Family Day

Happy Family Day.
We made up a couple thermoses of hot chocolate this morning and headed to Albion Hills toboggan hill. What an amazing way to spend a day designated to Families.

Kate couldn't get enough and wanted to keep going again and again, Owen took off on his own as soon as we got to the top and loooooved it. He made a friend on the hill and so the two of them had a blast.

This was the view only half way up, seriously the most fun I've ever had tobogganing. After a couple of hours the four of us flopped into the truck and enjoyed our hot chocolate.

Bring On The Spring

A few months ago, on one of Rob's hikes, he came across a large plot of land that was designated as  the Albion Hills Community Gardens. We investigated a bit further and found that yes indeed Albion Hills has a community garden with plots ranging from 200 to 3200 square feet available for individuals and groups within the area.
Even though the website said they had a waiting list for 2019 I sent in an application for 200 square feet along with a nice letter about our young family and how we would love to get everyone involved in gardening. Shortly after I received confirmation they had a plot available for us and for the yearly fee of $35 it's ours!

It's the tiny plot circled and I don't really know much else. That doesn't matter, we have a garden come Spring, Woo Hoo!!!

This pretty much sums up how I feel about it

Now, to wrap my head around what to grow for our family of four.

Birthday Celebrations

The beginning of February is a big birthday celebration week here, my Mom, Rob and myself all in the same week. My parents came down to celebrate and between the forgotten MRI appointment (mine) and the crazy weather my Mom ended up staying a week. On a side note, the MRI is my biannual checkup, standard procedure. I had put it in the calendar and forgotten about it. It was a night time appointment so my Mom stayed with the kids while Rob drove me. We all really enjoyed the extra time together, hopefully we didn,t exhaust her too much!

My parents watched the kids while we got out
for an incredible four hour snowshoe
through Albion Hills.

We mainly stuck to the single track mountain bike trails,
no one had been on them and they were really
tough. These were the only pics I took!

Oma and Owen made some disgusting green slime
one evening, which was way too funny

Sometimes we all just chilled out on our tablets for
some quiet time in the evening, although this was
a pretty rare occurrence.

Breakfast always tastes better when it from Oma's plate.
A very satisfying two hour project, I had made my Mom her
sweater from a fleece bathrobe that I loved but never wore.
Very happy to see it get used and look so great 

Leftover birthday balloons = hilarious imaginative play.
I don't think I've heard these two laugh so hard and so much

She took a break but is back with a vengeance with her
painting. Daily she wants to paint, she even gets
everything out herself now and starts
setting it all up.

With my Mom's help I have made
50% whole wheat sourdough bread. Here is
after a 12 hour proof in the fridge

Sliced and ready for the oven

The final result. I really can't believe that I made that

Snow Day

It's a snow day today which is pretty rare for Peel Board. With Owen home and a fresh dump of snow last night we bundled everyone up and headed out for a snowshoe. 2.5 hours of trail breaking in over a foot of snow = a quiet afternoon for everyone!

The start of the trail which is less than a five min
walk from home

The sled was the favoured mode of transportation
for both kids even though they both
did amazing in their snowshoes

Family shot

After a good run in the snowshoes, it was time
for a snack break. These two made
the best of the very deep snow 

Kate decide it was her turn to break trail for a while

It's hard to appreciate but, this was just half way
up one of the hills, it was pretty steep

Tired but almost home!

I was able to get a short video of her first attempt in snowshoes

Adventure Sunday

After spending a lazy day in on Saturday, the kids were bonkers and we needed to get out. We decided to stop by our favorite farms the head out for a hike.
Our first stop was Sheldon Creek Dairy, Kate was asleep so I just hopped out and grabbed what we needed. Since Kate was a baby she has not been able to deal with dairy very well, poor girl always ended up with a burning bum. We tried several different alternatives but she never really liked anything so we never really pushed it. The milk from Sheldon Creek is local, unpasteurized, full fat and she's been very happy with it and no digestive issues. I don't know if it's the non pasteurized or what but she's able to drink milk now!
Next stop was to Rockcilffe Farm for some meats and other farm products. Owen was asking if we could see the cats again, luckily Alix, one of the owners, was in the shop and happily took us to the barn.

We were extremely lucky to see these two, born just
three hours before we got there. They were still
wet and you could still see the steam rising up off them

Of course Owen and Kate had to check out all the other
lambs and have their fingers nibbled. So many giggles

We made a quick stop for lunch then off to find some
trails for a hike

Parked here and ready to go. The snow had started but we
were up for the adventure

Quick group shot before we started

It was a beautiful trail that I had
not been on before. We were all wishing
we had brought our snowshoes

With these two in tow, there was always something
interesting to check out

They decided to slide down the bank only to find it pretty steep to get back up,
big brother to the rescue

We ventured off the trail to follow a beaver path and followed it along
for quite a bit

We somehow ended up on an old section
of the trail, the sign on the bridge says
"Trail Closed, Not Maintained"

So of course we had to check it out!
I was a good hour long hike and
eventually found our way back to the
car, headed home and enjoyed some
well deserved hot chocolate

This Week In Pics

Kate saw this dress hanging in her closet and insisted
on wearing the "princess dress", she wore it all day
and was twirling around saying
"look at me, I'm a princess" 

Kate got sick this week so it has been a demanding
week, luckily she did want some cuddles which helped
both of us feel better

I was in the basement folding laundry when these two
sprung an attack on me. Good times with
the dress up box

Monday morning on our walk to school Owen showed
me his new trick. Pretty safe to say it fell out during the day

We FINALLY got a good amount of snow Monday

Owen was so excited to snowshoe to school

Can you find Kate amongst the kindergarten class? I
couldn't believe how tall she is, she still has two more
years before she starts school

After a quick latte we strapped on our snowshoes and
enjoyed the beautiful morning

This is just down the street from us! Kate was happy
to ride in her "boat" as she called it while we
pulled her

Unfortunately the rain started so we had to head back
but it was pretty awesome to get out

Genetics

It's no secret that my parents enjoy living an alternative lifestyle. Their home is entirely off grid, they grow as much of their own food as possible, raise chickens occasionally and make/bake a majority of their food, just to list a few! I like to tease them that they are hippies.
Well, looks like the hippie gene has fully kicked in for me.
So far today I have prepped and frozen four meals worth of riced cauliflower as well as;

made another batch of almond milk. The leftover
pulp made amazing crackers so that will be on
tomorrows agenda

made a sourdough cinnamon raisin bread. It was hamburgers for lunch
so I whipped together whole wheat burger buns

We were out of ketchup and with two small kids you just can't have lunch
without ketchup! 20 min later I had made a batch of ketchup
which BOTH kids declared was the same as the store bought. Big win as
there is only 2 tablespoons of maple syrup in almost 3 cups of sauce

Looks like my hippie mom gene is awake and ready to rock

Happy New Year

A 4.5km New Years day hike. Kate pulled the wagon by herself for the first km
and managed to walk the majority of the hike as well.

New Years day for Owen was up at my parents, looks
like they had the same idea to get out and
enjoy the day

Finally getting back into making pizza again and
I seem to not have lost my touch

My parents brought Owen back and stayed for a couple
of days so Rob and I got out for a kid free
7.5km hike. It was wonderful

It had snowed the night before and it looked so
magical in the valley

Came across Bolton Camp, it's such a shame that it's no longer in use

Last days before Christmas vacation was over,
we made sure to get out as much as possible. The boys
had a Nerf gun battle while us girls just enjoyed the nice temps

Saturday the boys went on a hike the we met up with them for the walk
back. It's always fun to have a park pit stop along the way

Even though there was very little snow, a snow ball
fight somehow happened during our walk home!

I don't know what took me so long, but I finally
made my own almond milk with great success

This mornings creation, morning glory sourdough
muffins. More like a breakfast bun than muffin but
still quite tasty