Kiwi Living in Quebec: December 2009

Just for fun ...Click HERE to see an hour of winter and Christmas on Rue Petit Champlain (Québec-city)

Our Christmas tree (above) and back deck (below) ... 2 days before Christmas!

Keeping a clear path to our house (above) ... and back garden (below)

Our garden and deck early December!

Off for a morning sled ride ...

(the day after our first winter storm, early December)

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All!

Joey turns ONE! (Nov09)

Life is so much fun … it is all about observing and discovering for myself how things work; crawling as fast as I can into the kitchen to inspect what is going on every time I hear the dishwasher or refrigerator door opening, picking leaves off my favourite indoor plants, opening the kitchen drawers and cupboards (Mum has assigned me my own kitchen drawer now), pulling myself up to put my hands in the toilet, closing the bathroom door at bath-time, and being ever so quiet so Mummy has to come looking for me. Here I am on my first birthday when I got to eat cake!

Matt publishes book in French (Sep09)

Having returned a week early from Denmark, Matt had the huge task of doing the final edit on his book to meet the publication deadline. Several weeks later, with the book in print, he gave a talk to the Mayor and Historical Society of La Pocatiere who celebrated 150 years of their Agricultural College (La Pocatiere is about a 2 hour drive from Quebec city). Jozef and Sheryl joined Matt to commemorate the occasion, along with several very good friends from Quebec city.

Family trip to Charlevoix (Jul09)

This was our time to take a break, and although it rained most of July we were able to get away as a family for 5 days to relax in a Swiss style chalet near a man made lake. Jozef had his first taste of sand and icy cold mountain water which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Matt’s promotion to fully fledged, fully tenured Full Professor (Jun09)

After 12 years of hard work, and a mountain of paperwork to apply for a promotion, Matt was rewarded for his diligence and hard work with tenure-ship as a Full Professor (complete with an inflation adjusted salary!).

Trip to Parliament at tulip time (May09)

Matt’s work periodically takes him to Ottawa to chair a meeting or two, and this time we all went as a family. After a 6 hour drive (with 2 stops along the way to feed a hungry 6 month old, we also had the opportunity to enjoy a meal with Dr Stephen & Moira Hayes (who recently retired from ministering and caring for the folks at St Andrew’s here in Old Quebec city).

St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Old Quebec city (Mar09)

Jozef was baptised at St Andrew’s in March and received a very warm welcome into the church. In November of this year he also started going to a small Sunday School group where he gets to stand at the craft table and babbles away to the girls (mostly) aged 2 and 5 years.

Joey starts Baby Chat (Jan09)

Joey enjoyed nine months at Baby Chat (a group for Mums and under 1 year olds). We’ve just graduated to the Take-a-Break group (where technically Mum gets a coffee break while Joey plays with Volunteers). We enjoyed our first visit on December 4 where Jozef laughed at the puppets and had a great time playing a xylophone and piano. He let Mum take his hand and he guided her around the room, heading straight for the door after stopping by the playmat, and puppet box.

Sheryl adjusts to her new role as a SAHM (Dec 08)

I couldn’t have wished for a happier, more content and easy to care for baby who sleeps anywhere from 11 to 13 hours at night and eats everything I prepare for him! The transition to motherhood has been a big one (coming later in life), yet has introduced me to many young families. Several of the Mothers I have met in the last year are now expecting their second or third child. Quebec is a great province to bring up children and families are well supported by local community activities.