First Snowfall

November 19th marked our first official snowfall of the season. We'd had a few light skiffs of snow prior to this, but nothing that stuck. However, this Friday morning we finally woke up to the white stuff all over the ground - with big, fat, fluffy flakes still falling. The kids were more than excited to bundle up and go play in it. And I delighted in capturing their joy as they got their first taste of this year's snow.

6 Years

On November 13th, Jared and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. It's hard to fathom that it was 6 years ago that we said "I do". Some days it feels like it's been so much longer, but other days I feel like we're still newlyweds and we're just pretending to be a grown-up married couple. I hope we can say the same thing when we're celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary! Don't get my wrong, we've had our bumps along the way - but for the most part it's been a very smooth ride and I wouldn't change a single minute of it.

To celebrate this year we decided to eat in and then see a double feature at the cheap theatre. I made a delicious meal of butternut squash soup with chicken caesar salad. We didn't have time for dessert or we would have been really late for the first movie - but it was worth the wait! Homemade white chocolate brownie with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. YUM! All in all, it was a wonderful night. We really like movies, so it was the perfect date! And coming home to no children and being able to sleep the ENTIRE night without being woken up once as also divine!!!

Baby Food Making Central

Eating fresh food is always something Jared and I have strived to do. I've never been the type to buy a lot of pre-packaged, pre-made food. I grew up eating things fresh out of my mom's garden and there's nothing that beats home grown food.

After Xavier was born I looked into making my own baby food, but at the time we were living with my inlaws and I really didn't want to take over their kitchen for days at a time to make food - plus we didn't have a ton of freezer space for me to store it. With Shaela, I started making some of my own, but the small food chopper I had just wasn't cutting it, so I made a few batches of stuff, but ended up buying mostly jarred food for her. With Cohen, however, I was determined that he would never eat baby food from the store. Everything he ate would be made by moi. The one exception to that is cereal, since I don't really know how you would make that....maybe I'll research it for the next one....

Anyway....my foray into making baby food needed to start with a good food processor. Our blender is terrible and the small one I had when Shaela was a baby was not going to work. I needed to invest in a good one. After asking around, I determined I would buy this one and then I sat around for two weeks eagerly awaiting its arrival. When it finally came, I was so happy! I went to the store the next day and spent about $30 on fresh produce - which should last us until Cohen is ready for more solid foods.

The next day I got started! So far, my list of foods made is: corn, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash, summer squash, spinach with bok-choy leaves, green beans, apples, eggplant, and beef with some spinach thrown in. Still on my list of foods to make: plums, mangoes, chicken, rutabaga, and peas. After reading a few different blogs on methods for making baby food, I decided the simpler, the better. In order to make sure there are no allergies to anything, I didn't want a ton of additives in the food (like chicken broth, which is what a lot of people apparently add. I don't think babies really need all the sodium that's in that stuff!).

I basically steam or bake everything first, and then throw it in the food processor until it's a smooth puree. If I need to add a bit more liquid to thin something out, I either use breastmilk or water. Then once the puree is the right consistency, I freeze whatever I've made in ice cube trays. Cover with a layer of plastic wrap, so they don't get freezer burn and the next day, put the cubes in freezer safe ziplocs. Simple, fast, and oh-so-yummy for my little munchkin! Whenever he's ready for a meal, we pop two cubes in the microwave to defrost and warm the food a little and we're good to go. I love it! Just make sure you label your bags. :)

Of course, this post would not be complete without pictures of my handi-work!

 Green beans being steamed. Corn in the food processor and then ready for the freezer.

 

Fresh Gala apples (our favorite!). 

I peeled and cored them, steamed until soft, and they pureed like a dream! No additives needed!

 Butternut squash frozen and waiting to be bagged, and the freezer, nicely stocked for the next months of meal-times!

{Did you also know you can make your own nut butters in a food processor? I made almond butter last week - delish! Can't wait to try peanut butter when the jar I just bought runs out! (Did you know there is added sugar in there?!?!?) Also did a batch of hummus two nights ago. This thing is seriously my new favorite kitchen tool.} 

One Small Victory

Xavier slept through the night DRY last night!!!! WHOO-HOO! For those of you who are in the throes of potty training - or have just recently finished potty training, you'll know why I'm so excited for this! It may seem like a small thing, but the joys that will be present in my life if he keeps this up!

He was 4 in June, so not so old that it's a bad thing that he's still wetting the bed at night. But the constant laundry and the dealing with him asking to wear underwear to bed. It gets old. FAST! The last few nights he's been going almost the whole night without peeing his bed....and then last night, he went the entire night without a drop! We are soooo proud of him! And sooo hoping he'll keep it up! We'll see how tonight goes....

Batman and Cat Girl

My beautiful children decided this year that they wanted to be Batman and a cat for Halloween. Xavier's costume we found on sale at Sears for $10. SCORE! Shaela's on the other hand, proved to be a bit of a challenge. We're not the type of people to start buying costumes for our kids ridiculouly early. Or even think about buying costumes that early. We like to wait until about a week before. And then start planning. Cuz, you know, working under pressure is so much more fun! :P

Anyway...after hitting up every store I could think of that might sell a cheap cat costume, I was out of luck. I couldn't find one anywhere! So, I got creative - which I love. Walmart had black stretch pants and a black shirt for $6 each. I picked up a nice thick headband there as well. And then went to the fabric store for some black fleece, which cost me less than $2.00. A couple hours later, I had sewed a tail, stuffed it with plastic shopping bags and stitched it to the pants. I also cut out ears and sewed them to a larger piece of the fleece. Then hot-glued it onto the headband. Voila - cat girl! Oh, and I picked up some black mini-mitts and stuck white felt onto them to make them look like paws. Add on some whiskers and a pink nose and she was the cutest cat on the block!

Open Farm Day

As mentioned in my previous post, on September 19th, Jared and the kids and I participated in the first ever, "Open Farm Day". Sounds like kind of a cheesy idea, but for people who live in the city and have never been to a farm, I think that it's a great idea! And for those of us who grew up on a farm and miss it dearly - it was great to be out in the open and away from the confines of the city for a day.

Our first step in making this day a success was to plan out which farms we would visit. There were various ones opening their doors all around the province, but there was a pretty large cluster of them around the Steinbach area, so that's where we focused our day. The first farm we went to had a free "Pork on a Bun" lunch sponsored by Manitoba Pork. We hit that one up first to eat some lunch and spent about half an hour or so playing a few carnival type games that they had set up and letting the kids jump in the inflatable bouncer. Next we were off to the bison farm! We took a trailer ride out to the pasture to see the  buffalo which the kids thought was wonderful! We weren't allowed to get off the trailer to take a closer look because buffulo can't tell the difference between a person coming at them and a coyote trying to steal their babies. So if you get too close, they'll attack. And nobody wants to be bison food! This farm was our favorite one of the day and very much how Jared and I would someday like to run our own small farm - we don't want bison, but hopefully a few cows and chickens and maybe pigs. Anyway....the animals live outside 100% of the time. They are grass fed and the farmer doesn't use any sort of antibiotics or growth hormones on them. Very natural, which we are very much in favor of. He raises them to eat and we ended up buying a couple pounds of stew meat after the tour. It was delicious!

The next farm we visited was pretty much the complete opposite. It was a dairy farm with a few hundred head of cattle. I can't remember the exact number, but it was huge! There were a couple smaller cows outside when we pulled up that were very friendly! They came right up to the fence and let us pet them. Then we headed into the barn, which was interesting, but broke mine and Jared's hearts. The cows were all fenced in with a bit of straw and the barn was divided into two "sections". The first was the resting station which had a bit of hay for the cows to lay down in. If they wanted to get to the other section where the feed was, they had to walk past the milking station. It's all automatic and the milking machine uses infared sensors to detect where the teets are. So once the cow has been milked, it can go to the other side to get food. If the cow's udder isn't full enough yet, it has to go back to the resting station until it's full enough to be milked. We didn't ask if the cows were ever put out to pasture - I sure hope so! Apparently some of the cows milk up to 6 times a day. It made me sad to think of them being cooped up in there doing nothing but eating and producing milk ALL.DAY.LONG. What a sad life for them.

The last farm we hit up was fun for the kids, but Jared and I were a bit disappointed with it. They had what they called, "Scarecrow Forest" and you could walk through the woods at the back of their property and there were different scarecrow scenes set up - washing dishes, camping, playing hockey, etc. It was neat to see, but nothing spectacular. They also had some fresh veggies for sale, but nothing I was interested in buying. They had some old John Deere tractors on display which the kids enjoyed and one very large John Deere for them to climb onto. I think that was the highlight of the day! They also had a 'bale maze' which was basically ten bales making a path to a bunch of round bales for the kids to climb on. Not much of a maze at all! There was also a petting zoo, which turned out to be a goat, a couple chickens and two bunnies. But we weren't even allowed in the cages to pet them. We also could have paid extra money to do the zipline, but we already had to pay to get into the forest, so we declined. They were offering free tractor rides for the day (normally you'd pay extra for them too) and it was a bit of a bust as well. It was a tractor pulling a bunch of steel carts and the girl driving took us down the ditch along the edge of their property for about a mile and then back. She kept zig-zagging while she drove and it made me motion sick. The kids thought it was okay. Overall, we still had fun, but it sounded a lot better in the description than it actually was. At least the kids had fun and it was a fun day away from the city.

And now, without further ado - the pictures! It was a beautiful day outside so I got some great shots of the kids!

On our way out to see the buffalo.

 The bison.

 The very friendly cows that let us pet them.

 Inside the dairy barn. 

 That is one full udder!

 At the last farm - "Scarecrow Forest"

 Playing on the hay bales....

 King of the bale maze!

 Wandering the forest....

 Playing on the antique John Deere's.

Shaela fit inside the tire of the large John Deere!

Absense Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?!?!?!

Is that true for blog readers as well?!?! I'm not so sure. I think it may make you lose interest and never check back in! I hope not - but in any case, I apologize for my absense! Part of the problem is that I like to include pictures of what we've been up to in my posts. And I'm a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to uploading pictures off of the camera. Right now apparently blogger is telling me that image uploads are disabled for maintenance...so I'm just gonna have to live with a photo-less post.

Let's see....my last post was about Xavier's first day of preschool. We are now just over a month in and he is LOVING school! He really enjoys playing on the play structure and doing new puzzles at school. Still not sure if he's really made any friends yet. But he's a very independent kid, so I'm not too concerned. His teacher is fantastic and we really like her. And I have been enjoying the good hour and a half of solitude I get while he's gone and Shaela and Cohen nap.

What else have we been up to? On the 19th of September, we attended "Open Farm Day". It was a new initiative started this year by the MB government where farms around the province 'opened their doors' to the outside world and we got to come check out what they do and how they make their livings. It was a really fun day with the kids visiting four different farms around the Steinbach area. Our favorite was the bison farm - I'll post more about it in the next day or two when I can actually share pictures.

Xavier has also started back to gymnastics which he is also thoroughly enjoying. His teacher is great and I know she's doing a really good job of introducing the basics - but sometimes I still wish she would teach them more. For instance - they have yet to work on cartwheels at all! I could do one by the time I was three. Maybe one of these days I'll just have to take him to the backyard and we'll have at it. I would show him at the end of one of his classes, since we all get to go in to the gym to play for a few minutes, but A) it's been quite a few years since I have attempted one and I don't want to hurt myself, and B) I'm pretty sure the other parents would think I'm nuts. We'll see. Maybe one of these days I'll get brave enough to do one with him there....

Our dear little baby boy is also 6 months old already! Again, I'll post an update with pictures in the next day or two. First, I have to do a photoshoot with him (hoping for tomorrow)! He's growing like a weed, though and trying out all sorts of new foods. I'm awaiting the arrival of my new Cuisinart food processor that I ordered on Amazon today and then I'll be hosting a baby-food making frenzy in my kitchen next week. It's going to be great!

Well....I think that about sums up what we've been up to - I know, riveting! I promise to update with more pictures very very shortly!!! And perhaps update the look of the blog a little??? Feels silly to have sea-shells as my background when clearly it is no longer beach weather around here. :(