Menu Monday

Monday: Pasta with tomato sauce (with eggplant, cottage cheese, and spinach pureed in)

Tuesday: Mung beans and vegetables

Wednesday: Grilled cheese sandwiches, cooked carrot sticks

Thursday: Cucumber raita, chicken, dahl

Friday: Lentils and zucchini

Blurred but Happy

Any picture of Romeo in action tends to be blurry, but I think you can tell

that they are both having

a whale of a time.

giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle...

Open da Mowfie!

"Ooopen, ooopen!" Ella coaxes Nora.
"Open! Yum! Yuuuum! Yummm!"

Ella is expert in the art of Coax Feeding. Nora is expert in the art of Eating Anything. It's a match made in heaven.

Happy Birthday, Willa!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, dear Willa!
Happy Birthday to you.

And what better way to celebrate a birthday

than with Brownies

and candles. (Whooooooaaaa...)

Candles which we Don't Touch.

Dominic appears uncertain about this whole 'candle' thing...
But one thing we're all agreed on:
Brownies are Yummy!!
Happy Birthday, Two-Year-Old!!!

The Joy of Box

Last week it was a packing crate. This week it's a filing cabinet...

and a GIANT BOX!!!

Do I know how to show your kids a good time, OR WHAT???

Menu Monday

Monday: Black bean chili, homemade biscuits

Tuesday: Squash salad (and probably leftover chili)

Wednesday: Tofu in peanut sauce, Indian-style cooked carrots

Thursday: Roasted Eggplant Salad, Portuguese Chicken

Friday: No-noodle vegetarian lasagna

Teletubbies!

I am quite, quite sure that the creative inspiration for Teletubbies came from some parent watching their toddler flounder about in their oversized snowsuit.

Because don't they just look like a pair of teletubbies?

All it Would Take Would be some Blue Paint*

It was Dominic who discovered the potential of the packing crate in the living room.
Ella and Willa soon joined in.


Hang on there, Ella. Maybe Willa doesn't want to be shut in a dark box.

Willa gets her own back...

No one seems to have been traumatized.
:)
Boxes are such fun!!

*"Blue paint?" You know, to make it into a tardis.

Life Skill #84527

First you roll it... which is far trickier than you might think! Because 'rolling', you know, is so very much like other actions, actions like 'flatten', 'smear', 'squash', and even 'shred'.

But if you do it just right, if you can get that perfectly coordinated back-and-forthing with the palms and the absolutely correct amount of precisely calibrated pressure between those two palms
.
.
.
you can, if you're VERY skilled
.
.
.
produce a SNAKE!!!
Doesn't she look pleased with her accomplishment?
As she should be!
Making SNAKES is a Very Important Life Skill.

Menu Monday

Monday: Cucumber salad; spinach-tofu curry
Everyone ate some of the cucumber salad; the girls declined the spinach-tofu. Dominic ate a modest portion.
Tuesday: Sweet potato & squash tagine; brown rice
Everyone ate their helping. Only Eliana had seconds. (I let her remove the raisins.) Nora particularly enjoyed the rice!
Wednesday: Lentil Salad
Thursday: Sweet potato salad; lentil soup
Friday: Moroccan chicken; apricot rice pilaf; lentil-beet salad

Babies and Gates

Indie can hop the gate.

The other two? Trapped. Which is the point, of course.
(Romeo is standing on his hind feet tip-toes.)

Sooooo tired...

Phew. All that playing in the snow?It really takes it out of a guy...

Snow Craft

This thing is much easier to make that it looks like it would be. Eliana and I had fun!

A Boy and His Dog

This little man really does love the wildlife in this house. He also has a very nice way with them.

Out and About, Fully Loaded

I am not surprised by the stares I get when I go out with this lot. I mean, really, who wouldn't? I'm used to the giggles, the double-takes, and the pointed fingers. I can laugh when a mother with one or two toddlers considers me with nothing short of horror (or awe).

But the thing that I will never find less than bizarre are those people -- and I meet them every time I'm out for more than 20 minutes -- who ask me,

"Are they all yours?"

Yum!

Some days it seems that what I mostly do with your lovely children is feed them.

Honeydew melon for afternoon snack...


Frozen peas are a big hit, too!

Pears dipped in yogurt...


Cauliflower raita...

Assorted veggies... ("Hey, you! Yeah, you with the serving spoon!")
More honeydew melon (and a pair of big brown eyes)
More raita...
Dominic had decided HE didn't need to sit in a high chair. I think he was coming to regret that decision...

Whatever's on offer, though, we do like to eat around here!

Menu Monday

Monday: cheese and mushroom quiche; cooked carrot sticks

Tuesday: Black bean falafels with yogurt sauce

Wednesday: Sesame-broccoli salad; cheese and pita wheels

Thursday: Tofu-spinach curry on rice

Friday: Veggie patties; cauliflower raita.

Puppy Love

Eliana has a nice way with the puppy. Gentle and affectionate. (Much as she is with the other children, come to that!)
And Willa? She's not here so much to play with Romeo as she is in it for the photo op. She sat still just long enough to hear the 'click', and then bounded up to "See picture! See picture!" Qu'elle hambone...

Snow!

We haven't had much snow at all this winter, so when it actually SNOWED today (no matter how small a dusting) we had to get out there and check it out!

The cement mixer is a perennial favourite.

So is the puppy!
These children take their play seriously...

Menu Monday

Tuesday: Rice and beans (chickpeas), corn

Wednesday: Quiche, broccoli

Thursday: Beef bourguinon, cumin flatbread

Friday: Black bean soup, cornbread, carrots