happy birthday, Felicity

Happy Birthday, Felicity! Love 'ya! Felicity is 14 years old today! **WOW** Here she is about to open her presents before school.
Tonight Felicity will go out for dinner with Grama, watch a movie and stay over night at Grama's house. Then she will go shopping for a new outfit tomorrow. What fun! I made a chocolate cheesecake for Felicity to take to school and share with her class. Now I have to make another cheesecake for our family or there may be a riot here!

Greek feast

I remember just before Easter I was buying something in a shop and the saleslady asked me if I had a lot of family coming over for Easter dinner, and I said that my father-in-law was invited. She then went on about how not many people were having big dinners for, like 10 people anymore. I loved the look on her face when I told her that I had 7 children and I cook for 9 or 10 people every night! It was so funny! Luckily, I like to cook.
Here is what we had for supper tonight: Chicken souvlaki, pita bread, tzatziki, rice, greek salad and corn on the cob. (Gregory grilled the souvlaki perfectly) I tried to get some Retsina, but was unsuccessful.

bean update

After receiving thousands of e-mails from fans all wondering how Heather's bean is doing, I thought I would update everyone.... o.k, so I didn't get any e-mails, but anyway, here is the bean! This one is about 10cm long and very healthy looking.

potato leek soup

Tonight for dinner I made Potato Leek soup. It is super easy to make and pretty quick, too.
Saute some leeks and a couple cloves of garlic in a bit of butter 'til soft.
Add diced potatoes and some chicken stock.
Cook until potatoes are done.
Cool for 10 mins, then puree in blender.
Return to cooking pot and add a cup or so of milk and some fresh dill and salt & pepper to taste.
Simmer for another 5 minutes, and enjoy!
I served the potato leek soup with some store bought sausage rolls for a quick & easy dinner.
Homemade sausage rolls are better, but they aren't that quick to make.

crabs are real animals

It was such a beautiful day outside that Trinity and I just had to go to the beach. We had a lot of fun searching under rocks for crabs, checking out the starfish, and looking at all the different shells rocks, and seaweed. Trinity thought the buoys were basketballs, and I explained that there were crab traps attached to them and that the fishermen would pull the traps up, get the crabs out and cook the crabs and eat them.Trinity started laughing and said"That's crazy, crabs are real animals and people don't eat animals!" I laughed too and didn't have the heart to tell her about where hamburgers , sausages, and roast lamb come from. Purple starfish on the pilings on the dock.A baby crab...we didn't eat it.

pour la bonne bouche

Tuesdays are a pretty busy day for me since there are a lot of after school activities. Grace has highland dancing, Heather & Thomas have voice, Mary has guitar and Felicity has harp lessons.
So I was really pleased when Gregory offered to cook dinner tonight, even though he has been busy at work all day. The dinner was delicious. Gregory made chicken Marsala with capers, gnocchi with an amazing fresh tomato basil sauce, salad and bread. (paired nicely with Greg's homemade white wine) It was so good. Here are the kids sitting in their seats just before dinner. Grace still has her dance outfit on.Greg and his dad.The kids and I call him Tatabun. That's Romanian for grandfather.

For dessert I made buttermilk ice cream with fresh strawberries on top. I sprinkle the strawberries with a bit of sugar and let it sit while the ice cream maker is doing its thing, that way the strawberries get nice and syrupy. Here is Mary Margaret enjoying her dessert.A drop of Frangelico -- "pour la bonne bouche".

garden of weedin'

Heather and the bean stalk.

When Heather first brought this bean home from school, the seed was only just starting to sprout out of the ground. Since this picture was taken, Heather has repotted the bean and it even has flowers, too. Heather takes care to water her plant and to place it on a sunny window sill. Nice bean, Heather!


I have been so busy weeding the garden, and it is starting to look really nice. Today was too rainy to do any work outside, but I did snap a few pictures of the spring flowers in our garden.These are so beautiful and soft, but I'm not sure of the name. Alpine something-or-other.Bluebells. We get absolutely tons of these. They are so prettyBleeding heart. Forget-me-not. More forget-me-nots around a rose bush. My mum bought me the lavender in front of the forget-me-nots for my birthday. They are going to look so great in the summer with the roses.
Thanks, Mum. (love ya')

Happy 9th Birthday, Thomas

Here is Thomas' birthday card that Gregory decorated. I thought it looked so cool. Thomas loves army "stuff".
Thomas got an awesome bike for his birthday. Check out the cool camo design on it.
Love you, Thomas.

More Easter fun

Trinity looking as adorable as possible!

Gregory and his dad playing chess before dinner.

Thomas, Mary Margaret and Trinity. Mary made a lovely vegetable tray to go with our roast lamb and potatoes.

Bon appetite!

Happy Easter

Christ has risen!
Yes, truly he has risen!
Happy Easter!
Here is a picture of what the children discovered this morning. What fun! They each got a "webkins" toy, chocolate and some outdoor toys to share. The girls also received new veils to wear to church.
This is the colomba we have for Easter breakfast. *so good*.

The children also enjoyed a bit of chocolate with their breakfast (who doesn't?). Trinity discovered that she could see through her Easter egg if she held it up to her eye, so that is why she has chocolate all over her face. A quick bath was definitely needed before church!

That's better. Grace, Heather & Trinity.
After church, we came home for a simple lunch of bread, cheese, pate, and eggs. Oh, and beer, to celebrate. The kids also had an Easter egg hunt and found more(you guessed it)... chocolate!

Cheers!

Holy Saturday

I am so looking forward to Easter tomorrow. The lamb is marinating, the flowers are in the vases, and the flan is just out of the oven. It was nice to do some baking again. We all gave up desserts for lent, so I wasn't doing much baking. I also gave up meat for lent, so I know the lamb will be great!
Yesterday was Good Friday, and we prayed the stations of the cross together with the children and once the little ones were in bed Greg and I watched "The Passion of the Christ" with Felicity and Eva.