Sweet Treats with Grand-maman

Growing up, I remember dessert being a rare event in our house and being delighted that I could ask for honey-nut cheerios as one of my Christmas presents, since my mom was so strict about sugar in the house… then along come grandkids and, much to the girls’ delight, suddenly all that goes out the window. Not only did a waffle maker arrive from my folks just before Easter, but so did a fancy cake pop making kit. So the girls had a ball baking chocolate chip waffles and sprinkle-covered, pink cake pops with grand-maman. Of course, the rest of us did our share to support their efforts by sampling the finished product.

Easter Adventures

With Michelle’s parents coming for their last visit to Edmonton, we had big plans for Easter! Those plans almost didn’t end up working out, but we pulled it together in the end and had a fantastic time.
First stop was the Fairmont MacDonald for Easter Brunch, where we discovered that the reservation we’d made weeks before had been lost. Luckily, there was a no-show party of six, so we were able to take their table! After some fantastic food, it was time to head upstairs for the kids Easter Egg Hunt, until Isabelle got her hand caught in the elevator doors (all the damage seems to be emotional, luckily), so we missed that during her recovery period. To make up for that, we organized a last minute hunt in the back yard, which went wonderfully, as the pictures illustrate. We finished off the day with barbecued salmon and Guy’s leftover birthday cake from the night before, plus a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape that Guy and Shirley had brought to celebrate Easter and the sale of our house, so all in all, an amazing Easter, despite a few temporary setbacks.

Easter Cookies and Manicures

Since making sugar cookies with Aunt Janne and cousin Megan over Christmas, Isabelle has been constantly asking when we are gonna make and decorate cookies again. For Easter, I finally gave in, channeled my inner Martha Stewart and gave it a go. It took two days, lots of breaks (this mom and her daughters seem to have short attention spans) and lots of internet baking blog reading, but I have to admit, it was pretty fun! Oh, and we also squeezed in time for a mother-daughter manicure using Jamberry nails.

Toddler on 2 Wheels

We succumbed to the beautiful spring weather and decided to give Elodie her birthday present a month early, as she was spending a lot of time intently watching Isabelle glide around on her balance bike – a birthday present from two years ago. We figured we’d try and harness this perfect storm of intense interest and nice weather and see if Elodie would really take to the balance bike (unlike Isabelle when she got hers). It seemed to go well, and time will tell if Elodie’s drive to do whatever her sister is doing will win out. Of course, the ground is now covered in snow again, so we may have to wait a bit.

Note: An update seems to have taken the navigation arrows off the pictures, but the arrow keys on your keyboard should work just fine.

The Evolution of the little Blue Dress

This photo sequence just makes me smile

Thanks to Rob and Lauren for the amazing first two pics! http://www.robandlauren.ca

A Little Breather

Why so long since our last post? Well, I think it’s safe to say we underestimated the toll selling one house and finding another would be… but it’s DONE! We have now sold our house in Edmonton and found a house we love in Victoria and get to enjoy our last 2 months here with that behind us.

So for the next little bit it’s back to the important stuff like blanket forts, bedtime songs and Isabelle’s new favourite food: butterfly toast.

Telus Spark

We decided we all needed to stretch our legs en route to Kananaskis and thought we’d check out Telus Spark in Calgary: I’d say it was a hit!

Fun In The Snow Part II

This is quite the monster post but we just loved the pictures so much we couldn’t find anymore to remove!