The Events: Lucy's Dedication Day

Dearest Family & Friends. This is just crazy of me, but life has been flashing by - moving, renovating, and raising little ones, that I have not posted in almost a year. I have even had a few draft posts just waiting here. So here it goes. This post was supposed to be on here a very long time ago.

Our dear sweet Lucy was dedicated last fall and we celebrated with our family. We enjoyed  a nice time together with some yummy food. Thank you to our family for their support. We love you Lucy!

The Eats: Corn & Bell Pepper

I like to try and kick up redundant side dishes at times. This is one of my favourite ways to add a little life to corn. It is very simple and quick to make. 

Ingredients:
1 cup of frozen corn (can use canned as well)
1 bell pepper, diced (I prefer to use orange for this recipe)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp chipotle chili pepper (add more if you like lots of heat, or use cracked black pepper)
chopped fresh cilantro (as much as you desire)

Method:
Cook corn as per directions, try not to over cook so it retains firmness.
Add butter, sea salt, chipotle chili pepper, cilantro and bell pepper. Stir together and serve. Tastes great served warm or cold. If there are leftovers, I often reheat in a skillet.

Enjoy!

Lovely Lucy

We are so blessed to have welcomed a new addition to our family. In late May, Lucy joined our family. Which means that our girls are only 13.5 months apart... crazy I know! Yet, it is all working out great. We definitely have our crazy days, but feel so blessed to have our babies so close together. Our lives have become extremely busy, hence the late blog posts. 

Welcome to the family sweet girl. We love you!

Less than a day old.

Bottom three photo credits: www.papercastle.ca

Thank you Julie for always taking such cute pics of our family!

The Home: It's Just So Hard To Say Goodbye

The time has come to move on from my dream home. I had always dreamed of contracting the build of my own house. Little did I know that I would get the opportunity to do it a decade earlier than I thought I would. Designing it right from scratch was a great journey and I would do it again in a heart beat. Due to location, we decided to move and let go of what we put our blood, sweat, and tears into. At the end of the day in life, it is just a house. Here are some pictures our realtor took for the listing. 

Goodbye to the house that really was my first true home!

The Fun: Pink & Yellow 1st Birthday Party

The Birthday Girl!

A few months ago we celebrated Stella's 1st birthday. In keeping with the theme of her room colours, I styled the party in pink and yellow. I chose to keep things simple. We had a great day with family celebrating our special girl.

The Home: Stella's Nursery

Part of the joy of having a baby is that you get to decorate another room!

I had so much fun putting together a little nursery for Stella. We have actually moved on from this house and I really miss her room. It was a happy space to spend time bonding with our little munchkin. 

A big thank you goes out to my friend Amy's mom Etta who sewed Stella's curtains:)

I'm Back!

Wow.... it has been so long since I made a post and so much has happened in our lives. We moved twice and had another baby since my last post.... crazy how life goes.

Now that things are stabilizing somewhat, it is time to start posting again. 

It's good to be back:)

The Fun: Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day. I understand that some do not enjoy it, but I cannot help but love it. Now that I have a little one, it is not just about a romantic dinner with my hubby. We decided that we want Valentine's Day to be a family event. Fun cookies, cards that express our love for each other, and a special dinner together is what it is all about for us. Hope you had a great Valentine's Day.

Hugs & Kisses

xoxo

The Events: Stella's First Christmas

Life is certainly passing by at a rapid pace, including the Christmas season. It feels as if December went by in a blink of an eye. We enjoyed watching Stella look at the Christmas tree and rip wrapping paper off her gifts. She definitely got spoiled being the first Grandchild on both sides of our families. My favourite thing about Christmas is getting together with loads of people. Even tho it makes things crazy busy, it is part of what the season is all about to me. Here are some memories from Stella's first Christmas.

Stella getting into the ribbon during her Christmas card photo shoot. 

Baking Christmas shortbread cookies with Stella's Great Grandma. This is a family tradition that goes back as long as I can remember. We get together as a family to decorate cookies. It's wonderful. My Mother, Grandmother and I made 120 cookies this year. The rest of the family joined us for a yummy slow cooker meal, then we decorated. I really cherished this day so much with my Grandmother. It was so special to me to have Stella watch us and be there with my Grandma who has been one of the most inspirational people in my life.

Stella having a blast ripping off paper.

Oven baked Bruschetta. One of my favourites to serve to company. I served this at Christmas Eve along with some other appetisers. Calabrese bread drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and topped with vine ripened tomatoes, black olives, spinach, diced garlic, and Parmesan cheese.

Our first family Christmas picture.

I hope you all had a happy holidays and now that we have entered 2013, may your year be filled with joy, love, health, and prosperity.

The Thoughts: Remembering

It has been such a long time since I have posted. Lets just say that life is passing me by so quickly. That inspired me to stop and take a minute to share something. Today is Remembrance Day, and as decades go by I'm saddened to think that new generations of people may not know what that is about. It is so easy to get busy doing things that are not really important that we easily forget why we get to live in abundance. Today my Grandmother pulled out my Grandfather's medals of honour that he received from his service in the Canadian Army and Air force. She read the poem "In Flanders Fields" to our family. It was a very special moment for me as I thought of what he did so that we can live as we do now in freedom. He served in World War II on the front lines. My Grandfather was actually the soldier that ran to the front lines with a stretcher and carried the wounded amidst flying bullets to safety. If only we really knew what true servant hood and sacrifice was like, perhaps our priorities would be much different in our lives. I hope and pray that I can teach my children about his legacy and how important what men and woman like him went through for our future.

Lest we forget! 

In honour of my Grandfather, one of my heroes.

Missing you always.

Stella and I holding Grandpa's medals.

The Eats: Pulled Pork & Kale Slaw Sandwich

This is a healthier version of the family classic; pulled pork sandwiches. Even tho it is healthier it is as tasty as can be. I used whole wheat buns toasted with a slice of melted marble cheddar. I made the pulled pork in the slow cooker, which is so easy. Just slow cook pork tenderloin in chicken broth and sea salt and pepper. When finished, pull apart then toss in BBQ sauce. For the slaw I chopped up Kale and shaved carrot with a potato peeler. Then tossed in olive oil, plain greek yogurt, and lemon juice with a touch of sugar. This mixture takes some trial and error depending on how tart you wish it to taste. Start with the olive oil as your base, then add the lemon juice and greek yogurt a bit at a time. You don't need that much to toss the Kale and Carrot in. It should be very lightly coated. You can also serve with sliced Dill Pickles. So, so yummy. Enjoy!

The Eats: Fresh Corn Salad

Sadly, Summer had officially come to a close as far as the calendar says. Luckily we have been enjoying some summer weather still. This allows me to feel like its okay to make some of my favourite summer recipes still. We had a fun Mexican food night at one of our friends houses the other day. I brought along some Fresh Corn Salad. I absolutely love this salad. It is everything summer to me. It goes great as a side with so many different meals. Fresh Corn Salad is always a hit at a BBQ as well.

There are many variations you can do with this salad. Your base is always fresh corn. When I say fresh corn, I actually mean it. I buy corn on the cob (husk on). Peel it, boil it (sometimes I even grill it), cool it, then cut it off the cob. It is definitely more work, but so worth it. Be sure not to over cook it so that it still has some crunch to it. I usually put the corn in a pot of water, bring to a boil, and let it boil for a few minutes. You can tell as the colour turns more yellow that its ready. When I cut if off the cob I usually leave some of the chunks of kernels in tact. I love the way it looks in the salad. To make the corn easier to handle I break the cobs in half before I cook it. In this variation I added black beans, diced red onion, sliced grape tomatoes, chopped cucumber, diced red pepper, diced avocado, and fresh chopped cilantro. For the dressing, I used a little under a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 1 squeezed lime, a couple dashes of chipotle chili pepper, sea salt & pepper. This salad is really made with simple ingredients. The best way to describe the way it tastes is: Fresh! Until next summer, when we will enjoy more fresh salads just like this one. Enjoy!

The Fun: River Valley Golf

Oh Boy! All of the sudden I feel like I am sharing a lot of golfing pictures. My husband is really into golf, so I have gone a couple of times with him now. Yesterday we went with our good friends to a course in the River Valley. It was absolutely beautiful. The weather was fantastic and the fall leaves are really coming into colour. What I like about golf is the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. Especially if you are at a beautiful course like this. I can't even imagine how beautiful some of the courses are around the world. I am really just starting to get into this lifestyle, but so far I am really enjoying it. I don't even keep score yet because I have to hit the ball so many times! Hopefully I can share more beautiful golf course pictures as time goes on.

The Eats: Loaded Pulled Chicken Nachos

Tonight is movie and nacho night. These nachos are loaded with pulled rotisserie chicken, black beans, black olives, diced bell pepper, marble cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. Then after being taken out of the oven I topped them with fresh chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, and diced avocado. We of course sided our nachos with salsa and plain Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream). To keep the baking sheet free from hard stuck on cheese, I sprayed it with olive oil spray. 

It makes it so much easier to clean.

Do you ever notice when ordering nachos at a restaurant that they are usually pricey. Then when they arrive at the table they totally skimp out on the toppings. Well you can make better then restaurant quality nachos at home. Plus you can use organic ingredients which makes it even better.

This is definitely a get your hands messy kind of meal that tastes fresh and delicious. Enjoy!

The Fun: Golf Tournament

Yesterday we went to Josh's golf tournament for work. It was lots of fun. I haven't golfed in 10 years so my skills were definitely lacking, but that didn't matter much. It was just nice to be outside enjoying one of our few days of summer that we have left before winter hits. We enjoyed our time with our friends Jeff & Jessica. We only played 9 holes and by the 7th my arms were already tired from swinging the clubs. Maybe we will get one more round in before the snow falls.

The Fun: A Perfect Day for a Perfect Little Girl (Stella's Shower)

I am so excited to share some photos of this very special day that occurred a couple months ago to celebrate Stella's arrival. My dear friends Sabrina and Jen organized, prepared, and styled this perfect day at my home. Everything was in Stella's room colours, pink and yellow. The food was wonderful and the best part was sharing this day with some great friends. 

Thank you so much girls for making this a perfect day for my perfect little girl. Love you all!

A star for Stella!

Fun homemade poufs hung from our ceiling.

Sabrina made a fun yogurt bar with me in mind.... I love yogurt!

Cute little hand sanitisers for guest favours, as I am a clean freak!

A few of my dear friends...

Thank you all once again for such a wonderful day!

(Photos taken by Julie Rice www.papercastle.ca)