Christmas Eve Part 2 - The Cooking

This year I was the chef in charge of dinner, but even before we started cooking for the night the girls and I baked cookies for Santa and made flan. Bella made a mess more than anything, but it was fun for her to be involved.

Christmas Eve Part 1 - The Lunch

The day before Christmas was full of activity, yet very peaceful. We went out for lunch to Cumin, one of Lionel's favorite restaurants in town. The owner speaks French, so he is always very nice to us. Also the food is great, which is why we keep coming back.

The tables were decorated with red glass ornaments which Gabi and I had fun with. We took silly pictures of each other - even the girls joined in the fun. I don't know why, but it made me laugh a lot.

Incentives

I am so tired of fighting with Sofia so she does her homework right, that today I used a different method. I took out 10 chocolate chips and told her that for each mistake she made I would eat one. The remaining ones would be for her. When it was all said and done, she had 4 left.

Bella's gallery

Bella is always proudly displaying whatever "art work" she does at home or at school. Yesterday she taped to the kitchen table - and asked me to take pictures of - one blue picture she made at school and two black and white drawings she made at home.

Good December Morning

This past Wednesday Bella went to school for only half a day. We showed up late, shortly after 10:00am, not realizing they had a Christmas show that morning. By the time we got there the show was almost over, but we still got to sing a couple of songs. Then, by the end of the show, they had a special visitor: Santa Claus. At the beginning Bella got scared, but once he came to her classroom she stopped crying and even showed interest. Afterward it was time for her classroom to go to the playground, so Sofia asked if we could stay. It was a surprisingly warm day for late December, close to the sixties, so even I went out there. As usual I had my camera with me, so I was able to take a few candid pictures of the girls running around. Sofia is still such a kid, so she enjoyed playing out there. Bella was happy to have her big sister with her. As for me, I was happy to be off work and spend some stress-free time with them. Even though the initial plan was to drop Bella off and then go do some Christmas shopping, it was nice to be able to adjust our plans and stay with her for a little while. We don't always have that luxury, another reason why vacation is a must.

Dientes chuecos

This past Tuesday, at the recommendation of Sofia's dentist, I took her to the orthodontist for the very first time. Although they are not going to start any work on her anytime soon, it is clear that we will have a long road ahead of us. Her jaw is too narrow, so she doesn't have enough space for all her adult teeth.


For now we just have to wait until she loses a few more teeth, and the adult ones start coming in. Our next appointment will be sometime in September 2012, and by then they may start working on her. I am sure the entire process is not going to be fun, but then again - going through life with crooked teeth can be painful as well.

Backsplash

A few weeks ago I decided that one of my projects during Christmas vacation would be to install a backsplash in the kitchen. Backsplashes look nice and - according to me - they couldn't be that difficult to install.

By the time my first day of vacation came around I was completely ready to go. I had purchased everything I needed, and made plans to be at home all by myself to work on it uninterrupted. It took me all day and a bit of the next day to finish, but I managed to do it all by myself.

The good news is that I really did a good job, as it turned out very well. The bad - and unfortunate - news is that you could barely notice it once we put all the kitchen stuff back in its place. Regardless, what really matters is that I reached my goal. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to do things that I never get to do when I am at work.

Before

Work in progress

Almost done

Close-up of the final details