weekending 27 . 11 . 20

Last week was just another week of learning. Rainman figured out that the multiplication table does not end at 12...woah...that's a big learning curve.

Moonface is reading everyday and is really improving. An extra 10 minutes of daily reading has made a huge difference for her. She is learning how to write letters, and to address an envelope. Friends, this is a long process. It seems simple to me, but holy moly, she has found a way to make it tedious :)

She's currently learning about Meteghan. She's caught the travel bug and post Covid, we will definitely travel more.

Wildrose's online Zoom class has come to an end, and we are trying to find a new balance with her, although I assume this new rhythm will be disrupted slightly when we go on Winter break anyway.

I rarely have time to photograph  anymore. There's always some troubleshooting to do. Either my printer hates me, or it just likes attention, because every single day there's an issue. There is an unfinished project sitting in my dining room, cookie dough already to go, and a gingerbread house that we are going to get to...in time. It's a busy season for us.

What are we up to? There’s a lot of planning for the winter break, and completing assignments. We are also going gah gah gah (WildRose and Moonface are anyway) for Mme Amy’s advent activity Here. 

 

weekending 20 . 11. 20

I've been folding too much laundry for my liking. 

But it's also been so nice to not have to worry too much about who has clothes for this or that occasion. I have also lowered my standards, as my 7 year old, sometimes fashionista, wore her pjs to music lessons. She surrendered when she saw an empty drawer, four days in a row...gasp. 

Yes! She spent four days trying to find clothes. She even wore jeans one day. And if you know her, you already know that she does not wear jeans. In my defence, I put away all summer clothing, and we are definitely going the minimalist route so that's that, no more drawers stuffed with clothes. In addition, there were dresses, and skirts that she's not allowed to wear at home, so she wasn't completely without clothes.

So how's living? How's life for us? We are simply feeding off the positive marrow (of sorts) off each other. We are a family of many traditions, and for that I am so grateful. Added to year after year, built from our faith and values, we have been clinging to the small trifles that we hold dear.

With birthday season officially over - for now, and many snow days reminding of what is to come, we stick to the things that bring us joy. 

Last week, we tuned in to a few of the stories from the Festival de Conte/Storytelling festival, shared by some wonderful storytellers at the Ottawa Public Library. We made soup together, spent some time in nature - we need to do so much more in this department, and Rainman walked a friend's dog. 

Oh, and the photo above of the lovely bees was taken in Victoria, BC. WildRose has become obsessed with bees - what a beautiful thing. She saw that photo as I was deleting photos from our trip from my SD card, and she squealed with delight. I don't know how she noticed the bees, as they are a bit hidden.

Now she has taken to reminding us that honey is for the bees, and she wags her finger if we eat any honey. Uhm, she eats honey and she loves it too. This is her favourite book of the moment, pretty much of all time actually.  She loves to listen or read it when she's tired. I'm not sure if there is a connection, now to think of it. Perhaps, she's just become routinized.

Plan for the next few days include:

-writing letters to friends...long over due
- baking cookies & possibly a Christmas bark
- slow cooking soup, soup and more soup 
- listen to more stories from the storytelling festival

- painting

- hot chocolate with marshmallows

- wrapping sugar cubes (we'll show you what we do)

- making our winter vitamin - we are late on this one

- probably washing and folding more laundry

Happy almost end of November? 

Weekending Jan 10, 2020

Welcome back everyone and happy new year! 
Remnants of 2019 still keep popping up; like the kids asking to listen to Christmas music, or wanting to do holiday baking and crafting. 

This week we mostly created art, read stories, and shared treats. 
Some of our goals in January are to learn more french words and phrases, relax a bit, and to definitely take in the many elements of the winter season.

We are relocating to Braeside SW. We can't wait to see you there!

Weekending December 20, 2019

What a wonderful busy few days it has been. Illness or not, we were a busy bunch. We have been so busy that I need to break up the posts to share all the photos of our busy week.

We would like to thank everyone for entering our giveaway for the  $25 gift certificate for Baked from the Heart. The winner is:

Looks delicious! It's always tough finding places that cater towards dairy free desserts! Super appreciative of what they do! Gen Boudreau

Wacky Bonhomme de pain d’épices

The kids absolutely love the story of the gingerbread boy. We listen to french and english versions and they always guess what the ending will be. Did you know that the gingerbread boy doesn't get eaten by the fox in every version? My little friends were not amused by this fact...how cold lol.

After a brief trip to the grocery store to pick up bit and pieces (des bonbons) for our planned activity, there was much chatter about what each friend's gingerbread person was going to look like.
We ate lunch, had a bit of a rest, and then we ended off our slow Friday by listening to the story once again, and making gingerbread people.
We didn't want ordinary. We didn't want realistic. We wanted wacky and silly.
Take a look!

Ingredients
For this yummy activity, we chose treats with various textures.
icing sugar
vegan marshmallows 
holiday flavoured jellybeans (the green are minty and the kids did not like them very much)
hershey kisses
mega fruit candy mix (from Great value)

Here is a list of Christmas/seasonal words that we have learned so far.
We also focused on 3 colours from some of our chosen bonbons (rouge, blanc et vert).

Don't forget our giveaway. We are pleased to announce a wonderful giveaway  for 2 $25.00 gift certificates from Baked from the Heart, a local vegan bakery. If you haven't already entered, now is your chance.

Happy weekend all!