Today has been a good day.

1. I strung my brand new, and oh-so-cool solar powered Christmas lights on the front stairs.
2. I got the grocery shopping done so I won't have to run to the store during tomorrows predicted snowstorm
3. I hung out with Ann Marie and borrowed clothes from her.
4. I had a HUGE bowl of seafood noodle soup for lunch.
   
5. We skipped homework and left the tv OFF in favour of making paper snowflakes this afternoon.
6. The oh-so-cool solar powered lights WORKED. We have a very festive stairway.
7. I did not take the bait and rise to the attitude of my 7-year old. Remaining calm really does work!!
8. Said 7 year-old was really very pleasant to be around once we'd established that we are friends and not enemies.
   
9. I think I've secured some winter tires for the new car!
   

We watched the season finale of The Amazing Race this evening. It is just about the only "grown up" tv show the kids watch. The stress of the last leg of the race just about killed Clara and Leo, they were so excited and the team in the lead kept switching. Leo was literally rocking and bouncing on the couch beside Marc. At one point Marc suggested Leo try to stay still. Leo's reply: "but I need to pee!!!" Silly boy, we were watching pre-recorded TV, we could have hit pause 20 minutes earlier and saved him some significant discomfort.

Now that our family TV show is over, we'll be able to catch a few Christmas movies and shows on TV. I haven't looked at the schedule yet, I hope I haven't missed all the good ones already. What movies and specials will you be watching this holiday season?

I braved the crowds downtown today. I won't be doing that again this year. I looked at everything I needed to see and bought a few things. Everything else I need to buy for the holidays will either be purchased through a click of my mouse or locally in the neighborhood.

Clara and Leo spent the afternoon at home with Marc playing video games and building with Lego. In fact, they all had Lego shooting devices in hand when I got home. Apparently they'd been inspired by the story in the news about a dude who had a Lego gun at work. As the story goes, dude was showing his geeky purchase of a Lego gun to some coworkers when someone saw through the window what looked like a REAL, and very frightening weapon. They did what any concerned citizen would do (I hope) and called the police. Next thing he knew, the SWAT team burst into dude's office and handcuffed him. It was quickly sorted out and verified that the gun was indeed made of Lego.

Marc and the kids were curious to see how realistic their creations could be.... hence, all the brightly coloured shooters upon my return.

I made both kids new rice bags to heat up and take to bed with them. Clara's has a bit of lavender in it which she loves. Leo's has no scent added but that doesn't stop him from shoving it to his nose, breathing in deeply and saying "mmm rice pudding!"

As usual, Leo took his sweet time walking to school this morning, but he looked so darned cute in his rain-suit and froggy umbrella that I couldn't have cared less. We puddle jumped and sang The Ants Go Marching as loud as we could while trying to drown out the sounds of the pouring rain. In the end we got to school half an hour late. Oh well, it seems you can get away with stuff like that when you are in pre-maternelle!


After school Leo and I built a Christmas tree, a Santa, two elves, and a sleigh out of duplo. Clara was playing at a friend's house so the boy and I were able to really get down to the business of building with no interruptions. We don't get very many opportunities to play alone together anymore it really was a special treat.

he kids started working on a little project for the the Arc-en-Ciel bazar this evening. They made holiday cards with nothing but pads of coloured ink, their thumbs and a fine tip pen. Last year we did the same project for our own holiday cards but unfortunately our card list was longer than our energy. That means if you got a cute fingerprint art card from us last year consider yourself lucky. To everyone else, sorry :( This year, I figured it would be more fun to make them without the pressure of a mailing deadline. Wanna see a couple?

Two of Clara's creations

In other news, we are now owners of an automatic car. I know, I know, most people would say this is a downgrade from the old manual transmition but I'm thrilled!

nd so it begins... the countdown to Christmas is upon us. I've been so caught up in living our daily life that a whole month has gone by with not a note written nor a memory jotted down. I've decided to challenge myself this advent and write one new blog post per day. It will be my grown-up advent calender I guess. Gearing up for the Christmas holiday is always a fun and sometimes stressful. I'd like to limit the stress and focus on that warm fuzzy feeling Christmas brings to me. This challenge will help me.

Christmas is such a magical time for Clara and Leo. Their anticipation is building and despite Clara's knowing winks and nods they are both thrilled by the thought of Santa's upcoming visit.

Last night we hung our traditional felt Christmas tree advent calender. After some negotiation it was decided that Leo would hang the first pom pom in the morning. After that decision was made I surprised them with a second advent calender - a lego adevent calender! Each day they get to open a door and find a lego bonhomme or accessory. It was a total splurge but I just know it will be such a fun surprise every day.

This morning, both kids woke up early and in bright spirits (love it - even if it means they are kinda loud and pretty of overwhelming first thing in the morning) . Neither of them thought of the calenders until after they'd eaten their cereal. I managed to convince both of them to get dressed for school and as soon as they were done I found them on their knees squeezed tight together peering at the numbers on the lego calender. Très Cute!