Morning at the Muttart

On Monday, our neighbour asked us if we wanted to join her and her daughter for a morning at the Muttart. 

Kenton was still not back at work (due to supreme illness) so I left Ellie with him at home and took Wren for her first time. 

It just so happened to be the day that Putrella the Corpse Flower was blooming and it was a big deal. The bloom only lasts about 36 hours after years of growth. Global TV was there (maybe you saw me in the background on the news, haha). We were there so early that we beat the rush- after we left, there was a big line to get in and see it!

My neighbour likes photography as a hobby so she brought her camera, snapped and edited some shots of us there and sent them to me today. Let me share...

(The flower in bloom, behind us.)

This is Wren and her neighbour, Alessandra. They're pals.

I don't purposely try to match my kids outfits, so trust me, the fact that Wren and I are matching is purely coincidental.

The girls had fun running around together, barely noticing the actual plants. I'll say my piece on this place and be done with it- For Wren and I to go, it was $18.50. I'm sorry, it was a ridiculous price and I think they overcharge, but that's just me.

Unless she comes back for a field trip, I don't plan on going again. But it was nice to pretend like it wasn't chilly weather outside and be in the Tropical pyramid for a while :)

Just a blog post.

I'm slapping up a post just for the heck of a post. 

And because my sister told me it was time.

And because I work tomorrow and nothing shall get done for a few days because of that. 

Kenton was monstrously sick on the weekend, so I became the mother of three babies. Ha. It wasn't because he was being a baby though, he was pretty sad sight. I was single-parenting it the whole weekend which is hard work. Except I actually did more fun activities with the girls than I normally do when Kenton is around so figure that one out. 

One of them was playing with our home-made play-dough. 

We made some sweet stuff...

Things like "blueberry pie", "cheeseburger with fries and ketchup"...

And my personal favourite, Wren's choice of "Meat pie" complete with lattice top pie crust. Hilarious. 

Do you think I could find the photo of Wren getting into this exact same cupboard at this age?? Of course not. But how cute is she. 

Wren took this photo (with my help) and when I looked at it on the computer I laughed out loud. Not only does Ellie look like she's getting strip searched at the airport, but her bum looks like bum cheeks in her diaper. Oh they kill me!

And if this all wasn't good enough, I took Wren to the Muttart this morning with our neighbours. (We were conicidentally there for the opening of this crazy rare flower that takes years to come to bloom and lasts for like a day before it dies or something like that you probably know more than me.)

..And Wren blurts out "I SHIP MY PANTS! AHAHAHA!"

I proceeded to feed her to the enormous flower. 

Serves her right. 

Okay it's my fault. I saw the Kmart commercial on tv and laughed so much that she thought she would say it too. 

See it here. It's so funny you may just ship your pants. :)

Princess Face Paint

Okay Kenton is basically out of commission and completely bed ridden at the present and probably will be until tomorrow. We have therefore cancelled the dinner tonight and I will not get to wear what I planned to for over a month. I know, cry met a river right? haha.

 I thought Wren was coming down with something this morning but turns out she was dizzy from hunger (Uh long story...okay not, she just wouldn't eat her supper last night so she didn't get any and woke up in the morning dizzy from hunger. That will happen when you refuse to eat.) No, she actually is sick though, sigh!

To save my sanity today, I packed the girls up and took them to the City Hall market this morning, pretty much just for those Bloom Cookies...and a 12 pack too! I bit into a London Fog flavoured cookie and almost died it was so good. Other flavours include Lavender White Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, The Sherbrooke (aka. Chocolate Chip cookie with beer), Chai Latte and the gluten-free chocolate macaroon. Oh yeah, baby.

Then we Wren spotted the face painting lady. Wren's all about it, so she got her face done up like a princess and I ate cookies with Ellie. Ellie likes her cookies.

So many people smiled and some commented. Wren being Wren, was not impressed that "stwangers" were talking to her. One man even tried to make it fun and said "Ooo scary!" and then I let him know she was actually a princess, not a villain, haha.

Another little boy was getting a Spiderman face. His entire face was getting a base coat of red. I didn't envy his parents and the massive face wash they'd  have to do later!

Well, we're heading to Aunty's for some play time, supper and a movie and leaving Kenton to a quiet house to rest. :) Have a good one.

Here is the weekend

The theme of my weekend is- things don't always turn out how you planned. More on that in a minute.

This week has been one of the most tiring we've had in a long time. Ellie has been waking in the night for a bottle (which is still standard for her) but then talks to herself for like an hour in her crib, then cries, then becomes impossible to get back to sleep. So, no joke- some nights we've been up for anywhere from 2-4 hrs in a row.
After these shennanigans happened 2 consecutive nights, we had to start letting her cry. But she puts up a good fight and by the time 4am rolls around, I give up and go in her room and rock her because I just can't take it anymore. However, she seems to be getting the point since last night and we're hoping we're fixing the problem of "night time partying" for this stinker.

Crying it out for the second child is weird. We went through it with Wren, and therefore had more resolve to do it with Ellie easily. But then you are mostly worried about waking up the other kid in the process. Luckily Wren doesn't wake up which is miraculous..except she wakes up for a totally different reason about 45 min after the crying stopped and we've all fallen asleep.
Oh, life with kids!

We had planned to go out for my birthday dinner about a month ago, and as of today, Kenton is completely and utterly sick with the flu. The poor guy can't even eat or get out of bed. Not the end of the world, but one of my reasons for the weekend not going as planned!

Wren is also adjusting to the change of me returning to work, even though it's "only" 2 days a week. She is more clingy and sad to see me go than I expected. We've also been noticing that some sibling jealousy is creeping in now that Ellie is requiring extra attention since she's become mobile and more playful in general. Ellie gets a lot more attention now that she has sweet skills, haha. These things are all natural, but challenging in the moment of course.

Since Kenton is feeling like crap, I've already planned to take the girls to get Bloom Cookies downtown in the morning because I love them and need a pick me up after this crazy week! If you haven't had one, run over to a market or Mercer for some tomorrow!!

First day of work

Okay guys, I've had my first day of work!

I will be working Tuesday/Thursdays from 1-9pm. And 3.75 hours here and there during the week whenever I squeak it in to make me a 0.5 part time position.

It's kind of crazy to think that this is the new "normal". There's so many other co-workers of mine that have either had a baby or will be having one.
You are also probably wondering if I will ever be requiring another maternity leave- and the answer is OMG NO.

We are so done. Now you know :)

So this really is the norm now. Our moms babysit, which is awesome (that's an understatement on sooo many levels).

It felt great to be back. SO GREAT.
I like my job lots. I like that I'm part time.  I like this whole set up in general.

I have really enjoyed my year mat leave at home with the girls. The year blew by, and also dragged by as the winter dragged on. But I was ready to get back at a job I love. If you want to know where that job is, I can tell you some other way, I just don't feel quite right posting that for the world to see.

Being at home is fun, challenging, boring and fulfilling. The boring part was catching up to me though and I was looking forward to engaging in a different environment other than the one in my house.

And see? Still posting.
Okay, we'll see how posting goes in a few weeks when I'm actually busy at work, haha.
I promise to keep it up. Promise.

In other news. Ellie plays peek-a-boo. Could you just die? The cutest.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

We are partied out because..

Yesterday was Ellie's first birthday! 

She has changed so much in the last year- from being so tiny...

...to becoming so big! 

We are excited for the year ahead. We remember so many more changes happening from 1 to 2 yrs old with Wren. It keeps getting more and more fun!

Ellie had just woken up from her nap. All the guests were waiting for the birthday girl to wake up :)

She wasn't so sure about the cake. 

So Grandma Spiers helped her, haha!

Wren wasn't actually in as much pain as she looks...

Ellie loved the wrapping of her presents the best, as usual.

And being held, kissed and danced with by everyone.

She is a baby that loves to be loved.

Party time!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Ellie Girl. 

Party time!

Okay what the heck, snow tomorrow?? NO. No thank you.

Despite the depressing weather, we will be celebrating Ellie's 1st birthday! 

Confession: We haven't bought her a present. And I don't even feel bad. Because she's 1, people. And because I didn't even think of it. She likes Wren's stuff better anyway.

For Wren's first birthday we got her a $10 toy shopping cart which is still a favourite of hers. 

Anyway, keepin' it low key this year with a small family party. She loves cake so that will be cute to watch her pinch a piece with chubby fingers and shove it in her mouth in that methodical-baby-like-way.

Have a good weekend and look forward to some party pics in a few days :) Because something will need to brighten the dismal view out our windows this weekend.

Make it yourself: the play- dough edition

We made this play dough this afternoon.
It was a lot of work. Okay maybe not THAT much work. Just felt like it because I decided we should make all 4 colours at the same time and it got a little crazy in the kitchen for a bit.

Wren was playing with the last of her brand name "Play-doh" this morning when I noticed it was all dried up and crumbly. As if I was going out to buy more of that neon plastic-y sick smelling crap from the store for her. I can just make it. After all, this easy looking recipe was on Pinterest and I can hack that.

We had lemon, lime, orange and strawberry or cherry jell-o. (I can't remember what red is).

Anyway, as we made it, Wren kept asking when we would eat it. The Jell-o ingredient was throwing her off a bit. She loved smelling the doughs and trying to get a taste. Nope, don't eat this, even though it's home made it still has a lot of salt in it. But it definitely smells better than the stuff I played with as a child, sorry Mom.

I was thrilled with the results though. It was smooth, soft and the perfect consistency. However, the recipe barely mentions at the end that the dough will only last a few weeks in your fridge in a container. Uhhhh...this makes fairly large sizes of each colour and storing it in my fridge takes up about a whole shelf. Frig. And only a few weeks? After all that work?? Sigh. I am SO glad I didn't sign up for the "play-dough maker" position at her preschool for next fall. Shoot me.

:)

I love crafts...(not today apparently.)

Baby Mullet

Okay there's just one picture of the Baby Mullet, but it's pretty funny..

There. I got that out of my system.

Ah, babies. So unintentionally funny. It's not like they can control how their hair grows in. 

They are just cute without trying.

I'm not having "one of those days", but it just feels like something is always happening, even if it's small stuff.
Today I am using Wren's hot pink hair elastic for a ponytail in my hair.
I just about twisted my ankle when I stepped on Wren's boot at the back door.

This morning on the way to preschool I ran over a bag (of about 7) of our trash in the alley, spilling nasty garbage everywhere for the magpies. Yuck.

My dishes are unending because  I don't have a dishwasher  I keep making food in my kitchen, whether it's purees for Ellie, treats, and suppers. And lunches. And breakfasts. Oh sheesh, just everything okay? I make everything!

Speaking of purees, Ellie hates my concoctions. She likes the stuff from jars, which is fine. I just like to be economical and also know exactly what's in her food. However, she apparently doesn't give a rip. 

She does love the vanilla custards I make. And anything doused in maple syrup, like pancakes. I don't blame her really. We all have a sweet tooth in this house.

Ellie has this obsession with crawling to the heat vent in the floor and pulling it out. Wren jumps on top of it yelling "No!! Ellie no!!!" and then Ellie screams because that's the only thing she wants in the whole room. It begins.

Oh here's Wren. I put a toy up high on the shelf when she wasn't listening to me earlier. She was mad I took it away, so she got a chair to climb and get the toy. And she found a pair of Ellie's pants, put them on her head and acted like if she wore them then I couldn't see her.

Yo, Wren. Sup?

While I write, Ellie sits by the front window playing with the curtain, squealing in delight as we play peek-a-boo.

And gets stuck. I am needed. Til the next post..

Two very different nap times.

Ellie has discovered her mobility. This means she'd rather be up and play instead of napping. 

While I was in the kitchen, I could hear some 'smacking' on the wall. 

I went to check on Ellie who was supposed to be sleeping, only to find the little person giving the wall some what-for.

The moment was so cute, I had to take her picture.

Then I went to check on Wren. The laundry basket that had previously been sitting on her floor was now up on her bed, and on her!

Having the basket in her bed for naps has sort of become her thing now...take today for example...

Ellie has started to get the hang of things again and lay down and sleep instead of play, but it's hard. I have to let her cry, which I never like to do. However, I don't want to rock her to sleep for an hour either, so we try our best to leave her (with periodic check ins) until she's snoring. She's getting it, which is helping me feel sane again :)

Happy 27th Birthday to me!

I turned 27 today. 

And I feel the same.

I never feel "old" or even older because out of all my friends, I'm still one of the youngin's, except for a few of my girl friends. It's all of our husbands that are the older ones. So no matter what age I turn, I still feel like I'm the younger one. I'm definitely not complaining.

I went to Duchess Bake Shop yesterday with my mother-in-law/Nana and the girlies for birthday treats because we wanted to beat the snow storm that came today. So therefore Wren thought my birthday was yesterday. 

When Wren and Kenton ran out last night to get me a little something special, he wanted to keep it in the basement to give to me on my birthday morning. But Wren argued, "No! It's her birfday today!", so he was forced to give me flowers and peppermint patties with a card, early. (Two of my favourite things ;)

Wren is now a big fan of peppermint patties...

Anytime Kenton gets me flowers, he likes to get ones that look somewhat picked out of a field which I always love. The weird part is that he spends the exact same amount every single time. Without even trying! 

These flowers are really brightening my mood on a snowy day right now. 

We're also celebrating by dining at The Marc in a few weeks, my all time favourite restaurant. I love eating out, and this will be the ultimate!

And in 8 days it will be Ellie Girl's birthday on the 13th! What.the.heck. I want to say that year went by fast, which it did. But when I think back to last spring, it seems like miles and miles away. Probably because it feels like December outside right now.

Wren walked around all last night saying "Happy Birthday Mommy!" and giving me many hugs and kisses. She's especially thrilled every time we get a card in the mail too- thank you to those who sent one! 

And now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go try out my new set of ramekins and make little Vanilla Petits Pots de Crème . 

Menu Planning

Do you menu plan?

We have menu planned ever since we first got married.

Buying groceries each week and making meals for two people on a regular basis was pretty new to both of us at the time. 

I also wanted to know what I was going to buy at the grocery store for what I needed to make for dinner. 

Personally, I hate running errands (Kenton totally doesn't mind), so if I want to cook/bake something in the moment and I don't have everything I need, I'm so irritated!

Especially on days where it's cold and gross out and Wren and I need something fun to do, like make cupcakes. If I don't have eggs, I'm not hauling everyone out to the store to get them. Not happening.

 But I know everyone does it differently. We like to shop once a week, get everything we need to make 5- 6 nights of meals. Some like to shop every few days. Some don't mind picking up what they need that night. And some eat out. We like eating out too :)

But food is expensive, and it's expensive to eat out, or order in a lot, so we hardly do.

When we first got married, I didn't really know how to make anything but pasta dishes. With a jar of sauce. There wasn't much variety in our house. It wasn't until Wren was born and I was home with her, that I started to take on making dinner most nights. 

I had so many dinner-making disasters- some winners, and lots of experiments that were hit or miss. But it wasn't until we bought this cook book that I actually formed a baseline for cooking that I could expand from.

Jamie Oliver has lots of cookbooks with complicated and crazy recipes, but in Food Revolution, he dumbs himself down to help us start from scratch. I learned the basics for making soups, roasting meat, and preparing salads. It was the biggest help!

Now 4.5 years later of practice, and two of them spent at home on maternity leave with more time to hone my skills, I love cooking and baking from scratch. Don't get me wrong, we enjoy our Delissio pizzas, but because we have made it habit to cook from scratch, we find we enjoy making food more that way on a regular basis.

Yes, it's more effort, but I have found the more you work at it, the faster and better you get at it and therefore you can make it happen even when you have a little family to feed :)
When I make new recipes, I see it almost as a small challenge for myself- like I'm competing against myself to make a great meal. I get a lot of gratification and joy from doing it, even if it's just for the 4 of us.

I still use Food Revolution every single week for at least 1-2 of our meals, but have enjoyed using other cookbooks like Jamie's Dinners, Chef at Home, Smitten Kitchen and my newest one, La Tartine Gourmande. (and of course the internet is an endless resource too!)

I mostly use cookbooks as a guide when I make food. I admit, I typically need to stick to a recipe in front of me and not deviate too far from that. 

To make my life easier when I sit down every week to pick the meals I need to shop for, I made a list of all of the dinners we typically enjoy and wrote down the cookbook title next to it so it could easily be found to make. That way, we don't pour through stacks of cookbooks on the kitchen table looking for something to make. 

Some favourites are things like pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, beef stew, pasta with garlic bread, asparagus risotto, blt's, homemade soups, roast chicken with veggies and potato fish cakes. 

Can I just say, food tastes so much better when you're cooking with fresh herbs? It's frustrating how expensive they are in the grocery store. I try to grow my own, but I'm not great at it. I'm going to try again this year though and hopefully I can keep them growing year round eventually!

One of my biggest motivators for continuing to try new recipes and make good food is that I want to pass a love of food to the girls. There is nothing more satisfying than sitting down with your family and everyone going "Mmmm! This is so good!" to a new meal you tried. Well, Wren is fairly picky but we are trying really hard to get her to try new foods, even if it's just a bite. 

I like to have Wren cook with me when possible and try mixing, rolling, patting and whatever else she can help with. In our society of technology, I think it's good to get your kid's hands dirty in whatever they love to do, and cooking is one of them in our house :)