It's A Party On The Farm!

I cannot believe our baby turned one!  What a year.  It was so fun going back to prepare this collage of pictures and look at all the amazing moments we had.  

As Dustin's actual birthday approached I began planning his first birthday party (yes-OK I did start thinking about it and started pinning ideas on Pinterest months in advance).   Who is the party for a one year old really for, the child or the parent?  It's not like Dustin will remember.  But I will and I love to plan a party.  Once I decided on the farm theme the planning and preparations began!

First the invites (original idea found here):

 And then the decorating:

Oh the cakes....I loved the cakes.  It's so amazing what they can do with fondant!  Not my talent-made by a local lady.  I made the cupcakes.  I scored some adorable cupcake liners at Micheal's and even found some farm themed sprinkles with cows, chicks and pigs.

The rain held off so the kids could get outside and burn off some energy and go on some tractor rides.  

 

And here's the birthday boy (he looks more like 3 than 1!). 

I would say the texture and the stickiness of the icing was really throwing Dustin off.

And then of course the treat bags.  I struggle with treat bags.  I love to give a party favor but they create so much waste-so I try to fill mine with useful things.  They are not perfect or waste free by any means....but they fit the theme which is the most important thing! 

Dustin won't remember the day but hopefully in many years when he looks back at the pictures he'll know he was always surrounded by the love of family and friends.  And that is what's really important, when you look beyond the decorations, cakes and treatbags (although that's really fun too!).

Happy Birthday to my baby boy-who has made us smile since the day we met. 

~Elizabeth

Today's Moment & Dustin Turns One

Once again joining up with SouleMama to share a moment. I know the "rules" are no words-just a picture capturing a moment.  But today I need to say something because my baby turns one!  Dustin is a year old and when I look back at the year there were so many moments.  Like when we dipped his toes in the ocean for the first time.  Birthday party celebrations happening this weekend-posts to follow.  xo

This Moment - Peek-a-Boo

I fell in love with this idea from SouleMama.

From her blog:   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.  

So here is my moment:

~Elizabeth

Our Love of Books

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents." — Emilie Buchwald

Dustin and Emma love books which makes me so happy.  I enjoy reading as well and my mom always has a book in her hand so it warms my heart when Dustin and Emma curl up with a book.   Here is a much younger Emma reading with her mittens on and Dustin discovering new books in our "book basket" in the living room.  

Emma's love of books probably started when I was pregnant with her.  My sister gave me the best baby shower gift.  A book every day for the last 30 days of my pregnancy.  Every book was wrapped and included a heartfelt card - sometimes explaining the choice behind the chosen book.  Here I am the morning of my scheduled c-section for Emma opening the last book-Everywhere Babies. 

Here's a list of the 30 books (sorry no author names but most of them are classics you'd know anyway):

1) Very Hungry Caterpillar
2) Brown Bear, Brown Bear
3) The Tushy Book
4) Cat in the Hat
5) Guess How Much I Love You
6) Barenaked Book
7) Richard Scary's Best Word Book Ever
8) Beatrix Potter
9) Where I Live
10) Everywhere Babies
11) In the Garden
12) Growing Green
13) Mother Goose
14) Big Red Barn
15) Green Eggs and Ham
16) Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish
17) Goodnight Moon
18) Mortimer
19) Something Good
20) Barnyard Dance
21) The Going To Bed Book
22) Where The Wild Things Grown
23) Someday (I actually cried when I read this to Emma tonight!)
24) The Velveteen Rabbit
25) Big Earth, Little Me
26) You're All My Favorites
27) I Love You Sleepyhead
28) I Love You As Big As The World
29) Hop On Pop
30) Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?

Many of those books continue to be our favorites.  To encourage Emma's love of reading even more we visited the local library quite frequently when I was on maternity leave.  I always tried to direct Emma to books that we both might enjoy.  But as you can see with the picture below she loved "character" books like Theodore, Barbie, Dora and Caillou.  Not exactly the classics I envisioned us reading together.

Does your toddler have books you just dread reading? I'll be honest.  When we curl up at bedtime there are a few books I think "Oh no...not that book again!!??" especially when Emma picks Dora's Crystal Kingdom or Caillou's First Picture Dictionary (that was the one I dreaded the most).

I guess I'm just happy as long as Emma is reading something.   And I'm sure it won't be long that Emma won't even want to read with me.   So if that means reading "Barbie Princess Beauty School" four times than I will continue to do so - with her curled up on my lap.

~Elizabeth

How I Survived My First Week Back To Work

Well this was the week.  Back to work after being off for a year!  For anyone who has ever taken maternity leave you know how much you dread this day.  I wasn't so worried about leaving Dustin (and Emma) because I have an amazing babysitter-I was most dreading everything else that you have to do after working an 8 hour day-meals, lunches, cleaning, etc.

So here is a few things I've done this week to make the transition easier.  (Okay so I know I'm only into this for one week, but if I could just continue this - I think I'll be able to handle this work/life balance thing!)

1.   Meal Planning - Me and Meal Planning have gone out quite a few times only to break up when I get bored or too busy.  So I've committed to Meal Planning - at least 5 days a week.  There has been a few key things that have worked for me:

• Understanding What You Have:  I'm notorious for buying all the ingredients to make spaghetti sauce and when I get home finding out I already have everything when I go to put it away in the cupboard.  So I try planning my meals around what I already have in the pantry.  This also helps with the grocery bill.
• Review The Weekly Sales:  I also try planning my meals around the weekly sales.  Look through the flyers and get ideas for meals based on the bargains for the week.
• Slow Cooker At Least Once A Week (or more!):  The Crockin' Girls have some great slow cooker recipes.  (I'll try to share some of my faves on a later post).  Check out their website.  Saves so much time and stress when supper is ready for you as soon as you walk in the door. 

2.  Lunch Preparation - This ties in with meal planning.  This week I made sure lunches were ready every night for the next day but I detest making lunches!  My place of employment is not close to anywhere you can buy ready made lunches so I've been packing my lunch 5 days a week for many years.  I'm so bored with lunches and this is something I need to work on-expanding my lunch menu.  But I've been incorporating my lunches into meal planning and it has helped.  What's your favorite go to item for lunches?

3.  Laying Out Clothes (including outdoor stuff):  I've had Emma start to pick out clothes the night before and this has worked out really well. I was scared she would wake up and say she wasn't wearing what she picked out but she has been excellent.  I also lay out Dustin's too because sometimes I spend too much time trying to decide between all his cute outfits!  And because dressing in layers is the only thing you can do this time of year-we usually have to bundle up (the kids anyway) when we leave in the morning.  So I have their jackets, mitts, hats and rubber boots all hanging on their little hooks by the door.  Saves so much stress in the morning-not having to look for the stray mitten. 

4.  Making Laundry Part Of Your Daily Routine:  I think I read this on another blog and it is so true.  I'm up pretty early in the morning to be out the door by 7 so after I shower and before everyone else is up, I throw a load of laundry in and then it's ready to be dried or hung out when we get home.  If I can stay on top of this and we average 5-6 loads a week I should have one day that's free of laundry!  I've just started this so we'll have to see how it goes. 

5.  Make Time For Yourself:  That's what I'm doing right now.  I've been thinking about this post all week and couldn't wait to start working on it.   Everyone is in bed now and I've finally been able to catch up on what's been happening all week on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.  So do whatever relaxes you but make time for yourself. 

I am being truly honest when I say how well this week went and how easy it was.  I know they aren't all going to be like this but it sure was great to get started off right.  Oh and maybe I'm not being completely honest - I have a confession to make...I hired a cleaning lady which obviously takes a pretty big burden off me.  This feels like a HUGE indulgence and I actually feel guilty but I know I'm not going to regret it - plus it's my Mother-In-Law and her hourly rate is very reasonable.  Have I mentioned what a wonderful MIL I have!!??


Here is Dustin on his first day going to the babysitters.  He's such a big boy now!  
 

Thanks for reading!

~Elizabeth

Happy Earth Day!

Well tomorrow is my first day back to work after mat leave and I'm not sure what state I'll be in on Monday, so my Earth Day post is a day early.

Although I very much agree with the mantra "Everyday should be Earth Day" I do enjoy planning a little something to commemorate the actual day. For Emma's first Earth Day we planted a tree.  Unfortunately, I didn't have anything near as good planned for Dustin's first Earth Day.  

Emma and I made a playhouse out of a cardboard box which is a pretty good example of reuse - and it provided hours of entertainment for her and Dustin.  And then Emma planted some seeds that will hopefully grow on our windowsill.  

And probably my most favorite activity was picking up "litter" around our house this afternoon. I can't wait till the kids are a little older and we can do some real litter collection on our road.  Nothing annoys me more than someone pitchin' their coffee cup or fast food containers out their window. 

 

Of course we separated the recyclables.  Hopefully next Earth Day we'll be able to do something with a little more impact.  Small steps....

Happy Earth Day everyone! 

~Elizabeth

Maple Syrup Season

Hi everyone!  It has been awhile.  Everyone is well (including Rusty the dog) - just busy!  First of all, I've been playing around with the settings on Blogger - so there may be a different design or layout every time I post.  Please ignore until I find something I love!

Before Easter Emma, along with her Daddy and Nana, tapped some maple trees along our driveway.   I love maple syrup season and think it is something everyone should experience, whether it's making maple syrup back at the camp or at a sophisticated maple syrup production - it's pretty amazing what mother nature provides us! 

Recently, we headed back to Dean's Uncle's camp to see what was happening to all that sap Emma and Nana had been collecting.  It was a pretty muddy walk!

As we got closer you could smell the syrup boiling.  Everyone was busy either cutting wood, gathering sap or adding wood to the fire.  It's hard work making maple syrup!

And then came the best part...taste testing!

 

It was such a great afternoon with our family and friends.  Dustin fell asleep in Nana's arms before we left and Emma almost fell asleep as we went and collected sap on the Ranger.  No problem getting the kids to bed that night! 

One of my favorite recipes using real maple syrup is Baked Salmon with soy sauce and garlic.  Check out the recipe here.  What's your favorite recipe using maple syrup? 

~Elizabeth