Sweet Extract

Click on the photo for more pitter patter thereof.

Nico really loves his new puzzle. Thanks, Abuela! And Nico loves his new puzzle EVEN MORE with his Dada!

Notice Sebastian and his trains. Those are Thomas the Tank Engine trains. He (and, technically, Nicholas too) got them for his birthday. Alas, I think we’ve created a monster. A tiny, single-minded railroad baron who eats, sleeps and breathes “choo choo”. What the hell were we thinking?

So you’re wondering what happened during the gaping hole of updates that you see here?

Well, there’s the house thing. We came THIS close to buying a seemingly superb house only to find out that it was resting on quicksand disguised as a foundation. Our all-too-candid inspector called the place “a Pandora’s Box” and “not one house, but six badly connected houses”. Sigh.

(You know when, in horror movies, the charming, unsuspecting family moves into the house where the massacre happened and a ghostly voice says “GET OUUUUUUUTTTT”? It was kinda like that. But, unlike the horror movie family, we decided to get out before moving in.)

Then there’s the Martell Family Fall Birthday Extravaganza™. Sarah turned 18 in September, Charlie turned 16 this month, Javier turned… uh… 29, the boys turned TWO and Anna will be 14 in a couple of weeks. It’s not so much a few birthdays as an entire familial paradigm shift.

Speaking of turning two, the boys got some nifty stuff from their Grand-maman and Abuela. See? (Click on the photo below to see more stuff):

Here’s a video of Nico taking his new hoodie-jacket out for a spin around the bedroom. Merci Grand-maman! Oh, and notice the totally adorable penguin Croc shoes. Thanks Brian!:

I feel kind of ridiculous. I haven’t posted here in so long. I’m always too busy… which is a way of saying that other things take priority, I guess. But the thing is, I don’t just post here for all of you. I post here for me too.

Many times I’ve come back to read about my little guys; to remind myself of milestones I’ve forgotten or just to reminisce about how quickly two whole years can fly past.

As I’m sure you lament the lack of posts, I’m also quite certain that, when I look back, I’ll be disappointed to see gaping holes in this so-called diary.

So, for the next seven days, I promise to post once a day. They may not be long posts and they may not be particularly well crafted but I promise I’ll put some damn thing here tomorrow and everyday until next Sunday.

And, who knows, maybe that will give me the momentum I need to keep going beyond a week.

See ya tomorrow!

Banana bread is a big hit at our house although I’m not sure if it’s the taste or the stack-ability.

For the record, we’ve since cut both of their hair.

Goose doesn’t like it when I make him wait for me outside the coffee shop.

Consequently, he makes himself look as cute as possible so that everyone who walks by will stop to pet him.

The little Coucou books that I bought at Wal-mart in Montreal are Nicholas’ favourite. They have little flaps that he opens to reveal all sorts of things.

My personal favourite is this page:

The question asks what’s behind the red cloth. And when Nico opens the flap it reveals the bull. Immediately, he points to the bull’s nose and says “suce !” (French for pacifier).

Ha!

as in Mumbai, India.

You’d expect this, maybe, after having been parked in the sun in some black-tarred parking lot for 5 hours but this was the temperature after driving for an hour.

For those who live in Farenheit, that’s 106°.