Archive for the 'Holidays' Category

2011 Christmas Gift Exchange

Published on October 24, 2011 in Fun Stuff and Holidays. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

At the request of several people, the drawing was done early this year. Last year, the drawing took place November 6, and today is October 24, so we’re about 2 weeks early…

The drawing of the names has been done, and the results are below. I believe that no one is buying for anyone that they’ve bought for in the last 5 years or more.

  • Alisa buys for Nanny
  • Andrea buys for Dad
  • Brianna buys for Jason
  • Dad buys for Lisa
  • Graham buys for Brianna
  • Jason buys for Andrea
  • Julia buys for Mom
  • Lisa buys for Julia
  • Mom buys for Graham
  • Nanny buys for Ron
  • Ron buys for Alisa

Note: Please look it over and let me know if there are any mistakes. We don’t want people buying for each other as part of the gift exchange. We also don’t want spouses buying for each other as part of the gift exchange.

Here are some guidelines:

  • As far as I know, we will continue with the $50 amount. There is no rule about spending exactly $50 to the penny, and no rule about whether it is $50 including tax or $50 plus tax. Just get something nice for the person that is close to $50.
  • Try not to get a gift card for the person (or give cash, or equivalent) unless that is what they specifically ask for
  • It would be good if people could provide a list (more than just a couple of items) to the person who is buying for them. That way the person receiving will be getting something they want, but if the list is long enough, they won’t know which it is.

I assume we’ll be hosting the traditional Christmas Eve party at our house again.

2010 Christmas Gift Exchange

Published on November 6, 2010 in Holidays. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Last year, the drawing took place November 5, and today is Nov 6, so I’m only 1 day late…

The drawing of the names has been done, and the results are below. I believe that no one is buying for anyone that they’ve bought for in the last 5 years or more.

  • Alisa buys for Dad
  • Andrea buys for Julia
  • Brianna buys for Graham
  • Dad buys for Ron
  • Graham buys for Mom
  • Jason buys for Brianna
  • Julia buys for Lisa
  • Lisa buys for Alisa
  • Mom buys for Nanny
  • Nanny buys for Andrea
  • Ron buys for Jason

Note: Last year there was a mistake and it took us a few weeks to notice it. Please look it over and let me know if you see any problems.

Here are some guidelines:

  • We will continue with the $50 amount. There is no rule about spending exactly $50 to the penny, and no rule about whether it is $50 including tax or $50 plus tax. Just get something nice for the person that is close to $50.
  • Don’t get a gift card for the person (or give cash, or equivalent) unless that is what they specifically ask for
  • It would be good if people could provide a list (more than just a couple of items) to the person who is buying for them. That way the person receiving will be getting something they want, but if the list is long enough, they won’t know which it is.

We’ll be hosting the traditional Christmas Eve party at our house again. Nanny has also mentioned to us that she’ll have some games ready. We’re also open to discuss anything new you’d like to try/do that night when we’re together. We’ll send more details out as we get closer to December.

2009 Christmas Gift Exchange

Published on November 5, 2009 in Holidays. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

merry_christmas

After the initial request for comments I sent out and the limited response, I have gone ahead and done the drawing for the 2009 Christmas Gift Exchange. I do have to confess that I did get one request to rig the election, but my high moral values wouldn’t let this happen (or the person didn’t offer me enough to make it worth my while!). I did this about 3 weeks earlier this year than last.

I’m pretty sure that once again no one is buying for anyone that they have bought for since we started this. This will be the last year this will happen so next year some people will need to buy for someone they’ve already purchased for.

So, here are the arrangements:

  • Alisa buys for Brianna Julia
  • Andrea buys for Ron
  • Brianna buys for Jason Mom
  • Dad buys for Nanny
  • Graham buys for Alisa
  • Jason buys for Lisa
  • Julia buys for Jason
  • Lisa buys for Julia Brianna
  • Mom buys for Andrea
  • Nanny buys for Graham
  • Ron buys for Dad

We will continue with the $50 amount. There is no rule about spending exactly $50 to the penny, and no rule about whether it is $50 including tax or $50 plus tax. Just get something nice for the person that is close to $50.

I assume we will be hosting the traditional Christmas Eve party at our house again, but Lisa can send more details about that later.

Nice visit with the family

Published on May 31, 2009 in General and Holidays. 1 Comment

Go
Here is a link to a slideshow of pics I took yesterday.

Thanks everyone, we had a great time.

Matthew the Archaeologist

Published on February 3, 2009 in Children and Holidays. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

For Christmas, Nanna and Poppa (Mom & Dad) got Matthew a gift that would let Matthew “dig” for dinosaur bones. It was a block of sand of some kind, and there was a toy dinosaur inside in pieces. It would have taken Matthew a few years to chissel out the pieces as they were in there pretty good. Even Lisa wasn’t able to help much. The set came with “tools”, but I even had to get out a real hammer and chissel to get the “bones” out. Regardless, Matthew had a great time, and we made a huge mess (you can see stuff all over the table and floor). Here are some pictures.

Matthew “digging”:

20090126_mattthew_01

You can see lines from Matthew’s goggles:

20090126_mattthew_02

Here is the raptor that we put together with the bones we dug out:

20090126_mattthew_03

2008 year in review – 2009 look ahead

Published on January 3, 2009 in Family Home Evening and Holidays. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

For our Family Home Evening this past week we reviewed the year and talked about what we were looking forward to this year.
Here, in no particular order, is our list of things that were noteworthy in 2008:

  • Andrew ate lots of Nanna’s hospital food
  • Andrew got 2 trophies from bowling in the summer
  • Lisa got a new calling (released as Primary Music Leader and called as Enrichment Leader)
  • We got a new van
  • Andrew got his own room
  • Matthew got his own room (because Andrew got his own room)
  • Matthew got out of Nursery and started Sunbeams
  • We got some of the bathroom redone
  • Christine kept getting cuter
  • Graham kept his calling
  • Matthew learned how to write his name
  • Andrew learned to tie his shoe laces
  • Christine learned to walk (it was a Christmas miracle)
  • Andrew passed a swimming course
  • Matthew passed a swimming course (Sea Turtle)
  • We put in new tiles in the kitchen
  • Andrew really got into LEGO
  • Christine says “Hi” to everyone
  • We spent a lot of time at the hospital visiting Nanny, Mom, and other people
  • Andrew spent the March Break at Grandma and Grandpa’s house
  • Graham started a monthly father/son night
  • Andrew started grade 1
  • Matthew started JK
  • Christine turned 1
  • Matthew turned 4
  • Andrew turned 6
  • Andrew was the student of the month in SK
  • Lisa went in her first craft sale
  • We went to Buckhorn

Here are some things were are looking forward to in 2009, or things we would like to change (quasi-resolutions):

  • Andrew will start grade 2 and turn 7
  • Matthew will start SK and turn 5
  • Christine will turn 2
  • We will go to Florida in February
  • Julia will get married in March
  • Both boys want to pass another swimming course
  • Matthew would like to whine less (honestly, he said this himself)
  • Andrew will listen better
  • Lisa will be more fun (when she said this, the boys yelled out, “Yay!”)
  • Lisa will exercise more regularly
  • Graham will be less of a “junker” (this is the boys nickname for Graham because he always gives them junk food)
  • Graham will keep working on the house
  • As a family, we’d like to do monthly service for someone
  • Lisa and Graham want to get to the temple every month.

In case you were wondering, Graham and Andrew stayed up till midnight on New Year’s Eve. Matthew was allowed to, but was too tired to stay up so he went to bed. Lisa was obviously allowed to stay up, but slept on the couch for a couple of hours. Lisa, Graham, and Matthew were up for the actual date change at midnight.

2008 Christmas Gift Exchange

Published on November 25, 2008 in Holidays. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

This morning I used an advanced algebraic formula along with a secret combinatorial factor supplied by NASA and I figured out who should buy for who (or it is whom?). No one is buy for their spouse, and no one is buying for anyone that they have bought for since we started this.

  • Alisa buys for Julia
  • Andrea buys for Graham
  • Brianna buys for Lisa
  • Dad buys for Andrea
  • Graham buys for Dad
  • Jason buys for Mom
  • Julia buys for Nanny
  • Lisa buys for Jason
  • Mom buys for Brianna
  • Nanny buys for Alisa

Just like last year, the gift is to be approximately $50. Just to be clear (in case anyone asks), there is no rule about spending exactly $50 to the penny, and no rule about whether it is $50 including tax or $50 plus tax. Just get something nice for the person that is close to $50. For the record, it wasn’t until I typed up this posting that I actually paid attention to the fact that Andrea was buying for me and could use her discount. Honestly!

We will be hosting the traditional Christmas Eve party at our house again. Lisa has a couple of new additions to the snacks. She’ll be contacting the various households soon with food/refreshment assignments. Nanny will provide a game again. And of course there will be singing :-)

With regards to the take-away gift exchange game, there was some small debate as to whether it should continue, what the price should be, how it should be run, etc. One thought was that it was more fun when the gifts were cheaper. Another thought was that the game hasn’t been very fun for a while, and maybe we should do something else. After talking it over, here’s what we are going to do:

  • We’re going to do the gift exchange game one more time this year
  • The price needs to be no more than $10 including tax
  • Everyone needs to purchase something. No baking, giving away freebies that are worth a lot, etc.
  • Remember, the point of the game is buy a gift that someone would want to “steal” from someone else

The point of the rules obviously isn’t to take away from the fun. It’s to make sure we are all doing the same thing so things are fair. If the game is a dud this year, then maybe we’ll come up with something else next year.

I think that’s it. If you have any questions, email Lisa or me and we’ll get back to you…

Buckhorn in Summer 2008

Published on August 27, 2008 in Birthdays, Holidays and Photos. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

One of the highlights of the summer is going up to Buckhorn. Some of the family are lucky enough to be there for the full two weeks. We were able to be there for parts of 6 or 7 days (essentially 4 days the first weekend, 2 days the last weekend). Every year I comment how beautiful it is and how I wish I could stay longer. The weather wasn’t as nice as years past, but there was still lots to do.

The first trip up, the boys “swam”, we walked, and we relaxed. We went to the Whetung Ojibwa Art and Crafts Gallery. We also had an adventure at the Lakefield Fair. The second trip up, we went into Peterborough, went mini-putting, and excavated pieces of the Canadian shield for Lisa’s parents (thanks for your help Dad and Jason). Whether it was the first or second trip, Christine insisted on staying up late and waking up early. I guess cottage life was just too exciting for her.

I took loads of pictures. As is usually the case, you can see some of the thumbnails below, and see the rest of the thumbnails and larger versions in the Buckhorn in Summer 2008 gallery.





It seems like it is tradition now that we have a party each year. Two years ago we had a shower for Alisa. Last year we had a shower for Lisa. This year we decided to have a party on Andrew’s birthday. Lisa parents (Andrew’s Grandma and Grandpa) came up for the afternoon and we had a party in the “party room”. You can see pictures specifically from the party in the 20080727 Andrew’s Family Birthday Party in Buckhorn gallery.

Note: There are now 4,100 images in 175 categories

Christine’s 6th and 7th Months

Published on May 18, 2008 in Children, Holidays and Photos. 0 Comments

Christine Lisa Wing at 7 months

As they say, time flies when you’re having fun… and with Christine, time flies fast! She is so much fun. We can’t believe how happy she is. I’ve done the usual thing and posted pictures in the Christine’s 6th and 7th Months gallery. These aren’t all of them (there are 60+ pictures), but here is a selection of thumbnails:



She rarely cries, and is usually making some sort of noise (talking) and smiling. She is out of her “stunned” phase, and now often looks quite serious. She has been eating “solid” foods for a little while. I was teasing Lisa that the foods weren’t really that solid, but I guess it still counts. At her 6 month checkup, she weighed 18 lbs.

She has stopped spitting up (miracles will never cease!) so she doesn’t smell like rotten milk anymore. Yay!! She plays with her feet, and pretty well anything else she can get her hands on. And almost everything she can get her hands on ends up in her mouth. Speaking of hands, she has learned to clap on demand.

She really (that’s an understatement) likes to rock herself. She would go berserk in the Jolly Jumper. She moves her rocking chair across the room (even though it has no wheels). She entertained a group of school kids the other day at Andrew’s school as she rocked herself during a school play. I’d try to describe it (she basically moves forward and back very hard), but seeing is believing. She can usually stay sitting up on her own until she starts rocking and falls over.

She has her first two teeth (I call them bottom front teeth, Lisa calls them lower incisors). As has happened with Andrew and Matthew, the arrival of teeth also meant she was sick. She tries to pull herself up whenever she is down (physically, not emotionally). She can get into a crawling position but doesn’t move anywhere yet.

Lastly, she is a pretty funny girl. As I said, she smiles all the time. The other day we were driving to Lisa’s parents place (Christine’s Grandma and Grandpa) and she sneezed and then giggled like she had told a joke or something. It was very funny!

I’m back

Published on March 1, 2008 in Holidays. 2 Comments

I got back to waterloo last Saturday. Everything went well and my luggage wasn’t lost! Overall the trip was amazing. I worked 8 to 5 every day, so we didn’t do much else. What I said in the first post is about it. We had two days off, one at the beginning and one at the end. We went to an aquarium and zoo and went sight-seeing. We broke into a fort, too. We then broke out, which was harder than breaking in. That’s about it.