Georgia planted this grass from seed in preschool on April 1st when I was parent helper. I love that it, along with some parsley and mint, are adding a splash of fresh green colour in front of our kitchen window. Now it seems a little more spring-like both inside and out! I suppose I should have cleaned up those dead plants before snapping this photo, but I took it on impulse, and this is more like spring anyway. :)
It was nice and sunny out this weekend and the temp reached 13C today. Yay! The snow is disappearing very quickly now. The sidewalks were mostly clear on the weekend, so the girls got their bikes out. Above zero temps around the clock also means our basement is getting some water again (we had a reprieve from this thanks to a 10-day cold snap in late March and then freezing temps every night for another week or so). At least we're aware of it and Neil is using the shop vac to suck up the water periodically. Plus, the dehumidifier and fan are running constantly. We'll have to try to repair the trouble spot as soon as everything is dry. Neil has also begun the annual pumping water out of the yard (to the back alley).
On Thursday evening, I made blue and yellow cupcakes (school colours) for Friday's hot lunch day at school. I had never tinted cake batter before, but I think they turned out pretty well. I used Wilton gel food colouring which Neil picked up at Bulk Barn. This is much more work than I normally do for the hot lunch day baking. My standard contribution is Rice Krispies squares, which I still think is perfectly acceptable!
On Friday evening, the girls had a brief K4J gathering and then we all went to the Stations of the Cross event and mass. This was our third year contributing posters for Stations of the Cross. The past two years, each family made one large poster, and I helped with ours quite a bit by drawing the picture before the kids painted it. This year, each child was to make their own smaller poster (our girls were assigned III, IV, and V), and since I didn't have (or make) time to get them started sooner, they worked on their posters on Friday before and after school. I was impressed with their drawings!
Saturday was almost completely free, so we did a bunch of housework. I did some extra cleaning in the kitchen such as the inside of the microwave, around the dishwasher door, cupboard doors, etc. Long overdue! I wish I could get around to these things more frequently, but I don't see this changing any time soon. Otherwise, I took Sophia to her piano lesson at 5:00 p.m. (rescheduled) and Neil made a fantastic supper of bison tenderloin steak with garlic butter (seriously delicious and decadent!), oven-roasted asparagus, and a grill-roasted potatoes, carrots, and onions. He also made avocado ice cream (Alton Brown's recipe). He and I liked it, while the kids were not impressed. Luckily, we had Saskatoon Berry Sorbet (from Safeway) for them.
On Sunday afternoon, we all went to Sophia's ringette windup: bowling and pizza at Glencairn Bolodrome and Stats (above the bowling alley). It was a lot of fun! All of the team families are great, and it was nice to see them again. (Madeline is in the photo. The younger siblings bowled with bumper rails.) After supper, one of the coaches spoke thoughtfully about each player and her ringette skill development through the season. It was very nice. Also, each player received a necklace with her number on it. As we were leaving, Sophia said, "I think we should have wind-ups throughout the year!" :) Afterward, we went over to L&B's to visit Donna & Lou. We had cake from Coldstone Creamery (half cake and half ice cream) and watched Canada win the final (defeating Scotland) in the Men's World Curling Championship (held in Regina this year).
Also, we have been using My Job Chart for the past few days and are having some success with it. The girls are pretty eager to log in and put check marks next to their tasks. We have promised them a trip to the Milky Way for ice cream after they all accumulate two-weeks worth of points. It's going to take them longer than two weeks, but they are definitely doing much more than before! My Job Chart is pretty cool. If you have children and would like to encourage them to do chores, practice music, brush teeth, or anything else, I encourage you to check it out. I'm quite happy with it so far.
