Birthday Party Recovery

What a perfect day yesterday! The weather was incredible, and it seemed like the kids all had a blast at the party. I had a book exchange so I got everyone to bring a book with them, the kids decorated their goodie bags and at the end of the night they all got a book to take home with them.

We also did the most fabulous thing for cupcakes. This might be old news for you, but I'd never heard of it before! You bake cupcakes right in ice cream cones, and then it's really easy for the kids to handle. I even stole a few ideas from the Today Party that was run a few months ago at Karen's photo study with Comox Valley Kids. We took extra icing from the birthday cake and divvied it up in to little dixie cups and let the kids decorate their own cupcakes. I also stole the idea of putting out a big roll of paper for the kiddos to decorate and they made a wonderful banner for Avari that I think I'm going to get laminated for her (Kevin says that it will cost 100$ so we have a little bet about that going on). Between that, the balloons, the pinata (which was a huge success). My parents know how to throw one heck of a party - I'm not sure what a party would look like without their help!

We are so lucky to have met so many wonderful families since we have moved here. It's a big adjustment to move from college life right into starting a family in a new town but it seems to be going really well. I don't know what I'd do without all of these great kids (and their moms and dads) that we get to spend time with every week! At 2, Avari has more than a dozen friends that she asks for by name on a daily basis, and I think that is so incredible and I can't wait for her to grow up with them. I think that is the greatest thing about a small town like Powell River. There isn't a heck of a lot going on, so chances are you'll get to see everyone at least every week!

Here are some birthday pictures




Craig and Avari in the sandbox





























For all of the photos, you can check out my flickr set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11254172@N04/sets/72157605741996322/

Looking across the ocean....

those cirrus clouds are not looking promising! They usually only move in before a low pressure system. Hmmmmmmm. The weather report is still saying 19C and cloudy with no precipitation expected for the next 24 hours. I won't go into what Environment Canada says because- hey, they don't have a TV station, how good could it be right? Right?

The cake is making it's way in to the oven as we speak - The cupcakes. Well half of them made it in to the oven alive! Good thing I had planned to make about triple the amount we needed so we ended up in good shape. I definitely need to get an honourary recipe reader.

I'm also fighting what I believe to be a winning battle with this cold. It really has no chance to take hold with the ammunition I'm using. Here's the list of what I'm taking repeatedly over the day.

Oil of Oregano - every hour. I live for this stuff!
Colloidal Silver - a teaspoon 5X a day and a nose spray
Cold FX- I finished off the bottle last night
Oscillococcinum - I only had one dose left so I took it
Thymuline - Not sure if it will help, but it can't hurt
Dr. Rahim's Immune Booster - 3X daily
Some Sinus Homeopathic stuff - as a preventative
Drosera - as a preventative for the cough
Some Amino Acid thing for sinuses
My mom has also lent me a couple of other stuff she has to take

So really, how could the cold take hold? So far I feel nothing but a little aching in my upper back and a really slightly stuffy nose. I mean serious business here!

Off to make some dips for crackers. Please keep praying for the rain to stay away!

Weather is the name of the game.

We've got the food ideas, the cake ingredients, party favours, birthday dress, the weather...

Wait a minute. The weather!

Now, right now the forecast is almost perfect- 18 and cloudy. Partly Cloudy would be the most desirable, but I definitely won't be picky! Especially with the flooding in the US Midwest, and the tornados and hail they are having, and the droughts in Texas. I'll take mild without rain any day!

With the weather not being very pleasing today, I'm enjoying a bit of a couch break while Avari is napping. What I should be doing is scrubbing up the downstairs, just in case the party has to move inside, but I'm optimistic! Rain isn't allowed on the first day of summer is it? The other thing I should be doing is knitting a little camisole for Avari's dress, just in case it is as cold as it is today. I've been in a bit of a needle funk lately though - I get frustrated because all of the projects I want to spontaneously begin seem to need a needle size that I don't have.



The other thing I'm trying to do is will away all of the sick germs that have been floating through the house all week. I'm usually the first one to come down with something, but I have the feeling since Avari got it and I didn't, she didn't get any immunity from nursing so most likely it's just waiting to appear. The only good thing is that it seems to be just an annoyance kind of cold if anything, neither Kevin or Avari seemed very sick - so hopefully I can fight it off silently over the next couple of days and then be all perky for the big party!!!






here's the birthday dress!

T-3 Days

We're in party mode around here!!!! Praying for good weather, and getting together the goodies. It seems like it would be pretty simple to throw a party, but when you're trying to be healthy and environmentally responsible- apparently that is pretty difficult.

Fun, healthy food for the party as well as some goodies. Making a cake and realizing about food dye in the icing. Icky plastic beach balls for the kids. Even picking up a new propane tank for the barbeque makes me feel a bit self conscious. I think this is going to take me a few years to perfect- not a good project to undertake in 3 days - so I'll make it a future goal to make an awesome, fun, healthy, sustainable party. Maybe in time for birthday # 3.

Oh hooray- our fence is finished! We won't have to worry about little munchkins taking a nosedive off of the edge of a yard (it is a 3-6 foot mini cliff). The fence is the cutest, most wonderful picket fence in the world and I'm already planning on next year's plants to put there. It completes the yard so wonderful. Actually, the entire yard will be so wonderful next year. Raspberries, Cherries, Peach-Plums, Strawberries. I think that I will be sad to leave it when we build our hypothetical farm. (Did I mention that I have picked out a plan?)

It's time to put my baby girl to bed for one of the last times before she's a little girl

Looking ahead to the big 0-2!

We're T-4 days until Avari's 2nd birthday. My baby is going to be an official toddler! It's funny because 2 and a half years ago, I was assuming that I would probably be ready to burst with baby number 2 by now.

Funny how things change! Other than regret for my other favourite unused baby names, I'm pretty content with our three person family. Luckily Kevin feels the same way. Since we're still going through nights of interrupted sleep with the occasional break, it's hard to imagine going back there again for another 2+ years.

Right now we have dreams of our own little farm. A place for us to grow our own food, raise meat and pets. Have a spot for Avari to run wild all day in between schooling sessions. Our own orchard, grape vines.... doesn't that sound incredible! The world is getting to a very scary place as far as food sustainability and availability, and I'd love to create our own little niche in the planet. Granted, we know nothing about farming (and considering that the only thing thriving from my newly planted garden is one zucchini plant and some peas), we have alot to learn! We were very lucky to have gotten in the market at a good time, and we've secured good equity in our house. I'm hoping that the equity we have will be enough to buy us a few acres of land and then we can build a house with the cost of our existing mortgage. The best thing yet is that Kevin agrees with me! *

(* Those who know me know of my weekly new dream/scheme and it's up to Kevin to bring me back to earth)

So, it seems like this might actually be a really down to earth smart idea and we've set a time line of 3.5 years and here's to hoping that the dreams can come to fruition!

Some photos to share

I forgot to add this on my last post- working for Karen also has an even bigger perk- I'm learning so much about how to take better photos. Here are some to share from this month





look at how in focus her eyes are at 2.8f !





























CATCHLIGHTS!!!!!!!!






I went on a nature walk last month and it was wonderful!



























Beautiful morning window light!

I was so proud at how even lighting I got this photo




























Avari wants to wear her tutu everywhere!

Reinventing the Blog

So, it's been 2 months since i've posted- bad on me again! I've been trying to muster up something interesting to write, since I subscribe to a heck of a lot of good blogs. I want to be able to reciprocate with something equally enjoyable, and it just felt like everything was pretty blah di blah.

I think I'm becoming inspired to write not only about my daily life, but to issues that really matter for me. As you can see from my last post in April, I was looking to become a more responsible citizen, and voila - it's been working! My compost is baking away and starting to resemble some gorgeous rich earth and my garden is flourishing (with the exception of the plants I keep having to replace from the beetles and slugs). I should be able to start harvesting some lettuce leaves next week, and the first blossom has appeared on my 5 foot tall pea plants. Even though I don't like to eat tomatoes, I have 24 plants in the greenhouse which will hopefully provide us with tomato sauce and salsa for the winter.

This year's garden is technically a trial run for me, because I've never in my life gardened before. I have been learning a ton, and am ready to stockpile seeds and plan out a good companion garden for next year. I stumbled upon companion gardening this month as I replanted cucumber and corn seedlings for the 3rd time as they were being completely sheared off at the base. Obviously not a fan of pesticides, but desperate to be able to make pickles I went searching for answers.

Companion Gardening! - The act of planting certain plants together that are beneficial and deter bugs. So far, my cucumbers and corn have survived 3 days with the help of marigolds and nasturtiums. Nasturtiums truly have become my own best companion - they have beautiful foliage and you can eat the flowers and they deter bugs from eating the veggies- what can be better than that!

Enough about the garden for now. It's Avari's birthday coming up on the solstice. She is such a doll! I asked her today how old she will be

2! *

(*OK - there may have been a teensy little bit of conditioning there...)

But, what I didn't condition her to do is pick out the letter B on a page and tell me what it was. I fluke I thought, so I have asked her a few more times since and she was bang on each time. So, she knows the letter B - and she's started to sing some of the songs we do at toddler time/

I've been in a bit of a panic this week, because we do many fun things every week, and one by one they are closing down for the summer. The Family Place does stay open though which is a lifesaver for the pair of us!

On the work front. I am having so much fun working for Karen this summer assisting for weddings. Besides being an incredible photographer, she is the most awesome positive person in the world and so much fun to be around! I look forward to the weekends that I get to take the ferry over the island. I wish that we post lived on the same side of the water so that I could work for her permanently! ( I would definitely have better taste in music if we hung out more ).

So, I'm going to promise to blog something very insightful everyday all summer - I promise!!!! I'll share more photos, and hopefully I'll have more crafty stuff to share!