Halloween & 60th Birthday Celebrations

The cutest little cow I ever did see.

Moo.

We spent the Halloween weekend at my parent’s house on Vancouver Island, and what a great weekend it was. My mom & dad are just over the moon when they’re hanging out with Ryland. He can do no wrong in their eyes. Also, my mom puts chocolates on our pillows. Reese’s PB Cups for Duncan, Aero for me. Speaking of which, I ate every single mini Aero bar that Ryland scored while trick or treating…and I’m way too embarrassed to reveal the exact number. Never mind my dad’s birthday cupcakes, the waffles and whipping cream for breakfast, and a few (ok, more than a few) crisp apple ciders. But I worked extra hard at my spin class last night to get rid of some of the guilt and excess calories so I’m even. Yeah, sure thing.

On Friday we did some exploring and came across this little gem along the water:

There are so many beautiful lakes, beaches and trails on the Island (us British Columbians call it “The Island,” as if it’s the only island on the planet). And they’re never jam packed the way everything here on the mainland is. What do they say about life on the Island…”twice the fun, half the pace.” Totally true. I’m instantly in relaxation mode the second we get off the ferry. I sleep better, too. Must be something in the air.

We celebrated my dad’s 60th birthday on Saturday before heading out for some trick or treating with our little cow. We had these t-shirts made, which we all wore, and they were a pretty big hit.

It totally looks like Ryland on the shirts, but it’s actually my dad when he was 5 months old.

We had some ribs for dinner and cupcakes for dessert, (a HUGE hit with a certain toddler), and then my dad opened his presents. He got a bit choked up when he opened the little book that I made him. That’s saying something because I think my dad has cried twice in my lifetime, each lasting for about 12 seconds. I did good! And he loved Ryland’s finger-painted masterpiece. It went up on the wall immediately.

Now let’s go get some caaaaandy!!! I have the sweetest sweet tooth ever. I try to satisfy it with fruit as much as possible, but on Halloween, all bets are off. I’ll take ALL the Starburst & Skittles PLEASE.

Cowpokes

And this, my friends, is why you have kids.

There was a small pack of goldfish which we let Ryland have, but other than that, alllll ours. We won’t be able to get away with stealing all his candy next year so we took full advantage this time around. But before that, we let him sort through it all, and I had a huge proud mama moment. He was putting all the Smarties in a little pile off to the side! You’re probably thinking “ok….and???” But in my eyes that makes him a little sorting genius. *Gush.* Ok, enough.

The one downside of the weekend was that Ryland came down with another cold. I swear, ever since he started going to daycare, it’s one after another. I’m told that’s the way it is at this age, but still. I hate seeing him not feeling well. He was still his usual party animal self all weekend, but nighttime was pretty rough. We all know how hard it is to sleep when we’re stuffed up, but it must be a hundred times worse when you don’t know how to blow your nose. Breaks my heart. Our one saving grace is this stuff:

Abundance Baby Balm

It’s meant for diaper rash, but I also put it under his nose and on his chest and feet when he has a cold. It really helps him settle down and it has a very soothing smell, sort of like Vicks Vapo Rub. I love it because it’s all natural and the little tin we have is lasting forever. We also put a pillow under the top end of the crib mattress which seems to help a bit…but Ryland moves all over the place when he’s sleeping so it doesn’t last long. On Saturday night he slept on top of me for most of the night and it was heaven. My shirt was drenched from his sweat and I was in a really awkward position, but there’s nothing better than having your baby sleep on you. I wish it didn’t only happen when he’s sick, but I’ll take what I can get. Thankfully, our little guy is on the mend now, and maybe, just maybe we can go a whole month before the next cold :/. You wouldn’t even know he was under the weather with big smiles like this:

Alrighty, there’s laundry to be folded, a dishwasher to be unloaded, etc., etc., ETC., (it’s never ending!) so I better get to it. Have yourself a really great day :).

A Crafty Weekend

Hi! I hope your weekend was a great one. We went for a hike, hung out at the park, had a visit with some friends and did a little grocery shopping. We also got pretty crafty around here. Ryland had his first finger painting experience and I made a little something for my dad’s upcoming birthday. Being a toddler, Ryland puts everything in his mouth, so I had to make sure the paint was “edible.” I searched the good old internet for toddler-safe paint and ended up mixing a few drops of food colouring with sour cream. I was thinking that it might smell funny once it dried, but nope! Hopefully that doesn’t change. I put the kiddo in the bathtub with the paint and a couple of canvases and he got right to it.

 

He obviously had a little taste…apparently he does NOT like sour cream. I was going to use yogurt but he loves that stuff and I figured he’d end up eating it instead of painting with it ;). One of his masterpieces will be a birthday present for his grandpa and the other is already up on our wall. My little Picasso!

My dad is turning 60, so with some help from my good friend Pinterest, I put together this little booklet:

I bought a few sheets of pearly white card stock from Michaels and used a paper cutter at work to cut out 62 4″ x 4″ pages. I hole punched the top left corners and secured them all together with a metal ring/clasp that I happened to have in my craft box. I honestly don’t even know where it came from, but it was very handy for this project. I also bought a sheet of “dad” related stickers to stick on every few pages. Then I wrote out a list of all the reason I love my pops, picked my 60 favorite, and wrote one per page, plus a front and back page. Some are funny, some are cheeky, some are serious, but they’re all right from the heart. I thought it was a pretty cool way to let him know that he’s the best dad out there. In my opinion of course :). He’s not overly excited about turning 60, so hopefully our “artwork” makes it a little easier for him to enter a new decade ;).

I made some Cheesy Black Bean & Brown Rice Mini Muffins for dinner last night and they were a hit! I put a few in Ryland’s lunchbox for daycare and froze the rest so that I can take a few out here and there for quick lunches or dinners. They are a perfect toddler meal. Basically, all the rice actually makes it in his mouth and they have a great balance of fiber and protein. I’ll post the recipe on Wednesday in case you’re interested.

Enjoy the rest of your day :).

Beat it, Cancer!

Hey hey! How was the weekend for ya? Awesome, I hope. Mine was pretty good. Did a little baking, hiking, wine tasting…as in the better part of an entire bottle. Fine, the entire bottle. I also participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure yesterday in support of a coworker of mine that is unfortunately battling breast cancer. She’s just started chemotherapy but managed to make it down to the event to see us off. I admire her strength and courage so much. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must be to have that monster in your body. My aunt beat breast cancer earlier this year, thankfully. I know too many people affected by it in some way. I wish cancer was a person so that people could beat the living you-know-what out of them. Seriously, just BEAT IT, cancer. No one likes you anyway.

The event itself was pretty amazing. The weather was absolutely perfect and the energy was so positive and humbling. And so much pink! The best was seeing so many grown men wearing tutu’s. Two thumbs up to them. I brought Ryland with me….he slept most of the time but here we are just before the finish line:

Other highlights of my weekend included a Saturday morning hike with 2 of my favorite dudes. Let me tell you, it is HARD WORK going uphill with 25 lbs strapped to your chest.

 

And because I did all that hiking and walking, I felt like I really deserved this:

Good thing I burned a bunch of calories because I’m too embarrassed to even tell you how much of this I ate. Did I share with Duncan? Nope! Did I hide it in the back of the freezer so that he doesn’t finish the tiny bit that’s left? Quite possibly.

Oh, we also went to my nephews first birthday on Saturday. There were about 8 kids, although it felt like 50. Such a sweet group of kiddies though. Most of us parents are friends from high school so it’s really awesome to watch our next generation together. Getting a decent picture was basically impossible, but at least they’re all in it!

And here’s my jellybean.

I just love him so much. It’s ridiculous, actually. And I love bandana bibs almost as much. Paperairplane.ca makes the BEST bibs for such a reasonable price. And it’s great to support other mamas.

Wow, I didn’t realize I had so much to talk about! I better leave it at that for the day. Have a good one!