target

To say I like to shop is an understatement.  To say I like this news, well...that goes without saying...

21 questions, take 1

My girlfriend, Mon, posted this on her blog and I loved it!  So, I asked Josh the same questions and here are Josh's answers this time around:

1. What is something mommy always says to you?

Yes

2. What makes you happy?
Hugs

3. What makes you sad?
Daddy

4. What makes you laugh?
Mommy

5. How old are you?
Four

6. How old is Mommy?
Five

7. How old is Daddy?
Fifty

8. What is your favourite thing to do?
Play with my skateboards and this [flicking a box with his finger]

9. Who is your best friend?
Elijah

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Daddy

11. What are you really good at?
Brooming the floor

12. What are you not very good at?
Cleaning up

13. What did you do today?
Played on the monkey bars across to the school and...(it was a very LONG story and I couldn't keep up!)

14. What is your favourite food?
Sushi

15. What is your favourite song?
The monkey song [and he went on to sing a song he totally made about about a monkey that climbed up a tree and swung on a vine!]

16. What do you want for (holiday or birthday) this year?
A yellow mini-van car

17. What is your favourite animal?
Monkey

18. What is love?
Hugs

19. What does mommy/daddy do for work?
(Mommy) - Talk at the office [while pretending to peck on a keyboard with his fingers]; (Daddy) - Build houses

20. Where do you live?
Toronto...no...Vancouver

21. Where is your favourite place to go?
Josh: The toy store...no...what is that store with all the toys?
Dad: Toys'r'Us?!
Josh: Yeah!  Toys'r'Us.  Mommy, I want to go to Toys'r'Us and pick a toy that I want, OK?

Christmas 2010

Our Christmas vacation in Toronto this year was 2 weeks long.  I thought we'd have oodles of time to visit and relax.  Seriously.  Who was I kidding?!  The Liem family is now 20 large (21 if you include Little J, who wasn't actually out-of-womb during our visit!).  It takes co-ordination to get that many people together!  And it takes even more time if you want to have any decent visiting time with any one person!

There were actually 14 of us staying at my parent's house, so at least we had a good chance to visit with mostly everyone.  I grew up in a family of 5 children, so I am accustom to and actually enjoy the bustle of a busy household. 

Josh, on the other hand, was not used to that many people.  To say that he was a bit of a nightmare would be putting it mildly!  He was so over-excited, over-stimulated and sleep-deprived for most of the holiday that I actually felt sorry for the poor guy everytime he got in trouble.  He was introduced to the concept of washing ones mouth out with soap during this trip because he couldn't stop saying bad words.  Ugh.

On the bright side, I don't think he was scarred by any of his punishments.  He still loves going to Grammy's house and talks about going to Toronto.  I think he loved playing with his cousins and he absolutely loves the attention he gets from his aunties.  DD, Caroline, San and Tini were my saviours!

UW

We went back east for Christmas this year.  We were gone from mid-December until New Year's Eve.  It has taken me until now to get back into the swing of things.  The flu took me out for a day and a half of that, but aside from that, it has all just been family craziness.  I hope some of you can empathize.

In the past, a 2-week visit to Toronto would have been a revolving door of visits with old friends.  I would have packed our time with back to back visits.  Nowadays, with the kids, I try to do just one activity each day.  So, I knew that we wouldn't get to visit as many people as I would have liked.  As it was, we only got to visit with friends on 3 separate occasions.  I guess that's the way it goes during the holiday season!

One visit that I'm glad we manage to organize each time is a gathering with my engineering friends from UW.  This year, we even got out to Hamilton for Sarah and Darren to host, with their 3 wonderful boys - Cole, Connor and Emmett.  Thanks guys, and your house is gorgeous!

I'm glad that after almost 20 years, we can still sit down with each other, share some drinks and food and tell the occasional story about the good ole days...

Note: spouses and many kids are missing from this photo!

avery sandwich

Some photos need no words...

first snow

Sometimes it feels like Vancouver snow is becoming a more frequent occurrence.  However, it is still novelty enough that it makes me want to blog when we have our first snowfall of the year.

I love snow, so I think snow in Vancouver is exciting.  Especially now with kids - they are so fascinated by snow!  We went to bed last night to heavy snowfall and woke up this morning to a few inches of snow on the ground.  When Josh looked outside in the morning, he was thrilled to see the snow and wanted to go outside right away.

We managed to hold him off until after breakfast, but immediately after, we dug up his snowsuit, boots and Vancouver 2010 red mittens.  We couldn't get the gear on fast enough!  Brian went out with him and together, they shoveled the bit of snow on our sidewalk (I think Brian was using it as a training session for later on in the season!).  After that, Josh made his first snow angel - and loved it!  I think he just might be a snow person, just like his mommy.

I don't think Aves is quite ready for the snow yet.  Mostly because I'm not ready yet with snow gear for her!  We just hung out inside while Josh and Bri were outside.  However, when it eventually came time to venture out for Elijah's birthday party, I fought Avery to get her coat and boots on (see what I mean about her not being ready for snow?!).  In the end she looked SO cute I just had to get a picture (and I'm not sure how Bri got her to pose this way!).

The Disney princess fur coat was a gift from the Moffats and I LOVE it!  Don't know that you would ever catch me wearing a white faux-fur coat, but on a toddler - SO adorable!  Same as the UGG-style boots (courtesy of Maddy).  I think of them as UGH boots - you wouldn't catch me dead wearing them.  But on Aves, they were the cutest things ever!  Now if only I could figure out a way to get the coat and boots on her that didn't involve tears, chasing and just general drama and hysterics...

look out, carson kressley!

Occasionally, when we get dressed in the mornings, Josh asks to pick his clothes.  Of course, we always let him.  These days, he's big on "soft pants".  Basically, sweat pants or fleece pants.  I indulge him by buying that type of pant because I know he likes them. 

This morning, he asked to dress himself, so I let him go upstairs and pick everything out by himself (underwear included!).  Then, Brian went upstairs with Josh and Aves to get Aves dressed.  When they came back down, Aves looked like above.  Brian saw the "why is Aves wearing THAT?!" look on my face and before I could say anything, he said, "Mommy, guess who picked Aves clothes?".  So, I asked, knowing very well at that point that Josh was the stylist du jour.  He was very proud of himself and explained why he picked the brown "pumpkin" onesie to go under the green and white polka-dotted shirt.  It was priceless.  Who could change my fashion-victimized little girl after that?!  Brian just lifted up the collar on her shirt to add a little juuj!

For himself, of course, Josh picked out the softest black, fleece pants that he has and I'm not sure the reason for the red Paul Frank shirt, but at least he was colour co-ordinated!  It's so interesting when kids start to evolve and form opinions and ideas about the way things are or should be.  It make you wonder, "what are they thinking?!".  I know that Carson Kressley would have much to say about Josh's fashion choices, but as his mom, I have to be less fashion-conscious and more esteem-conscious!

P.S.  FYI, even though Bri is in the picture, Josh did NOT dress him!