Spring/ Summer 2014

We had a beautiful, gorgeous spring and summer. The spring was surprising not bad for the terrible long brutal winter we endured. We started some DIY projects..I have so wanted a backyard deck for the longest time and this year I was rewarded for my patience. We asked around for quotes and got some ridiculous prices..seriously? 10K for a few days of work?..anyways, we decided on DIY project, basic and simple. How naive we were...the project took all of 10 weeks as we had to undo and redo until my husband thought it was perfect. We celebrated Kimberly's 5th birthday on our deck. FINALLY!!. We had a kiddies party which started at 2:00 p.m where we all walked a few minutes to a small wading pool just behind our house. The weather couldn't be better..it was a hot day and kids squealed and splashed water on one another, tagging and chasing each other while we moms sat beneath the shade of a nice big Willow tree and chatted. We came home to Dominos Pizza for the kids, spanakopita rolls, greek cheese rolls, I think it is called Tyrokopita and juice. We also had home made Guacamole with tortilla chips and hot cheese dip for the adults. For the adults, which included my childhood friends and cousins, we had Grilled lamb chops, Kababs, Tandoori Chicken (courtesy Lancy Pais) and Bean Salad. Anyways, the highlight was the Castle Cake I made for Kimberly's birthday. Recipe and pictures coming soon.

Yohann's 10th Birthday, we celebrated at 'The Ex'..It was Thursday, August 28th. This is a 3 week event that comes to Toronto every year and a must-do for Torontonians...lots of  fried food, rides, and shows. We watched the Wallenda Family tight-rope show which was AMAZING!. We sat and watched, not daring to breath or swallow lest the legendary Wallendas fall off...We watched the Dog Show too which was cute but uneventful. The kids loved it and took a lot of coaxing to finally leave...I had a throbbing headache and couldn't wait to get out..Fairs are not my thing, but we do these things for our kids and that is why precisely I am writing it here, so nobody forgets :-). On his actual birthday, we had a small dinner for family. I tried Greek ribs which was a completed flop. We had Peking Duck which was awesome.

Kyren's 13th birthday sadly was uneventful.. He did not want to do anything and we were very busy with our DIY deck project, that we were relieved..but my darling sisters did come home in the evening with presents and I think we ordered food in.

The highlights of summer was we did a 12 Km bike ride at the Don Valley Parkway. We parked at the Ontario Science Centre and rode upto Pottery road and back. Kimberly was being bike-carried (is that a word even?) by Keith and it was kind of strenous (which he does not admit to) as the DVP has some hills. We also went to Balsam Lake for camping this year with the group (my sisters, my cuzz, our friends). All in all it was a great summer. This is the year that we went out on date nights (prefer to call it fun nights). I am proud to put it in writing, I have wonderful and responsible kids. They encourage us to go out alone and they take care of Kim, reading her a bedtime story, tucking her into bed and staying by her bedside till she falls asleep.

Thanksgiving 2014, we went to Ottawa to celebrate the holiday with my cuzz and her family. My sisters and their families drove up too. It was beautiful as expected. Everyone talking at the same time and no one listening. We also left 10 kids at home unsupervised and went for drinks at Kelsey's.The neighbours did come and ask us to tone it down a bit...

As we head into Winter, I give thanks for my family, my friends and all the abundance of love that we have in our lives. If this is not blessings, what is?

Christmas in Bombay

WINTER 2010 Ok..not yet winter..but still wanted to capture the activity in December..Once we booked our tickets to India for christmas, we could not think or do anything that was not related to the holiday. A simple request like 'can you fix the lightbulb in my room dad?" would elicit a response.."no, we'll do it when we get back from India". Anyways, we spent our time buying gifts for everyone and ourselves. The travel to bombbay was tiring but good. we had a stopover in paris for 2 hours..where i changed Kimberly;s dirty diaper in the children's play area..i was tired and the airport washroom (at least where we were seated) did not have a baby changetable. so there..an explanation if Kimberly ever gets to reading this post and finds out the nasty thing I did. anyways, Kyren/Yohann/Keith and mum travelled home in one car..keith told us later that the boys were looking around surprised and trying to comprehend the birthplace of their parents and Yohann made an observation "looks like the city was destroyed and the only thing that survived was the people" ha ha..that was only the beginning...when they rode in a rickshaw for the first time..they jumped in excitedly and started looking around for seatbelts.. We had a great great time in bbay..everynight we sat around until midnight sipping wine and chatting. Mum made sure we had great food which we would always remember..and she's accomplished that. fried bombils/ targollas/ coconut water and malai. Chappatis in the morning for b/fast/ brun bread/ multigrain bread/ cheese/ jam and eggs. lunch was fish curry/ rice/ 2 vegetables and fried fish. Dinner was a feast of and un-gravy dish/ cutlets/fried chicken..i am salivating even now. Joel came running home from school everyday and devoted every minute and breath of his playing with kyren, yohann and kimberly. I miss you joel, so much. Jane/Elvido came home everyday after work and spent all of their free time with us. Fiona came in from Mauritius a few days later. she is Mrs Claus. she bought tons of gifts for the kids and homemade christmas cake which was to die for. Aunty Elsa and Noreen came and spent a couple of days with us. Aunty Elsa made the most amazing cheesestraws. kyren is begging me to learn..but i dont' think mine would turn as good as the original. Christmas in Bbay. We went for midnight mass and was surprised to see the entire Domenic colony was decorated with Christmas lights including the inside lanes...such a beautiful sight and so christmassy...all around the church there were shops with an abundance of christmas sweets/ decorations/ and people hurrying about trying to get their shopping done.

We had such a feast on Christmas day (Roast Chicken/ Sorpotel/ Meat Loaf/ Roast Beef/Salad/ Rice/ Sanaas/ and christmas sweets for Dessert.

The boys had a fantastic time in bombay. Their aunts spoiled them rotten. They went to the play zone at Inorbit mall frequently. Yohanna tried paper dosas and Kimberly tried a rava dosa plain. We all went to Manori, which is a small island just outside bombbay. so serene and quite and we took a horse carriage to reach the bungalow that we booked. We played on the beach and the boys built sand castles. Kimberly sat on a fishing boat and refuse to vacate it. we had to pull her out kicking and screaming. We went to far end of the beach for a walk where couples make out..and Kimberly went into a rocky area where she parked herself and did not want to move. we again had to carry her kicking and screaming... The smell of sea water combined with the white foamy waves should make it into the book of awesome.

GOA We arrived in Goa on Jan 1st and stayed with the banglore gang..we went that night to dinner at Cavallis with all of them. We were 20 of us including some friends from New Zealand. We stayed at Giselle's house in Goa. We visited Jennifer/ Ronnie one day and the next went parasailing and jet sking. All new experiences for us and thoroughly enjoyable.

Anniversary

Elvido Jane Joel mum and armando dropped us back to airport. Chaotic at the airport but that was expected. In france, we took a cab to see the Eiffel tower. Paris is beautiful and we would like to go back for a longer time.

Jaron came to pick us from the airport. Karen and Lancy were waiting for us at home with food that June made. Also our fridge was stocked with all our favourite food courtesy giselle..croissants for the boys with strawberries and blue berries. smoked salmon/ humus/ and baguette.

J's awesome poetry

OBAMA

Smart, President Ruling, Caring, Solving
Obama rules the U.S.A.
I live in a house
Cooling, Living, Heating
Tall, Convenient
Awesome

Open Door Open Door
Open, Connected
Opening, Swaying , Creaking
Numbers, Multiplication
Closed door

What I dislike
Doing lots of homework
Going for a bath
Watching T.V
Playing games on the computer
And I dislike math


What I like My mom and dad
Playing soccer
Playing manhunt
Having no homework
Riding my bike




I like fishing on a boat
But sometimes I ta0ke a break and watch a goat
I like when the water is calm
But then my mum puts Balm
And then we go home and vote


I like reading a book
And then my brother comes and the book shook
And he wants me to play
And then I say ‘No Way’
And then he starts helping my cook!’


Pencils in my pocket are really very green
But then someone stole it and he is very mean
I went in search of the pencils that were in my pocket
So I searched and searched, and the man was keen
So he gave my pencils back and so I was clean


Betty bought some butter
The Butter was Bitter
So Betty bought some better Butter
To make the bitter Butter better

Fall / AutumnI like Fall so much!
Halloween is in Autumn
Don’t you like it too?


J - Jamming with the Guitar
E - Enter into Jeremy’s pride
R - Reading books all the time
E - Everlasting love for the computer
M - My brother’s turning good
Y - Yes its true! Even I cannot believe it

H - Huron is One
O - Ontario is Two
M - Michigan is Three
E - Erie sounds weird
S - Superior I cannot pronounce


Pencils

Yellow, Slender
Writing, Helping, Decorating
Awesome to have
Eraser

Obama
Wonderful, Cool
Ruling, Dancing, Partying
Best President ever!
PRESIDENT

Cony's bday

Jan 24th,

We went to Connnies Bday..A bowling party that was to start at 7pm..Keith as usual has been consistently driving home to all at home that bedtime is 7:30..so we started to look for a babysitter so that kids could be in bed by 8pm...our babysitter was a cute young girl but not so young that we would worry about her capability.
Keith made pork tenderloin with potatoes for dinner for us...he knows I come back ravenous as lunch is usually a small s/wich followed by a cup of tea at 2:30pm. I am trying to keep to a 1200 calorie diet. which actually is quite easy if I don't indulge too much in the sweet stuff...so I got home, quickly loaded my plate and ew!!! i decided i don't like the bite of pork..it has just got that weird bite, I don't know, but i hated it..so I spat it out, quickly dressed up. showed melody how to wrap kimberly in a blanket and put her to sleep. i could see my little doll standing on a chair at the table, touching everything in site...i love her sooooo much, she is the most beautiful girl in this world...I would give god A++++ for the masterpiece he has created. anyways, we slipped out, got into the car and drove off...it was nice actually not to hve the boys yelling at the back..just me and keith. we talked and laughed and enjoyed the ride.
We had lots of fun bowling...i sorta missed my kids though...i felt free but i missed them...like when you have pain in some area and then it's gone, you miss it :-) ;-). We kept checking our cellphone for any frantic calls, expecting to hear ' come home, kim is crying etc' but nothing, so we continued to play and socialise (I didn't know then, but there was no coverage as the bowling alley was an underground thing and Ky did call to say goodnight and wanted to know when we were going to be home')...
On our way home, Melody called us, she said that Kim wouldn't sleep and we know that she was extremely tired as she had woken up at 1:30 pm that day, so we were expecting her to be asleep when we got that call at 9:15pm..Keith was cool but still I could see he was trying to get home quickly, she has his heart, totally.

....but kim was awake when we got back...her small beautiful face pressed to the window searching for us...melody told us that she refused to go into our bedroom and kept knocking on ky's bedroom door to open it...they went to sleep on time...and then she came down and slipped her boots on and was trying to reach to main door knob to go out to look for us....it was an experience but I don't think keith and myself will do it again....but it was a good experiment that cost us $50. Keith looked sad when melody was telling us how kim put her boots on and was trying to open the door....gosh, how i love that girl.

melody also told us that boys were super nice but she said that yohann was a bit boistrous...i suspect it had to do with dealing with kim..he bosses her around....ky is very gentle with her and will never yell at her..but yo sometimes yells like we sometimes lose our cool and yell at him....