Exploration

THIS is a very cool thing. A tree came down one windy night a week or two ago, and was sawn into chunks by City workers. The city workers, though, left the branches in heaps at the side of the path. I suspect this is the work of a few enterprising teens, for this is not simply a pile of logs and branches.
Not at all. Walk around to the river side, and you`ll see that it is a very neat -- and very sturdy* -- little house!

*Being the responsible caregiver that I am, I wandered around it, shaking and kicking at it to make sure it was sound. It is. Being the little mimics they are, your children also took a few swipes at it before entering.

Isn't this a Fun Thing?


Fun, sturdy, and the perfect size for the tots! Peek!

Music?

Sandpaper blocks. Technically, they're rhythm instruments, but, heck...

they're sandpaper!

And who needs shiny floors, anyway?

Guess which song we're singing?

Bead (?) Curtain

What do you do with a floor puzzle whose pieces are so curvy it's un-solveable? You turn it into a bead curtain!! It was a point of total fascination for a good twenty minutes... until it was too tangled to dangle any more. :)

A Camera Purge

No idea why this was so fun, but it was!

Two-fisted sippy cup man.

Sing, Sing a song...

Wild static girl eats her bells.

Hm. Perhaps I should wash the ketchup off their faces before I start taking pictures...

"......... SNAP!!!!!" One of our favourite chants!

Indie likes to be part of things.

Dominic plays the shaky tomato.

Menu Monday

A reminder to everyone: My March break holiday begins this week. I am working on Monday and Tuesday only. I'll start back to work next Thursday (March 24). Thus this week's menu is very short!

Monday: Fried tofu fingers with dip; Greek green beans (beans in a tomato sauce with mint)

Tuesday: Marinated winter vegetable salad

Cooperative Play

It looks so sweet and simple, doesn't it? Willa zooms the car to Milan,

and Milan zooms it to Nora, and so on around the circle.Simple game of childhood.
Ha.
What is missing from these pictures is the soundtrack.

"Good girl, Willa! You zoomed the car to Milan! No, no, sweetie. Sit still and let Milan catch it. Catch it, Milan. That's right. Okay, Milan, zoom it to someone. Who will you zoom it to? Oh, look, Nora! Here comes the car! You catch it. Catch it, sweetie, that's right. Now what? Now you zoom it to someone else. Zoom, zoom, zoom! Nora. Don't just hold it, zoom it to someone else. Anyone you like. There you go! Good girl!! Okay, Willa, you have it again. What will you do with it? No, you don't sit on it, silly-billy, you zoom it to someone. Dominic hasn't had a turn yet. Zoom it to Dominic! Hang on, Dominic, don't grab it. Just wait a sec. Willa will zoom it too you, yes she will. Away you go, Willa. Dominic is waiting. Zoom it to Dominic. That's it, lovie! Good for you! Now Dominic..."

I don't know about the kids, but I find this game exhausting...

Snowman!

I started the snowball. Milan rolls it bigger!

Nora pats it down a bit to firm it up.

Dominic is supposed to be rolling the second ball, but I think he decided to "shubble" it instead.

Look at the size of that snowball! Ella can sit right on top of it!!!
(Well, Milan found it that exciting, at any rate...)

But in the end, it was Nora who was most taken by the snowman. I think it was her new BFF, at least for the next half-hour.

Pancake Tuesday Feasting

We have our hats.

And our milk.
We have our friends to poke us in the side of the head...
and we have PANCAKES!!!
What a great festivity, huh?
(And yes, I did bring out plates, forks, and syrup -- but I was not arming the children with those things until I could put down the camera and give any possibilities for sticky impalement my full and undivided attention.)

Hats Off for Pancake Tuesday!!!

Except we kept ours on, thankyouverymuch.

Aren't they just so cute, all lined up on the couch, wiggling away?
(Yes, I did manage to assemble Milan's hat upside-down. Oops. Eliana was the only one in a position to know the difference, and she very kindly kept our secret. Shhhhh...)

Snowy Industry

Busy, busy, busy children. ("Ella! Where are you going?")
Though it doesn't show well in this picture, Ella is in fact squatting inside our little snow fort. (Can you make out the circular wall around her, maybe 40 cm high?)

FUN!


And while you definitely can't see it, Dominic is sitting in a snow chair!

Milan managed some focussed industry, and actually made respectable headway, clearing my neighbour's steps! (I'll let him know where he can mail the cheque, shall I?)

Menu Monday

Monday: Groundnut stew
It was eaten without much comment one way or another.

Tuesday: Pancakes (What else??)
We LOVE pancakes!! (Is anyone surprised?)

Wednesday: Tofu-peanut stir fry
This was surprisingly well-received (except for the mushroom, of course). Ella ate quite a bit -- off my fork as I sat on the kitchen floor, protesting that it was MY lunch. (Reverse psychology: it actually works some days!)

Thursday: Egg noodles and cheese sauce
Carbs and dairy products. Who's going to argue with this? They all ate tons. :)

Friday: Jambalaya
Sadly for your kids, my family ate ALL the jambalaya on Thursday night, so we had cheese sandwiches and peas instead. Frozen peas. They prefer them that way.

And then the bunnies WAKE UP

Hop, little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!

Hop, little bunnies, hop, hop, hop!
Fly little butterflies, flit, flit, fly...


Roar little tigers, roar, roar, roar...

I think this is another butterfly, but it could just be a very excited Eliana!

More butterflies. Very happy ones.