i adore these children. they are beautiful, clever and hilarious. however, they are also sometimes little monsters. these photos from a quick trip to the park don't reveal anything about xavier's absolute defiance against wearing his coat or shaela's general grumpiness and dramatic sobs (think: shaela sitting on a teeter totter, wailing about...nothing?). well, maybe that's for the best.

le parc en printemps...

just about every time my niece & nephew come over they ask to go to the park. today was the first day in a long time that it wasn't glacially cold or too dark (thank you daylight savings!) - so off we went! my brother brendan had to occasionally carry the little tykes through massive puddles lakes, but we came back relatively dry. oh spring! i am so happy to see you!*

*although spring, you're making it rather difficult to focus on homework...

oh xavier.

apparently the grown ups were taking too long to sit down.

xavier just could not wait any longer...

la chaleur des lumières

{the warmth of lights}instead of studying for exams,
i decided to string some lanterns and hang some lights.
the lanterns + twinkle lights have instantly
made my bedroom feel more cozy + festive.
i'm telling myself that such a cozy atmosphere will surely
encourage diligent studying.
it's working already, look:
{my last required read of the semester. fini!}

speaking of exams,
i'm afraid that it is really crunch time!
consequently,
i will not be spending much time around here these next few days.

as of thursday, december tenth, at nine o'clock pm,
{yes, an exam at night time. what a horrible idea}
i will be free to:
blog + pleasure read + have a sleepover with the niece and nephew
+ decorate christmas cookies + go to vancouver + send off christmas cards
+ go for a massage + christmas shop + cook + organize my photo albums
at my leisure for {almost} a whole glorious month.

see you then!!

xo

autumn's fire.

"now autumn's fire burns slowly among the woods
and day by day the dead leaves fall and melt."

william allingham

xo

the weekend that was.

{oh pickles + burgers + french fries + ketchup. i love you.}

{xavier kept on saying,
"we're swimming at the beach! we're swimming at the beach!"
apparently 'pool' is not in his vocabulary!}

{pretty little desserts at work}

this weekend:

...burgers at the nook diner

...swimming + ice cream date with the nephew + niece

...crazy long day at the bistro

...the symphony with my mom

...an unsuccessful attempt to watch fame
{the 1980 version,
which i've been dying to see since i saw this year's horrible remake.
but, i fell asleep during it! darn it.}

...a nice loooong phone chat with this girl

oh weekend 6-8/11/09
it was nice knowing you.

xo

le parc

okay so remember the adorable nephew & niece i mentioned here and here?
well here they are in living colour:

autumn has not been so lovely here in winnipeg,
but sunday was absolute october perfection.

so we threw some coats on the kiddies, grabbed the camera,
and played outside for over two hours.

and here {in my humble opinion} is the
pièce de résistance...

my dear sweet shaela:
swinging full force, head back, mouth open...
yes yes yes. love that life of yours baby.
xo

ps. inspired by this post,
i'm off to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies à la
joy of cooking.