Adventure Week

After a week of three little sick girls and with only a week left of having a extra vehicle I decided to be an adventurous, ambitious and exciting mom in what I dubbed:

Adventure Week!

Now, this took place a few weeks ago and I am just getting around to writing about it so I do forget somethings, but the highlights I remember. 

Day 1.

 A morning full of errands, I usually only do one more maybe two errands in a row because it is a hastle getting three little ones in and out the of van and their carseats BUT ambitios Mom does not care, she ventures out across town for a bunch of errands. 

Stop #1: drop off lunch for Mike who had forgotten it at home. 

Stop #2: Drive across town to take the bumbo back to the Twin Club office.

Stop #3: WestCoast Kids to buy a carseat, that is right in addition to being adventuerous I also made an executive decision. I let K&J walk and told them to stay close and obey and put Cosette on my back, they behaved so well and enjoyed helping me choose a carseat colour. 

Stop #4: Ikea. As you may or may not know there are few buggies with 2 seats and none with three so K&J sat in the buggy and Cosette went on my back again. Our successful shopping trip ended right before lunch and I figured the drive home/arriving home would be not so fun with hungry bellies so we grabbed hotdogs and ate at Ikea.  

While eating I was texting my sister to tell her about my new ambitious self and she told me that the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra had a mini-concert at the library near our home at 2:00, I figured all this running around would make my girls tired and they would nap long past then so figured we would not make it out. I was wrong. We drove home and the girls went for nap/quiet time while I tidied up and checked my email. C woke up shortly before 2 and ambitious me said, why not go to the concert with three little children who might be grumpy and noisy? And I did, and they weren't. We arrived after the concert had began and lucked out being able to sneak into a seat where the girls could see, K&J were mesmerized by the two violin players who made up the concert and C was very happy in her stroller with a cracker or two. After the concert we went to look at books and headed home to make some supper. 

Day 2. 

Recently my Mom sent me this list of the top 15 playgrounds in Calgary, so after a unmemorable morning when we were probably doing groceries or something else like that with no photo evidence and nap/quiet time I decided to hit up the park closest to us. On our way over we stopped at Staples to pick up some printing. The park was pretty awesome, it would be nicer without snow (as most parks are) and with a baby swing but it was still fun and had lots of different things to play on.

Day 3.

Wednesday found us a friends house all morning, home for nap/quiet time and out somewhere I can't remember in the afternoon, or maybe we stayed home? You'll never know.

Day 4. 

This was one of my favourite days, we were up early so we had lots of morning time to get somewhere. I was out of ideas in the morning and was trying to think of something fun, indoors and low-cost. There are not tons of options other than walking around the mall or library where we had just been. Mike and I had been downtown for his grad recently and had walked through the new and improved Devonian Gardens, there is a park and fish ponds and lots to look at so I figured we would give it a shot. I didn't want to figure out where to park downtown so brave adventurous me decided to take the train. I packed some snacks and we drove over to the C-train station. After a little bit of drama and loading and unloading twice because I parked in the wrong area we get on the train. The girls were pretty excited to go on the train, it would have been enough of an adventure on its own! The playground at the Devonian gardens is designed for older kids and even the 'ladder' up to the slide made me nervous, there was not lots they could do at the park but it would be fun for older kids. We walked around and checked out the plants and carvings, they enjoyed being able to explore and walk around somewhere new, the fish ponds were a big hit, they could have watched the fish all day. We hopped back on the train and headed home for lunch/nap/quiet time. Right before supper we had some time to burn while waiting for supper to be ready, generally I stay inside and try to entertain/clean ect during this time but that is not good enough for adventure week so we went out the park out front for a bit while waiting.

Day 5. 

We spent the morning with other mommas and their kids at our church mommas group, I can't remember what we did in the afternoon, I think we may have just stayed home and gotten ready for company coming.


Adventure week taught me to do new things, be adventurous and it almost always pays off. I like being a home-body sometimes (and have no choice often) but getting out and exploring is lots of fun. Also, sometimes I get in my head that I have to wait for summer and warm weather to get out of the house and do things other than shopping but between bundling up and being a little creative there is lots to do in the winter as well. Also, the girls don't care how extravagant a trip is, they enjoy a walk to the park, a train ride, a trip to the zoo, the library, grocery shopping etc etc, so no more excuses, just get out and enjoy being with your kids!

What do you do when cabin fever hits in the winter? Have you gone on any particularly adventurous trips lately? Ever done something with you kids you weren't sure how well you could pull off?

Foodie Friday - Best Brownies You Will Ever Eat

The best?

Yes, the best.



EASY VESTRUM BROWNIES

3/4 Cup Butter, melted
2 Cups Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 Cup Cocoa
1 1/2 Cups Flour
4 Eggs

Mix it all together. Grease 9x13 Pan. Bake 350 for 35 min. Cool then cut. Easy Peasy.

They taste best the next day.

Snapshot : Take Out Your Real Camera

Having a camera on my phone has been a blessing and a curse. I find myself not taking out my 'real' camera to take photos of my girls for weeks because I always have my phone handy. I like to instragram and easier share photos with Mike and my phone works great for that. Sometimes the point of taking the photos is not to have amazing photos but to document some funny/cute moment and the phone just does the trick. BUT it is worth carrying around my camera and taking good photos of my girls. Last week on a trip to the park I took both my phone and my 'real' camera along to prove to myself it is worth taking out the camera.

Maybe this will encourage you to get your camera out, hangout with your kids and take some pictures!

Foodie Friday - Sweet Potato Soup

On Friday evenings we host some friends for dinner. Because of some allergies these meals need to be dairy and glutton free (among other things.) So watch for some allergy friendly meals here beginning with this one.

Having supper ready at 10:00 is one of the best feelings ever, I love my Crock-pot. I make this soup often on Friday nights and whenever someone is feeling a little sick. I'll give you the amounts the recipe states but I never measure my veggies, I just fill my crockpot but this will give you an idea of where to start.

CURRIED SWEET POTATO AND CARROT SOUP

2 Medium-to-large sweet potatoes, peels and cut into chunks
2 cups baby carrots (or peeled/chopped carrots)
1 small onion, chopped
1 apple, chopped

3/4tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger (or a few slices of fresh ginger)
4 cups of veggie broth

1 Tbsp Maple syrup
3/4 cup half-and-half (optional)

Throw everything except the maple syrup and half-and-half in the crockpot, stir. Cover; cook on low 7-8 hours

Puree soup with a blender or immersion blender. I usually mash mine first to make sure I don't miss any chunk then take some out and blend it in batches, returning soup to the crockpot after each batch.

Once it is all blended add Maple syrup and cream (if you are not worried about dairy) Add salt and pepper if desired. Cook on high for 15 minutes to re-heat.

As usual I don't measure my spices (or anything in this recipe really) and I use more then they call for on almost all the spices.

ps. Throw all your peels and clippings in a pot with water and simmer for awhile to make veggie stock. I usually make mine and freeze it and/or keep some in the fridge then I always have some for making soup or adding water to any recipe.

Enjoy.

Foodie Friday - Raisin Muffins

Welcome to my first Foodie Friday, don't count on a post every Friday but when there is a Food related post it will be posted on a Friday!

These muffins are a thorwback ot my sugar-free days, I still make them all the time because they are easy, sugar-free and delicious, espescially if you love raisins as much as I do. Without further ado...

RAISIN MUFFINS

1 1/2 Cups Raisins
1 Cup Water
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 Cup Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla

2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt

1. Bring Raisins, Water and spices to a boil and let simmer for a few minutes.(I don't actually measure my spices, just throw some in there and I often add some allspice as well)
2. While your raisin water is making your house smell so good put butter, egg and vanilla in bowl. No need to melt your butter, the raisins will take care of it.
3. Add raisins and raisin water to the bowl, mix to melt the butter
4. Add flour (I use half whole wheat and half white), soda, powder and salt

For regular sized muffins bake 20min @ 375
For mini-muffins (the best option by far) bake 10 min @ 350

Note these are very raisin-y so if you are not a huge raisin fan perhaps cut the raisins down a bit. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday my sweet girl, we love you so much.

I can't believe she is one! She..

...is SO close to walking and pushes around anything that moves
...follows around her sisters everywhere
...loves to play with stacking toys
...is the most cuddley baby I know
...is very stubborn, and even more sweet
...says, 'hi' to everyone
...likes cars, pretending to stir, bouncing & being crazy
...sleeps with her giraffe
...fills our lives with joy with all her giggles, cuddles, babbling and silliness.

K+J's Room

So I have been meaning to write a post with photos of the girls's bedrooms for a long time. On another blog I read often Kathryn has posted photos of her kids rooms and it inspired me. I always had an excuse to not take pictures, most often that it was not clean enough or something was not finished but yesterday I finally did it! Cleaned up, go the girls to sit in the doorway and watch while I got some photos. So without further adieu Kaylyn and Jael's room!

 

  

 

Their room is probably one of my favourite rooms in the house, I love the green walls and if we ever moved I think a condition of selling would be that they could never paint over the tree. They used to have a white shag rug on the floor but when I started potty training I took it out, soon after that I found the alphabet blocks at Costco, they are great! They are learning all the letters and often like to carry around 'K' and 'J'. The table and chairs in the corner are from Ikea, they keep their Bible storybooks that we read each night on the table and when they are not sitting on them the bears usually belong in the chairs. One day we will get them real beds but right now the mattresses on the floor work great, they don't get hurt when they fall off and they can jump around on them and be close to each other when they go to bed. Their monkeys are their most prized possession, they sleep with them and mother them and love them to bits. A basket of stuffies and little blankets to wrap them in and an old doll cradle from my grandparents round out the furnishings. If you know me you know that I am a little obsessed with baskets and bins and I love all the baskets and bins on the shelves in their closet, on top of feeding my addiction they make organizing and storage super easy, I can store so much in the bins at the top of their closet and easily get to them. The dresser is a oldie goldie hand-me-down, the baskets are from Canadian Tire and the bins are from Superstore. I wanted their room to have a bit of an animal theme in lots of different mediums, I got the fabric fish from a thrift store, the framed ink okapi my sister picked up from ACAD, the animals on top of the dresser all belonged to Mike and the duck and pig in the frame is actually a card that I thought was so cute so I put it in a frame. They also have a cross stitch from my Gran on the wall by a preemie sleeper they used to fit in, a lizard over the light switch, a fish mobile from Ikea and photos of them as babies. Their tree and the painting of the children in the fall are both done by the very talented Anna Pederson. One night when they were going to bed they wanted to see Cosette who was already in bed so I told them that we would find a picture of her to hang on their wall in the morning, Jael promptly said, 'On that wall!' and pointed to where the photo now hangs. 

That is the run down of their room, maybe one day I will clean up Cosette's room and tell you all about it.