"All my life I've wondered something, and now's my chance to find out. I'm going to find the answer to a question that's puzzled the world for centuries. Does Santa Claus sleep with his whiskers outside or in?" ~ Miracle on 34th Street

With Rob and Jilly, the magic has been in our house for sometime.  But it has only just begun for you, Mac!  Both you girls were so excited to see what Santa had brought you.  Apparently, he made good use of the house key and this year and he even left us a little note.  The look on your face screamed 'MAGIC'!  Your BIG request from Santa was for him to bring you a pink heart and a yellow star.  And of course, he came through.  Mr. Claus was most excellent this year; he brought Robert enough gift cards to put towards his white iPod touch, Jillian's pink violin and Mac's pink heart and yellow star.  Funny how everyone of you requested something in a specific colour...Santa also brought plenty of other things, but those seemed to be the most important.  Everyone was so happy.  We were all up at 4:00 am, we finished unwrapping everything by 6:00, and had a HUGE feed immediately after.  By 8:00 we were all back in bed and slept until 10:30.  When we woke up, you played calmly (yes, re-read that last part) with your new toys for most of the day.  Turkey dinner, which was prepared by your father, was served by 12:30 and we all pitched in to help clean up afterwards.  By 2:00pm we were fed and well rested.  In fact, we were so well rested that we decided to kick this up a little and go sliding and skiing in out back yard for about an hour.  The day was perfect.

"T'was The Night Before Christmas..." ~ Clement Clake Moore

It was Christmas eve and your father wanted to read you a few stories before you went to sleep.  We had done so much that day: we decorated ginger bread cookies, wrapped presents, played games, drank hot chocolate and left treats for Santa, hung the key outside the door to make it easier for him to come in and just before that, we sprinkled rain deer food around the outside of the house to ensure Rudolph and all of the other rain deer would not forget our old house.  I'd say we made it pretty easy for them to stop by!  By the end of the day, EVERYONE was exhausted!  No one fought going to sleep, although I predict next year will be a different story.  A story that will follow the famous Christmas classic.

“The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?” ~ Pablo Picasso

Last night was Paint Night; only instead of canvas, it was on our faces!  After a long discussion and much debate, Jilly decided to be a cat, Mac wanted to be a butterfly and Robert wanted to be some kind mythical creature.  I thought it was cool.  In any case, you girls stayed up far past your bedtime and paint got everywhere, including all over MY face (which is a photo that will remain unposted)!  You turned me into a rainbow!  There was so much paint on my face that it was dripping off and my face is still slightly stained pink from the amount of red that was applied ;-)  You all loved getting your faces done and some of you (who shall remain nameless) insisted on sleeping with your paint still on.  We woke up with a few interesting looking pillow cases ...

“The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.” ~ E.E. Cummings

Our back yard took up about two acres.  It had a small brook that ran through it but whenever it rained, it flooded!  Luckily, our house was on a hill and safe from water leakage.  On November 11th it poured!  I heard that we were expecting 56 mm of rain!  Naturally, our backyard had been invaded by endless amounts of water.  On that day, your father and I had plans to lay down a couple of hard wood floors.  By 4:00 pm, you decided that you had had enough of being inside and doing, well, not very much.  After much discussion, we decided it would be perfectly appropriate to play in our nature-built, in-ground pool!  Clothes were also appropriate since it was November.  So off we went to the back yard to play in muddy waters!  The water was absolutely freezing!  You didn't seem to mind too much, but my feet were so cold, they hurt - and after a while, I just stopped feeling them ;-)  We played for about 10 or 15 minutes before we thought it was time to call it quits: it was official, we were ice pops!  So we came in and I threw you in what you liked to call a shower-bath.  No doubt, that was appropriately named ;-)   You warmed up, we made supper and Dad finished the floors.

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself." ~ Walt Whitman

You had been teaching your little sister this song and all of it's actions since last summer.  You learned it when when you were away at camp, training to be a camp counselor. You had learned this song to teach the other children, there. It seems that everyone loved it, including your little sister, Mac. The two of you were so connected, but this song somehow brought you closer together. She would ask you to sing it constantly. She sang it with you and even when you were gone, she would sing it without you! She just loved it! And you loved knowing that that she did. The two of you were practically inseparable!

"The Great Pumpkin will appear and I'll be waiting for him! I'll be there! I'll be sitting there in that pumpkin patch... " ~ Linus (Charlie Brown)

On October 30th, you girls carved a pumpkin with me.  Jilly could hardly wait to get her hands full of pumpkin guts while Mac had second thoughts after she saw what the inside of a pumpkin really looked like.  But you were both brave pumpkin carvers!  You seemed to enjoy the planning of the pumpkin carving the best.  Triangles were in every part of the face.  Afterall, what is a pumpkin face without a billion triangles!  So after the removing of the guts, the drawing took place, followed by the carving and poking.  Both of your tiny fingers were the perfect size to be removing the tiny triangle eyebrows.  But lighting it is always the best part :-)

"My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree toward heaven still." ~ Robert Frost

On Thanksgiving weekend, your father and I took you apple picking.  It was your best pick yet!  You were so incredibly excited to climb every ladder you could find.  You and your father raced to see who could fine the most - apple picking came second ;-)  When you got tired of running and stayed long enough on one ladder to place your hand on an apple, you picked it and screamed with success: "I did it!"  And you had.  You always did.  Later that afternoon, we drank apple/pear cider (with no preservatives added).  You were a little hesitant at first but ended up drinking three glasses in the end and asked for a fourth.  We decided to buy a jug.  You guzzled that too.

"Hey Smalls, you want s'more?" ~ The Sandlot

Robert and Jillian were with us on this August weekend.  We decided to have a campfire in our backyard.  Dinner included hot dogs over open fire followed by s'mores!  None of the three of us had s'more before, only Rob and Jilly.  Everyone of us had a photo taken of their very first bite - your siblings included.  We laughed.  We had so much fun with all of the stickiness and sweetness!  It was a blissful evening :-)

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like there's nobody listening, and live like it's heaven on earth.” ~ William W. Purkey

It was the summer of 2011 when you Robert, took both of your sisters out to the front yard with a large package of new chalk.  You took time with them outside while I was cleaning.  This was something that you often did as a favour to me so that I could get some work done around the house on the weekends.  This time you took a particularly long time with the girls.  Within an hour's time or so, all of you came running in to find me so that you could show me what creation you had developed in our front yard.  You had taken both of the girls and had them lay down on the pavement and traced their bodies (and they traced yours).  Then you coloured the traced bodies in with a variety of colour and printed the words: "Dance like no one is looking."  And that was always you Robert, marching to the beat of your own drum.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain

Today we visited 'The Ovens' for the first time.  You had a hard time understanding that 'The Ovens' wasn't something you used to bake.  Before we got there, you asked if we could touch it.  You seemed rather confused and still so curious.  It was the most spectacular thing.  The views were incredible and the caves cannoned as the waves crashed into them.  You were in awe as you listened and watched and ran ahead of us all.  "Come on over here, Daddy!", you cried out repeatedly.  Your voice was charged with enthusiasm.  "More caves!"  Your voice echoed through the hollowed rock.  It echoed for what seemed like the rest of the afternoon.  What an experience!

"There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude and peace." ~ Siguard Olson

Your father and I took you to Kejimakujik National Park on August 5th, 2011.  It was a day full of adventure.  We hiked, picnicked, danced in a Tipi and canoed.  Your body wiggled all over when you tried to get into that boat!  You barely knew what to do with yourself!  You had a look of cautious wonder on your face.  And that paddle: you worked so hard to move it through the water.  Your declaration of excitement in the beginning and exhaustion in the end, told us what a magnificent day you had.  We were so proud of you.  You were always a trooper.

"I recently took up ice sculpting. Last night I made an ice cube. This morning I made 12, I was prolific." ~ Mitch Hedberg

On July 28th, 2011, you and your sister, along with your aunt Heather thought it would be a brilliant idea to make Rice Krispy Sculptures!  It was three dimensional art at its best!  Jillian made a turtle and a light house, Aunty Heather made a horse and a cross - which represented a game she'd been playing for the last three weeks with Ang, and you made multiple snow men!  Not only was aunty H. loads of fun but she was extra smart when she thought to leave you both with a plate of butter in order to prevent the krispies from sticking to your fingers.  Both you and your sister were in butter up to your elbows!  It was all rather genius and in the end, scrumptious!

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." ~Harriet VanHorne

You always loved to help me in the kitchen.  You always loved to help me, period.  But you especially loved to sit on the counter next to whatever I was making so that you could have an easier time accessing the ingredients.  You loved to put them in and stir.  YOU LOVED TO STIR!  You loved to eat half of whatever we were making even if it wasn't cooked!  You would stick your fingers into whatever you could find and lick!  You often wore aprons, but on this particular day, you must have "progot"!  Auntie Emily was coming for dinner that night.  The three of us ate together.  We had honey garlic chicken, dill potatoes (especially made by you) and steamed broccoli.  The food was DELISH!  You were a wonderful helper that day and everyday.

"My little baby's all grown up ... and savin' China" - Mushu (Mulan)

     Since I've known you, you've wanted to grow up and be a preschool teacher.  Today was your first day of work.  You became an employee of the Kinder Garden and Preschool Center in Brooklyn, down the street from our house.  You were only 14 years old.  You were so proud!  We were so proud!  You started your day at 8:30, with a packed lunch and extra clothes in case it got too hot.  I walked both you and Mac there.  We dropped Mac off at her room and I brought you to yours with the intention to stay with you for the first day.  I thought I would plug your daily tasks into your iPod, including times of the day paired with tasks that needed to be accomplished so that you would know what to do if the head teacher didn't tell you.  However,  by lunch you were tired of having me around and asked me to leave; so I left.  Besides,  the daycare staff seem to be pretty on the ball there and you transitioned beautifully from task to task.  You were so nurturing to all the children and still directive.  So directive infact, I started to call you "Miss Bossy Pants".  You thought it was pretty funny and so did the teachers!  They just loved having you there...and you loved being there.