yay, no tears

Today Jake went in for his first professional haircut.  And guess what?  It was a completely different experience from our attempt at a home-cut.  There was no crying, no screaming, no arm restraining and no food bribes.  And another bonus, this time around Jake won't be terrified of the bathtub for three weeks (It turned out to be a big mistake to do the trim in the bathtub, even if he was sitting in a chair, fully clothed.  Traumatic). 

He got to hold a hair brush and hair clips and help sweep-up afterwards, which was probably the highlight of the experience.  He is such a little helper.  He didn't like his ears being touched but was too shy do anything but shrink down a little and look worried. 

The only bummer is that I didn't get any pictures in the salon.  He sat on his own in the chair and I was too busy holding on, making sure he didn't jump.  But here are a few pictures we took at home. 

Before:

 

After:

a few things

- Billy is back from another crazy, long weekend on the bus!  When we heard his keys in the door this morning, Jake squealed "daaad".

- Jake never gets to watch TV.  We never even have it on in the background and it actually isn't even plugged-in.  We have a little reading light plugged-in instead.  However Billy and Jake recently started a little morning ritual of watching hockey highlights on the computer in the morning.  He sits on Billy's lap, in total concentration and signs more when the clips end.  They are so sweet together!

- Today for Sunday lunch we are making French toast.  Just the regular kind, but this version is good too.  We have maple syrup, honey, caramel sauce and this strawberry rose petal jam for toppings.  The last few Sunday's we've been having delicious pancakes and hot porridge.

- The BC Lions play in the Grey Cup tonight and although I'm not the worlds greatest football fan, whenever the Lions play, I think of my Grandpa. I have the fondest momories of him and I love days like this when they come rushing back. So, go Lions!

- I found some Cheddar cheese in the grocery store yesterday, called Scottish Cheddar, and it is the best I have ever found in Europe!  It has me wishing I could find graham crackers here.  I ate cheese and graham crackers for lunch everyday of Elementary school.  Such an odd and delicious combination. (Just a little fact: I was a picky eater as a child.  I never ate a sandwich until the latter years of high school.  Sorry Mom, what a pain in the butt I must've been!)  If they sold molasses here, I would make these graham crackers.     

- Tonight we are planning on walking through the Christmas market for some hot beer and spiced orange juice.  Now if only we had a little snow.    

jus d'orange chaud

Our Christmas market starts today!  All the lights are strung and little red booths are scattered all throughout the downtown.  Now all we need is just a little snow.  I can hardly wait to stroll through this evening.  

 So here is something to add to your next holiday party or a cozy night at home: hot, spiced orange juice.  They serve it at the Christmas market here in France and it's truly festive and so delicious.  One of my favourite things to walk downtown for and stroll though the Christmas stalls with.  And this is coming from someone who doesn't drink orange juice.

Note: this recipe yields approximately 1 liter.  Also note that the measurements are kind of funny - one bottle, large glass... - precision isn't too important here.    

You will need:
1 bottle of orange juice (not nectar)
1 large glass of water
150 g of sugar
1 stick of cinnamon (or 1 / 2 teaspoon of powder)
1 star anise or some anise seeds
2 cloves
1 orange
1 lemon
……………………………………..

Wash and cut orange and lemon into slices, keeping the peel on.

In large pot simmer water, cinnamon , lemon, orange, cloves and anise for 5 minutes.   Add the orange juice and sugar.  Heat on medium without boiling. 

Remove from heat and strain (using cheese cloth if you've used cinnamon powder) over a bowl.

image via Canelle et Vanille

twinkling city

Paris is all lit-up for the holidays.

The windows and streets are glowing.

It couldn't be any prettier.

Kaytie and I went for the afternoon to do a little shopping.

We warmed-up with Chai teas.

Fast-walked all over Paris.

And brought a few macarons home with us.

It was the longest I have ever been apart from my sweet Jake.

It was such a fun day and perfectly festive!

If you feel like sharing my festive mood, 

here are a few Christmas songs:

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven

Thanks to Kaytie for taking all the great pictures!  
The last one, the full view of Galeries Lafayette, I found on travelersmust.com.  
And it was a travel must, really spectacular. 

getting creative

Of course blocks are fun.  The endless possibilities of building them up and knocking them down is a huge draw.  But the box they come in is pretty fun too.  

We also had Jake's Friend Angel over the other day and they played for almost two hours!  Angel is just the sweetest five year old and plays so nicely with Jake.  He also always has Jake in stitches.  I've never seen Jake laugh so hard. 

marseille, again

But this time it is not me going and there is no speedy-train involved.  Billy plays a game there tomorrow night and it will make for his longest road-trip yet.  They leave Friday night at 9pm and will arrive home sometime around 1pm on Sunday.  It is a solid 12 hours bus trip, each way! 

Also in hockey news, they are advancing to the Semi-finals 

in the France Cup.  Exciting!

 

Update:  They won the game.  Yay!  

And Billy was home in time for pancake lunch. 

Hooray

Today we got books in the mail!  I'm so excited, you'd think they were for me.  I ordered a few books from Amazon.fr for Jake.  We needed to add a few more books into the rotation because those books are getting so worn and tired!  I was expecting them to take a while, and surprise, they showed-up this morning.  Now I just have to decide which one to save and wrap for Christmas. 

 

We are going to have such a nice afternoon of snuggling and reading!

perpetual calender journal

What a sweet idea.  I have always wished that I had kept a journal while growing-up.  I even tried a couple of times and it never lasted.  I just wasn't the journal type.  But jotting down a little note every night is something I could possibly keep up with.  Creating a perpetual calender journal would be a wonderful thing to look back on. 

puddle hunting

When my parents came, it was like a mini Christmas here, and these sweet boots were one of the many things they spoiled us with.  So on occasion, Jake goes out hunting for puddles.  He loves stomping around the yard in these boots.  If we would let him, he would be wearing them in the house too.  He thinks they're great.

 We are hoping that with nice, thick socks they will be his winter boots this season.  We probably won't get much, or any, snow.  This coat on the other hand, isn't going to make it for too much longer.  It's getting a little too snug for this growing boy.

This is my cute view from the kitchen window.  There is something about the brick, ivy and moss that I like.  It's charming really.  I certainly wouldn't see anything like it from my kitchen at home.   

autumn in paris

We thoroughly enjoyed our little Paris vacation.  It was nice to be in the city during the week and be a part of all the liveliness.  We spent most of our time walking and eating.  We enjoyed fresh macarons and beef bourguignon.  We wandered through Jardin du Luxembourg and ran through the fall leaves.  Jake loved all those leaves!  We even tried to do a little bit of shopping but we were more

overwhelmed then successful. 

It was so nice to get away together. 

pancakes and a vacation

Sunday is Billy's only day off.  It used to be a day of sleeping in and hot breakfasts but now it usually means Jake and I  snuggle-up on the couch reading books.  Billy still gets a little sleep in because he gets in so late from his Saturday night game.  So Sunday has basically turned into every other day.  I am obviously a big fan of snuggling-up with a book, even if it means we read the same book six times before a new one is subbed in.  But I also miss our warm family breakfast together.  So we decided to start making breakfast for lunch on Sunday's; I'm so excited.  

Today it's pancakes!  And really, because I'm the cook, it will probably be pancakes a lot.  I like to first butter mine and then drizzle honey on top.  I've ate them that way every since I was a kid.  Mmmm.  I'm also not opposed to fresh fruit and whipped cream.  How could you go wrong?!  

I always make this basic pancake recipe.  Do you have a pancake recipe that you just couldn't be without?  

I'd love to try something new.   

If you ever happen to be in Victoria, Willies Bakery is a must.  They have a pancake-of-the-day and it is a surprise each time.  There is no schedule.  You just show-up and find out what fantastic combination they dreamed-up for that particular day.  I was lucky enough to go when they were serving white chocolate and cashew pancakes.  Delicious.   

 

We also have a vacation coming-up.  Five days without hockey!  We are going to spend  a few days in Paris and relax together. 

Picture via pinterest

hockey photography

This season, photographer Vincent Lignier is following the team.  We've been told he's well known in France; has worked for Rolling Stone, Financial Times, Elle... and shot many famous faces.  I don't really know how long this will continue, but so far he has been at the practices, in the dressing room and at the games. 

Here are a few of his shots.

 

They're not your typical action shots.  

More focused on the player rather than the play.

I'm sure there will be a few more shots to come.

finger painting

But without the mess!   

We put some paint in a big zip-loc bag and taped it to the window.  It will last for days.  It definitely held Jake's attention for a few minutes but I think he will have even more fun with it when he's a bit older.  Especially when he starts learning about the alphabet and mixing primary colors.  Fun!

happy halloween

This was really the most non-halloween I could've ever imagined. Nothing about the day seemed very Haloween-ish at all.  Except maybe the fact that the leaves have finally started falling from the tress.  That sort of counts, right?!  We didn't even have a pumpkin to carve this year because I could only find cut and cleaned ones at the grocery store.  Easy to cook with but impossible to carve.  

To top it all off, Jake wasn't really into wearing his costume.  I made him a Harry Potter cloak, but the real problem was the glasses I made from felt.  There was no way he was letting us put those things on him.  No way!  Not even for one single picture.  So he ran around for a while in a cloak with a little lightening bolt scar on his forehead and then ditched the whole get-up.  It was a funny day really.  Us trying to manufacture a Halloween.  

Before bed, we actually had a buzz at the door and thought, maybe we had trick-or-treaters.  We didn't.  It was Pizza Hut at the wrong apartment. Ha.