Snow much fun!

We woke up to three feet of snow this morning. There was so much snow that cars parked outside were barely visible.

That was our babysitter's car. She had to stay the night because the snow storm was so bad last night. We tried to dig her out but her car got stuck in the snow. In the end three of our neighbors came to help. One of them used their snow blower to clear a path around the car. The other two helped my husband physically push her car out onto the road. It was hard work, but finally she got out! Yay! We only celebrated her car's liberation for a moment though, because soon after we had to shovel our driveway. One of my neighbors was kind enough to get us started by clearing enough space for us to drive out using his snow blower. We spent a good hour shoveling the rest.

The kids loved it but my back hurts! We went to the backyard. There was a moment were I was standing still admiring the fresh snow.

But then I got hit by my first snowball of the season.

We romped around in the snow for a good half hour before we headed back inside all wet and sniffly.

I hope it's not like this next Saturday for the kiddie's birthday party day!!!

Chrysalis

Every year my company hosts a huge Christmas celebration called the snowflake serenade. I've never been to this party for two reasons:

1. I heard you have to REALLY dress up for this party
2. All the REALLY important people (head of the company etc.) go to this party

So I felt REALLY intimidated and never had a desire to go. This year a coworker asked me if I would take candid shots of the event for a free ticket. My desire to express myself through photography overtook my fear of feeling intimidated so I said yes. We almost didn't make it to the party because there was a huge snowstorm, but then I had worked so hard to get ready for the party that it would have been a shame to not go.

This post is about my transformation from frumpy mummy of two to golden party-goer.

My inspiration for this evening was Salma Hayek. Back in 2009 I remember seeing this picture of Salma Hayek and thinking that one day I wanted to try this style out.


After consulting with my fashionista sister, we determined that the beehive was probably not a good look for me. She advised me to try a high bun instead. My hairstylist agreed. Her recommendation was to try a sleek pulled back sock bun. She had never done a sock bun before so I was her guinea pig. Fortunately it turned out nicely.

We added two golden headbands I bought from target to complete the look.

Next I went home and squeezed myself into some spanx before stuffing myself into my golden dress. I put on a tonne of make up and voila in less than thirty minutes I was transformed.

My dress is a convertible von vonni dress that can be worn 8 different ways

My favorite thing about this dress is that it was so comfortable! I could even adjust the height so that for once I didn't have to wear ridiculously high heels to look good in this dress!

Three weeks from now is my departmental Christmas party. The theme for that party is Roaring 20s. I am already trying to figure out what to wear now =).

Lazy mommy or genius mommy???

My daughter is starting to read. I let her read with my son.

He promised her a sticker if she did a good job.

She did a great job with the first few pages and then she got stuck. 

My son coached her through it using all the strategies he learned in kindergarten. "Look at the picture, what's the first letter? Sound it out!" 

I observed them work through it together and at the end watched my son tell her that she did great. The best part was when he gave her a sticker. Smiles all around!

Great minds think alike

My friend and I had the rare experience of enjoying the night out on our own. On our agenda was shopping for loot bags for my children's birthday and all u can eat sushi for dinner. Afterwards we hung out at her house and bonded over how full felt. Her husband came down and took one look at us and started laughing. We didn't realize it but we were wearing identical clothing! 

Reconnecting

We had a very busy weekend! On Saturday we went to the mall to meet Santa Claus. First time for both of my kids and they were taken aback when Santa asked them what they wanted from Christmas. Should I tell them  now that Santa doesn't visit our house on Christmas or let them find out on the hard way =). Just joking, I've explained that we give gifts to others at Christmas, but don't get gifts ourselves. Instead they get gifts at Eid...there are two Eids - bonus!

We met up with my daughters best friend from daycare. The girls were so happy to be back together again.

We went on a train ride around the mall together. We had to squish ourselves into a small caboose. My caboose barely fit on the little seat.

Afterwards we did some girlie shopping. I got two pairs of jeans from Smartset and two shirts from Target. We ended the evening by watching Free Bird. Such a funny movie! The next day we hosted a playdate for my son's friends from last year. It was an action packed playdate. During the course of the playdate, my son's friend lost her first tooth! It had been loose for quite a while so it was a celebration when it finally popped out.

I also got to cuddle with a baby!!! My friend bought her six month son over as well. He's so adorable!

And he's so good natured! He spent a good portion of time happily watching his brothers and their friends playing Xbox. I was so busy catching up with my mommy friends that I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the kids playing games. I did manage to get everyone pose on the stairs before they left.

Right after this picture, the cutest thing happened. The kids spontaneously did a group hug.

At the end of the night my son gave me a picture.

He said it was of the two of us. I don't know why we are flying in the sky, but I love the clouds and how he did the grass. My favorite part is what he wrote! I feel so loved =)

Chattai

In Bangladesh there is a belief that if you go to sleep without drying your hair properly, you will catch a cold. I thought this was a silly superstition until I had my daughter. Unless her hair is 100% dry at bed time, she will wake up with sniffles in the morning. Drying her hair takes FOREVER so I thought I would make it easier to dry her hair by giving her a hair cut. I cut her hair once before and had full confidence that I would be able to cut it nicely this time too. Well, it ended up being much shorter than I wanted =(.

My husband almost cried the first time he saw her shorter hair. Luckily her hair grows fast so hopefully it will be a nice length by her birthday at the end of this month =).

Belated happy Halloween

We had a very wet and windy Halloween this year. It was raining sideways and the wind was gusting at about 70 kmph. It was such a bad experience for me that I tried to forget about it and thus forgot to post about it all together. We headed out all bundled up. 

My son was quite upset that his coat ruined the "scary factor" of his Darth Vader costume. "He wears all black!" He complained.  My daughter didn't even get to wear her pretty princess dress out. I just put her tiara, wand and fairy wings on top of her winter jacket, but look at her happy scrunched up face! She didn't even mind. The wet weather didn't deter the trick or treaters this year. Our sidewalks were overrun by ghouls, witches, zombies and Darth Vaders. By the way - big apology to all the people my son accidentally poked in the face with his light sabre. He couldn't manage it and his candy bag at the same time and it was just the right height to hit people in the face when they were bending over to give him candy. I've learned my lesson - no potentially poky costume accessories in the future. Here's hoping that next year won't be so horrible!