a super fun card game), charades, double solitaire, books, rainbow looms, a spellig bee, yarn and a few other games kept us laughing and playing the nights away. The food was comfort food, the company awesome and trying to find the best is impossible to pick, however we all did agree that the 'secret" that Grandpa and Grandma had, and were able to keep right up until we turned off the old country road in the driveway of the Belgium Horse and Sleigh Company ...was the top of the list. The pair of horses hooked up to the sleigh to pull us through the forest in the light snow bundled together with blankets and looks of awe sent chills through the adults!














Georgia, Tammy & Jeff's oldest was born on New Years Eve so we have a double celebration every year! Last year she wanted lobster, which you can't get in the North wood's in the winter or any other time for that matter. This year she gave up on gourmand food and went for something more tangible, The Circus. They don't have that in the North wood's either, so we went to the movie Frozen, and ate $20.00 popcorn and had a blast. The it was back to the cottage for make your own pizza's , movies, games and build your own sundae's! Happy Birthday Georgia!

Hope your Holiday's were bright your Christmas Merry and your New Year prosperous!
Love,
TTJKB & Nikki

Merry Christmas, ice, snow and the little mermaid

 Snow, pre ice and snow storms - its been a snowy December for Toronto - not usual

 Kay Adam and Maddie - good friends and tight pals when the power went out and Adam, Ryan and Maddie spent Christmas Eve with us since they didnt have lights or electricity.

 The ice storm. 250,000 people without power. Very scary, neighbors pitched in and helped and many people spent the holidays at their cottage, a friends or hotels. Some were without power 4 days and it came back on on Christmas Day -  a true Christmas miracle. 70,000 still without power.

 Very pretty but tons of trees and power lines down.

 Christmas morning, everyone got everything they wanted. a very blessed day and family. Jimmy loaded up on performance hoodies, video games and high socks.

 Kay loaded up on science experiment kits, cooking sets, make up sets and any craft/Crayola kit that was designed to make a mess.  oi yoi yoi.

Billy owns the free world supply of legos, hot wheels and skylanders swapforce. AND a new digital watch. He keeps telling us the time and timing things.

 Pretty excited for Nerf

 The kids bought each other and us gifts at the school holiday bazaar. VERY thoughtul

 Ice skating on Christmas afternoon in the snow. which later turned into a full fledged snow storm. On top of the ice storm, we are buried and the poor folks without power cant catch a break. We were without internet, cable and phone service for 4 days and the kids were great, we watched every Christmas movie in the book!

 Kays friends were at ice skating as well

We were suppose to go to the Little Mermaid on Sunday (ice storm day) and rescheduled our tickets for Thursday (snow storm day) we took the subway downtown and had lunch pre the show. It was totally worth it. Imagine, roller skating mermaids, campy show tunes, guys in drag, villans where the audience boo's, what does the fox say, audience participation, Toronto current event jokes, (yes, many at the expense of Rob Ford) and amazing singing and dancing. TOTALLY worth it and a strong consideration as a new family tradition.

It was a great holiday. Friends looking out for each other, impromptu ice skating and cocktail parties, holiday movies, family time, thoughtful gifts, good food (South Indian for Christmas dinner - YUM!), winter weather, cuddling in front of the fire and connecting with family and friends via email, phone and facebook.

We are so blessed. Merry Christmas EVERYONE!! Big hugs and peace in 2014 

Billy turns 9 Happy Birthday Billy!

The kid was like the old pendulum when it came to a party location and theme.  Chuck & Cheeses, paint ball, swimming, bowling, hey, bowling yea lets do that I'll invite the whole class whoa slow down Bill! There is a sort of surge around here in the younger grades to have a party and invite the whole class, boys and girls, and all, we decided to squash the trend, boys only, well except Kay. He also wanted to do a survey to see what his friends wanted to do. We had to stop that as well, arent we the unsupportive parents?! :)











The local Bowl A Rama was the site of the event Saturday 2:24 to 5:00 precisely. The crew all arrived and were given shoes and then allowed to sign into the automatic score keeping device give balls and 5 pin began. Now it is a well know fact that one of the kids in Billy's class, who will go nameless, at the last bowling party went to the hospital because he took a ball to the chin. This time with 5 pin, and smaller bowling balls it was all good, whew!

There were 16 bowlers and they had a blast. Then it was into the party room food, cupcakes and some type of energy drink. The Bowl A Rama folks came to the lanes during the match and the kids got to order basically whatever they wanted and then were served in the party room feed the kids, cleaned up after them, perfect. Billy received many great gifts and had a blast. In the opinion of the author the best part was the old heavily used bowling pin that the Bowl A Rama folks tried to clean up and then had all the kids sign it and gave it to Billy, sitting on our mantle at home, just saying...

Wednesday was Bill's actual b-day and with  the family he chose Greek food, as many of you know Billy is a Gyros junkie, bonified Greek food officiando and all. Kay was called into the kitchen to make her famous brownies as that is Bills other love ....well besides Nikki.




Mom and Dad pulled a fast one over on the kids when they announced that they bought Billy more swap force figurines... isn't that awesome??. The kids looked at us like we were from Mars stating 'don't you know that he doesn't have the game station for them'? Nonsense said mom... he has a whole WII system set up downstairs, these figurines will work just fine! To their dismay they said in unison, 'there not compatable!'', what what?? Jimmy was reeled in like a dead fish, Kay was un-phased as she's not really a gamer, Billy looked like he lost Nikki and just then he opened the last present, a Swamp Force Game Station. Jimmy declared " Wow I'm really impressed you had me there, good one Mom"

Happy Birthday Billy! We love you, we are blessed everyday by you and were glad you chose us for your forever family! more to come.... cant wait to see what happens in your ninth year:)