Hi,

Well, one of the many wonderful things about having kids is you start to see certain things differently because you are seeing it through their eyes. It is for this reason that, rather than my previous Halloween-scrooge self, I get excited about this "holiday". Mathieu of course, was very excited for the day to arrive and was very proud to wear his new superman costume to the halloween party at school. His school also did a big haunted house so he thought that was just the greatest thing. Then, the next night, as you can see, he was happy to don his dinosaur costume and go roaring and howling through out the neighborhood. Gabriel, of course is too young to have remembered halloween from last year but he quickly caught on to the hold concept. It was so funny to watch the little wheels turning inside his head (i.e, "Hmm...strangers seem to be randomly putting candy into my bag...what a concept!!") and was quickly walking down the street muttering, "I want more candy...Je veux des bonbons!!.

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from my mom the other week. The boys were very happy to see her and spend some time with her and we had a lot of fun hanging out in the neighborhood, going out for dinner at a wonderful little Moroccan restaurant, going to a halloween fair in the country (despite it being a very rainy, cold day- check out the picture of us taken by the local paper!), as well as checking out the Chinese lanterns in the botanical gardens. She was also a big help for us to have around the house. Vincent and I are not used to having a grandparent around to help out so we really appreciated having the extra pair of hands!! Mathieu had a ped day while she was in so the boys got to stay home with her while I was at work which was nice for everyone. She also took the initiative to completely organize my pantry with new tupperware containers (as we learned we may have a little mouse friend)! Anyways, it inspired me and, 3 trips to the store later, I have been in an organizing frenzy the past few days. If something is not glued down in this house lately I will tupperware it!!! Visitors be warned!

All is well here all round. We are very excited because we just learned that Yuko will be arriving from Japan in the next few days so we will soon be going down to Quebec city to see her. We also got our tickets for Winnipeg so we are looking forward to spending some time there at Christmas (even though it seems counterintuitive to spend a lot of money to fly somewhere even COLDER in the winter time)...ahhhh...what I won't do for family! (and free babysitting!)

Anyways, chicken's almost cooked and papa bear will be home soon!!

Till next time.

"I want bravo" (Quote of the week from Gabriel)

Hi,

Well, we had an eventful thanksgiving weekend. We hosted Vincent's family this year and it was quite the feast!!! It was so good that I had to take pictures of some of the food! Isabelle and Francois made this incredible shrimp dish and Vincent worked hard preparing mussels with two different kinds of sauces- we had a garbage bag full of shells by the end of the meal!!

Today was a lovely, but cool, day and we took the kids to the Botanical gardens where they enjoyed some of the halloween displays and activities that they had going on. We could not tear Gabriel away! Then, we went to the Insectarium to warm up and to get a good look at tarantulas...

Mathieu has started swimming classes again and Gabriel has started for the first time. We managed to get their classes at the same time so Vincent is on one end of the pool with Gabriel while Mathieu is on the other end with the big kids. Gabriel absolutely adores the water and Vincent calls him the Tasmanian Water Devil since he is constantly kicking, splashing and squealing the whole time. Its no wonder he sleeps so well afterwards...

TGIF

Hi all!

It's been a while since I last wrote so I thought I would take the time to write a few updates...The last couple of weeks have been very hectic but we are now happy to find ourselves back to a regular pace. Last week I found myself working two jobs as my final contract with the CLSC overlapped with my new job at the Y. It definately served to confirm the reason I that do not want to work full time since it was difficult and hectic to juggle work and home life.

The kids are doing well. Mathieu seems to be settling in well to school and he was very proud to show me his class room and his "art work" at the parent info. night the other day. I, for one, was very happy to meet his wonderful teacher and to watch a video that she had made of the kids in action. It was a great peek into his daily school routine since his usual answer to "what did you do today" is "Nothing". So, I am glad to see he is actually doing this at school!!! He has also begun writing his name and is now asking us for a pen and paper to practice writing notes to us.

We have, however, been having a few behavioural issues with him in the last couple of weeks so we've decided to start implementing the star system with him in the hopes to reinforce positive behaviour. He came with me to the store during his lunch hour today (as he comes home for lunch on the days that I don't work- a great advantage of having a school across the street!) and we chose the stickers that we are going to use on his "good behaviour chart". Let's hope it works!!!

I am posting some pictures of our time at the Brome fair in the Eastern townships the other week as well as a beautiful wedding of one of Vincent's friends last weekend. It cost us a fortune for babysitting but we had a great time!!! I am also posting a picture of the when Danielle's girls came over for our weekly child swap!! By 8:00 all the kids are pooped and we are tired of the noise so we pop in a movie and all is calm and quiet ....ahhh, magic... Tomorrow night is Danielle and Doug's turn to have the boys so we are looking forward to a night out together as it feels like we have been rushing past each other lately because of our various activities.

The other weekend we also went down quickly to Quebec city since Michel got into a bad bike accident in which he was thrown from his bike and landed on his face and therefore had to be operated on. Fortunately, it looks like he will be okay.

We also got a chance to my friends Liz and John's new house on the West Island last weekend. When I asked Mathieu what a suburb was he said, "It's the place where all the houses are white and they have no restaurants"...City slicker!!!

I was very happy that I got a chance to visit with my good friend Christiane this week who was in visiting from California. We got a chance to go out and have a great talk so I felt very lucky...She is such a beautiful person and I am looking forward to getting her back in Montreal one day!!!

As for me, my new job is going well and I am very optimistic that I will enjoy it. My colleagues also seem very nice so I think it will be a positive environment in which to work. I've been in training the past few weeks so I am looking forward to meeting with clients starting on Monday. I will keep you posted! My first paycheck from the new job came in yesterday so I am taking the family out for dinner tonight!

Well, that's all for now. I better take advantage of Gabriel's nap time to get some cleaning done.

I am so happy it is Friday!!!

Natalie comes to town...

Well, I will be honest, there have been a number of difficult days in our family since I last wrote but I am happy to say that we have come out on the other side. And, once again, despite everything, on numerous occasions we were reminded of the blessings that we have in our life. Most importantly, we were reminded of how lucky we are first and foremost to have each other and also to have such supportive friends and family in our life. So I find myself, after having taken the time to mourn what was lost, still able to appreciate all the gifts we have in our lives and the possibilities that await us...I have accepted that the baby that was meant for us will find us in time...

And, of course, the best therapy of all has been spending time with Mathieu and Gabriel...We have had some exciting days lately as Mathieu started kindergarten the other day. He was counting down the sleeps!!! Unfortunately, I was working that day but Mathieu got to have a very special morning with Papa! Vincent took him to breakfast at Patric's (our friendly neighborhood baker!) and then they were off to school to meet his new teacher. Mathieu was so cute as he headed out the door with his new back pack and lunch bag!

As for Gabriel, well he has now officially taken Mathieu's place at Momo's daycare on the days that I work. Momo had a party the other night to celebrate the kids that were "graduating" to kindergarten as well as the new arrivals. On the morning we arrived at Momo's for the first time, Gabriel ran right in and seemed happy to finally be able to enter his big brother's the territory and play with with all the toy's. He and 2 year old Gael have already become the best of friends!

On my side, I have officially accepted a job at the YWCA starting next week doing employment counselling with immigrant women. It is a part time job and the schedule and location will be much easier in terms of balancing work and family life. I do enjoy my work in CLSC however, and decided to keep my name there in order to take on occasional replacement days here and there. It is a such a valuable experience and I am learning so much.

I had to work 4 shifts this week and it was actually good timing since it helped to keep busy. Also, I find that, though difficult, working with people who are in such dire straits really helps keeps things in perspective and it really reminds me that you can't take anything for granted. For example, this week, I worked with several families that did not have enough money to buy school supplies their children's first day of school. I definately thought about that as I was packing Mathieu's backpack with all of the things that I had care freely bought him the other day. Its quite amazing to see the poverty that exists in Montreal...

Anyways, on a happier note, Danielle and I have decided to start kid swapping - she and Doug take our kids for the evening every two weeks and we take hers! So, this means that Vincent and I get an evening out to go for supper at a fancy restaurant. La vie est belle!!! Grosse vie sale!!