314. Limping

Catie woke up this morning with a sore paw. She came down the stairs very slowly and immediately started limping. I had to cut our walk short because she could barely keep up. And as the day is going by, her pain seems to be progressively getting worse.

She has been laying down in the same spot all day. I have to pick her up for her to stand. And then she limps. Her paw seems to be swollen too.

Poor girl... I hope it's nothing serious. I called the veterinarian and had to insist that they see her before Monday. They agreed to take a look at tomorrow; But we have to drop her off. They will see her in-between other patients, when they get a chance. In the meantime, we are trying to keep her as comfortable as possible.

313. Mission Impossible

I took the boys to see the new "Mission Impossible" movie this afternoon; We all agreed it was pretty good and had plenty of action. There are a lot of good movies playing in theaters right now. The whole family agreed that "I bought a zoo" looks fun, "Sherlock Holmes" is definitely a must see and I, personally would like to see "War Horse". Of course, we probably won't see all of them at the theater, but we can surely see them when they come out of DVD!

312. Kindergarten Art

In December, Allan took an online class to learn how to program in JAVA. I can say that he had fun and learned a lot. One of his last project was called "Kindergarten Art". There were a lot of things that had to be included in the project and apparently, Allan did very well, earning him a "Well Done" from his teacher. Here is the project in question:

I think it is great and just wanted to share it with all of you!

311. Mentryville

I love the holidays and having some time off; It gives us a chance to go hiking almost everyday. Today, we went to Mentryville, just off the I-5, at the end of Pico Canyon Road. Mentryville was an oil drilling town back in the 1870s. Today, the only buildings left are Charles Mentry's mansion, a one room school house and a barn. It is definitely a great location for photo shoots and I plan on returning soon to take more photos. But today, we went there to hike the trails. I still took a few pictures:

310. Remote Control Car

Anthony's new remote control car:

 

309. New Toys

Christmas is over... Everyone had a great time.

We unwrapped the presents in a record time and right away, 

everyone started playing with their new toys!

Allan installed his new computer,

I charged up the battery for my new camera and gave it a try,

Nicholas played with his new Wii and DS games,

Anthony tried out his new Nerf guns and his new Wii game,

and Christina went outside in her pajamas to try out her Pogo Stick!

 

We also spent the afternoon at the Moultons, amongst good friends and almost family. 

Overall, this was another wonderful Christmas and we will cherish those memories forever!

308. Cookies & Milk

Christina: "Does Santa really exist?"

Me: "What do you think?"

Christina: "I don't know!"

But we left some cookies and milk out for Santa anyways... Just in case!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

307. Christmas Eve

Well, it's Christmas Eve and the house smells delicious. Anthony, Christina and myself are baking more gingerbread cookies. I am also baking more monster cookies. Allan and I agree that they are both our favorite cookies. 

The kids are watching "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Rudolph", their favorite holiday cartoons. We already watched "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" earlier this week (that's my favorite Christmas cartoon). And tonight, the plan is to watch "Polar Express". 

I went to the groceries store this morning and picked up the missing ingredients to make a Rice Ala Mande. When I told Christina that it will be our desert for tonight, she looked at me with a puzzled look and said" Did I ever have that?" I guess I skipped the Rice Ala Mande the past few years... But Anthony and Nicholas remembered.

 

 

In case I don't have time to come back here tonight, or tomorrow, I want to wish all of you, a 

"Merry Christmas"

and may all your dreams come true!

306. Traditions

Traditions are important; I try to keep my French Canadian heritage and to pass it on to the kids. So, I made some tourtieres (meat pies) today. Tourtieres are a French Canadian tradition. I only made two, since it's only for the five of us. But it reminded me of when I was young; My mom used to make dozens of tourtieres and pies for Christmas. She would spend an entire day (or two) baking. Everyone loved her tourtieres and they would go fast. She also made "sugar pies" which remind me of pecan pies but without the pecans! They, too, were very popular in the Seguin family and would go fast! 

Allan's family, being Danish, also have lots of traditions; The "Rice Ala Mande"is a Danish tradition that I have made in the past; it's a rice pudding, mixed with whipped cream, vanilla and almonds. It is usually served cold with a cherry sauce. Normally there is a whole almond in the desert and the person who finds it wins a special price. I am thinking that maybe I will make it for tomorrow's dinner. (No promises).

I also baked other goodies today; some new creations:

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies and Cranberry Rocky Road Candy.

Both recipes turned out pretty good!

 

305. Wrapping it up!

The last few days have been busy wrapping up presents. But I also made time to go see Anthony's Band Concert at La Mesa Junior High and Christina's Holiday Performance at Valley View community School. Both performances were short and sweet and I was back home to do more wrapping...

304. Stacking up

"Wow! The pile of presents is getting bigger!" Christina was very excited to point that out tonight. That's because I spent a good part of this afternoon wrapping up presents. There are still a few more to buy, and to wrap up. But overall, we are almost ready. I also did a little bit of baking; I made a batch of pecan bars ( which are almost all gone already!). My plans for tomorrow? More of the same...

303. Winter Concert 2011

Anthony had his Winter Concert this afternoon. He played "Blackbird" by the Beatles on the guitar, accompanied by his music teacher, Sam Lustig who was singing. He also played "Rondo Alla Turca" by Mozart on the piano. He was a little nervous at the beginning, but he eventually settled in and played very well. And at the end, Sam had all his students play in a little Jam session. That was a lot of fun and everyone played great! Allan videotaped Anthony and I posted his two performances on Facebook. I will work on making a movie with the two performances and the Jam session and will post it here later. But for now, here are a few photos from this afternoon:

 

I know photos are not the best medium for a concert... But that is all I have for now.

302. Christmas Tree

Finally picked up our Christmas tree this morning. It is a beautiful 8' Noble Fur. It is big and full and smells absolutely wonderful! After stringing it with multi-colored lights, the kids and I hung the ornaments. It took about 20 minutes and the kids were done; they went back to their games, studies and/or t.v. show. I finished decorating the tree and cleaned up by myself. After admiring my work, I called the kids back to take some photos. Here are a some of my favorites:

 

 

 

 

Now we are ready for Christmas... Well almost!

301. Most Improved!

Tonight was a very exciting night for Nicholas. It was the Cross Country Banquet and with it came awards and recognitions. Nicholas was recognized as the "Most Improved" runner for 2011. Coach Rob and Coach Chris were both impressed by his ambition ( he told them last Summer that his goal was to win League Finals) and by his dedication to the sport. And despite the fact that he didn't win League Finals, they both know that he deserved it!

He also received the usual Scholar Athlete Award for maintaining a GPA above 3.5 and he also received his Varsity letters for racing in the many Invitational Meets in the Varsity race. 

Way to go Nicholas! We are very proud of you!

300. Three Hundred

Three hundred posts! I should be closer to 340. But it's still impressive that I managed to write and publish 300 posts! Honestly, I never thought that I would make it this far. Anyways...

Today was another busy day with a soccer game in the morning, baking cookies and putting up Christmas decorations in the afternoon and Anthony's soccer party this evening.

Christina played the last game of her tournament this morning and she managed to score another goal for her team. It was a great goal and both Allan and myself are very proud of her. Unfortunately, her team lost another game and didn't advance to the finals. Which was just fine with me since that gave me time to bake and decorate. Of course, Christina helped me and even Anthony participated in the baking and decorating of the sugar and gingerbread cookies.

As I am writing this, Allan and Anthony are still at the party for the Canyon Crew. They wanted to spend a little more time with the team. A few parents came to me and asked me to help them convince Allan to coach again next year (even though the boys are done with soccer). I told them that it is his decision and that I will support him no matter what. But of course, his kids have priority. So as of right now, he is done with AYSO soccer. Of course, you never know what is in the future...

299. Losses

Christina and the Canyon Country U10 Girls EXTRA team played in the Gold Rush tournament today; They played two games and lost both of them. The hadn't played since before Thanksgiving and it showed! They lacked energy and were not in sync with each other. That's too bad... During the last few games of the season, they were really starting to connect and trust each other. Christina played at the forward position and had difficulties getting involved in the play. She had a few good plays in each game. But definitely coul have played better.
They have one more game tomorrow morning and hopefully, they will play better and get at least one win for the weekend. Then after that, no more soccer games until January 2012!

298. Sword Fighter

Anthony drew this character: "Sword Fighter". He says he just drew it for fun and that it's not that good. I think it's not bad either! And it's a departure from the dragons and/or snakes he has been drawing lately. Any way, I like it!

297. Fashionista

I love my little Fashionista!

296. Countdown to Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 

295. Breakfast Table Conversation

This conversation happened this morning at the breakfast table:
Me: Anthony you need a haircut.
Anthony: I know, it's getting long and it's really thick. I have an undercoat.
Allan: You have an undercoat like a dog? You're like our very own Marley!
Nicholas: A clearance puppy!
If you haven't read the book "Marley and Me" or seen the movie, this conversation might not make much sense. But for those of us who understand, this was absolutely hilarious!

294. Done

Yesterday was Canyon Country AYSO's first day of playoffs. Anthony and the Canyon Crew played in the semi-finals to determine who will play next week in the finals and more importantly, who will play in January in the Area 10S playoffs. Sadly, they lost! Anthony played one of his best game of the year and fought hard to the end. Unfortunately, his hard work didn't rub off on his team mates and they lost... I guess this was a good way to end his soccer "career". Since he is now playing Club Volleyball, this was probably his last season of soccer.

293. Winds

Yesterday was one of the windiest day in Southern California's history. Big trees went down, pulled out of the earth from the force of the winds. Many cities in and around Los Angeles had to declare a state of emergency. Usually, Santa Clarita is one of those cities. Our house, it seems, is standing in a wind tunnel. And when the winds are really strong, the outdoor furniture starts to fall and move around the yard. Lucky for us, it appears that this storm didn't touch us as bad as we dreaded... So far!