mommy, can I hold Leo?

Most frequently asked question in this family.

But sometimes Leo likes to be on his own.

crawly

We learned about spiders today at the RBG. Our favourite takeaways included:
- the study in which spiders were given drugs to enhance their web building but only resulted in wacky webs
- the friendly tarantula tapping the glass (was he saying hi, or giving us the finger? We'll never know.)
- spiders will sometimes eat their webs for protein. Henry informed me he does not want to eat a web for protein. I informed him I have chosen a web-free diet for our family.
- the spider we could climb on (see girls, below)
- the spider that loomed overhead (watch out, Leo)

And then when we were done with spiders, we hung out in the spring flowers and dreamed of the day when it will stop snowing outside.

(Though she looks like she's trying to escape, Janie actually asked to have this picture taken. I guess this is how she poses.)

donut worry

Doughnut day today! Using, of course, Girodat Seeds flour plus the treasured recipe from our farm neighbour growing up. Joyce made delicious doughnuts, always in bulk, and always dipped in sugar from her sugar drawer. What is a sugar drawer, you wonder. Picture a deep drawer in your kitchen, filled entirely with sugar. That is a sugar drawer. I do not know why didn't I implement that when we did our kitchen renovations. And while these doughnuts Clara and I made were reminiscent of Joyce doughnuts, the things I had going against me were the lack of the aforementioned sugar drawer AND a cow from which to get farm fresh cream. Darn the lack of cow. Still, we did our best. And ended up with 91 doughnuts. (Mental note: halve the recipe. And buy a cow.)

bun-anza

I made eight million dozen buns last week and have now just uploaded the pictures, and who knew pictures of flour and buns could be so pretty?

This is fresh-milled flour from the family farm, sent by my brother. The results were delicious and fluffy and filling. Next time I'll invite you over to share, but these ones were gobbled up.

a little bit of leo

Some morning tummy time and some thumb sucking. That's what's on his schedule today.

please enjoy

Some entertainment while I prepared dinner tonight.

(Please excuse Janie's attire. She is learning to use the toilet and pants just get in the way.)

seamstress

Annie continues to churn out more sewing projects, faster than her mama. This is her new pillowcase. Pretty, soft, and good sleeps guaranteed.

bored

A walk is a real snooze fest, says Leo.

birthday pilgrimage

The family celebrated David's dad today at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine in Lewiston, NY. This is their frequent destination, so we all joined in today to pray, attend Mass, and eat (not at the Shrine... a Chinese buffet is also their frequent destination).

Happy Birthday to you,  good father, doting grandfather, kind and generous soul.

chalk it up

It would seem I have a slight obsession with chalk boards. We have... 6 (?) kicking around our house and now one more. We painted a chalk board wall at the top of the basement stairs so, sometimes, the kids can draw and, sometimes I can write out gems like the one below, just as friendly reminders.

 And this one is outside, welcoming a change in weather.

science!

It's March Break (or March Busy, as Annie termed it, given our number of funtivities I filled the week with). And today we got ourselves educated at the Ontario Science Centre. Just us and 5,600 of our closest friends. (It was insane. Really. So many people. As to be expected during March Break but, yowza.) So we found ourselves some quieter exhibits in the far corners of the building and had fun reading and learning and trying. We stayed right up to closing time and missed out seeing a couple of floors. We'll go back another time... but maybe not on a school holiday....

Jane's doctor appointment. All is well.

This is the grocery store in the kid zone. Not pictured: the tens of thousands of other kids running around, yelling, "Destroy everything!" Some serious looting had taken place here. But Clara was tidying everything up and making me very proud. 

Me, my kids, and a giant log. Jane is in this picture. See feet behind Henry.

Joseph, trying to take flight. 

Janie, trying to make music.

Henry. No caption necessary.

The science of skateboarding. Also known as an opportunity to sit down.

How many litres of water are in you? I have 51.

Gecko eyeballs.

Oh, hey there.

Family in the rainforest. 

Me and David in the rain forest.

Bat kids in a cave.

Hot tubbin'

More rain forest.

Steel drums. In a sound proof booth. Good idea.

Me and my giant girls.

Clara and Jane's favourite exhibit.

Leo rules the world.

This mirror made us look long like spaghetti. Or did it? Maybe we just are long like spaghetti.

The only time, all day long, that Jane stood still.