it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

one of Mateo's very favourite Germans... Karin

Wo ist Mateo? Ou est Mateo?

Peek-a-boo!

Mateo's new nativity set introduces him to Silent Night, which he listens to raptly every time it plays.

the best thing about presents is the wrapping paper

Little peanut

Oma & Opa Albrecht come to town

Mateo opens his first Christmas present... (best part: the wrapping paper)

Toben helps with the unwrapping

Mateo is eating Baby Jesus, part of his Christmas present from Oma & Opa Albrecht

Proud grandparents :)

Haircut #2 or oops, i did it again

BEFORE

AFTER

Mikael

This week, a high school friend of mine committed suicide. He had been struggling with severe mental illness for a while. Although Mikael & I were not close friends lately, he was always somebody whom I appreciated greatly in high school. His obituary, written by his mother, can be read here.

Here is what I will remember about Mikael:

he was such a gentle person

he was a total weirdo - seriously, who else would eat almost a whole pound of sugar just because the boys only used about a tablespoon for pancakes on the grade 9 camping trip... ;)

he noticed things about other people & was intuitive about what was helpful to say if someone was having difficulty.

Our prayers are with the Chan family this week, & in the weeks ahead, where the pain of his death with be continually felt acutely.

Mikael- you are in a safe place now, where nothing can hurt you anymore.

baby bear: a photo shoot

chicken little: a photo shoot

Giggles with Papa

happy halloween, little mr. chicken!

For Mateo's first Halloween, we got him this cute little chicken costume... he will totally love us when he is grown up ;) He dutifully flapped his arms & practiced making "scary baby" noises (ie. creaking door, screeching, etc.) To celebrate candy day, we went to Ali & Belinda's lovely home to eat yummy food & hang out with some fun people.

Seriously, Papa, when can I take this thing off??

Mathieu, dressed as Myriam dressed as a moose (yeah, it took me a while to understand that, too) & Myriam, dressed as Mathieu (that one took less imagination ;)

Karin the Zombie & Mateo the Baby (the chicken jacket was too hot)

Steve being himself (?) with his bowler hat & his Guinness

Christina the Vampire & Mateo

Steve, Nico, Karin, the other Karin & Ali & yummy, yummy food

Mateo vs. oat cereal: live

October family shot

TA potluck at Noodle's

Alicia surprises herself (& Mateo) with how amazing her story is.

Christina plays with Noodle, the evening's host

Barbara & Baby

Haut rein, Leute! Dr. Boehringer, Barbara, Belinda & Ali taste testing

From l-r: Juliane, Belinda, Karin, Jan, Christina, Ben, Anne

Mateo's university friends

Singing songs with Rike

Karin, Belinda & Myriam discuss extremely important matters over chips. ;)

Mateo's favourite American

Mateo vs. oat cereal

Shamelessly cute video coming soon!!

Cuteness with a tongue...

Thanksgiving dinner

Cousins

Mateo (6 mos.) & Lucas (2 1/2 yrs.)

Britney

Lorisa

Mateo & the girls