boxing day at nanny's

when you are six and don't know many things...
when you are nine, Chrstmas means there's no school...
when you are eleven years, you look at mom and pop...
 
the children sing nanny a song: Christmas Means More Every Year by the Osmond Brothers
and their ages are perfect :)
 

 
 
 
 
 
auntie adele, always in the kitchen, always helping out
 
 
 

christmas day

a homemade gift for each child: for fierce a binder of comic book templates to create and store, for bosco paint, canvas, brushes and lessons with mommy, and for pepper something for her bed to remind her i am always sending her my love

then flip them over

i'm not the only one creating things here - can you believe that Fierce made me this beautiful necklace?????

i just love this photo:

our guests will be here soon; lots of work to be done in the kitchen... you can plan and prepare all you like - but none of that matters when your one & only peeler to breaks in half on the first potato: yikes!







another christmas come and gone, but still we are the same

christmas eve

 
 

finally

at last, fierce gets listed in the top 100 of his on-line math tests. turns out it's speed that matters more than accuracy :)

cat love

5 in one night!

Fierce trucks in a motherload of accomplishments: his aboriginal awareness badge, collector's badge, handicrafts badge, tawny star, and - one that gets to go on with him in scouts - the Canadian Arts badge.
way to go, Fierce!

philippines, part 2

traditional christmas lantern

ok, ok
i was a bit hasty in my philippines entry - the poverty upset me, sure.  but the countryside has a (better) 25% rate of living below the poverty line, the people have a great sense of family & hospitality, and their unity in spite of so many ethnic backgrounds fascinates me (i'm betting the catholicism is instrumental)

so here's a few more tidbits we learned
* today marks the start of nine 4am masses...
* their christmas celebration is considered the longest in the world (Dec 16 to Jan 6)
* no roast turkey for their feast, it's lechon, roasted pig
* the yo-yo was invented in the philippines
* there's more streetfood per capita than china - and here's a sample: isaw - BBQ pig & chicken intestine, taba - deep fried pork fat, dugo - grilled,congealed pig blood

Bosco gets his tail

here he is, trying to remember his motto, his promise, and the beaver's law (yes, he needed some help!)
 
 
it's official, he's now a full fledged beaver

shady grove seasonal celebration

pepper plays prometheus, and on her BDay to boot
 

 

 

philippines

just a quick jaunt to the philippines - what with it being the only christian nation in asia, and with christmas around the corner - it seemed like a good idea.  and the kids found the pictures of the jeepneys quite cute....
... but...
the juxtaposition of  Asia the Beautiful Cookbook (with it's numerous recipes for chicken, beef & sweets among the descriptions of the 'fun-loving filipino' enjoying a good time, and good wine) with the hard truths of Families of the World (living hand to mouth - having to purchase water in order to bathe or cook, going in to debt just to plant crops... 70% of the people in Manila live below the poverty line, in filthy slums) meant that we had a hard time reading the 'cheerful' descriptions of filipino culture.

although we had originally considered making a filipino meal, knowing that the ingredients would be beyond most filipino families' budget - they are lucky if they get to eat duck eggs and rice - we decided to give it a pass.

first snow

first snowman
(and quite late this year)
 

Yoon's farewell dinner

we combined our authentic korean meal with a farewell celebration for Yoon
 
gluten-free baking & the necklace she picked out as her favorite at the artisan show
 
 
we'll miss you, Yoon!

bosco loses his first tooth

 
 
and ever the ham, he puts it back in :)

rob's a published author

did i forget to mention this?
we're all so proud, even if we are a little late in actually acknowledging this accomplishment
 
 

it's wiggly