Daniel Yeung and Connie Cheng's wedding was the hugest banquet I'd ever seen. Around 70 tables, (650-something guests!)and all of them jammed into the Shaw Conference Center, in the newly renovated section. There were huge floor to ceiling windows...and the ceilings are multi-stories high! I didn't know the bride and groom too well, but I sure seemed to know a lot of the guests. It was pleasant to see everyone again.

One thing I really enjoyed about the wedding was how hospitable the host families were. Besides big-time prizes (ipod touch!), the father of the groom stating in his speech that he wanted the guests to feel welcome and loved, and the constant reminder that God was the real host of the night, I was always surprised by how comfortable and welcome I was at a wedding of someone I barely knew. I got to chat a bit with the groom's sister, and I was really delighted with how socially "ept" and non-standoffish she was. Sometimes people playing important roles (bridesmaid) don't take time to talk with the strangers. Being a stranger, I was really impressed.

Speaking of feasts, we just had an ASK Thanksgiving dinner over at the house. I got to play Executive Chef, with a number of talented and really hardworking sous chefs running up and down the stairs between the two ovens. I wish I had demanded they call me "Chef" everytime they addressed me, but I think that might have been a bit too much. We had a quick little meeting in the morning, going over the menu, divvying up duties, and then addressed the problem of a still-frozen turkey that really really needed to get into an oven so we could eat it on time. Fred was jaw-struck (not even awestruck...JAWstruck. His jaw dropped open so many times.) at how fast that baby cooked in the convection oven. From an estimated 5 hr. cooking time down to 3.5 hours! We were done an hour early! Here's our baby, whom I shall call "Barbara" for now.

And this is Candice, spearing Mr. Honey Ham. Thanks to Phil's recipe (that is so easy you could doing it while driving a car), we had more than enough meat. And something that Christopher went ape for.

So enough about food.
What about Christopher? What has that little guy been up to?

Well, first of all, he's not little.
A recent trip to the weighing scale shows him livin' it up at 29lbs...and I can't remember his height, but if he lifts his chin he can rest it on the dinner table. Scary.

He's started picking up his chairs and moving them to wear he'd like to reach up high.
This is something I always see during the day.

The chair is there so he can do the following things:

He does this with his bookshelf, the kitchen sink, and other places...including H&M, Zara, and other stores that leave their step stool out.

Other hobbies include:
Colouring at his height-appropriate chair and desk.

Watching the Backyardigans. He requests it at LEAST five times a day. IT's so disturbing. (the amount of requests, not the videos.)

Getting in and out of the wagon. (or any car-like toy he can get into.)

Today the temperature shot up to 11 degrees (and it was patchy sunny too). In a cloudy miserable week of below zero temperatures, today and tomorrow are what I'm calling the "last chance!" days. I'm going to get out there, walk, play on the playground, and make sure Christopher gets outside without his gloves and toque! Who knows how many centimetres of that white stuff next Monday will bring?!
I haven't even changed my car tires yet!

What else have we been doing?
Jon got a tetanus shot. He's also visiting Calgary and eating Steph adn Chris' cooking while doing manuscript training for urbana. I am so jealous. (that he gets to eat steph and chris' cooking).

Well, Grandma came by for a visit last week. We did quite a bit with Grandma in town. We hit the mall, hit grocery stores, and ate at Swiss Chalet. (LOL! doesnt' this sound like quite a blast?)

We even visited Kat King's newly reno-d apartment.

Just kidding. It's just another picture of Anthropologie again.

Christopher walked six blocks of whyte ave without a stroller. He was really good about staying out of traffic, but really bad about not licking windows. hmmmm.

Can you guess where this store is?

Greyson came by for a visit today. I feel a little relieved; besides sunday toddler room time, Chris hasn't had a proper playdate in over a month and a half! I think Chris was pretty shocked that a peer actually came over.

We've just been going to malls and libraries to pass the time, and after a while it can get weird.
We've hit the Disney store every time we go to WEM...and Chris likes to pick up the baseball, the football, the little sippy cup with sparkles, and THIS. At least it's blue.

Christopher will drag this suitcase/bag with him throughout the store until I start to worry that he's getting it dirty, and I have to chase him adn take it away from him several times before I get sick of doing it and just drag him out of the store.

Our last visit was to Uncle Waison's house...to watch the game, meet his family, and eat their food! They considerately baked Western-style food for us, but upon further conversing I find out their real heart is in their regular Chinese cooking, and none of this lobster-stuffed baked potatoes and fried chicken fingers they're feeding us! I convince them to bring out their leftovers so I can try their real food. LOL. (it was pretty tasty!) The Oilers lose to Chicago by one point.

Tomorrow is a high-culinary-anticipation day. We start with lunch at Greyson's, which includes papa murphy's stuffed pizza. YES!!!!!! Then for dinner we visit our friends Matt and Jill's house for a bbq! (I'm pretty sure it'll be the last one of the season!) My stomach is hopping with excitement! In fact, it's hopping so much I am pretty tempted to go and make some instant noodles. They will feel really good going down, considering I ate THIS while writing this note.

(these are the leftovers from Monday's thanksgiving dinner....with home-whipped whipped cream!)

Well, goodnight everyone! To my books and instant noodles it is!
(What I plan on reading within the week...since the Guernsey is due in 7 days...and the other only takes two days to finish!)