Santa and His Reindeer?

Okay, are these not the cutest pictures ever!

NOTL Santa Claus Parade

Time stamp: 11:00 a.m., December 13, 2008 - Niagara's largest Santa Claus parade. Yes....it is. It stretches over 2 km; the start finishing when the finish is starting - did you follow that? It's big.... in a small town sort of way. The usual hokey real estate agency 'floats' of course, consisting of a car with the agent's sign on the door and the agent waving as if anybody cared; but there are also a number of out of town marching bands, miniature ponies, obedience school canine graduates, our own fife and rum marching band,, Shriner clowns, a Maid of the Mist on wheels, eight 'smart car' reindeer, a pug riding in an antique, yellow convertible....and Santa of course. Here's a taste.

Christmas Baking Weekend

With a title like that you might expect to see lots of pictures of folks baking and decorating and having a whale of a time. Well.... that is what happened; we just forgot to take pictures!

Kris, Steve, Matthew and Jack were here for the weekend, as were Mike and Robin and Robin's Mom Sharon and her friend Lee. It was a pleasant madhouse. Norah and Kristen did most of the baking, but left the decorating of the traditional sugar cookies to all who wished to get in the spirit.

Being a competitive family, we of course had a competition for the 'best' and 'worst' looking' cookies. Sharon won for 'best-looking' with a lovely sugar cookie Christmas Tree. Mike, naturally, won with his 'dead snowman'.

Since we didn't take any pictures on the weekend, except for Jack, he is the star. Note the shirt. We also have a few pictures of the winning cookies and the other goodies. Don't be fooled by the small plate. It may not look like very many cookies given the size of the labour force involved in the effort, but be assured there are boxes and boxes and boxes of these. More than enough to put pounds on just looking at them!

Thanks to all the helpers this weekend.

Jack's Baptism - November 9th, 2008

It was a big weekend for our little Jack Ryan - his Christening. And a lovely day it was.

But let's go back a bit. We arrived on Friday to be met by a happy, smiling, excited Matthew and his not-so-happy, unsmiling Mom who felt as if she had been battling hell-child all day. Oh oh! Not a good start to the busy, stressful weekend Mom was heading into. Jack, on the other hand, was doing what he does best - eat, sleep, coo and smile.

On Saturday the ladies went shopping while Matthew and Poppa spent fun time together at the park. Matthew later bragged about how he had climbed up 3 levels on the rope ladder, but Poppa did 4! No photos of that however.

Sunday was the big day. Godparents - Mike and Robin, and Paul and Lucy - following tradition, dressed Jack in his baptismal finery. It was fun just seeing the four of them (five including P&L's daughter Clarissa) trying to dress this wee guy! He maintained his cheery disposition until they put the hat on him. Paul and Lucy provided the Christening outfit. No dress for this guy! He had the tuxedo trousers (complete with suspenders), fancy shirt and vest, and matching jacket and shoes. Oh...and yes...the little hat. And topped off with a beautiful gold cross and chain from his Uncle Mike and Auntie Robin. Very cool dude!

Proud parents Kristen and Steve put on both a lovely pre-baptismal lunch, and also a celebratory meal for family and friends after the baptism at Zesty's. Excellent Italian - you should have seen the size of the lunch portion lasagna! And lots of wine to toast Jack. Thanks Kristen and Steve for such a nice day. We don't see a lot of Steve's side of the family so these get-togethers are especially nice.

And Matthew...well...he was the best big brother throughout the whole event, although you can tell from one picture that he wasn't totally into all that the priest had to say.

A Sunny November Day in NOTL

It's a beautiful fall day in Niagara-on-the Lake - 10 degrees, sunny and the leaves are about as good as they get down here. We tossed around the idea of playing golf today, but decided that with temperatures supposed to be in the high teens this next week, there is plenty of time for a couple more rounds of golf in nicer temperatures.

So we decided a walk along the Niagara River would give us an appetite for a glass of wine and the rib-eye steaks waiting to go on the grill later.

There are still a few sailboats on the river, as you can see in the picture of the tree hugger. Being on the water in 10 degree weather is not my cup of tea, but then everyone has their own way of enjoying the final few days of nice weather before the @#*& starts to fly.

Mike and Matthew Celebrate

October 27th is a doubly special day each year. It was the day Mike was born, 35 years ago, and the day Matthew was born 3 years ago. So this past weekend we all got together to celebrate their shared birthday.

It seems pretty evident that Matthew is going to be musically inclined: we know that because for the past couple months he has been insisting that he wanted a trumpet for his birthday. So guess what he got! And to make sure there will always be plenty of music in the Ferreira household, and to provide backup to Steve's rockin' Guitar Hero, his Uncle Mike and Auntie Robin got him a drumset. Oh joy! Poor wee Jack. With Matthew we tiptoed around and spoke in whispers whenever he slept; Jack...well that's a different story. He has learned to sleep through most things, and he is not even that bothered by the drumming, but those symbols can sure give a wee lad a fright and necessitate a diaper change.

In any event, we had a lovely time thanks to Kris and Steve. Kris made Mike his favorite: birthday cupcakes; and Matthew got to share those... plus his own Mickey Mouse cake. No sugar overload that weekend!

And since we won't be there for Halloween, the boys modeled their costumes for us as well. Have you ever seen a skunk as cute as that?

Thanksgiving 2008

After this past horrifying week on the stock market, saying 'Happy Thanksgiving' may have felt a bit like saying 'Have a nice cruise!' to the passengers on the Titanic, but giving thanks should be about acknowledging the blessings we have no matter how crazy things get sometimes. And we certainly do have so much to be thankful for: we have great kids who have found great partners to share their lives with; we have the most beautiful, loving grandchildren anybody could ask for; we are both healthy and - strangely - probably more fit than we have been in many years; we have a home that we love in a town that we love; and - this may sound corny but if so, too bad - we have each other to share these blessings with, and to support each other when the not-so-good things happen.

On to the weekend. Robin and Mike were in Ottawa for an engagement party hosted by Robin's Mom's side of the family. We missed them of course, but they had a great time in Ottawa and Mike got to meet lots more future family. Kristen and Steve and 'the boys' were down for the weekend so we took advantage of the amazing weather to go to Port Dalhousie to play on the beach and ride the Lakeside Park Carousel. This carousel was hand-carved by the Charles I.D. Looff Company between 1898 and 1905 and was brought to St. Catharines in 1921 when it was purchased to become a part of the Port Dalhousie amusement park. It is a Coney Island style carousel with 68 carved animals, 4 chariots and a functioning band organ. And it is still only 5 cents to ride!

Then on Sunday we went down to Queen's Royal Park by the lake. Matthew loves to go down to the lake to throw stones - and this year - chestnuts. This boy does not like being indoors when there is water to throw rocks into (be it our backyard pond or Lake Ontario), when there are flags to plant in the lawn to improve his golf game, and when there are soccer balls to kick around anytime, anywhere. Wee Jack, on the other hand, is still far more interested in eating and sleeping. In fact 'our little Sumo' is getting to be lovely and plump... and smiley and chatty....just the way we like 'em.

Here are a few photos from the weekend. None from Thanksgiving Dinner though. Although Kristen and Norah were very good in sticking to their highly successful efforts to become slimmer and more beautiful....I pigged out. Say no more!