My baby is coming home today!!

Finally, it's Wednesday. Maelie is coming home!

I am so happy, I just can't wait to hug her and kiss her! I miss her presence in the house. While it's nice to have a quiet break... and I mean quiet enough to watch a whole episode of tv if I choose to... I still would not give up being a mom to this little girl EVER.

I DID try to watch an episode of something on tv, but I am unable to stay put long enough now. I guess it comes from the years of not doing it!

I am proud, I made it, no tears, but with a bit of anxiety. But I made it!!

Oh, and she did too! LOL but I was not so worried about her... she was happy to be at grand-maman's. My mom did report that Maelie woke up at 2:30 the first night after having a nightmare, and wanted to come home. I wish I'd been there for her. She forgot about it when she woke up the next day though.

Can't wait for 3:30!!!

Afternoon at grand-papa's house

Here are a few pics of the kids! Everyone had lots of fun visiting.

Parc Safari

Here are a few pics from our Parc Safari trip.
We left early and got there by 11:10 am. It was a very gorgeous and hot day!

Maelie and Lucas both had their cameras and enjoyed snapping away.



Maelie and Lucas went down the tube ride. I had to ask a few people to push Maelie along! She was too light!



Here is a beautiful giraffe... she was more interested in the grass than in our carrots.



Maelie was able to pet the zebra.



One little guy was so pooped!



Thanks for the snack ma'am!



This dude scared the heck out of Jo! He wanted to be in the driver's seat too...



Thank goodness they had water games because it was SO hot! I think that the water actually made the kids have a pleasant day because they were able to cool down a few times during the day.



The kids tried out the little paddle boats. Maelie only lasted a bit, she said it was way too much work! Lucas however stayed there until it shut down at 6:00 pm.



After the water games shut down, we had some rides left to try out. They went on the cars, Maelie was holding on for dear life. Lucas kept lifting his arms to show her he was not the one driving. She was not convinced!



We had a wonderful day... and went home VERY pooped! The kids slept all the way. We got to my mom's at midnight! It was worth it though in my opinion. It was a nice adventure.

Teenage boys

This weekend at my moms, Gilles' nephew Pascal was visiting with his friend Maxime. They are both teenagers. Since Maelie loves teenagers so much, she was instantly glued to them for 2 days. They were both really fun and played with Maelie and Lucas.

Yesterday evening, Maelie said:
"Mom, guess which boy I fell in love with this weekend"
"um... was it Pascal?"
"no, it was Maxime. I really like his hair. If I was older, I would want to marry him. But if there was no Maxime, then I would want to marry Pascal."

I left my heart in San Francisco

well maybe not San Francisco, but in St-Mathieu that's for sure!

This morning, at wee-oh-early-o'clock, I abandoned my child! Yes, dear folks, for the first time in the history of Maelie, I left her at grand-maman's house. to sleep. without me. for two nights. OH.MY.GAWD.

Yesterday she was still unsure about this whole plan. She gets a bit nervous at night and so she likes being with her mama. She had tears and she tried to get me to take more time off work to stay with her. She begged, she then laid the guilt trip on me (you love your boss more than me), and then she fell asleep. I got up at 4 am by myself, left my heart there in bed beside Maelie, and headed off for Ottawa where I would spend hours over the next 2 days wishing she were here with me. YES i am attached to my daughter! But as a good parent should, I encouraged her to stay at grand-maman's house and hid my broken heart from her.

Counting down to Wednesday....

Cousins

My sister Jo and my nephews Lucas and Nathan just spent 3 days at our place. It was quite jam packed with stuff to do.

Lucas was wondering why Jo never took him to a museum! (not many museums in PEI go figure) So on the list was a visit at the Museum of Nature to see the dinosaurs (and everything else...)



We did a lot of shopping as well spending more hours at the mall in one day than I usually do in 2 months!! (courtesy of a rainy day).



Maelie spent quality time babysitting her baby cousin Nathan.



and more quality time playing Nintendo DS with her older cousin Lucas.



Here is baby Nathan in the sink taking a bath :) No one can resist the cute little rolls!

Today we are off to a fun-filled day at Parc Safari followed by a few days with family.

I guess I should be concerned

Maelie smacked a fly yesterday and set it on a small piece of paper written:

"No tuch fli. it min."

translation from kid language to normal language: Don't touch the darned fly. It's mine!!"

She has since added to the lone fly as you can see on the picture. There are about 6.

She just presented them to our guests as they were having breakfast. Gross.

Anticipation

I just bought myself a bit of patience! :)

My sister is coming tomorrow with my 2 nephews. Maelie is absolutely, completely, totally excited about this visit and so I figured it would be a looooooong evening hearing about it!

Knowing that Maelie's friends were going to be coming for a sleepover soon, I figured, why not tonight?? So I asked Jacinthe if she would be ok with that and next thing I know, we have two extra kids in the house. This is AWESOME for me as Maelie has a distraction and she is having fun.

Currently, they are upstairs going through Maelie's wardrobe getting costumes on. Yes, some of Maelie's actual clothing would be considered costumes for other kids. hahaha Maelie has a very.... um... interesting colorful way of dressing.



I can hear the *popular* music in her room, and the friendly playful voices of kids sharing ideas and thoughts. It's wonderful and I cherish the fact that she has such friendships with people who live so close (across the street). This is what childhood is all about. Making memories with your friends! :)

Look what's coming in September!

I just checked the schedule on SimplyRaw and WOW! Amazing speakers will be there! and it's all FREE! Not many healthy events happening around that are free!

I definitely want to see Brian Clement, Victoria Boutenko, Matt Monarch, Paul Nison and Angela Stokes! They are all amazing healthy people !

Movie night

It was a rainy day and the evening didn't look too promising so I decided to take Maelie to the movies to see Space Chimps. We have only been to the movies about 5 times since Maelie was little as she is unable to sit for that long usually. Now that she is getting older, she makes the effort. We had seen the previews for this movie and it looked funny.

I enjoyed the movie, though there weren't as many laughs as I expected. I don't think I would suggest seeing it at full price. I would say it's more of a rental. I expected the theatre to be packed since we arrived right on time on opening day. Perhaps it was our choice of time, but we ended up less than 20 in the room!

So after donating my arm and leg at the movies, we went to the pet store to pick up hay for our pets. They like a specific kind (Kaytee brand) which is only sold in the pet stores on the Ottawa side, not on the Quebec side, go figure.

Tomorrow, the weather forecast is calling for sun. not a lot.... just a little, but we'll take it. We'll have to find something fun to do to avoid housework continue our adventurous summer!

Happy Love Thursday!

If you click on the picture, you will see Maelie and bebe lapin both lying down watching Totally Spies together. He loves her so much... and she loves him :) I love when he lies down like this beside her. So sweet and innocent.


Happy Love Thursday!

Seasoned feelings

This may come as a surprise to you... but I have a *fall* feeling developing inside (yes it is only July 16th). It seems to happen to me every summer when I start seeing signs in store windows stating that they are having an "end of season clearance", I see tv commercials saying the same, and I see all the outdoor plants at the big stores at half price for clearance. I get this good feeling inside because fall is approaching. I love fall, I love the beginning of a new school year, I love Halloween and the preparations for Christmas that start early, I love wearing a jacket, I love needing socks....

I am surprised by these feelings every year. I wonder why the heck I would want the cool weather to come. I then realize that it is not so much the cold weather I want... but it is the feeling of looking forward to the change in season. I will probably be having similar feelings when the spring stuff starts to come out next winter!

Does anyone in the world understand me or feel this too?

Oven cleaning - not recommended with food

This evening I decided to make a nice strawberry cobbler. I put it in the oven for 40 minutes just like the recipe said.

Once that was done, I decided to put it on broil for a couple of minutes to make the granola crunchy on top.

Unfortunately, I came back to the kitchen and saw smoke coming out of the oven. I grabbed the door.... LOCKED!!

I had accidentally set it to "Oven self clean" ! Even if I turned it off, the oven was going to stay locked until it was cool enough for safety reasons, meaning my poor cobbler was about to die! I freaked out, calmly of course. I pulled the oven out, and unplugged it. Just in case.

When I plugged it in again, I heard a click meaning the door was unlocked. I slowly opened the door... expecting a shattered dish.... this is what I found:



Do you think Bill will notice it is a bit overcrisp?

Menu Plan Monday

I'm actually excited about my choices for my menu this week. They all seem tasty and fresh. For more menu plan ideas, visit Org Junkie.

Monday: Couscous and corn salsa from Boites a lunch santé (recipe below)

Tuesday: Roast beef wrap, again from Boites a lunch santé

Wednesday: Chicken and grape salad, from my Mincavie recipe book

Thursday: Fajita pitas

Friday: Ground chicken with salad and veggies


Corn Salsa

2 cups frozen corn
1 red pepper, diced
1 cucumber, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
juice of half a lemon
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic

mix all ingredients

Chicken and Grape Salad

for the dressing:
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp garlic

for the salad:
1 lb cooked chicken, diced
1 cup seedless red grapes, cut in half
1 cup diced celery sticks
1/4 cup sliced shallots
4 cups lettuce

prep:
whisk the dressing ingredients together and put aside
In a bowl, add the chicken, grapes, celery and shallots. Pour half the dressing on top. Marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Line a salad bowl with lettuce, add marinated ingredients in the centre. Pour the rest of the dressing before serving.

Another mini vacation

Maelie and I left on Friday to visit my family. The 4 hour drive went well. I had printed off some car games for Maelie from Mom's Minivan.

I printed off the car bingo and Maelie really had fun with that game. Going through Montreal during tourist season AND a weekday, she found ALL the trucks on the Bingo card in about 5 minutes. I find the trick to travelling with kids is to just keep them busy. I have a great traveller... but it IS a lot of work. I get comments sometimes at the amount of stuff we travel with. But you know, a whole backseat is fine with me if I get a drive that is not stressful. We also had the tic tac toe sheet which was great to play with Gram.

We visited my dad & both my grandma's. Maelie had a wonderful time with everyone!

At my mom's, Maelie got to feed the racoon mama!



We also visited a farm close by. They just built a new chicken coop called the "Coco Bar".

They had goats and horses, chickens and a dog. But the most fascinating for Maelie was the toad!

She brought the toad along with us in the car back to Grand-maman's house and let him go there. (Yes... for all of you freaking out because of how dirty toads are, she DID wash her hands right after)



This is the view of my mom's place from the top of the hill across the river.



Maelie brought back a wonderful souvenir from our weekend away.



Mosquito bites!!

Express yourself

Setting:
Maelie and I are in the car and Madonna's "Express yourself" is playing on the Radio.

"Mom, is that the Doodlebops?"

I'm not sure if this is a compliment or an insult.

oh. my. goodness!

This has got to be the absolute best chocolate pudding ever. and healthy too! (Merci Jacinthe!)

It took about 2 minutes to prepare, if that, and then just a few minutes on the stove! It tastes delicious! We ate it warm... I put a frozen strawberry on mine, you can see the frost on it as it sits in the warm chocolatey pudding!

The recipe comes from "Boites a lunch sante".

Ingredients:

1/3 cup corn starch
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups of milk
1 tsp vanilla

- In a bowl, whisk together 3 first ingredients
- Pour in a pot and add milk and vanilla
- Cook on medium heat while whisking until the mixture comes to a boil
- Remove from heat
- Let sit until cooler, then transfer to individual bowls
(or eat it hot like Maelie and I did!)

Goodbye to another weekend!

I know this may sound cliché... but my how time goes by fast!!

Sunday, we went to a birthday party for one of Maelie's school friends. They both get along very very well and he is the sweetest little boy ever!



They swam , played games, ate pizza and cake and had a generally awesome time! The weather was PERFECT for the occasion!



Here are Maelie and Gabrielle applying more sunscreen !



It was funny because as much as I like taking pictures of Maelie, she is not too fond of that idea anymore. Whereas her friends are usually after me saying "take a picture of me! take a picture of me!" and get excited about it. aahahah I guess perhaps theirs parents aren't always in their face with a camera! That probably helps!

After the party, we came home and swam for a bit again. Then we joined my friend Jacinthe and her 3 kids (we have 3 friends called Jacinthe. One across the street with 2 kids, one 6 minutes away with 3 kids, and one college friend with no kids - in case you get mixed up with the Jacinthe's I mention!) and other friends with their 2 kids for water games at the park, and a pic nic for supper. For some reason, I was exhausted and didn't take my camera out much!! I did get one picture of Maelie learning how to throw a frisbee though!



The kids made mud soup and magic potions with dans and water, and a bit of added grass. After a while, Maelie started getting a little impatient, and I took that as a cue that it was time to go home. Poor little girl couldn't help but fall asleep in the car on the way home! Hopefully she will sleep in today. Unlike her mama who is always up before the crack of dawm these days (3:45 am today!)

I wish it could be the weekend all summer....

Menu Plan Monday

Wow! I have skipped my menu planning for a few weeks now... and it shows. It seemed that since I started a new workplace at the end of May, I was rather overwhelmed and the task of making a menu plan was way beyond what I could handle! and I know our grocery budget went out the window. I missed menu planning this whole time, so I thought I'd better hop back on the boat.

Our weather has been really gorgeous this past week, and so heating up an oven has really not been motivating. We are blessed with air conditioning, but I still don't want to heat up the house just to cool it down afterwards. So I will try and keep it simple.

One other thing... we have been having spontaneous, last minute pic nics. Therefore, I would like to plan around that possibility. Which means more portable stuff that does not necessarily need to be warmed up if we go out or something that can be eaten outside in the yard.

Monday: Chinese Macaroni (from The Best of Mincavie - recipe below)- we can even eat this cold

Tuesday:: Apple meatballs (in slow cooker) - this can also be eaten warm or in a sub or tortilla. I LOVE this recipe! (also from The Best of Mincavie -see below)

Wednesday: Orzo salad - Maelie LOVES Orzo. I will leave it plain for her and put veggies on the side, whereas for myself & Bill, I will add a bunch of veggies and some kind of dressing or mayo.

Thursday: Grilled PB sandwiches (My friend Jacinthe tried this with her kids and they loved it. So I will see if Maelie will like it too. It's basically like a grilled cheese but with PB instead - she added jam, but I don't think Maelie would like too much *mixing* - add fruit on the side.

Friday: Eggs & salad & veggies (Perhaps egg salad sandwich for Bill and I. Maelie likes her eggs plain)

For many many more menu plans.... visit Org Junkie !

_____________

Chinese Noodles

1 sliced onion
1 lb ground beef or veal (I use ground chicken)
1 diced celery stick
1 diced carrot
2 Tbsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 green pepper cut in strips
1 red pepper cut in strips
2 cups sliced mushrooms (I will use canned this time)
2 cups cooked macaroni

Brown onion, add meat, celery and carrots. Break up meat and cook completely. Add the rest of the ingredients except for macaroni. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Mix in the cooked macaroni.

Apple Meatballs

1.5 lb lean ground beef (I use ground chicken)
1 egg
1/2 cup oats
1 chopped onion
salt & pepper to taste

Sauce:
1 cup ketchup
1/4 brown sugar substitute (I just use brown sugar)
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice

Mix meatballs ingredients and make into 24 meatballs. Place baking dish (I'll put it in slow cooker). Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over meatballs. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. (i will put in slow cooker in the morning for 8 hours on low)

I have only tried it in the oven and they were DELICIOUS.

What a wonderful weekend!

It's been a beautiful weekend so far and it's not over. Tomorrow sunshine and 29. Today it went up to 27 or so and it was completely sunny and not humid.

Our weekend started off with strawberry picking. There were TONS of strawberries so it didn't take long.



Maelie spent some times with her friends.


We went to Merveilles de sable which is at the beach close by. A few professionals build gigantic sand sculptures. There are also categories for amateurs and families. They were working on those.



Maelie got a butterfly face paint.



Then she got to use real tool and build her wooden castle.



She got treated to a very tasty and HUGE snowcone! She didn't eat even 1/4 of it!!



She even got to try kayaking! The lady let her try it on her own and Maelie ended up in some lilypads... so she didn't want to go any further.



She played in the sand with a new little friend.



After that we drove to Toysrus as we had to get a gift for the bday party Maelie is attending tomorrow. We came home and Maelie got to play with her friends again. We all had a pic nic together on the back porch.

Now I am officially POOPED! Maelie still wants to go in the pool though. May as well wear her out completely!

Yesterday evening, she fell asleep on the couch. She was SO exhausted that when I got her to get up and make her way to bed upstairs, she went up only half of the stairs, layed down on her treasure chest and was going to go back to bed right there. I kinda pushed her up the stairs. She walked to her room, picked out a jammie, came to my bed, and fell asleep with her jammie in her hands. She was still wearing her bathing suit! I just let her be...poor little thing was exhausted!

Happy Love Thursday

Maelie and Bébé Lapin paused for a moment and were watching tv together. He loves her SO much, always follows her around and tries to do what she does. Unconditional love....

Happy Love Thursday!

See other Love Thursday pics here.

a nice visit!

This past week, my dad and Lucie came for a visit. Maelie was extremely excited. She loves having company!

We hung out and relaxed at home. Maelie got to enjoy some attention! Swimming with grand-papa and Lucie...(how brave they were to go in the pool when it was 72 degrees!)




It was a beautiful day on Canada day! Lots of sun from morning to night.

Maelie went for a nice little bike ride with grand-papa on her tandem bike.



Memories in the making... it's always fun!