The birthday of The Blessed Virgin Mary

September 8th is the date that we celebrate the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I thought this poem was quite sweet. What a joyful day!

The Birthday of Our Queen (September 8)

All hail, O new world! Come and see
Here in a cradle lies our Queen,
Mother of God, one day to be,
O come and see this heavenly scene.

A beauteous, fragrant rose-bud,
Immaculate! God's own flower,
His masterpiece of royal blood
Who came to earth this midnight hour!

Thousands of angels stand to guard
This mystical counterpart of God
And Seraphs play sweet lullabies
Upon their harps, as Cherubs laud.

Hail holy babe! Hail full of grace!
With wee hands clasped, with eyelids closed
She talks with God - face to face!

Sr. Francis Marie

Tom's dinner

Thomas told me that he wanted to be a chef when he grows up. Great idea, Thomas. Hey, let's do some cooking!
Thomas' first dinner was pork chops with a rosemary sauce, rice, sautéed mushrooms and peppers, and a cucumber salad.
What a delicious dinner. Thank you, Thomas! Thomas also made some peanut butter cookies with me a couple days before this, but the cookies seemed to disappear before I could grab my camera!

Back to school

The kids were all pretty excited to go back to school and see all their friends again.
Mary is in grade 7 (this is a big deal because once you are in grade 7 you are allowed to go to the school dances!)
Thomas gr. 5
Heather gr. 3
Grace gr. 2
Trinity is in Kindergarten
Don't they look sweet in their uniforms? Felicity and Eva are now in the same high school, and basically wear jeans and hoodies every day!
Felicity is grade 10
Eva is in grade 9
Awww!! Trinity is sooo cute and tiny and excited to start kindergarten! It is hard to believe that all the children are in school now, and I don't have any little ones at home. *sniff*

Happy birthday Mary Margaret

Mary is now 12 years old. Yay! We had a pretty busy day on Mary's birthday. Greg's cousins and Aunt & Uncle and Emilie and her family were visiting us from Seattle, New York, and New Jersey. We had a really fun Bar-B-Q and Thomas had a lot of boys to run around with, too.
Eva, Felicity, and Mary did such a nice job, singing some songs in Romanian, and Latin, too. The girls were begging me to not make them sing, as they were not sure if they were singing the Romanian songs right, and they were a bit nervous. But there was no way we could let Tatabun down. He loves to practice music with the children and is so proud of them all. I think they sounded lovely, and everyone joined in the singing of the Romanian national anthem, and also for "Ave Maria".
Mary also played a very nice piece on her guitar. Thank you, Mary. Felicity played the piano, and Eva played her cello, too. I think everyone was impressed.
After the 'concert' it was time for some birthday cake. I made Mary a chocolate mousse cake...
and a pineapple cheesecake. Happy Birthday, Mary Margaret!

Rhubarb pie

My Aunt and Uncle gave us lots of fruits and veggies from their garden. Potatoes, garlic, onions, rhubarb.....Oh, and some nice homemade jam, too.
Here is the pie I made with some of the rhubarb. Wow, it was so good, I had to snap a photo.
A small slice for me, served with vanilla ice cream. Greg is requesting a strawberry rhubarb pie next. mmm
Thanks for everything Auntie Janet and Uncle Ian.

Parksville sandcastle competition

Parksville is the best beach to take the kids. Not only does it have a beautiful beach, but there is a huge water park and playground for the little ones.
There is also a really cool sandcastle building competition every year.
Maui on my mind
Sibling Rivalry
Flora
This one was so big. It was a lunar landing scene and the astronauts are amazed to discover two hillbilly martians drinking and playing music. There was even a martian dog howling. Hilarious. There were a lot more "castles", but it was quite crowded and a bit difficult to get good pictures. You could also vote for your favorite sand sculpture. Neat.

Family vacation in Tofino

We always have a great time in Tofino, and this trip was tons of fun because we were joined by Greg's brother Christopher, his wife Michelle, and their adorable children; Gabriel and Ava.
Ava and Trinity are enjoying the sunshine.

One of our favorite things to do is roast marshmallows on the beach.
Greg got a pretty good fire going. The kids had to scramble around for some fire wood and long sticks for the marshmallows
Auntie Michelle kicked the campfire cookery up a notch by making "banana boats" which are bananas cooked with chocolate and marshmallows. Yummy.
Oh, and Michelle also introduced the famous s'mores. I had never had one before. They are good, aren't they, Mary?
Ava is eating (or squishing) a marshmallow, and Gabe is enjoying a s'more.
Aarrgghh......Thomas burnt his marshmallow.

let's go fly a kite...in Tofino

Hey, Mary, do you wanna' fly a kite with us?
Trinity, cousin Ava, and Heather are amazed by how big the kite is. Let's see if this thing is going to fly.
Ava is such a cutie-pie.
Gabriel is doing a super job, keeping the kite flying.
Wow! Grace has the kite going really high! Thanks for the cool kite, Grama!

Makin' waves in Tofino

Gregory brought a surf board and is checking out any potential waves in the ocean. Brrr...He says it isn't too cold, though.
Of course, Grace is curious and just has to try surfing.
Whoa, Grace is doing awesome!
Ah, time to warm up in the hot tub. Nice.
Heather is a pretty good swimmer.
Hi Trinity, having fun?

Happy Birthday, Gracie!

Grace turned 7 on August 13th. Happy Birthday, Gracie! Check out all those gifts. What fun. We also went to Tofino on Grace's birthday and had some cake and lots of fun with Uncle Christopher, Auntie Michelle, and Gabe & Ava.
The kids don't usually buy gifts for each other on their birthdays, but Mary Margaret made the sweetest little box and matching card for Grace. It was really cute, and she also bought a pair of earrings for Grace. The earrings are small green frogs, and I laughed when Grace opened the box and said "Oh goodie, more amphibians for my ears!"

wedding cakes 2008

Here are the wedding cakes that I was hired to make for some friends of ours.
The cakes are all vanilla with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream icing.
This was my favorite - I love the swirl of tiny flowers.
The cakes were absolutely delicious.
Elissa and Alex had the most beautiful wedding ceremony. Congratulations!