This is Six.

 I tend to forget that Callum is a rather mild-mannered little boy, more calm and patient than most other kids his age.  I was quickly reminded of that when I took him and 8 of his friends bowling for his birthday party.  Ha!!  Not the smartest idea I've had...  Well, they had a lot of fun, but not necessarily from the bowling but from the running, climbing and jumping that they were doing all around the alley.  It was a good thing it wasn't very busy.

 After bowling, we came back to our place for home-made pizzas, ice cream cake and general playing around.  I'm super glad I had asked my sister Kami to come help out!

 And here he is, my super-awesome 6-year old.  Well, I guess, this is six:

Phewph! December is done.

 Back in November, or was it October, I sent an ambitious e-mail out to my family about making plans for Christmas.  I suggested all sorts of get-togethers, feasts and activities, (i.e. brunch with the extended Mackinlay family, toboganning at Seymour, skiing at Cypress, baking cookies for the Salvation Army, handing out cookies at the S.A, Christmas Eve fondue and nativity, Christmas Day gift exchange and dinner, New Years adult-only party at Kim's place, etc....).  The idea was to make our Christmas season feel organized and satisfy our need for family-time.  Well, I think, overall, it all worked out... Well, sort of.  By the time the New Years party came along, Jeff and I bailed out since all we wanted was a little quiet time to veg-out at home. 

Early December started with school plays.  Callum was one of a thousand Elves (somewhere in the top left?):

While Max was the Christmas Star in his little nativity (which, coincidentally, was Callum's role in his 3-year old Preschool too!):

 The snow on the mountains this year has been awesome, so we spent a few days on the North Shore.  One of which was sledding with Kim, Krista and Karlyn while Jeff skate-skied afterwards with Sven - it was a lot of fun!
 

In an attempt to help teach my kids how blessed they are, I called around to find a place that would let us hand out some cookies to people who couldn't have a Christmas dinner at home.  So, since we needed about 200 packs of goodies for The Langley Gateway of Hope, I enlisted the help of the extended Mackinlay family.  On Christmas Eve, a bunch of us handed them out after their meal.  I'm not sure Callum and Max really understood what we were doing there, but I tried.

 Christmas Day proceeded as expected - lots of presents and food!
 

 There was a brief break before my big family came over for more gifts and more food.  I think Jeff is still overwhelmed by the seemingly endless abundance of gifts that come with my family.  I think next year we might try something a little less, well, just LESS.

Dinner, however, was pleasantly unstressful and still delicious.  Brent and Jeff did turkeys, Rob did a Ham and others brought the side dishes.  

It's a funny thing, Christmas time, because we want to spend time with those we love, we want to share food and give gifts, we want to create traditions and memories... but we often end up feeling rather spoiled, greedy, and maybe just a little, I don't know, like we are missing the point, somehow.  It's as though all the feasting and presents are actually defeating the purpose all-together.  I know that part of it is just a result of having such a large family - when a few siblings exchange gifts, it is kind and thoughtful, but when 26 people exchange gifts, it seems materialistic and anonymous... you know what I mean?  Hmm.  A conundrum.  

 

Pinata, Ghosts, Mummies...and Grandparents.

 I went a little crazy with Halloween this year - I'm not sure what got into me, but I think I was inspired by a special Halloween-themed magazine that had so many adorable ideas, I wanted to try them out.  I also made the mistake of saying, "Hm, maybe we should have a Halloween party" in the company of my 5-year old, so at that point, I was committed.  Anyway, here is a small sample of my crafty-ness:

 "Ghost Mashed Potatoes:

 "Witches Brooms cookies and Monster fruit"

 "Mummy juice"

 "Zombie Fingers" (PB+J sandwiches)

 I think I'm most proud of the Bat Pinata I made - it took 6 days to make it! We had about 22 kids at the party, so, unfortunately, they didn't all get a chance to whack the bat since Callum gave it the final bash.

  
I transformed the downstairs playroom into a "Spooky Room".  I had my nephews help out by playing certain parts.  First there was the Potions master (jars filled with beans, coloured water, plastic toy insects, and a 'cauldron' with a 'potion' to taste-test which was a pot filled with sherbet and pop).  Then there was a "Pet Cemetery" (boxes painted black with stuffed animals lying inside and tombstones covered in webs and spiders) and the Autopsy room (a "dead body' was stuffed clothes covered with a white sheet, bowls of plastic eyeballs and a plastic heart, and of course, brains made of spaghetti in red jello).  Lastly, we had a big box where "Dracula" jumped out.  I can't say there were any screams by any kids, but I did try to make it friendly to 3-year olds (although it still took a lot of convincing to get Max in there, despite the fact that he helped to decorate the whole thing!).  I was so busy at the party, I didn't get to photograph it all, but my brother got a couple pics.

Simon didn't want to put on his Yoda costume until everyone started smiling and paying attention to him, then he loved wearing it!

 The party was the Saturday before Halloween, so Callum and Max went out on the 31st with our neighbours again, Matteus, Annika and Teddy. (Callum was Obi-wan Kenobi, and Max was Darth Vader, of course).

  
Shortly after all the Halloween decorations were put away, Jeff's parents, Larry and Inge,  came for a week-long visit.  The boys loved having them stay with us and it was nice to spend time with them.

  
One day we took them on the ferry over to Gibsons, to show them Kim and Sven's place and have dinner at Molly's Reach (I guess Larry was a Beachcombers fan back in the day!).

  
We celebrated Inge's birthday while they were here too.

And Inge shared her cake with Simon:

And here are a couple random shots of 2 cute little boys I found in my shower: