Where is the camera?

It's all a perfect metaphor of our adjustment to life in Canada.

You may recall that the winter of 2006, our first winter as still thoroughly Arizona's in shock and awe, we went out as a family determined to make it in Canada. And that meant buying over $100 worth of ice skates and taking to Nathan Phillips Square outdoor rink for some fun. We all tried to grin and bare it but it wasn't much fun. It was freezing and our feet hurt and most of all, my back hurt from holding up a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Wasn't that nice?






Next year we were convinced by some locals that what we really needed to do was go to the Harbourfront. So, we packed on all our clothes, tied up our skates and headed down on the subway to the harbourfront. It was fun but mostly becuase we hung out with our friends and ate good food and Drew drank beer inside.

2008 we had moved up to THornhill and they had a local ice rink not too far and again, we (by we I mean me) thought it might be fun to go check it out. Plus, its what the locals do. In Arizona you swim - in Canada you skate. What if the kids gets invited to a skating party? God forbid they don't know how. What will we do? So, even though the wind was whipping our faces and the snow was coming down in full force, we were determined. Keep in mind that this is now our 3rd pair of skates. We use them once per year and then the next year they have outgrown their skates and need a new pair. Luckily Mazie is always a year behind Leo so she can wear his so really I only need to get 1 pair for Leo. Drew and I don't grow that quickly and I have a very comfy pair. As soon as we got out on the ice, bam! Mazie fell on her face and the screw to her glasses went into her eyebrow. She still has a very beautiful scar to prove it. It's a screw shaped scar. Luckily her face was so frozen anyway that she never felt a thing. We vowed never again were we going to go ice skating. It hurts your feet and your ankles, the kids can't stand up, it breaks my back and its so much work to just go around once or twice and head home.

Come 2009 and do you think we learn?! NO! You bet we don't. I'm not sure why but again I decided over Christmas break that it would be a fun family event to go skating. But you guessed it - Leo needs new skates. We go to a few stores - too expensive for new ones that only get worn once. So, we are not able to go. But, the next day I pass by Play it Again Sports and I happen upon a size 12 and pay $21 (such a deal really) and buy Leo a pair of skates. Mazie will wear his old hockey pair from last year. Tonight we went to the park and would you believe it?! The kids are about 10 times better than last year. They both went around about 10 times and fully without my assistance. Leo is most excellent at falling and what dramatic falls he can make. Now, if we can only convince him to get up quicker so nobody skates over his beautiful rosy red cheeks. Some day the girls are going to love those cheeks. Drew didn't bring his skates but he was there to cheer us on. We all had smiles on our faces and it was so Canadian that I held onto both kids' hands and sang the national anthem. Mostly I was happy that there is hope - they may indeed one day learn to swim as well.

Next time I'm going to have Drew bring the video camera and I'll post some video of our fun skating adventure.

Got Out of My Bed!

THe kids went to bed late last night - 12 am to be exact. Church was 9-11. Leo slept through it all but in typical fashion - not Mazie. I figured they would sleep in a bit this morning. As usual, mom and dad were awake before them. Leo came in around 8 ish and wanted to crawl into bed with us. We tried to get him to wake his sister but he didn't want to. He said she would be too cranky if he woke her. He's probably right. However, she followed very shortly after wards and they ran upstairs to wake Auntie and Uncle. We opened stockings and Santa's gift and then had breakfast while Auntie and Uncle went to church. We eagerly awaited their return so we could open the rest of our gifts. We didn't finish until after 1:00. It was great because it wasn't over in a flash! It's almost 4 and we all just remembered we need to eat to stay alive so we had a quick thrown together lunch while we wait for dinner to arrive.

Merry Christmas everyone! Pictures to follow later. For now, I'm having a nap.

He knows if you've been good or bad

8:16 am
"Stop!" "No, you stop." "Move!" "I was here first." "Get out of my way!"
and on and on and on

8:21
"Mazie! You better be good for goodness sake." "It's Christmas eve and Santa Claus is coming tonight you better be good."

8:23
"Come, sit here. Do you want to sit next to me?" "Sure, here's some of my blanket."

I wish this would work for every day of the year. However, it's 8:36 am and I am wondering how long they can sustain this level of energy. It's going to be a very long day. I'm thinking perhaps workign from home was not a good idea. Church is 9-11 tonight. It's going to be a looooog day.

Not that we ever had any hopes....

but what little we did have are all now shattered. We will never be able to buy a home in Toronto. See newspaper article from The Star below.

New home buyers may face down-payment hike
December 21, 2009


TORONTO–CTV says Ottawa is considering raising the minimum down payment for home buyers as well as reducing the amortization period in order to stop some consumers from taking on too much debt.

In an interview with CTV Question Period, to be aired next week, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the measures will be taken if there's evidence of excessive demand in the housing market.

Flaherty says that the new measures would target consumers "who are taking on obligations that they will not be able to handle in the future when the interest rates do rise."

He says the likely measures the government will take is to increase the size of the down payment from five per cent "to a higher figure" and to reduce the amortization period "from a maximum of 35 years to something less."

Those measures would increase the monthly payments, making it more difficult for some people to take on a mortgage and purchase a home, without having to increase the interest rate.

Last week, the central bank warned that when interest rates rise to normal levels, up to 10 per cent of households could face difficulties in meeting monthly payment requirements.

Pageant Woes

We had the annual Christmas pageant yesterday and it was fabulous as always. The kids are so cute. Mazie was again an angel and Leo was a shepherd. I had the best photos of each of them but unfortunately erased them off the camera only to find that they didn't properly upload onto the computer. I guess it was only a matter of time that that happened. I am pretty bummed though as I was looking forward to sharing them with all of you. We got home pretty late after a very long day (lunch at Father Peter's with the seminarians and a 7:30 carols and hymns concert for Uncle Jason at his church. My kids were angels and after being gone all day and going to be late we decided to let Leo stay home and chill out and laze around the house. Unfortunately right now Drew is mediating a pretty big fight with his sister in their room right now.

Drew took the car in this morning and we just learned that we have to have some major work done on the brakes - again as they broke. That's pretty bad news right before the holidays. I suppose its bad news anytime really. We'll get over it.

We got a Tree

Same place as last year only no snow this time. Weather was beautiful. Only about 2 degrees but no wind. Had a great time and got a beautiful big tree we'll put up maybe tomorrow. Today is hockey. Mazie couldn't do the walking so we sat by the fire and ate marshmallows which I don't mind one bit.

100.9

Mazie had an unexplained nap y'day which is a sign of doom. SUre enough, she woke w/ a sore throat so I decided to work from home in case Drew would need a car to take her to the doc. Since we've been meaning to take her anyway for an unrelated matter re: leaky pee we took this opportunity to take her in. Turns out she has strep throat and some sort of UTI. At least we hope that's what it is. Dr. gave her antibiotics but ordered another urine culture to see what's going on. Poor litte baby is so sick today with fever. I gave her pedialyte popsicles that I bought at Walgreens when they were babies and brought here just in case they didn't have that stuff here. They don't and I never had to use them until now.

Hopefully she's better by Saturday because we have our first ever live hockey game we're going to. Ontario March of Dimes has a special day devoted to it since it's Disability Awareness Day. I've heard its pretty fun even if it is the minor leagues. And in the morning our plan is to go cut down our CHristmas tree. I don't think it will be as fun this year since we don't have snow. That is the only time you will hear me complain about not having snow and its only because we won't be able to drag our tree in it to get it to the car. It will be just as cold though as it's expected to be 1 degree.

Drew is at parent teacher conferences right now. We had both planned to go but someone had to stay home w/ Mazie. Leo's pretty happy w/ his report card which is good. I think it's impossible at this school to get an A though which is frustrating. It will be interesting to hear how it went.