Olivia and Manni

Manni, Olivia's life size bear from Grandma and Granpa Kotzer arrived today. He is really cute and ooohhhh so soft. All the Kotzer grandkids have one. So here is a couple of pics of Olivia and Manni, one day shy of her one month birthday. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, he's beautiful!

Happy 1 Month Olivia!

It's hard to believe but our baby is one month old already. She is doing great! She holds her head really well and is bright eyed. She's is a great eater and is kind to Mommy most nights. It's hard to believe how much she's changed already! Here's a picture of her from today.

Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas in England was green and warm. We had a quiet...but not...Christmas. We didn't have any visitors but a preschooler, toddler and new born were enough to keep things lively! We combined our traditions with a partial Ukranian Christmas Eve meal and Christmas turkey dinner with almost all the trimmings. We went to the children's mass Christmas Eve and opened stockings and presents Christmas morning. We had a really nice Christmas. Lochlan was quite excited about Santa this year. Olivia celebrated her first Christmas and she was our special gift. Children really do make Christmas special! We also attended a christmas party and a boxing day get together. Here are some pictures.

Cheap Booze and Santa Claus

Yep... if there is one advantage, it is cheap booze, all duty free and delivered to your door. We just had an order so big come in that it litterally arrived on a pallet :)

Should be a very merry Christmas! All the more reason to get out here to visit us...

Lochlan had his Christmas choir for pre-school. It was a good show... always fun to see a bunch of 3 year olds belt out Christmas carols. The big treat was the arrival of Santa by Sea King... makes me glad to be out in the field again (not much of this type of thing going on in Ottawa). A video of that is below... kind of strange being so warm this time of year!

Christmas Shopping

We ventured out with the whole crew to Hayle, a little village on the coast about 10 miles from here. Hayle has a "Next" clothing shop... nothing quite like it in Canada. Nice stuff, but with 3 kids in tow, pretty tough to actually look at anything. Still, it was a nice time out and we managed to meet a few of our friends in Marks and Spencer for lunch.

We picked up our Christmas tree, and the kids are undecorating it as fast as we can put the decorations back on. A nice tree, but they sheer them so they are really fat in the bottom and skinny on top (not a reflection of the local ladies :) ). Still, a nice tree, and with the help of a trusty transformer, we even lit up our Canadian lights.

We discovered something really nice here that you can probably get in Canada if you look for it. Pimms is a type of booze that is usually mixed with Lemonade and sipped on during the summer. However, there is a Pimms "Winter", which you mix with warm apple juice and drink by your Christmas tree. It is very nice stuff, and I bet if you looked hard enough in a big liquor store you could probably find it. We shouldn't be hurting for booze for the next little while... we have a special diplomatic catalogue from which we can order everything duty free, making it very, very cheap. We just did a huge order; I will probably need some kind of counselling by the time I get back home :)

A few picks and a vid of the latest and greatest for your entertainment value...

"Winter" Happenings

I say "winter" because December in Cornwall means mowing the lawn (it is still about 15 degrees C here during the day). It is getting a bit wetter and a bit windier, but I don't think we will be having a white Christmas this year. This is probably a good thing because the folks down here tell me that even a dusting of snow makes the entire county grind to a halt. Honestly, from what I have heard, if it does snow here, I am moving the entire family to the second floor to wait until it melts (as it will of course be only a matter of time until someone crashes into our house...)

Yep, my birthday has come and gone. A good haul this year... amazingly I have been kitted out to start surfing. I tell Laura that as far as a mid-life crisis toy goes, surf gear is still way cheaper than a red convertible. So, 32 years down, many hopefully more to go.

Olivia has been a great baby... last night (outside of puking all over her bed) she let us sleep more than we expected. A good eater and sleeper so far... hope the trend continues. Her brother loves her, but it is safe to say that her sister is infatuated with her. Let's just say that Olivia does not lack for kisses...

Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa) left this morning. It was sad to see them go as we have had a great time with them while they were down here, and they helped us get through a pretty difficult time. We wanted to send out another big thanks to them, and wish them a safe journey back to Canada (after a few days in London, checking out "The Sound of Music" and "Momma Mia"... very jealous about that!).

BTW, I don't know if it is having a 3rd kid or what, but Laura is looking awesome! Once a hottie, always a hottie...

Take care,

Mark