Malcolm's skating lessons

Despite all the job action by the BCTF and work to rule being in place, Malcolm has been pretty lucky with all the activities that have been going on at his school. We've already had the Christmas concert, a visit to see the Nutcracker and now skating lessons with his school. Roger has even had a chance to get out and help during the lessons. From the looks of things all the kids are having a good time.

Malcolm and soccer...

For the most part Malcolm's involvement in soccer this year has been a good experience for him. Despite Roger's intermittent frustration and disappointment at Malcolm's effort (sometimes it's been lacking), we have to look at the bright side. He's been exposed to competitive and organized sport, he's met with other boys/peers his age, and developed some motor skills that probably would have gone undeveloped during our wet and cold winter. It's a tough age; skill levels are across the board and I guess, since it's not baseball, crying is still pretty much allowed. By far the biggest challenge is to try and keep the kids focussed and attentive. Roger's former coaching experience was focused on 10-12 year olds who were simply at a different level. It's been a learning experience for all. By the look on Malcolm's face he at least seems to be enjoying himself. Here's a shot from the warm-up yesterday.

Enchantée de faire votre connaissance, Léon.

The family had a chance to visit with the Lee sisters on the weekend over some Poutine, but most importantly meet with Auntie Mimi's son, Léon. Roger mentioned how much he resembles Auntie Mimi, he's a cute little guy. From the sounds of things he's doing quite well, sleeping and eating like a champ. He's even cutting a tooth, wow how fast they grow. It's pretty amazing how fast time swooshes by, he'll be six months old soon. Congratulations to both Mimi and Felix on their new bundle of joy. He's lucky to have two such amazing people as parents. There's no doubt that he'll grow up to be an artist, he's got good taste and talent in his genes. Here are a couple of pictures of baby Léon, I've limited it to two to prevent cuteness overload:

No one said it was easy.

Certainly no-one has ever said that raising kids was easy, in fact there are more proverbs and quotes emphasizing how hard it can be. Even Socrates said: "Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers." And that was 470BC! I think as parents go Roger and Tracey try their best and they'll be the first ones to admit that there's always room for improvement. Some days can be simply exhausting, simple tasks like getting dressed can result in a tantrum, times outs and lots of mood changes in both child and parent. A few weeks back, they were especially having a hard time with Mr. Malcolm's behaviour and bad attitude. In recent weeks they've implemented a new technique modelled after Dr. Thomas Phelan's series called 1-2-3 Magic. So far there's been significant improvement in Malcolm's behaviour. There are still time outs, but I've noticed they're a lot more infrequent these days. The biggest lesson from the series is to remove all the emotional baggage that comes with power struggles and discipline. Let's just hope it goes in the right direction. Here are some pictures from a quick home photoshoot Roger did. Also, I'd like to end to two great quotes I heard about raising children: "Raising children is like chewing on a stone". "Those that teach children learn more than they do".  

Happy Birthday Tracey.

This is the year of the Water Dragon, it's supposed to signify abundance and good fortune and also specific to Roosters and Rats, that's Tracey and Roger, whoo hoo! Unfortunately, it also says to avoid year of the Dog people (which is Malcolm). We're not sure what this all means, but let's hope good fortune trumps anything bad for 2012. Here are some pictures from the past week. Here's a picture of me! "This is my tough face". Here's Melody and Uncle Glen, playing on the iPad. Melody has taken a liking to Roger's iPhone. It's difficult to get it back sometimes. We can only wonder what kind of technology is in store for her generation. Just last week we had so much snow. This week with the increasing temperatures and rain falling from the sky, the snow is almost a distant memory. Here's Malcolm building a snow castle in the backyard.

We enjoyed a sudden snowfall late Friday night, so the kids woke up to a winter wonderland this weekend. The family got together and built a snowman. There's talk of more snow on the horizon with Wednesday bringing 5-10cm. I have to say, I love the snow a lot and Malcolm is excited as ever. Melody on the other hand likes to be outside, but is not as adventurous, that will probably come in time. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Let's hope driving conditions don't get too hairy during the week.

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2012, Roger mentioned that I'm going to be 49 this year! Whoa, I never really understood the dog years thing, but that seems too old. After all, I've got some spring in my step still. Well, I'm happy to announce that the family rung in the New Year with an outing up the mountain, a quick visit to the playground and also a celebratory brunch and dinner with the family. Here are some pictures from the past few days. Happy New Year to everyone, especially our friends, family and followers abroad. Best wishes to everyone in 2012!

The holiday season is truly and exciting time for us. There are so many things going on, it's at times overwhelming. The house is decorated early, anticipation of Santa arrival is prolonged and the general sense of good cheer is all around. It's true this time of year is all about family. Tracey and Roger try their best to instil some tradition with the kids. Tracey had lots of Christmas traditions, but Roger's experience was a bit more spotty. To his recollection, some years they had a tree and some years they did not. With Tracey's experience things were more established. Her grandpa would make a huge breakfast, their stockings would hang at the end of their beds, etc... In light of our efforts I think the kids do really enjoy all the events at home and around town. This year the family was able to go to the Stanley Park Train, see the Trinity Street light display, Gingerbread houses at the Hyatt, Christmas Tree displays at the Four Seasons, the Christmas Market, visiting with friends, and last but not least have their picture taken with Santa. Just as fast as it all went up, all the decorations (with the exception of the outside Christmas lights) are now packed away for another year. Here are some pictures from the past several days celebrating all the events leading up to Christmas including some from Christmas morning. As always, Malcolm and Melody both got up early to see if Santa had dropped off some gifts, you can see the magical wonder in their faces.

Science World and Olympic Village: Vancouver Christmas Market: Visiting with Friends: Trinity Street Light Festival: Christmas Day:

"Mommy do it".

Melody has been going through a preference phase where she wants Tracey ("Mommy") to do everything for her. It's even got to the point where she's ridiculous about even the smallest things. To give you an example, she was looking for her soother the other day and Roger had it in his hand to give to her, even though he was just inches away she exclaimed: "Mommy do it!" Hopefully this will be a short lived phase cause it's harder on everyone when she only lets one person do things for her. Melody has also been tougher to put to bed again. It may be because she's not feeling well, who knows! There was a pretty good stretch there where she was going down without much fuss.

Malcolm is now on winter break, already almost 1/2 way through the school year. He's doing very well at school. His behaviour is good, he's learning new things, and more importantly he's developing his social skills and getting along with his classmates. I think he's pretty excited to have a break though. Waking up early isn't always his preference, not to mention the mad dash to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth and get out the door in time. Despite the school being a block away Roger and Tracey find themselves rushing a lot of the time.

Christmas is quite an event at our house, there has been a lot of lead up to the big day. Malcolm is very excited. I'm not sure Melody really understands, but she's going along with it all in stride. She's learned new words like: Christmas Tree, Gingerbread, presents, Santa, etc... Here are some pictures from last week at the Stanley Park Christmas Train and then dinner at Lombardos.
 

Christmas traditions.

Well the family trekked downtown today to make their annual pilgrimage to see the Gingerbread Houses and decorated Christmas trees at the Hyatt and Four Seasons Hotels. This year Melody was able to walk around all by herself discovering all the interesting sites. Christmas is truly an interesting time around the house, decorations are up, the sweet aroma of baked goods fill the house (from Grandma's kitchen) and that general sense that the holiday season is upon us. The family will be heading down to the Stanley Park Christmas train again as well later in the week. I wonder what else is in store?