please enjoy

... this rendition of the Spiderman theme song...

penelope

This is not our kitten. But what Leo and I learned is this... if you go to Michael's craft store for a really long time, and then you want to reward your 3-yr-old for his patience by taking him to the pet store next door to watch the cats play, and then the volunteer who looks after the kittens comes to collect laundry... she will let you hold the kittens. 

It was pretty great. 

tales of glory

The higher the hair, the closer to God? Or something? Let it be known that Joseph sees no problem with these rooster tales. 

 

be prepared

Went for a walk. Leo is ready for rain. 

in the house

We ended our March break with a nice visit from cousin, Fr. Greg. His visits to our house are always so peace-filled, with kids going out of their way to share stories with him and ask him questions, ALL THE WHILE being nice to each other. Our supper was especially fun and informative, with Leo piping up to ask all sorts of important questions such as "What is your favourite kind of bird?" and "What is your favourite toothpaste?" 

There is just always a lot of grace when Greg is in our house. He is calm, deliberate, and thoughtful, and it makes us be so also. After he left, and the kids returned to their normal ways of fighting and disdain, I kept bellowing at them to "Pretend like Greg is still in our house!" Limited success. Turns out we actually need Greg to be in our house. 

 

hair she is!

Clara's new 'do...

Before.

And - voila - after!

And these two braids are on their way to becoming part of a wig for kids. Clara was very delighted and giggly about her new bouncy hair and helping someone else. 

negotiating

"Can I play switch all day?" 

That was Joe asking. He's given up playing his Nintendo switch for Lent but wondered, for March break, could he just play once? And could it be all day? 

Sure, David told him. But first you have to be nice to all your siblings for one whole day. 

And that was a delightful day. Now's your time, kids! Do all the things that usually annoy him! He can only say nice things to you today! 

Anyway, he succeeded and was nice and he got his promised reward... switch for a day. He gave himself breaks to eat and go outside and read a book but, for the most part, he played. Couldn't even be bothered to move when his siblings watched a show.

Just goes to show that with a lot of heart and commitment, you can do anything you set your mind to. Right? There's a good lesson in this?

personal coach

Henry went out to play basketball on the driveway today and, 5 minutes later, we saw this.... This is our kind and helpful neighbour who was once a football and basketball coach at a nearby high school. Once a coach, always a coach. Henry came in half an hour later pretty excited about all the things he learned.

break

First of all, this is how Jane feels, tuckered out from daylight savings and Grandpa's laaaate night birthday party. But it's also how we all feel - tired. 

Tired from online school which turned into snow days which turned into PA days which turned into Covid which turned into blah blah blah blah that's just how we all felt. So we made a getaway from the everyday and took off for a couple days in March break to a "tottage" (that's "cottage" for people who don't speak Leo). Pool table, foosball, air hockey, karaoke, hot tub, a big tv for movies, and a big frozen lake to run around on - this was the refresher that we needed, and we're really grateful for our time on Lake Scugog. 

Karaoke as it was always intended. 

bounty

We have 80 (million) reasons to celebrate our Dad and Grandpa, who is kind and generous and helpful and smart and funny and silly and loving and doting and thoughtful. So today we gather to eat a lot of good food and sing happy birthday and then eat more food. What blessing to be at this table with you. Happy 80th birthday, Dad!