Merry Christmas 2006

Oh, Christmas comes so quick it seems. All that shopping, buying, wrapping and then boom it is over. Having to travel to two sets of parents makes for such a rushed and hectic day. I realize Christmas is a time for family, but it seems like our family never has much relaxing time together during the holidays. I guess Nicole starting a new job in a week and the fact that we do not have a home yet just adds to the frustration.

But anyway, we still had a great Christmas as the pictures will attest!
















At nanny's for the afternoon...












Christmas Evening at the Landry's...








Fortunately, not turkey again: Salmon.



The Wii is helping Denis lose a few pounds!

Letter to Santa from Rachel

Dear Santa,

This year I would like another Dear Canada diary, I would also like a journal, and a dream life game for the T.V., I would like a FLY pen and some Fly paper. I would also like a Chat Now phone (X 2 in a pack) and a paint kit with every colour and special painting paper. Plus, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 dvd.

That is pretty much all I want!

Sincerely,
Rachel Taylor
PS. What kind of cookies do you like?

Letter to Santa from Erica

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I would like Bratz, Teddy Bears, a purple drumset, a Karoke, clothes, polly pockets, some pajamas, books, cd, and a laptop or a desktop computer, and I would like Dreamlife and a Video Now video camera.
That is all I want for Christmas. Hope you like the cookies and milk.

Last Minute Science Fair Project

We thought we learned last year that Jacob has a habit of letting us know at the last minute that he has a project due. Apparently we didn't! To make matters worse, Jacob picked another electrical project..I guess he forgot that Nicole was a Chemical Engineer and not an Electrical Engineer. He is making a light which runs on magnets and shaking, not on batteries. Looks like it will be a busy two nights.

Halloween..Taylor Style

The weather cooperated this year for Halloween; cool but at least it was not raining.
We had 63 trick or treaters which is down from our high of 105 six or seven years ago. I was pleasantly surprised at how polite most of the kids were.





Jacob, Rachel and Erica went for almost two and a half hours (a small break)which I believe is a record. Usually somebody is complaining that it is too cold/wet/feet sore/arms sore...something. This year I think it was Mamame who was tired and cold!
No candy apples or fudge this year, just a lot of chips and candy. Not many chocolate bars either, bust be too expensive. We gave out bars, chips and suckers and came very close to running out.

Pumpkin Picking

We grew 3 pumpkins this year in our pumpkin patch and actually planted them early enough that they grew a pretty good size. Unfortunately, Erica's rotted on the vine and Jacob's pumpkin tired of the three weeks of rain and was not too healthy when he picked it up...yuck!





After a trip to the grocery store for two more pumpkins, it was time to clean and carve. Naturally, Erica lasted until her hands touched the gooey stuff inside the pumpkin and then daddy had to finish the rest. Rachel relished cleaning her pumpkin and one could safely put it over their head as she scraped the insides completely out.



The kids each drew their design and then Nicole cut out the designs for them. Since it was late an we rushed the three off to bed, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Oh well, the pumpkins will be making their debut in less than 24 hours anyway.

And Now The Roof...

We have had a "roofer" picked out for three weeks now but the weather has not been cooperating. Finally, it looked like we may see one day of sun so the "roofer" decided to tackle the job. Good job, as the shingles are coming off the roof faster than leaves of a tree! It did rain a bit, but mostly it was cold, with daytime highs of a whopping 4-5 degrees celcius. The roof is complete, and we are $2800 poorer.

Swimming Results

Erica passed Swimmer 1
Rachel passed Swimmer 2 and 3
Jacob passed Swimmer 4

Next Job: The Deck

One of the few times all three of the kids wanted to help with outdoor chores; when it was time to destroy! Yes, everyone seemed very enthusiased with the idea of ripping apart our old, rotten deck. Mind you, the girls were quickly bored with the whole idea while Jacob kept on banging away.