Hi gang! Long time, no chat. It’s already October 4th, which means that Christmas is just around the corner. The boys have already started making a mental wish list, looks like it will be a Guitar Hero kind of holiday, with perhaps a scooter thrown in for good measure. Not sure where the scooter idea came from, I was certain we had moved up the transportation (food) chain a bit to ‘skate or die’ mode. They have also gotten back on their bikes of late; it seems to go in phases these days.

Sorry I’ve been neglectful. Same old story, just not enough hours in the day. I think I’m averaging six hours of sleep a night, but I could probably get three and not accomplish what’s on my list. Anyway, when I last left you (Sept.17th), I was filling the page with political incorrectness, so I will try to be good today.

I just uploaded a bunch of new videos from Riley’s birthday party, so I will share a few (see YouTube videos posted separately below). His birthday is August 22nd, but the party was on September 21st. And they say I’m not at the top of my game – only a month behind schedule. He invited eight friends for a pizza-movie-sleepover, which I thought went very well, all things considered. Specifically, I’m referring to the noise level and general state of anarchy in my house for 20hours, 13 minutes, and 28 seconds (but who was counting?). Actually, they are a really great group of kids, no complaints from me. We went to see Rush Hour 3. I hadn’t seen either of the first two, but it turned out to be a pretty good action movie. And we got to see it in English, which was great for Bill and I. Riley’s friend Laci (lah-t-see) brought his Guitar Hero game and controller and they played well into the night.

Here are some bday party photos.

What else in the news? The boys have had lots of fun stuff going on at school this week. You have to understand that they've been back for almost a month now (Use sarcastic tone here), so it's about time they got to let their hair down, poor things. You will notice in these photos that 'let your hair down' is not just a figure of speech for Liam these days.

Last week was the ‘semaine de gout’, when they go on a field trip to restaurants around the city and have a day of cooking and eating. Here are a few photos of Riley – too cute in his chef’s hat.

Somehow I don't remember ever getting to eat like that in elementary school, on a field trip or otherwise.

Yesterday was the annual ‘enduro’ race at school. All the students, from ages 2-18, participate in the event, divided up into groups by age. Riley moved up into the bigger group this year, so he had to run for twenty minutes, which in my opinion is quite impressive. I couldn’t run to the end of my driveway and back at the moment, so I guess it would impress me. Here's a little video of Riley’s run that my friend Erika shot, and a picture of him, face bright red, burning up the track. Erika made the comment that he's got a very rhythmic and controlled style - he's in it for the long haul. I remember way back when he was five, my friend Joy also told me that, to quote the Boss, 'baby he was born to run'.



Here's a shot of Liam, post-run, and another of him from the 2007 Olympic games back in June. He's intense, but in small doses. It's funny, their approach to running says alot about their personalities. Or maybe it's just 12:30am and I'm so tired that I have just started making random off-the-wall analogies.

And now you ask, what about the princess update? She is fantastic. I finally got to have a mommy-Keira day on Monday, which I must tell you was the best day I've had in weeks. We didn't do a whole lot, just hung out, but that was the point. We made lasagna (bizanya) for Riley, painted, re-organized her craft drawer (which meant finding loads of long-lost treasures) and watched the boob-tube. She is so much fun right now I can't stand it. Every thing out of her mouth just makes me smile. And, I realize I'm a bit biased here, but she is incredibly clever.

Will post a video clip from two weeks ago (again, see below). She had a Hungarian friend over for a playdate after nursery, and they set up the My Little Pony and Dora houses in the living room. She plays really well with her buddies, but is also very happy to play on her own for hours on end. I went upstairs this morning so we could start getting dressed and she had these eight ceramic fairies all lined up in a very organized seating arrangement and they were watching a show. No idea what the show was about, as it was pretend and she was far too busy to elaborate, but she was i her own little world. She was talking to them for at least ten minutes before she even realized I was there - listening to her is a total riot.

It's going on 1am now and I'm trying to keep my eyes open, which is probably a good sign that I need to call it quits for the night. Will return sooner or later, I always do. Have a great weekend!