Christmas Eve at the Beach

We have a family tradition of spending Christmas day at the beach, however the forcast was calling for stormy, rainy weather come Christmas day. Christmas eve however was absolutely beautiful. Not wanting to lose the chance of a beautiful day at the beach we were off to see the ocean. My niece and nephew had a blast and even went in the water up to their knees, guess coming from Quebec their used to the cold?! Anyway we are definetly happy we spent Christmas eve at the beach because Christmas day was cold and raining and spent mostly inside playing cards and listening to music.

Fun with Gingerbread

On the Sunday before Christmas we had some friends over to our home to build gingerbread houses. Owen was so happy to have all his little friends over and was having a great time showing off all his toys. In the end there was quite a bit of icing and candy scadered all around the house but all that matters is that we all had a great time. However, I do think next year we will make gingerbread men instead and simply decorate them, as this is probably something more toddler friendly and also something you can actually eat in the end. Whereas the houses don't usually get eaten which seems pretty wasteful.

After all our friends had gone home my parents arrived and on Tuesday afternoon my sister, neice and nephew arrived who had been vacationing in Las Vegas and so on Christmas eve we got to making some holiday cookies. We made both gingerbread and sugar cookies, we even made a few that had a mixture of a little of each and they were actually my favorite. Owen's favotite was the gingerbread dough so I had to hide that from him so that he wouldn't eat it all. Then for breakfast on Christmas morning he ate two whole gingerbread cookies. Impressive considering he doesn't care much for sweets. More to come later about Christmas day! How did you and your family spend time preparing for Christmas?

lately

Its been awhile since I've posted anything about the little one, so I thought I'd update you all with some pictures of what we've been up to lately. We've been playing under the drizzling of rain and fog, jumping and running in piles of leaves fallen off trees, spending more time indoors cuddled up to stay warm and just enjoying all things this season has to offer us.

What have you and your family been up to this season?

Happy Birthday Papa!

Today Sal turned 25 and to celebrate we spent the morning with a few friends off-roading in Hollister Hills. We brought Owen and as predicted he was just in awe of all the giant trucks and fast bikes. He really is just like his Papa. After trekking through bumpy, sandy hills, and splashing through giant mud puddles we headed back home. Sal's parents were kind enough to babysit Owen for the night while we went to a party to celebrate Sal's birthday. We had a great night with friends. Although by the end of the night I did get to missing my lil' bug and by morning I was longing to hold my baby boy. For Sal's birthday gift he got a new truck for off-roading, and I'm not exactly sure who was more excited about the gift, Owen or Papa?? Oh how I love my two boys!

18 months - a milestone

My baby boy is now 18 months old. A whole year and a half has now passed since he was welcomed into this world. And with this special milestone I have taken time to sift through photos of him as a newborn and time to think back to how we used to spend our days together. So much has changed over the last year and a half. It's hard to even remember clearly holding in my arms my tiny newborn. Now he is a racing toddler, and growing more and more each day. Friends and family all warned me of the changes to come at 18 months, and the changes have indeed come.

Both Sal and I have noticed great difference and growth in him. He is showing so much more connection with the world now, showing more interest in communication and in turn we are watching our son's personality become more whole. He has also become a lot more attached or rather clingy in the last few weeks. He literally will cling on to my legs as I walk or repeatedly will race after me exclaiming "Up! Up! Up!". And don't get me wrong I am all about babies being in arms and I still wear Owen in the Ergo or my wrap often but this is him wanting to be in arms 24/7 and he sure ain't 8 lbs anymore! He's a lot more like 30 lbs! Other than wanting more in arms time, he has been wanting to nurse constantly. And the most heart aching of all is that he's been crying when I leave the house for work and proceeding to ask for me all day long, looking for me all around the house. Of course now that is all I can think about when at work. This does not help me at all, seeing as I don't even want to be working in the first place. I want to be home raising my son, but the work issue is a whole other post in itself that could go on for days. Anyway I'm not too sure what is causing the increased separation anxiety but as all things, this too shall pass.

A new trick Owen has picked up lately is climbing. It all started at my parents house, climbing a chair at the kitchen table and now its just about everything! As for interests he is still crazy for tucks and well just about anything powered with large wheels. Buses, wheel loaders, cranes, monster trucks, you name it! Other than trucks he is obsessed with pushing things around, especially wagons, he could do this all day long. His other big interest is animals. He never fails to point out any dog, cat or bird that comes our way, or that is seen in a book, painting, whatever, anywhere you see an animal you'll hear about it form Owen! And he simply can't give enough hugs to our dear doggie Bella and could just sit and stare all day, feeding carots to our bunnies.

18 months, its been a great ride so far and although a part of me is sad to see my baby grow up so fast, leaving behind him the precious first days we shared together. I also look forward to all we have yet to experience together. What a beautiful thing it is to mother a child.

travels

For the last couple weeks we have been visiting with family and friends. We first traveled to New Kensington, Pennsylvania to celebrate my Grandmothers 100th birthday. Yes, I did say 100th. It was absolutely amazing to see my Granny, as it had been about 5 years since I had last seen her and of course amazing to share with someone their 100th birthday. She is doing fabulously for 100, although she would tell you otherwise as she'd still like to be working away, hauling around bags of flour and sugar for my Aunt's cookie business. Since in the last two years she's had to cut it back to only taking care of the paper work for the bussiness, yes that's right she still does the paper work for my Aunt's business! Also she could beat just about anyone at poker, so watch out!!

After spending a few days at my Aunt's house in PA we headed up to Canada with my parents in their VW camper. We made it home in a record time of 12 hours, (usually takes my parents 13!) Owen did amazingly the whole way. I took this as a HUGE hint that its about time we get our own VW van. hehe. Once at my parents house he was simply all smiles, he seemed right at home and I really felt that he truly remembered being there from our last visit. While there Owen didn't seem to mind the cold one bit and had lots of fun playing outside, with you guessed it, a wagon! Oh does this boy ever love wagons!! Other than pushing wagons all over the place Owen experienced his first sweets on this trip. We hadn't yet introduced refined sugars into his diet, only a couple of times had people offered him sweets with him only to turn them down, making his Mama proud! But at my Aunt's house he surprisingly, after being there for a few days, helped himself to a cookie, and after that he just had to have more! So now we've actually got to start watching what it is we eat in front of him because he most certainly seems to be a fan of cookies. However he does seem to have a preference toward coconut macaroons, so maybe we will be safe as long as we stay clear from coconut!

Also on our trip Owen turned 18 months old and as many friends had advised me this was a time of great change. I have definitely noticed a lot of change in him, more so than any other month as of late, climbing all over, a greater desire to communicate, developing a sense of humor, etc. I will be sure to write more about all this in a later post specifically about this milestone. As for now enjoy some photos from our trip!

Here's lil O sleeping away on one of our many car rides.

Picking out his pumpkin for Halloween.

Our lil kai is absolutely obsessed with pushing around wagons and had a blast pushing this one around my Aunt's front yard.

He was all smiles at Grandma and Grandpa's house, I really do think he remembered being there from last time!

Shopping downtown Almonte

Our little artiste at work in the Musee des Civilisations in Quebec

Having fun at Lisa and Jon's celebrating Dave's birthday

weekending

This past weekend we went to the Wilder Ranch Harvest Festival with a few other friends of ours. We had a great time tasting some yummy treats, watching farm animals run free, listening to old time folk music, and we even enjoyed a relaxing wagon ride. It did start to rain on us while we were there but the kids didn't seem to mind too much. At one point a few of them started jumping in puddles, something I just love to see kids do. Rain is just a part of fall here in Santa Cruz and I am personally more than happy to welcome Mother Natures rain.

Here's our little one admiring the old fashioned tractor. His buddy Ewan couldn't stop climbing all over it! hehe.

Here's Papa helping Owen grind some dried corn kernels.

Next I helped him grind the kernels to a powder.

Papa and our lil' one enjoying the hay ride.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend! What exciting things was your family up to?

our new blog

Jenna and I have started a new blog about (co-)parenting, knitting, sewing, cooking, baking, etc! Hence why I have disappeared from posting on this blog for while. I have also recently returned to work full time so finding the time to do all the things I used to do when staying at home with Owen is difficult. I will still be posting on this blog, however all things concerning recipes, crafting, etc will now only be posted on the new blog that I have with Jenna. This blog will remain for things only concerning our family.

Anyway we would love to have you check out our new blog and of course feel free to drop us a comment and let us know what you think.

Take care! xoxo

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual (inspired by soulemama). A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Have a peaceful and beautiful weekend!

weekending

This past weekend we had planned to go camping, we even had taken Monday off from work to have some extra, much needed time out in nature with our lil one. We were hoping to find a spot on first come first serve basis but after trying four different campgrounds we were ready to start our weekend and done with driving all over the county. So we ended up in Henry Cowell State Park and discovered that it was Ohlone day. We got there just in time to watch them preform a traditional aboriginal dance. Owen had fun watching them dance around and play music. When that was done we had a family picnic in the shade then headed over to let Owen watch the trains before we left for our hike.

Along the way we spotted a beach by Eagle creek and we're pretty tired and hot from our hike so thought it perfect to take a little break by the water before we heading back to our car.

On Sunday we decided to go apple picking, something I had been looking forward to all summer. There we're so many apples to pick from and to taste test too! Yum!! Hopefully I'll get around to making some apple butter or apple crumble this week, even bigger yum!!

The result of a very exciting weekend: A very long, long nap on the way home.

I hope you all had a fun weekend as well. Let me know what you and your family were up to!

a new friday ritual

Inspired by Amanda Blake Soule's blog I am starting a new friday ritual today. I will take each friday to pause, savor and remember a special moment from the week and share with you no words, only a photo capturing a moment that is close to my heart.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Have a peaceful and beautiful weekend!

carrot-tomato soup

Yes so the post I promised you all last week never happened. I actually was planning on posting about a lot of the things we did last week, however being back at work and catching a cold took president. I'm now feeling much better and I enjoyed a beautiful weekend with my family. To get back in the swing a things I want to share with you all my new carrot-tomato soup recipe just in time for fall which is just around the corner.

Carrot-Tomato Soup

2 TBSP butter

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 lbs tomatoes

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

(optional) fresh sprigs of thyme, oregano or rosemary

1 medium sized yellow onion, diced

5 medium sized carrots, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups vegetable stock

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

3/4 cup heavy cream (optional)

Place sliced tomatoes on a baking sheet. Cover with most of the olive oil (reserving 2 TBSP or so), and the salt and pepper. For a little more flavor I added some fresh oregano on top of the tomatoes. Place in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes to roast.

Halfway through the roasting, melt the butter and remaining olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic and cook until the vegetables begin to get soft (15 minutes or so). When the tomatoes are done add those to the pot, along with the stock. Simmer on low until the vegetables are all tender (another 15 minutes or so).

Puree the soup. And when ready to serve add the chopped basil and heavy cream (optional).

Enjoy!

As for our nature table it has been put on hold due to my being sick last week but hopefully we will be able to get to the knitting store some time this week to buy some wool to begin our gnomes. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.