teamluguy

Janette and Dave are visiting us for a few days, so we drove over to our "future" house and took a photo out front. We then cruised around the public land surrounding the place - the park next door, forest path in the rear, rink and park at the end of the street. We're practically moved in already!

Santa was very good to us agian this year. It's been an especially happy week, with the good news of our new house, and of course the birth of Emma, not to mention the return of Unky G from Manitoba. Things couldn't get much better, but then Santa dropped in and left us some dollies, books and Legos. Sweet. Best toy of 2011 - Guy's remote control helicopter. It lasted over 24 hrs before breaking! Traditional Christmas brunch - minus the Trudels who were hunkered down at home with their new baby. Finally, a bit of beautiful snow. We hope you had a wonderful, happy, safe and healthy holiday season with your loved ones. xxx

Guy and Lucy sneaked in a little visit with Miss Emma Elizabeth on Christmas Eve. What a lovely little girl she is. All pink and squishy and sleepy and quiet. Can't wait to spend more time with you, and of course your big sister, Olivia.

This really has been a big week for our family. Alice and Estelle's newest cousin, and Olivia's little sister, was born on Tuesday December 20th. Emma Elizabeth was born in Montreal after a well-orchestrated birthing process (grandparents, Matante Mylène, and of course doctors and nurses were all involved.) We have yet to meet this little treasure, but saw a photo of beautiful Emma on Unky G's iphone. Can't wait to meet her in person. A wonderful early Christmas gift!

We did it. We bought a new house. It is in our neighbourhood, located walking distance from school and daycare, 2 parks, skating rink. It backs onto a forest and has manicured greenspace next door. The main attractions are the garage, renovated bathroom and in ground swimming pool. Its pretty much a done deal at this point we'll be moving in sometime in June. On the left is the park (just green-space with a bridge). Formal living room with wood fireplace. They didn't want to throw in the Santa painting. Informal dining room. Formal dining room. Kitchen; we need a new fridge and stove. WOWY WOW WOW: massive bathroom. Walk-in shower with more jets than family members. Upstairs landing. Back yard (we know, we know... fence around the pool). There is a forest behind the yard (pretty mature growth). The city is selling an extra 9 meters of land to all the people on the street for pretty cheap, so we will end up with a bigger yard than we have now. There doesn't seem to be any de...

I had my first trip to Africa last week and got to meet some exceptional people and see some amazing sights. Lake within the city and the permanent smog cloud that hangs over the capital of Ouagadougou. The smog is from the coal and wood fires that the citizens use to make supper. Cotton field that is right next to the exploration camp. Typical view of the field. Lion lurking? Not anymore. I got to hold a gold bar after going through some pretty strict security. The density of gold is 19kg/litre. This means that this little bar weighs about 42 pounds and is equivalent to 10 2 litre milk cartons. So when you see the bank robbers tossing gold bars into a backpack and running off, tell yourself that those actors must be supernaturally strong. Millet crop. I didn't get very much tourist time; but my driver stopped at the sacred crocodile pond.

Okay, so we didn't take many photos of René when he wsa visiting... We were too musy playing Lego!

Estelle's third birthday was a smashing, yet slightly reserved, success. We toned down the numbers a little and still managed to have boatlads of fun - making silly hats and eating burgers and cake. The best part? Pepe was here for the weekend and the party! Merci René, d'avoir fait le voyage nous voir pour la fête d'Estelle. Et bonne fête à toi pour jeudi.