Husband and wife

Hello again. It's been quite a 2013 for health so far. I'm 23 days healthy, Holly is currently in day one of a brutal cold (update - turned into influenza & a chest infection), Henry had an ear infection from New Year's until the 8th and then another from the 17th...ongoing. Max came down with a toothache about 10 days ago that was cured by a ROOT CANAL (seriously - dentists apparently try to avoid removals as much as possible) and Leo had a nice snotty cold for the better part of a week. This might have something to do with the temperature going +10, -10, +5, -30, etc. (SAT question: what is the next number in this series?)

In any case, everything else has been going fine. Max wraps up his swim classes this weekend and then he gets right back in the pool for another session...except this time Leo will be along for the ride, attempting to parlay his newfound independence on the ice rink into a parentless swim class. If memory serves, Max didn't take to the idea of being in the pool without a parent until about week 4 so my expectations are low. The skating is coming along. Leo can move gingerquickly for short distances while Max has started to shuffle backwards. Occasionally Max can glide a bit - once he figures that skill out, he'll be sailing. Henry is starting to talk to us. He has a few words that we recognize: truck, yeah, dada, mama, Max, dance, thanks, boots, dog, duck, more. Dear Max, note how your first word, "NO", is absent from this list. He is also able to sign more, light, hat and food. One of my favourite new developments is his ability to nod. So cute!

Anyway, on to the title of this post. At the end of December, we all drove to Guelph to be at the boys' Auntie Krysta's wedding to Uncle Stephen. The road trips down and back went extremely well - lots of snoozing, reading, playing, fighting and watching Bubble Guppies on the iPad. One stop each way in Kingston for nibbles was all it took so we were pretty proud of the boys. At the hotel, we got to hang out with Nana, Aunties Karen, Jan and Laramie, Uncle James, West, and a bunch of awesome family friends we hadn't seen in a while. There was a great dinner at East Side Marios, some shopping at Chapters and H&M, a big play date at a Cosmic Adventures-type place and , of course, the wedding.

The big event got underway at a golf club at 7 p.m. on New Year's Eve and the kids were dressed to the nines. Initially, when we told Leo that he'd be dressing up, he said he wanted to go as Batman. So instead we had to spin their dressing up as going to the wedding as Bruce Wayne. The ceremony was brief and beautiful and the kids were really into it - especially Max. Both boys hit the punch hard at the reception and then had their first cocktails: one Shirley Temple apiece. Afterwards, the kids sat fairly patiently through the speeches and then got to bust a few moves with the family. Max's night was made when he got to lose control to a few of his favourite songs: "Gangnam Style", "Moves Like Jagger" and "Dynamite". Just before 11:00, Henry finally crashed so we stepped out to take the boys back to the hotel where Uncle James would keep an eye on them. Max was the last to check out at about 11:30 so he almost got to see his first New Year. Holly and I went back to ring in the New Year with balloons, party favours, paper lanterns (almost a forest fire) and more dancing until the wee hours. The morning after, we were treated to a sumptuous brunch at Krysta's Aunt Pat and Uncle Doug's place. A great way to end a fantastic weekend!

Here are some pictures from the night.

Mom and Dad at the wedding.

Bruce Wayne I, very excited to be at a wedding.

Bruce Wayne's cousin, Adam West. Very stylish.

Bruce Wayne II, styling on the red carpet.

Bruce Wayne III, teething, hurting in the ears and on less than an hour of sleep. Yikes.

I feel like this "how bad can we make our family pictures" thing has become a bit of a meme.

These are Max and Leo's honest-to-goodness wishes for the newlyweds. Max even signed his own name.

Max with a drinkie. And it wasn't even Nana who fixed it for him.

Leo and the couple of honour, snacking on poutine and sliders.

Max is already taking notes.

Happy New Year!

Ahh. NOW, 'tis the season! The presents are all opened, the fridge is devoid of egg nog, the kids are back at daycare, there are no sugarcentric holidays within the next three months, Casey Kasem is counting down the top hits of 1987, two months' worth of pictures just got imported to our computer and I'm ready to blog again. Trying to push the pageviews past 10,000 (500 to go!). Yeah! We enjoyed a busy holiday season with the boys this year - lots of parties, visits and snow for everyone. Christmas started early this year with a visit from the boys' grandma from Winnipeg. Grandma stayed for an extended weekend and got to read with the boys, see Leo's hip-hop dance recital, help put up the Christmas tree, and see some of Ottawa's sights. Here are some pictures from the visit:

Max and Mommy check out the tree.

Leo having a good time and sizing up his certificate.

Grandma congratulating her little munchkin.

Grandma got down and dirty with the kids, building Lego creations and becoming a Play-Doh dentist.

West and Henry: total frenemies.

Grandma enjoying a little gingerbread house construction. It looks like this was the 34th time we had told Leo to stop snacking on the candies.

Oh, and that gingerbread house just happened to be Kerry's first. A pretty awesome thing to share with the kids.
After Grandma left, it was time to go check out Max's Christmas concert at his school. The concert featured the kids in his SK class performing three French Christmas songs. Max was a little bit more forthcoming this year as compared to his year-end performance last year. Well, a tiny bit I guess (see the video after the pictures below).

Max at his angelic best (he had found out I'd be pulling him from school early).

The next big event was Henry's first haircut. We took him to the same place the older boys get their locks snipped...but it probably wasn't the best idea. Henry did OK, but by the end of the appointment, he could have benefited from a seat on my lap. Unfortunately, my booty doesn't fit into their Mater/Lightning McQueen/Barbie car seats. So he had to suffer through it alone and all of his writhing likely contributed to the nice triangle shape shaved into the back of his head. Either that or the stylist (who conveniently had laryngitis) was not up to snuff. Regardless, Henry instantly became a big boy.

Auntie Krysta and Uncle Steven visited just before Christmas and we all got together for a couple of dinners and the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean on the weekend of the 22nd.

The Stardom boys chilling in the Walkersons' movie theatre

The whole crew at the Walkersons' table.

We all got out to build a snow fort in the back yard. Something threw Max off big time and he wasn't really in the mood for a picture. Too bad.

Mommy and Henry enjoying some fresh air.

Max getting intellectual with Uncle Steven.

Uncle Steven taking on his annual role of builder-of-kids'-gifts.

Mmmm...cake pops!
Stardate: Christmas Eve. Every year, my office lets people bring their families for a brunch. Santa also makes an appearance. Here are some of the things we got up to that day.

Check the details in this picture. Max and Leo were standing in front of Santa while gifts were distributed to about 30 other kids. It's like they're reassuring each other that any second now, it would be their turn.

Charlie's Angels? Max, Leo and Maddie got together in my office and did their very best to destroy it.

Here we are at our annual dirty bird dinner with the Screids and the Bills - nothing like ingesting as much KFC as possible the day before turkey day with six kids five and under. Still not sure why one of their deals is called "streetwise".
CHRISTMAS!! Thanks to Lar and James for hosting. We had a great time!

Leo is a little obsessed with the Lorax these days. Santa did a pretty good job to dig up a book and a stuffie for Christmas.

Henry was actually a pretty solid present-opener.

REALLY not sure what Leo was doing here. Having a good time with a paper roll.

Henry loves things that roll!

Look at all the happy people! I bet this is before I reminded the boys that they needed a nap.

And now the boys get a turn on the couch with the men. Max seems to be fading. I seem to be styling.

This look says "Awwww yeeeeeah! Lego!"

See, it looks like Max is giving Leo some love here. However, this is how he secretly convinces Leo to do something to get his own way.

Auntie Melody and Leo share a moment deciphering Leo's new Spiderman toy. The little magnetic Spiderman figure it comes with does cool stunts and Henry is a big fan too!

Happy parents on a great day.

Henry hanging out with his grandpa.

I'M SO HAPPY THE STUFFING IS DONE! NOW COOK BIRD!.

Max gets down to business with his Batman Lego set.

Daddy gets to play with the finished product.

Henry getting some auntie love.

Auntie and Mommy lookin' goooood.

Again, 60% of family members doing the right thing in a picture is about as good as it gets.

Tickle time!!!

After Christmas, we got up to a couple of things in Ottawa including a trip to the Science and Technology Museum. Here are a couple of moments from our days in town.

Snack time! Like his older bros, Henry really likes popcorn...

...and spaghetti.

A creepy couple of pictures. There's a place in the Science and Tech Museum where you can learn about telecommunications and you can speak on the phone to someone while both parties can see each other on TV screens. Henry obviously recognized his mom and started waving frantically at her.

Henry was pretty upset trying to crawl through the Crazy Kitchen (a room built on an angle but with furniture placed so that it looks flat...VERY disorienting!)
Well that about does it for everything interesting that happened over the holidays. PSYCHE! We also had a little road trip to Guelph for a New Year's Eve wedding...pictures from that shindig will follow in the next post!

Grandparents' Reading Day 2012

We wanted to share this photo of Max and his Nana taken during Grandparents' Reading Day at Max's school on December 7, 2012. Max was thrilled to have his Nana in the classroom! Nana reports that a good time was had by all and she didn't crush the princess dreams of any little girls this year.