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.