the graduate

My boy, Nathaniel, graduated from preschool this morning. I was able to contain myself, but did feel some potential tears begin to well up. That is when having a toddler to watch helps distract from becoming a weepy mother watching her child move one step closer to independence. I had to wonder if the kids actually got what was going on and had to remember that these moments are probably more for the parents and extended family than for the children.

I found Nathaniel was often more preoccupied by the family members attending the celebration. But he was able to bring his attention to the festivities.

The kids were able to sing their favorite songs, dance together and have their special moment with their preschool teacher.

It was a nice way to end his first experience of school. They each got star necklaces, a diploma and a star trophy.

sunny skies

Yes, we need the rain here. I am glad it is raining. But it is nice to look back on this past weekend and the wonderful sunny skies we enjoyed as a family and as a church community. For a long time I have been hoping that we would have a church retreat. When Andrew and I attended church in Dundas, I loved being part of their annual church retreat. You just can't get to know people the same way during a Sunday morning. Now, it is also very different when you have children. You are not your own person and need to be connected with what your children need and want. There were some wonderful moments during this weekend when I was able to let go of this task. There are not only wonderful parents that are there to help watch our children, but the youth are phenomenal with wanting to be with my kids. And I did say that they wanted to do this. Often I don't even ask. They just invite my children to be part of their activities. And my children shine when they are brought into the activities of the older kids. Most of the pictures from last weekend reflect these relationships. The older ones helping the younger ones. I love that our church focuses on these kinds of relationships. I know they are very special to my children. Just down the road from the camp we discovered these beautiful creatures as we drove up Saturday morning. We opened up the van doors and let the kids watch as I took a few pictures.
My model was very cooperative.

I did not prepare for such beautiful weather, so while the kids started playing at the beach Saturday morning, I knew I should have brought bathing suits. Shirts and underwear had to do. Here is Nathaniel trying to splash his buddy Ben.

Jesse in pure heaven - a shovel with endless sand.

The kids spent a lot of time at the dock, especially Nathaniel. They were searching for fish.

It was no surprise that Nathaniel asked "Wouldn't it be cool if we lived here?" He had so much fun with the older boys.

Nothing spectacular about this shot...but check out the pair of legs hanging out of the tree. We have some very talented jumpers at our church. Okay, actually the person is swinging.

A rare quiet moment for Nathaniel.

And while Nathaniel quietly played, these kids were having a blast playing 'What time is it Mr. Wolf?'

On Sunday morning before our outdoor church service, the kids gravitated to the dock. No big surprise. I do hope this becomes an annual event.

Yippee!!

Just figured out where to buy Schuyler Fisk's album!!

weeks 16,17,18

Ahh, it feels great to cross things off the to do list in my head. Lots of different stuff that I have been trying to finish up. All my pictures are in my album for the photo a day project. Just need to finish up the journalling. I got these 3 weeks done last night. So, it is time to share.

Week 16...
Week 17...

Week 18...

And I just discovered a new singer that will probably be appearing a lot on my playlist. Her name is Schuyler Fisk and I am going nuts because I can't find anyone that sells her album. Maybe she doesn't have one yet. If you come across one, PLEASE let me know. She is also an actress and is the daughter of the actress Sissy Spacek and movie producer something Fisk. Just in case you're interested. She reminds me a lot of Shawn Colvin. Loving her voice and I am getting motivated to figure out some of her songs on the guitar. Yikes. I'll let you know how that goes.

bananas

I had a lot of overripe bananas at my house and that means one thing in my mind. Time to make some Doctor Bird Cake. This is a recipe that my mom found years ago in some magazine. I have changed things a bit, mostly reducing the amount of oil (by 2/3) and adding some whole wheat flour. I was mixing up the batches while trying to make supper and keep my kids in the house and realized when I was stirring everything together that I actually forgot the whole wheat flour. So, the finished cake will look a bit different if you follow the recipe below. Last night I doubled the recipe and used a tube cake pan and a bundt pan. When the cakes were cooled, I cut them in half, popped them in large freezer bags and froze them to be enjoyed later.

Doctor Bird Cake (Banana-Pineapple) - makes one cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
8 ounces crushed pineapple (undrained)
**note-when I doubled the recipe, I used a whole 19oz. can and divided it in half
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups diced or mashed banana

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease tube cake pan. Sift together dry ingredients. Mix undrained pineapple, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, eggs and bananas in a separate bowl. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until blended. Do not overmix. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for one hour and 20 minutes. (I started checking at one hour, 10 minutes). Cake will crack slightly on top. Cool in pan on rack for 15-20 minutes then turn out and cool completely on rack.

I almost forgot

Yes, life is busy. As I deal with the aftermath from a very busy and tiring weekend (that means my kids are all overtired and cranky), I realized that I hadn't shared the photos from last weekend yet. This was such a highlight for me that I wanted to post from our lovely hike last Monday. I hope my kids will always enjoying hiking as a family. My mom reminded me of our hiking days and how she had to drag us out on Mother's Day when we were younger. It can't be good that I have no memory of these outings. Let's hope my children will be better than I was. I was glad we brought the kids' bikes. There is much less chance of whining and complaining. Abigail and Nathaniel were off with me, Andrew and Jesse not far behind.


We came across these beautiful flowers.

I love that my family will patiently wait for me as I insist on taking pictures of the beautiful trilliums.

Little did I know that Andrew was in the middle of a nature lesson about the rings of a tree. Abigail needed to know just how old this tree was.

And the best part of the morning for the kids. Snacktime. They love picnics and were so excited to find a picnic table and enjoy their cookies and juice.

Abigail had a hard time deciding between her black sunglasses or pink ones. Yes, good choice Abigail. I think this might be Jesse's first juice box. The world really changes when you are almost 2.

Andrew took this photo when he and Jesse were separated from the rest of us. I think getting a bit lost turned out okay. There were some serious photographers coming into the park when we were getting ready to go home. Some crazy lenses.

This is snack time part 2. We will be back for another family hike very soon.

catching up

We had a busy weekend at our church retreat. We are all exhausted, a bit sunburned and most importantly thrilled with how much fun we had outside with all our church friends. I am trying to catch up on my photo a day project and just finished uploading my photos. This will bring me completely up to date. Next thing on the agenda...finishing the scrapbook about me. I am almost done and want to concentrate on that in the next few days. I will try to find some time and post pictures from this weekend. In the meantime, here is a photo I took this past month. Aren't spring flowers glorious?

rhubarb season is here!

I find that my time for baking has been reduced since taking up running. I used to bake when Andrew got home and just before the boys went to sleep. Of course that is my new running time. Well, it was my running time. I have done something to my ankle (Andrew thinks it might be tendinitis) and am off running for the time being. I think my family is happy about this as they received fresh baked chocolate chip oatmeal cookies this weekend and this yummy rhubarb strawberry loaf last night. I had just received a huge batch of rhubarb from my parents' garden and needed to try out a new recipe. It is yummy! The original recipe had the topping as optional, but in my mind, nothing elevates a loaf or muffin than a good streusel topping. It is not optional in my books.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pecan Loaf adapted from Smitten Kitchen.com

Makes one loaf

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon rum

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup diced rhubarb

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Topping

1 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 to 3 1/2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Beat together the brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla and rum. Combine the flours, salt and baking soda; stir. Add dry ingredients to first mixture with the sour cream. Stir in strawberries, rhubarb and pecans.
Spread into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan — the batter will be very thick. Combine topping ingredients except the pecans, they should be thick and clumpy; add the pecans last and sprinkle over the loaf.
Bake at 350° for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

hungry monkey

I needed to share about this great book I just finished reading. I happened to walk past it at my local library Saturday afternoon and was intrigued by the description on the front cover. I'm so glad I picked it up. The book is written by a food writer/father and describes his food journey with his very bright and charming 4 year old daughter. What I love about the book is that it is not a parenting book about how to get your children to eat a larger variety of foods. But rather a down to earth personal story about feeding his family. And it's funny too. I am instantly drawn to books that are about food. And I love that he has included some recipes too. I think every parent can relate to the topic of food and kids. I struggle with my own kids and their changing likes and dislikes. I refuse to start making different meals for every member of my family. Hungry Monkey reminded me that things change. What Nathaniel ate half a year ago is different from today and will most likely be different in a year. Just think about yourself. Were there things that you wouldn't touch as a kid but you love eating now? Even as an adult our preferences change. Up until our trip to Europe in 2004 I really didn't enjoy dark chocolate and would pass on any sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Now I much prefer dark vs milk chocolate and am dreaming of the wonderful salad I ate in Verona that contained salad greens, tuna, tomato and large shavings of fresh parmesan cheese. Now I love the stuff. Perhaps part of my change of heart was having the green container of "parmesan cheese" at the table when I was growing up. Seriously people...they are not even in the same category. Okay, the food snob in me is coming out.
Anyway, check out this book if you are interested. It's a good one.

firefighter training

Oh my boy Nathaniel. These are the moments that I am thankful that I blog. I know that I can't scrapbook every moment that happens in our lives so I am loving this place to write things down as the memory is fresh in my mind. Let's just get down to it. Around a week ago Nathaniel found a rope in Andrew's workroom. At first he used it to tie all of our play cars/bicycles together to form a long train in the driveway. Last Friday he rigged up a pulley system and had it delivering his tools in a bucket down the side of our shed. And today, he decided it was time for some real live rope swinging. I thought he was just doing the Tarzan thing until he said that he was practicing for when he needs to use the pole as a firefighter. )

First he was sure to make a very strong and secure knot with the rope fastened around our picnic table. This was all his doing. He asked if I thought it was strong enough not to slip. Umm....yep.
Next he dangled the rope over the side of our deck to drop one storey down to our backyard. He started by trying to climb on the rope but realized that wasn't going to work. He quickly problem solved and dragged the plastic slide over so he could use this to jump from.

And away he went.

Of course Abigail needed to have a few practice jumps.

She quickly became the expert and began coaching Nathaniel on how to jump higher. Thankfully Nathaniel graciously took the advice from his sister. (Things don't always run that smoothly around here.) Have I mentioned that Nathaniel really doesn't need any toys? Rope anyone?

laying low

Does your life ever get so busy you miss just hanging out at home? On this holiday weekend, our family desperately needed time at home. We needed to pass on some get togethers and just be together. Those little errands that Andrew and I had pushed off for weeks and weeks finally got dealt with. The kids didn't need to rush anywhere. We were able to go on a family bike ride, a wonderful hike and picnic and get some outside work done. These pictures were from a bike ride we had yesterday after an early supper. It is something so simple and makes the kids so excited. Abigail rode her bike, Nathaniel was on the trail a bike with Andrew and I pulled Jesse in the chariot. We made it all the way to Waterloo Park and back. This was quite a ride for Abigail, but she did it. As we rode together I commented to Andrew that we all really needed this. It was at the park when the kids started whining and arguing that he questioned whether this was what we really needed. Ah, it's all part of being a family.

Jesse was thrilled to be out of the chariot and have some freedom at the park.

I am loving all the beautiful spring flowers and don't hesitate to pause and take a few pictures.

The boys were checking out the rabbits and doing something goofy.

And check out these funny animals. I've never seen them with such a funky haircut. Jesse, our animal lover, couldn't get enough of all the wonderful creatures. Mental note - I must come back with the boys very soon.

embrace the weeds

Before I begin I need to get one thing straight. I do not like people who spray their lawns. I am sorry if you fall into that category and I will try to look past it and love you anyways, but with the amount of toxins in our air, food, etc., I think we can all refrain from adding more crap into the environment. So, with that said, I think you can understand why my backyard looks like this....

I normally don't do a whole lot about it since to remove the weeds would mean our backyard would be basically dirt. I am sure there are a few surviving blades of grass in there, but I have given up trying to find them. Lately, my boys have begun to call the sandbox their second home and I wanted to do something productive outside yesterday, so I started pulling out the dandelions. Really, why did I bother. I walked out back this morning and was sure there were even more out there compared to yesterday. I think I just need to be patient and wait until Andrew mows them down this weekend. Then our backyard will look more like our neighbours' (who do spray their grass).

And just because...here are two pics from yesterday.

weeks 14 and 15

For those viewers just joining us, I have been diligently taking at least one photo a day. I began this project at the beginning of the year. The reason? Well, there are a few. I have become increasingly interested in photography and this is one way to improve my photography skills. Another is to try and capture the important everyday moments that happen in our lives. Those little details that will soon be forgotten if not captured by the camera or pen. And the most time consuming reason...to create an album of all these moments so our family will have a place to look back and see the things we did during the entire year. Some events are big, like going on trips or birthdays. Others are small, like the cereal we ate on a particular morning or my meal planning list for the week. I think they are all important and I hope will be even more so in years to come.
So here is week 14....

and week 15...

letting it slide

When your mom is into photographing the quirky and silly things you do, she lets you get away with this kind of behaviour much longer than most moms. Well, just long enough for her to grab the camera and a few shots of this normally inappropriate behaviour. Then the fun is over.

my talking flower

Last week I wrote about Nathaniel's possible future as a hockey player. It has got me thinking about my role as a parent in helping my children realize their dreams. As a parent you want your children to find something that they enjoy, something that fulfills and challenges them. You hope that they are brave to pursue their dreams. And even more, you hope that as a parent you have the same level of commitment to guide your children on the paths they choose for themselves. No matter what. Now I know I have the tendency to think way too far into the future. I'm already thinking and preparing for the day Abigail will leave her current school and the challenges we will face with the public vs. private school decision. I know people...she is only 7. Back to the issue at hand. Last weekend was Abigail's first dance recital. She was excited for her role as a talking flower in the Alice in Wonderland production. She tends to get very nervous about performing in front of an audience so I wasn't sure what to expect during her first show. But she handled it like a pro. She was confident and focused. She knew her dance moves and was so pleased with herself when it was finished. Andrew and I were very proud. (It is a good thing that the audience is dark or else people would have seen the tears in my eyes.) After her performance, Abigail was able to sit with us to watch the older girls do their dances. There was ballet, modern and some jazz. Abigail was taken by it all. It affirmed for her that she wanted to register for next September. As I watched the older girls dance, I had to think about their parents sitting watching them. The commitment of time and money throughout the many years of rehearsals, performances and competitions. I couldn't help but think of Abigail on the stage in 5-8 years. Poised, confident, happy. Perhaps dance won't be her calling. But I was excited for her if this is the path she chooses.

This picture is from the day of the performance.

We weren't allowed to take photos during the performance itself, so I took all of the pictures on stage during the dress rehearsal.

This is the rest of her class. Excuse the head in the front row.