This Week in Pictures...

Presently, we're at a great phase were everything (and I mean, everything) is "Awwwww!!! CY-OOOT".  Small sticks, itty bitty pieces of paper, ants, not to mention the usual suspects of baby animals, babies in general and Sprocket (I know!). 

Evelyn and her best-friend-this-minute found a small grape in Evelyn's lunch this week.  They proclaimed it to be The Cutest Baby Grape in the whole wide world, and swore they would take care of it.  I gently informed her that Baby Grape wouldn't stay in its present pristine condition, so we decided a reasonable substitute would be a small stone she coloured green and wrapped in a piece of Kleenex.

Then, when Evelyn was helping me with lunch over the weekend, she noticed a small pepper growing inside the larger one we were cutting up.  This, she informed me, was the Cutest Baby Pepper in the whole wide world, and she insisted that we put it in a glass of water.  At present, the Baby Pepper seems to be sprouting a root, so we'll put it in some soil and see what happens!

Evelyn, wearing her crown, showing her specially selected stone.

Baby Grape Mk II on the left, and Baby Pepper on the right

Colouring, drawing and letters are huge in our house right now.  Edward and I are pretty laid back when it comes to pushing reading and writing skills, because we believe that this level of skill acquisition must be spurred by each child's motivation, interest and ability (we did learn something from our Potty Training Saga) and not necessarily enforced on a time-table.  Luckily, our school board has heavily invested in play-based learning at the core of the Kindergarten Program, so they also promote a child-centered curriculum that lets the kids move at their own pace. 

In any case, despite our laissez-faire attitude, reading and writing is happening before our very eyes... which, as an aside, is just about the coolest thing.... ever.

Colin's portrait of his alter-ego, Angus the Goat.  Pictured is his yellow tail, green horns, ears, eyes, and beard, a pink nose and a big red grin.  Underneath, Colin took a few stabs at an uppercase "A", before adding an "n", "g", "u" and "s".  It's spelled right to left.  This picture is a real treasure for me because Colin churns out a lot less artwork than his siblings.

Evelyn's attempts at completing the alphabet.  She kept getting stuck on the letter "k".

....so Colin was determined to draw an entire page of "k"s, along with car (kar?) headlights

Malcolm and his blueberry "muffas" this morning.

Our Spring growing projects - Myriam planted some alyssum in the blue pot on the left, the Ducklings came home from school with "real beanstalks!!!" and Evelyn's Baby Pepper in a glass on the right.

So Big!

This child is growing like a weed!  He's in clothes his brothers wore last year, and with his epic appetite, I can't see this abating any time soon.

"What dis?"

I'm sure you can imagine what the next photo in this series would look like...

"Me help"

We're having so much fun right now with the better weather, going to the Library, and the mall, visiting construction sites, going swimming, to the Agricultural Museum and just hanging out, splashing in puddles.

Today, however, he had an encounter with the Land Shark (aka Sprocket) which left him shaken in his faith that Puppy is his best friend.  The scene:  One last Grammy cookie, being admired by Malcolm moments before consumption, when it dropped right into the gaping maw of The Beast.  Of course, this reinforced the dog's impression that Malcolm is his best friend, like, ever.  Malcolm mournfully admonished Sprocket saying "NO!  Baby cookie!  No Puppy cookie".  But the dog takes no prisoners.... 

This lesson is a rite of passage in our house, and The Ducklings gave their little brother much sympathy.  They've lost choice morsels, a few soothers, pictures (both drawn and photographs!) and even small stuffed toys to the dog over the years....

Easter Travel

This year, as he did waaaaay back in the halcyon days of late April, 2011 (Ducklings were seven months old = challenging schedule, easy kids... now, at 4.5 years old = easy schedule, challenging kids!) Edward travelled to Switzerland to visit my family.

And again, this time, he enjoyed wonderful food and hospitality, well deserved rest and some roving rambles over the breathtaking countryside.

Taken from the vantage point of Hohenklingen, a medieval castle in the vicinity of my father's hometown, Eschenz, which is located on the far bank of the Rhein river, as shown in this picture.  The town in the foreground is Stein am Rhein, which is located on the German side of the river.  If you look closely, you can see the semi-circle forming Stein am Rhein's original town walls, which date to the 13th century.  These sites have been occupied since prehistoric times, and the area is particularly renown for its wealth of archaeological artifacts, especially Roman, which were exceptionally well preserved in the river's silt.

Stein am Rhein's ancient, cobbled roads - now, almost exclusively pedestrian

Views of the Rhein.  

Family church in Eschenz

I'm not very well versed on the flowers of Switzerland, but no matter what they're called, these little gems are gorgeous

Our deepest gratitude to Uncle Alois, Aunt Alice, Aunt Doris, Uncle Niklaus and Irna for making Edward feel so welcome and at home.  He thoroughly enjoyed his trip, we loved his stories... and the goodies he brought home.  We hope to reciprocate your hospitality this summer and fall!

On the home front, I managed really well while Edward was gone.  I did have help from my mother and from Myriam, but I was able to survive, and only had to threaten to cancel Easter once.  It was a real trial by fire, too, because it was Easter holidays, so the kids were home four out of the six days Edward was gone.  It had moments of.... intensity.... but I can definitely see a blue-sky horizon, where the kids are a little more self-sufficient, and little easier to engage and to focus (read: not trying to kill each other with their bare hands).  And, apart from illness and teething issues, Malcolm now sleeps through the night reliably, which was a tremendously fortuitous development when left alone with a bunch of kids overnight.  We were living through colds when Edward was gone (of course!), but my fears of being up all night tending to howling, miserable (and um, incredibly melodramatic) children never materialized.

Small steps, indeed, but a huge leap for the quality of our family life.... only five years in the making!

What We've Been Up To...

I probably say this every year, but we are finally emerging a little from our enforced winter hibernation.  Today, we actually have above zero temperatures AND sun.  We've been sneaking into the plus side of the thermometer, but that's been bringing precipitation, so this turn of events is much anticipated and appreciated.  

Someone asked my mother, with a hint of incredulity, how we've managed to keep the kids entertained indoors over the course of the very long and very cold winter we experienced.  First, I am grateful that we finished the basement to the point where the kids can play down there comfortably, and let off a little steam.  On sunnier afternoons, they played in the living room.  And The Ducklings are also starting to play on their own, so one of them will often disappear to the playroom upstairs.  The upshot of it, is that we still need a play space on every floor of the house.  Particularly after a long day at school, it is very helpful for each of The Ducklings to find some quiet space to recharge and regroup; their "alone time".  I can't pretend that I'm not looking forward to the reclamation of my living and dining room, but I know that's a few years off.

Evelyn and her tower

Malcolm selfie

Bunny tunnel and enticing carrot

The Car Show, that they attended with Edward and Malcolm's godfather, Martin.  The Ducklings walked out the front door at 9am, and came back at 2.  I think I saw a glimpse of my future, and it was rather appealing.  Malcolm and I went swimming.

Quiet, after dinner construction

Right.  So, should you ever find yourself house-bound with 4 small children for 5 months:  blocks.  As many as you can find.  There will be violent altercations over who has the most blocks, the biggest blocks, all the red blocks, one more block than someone else -which is always the block needed to complete the masterpiece - and there might be little brothers continually running away with the sole clocktower, but I consider all of that exercise...