Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Twelve Twelve Twelve

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Posted by the Mommy: To celebrate this once in a lifetime day, the boys and I enjoyed a wonderful experience together! Frunty and Pit got to choose 12 special things to do! And we did them all! Even the bubbly at midnight! My sip was a little bigger than their sips though. The day was nearly perfect...if only we could have received 12 hugs from Papa!

1. Tiny sip of bubbly at midnight...then straight to bed!

2. CN Tower after sleeping in!

3. Tim Horton's for snack time...12 timbits to share!

4. Skating at Nathan's Philip Square

5. Royal York...see the Christmas decorations!

6. Mocktails and cocktails at the Royal York Library (bar)

7. Movie: Elf back home later

8. Sing the 12 days of Christmas song

9. Eat 12 jelly beans each

10. Both boys received $12 to spend at Mastermind

11. We looked at all the Christmas windows downtown at Bay after skating and before the bar

12. We wrote 12 Christmas cards to 12 friends!


Now that is what I call a very special day together! Happy 12-12-12!


Friday, 7 December 2012

The ROM's Ultimate Dino Experience!!!

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Ultimate Dinos
Experience the ultimate backstage museum pass at the ROM. Start the night off right with a special movie screening. Then get up close and personal with the ROM's biggest residents as you enjoy exclusive, after-hours access to the special exhibit Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants from Gondwana. Speak to experts, touch real fossils, dig for dinosaur bones, and make your own dino creations for home. Then bunk down for a giant sleepover (don't forget your late night snack) and dream of dinos.
Itinerary


 
Evening Program

5:00 – 7:45 pm
Check-In: Sign-in at the President’s Choice School Entrance (south end of the building) and place your belongings in a locker for storage until it’s time for bed.
 
5:00 – 8:00 pm
Explore the ROM’s Galleries and Exhibitions
 
7:30 – 8:00 pm
Change into PJs and get ready for the film.

8:00 - 10:00 pm
Film and Sleepover Orientation in the Signy & Cléophée Eaton Theatre

10:00 - 11:30 pm
Explore Sleepover Exhibits with experts on hand and take part in some Hands-On Activities
 
10:30 pm - 11:30 pm
Late Night Snack in Food Studio
 
 
11:00 - 11:30 pm
Karaoke PJ Party!
 
11:30 pm – 12:00 am
Set up sleeping area in the Currelly Gallery
 
12:00 am
Bedtime - Lights Out!
 
Morning Program

7:00 am
Wake Up

7:00 - 7:30 am
Pack up your sleeping gear for storage in lockers

7:00 - 9:00 am
Breakfast in the Food Studio

7:30 - 10:00 am
Explore the 2nd floor Sleepover Exhibits

8:00 - 10:00 am
ROM Museum Store open exclusively for ROM Sleepover participants

10:00 am
ROM Re-Opens

ROM Sleepover Hotline: 416.586.5797 ext 1

Tis the season!

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The boys have been working hard at homeschooling with the goals of finishing their Canadian curriculum textbooks so we don't have to carry them abroad when we travel next! Frunty loves Social Studies and can't get enough of learning about just about everything. He also watches lectures on Khan Academy and earns badges for completing work. On Wednesdays we have a math workshop which is really working well and our Scout friend, Beckham, comes over to play and work together. The boys help eachother and I am really impressed that despite all the giggles, equations are solved! Frunty and Pit are also working hard on practising for their Christmas performances at Scouts on December 21st. I am looking forward to a fun show and we'll try to film it for Papa.

We are also playing hard! On the day Papa left for Singapore, we cleaned the house (oh yeah, I guess that is work! but it was fun!) and scooted off to the Santa Clause Parade near our home on Kingston Road. Afterwards we hosted our family here for Jake's 5th birthday which was also a lot of fun. A few days later, we enjoyed our first "real" snow during Scouts when the cubs were outside making wax fire starts together in a mini-blizzard. After we had our second dinner, the boys and I went on a snowy hike and I am so glad we did that because very soon after, the snow had melted as the temperature climbed to a balmy 8 degrees celsius.

To kick off the first day of Christmas, the boys enjoyed opening their Lego Advent Calendar! Pit is friends of twos and so Frunty went first! They are taking turns opening the doors on the calendar with Frunty starting with uneven numbers. "Friends of two" is an expression we picked up somewhere during our travels and it lives with us now. On that very first day of Christmas, we went to an anti-bully workshop for adults/children at a nearby martial arts studio. We learned to shout at a bully, "Stop! Why are you doing this to me!" After the workshop, we practised this at the nearby park as we played in the snow produced from the skating rink. Some young men built a hilarious snow board ramp and we watched some great wipe outs. I was impressed at how polite these teenagers were and how they involved Frunty and Pit. Frunty took some fun video of these guys.

To warm up, the three of us hiked next to Feathers Pub to listen to some live music with our hot drinks. This pub is just down the street from our home and has a cheery ambiance. The music got too loud though for Pit's ears (a good sign) and we left after three songs. Just in time to meet Gramma and Grampa at home and hike down to the Kew Gardens "Christmas in the Park." Gramma brought chili and so when we got back home after singing Christmas carols, we had a beautiful fire and a hot meal. It was a great kick-off to a fabulous holiday season! Here's hoping!

Yesterday Gramma and Grampa drove us to Kitchener Waterloo where I told the boys Papa used to live during university. We came though for the Christkindl Market which had hot apple cider, German sausage and beautiful live music. The arts and craft table in the park nearby had wonderful activities for the children and we went there twice to make candy cane reindeer and ornaments. It was a lot of fun and the people working there helped make it so. We stayed so long at the table that we had to run a bit to catch up to the candlelight procession. It was well worth it because the music was gorgeous when we arrived back at the market. We thought it was a cd and then found a choir singing so beautifully by the lit tree.

Happy holidays to all reading our blog and hope the season is as jolly for you as it is for us. Pit just woke up to open his calendar! It's an exciting day as we have art with Auntie Dee followed by the ROM Dino Adventure Sleepover. Didn't Papa say and write, "never a dull moment with the Bello boys"? Yipee, luckily that's true!

Monday, 3 December 2012

Bowling and BBQ

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Although the Bello Boys were not in attendance, all their friends asked about them. Instead, The Daddy represented the boys in the bowling tournament before proceeding to a great BBQ. A fun time was had by all.