Good ways to spend a long weekend

Bake cupcakes for school
Take a schoolmate to a play
Play
Ski

Look who came to visit

It was terrific to see Carrie! And a great way to kick off what was a long weekend (10 days ago now).

Let's believe in fairies

Just for a moment - or a lifetime - let's believe in tooth fairies and snow fairies and woodland fairies and more. Some scatter magic dust, while others whisper in your ear. You can see some dancing in the dew if you awaken at dawn, while others appear as just flashes of light at the bottom of the garden.

However your fairy comes to you, I hope it goes home to a house built with love such as this girl's.

Upping the ante

My sister is upping the ante for "good house guest". She cleaned out our fridge (both housekeeping and human vacuum of leftovers). Next she is going to get to work on cleaning Sophie's face!

School happenings

Finally, I downloaded our photos of the last 10 days and saw that many had to do with goings-on at school.

End of one session of soccer; a birthday party for the class's bearded dragon...























Speaking of birthday parties, check out the gorgeous cake my sister was made by dear Kevin and Arthur.

Good food

February - whether the weather is good or bad - calls for good food: cake, chocolate fondue, Israeli delights and drum roll... a family meal at the mouth-wateringly wonderful Banajara Indian restaurant (because it doesn't use ANY peanuts). Plus hopefully Ethiopian this Wednesday and cheese fondue before the month is out!

Happy corporate day of love

True to form, the kids wanted to give out cards to their classmates (plus teachers, lunchroom monitor & crossing guard) today.

True to form their organised grandparents had bought them pre-made cards weeks before.

True to form, their parents wanted to them to distribute hand-made, non trade-marked cards.

So... we started the production line at oh, 8 pm, roped in my sister and her friend Jacqui, and all had a great 45 mins of fun.

Thanks clang-clang aunties for helping with a glorious day

How to spend a glorious day with two kids?

a- Take a friend to see a play of Babar [and be so proud of all 3 kids for volunteering on stage (if one is shy neighbour), standing up and belting out an interesting question during the Q&A session (if one is brave Sophie) and ensuring that younger kids get to volunteer to go up on stage by sitting on your own hand (if you are maturing Seb)].

b- the get the front seat on the subway so you can pretend you are driving

c- have fresh scones with a neighbour and/or play in the new snow

d- head to the shops to buy yummy sausages (blueberry and maple for carnivores!) and delish tea (Hot Lips for Valentine's!)

e- and then cap it off with 2 1/2 hours at the bookshop carefully determining how to use their birthday gift cards from Aunties Syd & Deb.

War Horse

As some of you might know, the former English children's laureate, Michael Murpurgo, wrote a fine book entitled War Horse. Last year, it was released as a movie - bit of dud, we parents thought. In between, however, it was adapted as a play. A marvelous play with incredible puppets as the horses (and a goose; let us not forget the goose). I had longed to see it, since it was a smash at the National Theatre in London.

So it was with great delight that we noticed it was coming here. In the fall, the father of Seb's classmate got a role with the crew and invited Seb to attend a rehearsal to see the puppets and props up close. But THEN, last week, we were invited to the final dress rehearsal!

Um, let's just say that the play is much more psychologically 'heavy' than the book. We were advised to stay only for the first act - which had one pretty intense scene. The horses were terrific and the staging was simple and yet sophisticated.

Go see it if you can.

Seize the moment

I know, I am falling down on my blog duties. So here is a quick snap that we got of Sophie at her skiing lesson today. She continues to ski with a smile on her face. Come to think of it, so did her visiting auntie.

The trouble being 2nd in line

Your parents frame everything within your elder sibling's experiences. This weekend was a case in point.

Seb was developing a cold on Friday night. Saturday, his nose had started to stream. He announced he had a pain in the gut. 30 mins later, it was a pain in the chest. It stopped him from eating and he cuddled on my lap. Not at all him. We checked his lung capacity and while it was in the "ok" range, it wasn't great. Somewhat perturbed but not alarmed, we gave him his asthma inhalers (first time in months - winter months too!). Didn't seem to help his lung capacity but it did help his spirits and he proceeded to finish his lunch and headed off to a birthday party (where his dad lingered just in case).

Coming back to the 2nd child syndrome. Sunday dawns and Sophie is fine. We are heading skiing. After breakfast, Sophie announces that she is a bit tired. 30 minutes later she announces her throat hurts. She sneezes a couple of times. I deduce that she might have the cold too. We are still heading skiing though. 5 minutes later, she announces her tummy feels funny. I ask if she wants a drink of water. She looks glum but accepts. She heads to my room to cuddle up in bed. At the doorway she turns, panic in her eyes, hand to her mouth and promptly vomits all over the corridor - three times. Guess she didn't have Seb's cold after all.

At least, we weren't in the car on the way to the trails!

(She was as right as rain afterwards, even though she and I stayed home just in case.)