24/52 IcE cReAM!!

This was Hugo's first time taking part in the June 7th ice cream tradition. It was also his first time having a Dairy Queen ice cream (photos taken with cell phone, thus not the greatest quality). Before this day he had tried an ice cream sandwich that Oma & Opa brought over to our house and he thoroughly enjoyed them  ...

 

 He was more concerned with drawing than his ice cream, but he did both (what a multitasker)! He was not really into the ice cream though.

 

  The following day when it was time to have ice cream cake for dessert, he did not waste any time ...

 

 

I think someone likes DQ ice cream!

 

 

Next week we will have some more first time photos. The plan for this weekend is to go camping for the first time with the Lil Man. It should be interesting. Not sure what to expect. I do not think it will be very relaxing. If I can at least get caught up on my June and July issues of Canadian Living and Martha Stewart magazines I will be happy. Hopefully I will also get some good photos, we shall see!

{9 of 10} Beef Tenderloin and Grilled Veggie Skewers & Herb Potatoes

The weather has been like a yo-yo lately and it is starting to drive us crazy. Last week the weather was so hot (reaching a high of 36^oC some days) and this week it feels like fall (at night it is dropping down to 6^oC). I'm keeping my fingers crossed we do not get a frost warning again. I am also hoping the Weather Man is wrong with today's forecast and it warms up a bit more for our annual ice cream trip that we always go on {it's a tradition}. If it does not warm up I think we will have to eat our ice cream in the car with the heat blasting like we did a couple years ago!

On the super hot days, it's so hot that we really do not feel like cooking inside, so we try to prepare most of our dinner on the BBQ. Another favourite at our place is grilled beef tenderloin and veggie skewers, which work great on the really hot days.  Whenever there is a good deal on beef tenderloin we usually grab it and cut it into steaks. When we are done we are usually left with chunks of beef which work out great to make a meal of beef skewers. This meal does take a bit of planning ahead because we marinate the meat in Italian Dressing the night before. It is also a bit time consuming chopping up the veggies and assembling the skewers, but the end product is very enjoyable!

For the veggies I use different coloured peppers (we prefer red, orange and yellow - we find they taste great when they are grilled), cherry tomatoes, red onion and if we are serving it to guests I add mushrooms.

 

 The finished product ...

 

 

We usually make herb potatoes wrapped in tinfoil on the BBQ also when we have these skewers (the entire meal is prepared on the BBQ -- BONUS).

 

For the potatoes we drizzle a bit of olive oil over top of the chopped potatoes and then sprinkle some chives, oregano, parsley, basil, garlic, cumin, red pepper and black pepper.  Then we throw them on the BBQ about half hour before the meat goes on and that's it!

 

 

 

Do you have a special marinate or seasoning you use on your meat? What do you add to your herb potatoes? 

 





Victoria Day Weekend = Garden Planting Time!

For a number of years now, Byron and I always prep our garden and plant our veggies on Victoria Day weekend. I guess it has become a tradition. This year was no exception, however, I was on my own dealing with the garden as Byron has been busy working on Bitsy trying to get her ready for our first camping trip -- which is 3 WEEKS away!!

This year it did take a little longer to get everything planted as I had to do it during nap time {sometimes this is not very long}. Since our soil is very clayey here, we decided to add some sand this year to the garden along with our usual  four bags of sheep manure.

On Sunday, I managed to get my seeds planted (carrots, purple beans, snow peas, spinach and potatoes) and that was it. I was not able to return back to the garden until Tuesday. I some how managed to quickly plant the rest of the veggies before the rain came which was perfect because I didn't have to water.

 

 

1. jalapeño peppers. 2. cucumbers (don't think they will do well because I started them to early). 3. long red cayenne hot peppers. 4. tomatoes (next year I need to start these guys and my sweet peppers sooner). 5. pumpkins (need to start these later). 6. butternut squash (started at the beginning of May because I forgot about them. This year we decided to plant the butternut squash and cherry tomatoes in a pot).

 

Each year it is always interesting seeing how much the garden produces. Last year we had an abundance of cucumbers. We shall see how the garden does this year. It's our first year growing some of the plants from seed, so it has been a learning experience.

 

 

When I was out in the yard on Saturday, a little toad hopped over for a visit. When we first moved to our current house there were so many of these guys around. Big ones and so many little ones, but they are slowly disappearing {sad face}.

 

 



When do you plant your veggie garden? What did you plant this year?

Easter 2013

We had a beautiful Easter weekend! The weather was gorgeous - high of 9^oC which is warm
considering it was the end of March and  it was nice and sunny most of the weekend. It was lovely spring weather. On Monday, however, Winter decided to return. The temperature dropped to -9^oC and there was periods of blowing snow causing whiteouts. I think it's time for winter to go away.

This year parts of the Easter weekend was spent outside enjoying the beautiful temperatures and taking in the sunshine.

Hugo had his first taste of Grandma's Folar (which is a Portuguese Easter tradition - Sweet Bread served with a boiled egg - it symbolically represents rebirth and the Resurrection). He just loved investigating it. Roxy tried to investigate too but Hugo would not let her near his folar when we were at my parents place.

 



 

[Close-up photo of Hugo's Folar - with Roxy standing in the corner]

 

 

This year Hugo had his first Easter Egg Hunt and he enjoyed all his treats and gifts the Easter Bunny brought him. He has really figured out how to unwrap gifts. 



 

On Easter Sunday we met little Pippa for the first time and she is so tiny and cute! She was so curious to see what Hugo was doing. It was her first time around a little human and she was great! 

 

Hugo also had his first taste of Oliebollen that his Godfather made. (Oliebollen is a deep-fried Dutch Doughnut traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve. In our town, they actually serve oliebollen outside the Dutch chocolate store  on the Main street on December 31). Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him trying it.

 

We enjoyed some delicious lemon and chocolate cake Byron's cousin baked. She always makes great deserts. Hugo had some of the chocolate cake which had mint frosting and he enjoyed it immensely as you can see ... 

 

  

Before we left Hugo received some advice from his Godfather ...

 

 

 

Hugo also received a Dutch book that Aunt R brought back from the Netherlands.

Once again I used some of the free Project Life templates from Sherelle Christensen. They can be found on her Blog - My Crazy Life As A Farmers Wife. I am so happy she shared these with her readers. The templates are great if you know the basics of Photoshop. The above template can be found HERE. Thanks again Sherelle for sharing these!


We had a great Easter weekend filled with lots of treats, delicious food, family time and traditions. How was your Easter? Do you have any special Easter traditions?

2012 Christmas Recap

 

I can't believe Christmas was a month ago! It’s a little late, but better late than never. Here’s a recap of Christmas 2012.

 

For a couple years now, we spend Christmas Eve – the 24^thof December with my family & Christmas Day – December 25^th with Byron’s family. As of last year things changed slightly. Byron, Hugo, Roxy & I started spending Christmas morning at home & then we head to my in-laws once we are done. 

This year for Christmas Eve we headed down to the City to spend it with my family. The tradition since I was little is a family dinner with all my aunts, uncles & cousins, followed by opening presents.

Here's a look at our Christmas Eve.

 

 

Just before we headed down to the city.

 

Before dinner, we quickly took a couple photos while Hugo was still in a good mood.

 

 

 

Hugo with his Madrinha, saying cheese

 

 

 

 

Hugo was fascinated with my Grandma's bow on her shirt. He still makes strange when he hasn't seen someone in a while, but he was ok with my grandma, which was nice to see.

 

 

 I asked my cousin to take a quick picture of our little family.

 

After the  quick pictures, dinner was ready. The little girls (who are 10 & 11) did a great job folding the napkins into Elf Hats. We had to get Hugo to model it for us.

 

 

After dinner, we were off to open gifts. Usually the gift opening starts with the youngest person present followed by the next youngest, etc., etc., until everyone has opened all their gifts. This usually takes a couple hours.

  

 

At around 12:00 a.m. we started to pack up everything. Hugo received lots of wonderful gifts. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.

 

  

Hugo right before we headed home ...  wide awake at around 12:15 a.m.

 

  

We headed home and luckily this year only encountered a little bit of snow on the drive home. This  made for a decent drive home. When we got home we must have just missed Santa. 

 

 

Photo taken shortly after we were home - at around 3:00 a.m.

 

 

 Santa Left a Waggon filled with gifts for Hugo!!

Once we went to bed, Christmas morning came quick, as Hugo was awake early.



 

Hugo was extremely curious about all the gifts. Starting with the photo “1” moving to the right you can see the direction he took. He first checked out all the presents Santa had left for him. Then he went and checked out the big bone & gift Santa left for Roxy (Roxy spent the night at my in-laws). He then was trying to decide what gift to open first. He decided to open the gift bag first & made sure he read the tag first to ensure it was his gift I guess. He quickly got the hang of opening the gifts, but after a couple he had had enough and just wanted to play with the gifts he had opened.  

While Hugo was checking out all his gifts before he started to open them, I popped my cinnamon buns into the oven and baked them. That’s one Christmas tradition that I hope to carry on for many years to come. A couple years back we use to try and grab a Tim Horton’s coffee before we headed to my in-laws for Christmas day. There was one problem with this though. On Christmas day most Timmies are closed & often only 1 Timmies location was opened in the city. The location would change each year, which made it difficult to find the one that was opened and once we would find it, it was always extremely busy. We would end up waiting for an hour or longer to grab our coffees {insert sad face}. After doing this for 2 years I think we gave up on it and started a new tradition.  For the past 4 or 5 years I can’t remember now, I always bake fresh from scratch cinnamon buns on Christmas morning complete with cream cheese icing. It is the only time of the year I make them as they are supper unhealthy & pack filled with calories. They are a Christmas treat for us & any guests that are around. Byron & a couple of my cousins who have had cinnabon cinnamon buns have said that my cinnamon buns are better {makes me ecstatic}.

 



 

Once Hugo was done his nap we headed to my in-laws. This year I brought a Cesar salad & dessert ... cinnamon buns.

Once we got to my in-laws we opened gifts & checked out what was in our stockings. Hugo showing off his taai taai & his chocolate letter. My father in-law is Dutch so we always have Dutch treats in our stockings at Oma & Opa’s house.
 

 



 

 

 

I thought Hugo's facial expression was funny.

 

 

 

Roxy being a Good Girl

 

Hugo being silly while opening his gifts

 

Giving Grandma (aka Oma) a high five

 

 

Hugo saying Hi & checking on Oma in the Kitchen.

 

Hugo & Roxy checking his Elmo from his Aunt

 

Hugo enjoying some of Mommy's Caesar salad

 

Hugo testing out his new waggon.

 

Over the holidays we also had dinner at my parents & opened some more gifts.

Hugo sitting at the table ... he looks so small

 

 

 

 

Testing out his new chair.

 

Checking out all the colours on Tia's Whirly Pop

 

Being Crazy ... with a mouth full of teeth.

 

 

And that was our Christmas 2012!!.

 

 

 

Another New Tradition- Santa Clause Parade

This Past Saturday [December 1, 2012] was the Santa Clause parade in our small town. It snowed Friday which was perfect to get us into the Holiday Spirit.  This was Hugo’s 1^st time attending the parade. Hopefully it will be the start of a new family tradition for us. Before Hugo was born we use to go with my little sister.  Last year, however, Hugo was a wee bit too small (just over a month) to venture off with him into the frigid cold temperatures to see Santa. This year he was a little bigger and could see what was going on so we bundled him up in his snowsuit and nice warm blanket [one of his great aunts made it for him - Aunt Willy] and off we went walking to watch the Santa Clause Parade on the Main Street. 

As we were walking along I was telling Byron how I wanted to get a plastic cover to go over Hugo’s stroller to protect his face and super sensitive skin from the cold. I just couldn’t find anything in our area and we would have to look when we go to Barrie. Just then Byron had a brilliant idea ... {why we didn’t think of it before was beyond me because it would have been perfect for the parade} ... we can use our bike trailer’s stroller function. The trailer has a plastic enclosure!!  I guess when we put it away in storage for the winter, we also put the thought of it out of our minds.

Us at the parade.

 

All Bundled Up.

Our Little Family watching the Parade (Roxy stayed home)

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the parade, Hugo kept kicking off his warm fuzzy blanket, his poor little nose was all red from the cold and my legs & butt were frozen. The trailer would have been perfect for Hugo. The plastic cover would have blocked the wind and he wouldn’t be able to kick the blanket onto the ground.  Hopefully we remember for next year. I also realised I need to invest in some long johns to keep my legs warm for cold days.  Overall, Hugo had a good time and received a lot of goodies. He didn’t get startled when the loud fire truck sires went off and he even waved to Santa when he went by!!

 



 

Hugo waving to Santa

 

Once we were home Hugo did something he rarely ever does .... he had a long nap. Must have been the excitement of seeing Santa.  It was so long, I was able to assemble the tree and even decorate it (I had to keep the decorations high this year in case Hugo decides to grab them) and I still had some time to relax with Byron and Roxy before he woke up!!

Our Christmas Tree this Year!