Making Butter

While we were reading Little House in the Big Woods with the kiddos, they were quite intrigued by the idea of making butter. So one morning we set out to the store to buy some cream and make our own butter to put on our home made buttermilk biscuits. 

Shaking that jar is pretty tedious work. I had forgotten that it could take a little while to get it going. 

The whole thing was a big success, though. 

We actually did this back at the beginning of March (hence why all our hearts are still up in our kitchen), it just took me a little while to get the pictures up (as blurry as they are..).

The biscuits were delish. The butter was delish. The kids had fun. As for me, I enjoyed getting to see these kiddos give that shaking all their efforts. 

Checking out our cream. Almost there!

More shaking.

And finished!

I think I might have the kids make their own little bit of butter another time; maybe tie it into a special meal. We'll see. For now, I'm content with having done it once.

Exploring the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

I love outings that help the kids and I fall in love with this city that we live in. This trip was one of those outings. We waited until the weekend to make the trip to the museum so that Jason could come along. It was nice to have all of us there. It was so great to explore some new streets and admire all the artwork.

I've got to say that I really love some of the historical apartment buildings once you start working your way into the downtown exterior. Just really beautiful entrances. All of them. And the churches here are quite beautiful as well.

And then there was this statue that we happened upon which made my heart swell. The bond between a mother and child is so tender. 

We didn't realize how many buildings the museum actually encompassed - it's huge! It was great. We were ooohing and aaahing before we even got inside. Jason was pretty keen on this plastic tree.

The kids and I were pretty keen to get inside and start looking at all the paintings.

I had been working with the kids on pointillism so when we stumbled upon some lovely pointillism in the museum the kids were pretty over the moon about that.

I really loved observing how Atticus and Milayla preferred to explore the museum with very different approaches, yet both enjoyed themselves so much. Milayla always opted to sit on the benches, chairs or couches that were there to observe from and point at her favorites. Atticus would get as close as humanly possibly and remark on the individual colors and strokes. It was just awesome to see them find which way works best for them and to see little glimpses into their personalities.

We all loved the renaissance art sections, and I was impressed when Atticus made connections between the artists at this museum and the artists that we had seen at previous museums in europe.

This piece that was in the main hall fills my heart with mixed emotions. While the baby is beautiful and makes my heart happy, their was something about it being so exposed and alone that made me want to cradle the baby in my arms to warm it and keep it safe. Maternal instinct. In any case, it was beautifully sculpted.

I think the modern art exhibit pretty much snatched up the hearts of Atticus and Milayla the second that we stepped into the exhibit room. 

This was one of Atticus' favorite pieces. As you can see, he is diligently holding the map. Always eager to make sure we didn't miss seeing anything.

By the time we started venturing into the second building the kids were starting to get a bit tired so we started working our way back.

 Though I am pretty sure the kids could have stayed in this room much longer than the few minutes that we let them. It was a moved picture to show the difference in perspective and movement that depth differential can create. It was a really neat idea and it definitely had the kids asking questions, which I love!

Once we had our coats and outdoor gear back on we raced for the bus and snacked on our lunches.

Milayla is really favoring oranges these days (perfect season for it) and every time she eats one she furrows her brow on the first bite. It is pretty cute!

I am so grateful for this family and love getting to share these experiences with them. There are some places where I feel so comfortable and adequately intrigued that I always love going there - art museums (and most museums in general) are one of those places (theatres are another big one) and I feel pretty grateful that I get to share some of that love with these great kiddos and a supportive husband. It feels pretty special. 

Art in Mount Royal Park

Before the weather started turning snowy (just in time for Christmas) I focused a week on art with the kids. We did a ton of art projects at home and did art-related outings. Our week was topped off with a trip to the art museum (more on that later). Mid-week we invited some friends along with us to go check out the sculptures in the park. 

The kids had a blast and loved running around, finding sticks and holes to drop them into.

And there was a dabbling of art. Atticus was convinced all the pieces looked like some kind of robot. He's in a robot stage right now. It's fun.

The kids decided to make it interactive art by climbing up whatever they could. Hands on learning around here.

And then there was more running as we made our way up the 'mountain' to the Chateau.

Fall really is beautiful around here. Those red leaves with a touch of downtown and the river in the background.

Milayla was pretty excited about getting her picture taken up there. I love her smile these days. Eyes closed with a sweet smile.

Much like mine and Jason's date night the weekend before the kids and I went up, looking out over downtown is pretty cool and all, but it sure does make me ache for the mountains. We'll be exploring once the weather warms up as I am a sip-hot-chocolate-inside kind of person when things get cold..

Robyn snapped a picture of the kids and I with Montreal in the background. 

Then we sat on the steps of the chateau and ate some lunch before heading back down.

It feels a little bizarre to have friends who live so close to us and have kids our age. Our neighborhood is so full of young families, it's awesome.

And with that, we all started walking back down as the kids were starting to get tuckered out. Lovely morning. So glad that Robyn could join us with Sophie and Linc.

St Joseph's Oratory Montreal

We are finally back into regular rotation of finding things to explore and it feels wonderful. In full disclosure, the kids are pretty excited about most things that we do whether it's running errands, chilling at home, playing with friends or checking out something new in the city, but I think there is an extra spark in their eyes when I tell them we are going to go exploring. They get ready the quickest when they know there is an adventure on the horizon. 

We recently went and checked out St. Joseph's Oratory. We see it daily as it sits built into the side of Mount Royal. It's pretty hard to miss. The kids had been asking what the building was so I figured that I would capitalize on that interest and take them on up there. It was a brilliant idea. The kids loved it.

We had the perfect weather for the day too. Couldn't have gotten better. But in the kids' eyes, it could get better, because they discovered the World's Largest selection of Stairs to Climb! At least they were pretty certain it was the most amount of stairs that they have ever seen. I wish I got a picture of all the stairs from the very base (I didn't) because there are a lot of stairs. The kids agreed, and were quite relieved, to discover that the stairs were not as steep as Germany stairs because, in the words of Atticus, "that would be so much tougher to climb. But that's okay, because we can do tough things. Though I am happy with these stairs, too.". Love those kids.

And love how cute they look even sitting on bird poop covered stairs. Just check out those smiles. They were in love with those stairs.

We also went inside and explore the chapels in there. It was nice, though I think I was expecting something a little more grand especially when the outside is as grand as it is. In any case, the kids loved the stairs and we enjoyed checking out each new vantage point and seeing how far across Montreal we could see. It was pretty neat to learn a bit about the history of the building as well.

More stairs.

When we made it to the very top floor, the kids quite enjoyed the chapel there, but were more intrigued with looking out the stained glass doors to see the view of Montreal just a little bit tinted. We did actually stop in to listen to a service. It was in french, but the kids still had plenty of questions afterwards. It was great to see them so reverent and respectful of the building and the people there. That is something that we work really hard to in still in them. I hope it sticks. They're good kids.

We were a little sad that the gardens were closed when we were there (perhaps due to the crazy wind storm we had just had!) but the kids were just as happy with watching the workers head up in the crane to perform some maintenance on the building.

The original church. It's grown a bit since then.

The exposed rock face inside was actually very cool. It had been made into a small worship chapel as well.

We really enjoyed our visit. As we were leaving the kids declared that it was very nice of them to let us visit their church. I couldn't agree more. 

tidbits of October from the iPhone

A few scattered pieces from October, complements of my iPhone.

Jason's makeshift Halloween costume at work. One of his coworkers is Egyptian and had brought in a few headscarves for people to try on. I'm sure Jason is going to be pretty happy about me posting this picture on the blog :).

We finally started Mommy School on a regular basis and the kids are ecstatic about it. It probably would have helped to ward off the whole Montreal Meltdown. But, alas, hindsight is always so much clearer. In any case - we're having fun!

Jason's friend, Moe, from his undergrad days came to visit us. I have yet to see the kids adjust to anyone this quickly. They adore him. I think the fact that he is from Egypt knocked him up in the cool factor pretty quickly. But also, he's just pretty cool in their eyes. They asked to make cards to send to him the next day to thank him for coming over. It was pretty sweet.

I've put the kids to work making their own lunches. Of course, this only really works for sandwiches, but it's a start. I get them involved with dinner wherever possible, but lunch is the first meal that they prepared 100% on their own. It was interesting to see the finished result. They also have given their hand at making their own muesli for breakfast now as well. Breakfast has been mostly successful, short of one little incident where the cinnamon lid came off midshake and we ended up with a mountain of cinnamon. We all had a good laugh before we scooped it off (I think I have a picture of that somewhere..).

Love seeing these kids play together as they brainstorm train ideas.

I am happy that green smoothies are in full force around here as we start working to keep all those winter bugs at bay. 

The kids adore helping out with the green smoothies. I am so glad they they like them so much. It is such an easy way to make sure they get lots of nutrients that they don't get otherwise (like Milayla, who isn't too keen on trying to chew lettuce. Though that isn't for lack of trying!).

This is what the kids do when I tell them that Daddy should be home soon. I can't help but smile. They love Daddy and it's not hard to see why - he's pretty awesome.

Of course, the moment that they see Jason walk down our sidewalk the kids bolt for the nearest hiding spot and we play an impromptu game of Hide and Seek. Every time.

Another Mommy school picture that I can't help but post. I love their smiles.

This is a pretty regular site around here; the kids have moved their chairs into the hallway to make a train (the regularly go to India, Japan, Germany, and Peru on that train!). Milayla is trekking around the apartment in Atticus' shoes and Atticus is helping their alligator (from Peru) crawl up Milayla's leg. Fun times. They're so imaginative. I love it.

Things have turned a tad chilly and very wet around here (though definitely not as rainy as a Bremen fall was!) so the kids have loved digging out their warm hats and mitts.

And with all that rain, our front steps have gotten particularly slippery (which I was a tad worried about) and Milayla was unfortunate enough as to have a tumble.

Poor girl. Her nose was pretty swollen for a little while but she was still smiling. She is brave. The other day she got a piece of glass in her foot and she very casually let me know and then braved a smile while I dug in to pick it out. I was impressed.

And I am happy to report we now have a winter carpet on our stairs so that, hopefully, that will greatly reduce our chances of going for a slip down them!