Leo's top explanations for getting out of bed after lights out:
1) "my blankets are all messed up"
2) "you need to 'nip' (snip) my toe(nail)"
3) "I had a bad dream..."
4) "I hear a weird noise, a really weird noise"

Lately, if he is not completely and utterly exhausted at bed time, Leo wanders out of his room at least one time per night, and employs one of the above excuses. If he were not so darned cute and convincing I'd likely become annoyed with this game but the facial expression and gestures Leo uses to emphasize the point are just too far over the top to respond with anything other than a hidden smirk and mock concern. After 8pm this guy turns into an actor I tell ya!

Halloween started in our house at 7:20am. That is when Clara woke up with shining eyes saying "its Mecredi, its Halloween!" She quickly wolfed down her breakfast and brushed her teeth so that she could get to the step she's been waiting for since Saturday morning when she first saw her Cinderella gown all stitched together. Making the gown is a whole other story - it involved two visits from Auntie Dorothy and many hours of our working together. I did learn a lot about dress making but I'm still not sure I'm up for tackling another project of this scope for awhile.

Cinderella/Cendrillion

Anyway... back to Clara's thrilled expression as she put the dress on. She swished, and twirled, and posed like a princess right up to the moment Papa pulled her out the front door to get her to the all-day Halloween party at school. It sounds like the party was a huge success, all I know for sure is that a lot of candy was consumed and that Clara did Halloween themed activities in each classroom over the course of the day.

Doin' a twirl

Once the princess was gone, Leo and I got ready for his last Petite Parleurs Class which was also to be in costume. Unfortunately, we discovered the day before that Leo absolutely could NOT abide by the feeling of a polyester blouse against his delicate skin. You see, he was Captain Hook in a gorgeous white puffy sleeved shirt under burgundy velour vest and pants but that only lasted about 30 seconds at the Carrefour Halloween Party. So, on the day of Halloween, in hopes of Leo actually wearing his costume we selected a very comfortable gold coloured, soft, long sleeved shirt. Thankfully this was an acceptable substitution and although he only wore his pirate hat when requested he did stay in costume all morning and then again all afternoon at the Halte Garderie. By being at Les Ateliers d'Education Populaire all day Leo managed to go trick-or-treating around the building twice; once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Not bad for a half dressed pirate.

Back home after a fun night on the Plateau

After a quick dinner of chicken's fingers dipped in blood we met Lea, Naomi, Yan, and Eva for some trick or treating. The weather was perfect, the kids were able to layer under their costumes and a lovely time ringing bells and watching their bags get fuller and fuller! There were a few scary costumes answering doors. Lea bolted at the sight of one guy but Clara's strategy was to stand her ground and stare him down while stealing glances at us adults to ensure this was indeed just a costume and not something she should be running away from. Leo's party trick during the evening was dropping his pants... really they were at his ankles at least 3 times during the evening. It was not his fault though. The velour pirate pants were a little too loose in the waist so when Leo got a good trot going or was climbing stairs they'd work their way down and eventually end up at his feet. He took it in stride announced, "Not again!!" every time!!

We can't seem to kick this virus out of our house! Last week Marc was stopped in his tracks by a stomach bug and even though he's back at work and all the rest he's still not feeling quite right. Then, last night at around 12:30am Clara made it clear that she's been affected by the same tummy bug. Poor girl was stuck on the top bunk in a miserable state when we came rushing in. She's home today lying on the couch after several unpleasant awakenings during the night. Leo may or may not have already had a speedy version of the same bug, which just leaves me... I'm crossing my fingers and washing my hands in hopes of skipping the whole unfortunate experience.

Apple picking 2007
With no Carrefour apple picking trip this year, we were left to our own devices to organize a trip to an apple orchard. Luckily, with family living in Mont-Saint-Hilaire this is not a difficult thing to accomplish. Grand Papa Marcel did the research for us and yesterday a small caravan of two cars (ours and the Duponts) arrived in Saint-Hilaire to pick him up. We drove through some rain as we went up the mountain to Petit et Fils' verger but it ended as we pulled into the parking lot. The kids were very happy to discover that there were animals and a playground as well as a tractor ride and a tall grass labyrinth at this particular orchard. The apples were beautiful - red and sweet and easy to pick for the shorter crowd. We picked and ate and enjoyed the fresh air.

Clara managed to bring back several objets de la nature for her One Hundred Days project at school. She decided what her collection would be all by herself and has been having a good time building her nature stash.

After getting our fill of apples we made a quick stop over at a friend of Karen's who happen to live right in the MIDDLE of the construction on Fortier in Saint-Hilaire. Even though Marc and I know our way around the area quite well, we still had a bit of confusion dealing with the round about way to get to their house. Anyway, it was a was a quick visit and then we were off heading home heavy with apples in our trunks. Just as we got off the Jacques Cartier bridge Leo made an awful noise in his sleep and proceeded to upchuck all of the apples he'd eaten - YUCK!!! I will just take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the greater being that decided my children would not be prone to motion sickness. If I had to deal with car puke on a regular basis I'd seriously never leave the city again! It was just gross and poor Leo was so confused and upset, we pulled over, realized not much could be done and zipped home to clean up the poor boy and the horrific car seat. After a bath and clean clothes Leo seemed to feel fine. He's clearly weak but not terribly sickly. I really don't know exactly what is up, I just know that I'm not giving him raw apple again for a few days. He has, however, eaten apple in pancakes this morning with no trouble so that is a good thing, especially considering I have many, many pounds of apples to bake and cook with this week :)

Our champion!

Our day in point form:

• Marc was sick and either in bed or on the couch all day.
• Leo tossed his cookies this morning, took a good nap and was fine for the rest of the day.
• Clara ran a Cross Country race at school (300m) and didn't stop once.
• I had a blood draw, spent some time with Catherine and Vanessa and volunteered in Clara's classroom.

Whew, I'm glad we all made it. And, Marc is feeling better this evening so yay for him :)

A selection of Clara's recent artwork. Clockwise we see Grand-papa and Uncle Alex, then a family portrait in front of our building, then a princess locked out of a castle (because the key is on the other side), and a dragon with one tooth (the hygienist visited school that day).

Ever since school started, Marc and I have been struck by how different Clara's art has become. Her style has completely changed, she has adopted all sorts of new tricks and instituted many new details into her creations, she has also become prolific. For example, after lunch Clara has a period of relaxation. This is a 20 minute quiet time. The kids in class are given a choice of what relaxing activity they'd prefer and they are asked to maintain silence during this time period. I believe the options are, play dough, self massage (drive a car or truck along your arms, legs, and torso), or drawing. Let me just say that with the exception of one day Clara has produced colourful butterflies and a few hearts for a week and a half! She is obsessed LOL. She has also instituted a rule of thumb that cracks me up - all girls have eye lashes and boys have eye brows, it is a distinguishing characteristic regardless of the animal.

An unfinished butterfly masterpiece

Grand-papa gave Clara an artist sketch book this past weekend and she has spend several long sessions with her head bent over the pages picking up and dropping various colours of crayons and pencils. She has continued what she started at Grand-papa's house - still life drawings. Her sketchpad is blossoming with drawings of toys, pieces of furniture, my sewing machine, a sculpture, etc. It is so much fun to watch this creative side develop. Perhaps I'm especially excited because of my own lack of artistic talent - I laugh when Clara asks me to draw with her, I foresee her passing me in ability int he near future, but for know we are having a good time sharing a page of paper and doodling.

Pictures and an update from last week...

Clara was sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, and despite having to miss her first day of school (yes, she even cried when she realized she'd miss a bricolage they were going to do) we managed to have quite a bit of fun. Leo and I decided to share with Clara the secret of Goop - cornstarch and water mixed into a fascinating liquid/solid state. They played with their bowls of goop silently side by side for quite some time, both loving the feeling of the slimy mixture all over their hands and fingers.

Saturday was a family day at home. We played guitar hero, YUM junior and made sushi. It was a really nice day of just hanging out and having fun. We all had a hand in the sushi making and agreed we have to do it more often, not only was it an enjoyable activity but it was absolutely delicious as well! I've just noticed that none of these pictures give away Leo's secret- he spent all weekend in just a shirt and underwear! You see, he's still working on the potty thing and it seems that the less clothes there are between him and the toilet the more chance he has of making it there on time! LOL

We laughed a lot and Clara got the giggles more than once... in this video she's trying to keep the laughter going and is kind of forcing it at times but as you can see some of it is real, hard core, belly laughter. Marc knows exactly what to do to make her laugh - he's almost mastered the art of physical comedy!

Some of our spectacular sushi - we ate them as we made them so we never did get a picture of a full tray. In fact this picture was taken after Clara and Leo were full and had wandered away from the table, otherwise all other photos include at least one hand reaching into the photo frame!