taking stock

veggies, goats cheese and olives wrapped in phyllo 

We are slowly coming out of our sickness haze, and beginning to see the light. 

Yesterday, we had unseasonably warm and sunny weather, and so it was a picnic lunch outside on our back deck and a walk at Miner's Marsh. 

Recently Winslow went back to work, which means we are slowly finding a new kind of normal. 

Right now, I know that I am needed as the constant in our family, and it is good to feel that sense of belonging. As we find our way back to a routine and find a new need for organization, I know that I must be present and available. It may not be a glamourous job, but I'm reminding myself that it is important. 

In family news, our sweet Wesley Birch is now two months old. It's a beautiful time, that I am holding onto dearly. In one moment, I feel that he is still so small and fragile, and at the next moment, I marvel at his new developments and milestones. 

Yesterday our sweet boy had his vaccines, and while he did great during them, he was in so much discomfort at night. His poor cries, full of tears. We took turns holding him, kissing him and reassuring his feelings. There is something very comforting when someone tells you it's okay to be sad. Our poor babe. Thankfully today he is in much better spirits. 

And finally, in an attempt to make sure that I am in good spirits, I have been taking measures to practice self care as much as I can. Beautiful Hawaiian folk music, to calm my nerves. Homemade food that I enjoy (from this lovely book), not caring if the kids care for it. Walks in the sun. Chai tea in the afternoon. It's the little things, and boy are they beautiful when I take stock of them all. 

xox 

samosas 

these days ...

Lately there has been all kinds of activities to keep us going.

Last weekend, I made my way into Whitehorse to hold my Fall Mini Sessions. It was a busy, jam packed and successful weekend, and now I am playing catch up in all sorts of ways.

Community commitments, have us cooking and serving up lunches on Mondays, and leading playgroups on Wednesdays. It's a busy time, but it feels good to be involved in our little community, and it also feels good for me to keep at my creative endeavours.

Fall is here, or rather is on it's way out already. The leaves have all since fallen off the trees, and we are well into bellow zero nights and mornings.

The cold has brought on a hankering for warm foods, like pumpkin baked everything (muffins, loaves!) and comfort foods. We had garlic roasted chicken for dinner the other night (which ended up giving us one chicken dinner, 3 mini pot pies and chicken soup) . It feels good to be back in the kitchen, making yummy food for my family and for friends.

In homeschooling news, we've been slowly  finding our rhythm with our homeschooling days, which feels good.

I know that our homeschooling adventures will be an ever evolving concept, but for now, I have found a nice balance for us, that seems to be working.

We start each morning with lighting a candle. Sometimes we then say a prayer or sing a song. I like how this kind of brings us together, and sets the mood/tone for the morning.

After our opening meeting time, we then do our calendar and weather dial. I made the weather dial and the kids quite like it.

After the calendar, it is story time. Down the road, Noah will start reading to me (when we do sight word books), but for now, we are enjoying seasonal books and what ever else strikes our fancy that morning.

After story time, we usually do a bit of Writing or Math. Our writing activities include journal entries, writing letters to people, printing, letter recognition games ect. Math includes, counting games, sorting games, patterns, and more. I am trying to make the activities fairly short (5-10 mins.) and have a few up my sleeve. So for example, we may play 2-3 games in the span of 15-20 mins.

 Right now I am noticing that Noah's attention span is getting a bit longer. A week ago, I was lucky if he would sit through one 5-10 min activity.

To me, what is most important is that we enjoy our time together.

If I am or the kids are feeling stressed out, or rushed, or just plain cranky, then it's not going to work for us. Same goes for a lot of "busy work" or "sheet work". I truly believe in experiential learning, and that being creative and learning to problem solve are really important learning skills to foster, so that is where my heart lies in homeschooling.

And finally, we are all starting to get excited for our upcoming trip to Ontario and PEI in October.

It has been over a year that we have all been back to ON together, and we are looking forward to having family and friend visits. We are also taking a quick side trip to PEI to visit my mom and our family there. It's been nearly 3 years since I've been to PEI and I am so excited for it.

It will be short, but I am looking forward to having a belated Thanksgiving dinner with our PEI family :) I'm also hoping that the leaves are still displaying their beautiful Autumn colours when we get there, as our are all gone now!

And that's how our days have been rolling along. Steadily, busy, and happily content.

xox

some of our Autumn books 

two roads project :: comfort

comfort

Sarah (left): What brings me comfort? Warmth, familiarity, ritual. As the season turns and I begin to look ahead to a time of preparation, I return to some traditions of comfort. As I noticed the first inklings of cooler nights and crisp mornings, I have slowly begun welcoming warm comfort foods back into our meal rotation. This week, Abby suggested we use some of our tomatoes to make Johanna's famous tomato soup. I jumped at the chance to use some of our garden bounty, and we had a jar of homemade chicken broth in the fridge waiting for just such an occasion. Abby helped me pick some ripe tomatoes, and that evening I blanched, peeled and crushed them for the soup. I picked some basil from our plants, and spent a quiet evening listening to a podcast of CBC's Tapestry while I diced onion, crushed garlic and stirred simmering soup. The next day at lunch, we made some grilled cheese sandwiches, and poured everyone a bowl of soup. I think it was the first time the twins had ever been served soup, as the idea of the mess daunted me last winter! Rich enjoyed his in a stone chowder mug I picked up for him in Maine, because he likes best to sip his soup. Abby, of course, informed me she didn't care for tomatoes and didn't want any, but she relinquished eventually, tried some, and finished her bowl. Hmm.

Johanna (right): With Noah now in school for the afternoons, Katia and I get to spend some special time together, just the two of us. 
Yesterday we tried our hand at a delicious tomato basil bread recipe. 
The scent of the basil (fresh from the garden) as we chopped it up was so delicious. 
The feeling of kneading the dough was comforting and rhythmic. 
The warmth from the oven, the coziness of the kitchen. 
There is something so comforting about homemade bread. 
I used to think that bread was one of those impossibly difficult things to make.  But after a few lessons and a very good everyday whole wheat bread recipe thanks to Sarah, we now enjoy homemade bread every week.

The well-known poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken ends, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Two women, who became friends via the magic of the Internet, were both living life on roads less traveled by. Circumstance had them both live in Whitehorse for a short time, where they became best friends. Life's map has them currently in differing geographic locations, but their connection and camaraderie continue as they continue on paths of motherhood, friendship, creativity and discovery. The Two Roads Project is our effort to reconnect with each other and our inner artists on a weekly basis, each Friday. (Or thereabouts. We don't always know which day of the week it is).
Sarah writes here. 

how does your garden grow?

We've been so fortunate this summer to be able to use the community greenhouse and garden here in Beaver Creek. It is a space where everyone is welcome, and they have one employee who has been helping to make the space beautiful, accessible and welcoming.
On Mother's Day, we went in and planted out little seedlings. Almost one month later, we have a huge box bursting with green plants and good smells (the basil is so fragrant!).
The greenhouse holds special memories for me and  as I have said before provides me with a quiet place to be when I need it. It is where we met Ryder, and is also a very family friendly place for the kids to go to.
Steve, the young man who works there, invited myself and the kids to come over and do some planting. He had started some seedlings inside the greenhouse and wanted to transplant them outside into the garden beds. Noah and Katia enjoyed doing their work and had lots of questions for Steve about spiders, blankets over the garden beds and different veggies.
This evening we enjoyed a few peas and radishes from our box. Fresh peas right off of the vine are the best. It wasn't a lot ( I am most excited for the zucchinis and basil) but it was still exciting.
It just feels like summer when we are growing our own food, and I really wanted the kids to get excited about the idea of growing and eating our own food. I wanted that connection made for them.
xox

this is a pallet that says, rethink your use of garbage 

two roads project

Nourishment

Sarah (right): I have always been struck by the notion that there is no English phrase equivalent to "Bon Appetit," as though the English were too fixated on progress and spear-heading an Industrial Revolution to bother slowing down and enjoying food. In my life, food is central. Food dictates where I'd like to travel, my energy level in the morning, how I treat health conditions. My days are fast-paced, but I make it a point to slow down and enjoy my food. Nourishment has been a literal concern for me these last few weeks, as Hailey and Robin continue their yogurt-only diet (self-created, of course) and Summer begins eating her first solid foods (pureed carrots, pablum with cinnamon so far). On the one hand, food is art: experimental, colourful, textures, pairings, creativity. On the other, it is fundamental: the essential ingredients help our bodies function. I am conscious of this dichotomy, as I teach my own girls to approach a variety of foods while understanding a nutrient's role in her well-being. There's only so much appreciation I can garner among the under-six crowd, though. Sometimes eating a plate of seasoned couscous with wilted greens is too much to ask of my little gourmands in the making.

Johanna (left): Where we live can pose it's challenges when it comes to providing nourishing food for our family. Our closest grocery store is a two and a half hour drive away, and that little grocery store isn't always all that well stocked. When we get into our major city center ( a five hour drive, I'd like to add), we buy upwards of a month's worth of groceries, so needless to say, fresh produce is not always on hand for us at our home.
Most people have the luxury of going to a grocery store and getting fresh produce whenever they please. Don't even get me started on those extremely fortunate folks that go to local farmer's markets and buy free range/organic/locally grown you name it. Don't get me started. 
But when you are faced with the challenges of living in an isolated community, you learn to become creative, resourceful and very appreciative of helpful neighbours who bring your back fresh produce when they go to town (this is actually how we maintain a pretty well stocked fridge). 
Enter the smoothie. Yes, popular as they may be, smoothies are a life line for our family. They provide us with our daily quota of fruits and I even sneak some veggies in there too (avocados are so creamy in a smoothie!). I love that I can buy frozen fruit mixes and sometimes we can even score organic fruit mixes - double score! When our produce selection is low, at least I know that we can always have a yummy and nourishing smoothie. 
Here is my recipe for our morning smoothie. 

Morning Smoothie

1 frozen banana cut up

1 cup of mixed berries 

half an avocado (I have mine precut and frozen)

2 tablespoons of Greek plain yoghurt (great for protein) (add an extra half of an avocado if you don't like yoghurt)

1.5 cups of milk (you can substitute with any alternative milk)  

note: on occasion if I have fresh baby spinach or baby kale, I sneak about 1/4 cup of it into the blender. 

.....

The well-known poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken ends, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

Two women, who became friends via the magic of the Internet, were both living life on roads less traveled by. Circumstance had them both live in Whitehorse for a short time, where they became best friends. Life's map has them currently in differing geographic locations, but their connection and camaraderie continue as they continue on paths of motherhood, friendship, creativity and discovery. The Two Roads Project is our effort to reconnect with each other and our inner artists on a weekly basis, each Friday. (Or thereabouts. We don't always know which day of the week it is).
Sarah writes at Cure For Boredom.

daily life and a catch up

Katia's art. I drew the trees, she stamped, drew, finger painted and used a straw to blow paint. 

 on my birthday, with my 2 loves, and all my cards in the background! 

 reading a favourite Halloween book from our seasonal books. This one has lot's of "lift the flaps" to open.. the best kind. ps. like the bed? Winslow made it! 

I am finally finding a moment to sit down after a busy week and write out what's on my mind. For a little town, Beaver Creek sure keeps me busy! Which is actually good, because I think that I am the type of person that needs to keep busy.
This past week we settled back into our day to day rhythm. We had spent the week before in Whitehorse and had been so busy and out of our element. It was nice to slow down, cook home cooked meals and sleep in our own bed.
I have been making an effort to really concentrate on making our meals healthy and delicious lately. Not that I hadn't done that in the past, but I felt like I was falling into a rut ..... (let's just say that homemade mac and cheese was on our lunch time menu way too much!). So, I've been making menu plans that will allow for more creative and nutritious lunches. For some reason, lunch is my difficult time of the day. I have the kids home all morning, then Winslow comes home for lunch, and then I have to get Noah to school for 12:45 each day. I alway find that I don't give myself enough time to get a hot lunch prepared and served by noon. But I am working on it.

Here are a few of our recent and well liked lunches:

- organic chicken wings (I actually found reasonable organic meat in Whitehorse!). I comes frozen and unseasoned, so I add soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and lemon (and hot sauce on Winlsow and mine).

- veggies and dip

- hummus and pita

-mini quiche

- chicken fajitas

-  mini chicken pot pies (I bought 4 ramkins for 10$ at the Super Store, actually I bought 8!)

And speaking of daily rhythms, I am actually happy that the darkness has returned. We are now going to bed much earlier and sleeping in much later, which means we are all better rested. It feels good to get a good night's sleep.
This past week was my birthday and we all had a lovely day enjoying some good food and good company. I ended up making all of the food that was on the menu that day, which had some people up in arms- but rest assured, I was happy to do it because it meant that I got to have a day full of delicious food~! I made pumpkin waffles for breakfast, and butter chicken for dinner. For dessert we had a decadent carrot cake and I decorated it with some bunting flags that I bought a few years ago from my friend Dawn in Austria. I really enjoyed receiving cards and gifts in the mail and loved opening them up. It was so thoughtful of everyone to take the time to remember me. I felt special.
I'm 32 years old now and I have made some goals for myself for the next year. They involve projects and changes, so I'm going to keep them to myself for now, but I hope to share them over the next few months.
In other news, we have been enjoying the return of Autumn. I know I had you all scared with my last post, where I showed the snow. It stuck around for a few days but has since melted and we are now enjoying a few more sunny golden days- thank goodness!
In celebration of Autumn, we have been working on some Autumn inspired crafts and have pulled out our Autumn /Halloween books.  I love having seasonal books that I tuck away and then pull out at the right time. It's always a surprise for Noah when he sees his favourite books return after being hidden away for a year. It's kinda like a present, and I like it!
So we are marching on with a busy couple of weeks ahead. We have Thanksgiving coming up and then a quick trip into Whitehorse on Oct 26th. Then home for Halloween and then a possible trip to Ottawa in November. I'm excited!
Hope you are all well.
xoxo

a frozen lake, hanging with the family, and my job/role/career (however you label it)

yes, my son is a bit of a crazy kid. and yes, that is a swim diaper on his head. oh dear!

The days have been so busy. They sneak into one another. Wake ups, breakfasts, play time, dressing up, play dates, lunches, snacks, naps, dinners....it's busy but a very nice kind of busy. I am reminded often when I look at these two, just how blessed I am to be able to spend my days with them. It is a gift.
Someone asked me recently how I will manage to keep up with my photography business when we move away. This is a hard one to answer, because sadly, I won't be able to commit myself quite the same way that I did in the past. But the good news for me is that, photography was and still is going to be a passion of mine. I never set up for it to be a full time career. My first priority has always been to my family and I am happy to keep it that way. For me right now, my most important job is to be at home. I made that decision (popular or not with the majority), because I want to be the one that is there to play with the kids, teach them new things, watch them grow, and make them healthy meals. ....... side ramble ......* Notice I didn't say clean? How on earth did I land the most amazing husband who cleans (and does it well?). Thank you to my mother and father in law who taught him those skills. I suppose I have to pass it on to Noah now right?
Anyways, back to where I was. Like I said, right now, while the kids are so young, I am actually quite happy to be moving to our community. This will be an opportunity like no other, to teach them about the great outdoors and how to be resourceful. It's a short time in their (and our) lives and I will always have the passion to do photography. But for now it will be on the backburner (just a bit).
This past weekend was one for family time and adventures. We strayed from our normal routines and did things a bit differently. We splurged and went out for a delicious dinner on Friday night (just the four of us) and it was so good (probably because we hardly ever go out to eat). And on Saturday morning, once again we treated ourselves to a breakfast at a restaurant and then for a drive out to see some swans that are migrating North for the summer. While we didn't see any swans up close (they are far out on the open water), we did get out for a walk on the frozen lake and enjoyed being together in the great outdoors. Then that afternoon, Noah and I snuck out to do some errands, visit Sunny in the hospital and go to the park. Dinner on Saturday night was fajitas!
Sunday morning I had a maternity photo session here at the house and the rest of the day was spent doing errands together. Again, it was so nice just to be together. Oh and dinner (if you must know) was chicken pesto fettuccine with asparagus. Yum!
So that is all around here. Just a bunch of little bits that make up a whole lot.
I am now off to watch Downton Abbey. Thank you Sarah for turning me onto it. I'm not much of a tv person, but this I am enjoying.
And how are you?
xox