A few quotes by Jack

After Theo messed up his Brio train track numerous times:
JACK: Theo doesn't know what is best for this train.

Half-way across the Atlantic, a whole bunch of people get up after lunch is served to use the bathroom.
JACK: Are these people getting off at this stop?

While hitting quite a bit of turbulence above Lake Ontario:
JACK (very loudly): I think the pilot knows what he is doing. Don't you Mom? I don't think we are going to crash down...

Boxing Day Bowling 2009

Our family had its annual Abbott-Ott boxing day bowling trip on the 26th of December. It was an unusual year as my cousins, Matt and Natalie, had just welcomed little Lillian into the world and were not able to be with us. In fact, due to Lillian's arrival and the weather we were Ott-less. Not only were we Ott-less, but Jason and Natalie ended up celebrating the Neuenswander Christmas on the 26th this year due to a stomach flu (we won't go into lots of details because I start to feel bad every time I talk about it!). So with out the Otts and the Jason Abbotts you might think the field was wide open. And if you did, you were right!

I am pleased to announce that the trophy went to my younger brother, Brian. Brian rose to the challenge and ensured the trophy stayed on that side of the Atlantic for the upcoming year. Here are a few pictures and videos to commemorate the day.

The handing of the trophy


Brian - after the winning bowl


The Bowling Crew

Theo making himself at home

My sister, Lauren, with a nice bowl


Nephew Justin helping Jack (with the cutest plumber crack)


Dad - enjoying himself (must have had someone else bowl for him!)


My brother-in-law Barry

We brought the snow with us....

Sorry I have been so bad at posting lately. We just got back from a little over two weeks in the US. We returned to London only to find reports that a huge snow storm was coming. We were happy to be back before the snow storm was forecasted. And yes, for once, the forecast has proven to be pretty true. We woke this morning to about 3 inches and the snow has kept falling all day.

It is the perfect snow for playing as it is light and packable (not to mention it was a balmy 32 degrees Fahrenheit). The boys and I went out in the morning and built a snowman and then Charles came home for an hour in the afternoon so the boys could go sledding. Both boys absolutely loved it. Theo was hilarious because he just walked around in the snow like he owned it! Here are some pictures from it.


Picture of snow in orchard


Our snowman (oreos for eyes!)


Theo in the snow


Jack in the snow

Jack's Birthday Party

We celebrated Jack's birthday last Saturday. We had twelve kids between the ages of 2and 6 with us (that is the nature of Oak Hill). We had a great time, but needless to say were exhausted by the end. Charles's comment was that all my work was beforehand and all his was during the party which I admit there was some truth to since he was in charge of all the games that I had planned. He did an excellent job. It was also super fun because Aunt Rebekah and Aunt Karen (Charles's two sisters) were able to join us.

One funny aside was that I bought candles called Magic Candles which I noticed were 10p more than the other ones, but they had nice stripes so I went for them. Only to find out when Jack was blowing out the candles that they are what American would call trick candles. Here are some pictures and videos to record the event.

Theo at the party


Photo of Jack's drum cake and guitar cookies


Video of the kids 'attempting' to play Duck Duck Goose



Video of Jack 'attempting' to blow out the candles

Jack the King

Last Friday was Jack's Nativity Play at his pre-school. The play was very well done with the pastor reading the Birth of Jesus from the Children's Bible. When he got to the part about Mary being pregnant, the pastor asked 'Why was her tummy so big?'. This was obviously meant to be a rhetorical question but Jack blurted out very loudly 'Because she was going to have the Baby Jesus!'. Let me just say he did very confidently and with gusto. Everyone started laughing. The pastor then said 'You are exactly right and it looks like God has given you a good voice to proclaim his good news'. It was a very Jack moment.

Here is a video of Jack's favourite song in the play. It was hard to get up close enough but you can see him behind the kid who is standing up and rocking.



Here are a few more pics.

Jack was assigned the role of a king:


I tried to coach Jack on how to sit with his legs crossed so people wouldn't see his pants. It doesn't look like my coaching was too successful!


Jack's best buddy, Josiah, was assigned the role of Joseph