I would say that I have had writer's block, but I don't tend to write a lot in these posts. I guess I have had blogger's block! Time to catch up...again!

Sammy, Clea, Laila, and Marshall at Isaac's sportball birthday party back in January.

Playing basketball

Miles is taking notes

The party lasted for two hours, and for most of that time everyone ran around, while Miles stood completely still in the middle of everything.

Caged animals with balloons!

Sammy and Anya playing dress up.

Sammy and Naomi playing dress up - popular pastime!

Sammy and Miles playing with Sam's 'ipad'!

This is the beginning of our Nuevo Vallarta photos. We had a fantastic trip in the first week of February. The weather was excellent - sunny, warm but with a nice breeze. The kids spent the entire time swimming, either in the pools, or in the ocean. Of course, this meant that Brad and I had to be swimming the entire time too! 

The view from our balcony

These two bonded quickly

Waiting for our turn to swim with the dolphins! Mama looking a little tired. A few too many margharitas perhaps...





Many more Mexico photos to come in the next post!

I know you were probably thinking that Christmas is over, but not yet! Here are Andrew's photos.

Miles down at Granville Island with his favourite thing in the world! Yes, I'm talking about the umbrella, or 'oo-la-la' as he likes to call it. Some kids have stuffed animals, some have blankets, some even have special toys that must go everywhere. Not us, all we need is our 'oo-la-la'. I blame Bobs & Lolo for their Raindrop Pop song. The song started it all!!

Sammy practicing the Canadian version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, which she performed for everyone on Boxing Day.

Brad and his tourtiere

Christmas Eve before going to bed

Christmas Day dinner

Sammy's brand new skates. Thanks Moma and Googie.

Brad reminding me how to skate. I did know at one time, but it has been about 15 years. The greatest moment was when Sammy saw me skating by myself and came up to tell me what a good job I was doing and to give me a high five. She was so happy for me and it was completely adorable!

The crazy kids just after having done the Polar Bear swim on New Year's Day.

Tony, Jo and the sane and warm fan club!

Miles wearing Googie's hat

Sam practicing on her new scooter, a gift from Santa

Christmas photos

Here are a few Christmas photos. There are more to come soon.  

Opening stockings on Christmas morning.  

 

Miles inspecting the crumbs that 'Santa' left behind 

Checking out the loot!

 Tweet, tweet. 

 

Untitled

Trying to post from my new iPad so this is a bit of an experiment. Here goes!

Miles trying out his brand new bike.  

Festivities

We have a new tradition which is that we visit the Stanley Park train on opening night. Normally, this works in our favour as it tends to be quiet at this early time in the season. However, this year the weather was so good that the park was packed pretty early. Things were a little crazier than usual but we had a beautiful cool clear night.

Another Christmas tradition, decorating gingerbread with the Maysons. Here the girls are supposed to be decorating trains, but Sammy, as usual, is more interested in eating.

Still eating

Tony has been home for a month over the holidays and the kids have had the chance to spend a lot of time with Tony and Jo. They've been having a blast! Not sure what is going on in this photo, but it is so funny that I had to post it.

Miles: "Wow, I look good on camera!!"

We spent a rainy Saturday at Sammy's favourite place, Science World. They now have a very cool dinosaur exhibit where the kids can make the dinosaurs move and make noises. It's hard to get a good photo of such things, but we did the best we could.

T-REX

Sammy and Tea trying it out

All ready for skating lessons

Steady, steady...

...and down!

Story time

Miles combining two of his favourite past times: playing with his umbrella, and walking around naked!

Miles was cutting teeth and Sammy had the flu. They don't seem very impressed with me taking a photo.