Merry Christmas!!

It's Christmas Eve morning here and we wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas.
We're heading off to Ottawa for the next few days...splitting our time between my brothers place and Darryl's sisters place. It will be great to spend Christmas with family. Of course we'll miss all our family and friends that can't be with us!

We're very thankful for all we have this Christmas. Health and happiness, family and friends, food and drinks...we're are very fortunate. And thankful.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Some Christmas Cheer!!

Oh, yeah. Tis the Season to be Jolly!!!

I started work today so this has made the past week very busy! With Christmas around the corner, winter flus/colds in full swing, physio appointments, and preparation for work, there has been lots going on. I've been to the post office 3 times and still have one more trip to make! I know...why? Because I have NO boxes so I go to the post office to buy a box, then go home to wrap the gift, then back to the post office to mail the box!

A very sloooooow process!

:) Tomorrow will be my last trip.

But, we've squeezed in some fun stuff too!

We had the Ubisoft party on Saturday and had a super time with everyone. The kids enjoyed their sleepover and we enjoyed our night out. We met up at Jolyne and Karine's for pre-drinks and then to the party. It was crazy the amount of people there. We never did find Mike and Mireille!

It was really tough to get some decent pictures with the lighting...and I wasn't that dedicated to test out all the settings on the camera. Just wanted to have some fun with everyone!

Darryl did ridiculous Gob Bluth (Arrested Development) poses allllll night...
And Gob dance moves all night...
He was quite entertaining. :)

How do Karine and Suzy look so great in EVERY pic??! Damn you!

Yes, Jolyne joined in with the silly poses...I couldn't get proper pics from them most of the night! But, I'll blackmail Jolyne with pics later. Heeheheeeeee

We had a super time and thanks to everyone for coming out with us!

And it was really nice to see some Aussie faces. I knew about 10 people out of the 3000 there.
Not bad, right??

As we get further into the night...more drinks...

Ah, they're just too cute!

And a night out wouldn't be complete without someone getting hurt. I'm not sure what happened to this poor guy but I think he laid on the floor for 2hours before they finally got him out of there! It's was sad really. I could have diagnosed him, patched him up, and sent him on his way faster than the 4 paramedics that were there!!!!

Ah, Darryl does clean up well. Handsome man! We had a wonderful night and can't wait for Christmas next week. It's right around the corner!

After the party on Saturday, we got rolling Sunday morning, cleaned up, and went out to buy us a Christmas tree! It's all decorated and looking beautiful I think! The kids love the angel we bought. It lights up so they were super impressed.
Christmas tree pics to follow!!

Tomorrow is the day

Quick update:

Breagha's dental surgery is tomorrow. She is finally getting her teeth done! We started the process in Australia but after being told that it was going to cost $5500.00 (with coverage!), we thought we would see if she could wait until we got back to Canada. We were told that she could wait but to keep an eye on the teeth and any pain.

It was nice to be told the exact same thing in Brisbane and Montreal. She needs to have crowns on all her back teeth and then the canine teeth will basically be covered with a white filling. She has no enamel on her teeth (preemie thing) so they are very weak and have already started to crack/chip. And she may have her back teeth until she is 11-12 years old so the procedure needs to be done.

After arriving in Montreal in May I took Breagha to our old dentist. They confirmed the need for surgery and set me up with the specialist. $240.00 is the total cost! :) Glad we decided to wait. I still hate the idea of Breagha needing an anesthetic but there isn't anything we can do about it. She doesn't know that she'll be asleep for the procedure. I just told her that she will be getting a needle for the pain. Hopefully she'll cope well with everything.

Good luck little B.

And thennnnnn, I start work next week! Yeap, I start on Dec16 and I'm pretty excited. It's with my old company and it's a 3 month contract. I passed up a contract in September as I had just started my French course. But, I didn't want to pass up another. The extra money will be awesooooooome! I'll be working in a different department so new stuff to learn. And I'll be working from home. So, super happy about that. Thank you to my friend Suzy for being so great to me! She's been wonderful. I'll still have a week off for the holidays so we'll be hanging out in Ottawa!

Ubisoft Family Christmas Party

The holiday season is here!!!
Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, Christmas baking, Christmas music (my favorite), and most important - Christmas Cheer!


Last Sunday was the Ubisoft Family Christmas party and the kids had a blast. It was really quite impressive. I didn't think about it until we arrived...and saw the hundreds of kids! A studio of 2000 employees will produce lots and lots and lots of children!

And everything went smoothly! :)

Breagha was very keen on the cupcake decorating...

Of course each child was given a gift from Santa...and an UbiKids tshirt. Very cute.

I tell ya...........kids were EvErYwHeRe!
This pic was taken at the end of the party. Previously the line up to get near the games/rides was very long.

It was great to see Mike, Mireille, and the boys there. Familiar faces. :)

Breagha still won't go near Santa so this was the dude who passed out the,
"I'm scared of Santa but still want a gift"
gift...

Darryl sporting his "movember stache".

Lots of entertainment for the kids. Nothing was missing so hats off to Ubi.

Not sure about this circus string juggling thingy but Shamus loved it and invested lots of time trying to master it!

The adult Christmas party is this Saturday. I hope my back can handle the high heel shoes!!
My physio has been going really well though. Apparently I have a bulging disc. But, things are improving quickly so I'm very very thankful for this. I can stand up straight now :) and the disc is almost back in the proper place. Good stuff.

With the holiday season in full swing here, it is also a reminder about how lucky we are. My school (where I'm taking French), Shamus' school, and Breagha's daycare are all sponsoring a family for Christmas. Families in need of food and gifts for Christmas. While our money is tight with me not working, we can still help other families and I'm so thankful for that. It reminds me that some things are not that important...as long as we have health and happiness.

So, help out this holiday season if you can!!!

Weekend away. Verrrry nice.

Yes, we had a little weekend away. And it was soooo nice! 2 weekends ago we ventured up north and enjoyed cabin living for a couple of days. It was too short but wonderful! It was relaxing and that was just what I needed! A little chance to unwind and relax with family and friends.

And with food and wine. :)

Karine did most of the organizing so a big thanks to her! I didn't cook a meal the whole weekend and loved it! Some minor assisting and clean up. I can handle that!

The cabin was about 5 minutes outside Mont Tremblant village. Shamus and Breagha were very happy on Saturday morning as they woke up to snow! Breagha didn't wait for brekky. Outside!

The weekend was a lot of this...

And a lot of this...

I hurt my back the day we went to Mont Tremblant (old injury that won't stay away!!) so everyone was wonderful and helped out with the kids. Thanks guys!!

Suzy showing off the Znidarec muscles!!

There was also a lot of food!!

I was so glad we got a little bit of snow...Shamus and Breagha were so pleased!

Ahhh, snow angels.

The food was excellent...

God Bless Jeff in the kitchen!

Oh, and the weekend wasn't complete without some Twister action! Again, I couldn't play, due to my back ;) so the ladies took my place!!

Some pool before dinner...

And no cabin is complete without a fire place!!! So cozy.

It was so nice to get out of the city and just relax. I LOVE the fresh air!

Hopefully we'll be able to plan another weekend away in the new year. But, without the back pain!

Thanks guys for super weekend.