Happy New Year.....and Good Night!

The last day of the year, and we returned home to Toronto to ring in 2013!  Alas, Violet and I went to bed early, and Mummy and Daddy were pretty tired too.  Here they are, saying goodnight at midnight (ha, you can tell they're not really sleeping, right?!  need to work on their "acting" faces!)

What a year it's been....and what a few years on this blog!  After 4.5 years of blogging, it's time for me and Violet to say good-bye blog world!  We're taking a rest and closing down - with Mummy back at work full time, and things are getting busier as we're getting older, we'll say see you later, with this as our last post (sniff sniff).

But don't worry, you can catch up with us on Facebook.  We figure we should support Daddy's business anyways!!  Grandma/Grandpa, Nanny/Gramps, Aunty Holly/Uncle Guy, Chachu/Chachi and Jackson - we'll see you all there!  And for anyone else reading, find our pics and updates there - just look for my Mummy's account (Louise Procktor Malhotra).

It's been fun telling our life-stories here, and who knows, perhaps we'll blog again ourselves when we're a bit older.  LOTS OF LOVE AND THANK YOUS TO YOU ALL FOR READING, this is sweetpea Audrey and her nutterbutter sister Violet, signing off for now....xoxoxoxoxoxoxo.

Winter Wonderland of SNOW!

One of the best parts about visiting Ottawa is you can be assured of SNOW!  We got a huge pile of it, and bonus, it wasn't too windy or cold, so we all had a great time outside.  Daddy and Chachu built us our very own toboggan run down Grandma/pa's front yard.  We all had an AMAZING time doing toboggan runs!  See our videos below - even Grandpa got in on the fun.

Aside from sledding, we did snow angels, made snowballs and mini snowmen (right Vila?), and Daddy and Mummy almost got into a snowfight....but they made up instead and smiled in the snow.  Here's all the "action shots" from our fun-filled day in the snow.

 

 

Phew, that was fun!  Now where's our hot chocolate???!!  Yum!  Love Audrey and Violet xoxo

Kid's Museum of Civilization - Around the World Tour!

On Friday, we decided to escape the house and the snow and head to a really fun play place - the Kid's Museum of Civilization, where you get a passport and get to enjoy all sorts of activities "around the world".

First stop - India!!  Go figure ; )  We were right at home, driving the tuk-tuks/rickshaws.  Jackson, Daddy and I took turns, and Violet was our best passenger!

We also got to experience selling some vegetables at an African (we think!) vegetable market - Violet and I think we may have found our future careers.  Who could resist buying something from us?  Chachi was a great customer, buying our largest cauliflower.

Or perhaps we may be post office workers when we grow up - Mummy said both Violet and I did a great job of selling stamps, getting mail and sending off packages (and I particularly liked being my own boss!).

There was a huge boat, Moroccan tents and Dutch cheese and flower stands, plus an Indonesian house - lots of stuff to see.  We also liked just the traditional "North American" home reno project - Mummy got us practising on painting, we're pretty good....maybe we'll help with the kitchen project this spring, free labour, ha!

After the world tour, we had some lunch and then went out to the big play area - where we had the most fun of all!  Who needs expensive toys and set-ups, when all you need is a free balloon??!  Violet and I had so much fun with our yellow balloons.....plus there were some foam dominoes too, we built a house!

Finally, the end of our visit included some serious building time at the Arctic Lego Centre.  Violet and I are quite good at towers; Vila prefers the tallest and straightest, while I am a bit more of a thinker on my design. Perhaps architecture careers are in our futures?!  Who knows, but we're having fun testing everything out!

Look, Mummy's in a pic!!  She's usually our camera-woman, but she's always here too!  Hope you all had a fantastic playtime this holiday too.  Next up for us - SNOW time!  Love Audrey and Violet xoxo

Grandpa's Science Experiment

Whenever we go to Ottawa, one of the favourite things for Violet and I to do is play with Grandpa's "science" experiment toy.  Something about how your hands heat the red liquid and it pops up the glass tube into the top like a volcano!  It's really fun.  Here we both are, mesmerized by this amazing little toy!  Thanks for sharing it with us Grandpa - we always knew engineers have the weirdest, but coolest, toys!  Audrey and Violet xoxo

Ottawa-bound! Malhotra Family Togetherness!

We left for Ottawa on the TRAIN on Dec 27th - what fun!  Our first time on VIA and we did really well.  We loved watching the world go by, eating at our chairs with our own trays, and snuggling up together.  Check us out!

When we go to Ottawa, we saw Grandma, Grandpa, and Chachu, Chachi and Jackson.  Yay!  It was great to see the whole family and just hang out together.  Here's our Malhotra Family Portrait for Christmas 2012!

We had lots of fun over the next few days, as you'll see in upcoming posts.  But for now, here are some of our "everyday" shots of Malhotra family togetherness, hanging at home together.

Breakfast Time Silliness

Cuddles Cuddles All Around!

Gifts and Toys, and Birthdays, Oh Boy!

(Jackson's new magnetic Santa toy)

(Audrey and her monster-tower masterpiece!)

(Vila and her monster tower...and the ever-present Mucho Monkey!)

(new sleeping bags for all of us from Grandma/pa!)

(Grandma's birthday gifts - she finally gets to open some presents too!)

This is Grandma's Birthday Dinner at the Colonnade, the best pizza we've ever had!  Did we tell you that not only did we have the best pizza in Ottawa, we also had the best Indian, the best Chinese (Golden Palace) and the best burgers (Harvey's!) - wow, we had a great food feast!!  And Happy Birthday again to Grandma  - we love celebrating with you!

More Ottawa fun to come - Love Audrey and Violet xoxoxo

Princess Playtime

We came home after our night at Nanny and Gramps and spent a day playing around with our new Princess clothes and castles before we were off to Ottawa the next day.  We LOVED our new Princess stuff, and we love playing together, as you can tell by our smiles!  Happy playtime for me and Vila!! xoxo Audrey and Violet

Christmas Day 2012!!

The day arrived!  We woke up in our beds, excited to go downstairs to see if Santa came.  Guess what?!  He did!  Check out our video of our morning gift extravaganza.

Mummy and Daddy also got some gifts for each other (a camera for Mummy and some nice clothes for Daddy!)  plus Violet and I got them their most favourite present:  custom coasters with our pictures, with a little help from our daycare!

After presents, we had a special Christmas morning breakfast of "Le Grands" Cinnamon buns, plus fruit salad and coffee.  Mmmmm.  Then, since we didn't have any family with us like last year, we got ready quick in our fancy dresses and headed out to Burlington to visit Nanny and Gramps!  Aunt Holly and Uncle Guy were going to be there too.  Here I am in my fancy purple Christmas dress by Nanny's tree.

We had more gifts at Nanny's (and lots of appetizers, yum.....smoked salmon (I love it!), cheese, shrimp, warm h'or deurves, cookies etc)  Violet also had a fancy dress, so we were like twins!  Here she is, with her "classic" Violet pout!

Gift time included gifts for the newest baby on the way ---- baby Leshinski, coming in April!  Here is Guy with our gift for her - a Hudson's Bay sleeper and blanket, plus the "Everywhere Babies" book that was our favourite as babies.

 As for us, Nanny bought Violet and I a "Baby Alive" walking dolly.....

Plus we got a wooden doll house, a trunk full of more princess dress up clothes, and a Dora figurine playset.  I particularly loved playing with the little figurines on their playmat.

 After snacks and gifts, it was picture time.  Nanny and I posing by the snack table!

And here I am with Aunty Holly and Mummy (Violet was being a little pouty/shy of the camera that day, but I was quite happy to pose!)

Of course, one of the best parts of the day was dinner.  Mummy loved having Nanny and Gramps do the dinner - it really is nice to have dinner made for you (she says....Violet and I are still learning how great that is, ha! I was a little grumpy at dinner below!)

Look at how delicious this looks - Nanny's best stuffing, with turkey carved with Gramp's electric nice, roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots and green beans, gravy and cranberry sauce.  Yum!!!

Christmas is a time for memories, tradition and nostalgia too - so we took a photo of the table centrepiece, which is this wooden carousel that moves with the heat of the candles.  Nanny must have had this for about 20 years, so Mummy and Aunty Holly remember it well.  And we love it too!

After dinner, we did dessert (ice cream, mince meat pies, xmas pudding) and Xmas crackers - fun times pulling the crackers to get little toys and paper hats!  Violet and I played a bit but then it was bedtime and time for the adults to play!  They had their card tournament of "7 6 5".....a competitive game that Guy had fun learning but alas, not winning.  Can't recall who won, but sounded like they had fun!!!  Uncle Guy now knows about the crazy Procktor card tournaments!!

A great days was had by all and the fun of Christmas week is only just beginning.....off to Ottawa soon to see Grandma and Grandpa and Chachi and Chachu!  Love Audrey and Violet xoxoxo