Happy Birthday

you wild and crazy guy you!

The joy of a visit

relaxing on the couch knitting and chatting, knitting and chatting

catching up chats

gathering wood (including the christmas tree) and starting the fire all on their own

cooking lunch over the flames

five bodies curled together to sleep

uno games

treats to bake

dropping in for dinner to rush back to play

adventuring on a frozen pond

a short evening stroll

very very cold weather outside

atv rides for next time

plans for next time, and the time after that

Tradition

Without committing to anything, I think I may have started a new tradition for Shai's birthday. Last year I made him a cardigan with a felted sweater. This year I decided (the day before :) to make him a vest. Again, I recycled an old sweater and felted it, cut out the pieces, and used roving to felt on an underwater theme. I blanket stitched the edges and voila! So perhaps this will be a yearly tradition....perhaps.

Clarity

On the last family movie night we watched The Last Trapper, which was about just that; one of the last people to make their living as a trapper in the far north. It was a documentary about the daily ins and outs of this live style, the animal dangers and the strong feeling of stewardship and responsibility the man feels towards the north. The extreme cold and the impact of the weather was really impressed on us, and if it wasn't already clear for some of us that this lifestyle is not something we could or would ever choose, it was after watching.
For others it was a dream to live out in our backyard. Fetching water from the pond, dog sledding across the open frozen water, building huts for survival incase the weather suddenly changed for the worst, practicing the crawl used on thin ice.

Note: because it was not my dream, i took photos through the window-lol!

I couldn't agree more

"There is something wonderful about a good hat".

Dear Dadda

We looked up Georgia in the Atlas today, and we think you are really lucky to be somewhere where there is grass (GRASS!). Since it's -35 here Ben decided to make a pumpkin pie. Being his favorite and all, he knew there wouldn't be any to share when you come home, so he took a photo of it for you to drool over!

Enjoy and safe travels!

Nut Pilaf

For Lee, as per request, my super easy, yummy nut pilaf from The Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook by Roz Denny

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup basmati rice
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 large carrot grated
2 tb oil
1tsp cumin
1 tsp caradom
2 cups veg. broth
1 bay leaf
salt and ground pepper
1/2 cups unsalted nuts - we always use cashews
fresh parsley or coriander (if we have it in :)

In wok or shallow pan gently fry onion, garlic and carrot in the oil for a few minutes

Stir in the rice and spices and cook for another minute or two so that the grains are coated in oil

Pour int he stock, add the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer very gently for about ten minutes

Remove from the heat without lifting the lid- this helps the rice to firm up and cook further ( I always forget and remove it lol )

Take out the bay leaf.

Stir in the nuts and check the seasoning. Scatter in the parsley or coriander in the amount you enjoy. We serve it with salad.
It tastes great reheated and everyone in my house enjoys it so that makes it even more of a hit in my book!

Belting it Out!

Again, editing past photos. I am still compiling a year in review, but there have been some along the way I can't resist sharing.

Before we moved Aria had a birthday party with her friends. We had it at the local splash pad, despite being a very cool day the kids had lots of fun running in and out of the water. I think the girls are trying to sing O Canada, or at least a close version. They sung there heart out, no one really noticing. They were totally caught in the moment. Beautiful!

Weekend Fun

Not only did we get to celebrate Shai turning to, but friends came up to celebrate with us. The kids couldn't sit still waiting for their arrival, pacing the floor. We met them with squeals, dancing and unrestrained excitement. It was wonderful to catch up on life and pretend we really just live around the corner.

The sunshine came out and kept us warm enough to play outside for the afternoon. The kids snowshoed, ran around, cut down trees, ate lunch around the fire pit. The big kids drove the ATV and admired their winter fire :)

The kids went out at night before they departed and with 5 (or so) matches built a fire- on their on. They squealed with delight, so loud we could hear them inside. It was a wonderful to end the visit- well that and the keys getting locked in the car. We have the calendar out to plan the next visit.

Happy Birthday! Today you are 2!

You are 2 today. A busy, happy little boy. You love your brothers and sister immensely, following happily along where ever they go, being the pupil, baby or dwarf of the game being played. You are more often than not the centre of attention, insisting you too get a turn during charades. When we grocery shop you insist on the person pushing the cart change after every aisle, you love to repeat a word over at least ten times and every bird we see is an owl. You burp incredibly loud for your size and think its the funniest thing going. Your sister taught you to gallop, one hand on your hip and bounce across the floor. You do it with such conviction, stopping, changing hands and galloping back. I could watch you all day.

The joy you bring us is irreplaceable. We move at a different pace, not only because of your age but because you draw our attention to so many of life's simple treasures. We love you little Shai.

We had such a wonderful day with friends. Celebrating with a cake, beautiful and thoughtful homemade gifts, (a fire outside during your nap but we won't tell you about that) and endless play. Happy Birthday King Shai!

Plans

We are so thrilled to have our friends visiting us. Tickled. Big plans are made, slightly different depending on who is coming. Some really like hiking and playing rescue, others love building things, some like to play pioneers, staying up late is a blast with others. The kids have been working on a surprise for the friends coming this weekend. Fun stuff.

I have been promising to put up pictures to show our friends D and S the skateboarding park here (they will have to plan a trip without the snow to see it though). We spent a few days a week at the park with skateboards, bikes and a baby stroller. Trying new tricks, pushing ourselves to the limit. It isn't busy during school hours, so we had it all to ourselves. I was truly amazed at what each of them accomplished, let alone thought would be a fun trick to try. There is ramps to jump off, ramps to skate off, stairs to go off and a giant bowl that I would never dream of entering on anything but my feet. But they did it.

Elias and Ben both took a class with the city, giving them a good intro to some of the basics, gave them the tool to put the names of the trick to what they were doing.

D and S , you guys are going to love it, the jumps are really cool, there are great rails for grinding and the bowl is awesome. We are so excited to go with you when you come in the summer. (that's a given M!)

The joy of giving

When I was about 13 years old, my sister and I pooled our money together to buy my parents a Christmas gift. I can clearly remember going to Zellers together, searching out the perfect one, spending every penny we had, wrapping it up and absolutely dying with anticipation and joy waiting to give it to them. We were so happy to give this gift, an electric blanket. It really didn't matter what it was, it was the thought we put into it, the saving and excitement we felt. It really was a gift for us to give them this gift.

I am so thankful to have had many wonderful gifts of giving, with joy.

This Christmas, the gift that was the easiest to make, cost the least, gave me great joy. Aria loves to dress up; numerous times a day, 'an old fashion woman' being one of her favorite characters. With great excitement I made her a muff. She was thrilled. She uses it for dress up, but also for going into town, when mitts aren't a necessity.

The kids had some joyful giving of their own. Which as their mum, melted my heart. To hear I just can't wait to give them this gift, I loved making this for them, I think this is the most perfect gift I could give, was a gift in itself.

Aria made me earrings with large bells, completely on her own from a bead kit she has. She was jumping with excitement as I opened it. Ben sewed and decorated with jewels a wool felt sword holder (scabbard?) for Elias. In secrecy he measured it and put it all together. Elias made Aria a cape for her and a matching one for Eleanor; a special doll. He was over the moon to watch her dress in them. What a blessing to be part of such treasured giving.

Embracing

Embrace the snow and all the possibilities it holds

This has been the mantra I was recently saying, while foot after foot after foot, of snow was falling around us. It sometimes feels overwhelming to just get out the door when the routine involves five snowsuits(one for me too!), hats, mitts (two for everyone-why is that always so hard?), boots, snack, keeping everything on and keeping good spirits. You know what it looks like.

Because we live in a place that gets a lot of snow I am trying to embrace it and the potential it has. We have been busy, fort building, snowmen creating, tobogganing, tubing, etc. We are enjoying it, even if its just for a little while or the motivation of hot chocolate afterwards :P

One of the things we have been getting soooo much enjoyment out of is the snowshoes my parents bought us for Christmas. We traipse around our 'obstacle' course, seeing who can go down the steepest hill or into the 'death pit'. We also got a pass to Arrowhead Provincial park which has lots of snowshoeing trails, we can go in deep snow or in really really deep snow. The park also has a crazy tubing hill (which shai loves!) and a lake for skating on. Fun times.

Going through the archives

There were many aspects of not having access to a computer that were extremely challenging. One was taking four thousand photos between August and December, capturing farewells, camping trips, birthdays, beach time, Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas and everything in between , and not being able to go through them or edit. I have just begun to go through them, which has been a very slow process. Everyone gathers around and we reminisce about what was happening at that particular time- its quite fun actually, just not productive in a timely sense.

We had a chuckle while remembering the evening we 'chopped' down a tree. It was when we were selling our house. It was a crazy time, we were physically swamped with preparing the house for selling in a two week time frame. We put have the house in storage to create a 'larger' looking space, painted or touched up every room, concreted the front porch, and so on. The day before it went up for sale our Realtor came by to do a walk through. She noticed a dead tree on our part of the boulevard and commented we really must get rid of it. We were living in a fast forward mode, everything feeling quite urgent, so as soon as she left Chris and the kids got to work. It was late (and therefor dark), all our tools were packed, accepted a rusty thin saw (more like a nail file!) we managed to dig out of the garage. Chris sawed, sawed and sawed, for a really long time. Everyone holding their breath in anticipation. When he got close to half way the kids started pulling on the ropes he had tied on.

I, of course, that this was hilarious! So I became the helping photographer :) Saw, pull, saw, pull. This lasted at least 45mins., Finally it was down. The kids took great pride in pulling it up and down the street. Good times. I know are neighbours missing us!

The ju jube made me do it

I like my babies (boys and girls) to have long hair. Who can resist the wavy curls, that moppy mess? Not me. Alas some Christmas candy got stuck in Shai's hair, and despite my best efforts the only solution was a trim.

It goes without saying how cute he looks still, but there is a pang in my heart for how he now seems to look older. That's just not fair.

O Christmas Tree

There is a few things I would love to share about Christmas. As most, we have Christmas traditions that we hold dear. We love to cut down our tree, some years it has been raining, others its green and many there is snow on the ground. While we have lots of trees, there aren't any suitable for us to cut down. We never would have guessed living in a very tree covered area that we would have a challenge in finding somewhere to cut down trees. Everyone we asked puts up a fake tree, so after lots of research we found somewhere almost an hour a way!! Off we went Santa hats and warm gear on.

We now live in an area that gets a lot of snow, more than we are used to. This year this has been an exceptional amount. We arrived at the tree farm to find the trees buried in four - five feet of snow. The trees actually looked as though they were only a few feet high sitting on top of mountains of snow.

As we attempted to trudge through the waist high snow, one child in hand, we commented how we felt like this was a Chevy Chase moment. The wind was whipping, the movement difficult. When we found a tree we thought we might like we had to dig it out in order to be able to cut it down. This took about 40 minutes due to the high amount!

After all that work we were happy with whatever the tree looked like. The long hall back and then Chris put it on the car. While he strapped it down, a woman in heel boots and a light coat commented that what she does is come in the summer to pick and tag a tree for the farm to cut down just before Christmas and then pick it up. She suggested I think about that for next year.

It wouldn't have been a Chevy Chase moment though we hadn't have hit really bad, icy weather on the way home. And of course you know we had to have the tree fall off the car due to the high winds. We got it home to find a huge hole in the one side, the tip broken and most branches mangled.
It looked perfect. And its tradition.

Our new friends

One of the first thing the kids wanted me to share about our new home is the deer. We have all spotted on hikes or the side of the road, but never in our backyard. It has been such a joy to have them visit, to come around the corner to find a mama and baby under the trees eating the berries. As part of our solstice celebration we make special treats for the animals- this year particularly for 'our' deers. We don't tire of spotting one, something Shai as quickly caught on to. He likes to stand by the window and yell 'DEER', have us all come running - to find nothing but him laughing! What a guy.

Happy New Year!

So much has happened! We've moved. We moved three hours north, to a small town, in a big house with 3 acres, where I drive an ATV sometimes! I don't buy coffee out anymore, I stack wood and build a lot of stick shelters. I miss my dear friends and am thrilled by the time freed to craft and explore new places.
There has been so much I have wanted to write about, to remember, but the whole process has been scrambled and fast, emotional and crazy. Getting a job offer, selling our house, buying a house, storing our belongings, grabbing spare moments with loved ones, moving, all in two months. A whirlwind. As much as I have wanted to record the past five months, it hasn't been possible. It is too much time to back track and fill in all that empty space. I am going to post a few photos from each month for my own record though, which will be below.
Now that I have access to a computer at home (even though its dial up) I plan on sharing what we are up to here on Hillside. I have missed being in this space, my place to ramble.
To a new year!

Playing with photoshop on a rainy evening

That sounds so civilized, doesn't it?