Clowning around

Heather's grade 1 class performed at the music festival this morning. They were so cute! They were all dressed up as clowns and did a great job with their dance. Here is Heather getting her face painted. Here is a group of kids, with Heather in the center of the back row, just clowning around. Ha! get it? clowning around?! *groan*

coconut

On the weekend we let Felicity, Eva and Mary watch "Survivor". On the show, the people eat a lot of coconuts and pineapple, so I thought it would be fun for the girls to have some, too. We were pretty surprised at how much coconut juice there was (over 2 cups). The pineapple was one of the sweetest we've ever had, too. I just had to take a picture.


Congratulations, Felicity, for getting a great mark on your voice exam! Here's a picture of Felicity just before she had her voice exam. Poor Felicity had to cancel her piano exam this year because a week before, she broke her finger while playing basketball. Ouch!

Here are Felicity and Eva waiting to sing in the music festival. Afterwards, I took them out for ice cream sundaes, as it was their last performance and they both did a great job.
mmmm....ice cream.

Madeleine cakes

Last night, Trinity and Grace were a bit difficult to put to bed, so I promised them that I would make Madeleines in the morning for them if they were good. So, of course this morning I got out my french cook book and madeleine tray and got busy baking.They are delicious little cakes, shaped like shells and flavoured either with orange or lemon. I used oranges today.Here is the recipe for 12 madeleines. ( I double the recipe for my family)
1 1/4 cups flour grated rind of 1 orange
1 tsp baking powder 1 Tbsp orange juice
2 eggs 6 Tbsp melted butter
3/4 cup icing sugar, plus a bit more for dusting

Sift together flour & baking powder.
beat the eggs and sugar together for 5 minutes.
gently fold in the orange rind and juice.
Alternately fold in the flour mixture
and melted butter in four batches.
Let the mixture sit for 10 mins, then
spoon into the buttered shell shaped tin.
Bake for 12-15 minutes @ 375' F.
Tip out on to wire rack to cool,
Sprinkle with a bit of icing sugar and enjoy.

Broadsword

Mary and Heather were dancing in the music festival today and did a great job. Their group dance placed first! I was so proud of them both. Heather did a very good job, especially because most of the other girls in her group are a couple years older than her. The dance (Broadsword) was one of my favorites - the girls all march on stage with these swords held high, then they place the swords on the ground (in 2 circles), and dance around them. Congratulations, girls!
Also, Heather, Thomas and Mary all won an award for singing in the festival! They will go up on stage next Sunday during the "Gala Performance" to receive their awards. What fun.
Trinity flushed an apple down the toilet today. It got stuck. Thanks, Greg, for getting it out.

Cochinita Pibil

A couple weeks ago I made this Mexican (Yucatan) dish called "cochinita pibil". I have no idea what it means, but it is so good. It is easy to make, too. I bought the red spice called (maybe) achiote while Greg and I were in Mexico with Mike & Carmen two years ago. (Carmen is from Mexico and was the perfect guide.) To make this dish you simply marinate some pork (or chicken) with the achiote paste mixed with a bit of salt, garlic, the juice or a lime and an orange, some vinegar and a splash of tequila. Then let it sit in the fridge overnight.
It is supposed to be covered in banana leaves but I couldn't find any! Then you simply bake it in the oven for a couple of hours. The pork is very tender and pulls apart easily. It is not spicy, but you can add some hot sauce, if you like. I serve cochinita pibil with tortillas, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, and rice. The kids love this. There is an onion salad that is often served with this dish, but I haven't made that before. The hot sauce is also from Mexico. I usually make the tortillas myself, but these ones were bought and were very good, too.

pretentious?......moi?

Greg and I went out for dinner last night at Matisse in Victoria. It is an amazing french restaurant. the food was so good. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of the creme brulee I had for dessert. Everything is delicious there, but the escargot is amazing. We have been there three times and it is always a perfect evening. It is so nice that the children are old enough now that Greg and I can go out alone without any trouble or planning ahead. Felicity and Eva are great babysitters. Greg and I try to go out for a "date" at least once a week. Last week we went out for sushi and then to the opera "Daphne". That sounds so pretentious!lol

Mt. Washington

Here are some photos taken just outside our condo at Mt. Washington, around Christmas time.
This is me and Felicity. I think I just got back from skiing.
Miss Mary Margaret. There is a perfect hill for sledding right beside our building. The sun was shining and the snow was so perfect that day. It felt a lot like spring skiing. Awesome.
Prima LOVES the mountain. She is great at catching snowballs.
Heather is making snow angels. As soon as the snow plow would drive by, Heather and Mary would drop down on the smooth snow and make the best snow angels. I took some pictures of the snow angels, but it is hard to make them out. They looked great, though.

Mr. Wiggles

This is a picture of Trinity, ( 3 years old) with "Mr. Wiggles". She plays with this scarf all the time. Right now Mr. Wiggles is playing the piano. Trinity also has a blue scarf, which is also Mr. Wiggles, but he is just wearing blue pajamas. Mr. Wiggles can also jump, dance, sleep and spin around. Amazing. It is so funny because we have so many toys in this house, dolls, blocks, playmobil, calico critters, stuffed animals, toy kitchen, doll house, etc... but her favorite toy is a scarf pretending to be a caterpillar!

St. Valentine's Day

Happy St. Valentine's Day!
Look what my wonderful husband gave me! Chocolates, champagne and a dozen red roses. *sigh* Perfect. The champagne glasses are from our wedding day. One says "bride" and the other "groom". Very cute, and you can't help but think of your wedding day. I love them.

Music Festival time is here. The music festival allows the children from the Cowichan Valley to perform in front of an adjudicator and if they are in a competative class, they could win prizes. It is lots of fun, but it can be a busy time if you happen to have a family with a lot of talented kids! Felicity will be singing, but she can't play the harp this year because she broke her finger a few weeks ago, and was not able to practice for so long. (last year she won $50.00)
Eva is singing, but missed her cello class as she was on a ski trip with her school.
Mary Margaret is singing and also highland dancing.
Thomas is singing
Heather sang today and is in the same group dance as Mary.
It was Heather's first time singing in the music festival, and she did a great job. The adjudicator had a lot of nice comments for the children.Thomas, Mary and Felicity also sang today.
I didn't take any photos of the kids today, but here is my favorite photo of the kids, taken in the summertime.

This is Heather at Parksville at the sand castle building competition. Aug/2006.

A day at Goldstream Park

We had a lot of rain, and decided to visit Goldstream to see the waterfalls. Trinity loved it...