Bike Riding

When it was suggested this morning that Michaela could bike to the park, she thought we meant her tricycle and excitedly agreed. However, when she first saw that she would be riding on the back of Jonathan's bike, she was not amused. Then, when she learned that she'd have to wear a helmet, she broke into tears. She eventually agreed to being manhandled into a helmet and later into the bikeseat. It was long before she was squealing with delight as Jonathan pedaled as quickly as possible.

Trampoline!

The challenge here was snapping a picture while she was in mid-air...

Care-Free Swinging

On the swings, Michaela kept repeating: "I wanna go too high!"

At the park

While Cara worked on the cake for Lucas & Suzanne's 10th wedding anniversary party (pictures should be available shortly). Jonathan's job was to take Michaela to the park.
Note: The hardest part about being at the park with Michaela is catching her long enough to get a picture.

Special Time With Grandpa

Spending time down at the lake and trying to feed the birds are two ways Dad and Michaela like to bond. Now whenever Michaela sees a bird she calls them "Grandpa's birds". The other day we took Michaela to the park and she spent a good part of the time running after birds with her hards out trying to get them to eat from her hand.

The Lorax

Mom took this great shot of Michaela. Michaela loves the Dr. Seuss book, "The Lorax". Michaela has so much attitude....I mean...personality! Sticking out her tongue was her new big thing before visiting Grandma and Grandpa, and her new big this since visiting them is gulping air to burp. She's so proud to be able to do this. Mom says they didn't teach her this, but I'm not so sure that Dad didn't have something to do with it!

Starting a Fire

Here's a picture my mom took when they were watching Michaela for us a few weekends ago. Michaela loves helping Grandpa start fires.

Symbiosis

Michaela got up from her nap a little early yesterday because she had to go potty. I thought she was still tired, but she insisted on staying up. Five minutes later I found her collapsed on the couch on top of Newt, sleeping away. It sort of reminded me of when Caitlin or Meghan used to fall asleep on Mosa and Shoshana. Newt didn't seem to mind. Eventually he got tired of it and managed to get up without waking Missie.

Happy Easter!

I made this cake for Rick and Donna's easter dinner. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out so I thought I'd post the picture of it. It's the first time I've ever used "rolled fondant" instead of the traditional "butter-cream icing". It wasn't had hard as I'd feared, and it looked quite nice I think.

A Fun Day!

As a special easter treat we took Missie to see "Ice Age 2" at the movie theater. We had hotdogs for lunch and popcon at the movie. It was so much fun. I case you can't quite read her shirt it says, "Concordia University Princess". I had asked Jon to buy her a Concordia sweat shirt but he bought her this instead. I like his choice better.

Too Much Sugar?!

Enjoying the Spoils!

Mom and Dad sent a chocolate cat home with us last weekend, to give Michaela for easter. Michaela tore into that thing like it was make of....well....Chocolate. Unfortunately she did it in front of our two cats, who seemed a little nervous of Michaela, as if they were witnessing possible things to come.

The Hunt!

Michaela had her first real easter egg hunt. She seemed a little confused at first, but when she started finding chocolate eggs, she caught on pretty quickly. She would stop every few minutes to shove a few eggs in her mouth, then kept searching.

Big thank you to Rick & Donna

This is a shout-out to Rick and Donna Vann for their contribution of an awesome pantry-shelf-thing. Jon giggled with delight while trying to decide which shelf would major in "soups and broths" and which would specialize in "pasta related side dishes". He went so far as to suggest that it was as if...
"form and function had a baby and this was their baby and we've now adopted it".

Thank you very much Rick and Donna. We can't wait for you to see it in person. ;)

Sleeping on the job

The only real problem with using children as cheap labor is that they lack the stamina to follow things through…

Spring Cleaning Time

Well, spring is in the air and so Jon is getting antsy to begin (the weekly...) spring cleaning. Ever since the beginning of time, people have been having children who's sole purpose is to help clean the home. Here's a picture of Michaela taking a (very) short break from her work.

Maple Syrup

So, this wasn't any ordinary sugaring off. Jon's uncle Gilles actually started the machines going and produced that entire barrel of maple syrup. The whole sugar shack was humid and smelled of delicious maple syrup. We were even able to take home a few jars. It was great.

Poisson D'avril

We went sugaring off on April1st, which is "April fool's Day" in English and "Poisson D'avril" in French. I don't know if it's just Beauceville, or all of Quebec, but appearently it's a tradition to draw fish and try to stick them onto other people's backs without them noticing. The kids amused themselves by coloring dozens of fish, cutting them out and sticking them on people's backs.

Mon Oncle Roger!

Michaela's favorite person there (other then her beloved Grandmaman) was Jon's uncle, Roger. He has this fantastically bushy mustashe and such a great sense of humor. Michaela loved joking around with him.

Making Friends

We all went sugaring off at Jon's uncle Gill's Sugar cabin. All the kids had a blast, and got SOOOO dirty. It was great.

Beauceville!

So, after 10 years, Jonathan and I finally got our butts in gear and took a trip back to Beauceville. This is where Jon's mom, Marthe, grew up, and where most of her family still lives. We went for what turned out to be quite a large family reunion. Marthe has, I think, 6 brothers and sisters, and they have wives, and kids, and grandkids! I had a really hard time keeping track of everyone, but it was fun to get reaquainted with Jon's family. Michaela has only 2 cousins (so far) on my side of the family, but at least 12 first cousins, once removed, on Jon's side of the family. Except for three of them who came up from Washinton D.C., all the other kids spoke only French. Somehow they were able to communicate, and they even picked up a few English phrases. It was great for Michaela to meet more of her family.