Amelia's Birthday

It was finally Amelia's birthday. After asking every day when it might be, the great day finally arrived. There was a little bit of anxiety, too, since she had announced that she would not suck on her thumb anymore once she was five. While she has dramatically decreased it, she is still doing it. Once again it shows that when she puts her mind to something she can do it.

Her actual birthday was on a Monday, but logistics of a Monday birthday party were too difficult so we moved it up one day to Sunday. We had a princess party - what else can you have at that age? - which required a big castle cake and princess dresses. The girls had fun making crowns and necklaces. We played games and then it was time for presents and cake. Everyone did agreat job helping eat the cake.

Spring

In this great weather we were able to spend a lot of time outside. During mid winter break we met with friends at the beach and play. I took some time and visited my friend Ulrike in Victoria. It was a great weekend full of sunshine, shopping, great food, and catching up with an old friend. I was very excited to see the Olympic Torch. Just as we were walking at the harbor Uli remembered that the torch for the Paralympics was supposed to come through; and sure enough a couple minutes later we saw the flame being passed on.

Together with my mother-in-law I drove to see the daffodils in Mt. Vernon. Marlene came up for Amelia's birthday which means it was a little early for the tulips; but the daffodil fields were in full bloom.

Like every year the girls got really excited about St. Patrick's Day. Amelia built a leprechaun trap at school and we placed it outside to see if we could catch a leprechaun. Not unexpected those leprechauns are really fast and we were not able to catch one. Maybe we used the wrong bait.

Amelia is quite a sculptor. They do a lot of art projects at school and allow the kids to just go for it. Amelia takes that very seriously and builds these elaborate sculptures. She has a lot of patience and is detail oriented as you can see in the paintwork of her latest piece. Other exciting things in her life included meeting Clifford at the open house in her school and being introduced to nutella.

Karin's Garden

It seems like we only had one week of winter since this El Nino year has been so warm. I got an early start on my yard. After growing more vegetables last year I decided to ass another raised bed and try some new crops. In fall I had covered up some of the lawn and now in spring i build beds. Slowly since mid February I started some seeds inside. By now I have planted 2 blueberry bushes, kale, mustard greens, salad, sweet peas and shelling peas and potatoes. I started carrots and radishes under cover.

I am aware that all this is very ambitious and we will see what and how much I actually get to harvest. So here are some pictures. I will keep you updated about the progress.