Spring!

Happy Easter!!

Swing in Spring

Standing baby!

Elise has started pulling to stand--so proud of herself!! :)

9 1/2 months

Our little one is growing and changing so fast...

Kicking Horse with Gus and Zenia

Dave's good friend Gus, originally from Australia and now residing in Denmark, joined us with his partner Zenia for a great visit, involving lots of skiing at Kicking Horse resort in Golden BC. We have been so lucky over the years with having great weather for skiing and this weekend was no exception--LOTS of snow in Golden!! I got out on skiis again for a good few hours of green runs, and Dave had some great "fresh tracks" mornings. Elise seems to be happy to be outside in general, but particularly loved riding in the sled--especially with Daddy's "crazy" driving!! A great visit with the Harmans too, and an entertaining car ride with Shandra driving and me sitting between the two babies in the back seat.

Family Fun in Florida

We had an amazing time in Florida--a break from the long winter, and a great visit with family. Dave and I flew down Feb 11th, and Dave stayed for a week. Elise and I were able to stay until Feb 29th, and overlapped our visit by a few days with my sister and her family.

My parents have rented a house with a pool on the canal in Cape Coral for the months of February and March. It was so nice to feel "settled" in a home-like setting, and the weather was beautiful and warm, but not overly hot, so it really felt like we had just skipped a few months and were enjoying summer a little early!!

Elise settled quickly into a routine with her Grandparents, and absolutely LOVED the pool! We were so lucky to have lots of chances to get out and enjoy the area, both with Elise in tow (and Grandpa supervising!), as well as on our own, while Grandma and Grandpa bonded with Elise. We went for walks, went kayaking with Manatees, went to beaches, biking, "hiking", swimming and running. Oh yeah, and shopping. Lots of shopping!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for such a wonderful vacation--we absolutely loved our time with you, and hope we can do it again very soon!!

Swimming baby!

Elise has turned into quite a water baby. She was happiest in Florida while in the pool, and would cry if we didn't let her in at least a few times a day. She seems to have figured out how to hold her breath, and gets excited to "swim" on her own. Here's a brief video clip--(unfortunately I think this was about the 3rd take, so she was starting to get tired, and is less smiley than usual.)

Fernie with the crew

Another great ski weekend--things are a bit different now that everyone has a family in tow (lots more gear, much earlier bedtimes, skiing in shifts), but still so great to get away. I took a ski lesson, and Dave had a good morning out on the hill too.

Weekend in Kananaskis

We were looking for a weekend away to enjoy the winter weather before Dave gets too deep into his MBA Exam. We were joined by the Harmans. The Delta Kananaskis seemed to fit the bill with lots of options to keep the kids busy, as well as being close to Nakiska ski hill. We enjoyed some skiing (my first official time on skis after almost a 2 year hiatus from Snowboarding), taking the sleds out with the babies, as well as exploring the hotel, including the pool. It was a great weekend for all, and felt like a true vacation, even though we were only an hour from home.

World Juniors

My friend Kaylea gave us her tickets to the World Juniors 5th place game tonight. We took Elise for her first taste of hockey and she was great! So excited by all the noise and lights. We only made it to the 2nd period, but it was great to be able to say "I was there". An exciting game between Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Christmas

Getting ready for Christmas

We finally bought a full-size Christmas tree this year. I'd been holding out, hoping that one of these days we would be able to get a REAL tree, but since it seems we are always spending Christmas in Ontario, it doesn't make sense to have a real tree (i.e. fire hazard) drying out and dropping needles on the floor while we are away for 2 weeks.

We found a nice pre-lit one at Costco, and amazingly, had enough decorations to make it look quite lovely, if I do say so myself (pictures to follow). [This may be in part due to my savvy post-Christmas Superstore sprees where I can always find Christmas stuff for 90++% off!]

Getting ready to go out the other night, Elise was playing under the Christmas tree, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity for some photos. She was 6 months old yesterday!!!

Recipes!

I don't normally post recipes on our blog, but now that I am a "stay at home Mom" I have been spending more time in the kitchen and experimenting with different recipes. Here are a few that I've really liked:

This cookie bar recipe is so much quicker and easier than cooking sheets and sheets of individual cookies. They turned out great--I doubled the recipe...

http://www.bos-bowl.com/2010/04/oatmeal-cranberry-white-chocolate-chip.html

A great bran muffin recipe from All-Bran (see http://all-bran.ca/en/recipedetails.aspx?RecipetypeID=14141&t=512). I used the "molasses variation" at the bottom--so yummy and so easy!! Double the recipe if you can because they will go quickly!

1 1/3 cups or 325 ml All-purpose flour 1/2 cup or 125 ml Sugar 1 tbsp or 15 ml Baking powder 1/4 tsp or 1 ml Salt 1 1/2 cups or 375 ml All-Bran Original* cereal -OR- All-Bran Buds* cereal 1 cup or 250 ml Milk 1 Egg 1/3 cup or 75 ml vegetable oil

1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. In large mixing bowl, combine cereal and milk . Let stand about 2 minutes or until cereal softens. Add egg and oil. Beat well. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Portion batter evenly into twelve greased 2 1/2-inch muffin pan cups coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake in oven at 200°C (400°F) for about 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown. Serve warm.

Variations :
Molasses: Decrease milk to 1/2 cup. Add 1/2 cup molasses to cereal with milk. Omit sugar. Follow directions above.

YIELD: 12 muffins

PER SERVING (1 muffin):
170 Calories
7 g Fat
26 g Carbohydrate
3 g Dietary Fibre
4 g Protein

"Baby Led Weaning"

Our sister-in-law Janet Jackson tried this approach with her twin boys, and we were always interested in trying it with Elise. See: www.babyledweaning.com 
As you can see, she is VERY interested in food, and we are so impressed with her ability (and interest) to feed herself!
So far she has tried a real variety of foods (avocado, banana, sweet potato, potato, carrot, apple, orange, toast, bread, waffles, rice, broccoli and salmon!) and we are enjoying having her "eat" at the table with us.

Our growing girl...

Here she is at 5 months old...