Amy's Baptism and 1st Birthday Celebrations

In preparation for renting the upper floor of our duplex in Montreal Marie and I spent this past week in the city cleaning, painting, putting in new electrical outlets, and clearing out the last of our furniture and effects. With Phil's help and suggestions, and with him as the new landlord, we feel the place looks better than ever now and worthy of our investment. Now we wait for the perfect tenant to move in!

 During this time Fernanda's parents Rosalia and Cesar and her brother Cesra Jr and sisters Anais and Rocio arrived from Mexico City to help celebrate Amy's baptism and first birthday, on the 28th. It was really nice to see them all again and catch up on what they have been doing this past year. Thanks for the cigars compadre! Unfortunately bitterly cold weather descended on the city the week they arrived and we had to be content with staying indoors as much as possible. Fer kept us all warm with her spicy cooking and Amy with her smiles - what a beautiful little girl she is!

Emma and Amy

 

Cesar enjoying some spicy pizza and wine

Happy grandmothers

Cesar, Phil, Rocio and Fernanda

We did manage to go up to the Columbarium on Mont Royal to visit with little Patrick, say a few prayers and reflect on how he would have been three years old this coming March. Lara and Jesse met us there and afterwards we treated everyone to lunch at an Indian buffet downtown. We have been a few times to the Maharaja but we all agreed there are better Indian restaurants in the city!

 Hopefully the next time the Penagos family fly up here they will come in the summer! Amy's baptism was held Sunday at Saint-Raymond de Pennafort parish, a few blocks away from the duplex in NDG but it was too cold to walk even for a few minutes. It was a regular service and all the children in church that morning were asked to come up and help bless Amy.

 Afterwards we went to the local community hall nearby for her birthday celebrations and a good time was had by the many who attended. There was all sorts of delicious Mexican food prepared by Fernanda, a decorate-it-yourself cupcake table designed by Rosio, punch by Marie and a pinata for the kids.

Amy and friends playing in the community hall.

Our neighbours, Sarah and Emma

me and Pablo

Cesar enjoying Fer's cooking

Sarah and her mom Kathy

 

Christina with Isabelle and Sarah

Amy swinging at the pinata

candy free for all after wards

Rocio

  And now we are back at the house, ready to start another two weeks of work here before returning to Montreal to welcome Lara's little fellow who is due around the middle of February! gws

Moving Day

Last week we moved the last of the furniture from the duplex in Montreal, taking it out to storage in Woburn, a few miles away from the house. I helped pack and supervised, then later drove out in the moving truck with Luis and Camilo while Marie and Mathieu, the fellow who installed our solar panels, went on in the morning and did some tweaking of the system. Now with the duplex empty, and with the help of handyman Phil, we can finish preparing it for the new tenants - we will be renting it as soon as possible. Phil and I meantime took advantage of warm sunny weather when we were down in January and installed an exhaust vent to the roof from the stove last week and since then he has been busy patching holes in the living room and putting in some electrical outlets. This coming week Marie and I are going back for a week to paint, clean and to prepare for the arrival of Fernanda's family from Mexico who will be staying there for Amy's baptism on the 28th. In the meantime we have been our usual busy selfs here at the house, preparing to install the central vac system and planning the next major phase : putting up the ceilings and walls. I also put up a glass tile backsplash in the bathroom behind the sink - except for finishing the door with paint and hardware it is ready for our first guest! Yes you are invited! The warm weather that lasted those four days earlier in the month ate up most of our snow but now we are back to ice and very cold temperatures. Yesterday we drove around the lake up to Megantic to do some shopping and get Emma's shots at the local vets. She is keeping us both up at night - crying at 2 am most mornings to go out and up early wanting to eat. Ahhh just like another baby in the house....gws

Luis and Camilo loading up the truck

Amy and Emma making friends

The love of my life - how can you resist that face?

Peekaboo Grandpa!

Playing with the recyclables

First bath

Squeaky clean

Basement bathroom with tiled backsplash

Fun in the Snow With Emma & Birds

some of our winter visitors

get used to it Emma!

6 inches tall in 3 feet of snow

somewhere under here is the 4Runner...

finished  guest bathroom, basement

2013!