Ambrose visits Santa

Here is the best picture of three that were taken this morning. Ambrose was interested in the mechanical wildlife surrounding Santa, but was not interested in Santa himself. He did take the offered candy cane, although he did not like how sticky the candy made his hands.

Ambrose et Luna

Here is a great photo of Ambrose and Luna in the Exchange District in September. It was taken after their contemporary dance class and during a street festival celebrating art.
Ambrose did not enjoy his lessons... at all ... so we  have had to withdraw him. He still loves to dance, but on his own terms.
We may try gymnastics classes in January.

Playing in the snow

After a long "house" day, David took Ambrose outside in the early evening to burn off some pent up energy. Ambrose had lots of fun and had no problem getting down to the serious business of playing in snow.  Click here for more photos.

Digging through the snow fort's tunnel

Contemplating his next move

Post play, rosy cheeked and hungry for dada's yummy fresh bread

Lest we forget

(photo credit: Jason Anderson)

Thinking of my grandpa, William Johnson, who served our country during WWII.

What I'm reading right now.

Although I have only just begun reading this book, I can already recommend it. In fact, I was recommending it on the basis of a review I read a month or two ago. The author presents the argument that factors leading to a child's success is not based solely on his/her IQ, but rather on a certain blend of characteristics and skills (see title: curiosity and grit, among others).

While reading this book, I find myself thinking of the numerous university students I help and have helped (my work, simply defined, is to help students be successful at university).  Of course, I can't help but think of my own wee one. If you are an educator or a parent - or both - consider picking this book up.

Halloween

Dave is away on the train and Ambrose and I are both feeling under the weather, but we got into the spirit.  Christoff offered to take Ambrose out trick or treating (THANK YOU!!). Christoff had him out for maybe 10-15 minutes, which was a perfect amount of time for my tired little purple dinosaur. 

Click here for more pictures

Boo at the Zoo

We headed out tonight to Boo at the Zoo and met up with Karel, Christy and Samuel. I have to admit it was chilly. But the boys were troopers and they enjoyed their walk through the displays. Super hero statues were our first stop for photos (I think dada was more excited than toddler)

Now, back at home, toasty warm in pjs, cozy on the couch and laughing at cartoons on the ipad.
Life is good...

Pumpkins!

A few weeks ago, Ambrose and I joined Christy and Samuel for a lovely afternoon at A Maze in Corn.
The boys had lots of fun selecting the perfect small pumpkin, greeting the animals, climbing on the hay bails and running through the corn maze. We all slept well that night.
Click here for more pics!

It's fun!

Christoff shot this fun video on our porch just this past weekend. Ambrose was in full form, showing his appreciation of David's singing and ukelele playing.

Introducing Ryder

Jessie holding her baby nephew

My niece Breanna had a baby boy on Friday, August 24 at 2:43 am. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 12 oz and was 19.7 inches long.

Baby is doing well and so is Miss Beans.

a wedding at Hnausa Beach

we attended our second wedding of the summer, this time a friend of David's, Carly, who is a a long time supporter of PoorTree (David and Christoff's performance poetry group).

It was a beautiful wedding with amazing live music. Carly's now-husband is the drummer for a very talented local blues band The Perpetrators
Needless to say there was live music at this wedding, incredible musicians just having fun jammin'.

I don't have a close up of the bride and groom (lower left) but I do have some fun shots of ambrose, david and christoff on the beach at sunset (above) and ambrose with "sistoff"- whom ambrose adores.

August long in The Pas

Ambrose was not able to contain his excitement over the big waves!

We finally made the trek to nana and poppa's new house at Clearwater Lake.
Luckily, Ambrose is an excellent traveller and does not mind the 7 hour car ride.

We had a great time because many people came home to celebrate The Pas' centennial year. Although we didn't partake in an any formal celebrations, some of Ambrose's extended family got to see him (great aunts and uncles) as well as the folks who make Clearwater their home year round.

Ambrose was particularly excited to spend quality time with this big cousin Emma. And she was just as pleased to spend time with her little cousin Ambrose. It was very sweet.


(Photo gallery to be uploaded later)

Ambrose dancing at Auntie Des and Uncle Emile's wedding

July 2012 - Planes, trains and automobiles

In July we boarded a plane and headed to Ottawa to start our whirlwind vacation. First stop was second cousin Claire's house (Moog and Janine).

We had a fabulous time enjoying their new home and the amenities (read: backyard pool!). We had a great time with the Andersons! Thanks for the hospitality and the yummy meal!

Next stop was Gatineau and for a quick visit at Auntie Des and Uncle Emile's new house. Nana and Papa were there waiting for us. We then got into our cars - rental or otherwise - and 'caravaned' it to Dunham in the Quebec Eastern townships. We were there to celebrate Desiree's and Emile's wedding. And celebrate we did. It was a beautiful and magical wedding made even more special with the announcement of Desiree's pregnancy (we knew ahead of time but we were now able to share the news!).

We rented a cabin close to Emile's parents. Ambrose had fun with his cousin Emma and new friend Jack. Emile's parents were generous hosts and we loved spending time at their enchanting property including their cozy home and swimming pond! The pictures of the wedding may speak for themselves: outdoor, big tent, fabulous food amazing performances (including members of the Geoffroy family). And dance party! Ambrose started us off by gallop dancing around the stage. He LOVED dancing in front of the crowd.

Post-wedding, we drove back to Gatineau and spent the night at the newlyweds home (sans the couple, it was just our small family). We left the next morning on a train headed to Toronto.

Upon our arrival,  we headed immediately to my friend Sheryl's where were stayed the night with her family. Again, wonderful hospitality and delicious food. Ambrose was well taken care of by Eva (yet another beautiful older girl in his life in addition to cousins Jessie and Emma). It was great to see my good friend Sheryl and tootle around Yorkville catching up.

We then took the train home from Toronto to Winnipeg. Ambrose loved traveling by rail and quite capably demonstrated that he has 'train legs'; no issues navigating the bumps and jumps of the train going down the track.

My Birthday weekend and Canada Day weekend

For my birthday, I bought myself a new bike. It's quite pretty and Dave calls it my pony (as only Dave would).

I have since bought a second hitch for the Chariot so Ambrose and I can go for bike rides when Dave is  on the train. Ambrose loves bike rides, especially when the destination is to get ice cream (or tee-team, as he calls it).

Hold on, just putting the seatbelt on by myself

LOVES playing with Papa's truck

We visited my parents both weekends and enjoyed their beautifully landscaped yard. It's nice to not have to cook, too!

Discovering the St Vital play area.
We were on a mission to buy dada
a new suit for Auntie Des' wedding

Ambrose and I stayed clear of Osborne during the street festival. Perhaps it's because we're inhabitants of the Village, that we tend to avoid the drunken revelry of this annual event. Or perhaps it's because we're half a block away and can enjoy (?) the people watching from the front porch. Either way, we were no-shows.

At nana and papa's. Step 1: Locate rocks

Step 2: select some rocks
that need to be cleaned

Step 4: Give the rocks a
good washing

Step 3: Drop rocks into
the pail

Father's day weekend

We bought Dave a Mexican citrus press for Father's Day. He put it to quick use the next morning.

Ambrose got his first official hair cut Friday night. You might recall us talking about cutting his bangs a few times and then we shaved his head and left a layer of hair overtop while we were in Mexico (I don't think we ever got around to posting a gallery of pics from our trip...). Here, Kathleen is working her magic to allow this child to see (his bangs were really long) and to fix the craziness happening in the back.

Ambrose and I spent a lovely day with Christy, Karel and Samuel (and we snuck a quick visit with Viv et al earlier that day as well). Check out Ambrose and Samuel pretending to be frogs! 

We had an impromptu Father's Day dinner at my sister's house. Ambrose got to meet my babysitter Mary or "Dunnie" from Calgary. She was more like our nanny; she spent the day at our house and made sure we were fed and cared for while my parents worked. She was with us for many years.

Ambrose and i drove out to Mitchell after dropping mom off at the airport.  the day eventually became nice.  A storm snuck up on us on the way up and i had to white knuckle a bit....Ambrose had a two hour thunder storm nap.

photos while mama is away.

well. here are some moments from Lunas' second birthday.

 a dinner party with Luna. watermelon madness and bath time.

RIP Sadie

Dave's parent's dog had to be put down earlier this week. Ab and Shirley are quite heart broken over the loss of their canine companion.
Dave's brother Gody has put together a nice gallery of pictures of Sadie here

busy weekend

Here's a quick update

Ambrose has been quite busy. He had a fun visit with second cousin Claire. Ambrose was quite the gentleman and helped Claire with her shoes and she accepted the assistance. We are looking forward to seeing Moog, Janine and Claire in July during our trip out east.

Ambrose hung out with his buddy Samuel on Friday night. These two are very cute together; they are both very chill.

His cousin Jessie came by for the afternoon on Sunday and we walked to the Forks and back. It was fun. Pre and post walk, she looked after Ambrose so I was able to plant the garden.

Sunday night: we just got back from a quick road trip to Brandon and back to visit Grandma Johnson (along with Auntie, Beans and Jess). Whew, I need a weekend to recover from the weekend.