Tfurrows ruminates on Canadian citizenship for himself and his kids
[0]. This is exactly the situation I was in - born prior to 2009, to
a Canadian father outside of Canada. I was easily able to reclaim my
Canadian citizenship.

Be aware, however, that if your children were not born in Canada,
even if it was prior to 2009, they are not Canadian citizens. This
was kind of a grey area in Canadian citizenship law, but one the
courts decided a few years back. Basically you would need to sponsor
your children for permanent residence, but once done they could
apply for citizenship immediately, assuming they are under 19 at the
time they attain residency. This is what I did for my children, who
are now both Canadian citizens (if you are serious, even if you just
want your Canadian passport, feel free to email me, I'd be happy to
provide the details on how to go about it all).

Oh - also congrats on your Mom getting her US citizenship [1]!

[0] gopher://grex.org/0/%7etfurrows/phlog/latest/ahe_italianIce.txt
[1]gopher://grex.org/0/%7etfurrows/phlog/latest/ahp_citizenship.txt