excited for fall HBO series.

At 57 seconds in, that beautiful lady is the reason why I am anxiously waiting to hook up cable in the fall. Looking good Aleksa!!!

OH BABY!

This baby gets into everything!!!

He is the first of my kids to be so mischievous... yes Ephraim is sneaky, and Jack is impulsive, and Solomon is "fair"... but this kid disappears silently and is found in very unusual places... regularly. It happens in a blink of an eye... 

Tyler's cat, Abu, has been a happy addition to our lives here in Kenora. He comes with a sandbox, that Tyler inconsiderately leaves in his closet that is out of bounds.  9 a.m. bath #1.

After dinner, the house is full and I take a minute to relax with my book while the dishes do themselves and the kids are entertained... Geoff came to find me and said "your baby is in the toilet, what should I do?"  I handed him the camera and turned the page... 7 p.m. bath #2.

One day in the life of Phinehas. 

fun, enjoying winter.

the snow boys from kyle thomas on Vimeo.

A video by Uncle Kyle (AKA The Governor) Thanks Uncle Kyle! We love the movies you make of the kids. What a great memory!

a new look for everyone.

Aside from being really tired (and looking really tired) and having no make-up and having my first coffee of the morning... I really like my new hair cut. Even the bed head version is exciting... I had to tame the "betty paige" bangs a little this morning.

I was inspired by these cuts and decided I was NOT too old to be trendy.

Mike has done work (construction) to most of Tod's house (Tod the Stylist -not to be confused with Todd the Miner -whom Mike has also done work for over the years) over the last 4 years and at some point an unspoken agreement to cut all our hair for free was made... wow.

Tod is the most generous thoughtful man.

On top of doing all our hair (for free) this week he gave the kids huge candy canes (think barber pole made of sugar) and some stocking stuffers. He also sent home with us a huge supply of yummy yummy samosa! 

Seriously this man is an angel with clippers in his kitchen. 

I will forgive him for giving Ephraim a mullet in the summer (chock that one up to allowing creative genius to not line up with my own sensibility) It was an Era thing really. I was so not into my son looking like Scott Baio. 

My sister and I have discussed the Era thing quite a bit. I have a strong reaction to/against anything from my teen years. The 80's social craze... please don't make me go there. The tights under your clothes... really? do I have to buy stirrup pants to be cool?

Even the music associations (dumb, sappy rock ballads at disturbing school gym sock hops) has made me shut down to listening to certain things. (sorry Sting... I am slowly coming around, I can listen to your Christmas album in small doses...)

anyway I digress...

We all look amazing for the holidays. Thank you Tod.

a glimpse

I have not posted regularly lately. sorry.
I have got into the bad habit of leaving my camera in my bag when we do fun things, and I have a terrible inability to post without photos. In an effort to keep you in the loop, here is a glimpse of a few of the things we have done this week.

Jack and Solomon had their "winter program" at school. They go to a small school (aprox. 130 kids) so the program was just long enough not to get unbearable. The funny part was the boys had been singing their songs all week (month) leading up to the program, then when faced with the 300-some crowd Solomon stood clamped mouth for every song. (He is so like me... I wonder if he hummed?)

Mike had a craving.  We pulled out the candy thermometer and made some sponge candy (or crunchy bar) 

The boys took dreidels to our Winkler Christmas family gathering. Fun gambling game. They used pennies from Nana's purse. I suggested the candy tray... there is always loads of sweets at those gatherings.

We took the boys to skate in St. Andrews. Even Phin wore skates. He could walk on them on the ground, but the ice? Not so much. He had a perma-grin under the falling-over-his-face helmet, getting shuffled around the ice by Daddy.

Someone special arrived at free skate...

SANTA!

Lunch at his favorite restaurant to celebrate turning 6. We invited some cousins to join us after skating for pizza. Good times!

Hope you all have a fantastic week leading to spending time with loved ones at Christmas.