Jingle Bells

T'was the week before Christmas
And in front of the tree
Contemplating the ornaments
Sat Liam and Lily

(Ok you sort of have to force that rhyme. Sorry, I'll try harder next time.)

Saucer Saturday night

(p.s. don't worry, our undying love for that other great game on ice hasn't changed.)

Happy (US) Thanksgiving

Yum. This weekend was the annual feast-to-end-all-feasts courtesy the Willis household's American Thanksgiving dinner. And what a feast it was. Craig was out of town curling and Liam stayed home with his grandparents, so Lily and I made sure to eat their share of delicious turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, veggies.... I am still feeling full. And sleepy.

Lily greatly enjoyed her first taste of pumpkin pie, but I think she enjoyed the pleasant company even more. Not to mention the retro 80s dinner music, that was pretty cool, too.

No DNA required

Yes, sir, that's your baby.

Me and Ed

Something about little girls turns big men to mush. This unexpected cuddly gift came Lily's way from our dear friend's father, Ed. As the patriarch of four females (two daughters and two granddaughters), Ed knows what it takes to please little ladies. As the story goes, he saw this bear in the store and decided on the spot that it must be Lily's. The bear -- also now named Ed -- is a big hit. Thanks, Ed.

Deck the halls

The Halloween treats are long gone and it's time to look forward to our next fun event: Christmas! Yesterday the weather was good for putting up the outdoor lights. However, first the strings needed to be unfolded and that calls for family participation.

(Please don't picket, the kids were offered a fair wage in exchange for their labour. And, no, we didn't send them up on the roof.)

If you, like me, used to help your dad do this annual task, you will remember the steps were as follows: untangle the strings of lights, check for wear, check for bulbs with blue, red, green or yellow paint chipping off and replace (with the same colour of course), plug the whole thing in and if it doesn't work, check bulb by bulb to see which one is burnt out and causing the whole string to fail.

Sheesh! Things are a lot easier these days with these fancy schmancy eco-friendly lights. Somewhere, you know Clark Griswold is shedding a little tear. And, yes, now I do feel very old, thanks for pointing that out.

Liam's first crack at this task was in 2005 at 10 months. Lily at six months in 2007.

Trick or Treat!

Liam was Diego, Lily was a buzzy buzzy bee. Both were extremely cute! Liam trick or treated for about an hour, and was jumping out of his skin to get outside for an hour before that.

Liam is all about the candy. At about the third house he started demanding access to his trick or treat bag. Went something like this: "WANT CHOCOLATE! HAVE CHOCOLATE ME!" All the other parents found this very amusing.

Needless to say, fun was had by all.

The Wiggles

Last Sunday we went to Liam's very first concert -- and we picked a biggie. The Wiggles, at Rogers Centre in Toronto (that's SkyDome to all you old-timers). We went with Liam's cousin Caleb and his Auntie Jo-Jo, which was exciting in itself.

I don't know how many bums were in seats but I'd be guessing about 5,000 anyway. That may be a conservative guess. In any case, we're talking a good number of strollers and pint-sized music fans.

It was a big day and Liam was so tired by the end of it that he refused to talk. This was exacerbated by the fact that during one especially enthusiastic burst of dancing, he fell and hit his mouth on the hard plastic chair. No permanent damage, but it hurt and it put a damper on the second half of the show. Good thing Liam, like his mommy, is soothed by retail therapy and a $20 plastic Wiggles light stick made things all better. As a friend of mine said, no wonder the Wiggles are so fabulously wealthy. Note to children's performers -- kids need room to move! Especially if you are actually encouraging them to get up and dance with you. So please, don't book places like the Rogers Centre where they have about 1/2 square foot of dirty, filthy floor available to them. Thank you.

Anyway, after a bit of battery recharging, Liam was back to his old self and talking up a storm about the Wiggles. Here was our view of the stage -- please don't sue me for posting this, Anthony, Jeff, Sam and Murray. After all, you are fabulously wealthy and I'm not.

Kids and food

Lily tried solids for the first time today. She was unsure about it.. liked it better when she got to hold the spoon but then of course that creates a situation where the bowl is emptied but very little of the food actually gets into the little girl.

So this got me thinking. What is it with kids that they would rather wear the food than eat the food? Case in point, Lily's big brother...

Sugar and spice...

... and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of. Especially these two little girls.

The oldest and the youngest

This summer we were glad to spend some with Markus while he was on school break and between the kazillion different camps and sports that he took part in. He taught Liam a lot of important boy things, like how to climb a tree and how to kick a soccer ball. But I think he saved his best moments for Lily. He is a great big cousin.

Cousins, an introduction

Liam and Lily are incredibly lucky to have four excellent lifetime friends within a short driving distance -- their cousins. What a bunch. Each child has his or her own unique look and personality, but there's no mistaking they all come from the same stock. One common thing being their love for family, which is being instilled in them by their excellent parents.

It's fun to watch the six kids interact. Liam worships Markus and will follow him anywhere. But he and Caleb share the same energy level and boyish glint in their eyes. Sarah takes care of everyone and is particularly gentle and nurturing with Lily -- the girls' club has formed already. And who could not love to hug Grant, young and old alike.

Liam can hardly contain his excitement when we tell him he will be seeing his cousins, and neither can we!

Baby's best friend

Our family album is not complete without Calli. Our good friend, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever who joined our family seven years before the arrival of the first baby, and who has had to make the most adjustments of all.

Poor Calli. Gone are the lengthy walks at dawn, the trips to a nearby field for hours of retrieving and the spontaneous visits to Lake Wilcox. But hey, now she is even better fed (if that's possible) with the additional hand-outs of cheerios, goldfish, and whatever else Liam has decided he has had enough of.

Calli is ten now and starting to slow down a bit, but she's still faster than the midget who chases her and I hope she always will be.

Calli with infant Liam, Feb. 2005, and imploring Lily to kick the ball May, 2007.

The World's Sweetest Baby

Alright, I know all parents say that but, seriously, this little girl is unbelievable. She sleeps through the night and gets a couple of solid naps in every day. She is often so quiet you almost forget she's there. She hardly ever cries, only when she's hungry or has a tummy pain. She smiles at everyone. She loves to cuddle and wraps her little arms right around your neck. She giggles on cue when you sing or bounce her on your knee.

We love our Lily!

The Finger

Liam has this little maneuvre we call "the finger." He is two, so he says "no" a lot. Often emphatically, and often accompanied by the finger. It's a stubby little index aimed square at the spot between your eyes. He does have deadly aim.

Sometimes the finger is a palm, and I'm not sure which is more frightening because with the palm you have five of the little suckers coming at you at once.

The only way to survive the finger is to ignore it. Laughing brings on heightened volume and a barrage of more fingers. But it is hard to not laugh.

Family cottages, part 3

So, you think, wow are these guys lucky to have two family cottages to enjoy. Yup. And the luck doesn't stop there. We also relish the opportunity to drop in at Casa Briggs North to experience nature, and nurture.

Liam is not old enough yet to stay up for the fire pit and s'mores, but it's only a matter of time. Until then he swims, feeds ducks and bombs around in Andoo's fast boat. Please admire his very trendy footwear, the beloved orange Crocs which barely left his feet all summer.

Lily prefers to hang out on the deck reading with Aunt Liz, and, really, who can blame her.

Family cottages, part 2

We also enjoy time in the North of South Ontario, at Lake Kennisis (which, according to one of Craig's Facebook groups, is better than your lake). Liam loves Grandpa's fast boat and feeding the ducks. It's also fun to go up in the loft.

This year Grandpa did a great job teaching Liam how to swim!

I have a good feeling the two kids will have many happy times up at Grandpa's cottage.

Family cottages, part 1

We are so very lucky to have two superbly beautiful summer places to retreat to. This summer, we got to both of them. In August, three of us got to spend two fantastic weeks at Frostfish cove (one of us only got to be there for one week, but hey, someone's gotta bring home the bacon). At the end of the cottage road is a small island called Micou's. I don't know if it's truly an island. It is attached to the mainland, but you can only walk there during low tide. But I digress.

This beautiful land was recently purchased from the Micou family by the province of Nova Scotia to be kept for public use. How could we not be happy about that? Liam sure seems to be. Now, the place where my brother, sister and I played as kids will be a place where our kids will play, too.

Here, Lily's toes take their very first dip into the Atlantic, with Nana's help and under Liam's watchful eye. She doesn't think it's that cold!

Sibling similarities

These kids do not look exactly alike. Liam is a lot more blonde, Lily's hair is finer and has a little bit of curl. Their ears are also very different. But the similarities are there from the blue blue eyes, to the shape of their mouths, to the freakishly long eyelashes. So I guess you can tell that they are brother and sister.

Ribfest 2007

These photos are from the first-ever Ribfest in June. I don't expect it will be the last. At least I hope not.

Here, Uncle Andrew teaches Liam how to fetch beer. A valuable skill from Andrew's perspective. Me, I wasn't all that thrilled about my boy becoming a beer-fetcher, however I did like that Andrew taught him to recognize the "gold" and "silver" cans, as differentiating between gold and silver will be important for him when he goes to the Olympics.

Andrew then took a break from teaching to bond with Lily.

The bears

I went for lunch on Friday with a good friend and she very generously gave the kids each a huge, snuggly teddy bear. Liam loves his bear. At first, he named his bear "Liam" and Lily's bear "Lily." Then, he changed his mind, now his is called "Bear" and Lily's is "Lily's Bear". What creativity!

Another exciting event this weekend was the return of the excersaucer, which we had loaned to some friends up the street whose babe is about three months older than Lily. It arrived just in time, Lily had become very bored of bouncy chairs and kicky gyms -- she was ready and raring to be upright. Liam was glad to see it back, too.

Father and children

I like this one. If you look closely, you can even see the dog in the background.

Double hockey sticks -- Liam and Lily

Craig says that he is asked often for pictures of our kids. We have lots of pictures. We just don't carry them around for fear of boring all of our friends to tears. So here is where we will post the ones we like best, so our friends can look at them when they wish. For example, when you have insomnia.

There may even be a picture of you posted at some point -- we'll let you know!