Photo of the Day April 4th

The hunt is on! Sophie hands me the clue found inside one of her Easter Eggs, while our cat Georgie checks out her egg-collecting basket.

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Me, my Grandmother and Sophie go for a walk around the nursing home on a lovely Easter Sunday

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A very happy Easter Sunday indeed! I started the morning with a very excited little girl bursting into my room to show me the Easter egg she had found hidden in our printer - one that I didn't actually think she'd find so quickly, considering it's tricky location. But she knows where the paper is kept and wanted to draw a picture when she woke up, so that hidden egg was revealed first! The Easter Bunny does some pretty thorough work around our house... we do a scavenger hunt to find all the eggs, each of which contains a little clue to tell Sophie where her next egg might be found. Creative, that Easter Bunny. We started the egg hunt right away and quickly realized that the egg she found in the printer wasn't supposed to be "first", so she impressed me by putting it back in the printer so she could find her eggs in order - what a great kid. We raced all over the house finding eggs in dishes of tomatoes, inside the microwave, in the toilet paper holder, and more... she was absolutely thrilled with the whole event. After enjoying some of her newly found chocolate and pouring over her Easter basket we had quick showers and breakfast so we could meet my Dad and head off to Wallaceburg for a visit with my Grandmother. I always enjoy seeing her and Sophie has such great memories of each of her visits... she's asking if she can go for rides with Grandma to "see the birds" even before we arrive there, and always has things she wants to bring Grandma to see, usually pictures she's drawn or a favourite toy or two. This time it was Grandma with the toys, as she surprised Sophie with two little stuffed bunnies when we arrived - Sophie was thrilled. We did indeed take some walks around the nursing home to see the birds, and Dad and I also got to share some photographs of our recent trips with Grandma, which was nice. After a great visit we headed for home, has a nice dinner with Chris (who had been working all day) and headed for bed... happy Easter everyone!

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Photo of the Day April 3rd

Dinner with my parents - both of them, at the same time. It's a bit of an unusual situation, with my mother in town for a quick pre-Easter visit and my father coming to Ontario as well... they don't see much of one another unless there's a family event (my wedding, Sophie's birth, that sort of thing) so I was a bit nervous about how it would go. I was relieved that everything went smoothly and we were able to enjoy not only a nice visit but a wonderful meal together as well. And the look on Sophie's face just about says it all... there's nothing more special than being surrounded by the family you love.

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Photo(s) of the Day April 2nd

Still in her PJ's, Sophie enjoys Easter treats from Grandma

Taking her new marionette from Grandpa for a walk after dinner

It's Good Friday so Sophie had the day off school and all the shops were closed - a great excuse to stay at home (aside from a walk to the park) and enjoy our company. I've convinced my mother that driving for four hours to get down here to only stay a night isn't a good idea after all, and she's going to stay and head back tomorrow instead, which made our day that much more relaxed. We also got to enjoy some early Easter presents, as we got into the wonderful box of goodies that my Mom brought to London with her - and in the evening we welcomed my Dad into town and received some "just back from Mexico" souvenirs from him. We were all spoiled rotten and Sophie in particular was certainly treated to some wonderful gifts, from an amazing basket full of treats from Grandma to an authentic Mexican marionette from Grandpa - but I know her greatest gift was the opportunity to spend time with the Grandparents she loves so much and doesn't get the chance to see that often!

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Photo of the Day April 1st

When I picked Sophie up from school today she grabbed my hand and then looked down at my foot and said "Mama - your shoe's untied!" When I looked down I pretty quickly remembered I was wearing Crocks, and Sophie yelled "Happy Fool's Day!"... very funny honey...

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Sophie and Grandma make silly "April Fool's" faces at each other

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What wasn't an April Fool's joke today was that my mom drove into town for a quick visit and to drop off some Easter goodies for us. It's a long way to come (4+ hours) for just an overnight visit, but when my mom decides she's going to do something you can bet it's going to happen - and we were the lucky recipients of that decision. Once she arrived in the afternoon we settled down on the front porch to enjoy the lovely weather, a great visit and a glass of wine in the sunshine. Now if only I could convince her to stay longer than one night...

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Photo of the Day March 31st

We enjoyed a lovely fresh dinner this evening, very Greek-inspired. I made chicken breasts stuffed with feta and black olives, Greek-style roasted potatoes with thyme, and a fresh tomato salad with basil and mozzarella (shown here). The whole meal was so fresh and fragrant and colourful that it was just plain fun to eat... and very yummy too! Be sure to click the titles of each dish if you'd like to check out the recipes I used...

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Photo of the Day March 30th

I spent a large part of today at the school, responding to some parental concerns about school safety by doing a walk-about with the Principal to discuss issues involving parking lot safety, sight-lines into the school, how much the school's windows open (or don't), and more. Immediately following that event I ran a meeting for the School Council subcommittee working on putting together a Welcome Package for families when they join the school - a meeting that was unfortunately scheduled at the same time as Sophie's gymnastics class. Thank goodness Chris was off work today, so he was able to bring her to class and was kind enough to snap a picture for me so I could take a peek at what I'd missed. There's my girl, up on the high balance beam without holding the instructor's hand - I was very impressed that the paparazzi caught the shot!

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Photo of the Day March 29th

After hosting a Coffee Drop-in session for parents this morning at the school, I decided it was high time to do some Easter decorating and crafts around the house. I recently saw an online article about things to do with eggs outside the normal yearly egg-dying ritual, and that inspired the making of our little friends above. They're traditional hard boiled eggs covered in a kid-friendly paper mache of watered-down white school glue and coloured tissue paper. On our little red egg Sophie added black dots and a face-plate with a sharpie marker to help turn it into a lady bug, and we added googly eyes and made him a pair of antenna from a piece of pipe cleaner to complete the look. The purple bird got more in the accessory department, as we made layered tissue paper wings, construction paper beak and feet, a feathered tail, and the all-important googly eyes as well. Now that they've been made, we're storing them in the fridge so they don't get too "fragrant" between now and Easter... it's made opening the fridge door to get something out much more fun, as we have these two little friends helping us find what we need!

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