We'll Miss You!

Eliana and Milan had their last day here on the eighteenth. It's been almost five years!
Who's this wee baby with the bright blue eye(s)?

Or this baby girl? (Who was totally into crafts, even back then!)

This little guy loves his friends!

And he had that impish grin and bright sense of humour, right from the get-go.

His sister tends to take things a tad more cautiously, at least at first...

but that doesn't mean that she doesn't LOOOOVE to giggle and be silly!

In fact, put them together and you get a whole LOT of silly!

A butterfly princess

and the class clown court jester.

The class clown, who LOOOOOVES to cook!

I'm going to miss these two!

Good luck at Big School, Eliana and Milan. We love you!

Outing to Patty's

Here they are, all around the table! (Sorry about the poor pictures: My new camera is not nearly as nice as my old... sigh...) The waitress was very clearly not thrilled to see our little mob come through the door, but warmed to us when she saw how WELL-BEHAVED all your wonderful children are! (That extra child is with Rebekah, who joined us for lunch.) Addie thinks Patty's is AMAZING!!! "Chicken fingers and salad? Bring!It!ON!!!" Dominic has no objection to chicken fingers and salad, but we'd been to Tiggywinkle's earlier, you see, and had bought this garbage truck? After that, not much else mattered to Dominic.

Sooner or Later

... it happens to each of them! Sometimes naptime is just tooooo far from lunch...

Kindred Spirits

Dries likes to look out the window. Daisy likes to look out the window. On this day, Daisy particularly liked to look out the window when Dries was there. Dries would toddle over to the window, Daisy would trot right after him. Seems Daisy was sure that whatever Dries was spotting was worth checking out. And so we had this, all day! (Is it possible to express how cute I think it is that Daisy is taller than Dries when she stands like this? Mwah-ha.)

Big Bear Tumble-fun

The kids (and the dogs) love this giant bear! He's the perfect place to hang out with your friends.
To relax and get a new perspective on things...
Sometimes he even makes a soft and cuddly climber,
or a bed, or a mini-trampoline, or a teething toy. (Of course, for Daisy, everything is a teething toy.)

Old McAddie had a farm...

This was Addie's favourite toy this week. The barn came from a garage sale, but was a little lacking in animals. A quick trip to Tiggywinkle's, and we're all set, and Addie, in particular, was intrigued.

Your kids love beets!

Here we have a mix of two entrees: the lentil-beet salad I've made many times, and a new one, a beet-carrot slaw I got from the August-September issue of Cook's magazine. Looks almost too wholesome for toddlers to eat, I know, but they didn't just eat this, they relished it.

(A quick piece of advice/advertising: If you can't imagine your child eating this at home without an almighty fuss, you might consider taking Melanie's Picky Eater workshop. I'm planning on taking it when next it's offered. One evening, a whole pile of ideas and strategies. Sounds like fun to me!)

Normally an energetic, two-fisted eater, Addie turned ruminative with this meal, savouring her lunch one or two lentils at a time. She downed a full bowl, then asked for more, so the pace wasn't indicative of dislike!

Another leisurely but substantial eater, I think Nora's face tells the tale. She enjoyed a fair amount of the stuff. (We're working on this whole 'spoon' thing, but fingers are so much more effective!)

Milan preferred the slaw to the lentil salad, to which he was indifferent today. But the slaw? He LOVED the slaw. (Can you tell?)

Ice Cream!

We like to cook in this house. A fine young consort of chefs you're raising, did you know? Milan is the Head Sous-Chef, but they're all veeeeery fond of pouring and stirring, and of course, licking the bowl clean at the end.

Today's culinary exploration was a new recipe courtesy of Chatelaine: Ice Cream Sandwiches!!! You cook a large, thin slab of chocolate, firmer than cake, not as dense as a brownie, and layer the ice cream in the middle... and you get... a GIANT ice cream sandwich!!! Milan and Ella in particular were MOST impressed by this.

Dries was not entirely sure this thing was edible. I think he played with it more than he ingested it. Still, he had fun!

Dominic and Ella had no such reservations. Nom, nom, nom!

Eliana was probably the most excited about this project ... and then quite seriously let down that the outside layers of the sandwich are brownies. Which is, of course, chocolate... sigh... However, to our mutual relief, she discovered that the ice cream more than made up for the chocolate, and she managed to enjoy her piece after all! Phew!

Milan does not share his sister's ambivalence about chocolate. He scarfed down his piece and immediately angled for a second. Yummy!
What's not to like about cooking, when you make stuff like this???

Tiggywinkles

We love Tiggywinkles! What's not to love? One of the perks of my job is that, at least ten years after my youngest has outgrown this store, I can still shop there!!!

I love that they've moved the train set to the main level. It keeps the kids so thoroughly occupied! Bliss for all.

Whereas the others were very interested in the farm animals I bought for our rather underpopulated barn, bliss for Dominic was the GARBAGE TRUCK we purchased.

I think he's in love.

Menu Monday

Monday: Spaghetti with parmesan, cucumber slices

Tuesday: Black bean felafels in pita with yogurt-dill sauce and various salad vegetables

Wednesday: Lentil-beet salad

Thursday: Cheese quesadillas, salsa

Friday: Carrot-beet slaw, stir-fried beef and broccoli

Yup. I really do need a new one

My camera is not working these days, and so there are no pictures. As a result, I am unable to provide you with picture of the AMAZING street-sweeper Dominic made with the duplo. It was really, really good.

Nor can I show you the spontaneous hugs Addie is doling out to all and sundry. In an affectionate mood these days, Addie is.

Eliana was too adorable, sitting on the kitchen floor with the soles of her feet together, a room of dollhouse furniture arrayed between her legs, complete with small people have an energetic conversation.

For at least fifteen minutes, Milan swept the entire downstairs with a large feather duster.

Dries curled up on one of the large stuffed toys, and Daisy joined him there. The two of them cuddling on the giant teddy was definitely a Kodak moment!

Nora and Ella went 'shopping' together, diligently filling a red plastic basket with this and that from here and there. Ella carried the basket, Nora put stuff in it, often asking for Ella's approval first. What a happy couple!

I'd hoped to somehow resurrect my old camera, but as that seems not to be possible, I guess I'm in the market for a new one! Until then, I'll try to be conscientious about giving you some inkling of the children's days in words.

Menu Monday

Tuesday: Sweet and sour soybeans (soybeans with green pepper, carrots, onions and pineapple chunks in a sweet and sour sauce)

Not a hit, but not a fail, either. It was eaten without comment one way or another.

Wednesday: Soybean loaf, cooked carrots

Everyone enjoyed this. Dominic preferred carrots to loaf; Milan and Nora preferred loaf to carrots, everyone else appeared to like all elements equally, but no one disliked anything!!

Thursday: Lentil-beet salad

We ended up having peanut butter sandwiches today, which they loved, of course!

Friday: Pasta salad

Another hit, though some people around the table were slightly dismayed to learn they would have to finish off the vegetables in the bottom of their bowl (corn, cucumber, soybeans, green pepper, grated carrots) before receiving a second helping...