A Look Back at 2009: Hey, where'd the year go?!

Cam and Nenette have been described as anti-social hermits, so it should come as no surprise that we welcomed the new year not at a party, but on the couch in our pyjamas watching Futurama: Bender's Game and eating munchies with the kids. With family, food, and an animated "alcoholic, whore-mongering, chain-smoking" robot from the future, the scene was set for a rather bizarre yet fun 2009.

This year started pretty much as last year ended: Cam as the "instructor-whose-class-everyone-wants-to-be-in" in the Engineering Department at Red River College, Luc and Miranda as "the cute, brilliant Mayor kids" at Rockwood School, and Nenette as "chef, chauffeur, and general Keeper of Order" in the Mayor Household.

Like Canada Post, the US Postal Service, or is it Santa Claus?... anyway, like one of them, Cameron did not let the snow, wind, sleet, and -40C windchill of winter and early spring keep him from his twice-weekly runs through the neighbourhood. It's become a lifestyle thing, and his hard work is paying off. His back feels better, and he's become leaner. Unfortunately, Nenette can no longer deny the possibility that Cam may now have better looking legs than her.

In Feburary, Nenette accepted an invitation to write for the Canada Moms Blog, a new nationwide online magazine. Since joining the clever group of writers on the roster, two of her posts have been picked up for syndication!!!
As a result of her growing fame and fortune stalkability on the Canada Moms Blog and on Twitter, even the readership on her personal site, LifeCandy, has officially grown to more than just her cousins, aunts, and friends she's bribed and/or harassed to "read my blog!"

This summer, Luc turned 7, and like most 7-year-old boys, he's obsessed with Pokemon, Bakugan, Chaotic, his buddies Aidan C., Christopher B., and Ethan B., his Nintendo DS, and any video game he can get his grubby little hands on.
He loves school and has joined the Running Club, presented his Grade 1 Class Expert Project on How Potatoes Become Fries, stole the show as "The Herald" in their class's production of Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow, was on the Orange Grizzlies soccer team, and couldn't wait to start Grade 2 in September.
If you want to visit his blog, just go to Lucifer's Fun, where Luc posts his favourite things and videos he's made himself. There, you'll find his current fave music video MC Hammer's "u cant touch this". He was quite fascinated when he found out Hammer and Nenette were at one time following each other on Twitter. When Cam found out, he just did a lot of laughing... out loud... at his wife.

As for our girl, Miranda turned 5, started Kindergarten, joined ballet/tap/jazz dance class, and has become quite the social butterfly, often seen rushing off on playdates with her friends Abby M., Sydney and Chloe C., Lucy J., and August S.
She too has her own (pink) Nintendo DS and has been known to kick her brother's butt at the occasional video game, but her true interests lie in the realm of dance and Disney Princesses, namely Sleeping Beauty's Aurora.
Our pretty girl also has her own website at Mini's World, showcasing her fine works and creations. She's quite prolific.

Also, this year, our family increased by one. We adopted a kitten, which is probably not what Cam had in mind when he said, "Honey, let's have another baby." He should've specified human baby. Miranda named her 'Mittens' after the cat in the movie Bolt. (Luc got to name our previous cat 'Neo' -- he'd just watched The Matrix at the time.)
We got Mittens at our first stop, the Humane Society. Even though we had no intention of adopting the first kitten we found, Mittens climbed Cam, fell asleep in his arms, and claimed him as her very own -- to Miranda's absolute delight. Before we knew it, we were forking over the $120+ on adoption fees, and Cam was grumbling about filling out more paperwork than it took to bring our own babies home from the hospital.

The summer brought with it some awful rainy weather. But it also brought some AWESOME visits with family and friends: Cam's sister Connie and bil Don, my uncle Cesar, aunt Beth, super hottie-hot cousins Zandra and Chrystalle, Zan's beau Fran, my godsister Cyndi, her daughter Amara, and the whole brood, our friends the Franklin/Van Gorps, the Olynyks, the Dacks, and the Fernizes... so the rainy summer months weren't as sad and gloomy as they could've been.

Cam's backyard garden is pretty much a self-seeding feral tomato garden now. And it would've been *ALL TOMATO - ALL THE TIME!!!* this summer, if not for all the corn. You see, in the spring, Nenette gave Cam a container of expired popping corn (yeah, that stuff actually expires), and in his wisdom, he threw it all in his veggie garden because "the crazy birds will eat it". Well, they didn't, and we ended up with a corn forest. The overflow ended up in my front yard garden.
We didn't use any of the corn. We got 3 huge bags of grape tomatoes.

On the day before Halloween, Cam dressed as Zorro to all his lectures, much to the delight of his students. For Trick or Treating, our Wolverine and Robot Chicken ventured forth and brought back bags and bags of loot which they later traded with each other... and shared with their folks... whether they knew it or not. Hehehe.

The month of November was fun with Nenette turning 40, giving up coffee, and calling 911 for the first time EVER due to smoke in her basement, then doing something she never thought she'd ever do: cut her hair short. She liked it for about 2 weeks. Then she eventually got tired of looking like an electrified Dudley Moore every bad hair day. Not the look she was hoping for. So, she's decided to grow it all out. At the rate her hair grows at, she'll be back to long hair by March. Truth!
Cam however was very supportive and loves Nenette's new 'do. He thinks it makes her look like a whole new woman, who's still his wife. Like it's still Nenette, but looks a little not-Nenette. Like she's his twin sister. So, yeah, he likes.

Now it's Christmas, and we're ready. We've set up the tree and decorated the house inside and out. We've made gingerbread houses at school and at home. We enjoyed Cam's work brunch with Santa. We've finished all the shopping and have sent out the Holiday cards. Nenette looks forward to baking, and Cam and the kids are looking forward to the eating of said baking. The holiday parties are underway.

Miranda's been asking every "fat guy in a red suit" for all things Sleeping Beauty, and Luc -- our negotiator -- has been expounding to his parents all the reasons why having a Wii would be the best thing for EVERYONE in the family. Do you think they're trying to tell us something?

We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.

Be sure to let us know what you're up to! We love getting email!

Nenette - nenette.am@gmail.com
Cam - cmayor@gmail.com
Luc - luc.mayor@gmail.com
Miranda - mir.mayor@gmail.com