Good bye Matante

Matante passed away peacefully last night at 2:30 in the morning.

I will miss her very much.

Festival des Montgolfieres

This year, we were blessed to share our day at the festival with Kath and her family. For some reason, I love sharing special events with people I am close to in the hopes that they can appreciate the special event as much as I do! (that's hard to do, because I get a bit too excited about the festival des montgolfieres.

This year, we almost didn't go as my grandmother is terminally ill, and I almost cancelled the weekends activities. In my heart, I know she would have wanted me to go anyway.

Maelie joined Kath & Francis & Sandrine in the ferris wheel! I knew she would get bored after one turn or so, but I let her go.



We walked around, sat and had a pic-nic snack while watching a show, and then visited the petting zoo full of goats, donkeys, emus, chickens, rabbits, etc... Maelie was guarding her food this year since last year, the goats stole the food from her in 2 seconds flat. The goat just climbed up on Maelie this year to get the food (Yes, Maelie chose WHITE shorts to go to the festival this year).



This cute donkey was walking around slowly... he was so adorable.



Maelie has started liking the kid roller coasters now. She wanted to go over and over. In the evening, the man tending to the ride was actually very fun. He encouraged the kids to make noise, gave them all high 5's when they passed by him, and was all and all very entertaining for the kids. I enjoyed the fact that he made his work look like a lot of fun.



I was a bit nervous all day about the take off for the hot air balloons. It was gorgeous as you can see in the pictures... but the take-off also depends on the wind and there was a bit all day...

Finally they go the green flag and were able to start blowing up.



This this, this is the most I got in one shot. Since there was a lot of wind, they flew away pretty fast.



If you want to compare the hot air balloon pics from last year, check this out.

Grade 1

Life is all about growing up. Today was Maelie's first day of school. She was very excited !

They are 20 in her class and 12 of them were together in the class last year. Most of her *girl* friends are in the same class.



She has the teacher that she wanted too, so I think that made her feel extremely happy to be there! Don't they all look so tiny at their desks?



I love school! I can;t wait to hear all the stories tonight!

Mail please

Maelie called grand-maman the other day.

"Grand-Maman, can you send me some mail please? I never get any mail"

"ok."

"Make sure it is NOT a bill or a pay stub though. I don't like those."

Rubber Ducky

Maelie has such a big heart, she feels for every single stuffed animal and every single rubber ducky in the world.

This is why this commercial almost had her in tears.

"Mommy, why is the ducky so sad?"
"He is sad because the mommy is using wipes to clean the baby so he doesn't need to go in the tub to wash himself. It's a commercial for wipes."
"I don't like this commercial mom. It makes me too sad."

Maelie's supper

This is what Maelie had for supper tonight. The mini butterflies are so cute aren't they? Maelie loves when I bring her a cute plate. She says that I need to make some creative plates every meal!

I bought clementines and they were delicious! I can't believe it's already time for those. Yum!

Cousins

Aren't they adorable?



My sister and I get together only once or twice a year, so each time we do get together, we like to torture ourselves by going to the photo studio for pictures of the cousins... formerly 2, now 3. Believe it or not, it is REALLY hard to take a picture of 3 kids. at the same time! without someone looking somewhere else.

Lucas, 8 yrs
Maelie, 6 yrs
Nathan, 6 months, close to 7

Duck pond

This evening, just to get out, we went to the duck pond. Bill picked up 2 loaves of bread from the dollar store. Most of the time people give their old bread to the ducks. I prefer giving them fresh one because Maelie has a tendency to eat some of the bread when she feeds them!



They all were very happy to see us!



Maelie likes the risky part of hand feeding the geese... they sometimes accidentally snap your fingers.

Accomplishments

This weekend was pretty quiet. First off, on Saturday, I was exhausted. Completely exhausted when I woke up. Maelie as well. I went in the bath and while I did, she fell asleep until about 10. So basically we stayed in our jammies until about 3 pm. Afterwards I went to the grocery store for a few things, made supper, relaxed and went to bed. Not too exciting! It was a gorgeous day, but I just could not DO anything. My body was not following.

To entertain Maelie, I gave her a jug of vinegar and a box of baking soda. Cheap entertainment for kids!





This morning, I woke up with much more energy. I accomplished so much more!

So far, here is the list:
- vacuum every. single. room (including stairs)
- clean and relocate pets
- wash hard wood floor with Murphy's oil.
- dust main floor
- wash kitchen floor with diluted javex
- wash both washroom floors
- move furniture around in the kitchen
- make breakfast & lunch
- dishes, clean counters
- dust bedrooms
- clean washrooms

I am hoping that all of this will make me feel hot enough to jump in the pool at a cold temperature. It's a beautiful day once again and I feel bad for being inside when I can hear the cicada calling out - telling us it is hot. It's just that it HAS to get done at some point. I certainly don't have time during the week to do this. I wish I did! Then my weekends would be free!

Maelie's lunch

As school's approaching, I've been motivating myself to make lunches. I really like trying to make cute stuff that will surprise Maelie.

The funny thing with her is that if you do something once, she wants you to do it again. The same thing. Every day.

This was her lunch today:



She really liked it. She did ask why the eggs didn't have a mouth. I told her I didn't want them to complain about eating them.

There's celery, carrots, lettuce, 2 eggs (Maelie removes the yokes herself), salad dressing (dressing must not touch eggs, so I put it on the side), and cucumber dip.

Yum.....

A bowl of cheer

There's nothing like making a nice hot batch of tomato basil soup and walking it over to a friends house.

Sometimes people are just overwhelmed with life and a little thought like this will brighten up their day... especially when they haven't had supper yet!

I wish all my friends and family were close by so I could share a little soup.

a tiny taste of summer

Saturday started out absolutely gorgeous! It was sunny, and becoming warm. Maelie had a friend over to play until about 2. At the end of the afternoon, we had horrible rain again!



I can't believe they had the guts to go in the pool! It was at 68 ! That would cause my heart to stop if I went in.

After supper, we decided to go to the Lumiere Festival. I didn't even know it existed, but I was told it's a magical evening with entertainment, fairies, dragons, knights, and a lot of other costumes. Most importantly, there were candlelit lanterns everywhere. So Maelie got dressed up as a fairy and we made a lantern out of a juice bottle and a fake Christmas candle. It turned out great! It was also much safer than having a real candle.



We arrived before dark. There were lanterns EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately a lot of them had been hit by the rain and so they were soggy. They were lit up only later when it was closer to dark.

We got to see three fairies dancing around and telling fairy secrets...



This is one of the huge creatures walking around. Maelie's favorite was the second one. He asked her if she had seen the dragon. He was going to slay it. But said he forgot his sword at home.





There was the dragon!



The festival was completely saved by a beautiful peaceful evening. No more rain, no wind. Just peace.



Maelie was getting tired so we called our chauffeur Bill to come get us. Since it was just past 9, and I knew Maelie really wanted to see the fireworks again, Bill dropped us off in the casino parking lot where we just walked to a good spot. They started just after 9:30.

Poor Maelie was really tired, but she SO wanted to stay. (with her fake Christmas candle in tow, now out of the lantern)



I think we have had out share of fireworks this year!!



Needless to say, it's 8:23 am now and she is still sound asleep in bed. Probably dreaming of out next adventures.

Rollerblading!

Maelie and I headed off to Value Village this evening just for a little outing. What did she stumble upon? A pair of rollerblades in her size! Maelie has had an infatuation with rollerblades ever since she saw our neighbor Marc-André on his. Maelie had brought her purse along, and they were $4.99 so she *needed* to buy them!



Our road is a bit bumpy so we tried to get to a sidewalk on a near street as fast as we could... which meant ... really slow.



Now can you tell me what is wrong with this picture below? Do you somehow notice the leaves on the tree? Those leaves, on a normal year, are supposed to be green. Date: August 8th. WHY oh why are the leaves changing already?

Interesting links

I wanted to share a couple of links I find interesting.

I was reading this article today (I had no idea Christina Applegate had breast cancer!) It's an article posted on Dr.Fuhrman's site where he discusses the prevention of cancer. I LOVE Dr. Fuhrman.

I enjoy reading the Vegan Lunch Box blog as well. She always has such wonderful ideas and the lunch boxes she creates are wonderful! A lot of the packed lunches Maelie wouldn't eat, but sometimes it just gives me gets my imagination going. The lunchbox she uses is the Laptop lunch. Maelie has the pink set, so I get ideas from watching how she packs things.

Here is a link explaining how alkaline / acid balance is so important. I truly think this is the way to go to take care of ourselves. Have more alkaline forming foods and try to avoid the acid forming. In other words... don't allow the bad stuff to survive in your body.

I'm constantly reading and learning, as we should all be!

3 weeks to go

Does it smell like school out there???



In three weeks, Maelie will be going to grade 1! This weekend we went shopping and got everything on her list. We even have a new schoolbag.

dedicated to the organic farmer at the market

Today after work, Maelie and I stopped at the Farmer's Market to check it out. I had never been yet since we moved out here almost 3 years ago.

I stopped at an organic booth and got baby tomatoes and basil. Actually as I stood there, I debated out loud with cilantro in one hand and basil in the other.
"salsa or bruschetta... salsa or bruschetta"

The man explained to me that he was so busy farming that he never had a chance to cook anything. He ate everything raw. Little does he know that he has the healthiest option! Anyway, I opted for the bruschetta.

Here are the main beauties for today's meal



Chop chop chop



sneak one in



MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm basil.....



(unphotographed hidden secret touches... add parmesan cheese, garlic, vinegar, oil, pepper... spread on sprouted grain english muffins)

Heat a little bit in the oven



and TADA! a tasty masterpiece!



Maybe I should drive back to the market and deliver some to the farmer!

training for the circus

Maelie likes to perform. Usually it's dance. Since the Buskerfest last weekend, she has now taken to training for acrobatics and circus shows.



She has also decided that her friend Bébé lapin will be part of her famous future.



This includes jumping through hoops!



"Maybe she won't find me if I hide here behind my paws and the parachute" thought her little Bébé lapin.



Ah! finally worn out!

She is my life

Life - prayers please

I just found out today that my grandmother (my mom's mom), who is in her 80's, has cancer. I don't have many details but I do hope that everyone can have special thoughts and prayers for her. She has always been a very special person in my life, loving, caring, and accepting me for who I am.

I love her very much...

brought to you by Buskerfest 2008 - once again!

This morning I suggested to Maelie that we go to a farm - Saunders farm which looks pretty neat (mazes and stuff)... she was all for it. However on the way there, she asked me if we could go to the Buskerfest once again. So we turned around and off we went. We were there for the first performance by Fast Horses.

Maelie was one of the chosen volunteers to learn roping!



We saw Piper McKenzie once again !



And then we saw Dream State Circus for a 3rd time. I wonder if we could be charged for stalking these people!!



For each and every show, Maelie sits on the ground in the first row and is completely into it... not for a minute does her attention leave the performers!

I wonder if she will insist we go again tomorrow for the last day!