Spring has Sprung!

As each season peeks its head around the corner I am reminded of why I love living in Canada. As much as I enjoy fall (and winter for that matter) it's just awesome to swap heavy winter boots for rubbies and runners, to put away the hats and mitts and pull out the helmets and knee pads and to finally see all of those neighbours who have been hibernating for the past 5 months. We've had some beautiful, sunny weekends recently so have taken advantage of every moment to get outside. Our first trip to the park this season was still chilly enough to require winter duds but was fun nonetheless.

One of the expressions heard pretty much daily in the Carvalho household is "monkey see, monkey do!" as Lexi just idolizes her big brother and wants to do everything that he does. We thought Ian was pretty adventurous and rambunctious but Lex gives new meaning to the word fearless. Ian has moved from simple scootering to "tricks" and his little sister isn't far behind.

Note the air!It's remarkable how good she is at it considering the fact that she's not even 2 yet. If you can look at this picture without laughing I'll give you 5 bucks.

Our goal this spring was to get rid of the training wheels on Ian's bike so he would be ready to keep up with Nick and Mike up at Sauble this year. He was pretty reluctant to give it a go but in usual Ian fashion he got it on his second try. I have a vivid memory of doing this exact same thing behind Luke on his little green bike about 29 years ago and feeling the same sense of pride as I slowly let go of the seat....

We're still working on the stops and starts!As usual, Alexa was not going to be left behind, she's working on mastering her tricycle.

Man, these 2 crack me up. Cam says these expressions are the epitome of their personalities - Ian the reserved smile and Lexi the crazy, full out ear to ear grin.

One of the added bonuses of Spring this year is the return of cousin Ciel, these three can't get enough of each other. It's so exciting to see their budding friendships.

More National Lampoon than Norman Rockwell.....

As per the usual Carvalho Family Gong Show the holiday season was no different....

Christmas Tradition Event #1: I started out the Christmas Season by keeping the kids home from school one chilly Monday morning to decorate our Christmas Tree. I had visions of us carefully selecting the perfect ornament for the perfect spot on the tree while we sipped hot chocolate and listened to favourite Christmas carols playing in the background. Instead, Ian promptly dropped the first ornament he touched on the floor shattering it into pieces. Once we got over that trauma and actually got the ornaments on the tree Lexi removed them just as quickly as we could get them up. Poor Mickey, he had already been glued a couple of times from previous mishaps so he was permanently retired. (This picture is a reenactment of the actual event, I wasn't quick enough on the camera the first time around)In the end our tree looked great trimmed with all of our favourite ornaments. My favourites are the ones with a story behind them. My first Christmas ornament, our "favourite pet" ornament with the picture of Bubby, the kids' clay hand and footprint ornaments and last but not least that random stuffed santa ornament that Cam insists on hanging up every year despite my attemps to hide it at the bottom of the box.

Christmas Tradition Event #2 was a trip to see Santa at the mall with hopes of getting pictures of the kids dressed in their holiday finest sitting on Santa's lap. I know, all of you with young kids are laughing at the impossibility of this goal but a girl can dream right? So attempt number one involved keeping the kids home from school another morning, getting them all dressed up, hair done etc, etc, etc. I then schlepped them to the Eaton Centre on the TTC only to have Santa's Elf report in her syrupy sweet voice that "Santa is in his workshop today, he's only here Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays". I'm pretty sure I nearly drew blood biting my tongue from saying "are you F'ing kidding me???" For attempt number two (yep, tried again...) we travelled to the Dufferin Mall in search of the jolly old elf himself. All was good until Lexi realized that she was actually expected to sit on this guy's lap. After a couple of tearful pictures the photographer and I came up with this brilliant plan to have Ian and Alexa sit on Santa's chair then have Santa sneak up behind so that Lexi wouldn't see him but all three would be in the picture. Unfortunately we forgot to let Ian in on the plan and when Santa snuck up behind him putting his hand on Ian's shoulder Ian freaked and burst into tears which then sent Lexi off again. It was only at that point that I grabbed the sobbing duo, aborted Mission: Santa Pictures and headed home.

Soo soo was the concession, this was before the Santa "sneak up" fiasco. All things considered not a terrible picture.

Christmas Tradition Event #3 was an afternoon at the Toronto Santa Claus parade. This experience went uncharacteristically smoothly although both kids fell asleep in the Chariot before the arrival of Santa.

Christmas Tradition Event #4- decorating gingerbread cookies

Since Team Bearss spent this Holiday season on the other side of the world The Carvalho Gong Show went to Grandma & Grandpa Bearss' house for Christmas Eve and Morning.

Santa's HelpersThe annual "top of the stairs" picture

Ian and I both got new jerseys for Christmas.

The kids got so many thoughtful gifts from family and friends. Ian's favourites are anything hockey related. And Lexi's favourite?

Is it the cuddly bunny from Auntie Melanie?

No no.

Is it her first doll I got her that looks pretty similar to Lexi, crocs and all?

Nope.

Is it the ridiculous bobblehead Yoda that my mom gave her in memory of Lexi's Hallowe'en costume?

You got it. Every night for a month whenever we'd lie Lex down in bed, say our goodnights and turn out the light she would say "Yoda?"

Hugs & Snugs for Yoda.

We've had several large snowfalls this year which have turned the neighbourhood into a beautiful winter wonderland and we've tried to take advantage of all of this beauty.

Happy 2011!

Carvalho Family (Pre) Christmas Vacation

As many of you know we abandoned our February ski trip to Whistler in favour of a week in the Dominican Republic with the Carvalho side of the family. Auntie Melanie and Uncle Spencer had planned to come over from their side of the Atlantic for two weeks and Grandma Fil & Grandpa Francis were going down for a week so decided to jump on their bandwagon. Although it meant we had to cram all of our Christmas shopping into December 23rd and 24th it was great to get away from the snow and hustle & bustle of the pre-Christmas rush to spend some time in the sunny south.

Giggles on the beach with Grandpa Francis You've heard of topless beaches, well...Lex got a little mixed up.

Lexi having some sunny snuggles with Auntie Melanie who announced on the trip that she's expecting a cousin for Alexa and Ian. We're thrilled! Here we were worried that they wouldn't have any cousins and now they have one and a half!
All the boys took a turn with the boogie board which resulted in a few mouthfuls of salty water and some great funny face pictures.

Mommy with her favourite girl and favourite boy.

Despite the cold pool water it didn't take Alexa and Ian long to become waterbabies again.1,2,3, Go! This was not posed but man they're cute aren't they?

Not a day passes in the life of the Carvalho Family without a little hockey.

Ian loved the ping pong table. I'm not sure if it was actually the ping pong or the fact that he got to play with other (older) kids.

All that fun, sun & swimming tires a kid out....

Snuggles on the beach as the sun sets on another great vacation.