It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

This was the year that we opted not to put up a tree - initially I was kind of disappointed that we were not truly embracing the holiday season with a jazzed up twinkly tree. Then reality sunk in and the thought of a busy 10 month old making a mad dash for every brittle glass ornament, made me realize that having a tree was not as important as having our sanity. Instead we had little shots of Christmas throughout the house - all breakable and sparkly far from reach...

...a festive front door wreath...

...a sparkly snow globe...

...cozy little booties...

...perfect red latte mugs...

...birds nesting in the chandelier...

...earthy front door urns...

...a silver candy dish and the best fir tree scented candle...

...a cozy quilt and soft pillows...

...a lantern and a pretty owl...

...and shimmery glass ornaments in a woven basket - high up on our dining table...

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year we are looking forward to an exciting 2010. Lots of Love, CLB.

Our 10 Month Old

The Count Down Is On

Just one week until we are back in Alberta. We are looking forward to seeing everyone, catching up and celebrating our first Christmas with this wee one!

Fishing with Santa

Carmon's parents were visiting this past weekend - Max had a great time with Baba and Grandpa and I think they enjoyed catching up and seeing how grown up this little man is. We toured around the city hitting some of our favorite spots and of course what tour wouldn't be complete without a trip to Bass Pro Outdoor World!? According to Carmon, this place is heaven on earth...I could think of a few more enticing places, but we did have fun. Max loved all of the stuffed animals - that's right folks, real animals that are stuffed - not the fuzzy plushy kind.

We also introduced Max to Santa that day - what fun.

This Santa was all outdoorsy in his fishing boat.

Max helped him catch a fish.

Once the fishing excitement was over, Max realized that he was not with us and was on the verge of a meltdown. It was a very sweet moment and I am so thankful that he didn't pull Santa's beard!

Great Granddad's Oatmeal Cookies

I called grandma awhile ago for this recipe and the first time I tried to reinvent this childhood favorite, I was not happy with the results. I got out the recipe again tonight and made another attempt with a few modifications - tonight they are perfect.

Cookies

2 cups white sugar

5 cups oatmeal

2 cups flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups butter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

cream butter and sugar, add milk and then all remaining ingredients. drop onto parchment lined cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. bake 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Brown Butter Icing

1/2 cup butter

3 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

water

heat the butter in saucepan over med heat until golden brown, stirring occasionally. remove from heat, stir in sugar and vanilla. stir in enough water to achieve desired consistency to drizzle.

drizzle or spread icing on warm cookies.

Dear Soother - a letter of termination

Dear Soother,

It is with great regret that we must inform you of your termination as of November 16, 2009.

You have been an asset to our 'team' and most importantly to our son Max. You have been there for us in the hard times of sleep training, and a true friend in moments of panic, over-tiredness, boredom, and hunger. Unfortunately your role has become redundant and you are becoming no more than a crutch. More often than not, you are hiding in the cracks of the crib, or tossed on the floor attracting dust bunnies and god knows what else. With germ fighting being high on our new list of priorities, having to scramble to disinfect and immediately reinsert into an anxious little mouth is becoming a real drag, and has taken a toll on our team. We ask that you leave our premises quietly, without commotion and would appreciate it if you did not linger while saying your last goodbyes to our dear son.

We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and if you would like a letter of reference, we would be more than happy to oblige.

Yours Sincerely,

CLB

10 Honest Thoughts

Good old Kat was chosen by Ivy as an Honest Scrap award winner, well done dear friend! As an Honest Scrap award winner, Katrina must share 10 honest thoughts on her blog and then pass the award along to 7 other bloggers who then have to do the same. One of the 7, is moi. Oh Katrina, you are so good at forcing me to look inward, express myself and share it with the world. It was she that introduced me to this whole blogging phenomenon, inspiring me to find joy in the day to day and sharing it with friends and family. It took me awhile to get used to the idea of having snippets from the life of CLB posted for anyone to see but it has been such a wonderful creative outlet for me and a great way to document a really exciting time in our lives.

OK...perhaps I am stalling...I did a great amount of inner reflection over the last few days and I think I have come up with my 10...

1. I do enjoy saying a swear word of two, but I am trying to say them more sparingly these days, wouldn't it be sad if S--- was Max's first word!

2. It takes me forever to write an email and even longer to muster up a blog posting. I go over and over and over each sentence obsessively checking spelling, grammar etc. I am mortified if I see an error after the email has been sent or the blog has been posted.

3. I will not eat meat on the bone. Nor will I eat skin, innards, fat, slimy or crunchy bits of animal either.

4. I often burst into a fit of giggles in the most inappropriate places or they will become so out of control that I will have to leave the room to regain composure. Sooo awkward.

5. Not a fan of french kissing - eww squishy!

6. I like change.

7. I have an irritating need to correct people if they pronounce something incorrectly. Sorry! I just think, gosh if I kept saying a word wrong over and over, I would really want somebody to tell me.

8. Scary movies make me uncomfortable - you will never see me standing in line at Blockbuster with a copy of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, ever.

9. I have a heck of a time falling asleep after watching an evening's worth of HGTV shows. I get inspired and then can't help thinking about our house, what to work on next, what color to paint this and where to get that...

10. I am a homebody and can't think of anything better than snuggling up indoors with my two boys.

Nine

Max is now 9 months old, holy cannoli. We have been enjoying the last couple of days with my dad, who flew in for a long weekend baby fix. The timing was just right as the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is on right now so I think he felt right at home in the big city!

Max and Grandpa

...sporting his best 'cow lick' hair do

Gag-er-iffic

It seems that someone is developing a charming gag reflex for anything that does not resemble sweet orange vegetables or fruit. This evening I began with zucchini, that did not go well. Then lentils mixed with potato and carrots, nope. Option #3 a jar of Heinz chicken dinner, I tasted it and I gagged! #4 was a mix of flavored cereal with a touch of applesauce, down the hatch...and right back up again...drama.

The menu options were running out, but fortunately I had one lonely jar of apples and apricots in the pantry which was polished off in mere minutes.

While I am glad that tonight our little one has gone to bed with a full belly...what the heck am I going to feed him tomorrow?!

knock knock

who's there?

orange

orange who?

orange we glad Max likes sweet potatoes, squash and carrots!

Oh my god we need to restock the veggie drawer!

Max has a preference for the orange veggies, can't you tell? Just look at that little nose!!

happy halloween! may the force be with you...

"...Max...I am you father..."

a puppy for max

I remember saying that I didn't want a lot of toys taking over our house, particularly toys that are loud and sing grating little tunes that become ingrained instantly and play over, and over, and over again in your head...well friends, I will admit that while this new toy is exactly 'all of the above' it doesn't matter when you get a reaction like this.

Oh how we love our little man!

a little too quiet

Oh nap time, how I love you in the middle of our day. This is my time, an opportunity to tidy up, prep dinner and maybe even flick through a magazine and write an email or two. Our house feels cozy and hushed for this hour. Today, however, things felt just a little too quiet, a little too quickly so I had a peek to make sure all was well with Max in his little nest...

Busted! Sitting up no less! He burst into a fit of giggles as soon as he was discovered.

Can you see the mischief in his eyes?

After a few more giggles, I managed to settle him and get him lying back down again - this is how I left him...

...I was convinced that my hour would soon be up and there may not be an afternoon nap in store for us today. After a few minutes though I went back up, peeked in the door and phew! he was fast asleep.

month 8...just a day late!

Here we go again...another month down - holy. We were much too busy for blogging yesterday - here is a little glimpse of what Max was up to on his 8 month Birthday.

A car ride...

hide...

and seek!

Home again, practicing crawling techniques.

Reading.

Playing. Wait a second, that camera looks much more interesting...

just about got it...

On to a new game! I can see that this bin is going to be very handy...not too much mischief in here!

This little man is getting busy - let me tell you! We are looking forward to seeing him crawling for the first time...but really, not in a huge hurry for this folks! We will have to make a mad dash to Toys R' Us for baby gates when the time comes...oy. Teeth have yet to surface, maybe we will see little fangs on Halloween! Speaking of Halloween, we are looking forward to celebrating this holiday with a little one and maybe, just maybe, Carmon and I will have costumes this year so stay tuned!

Enjoy this beautiful, colorful autumn everyone!

happy thanksgiving!

it's frustrating figuring out this crawling thing

Every time we put Max down for a nap he tends not to fall asleep right away but rather practices his crawling. We love to peek in and watch him usually without him knowing we are there, but when he does see that we are watching, he loves the audience and starts laughing and putting on a show.

Bad camera angle...head tilting is required to view this one!

Daddy's Home!

Am I ever glad to have my hubby home again! Carmon was in Alberta for 2 weeks helping his family with Harvest. Max and I certainly missed him!

Max and I had a few days on our own and then my mom came for 10 days - it was just great to have her here again. As always my mom was totally on board with projects and boy, do we always seem to have projects! um, like the roman blind for the bathroom that she made last time, that still was not hung up...oops! Mom whipped up some very cute floor pillows for Max's play area and completed 5 more roman blinds - amazing!

We also went and cheered on my friend Jackie, at the Toronto Lakefront Marathon last weekend - it was such fun to see all of the athletes accomplish such an amazing feat - 42 km people! It really inspired me and maybe next year I will be running instead of spectating...we'll see.

Carmon and Max hung out for most of the day today as I had to sneak away for a few hours and boy did they make a mess!

We have a busy weekend ahead with swim lessons, brunch and a walk in Trinity Park with my friend Kathleen and her new puppy Moo. Have a great blustery, fall weekend everyone!