awesome project

Gregory built this absolutely beautiful pond with a fountain in it last weekend. I love it! He dug the hole, inserted the liner, filled it with water, emptied it and filled it again,(someone put a bunch of clay in the water) and hooked up the filter/fountain all in one day.Greg even had the stones, pond plants and lights all in place by the end of the day.
The stones are a really nice sort of turquoise colour.
Trinity & I bought 7 fish and 2 snails for the little pond on Monday.The fountain sounds so relaxing, too. What an awesome project! I can't wait for the weather to get a bit warmer in the evenings, so we can have dinner outside by the pond. Sweet.

Tatabun's violin lessons

Here is a picture of Heather & Grace having a violin lesson with Tatabun. The little ones usually have a lesson every time Tatabun comes over for dinner (at least twice a week). Sometimes he helps Eva with her cello, too, and Mary with the guitar. It is so nice for the children to spend this time with Tatabun.
Before Eva played the cello , she would have (pretty long) violin lessons with Greg's dad. One time, Eva & Tatabun were both being stubborn and I was sure Eva was going to smash her violin, she had this **look** on her face and was spinning her instrument around!! (artistic temperament?) Luckily all was well and about two minutes later we were all laughing around the dinner table. (phew)
I noticed that it's kinda' hard to swing a cello around. Tatabun playing the piano for his "little bunnies".

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.

Spring break

We all went to Mt Washington for some skiing/snowboarding for spring break. The weather was perfect for 2 days; warm, sunny, and the snow was awesome for skiing. Greg and I went skiing/snowboarding on our own one day, which was a lot of fun. We even went down a black diamond run (and survived) that we wouldn't have been able to do with the kids. On the days that were too foggy and snowy to go skiing, the kids had a blast sledding down a BIG hill right beside our condo. The kids are so fearless! They all come screaming down the hill with the biggest grins on their faces! **cute** Thomas started standing on his sled like he was surfing. That was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I couldn't take any pictures of the kids this time.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick Going to Tara Ireland"

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

"Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort and restore me."

This is just a small sample of St Patrick's prayer. The whole prayer is beautiful.
Look it up and enjoy. Also, read about his life and adventures (including being sold as a slave when he was just 14 years old) it is amazing.

report cards

The children got their report cards yesterday and Gregory and I are both so proud of them. Everyone had A's and B's (no C's), and the teachers had such good things to say, too. The children were so happy and pleased with themselves, they were practically glowing! It was so nice to see that. They have all worked really hard this term and it's great for the kids to see how much it has paid off. Actually, it has paid off quite handsomely since the kids receive $15.00 for every A and $5.00 for every B on their report card. I am sure that we will be visiting the toy store very soon for a well deserved shopping spree. Well done kids!

Thanks, Eva

Eva made a delicious cinnamon cake today. Here is Eva with what is left of the cake. We only have dessert on Sundays during lent, so everyone was looking forward to a nice treat. Thanks, Eva!

Good luck, Thomas

Thomas had a grading in karate this afternoon. He is hoping to get his green belt. Thomas had to do a series of katas, punches and kicks in front of three black belts , including his sensei. Also he had to write a short essay. We won't find out for a week or so how he did. Good luck, Tom!

Yay

Check it out! I did a "food safe" course last month and I received the certificate yesterday. It was a full day course and I learned a lot. At the end of the day we were given a test and I got 100%, so I felt really good about that. I just love the laminated card, too. I think I shall pin it to my jacket and wear it all the time! **kidding**

Music awards

Congratulations to Mary Margaret, Thomas and Heather for winning awards in the music festival.
Mary won a scholarship towards her voice lessons, and Thomas and Heather both received a $20.00 gift certificate at the bookstore. Here is Gregory and the kids in the Cowichan Theatre waiting for the show to start. Good job, kids.

Building blocks

Thomas and Trinity with the building blocks on a peaceful Saturday morning.Look out! Thomas has his toy soldiers in there!

wedding cakes

Here are the wedding cakes I made for Queenie, a friend of my mum's. They are all carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The cakes are all decorated differently, but with the same white on white theme with little flowers and hearts. Greg and I were laughing because our own wedding cake was so horrible looking it was embarrasing! It did taste good though.