That Time Katie Graduated

Two weeks ago, Katie came back to Montreal for her graduation ceremony. Having been by her side over the course of her three years at McGill (which might I add were far too short), there was no place Emily, Paula or I would be but by her side for this special day. A couple other people who I know are just as proud of Katie as we are were there too, were Jer and his sweet parents.

Since McGill doesn't have a proper convocation hall, they set up a beautiful white tent accommodating close to 3,000 people at a time. Given the sheer mass of students at McGill (38,000+), you can imagine what an ordeal graduation must be. For five consecutive days, McGill had two ceremonies– both morning and afternoon separated by faculty and then even further by discipline for some of the larger specialties. Katie, alongside 800 of her peers marched in to the sound of bagpipes while being featured throughout on the projector screens in the tent. I can't tell you the number of times we thought we saw Katie coming in and started to cheer... it's just so hard to tell people apart when they're in black robes with black hats and flowy long hair. Once we finally caught a glimpse of the real Katie, the camera shifted focus to the bagpipe player....great. 

After that we were determined to film her walking across the stage to get her diploma and figured since we had a list of who was being called there was no way we could possibly miss it. Between Paula, Emily, Jer, Mr. and Mrs. Enns and myself, we had it all planned – photos, videos, cheering – you name it, we were ready....Until they skipped five names ahead of Katie's for people who didn't show and the next thing we new she was marching across the stage in her five inch heels (that just so happened to match the accent colours on the gown PERFECTLY) getting 'capped' on the head by someone important as they announced Katherine Ernst, First Class Honours, Dean's Honour List. We may not have been ready with our cameras but did we ever cheer!!! Katie gave us a huge grin from the stage and someone even turned around to ask if we were for hire! 

Here is a video and a few pictures of the day. Katie, we are all SO proud of you. Congratulations on a degree well done. You are going to make one fantastic lawyer! If you thought we cheered loud this time around...

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

As you can see, we have accumulated a few bananas in the past couple of weeks. As such, Emily and I figured it was high time to do some baking...

We made cranberry-banana-white chocolate muffins and banana chocolate chip bread topped with walnuts :) 

Last Weekend in a Video

Jared was here visiting this past weekend and he played a lot of guitar. We love listening to him so here's a snippet for you :) 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

We like to document our conversations with Mary and Mansoor because they are always rather confusing and hilarious and this was no exception. 

First Masoud contacted us: 

Not having any idea who Masoud is or why he needs to come take pictures of our apartment I forwarded the message to Kinsey who said she would call him. In the meantime she called Mansoor, "Hello Mansoor", "Hello Candy" he replied. As Kinsey explained this text message we'd received and reminded him that we'd already sent him beautiful pictures of the apartment that Katie had taken, Mansoor attempted to comfort her saying, "oh yes Masoud, very nice man, very nice man" but couldn't tell her why Masoud needed pictures and told her to call Mary.

We didn't call Mary but she texted us!

 We continued to worry. Kinsey would be home at 6 but our rooms were not clean and we weren't exactly prepared to clean the apartment in they way that we would normally for a photoshoot!

We called Mansoor again to try to find away to stop this stranger from coming to our apartment to take pictures of our bedrooms... Mansoor seemed completely oblivious to the situation and told us to call Mary again. We texted her:

And look at that: she told us to call Mansoor! (What?!?) And who in the world is Mohammad?! Clearly neither of them have a clue. I'm guessing this guy is not coming. 

Turns out Kinsey didn't actually respond to the text message from Masoud (and neither did I or Mary or Mansoor). I got a phone call from him this morning asking if I'd received the message and we finally sorted things out! He doesn't even need pictures! He has a client who is interested in buying the apartment building and just wants to see the layout. 

So this what is what we get for being "dream tenants". Our apartment seems to be constantly being shown! 

Masoud said he would check with his client about what time would work with him and he would get back to us. We have yet to hear back from him. So this is all to be continued...JOY!

The Settlers Themselves

Last night we settled Catan. Well, Emily and Jared did when they won the first and second rounds. It was a fun night with lots of healthy competition. After two rounds of Catan, some treats and some wine we settled onto the click-clack for some serious discussion about babies- quads, quintuplets and what we would do if we ever found ourselves in the shoes of John and Kate plus 8. Then we obsessed over grad school programs, medical mal-practice suits, and moral dilemmas until almost 1:00. All I can say is that after painfully losing twice I'm more than ready for a re-match. 

Royal Treatment

Last weekend my Grandma and Grandpa came to visit Emily and me in Montreal. Now there's one thing I must mention before I continue this post: My Grandma and Grandpa are AVID readers of this blog. Would you believe me if I told you that they have printed every single post that we have ever written since our very first post  in January 2012? Not only do they print them, they keep them, in what has become a giant pile on their kitchen table. If that doesn't make one feel loved, I don't know what does. So with that, a shout-out to my Grammy & Grampy and a HUGE thank you for the great weekend they treated us to!

To recap:

Saturday night, dinner at Reubens - look at all those fries!

...Followed by some relaxation and pool time at the Fairmont 

Complete with a Special Mother's Day Brunch and mimosas! 

And finally some sun to see them off!  

Hockey Night (week) In Canada (1900 Tupper)

You may not know this about us Tupper ladies but we are actually die-heartt hockey fans. Well, maybe die-heart is a little strong, but I was raised a Habs fan and Kinsey, from Toronto (or close enough) loves the Leafs (and with encouragement from Brad, has become really quite impressively knowledgeable about the team as well as the game itself). So, since both teams were playing this round, we had our computers streaming the games almost every night this week! Even though Montreal was beat out earlier on (sad, I know-especially living in Montreal) I still enjoyed the Toronto-Boston series. Kinsey and I would shout to each other from our respective rooms as we watched the plays unfold..."Kessel with the puck again, heading towards the Boston net...GOAL!!!" It was really rather exciting. Tonight was especially thrilling. Kinsey texted me updates during the first two periods while I was out and upon my return we cuddled up on the couch together, eyes glued to the computer screen. 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, over time!!! Exhilarating. AND, Miss Katherine Ernst called just in time for the final minutes of the third period so all the Tupper ladies could experience the excitement (and disappointment) together. Truly a bonding experience. Thankfully, Katie had lots of news and stories of her time at home and at camp to take our mind off the loss. Maybe next year Habs and Leafs fans!

Looks like Boston just scored from Kinsey's expression! 

15 minutes left in the 3rd period and Toronto was up 3-1.

Ending the evening talking to our girl, Katie :)