Bon

Jem came up to me this morning as I was getting his breakfast ready.
Jem: Mom, you should speak more French to me.
Me: Bon!
Jem: WHAT?! (starts tearing up) You're just like my teacher, blah blah in French and I don't  
         understand anything!

The Menfolk.

These kids are lucky. I am lucky. The Captain of My Heart is everything a father should be. Even if he refuses to get a cell phone so that I can call him about important things, or says things like "yeah, I saw you emailed me today, but I didn't check it". Hey, Jesse?

He's a great father because he has a great father. Father of the Captain of My Heart, Stephen.

Hey, Jem really knows how to pout! But he'll be a great dad one day too because of these excellent role-models. Happy Happy Father's Day!

Violet: It's going to be Mother's Day soon!
Jem: Yeah, we have to get something for you.
Me: Don't get me anything. You know what I would love? A day without bickering...and lots of hugs and kisses. Could you do that for me?
They look at me, trying to see if I'm serious about this.

Two minutes later, they are bickering in the hallway. Violet is bugging Jem as he tries to get his boots on for school. Jem is trying to swing his backpack to hit her.

Me: Violet, let Jem get his boots on! Jem, put the backpack down!
Violet : It's not Mother's Day yet, Mom.

My Lord

Jem: Do you know why Darth Vader has a cape?
Me: No, why?
Jem: Because he is a Lord. When a little Lord is born, they, like, just give them capes I guess.

Secret Cinema

Violet likes to make videos on my phone when I'm not looking.

March Break

Miami Beach! We played in the ocean, fed the seagulls and ate ice cream every day.

Imagine that.

Violet was lying in our bed a few mornings ago, having a sleep-in as the rest of us puttered around the house. She was holding one of our wedding pictures up and gazing at it with such a wistful expression that I had to ask "what are you thinking?". She hesitated for maybe 2 seconds, and answered "that you're dead".

Back story

Jem still has his snuggly, except now it's three shreds of threadbare fabric. He was holding one last night as I put him to bed...
Jem: Snuggly doesn't have a Mom or Dad. They died. His Dad was a soldier and he died. His Mom was a nurse that made army mans feel better. She died in Mexico.

I think the Remembrance Day ceremonies this year really did a number on him. I'm not sure a four year old needs to know about that stuff yet, but his school makes a BIG deal about the day. Does it need to start so young?

Wait!

Last night, just as we had tucked the kids into bed, the doorbell rang. I answered it. There was a young man in a rumpled suit who wanted to know if we were interested in receiving a sample of meat. Huh? Ummm....and....ew? I don't usually accept raw meat from strangers, so I thought I'd make it easy and tell him we don't eat meat. As I was closing the door Jem cried out from his bed "WAIT! MEAT IS MY FAVOURITE!"
. . . . .

Violet: Mom, I'm not going to murder someone because I'm going to jail or I'm a bad person. It's just because all that blood...yuck, y'know. It just makes me feel grossed out.

Big words from small people.

Jem: Mom, I'm not going to be a shenaniganizer when I grow up...I'm going to be a straggler.

In the car the other day Violet and Jem were arguing as they so often do. Violet is smart enough to make it look like Jem is to always to blame. I am tired of their bickering.
Me: Violet, it's not just Jem causing this ruckus, it takes two people to keep a fight going!
Violet: Or three...mom!

I was trying to get them to pose for the nice picture together. I don't really expect them to pose for me perfectly, but I did want them to at least look at the camera at the same time. I told them that something really weird was going to come out of my lens after the next shot, so they should look really closely. It's out of focus because I started laughing too hard at their faces.

Good one, Jem.

Jem: I'm going to tell you a joke, OK?
Me: Sure Jem!
Jem: What did the clown say to the jester?
Me: What?
Jem: I'm going to bite your penis!
Me: Hmm, Jem. That's not really that funny.
Jem: OK, sorry, I'll say another one.
Me: Go ahead.
Jem: What did the clown say to the jester?
Me: What?
Jem:...oh...wait...that's the same joke again.

Easter Escape

I took Violet to Toronto for Easter. Just a girl trip, and we kept it on the down-low. We took the train. I'd been harbouring this fantasy of our journey as a snack filled giggle fest while we watched the landscape glide by. Violet said "Oh yeah, this is great....I'm bored, can I watch a movie?" about 5 minutes after we departed. The weekend was fantastic - we packed a lot into a couple of days. Spending time with my family, embracing our Ukrainian culture and eating.
Walks with Nana and Peach in her new hood.Sophisticated treats at Patachou
Introduction to Ukrainian easter egg making
This is Peachy's view.
Blessing of the baskets at the church.
Easter brunch at my Aunt's house. She's such a good cook, and this has to be one of my favourite meals.
Easter egg hunt victory (we only lost one to those savvy Toronto squirrels). Good times.

Hands up

Me, standing at the sink rinsing some dishes. I can hear Jem come up behind me.
Jem: Hands up!
Me: You'd better not be pointing a gun at me.
Jem: I'm not!
Me: OK, because we don't...
Jem: I'm pointing two guns at you!

At least he made them out of Lego himself...that's creative, right? And! Jem started drawing (which he's never been interested in before). Sure, if you ask him what he's drawing he'll say things like "this is all the people dying on the volcano" and "a shark is eating this guy and this is all the blood coming out and these guys are shooting their guns at him".
.....but he sure looks cute.

Hungry?

Jem: When I get my bow and arrow back from the cottage this summer I'm going to look for an animal and kill it and put it in a plastic bag. When people get hungry I'll go to the kitchen and get it and we'll eat its face.

Days of Celebration in the Context of Our Daily Life

Jem finally decided to go ahead and use the toilet full-time. I am done changing diapers! I'm pretty sure my eyes were moist with happiness when this happened. We ran to the mall and got the Star Wars Lego that we've been dangling in front of him as a bribe. He was happy. We clapped, cheered, and told him how proud we were. He's my big boy.
Violet, never to be outdone, stopped sucking her thumb a couple of days later. I don't think she could stand us praising Jem so much. Although it's not as easy to celebrate the cessation of something as it is to cheer a turd floating in the toilet, we took her out for dinner and will let her pick a prize at the toy store. Violet's been sucking her thumb since she was 8 weeks old, and it was always in her mouth, day and night. She took the initiative to wrap her thumb in a bandage before bed each night to make it 'taste bad'. That's pretty mature for a 5 year old!
At the Biodome she asked me to take a series of pictures of her pretending to hatch out of a giant penguin egg. It really feels like we've turned the last corner away from baby-hood. See ya!

You try and understand.

On Saturday morning we were getting ready to take the kids to the Biodome in Montreal.
Violet ran up to me with some assorted baking tools in her hands.
Violet: Can I bring these?
Me: You want to bake at the Biodome?
Violet: Yes!
Me: You can't bake at the Biodome, that's ridiculous.
Violet: UGH! You never let me do anything!
Jem: Mama?
Me: Yes Jem?
Jem: Let's do business in French, OK?

Rocking Out

Another year, another lovely kindergarten concert.
You'd never guess which one is Violet...
It's amazing she didn't flatten all the kids in her immediate vicinity with her enthusiasm.
She's awesome.

Sharp Tongue

While walking to the library this morning, Violet was noticing all the animal tracks in the snow. She rarely misses anything (especially if it's something like a bit of a candy wrapper sticking out of your purse).

Me: Violet, I'm going to give you a new name.
Violet: Really, what?
Me: Eagle Eye! You notice everything!
Violet: Now I'm going to give YOU a name.
Me: Cool, what is it?
Violet: Stinky name-picker.

Then I thought of a different name for her, but I kept it to myself.

Frozen Treats

We found the park covered in a layer of ice last week. I bought an iphone. Put the two together,
and the fact I sound like an idiot, and voila! A video!

Mystery

Violet, Jem and I picked up some mystery gum at the grocery store. It said 'mystery flavour', and had an intriguing swirl of colours on the package.

Violet: Is this really mystery gum?
Me: Yep.
Violet: Like, it lets you know about mysteries?!
Me: That would be really neat, but I don't think so.

Later, while driving home, chewing a piece....
Violet: Mom, are baby rabbits called bunnies?
Me: I think they're actually called kits. Isn't that funny?
Violet: What, No! They are bunnies! UGH! this gum is NOT working!