u pick (some more)

July and August brought with it the best cherries we've picked (ever!) and the juiciest peaches.  The kids happily picked and ate fruit right from the trees.  Or in Avery's case, sometimes right off the ground.  We'd have to bring wet wipes with us to clean Avery off before paying at the fruit stand ;)

The orchards are so beautiful in the mornings.  Practically sparkling with sunlight.  Quiet and peaceful before the tour buses and mobs of pickers arrive.

  

 One of my favourite ways to spend a summer morning.  

u pick

A favourite summertime outing of ours is going to orchards and picking our own fruit.  There are a few big orchards down the road that we frequent but sometimes a sign will just pop up at the end of a driveway and when that happens it's usually a good idea to check it out.  

June picking -- strawberries and blueberries -- at Covert Farms
(followed by some tasting of their organic wines)

Obviously, Avery did more berry eating than berry picking.

Until next year, Covert

a cake in the making

What's better than eating cake?  Well when you're four, and you're Jacob, the answer is making the cake.  He was a supreme helper.  Helping measure.  Emptying the cracked eggs.  Braving the noise of the mixer...  

And here he is, helping with the clean-up*

*Note -- although Jake did a bang-up-job cleaning the beater, I was tasked to clean-up that chocolate face. 

birthday party

On the weekend, following Avery's actual birthday, we had a little family party; because what's a birthday without a birthday cake!?  When I asked her if she wanted chocolate or vanilla, she said she wanted chocolate AND vanilla.  Smart girl.  At that point I'm not certain she even knew the difference but she does now.

She was sweet, shy and excited about the whole thing.   

And decked out in her new purple cape, she happily blew out two candles.

  We did the wishing for her.  

May there be many, many happy and healthy birthdays to come and may she always know how deeply we love her.  

pasta pro

I made the mistake of making homemade fettuccine with BOTH kids a few weeks ago - tasty but a handfull.  The takeaway from that little experiment was that it's a little too messy for a 1 year old (duh!).  Avery ended up covered in flour and obsessed with eating raw noodles but Jake showed real pasta-making-promise.  So just Jake and I did it again the following week (thanks naptime!) and it was a huge success. 

The best part of pasta making is... the pasta maker!

made in Italy, of course :)

Jake was in charge of settings 0 to 5.

He was a pro, no assistance necessary. 

And settings 6 and 7 were a "team effort" with Jake turning the crank and me guiding the pasta through.  Jake would've liked to make pasta all-day-long.  

He helped with all the layering.  His favourite being the cheese on top.    

And, ta-da!  Homemade lasagne. 

  

We'll be making more pasta together again soon.  Our time in Italy ensured that pasta making will be a family tradition around here. 

cookie party

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without some cookie decorating so we invited some friends over for the festivities.  There ended up being 7 children (ages 4 and under!) and 4 moms'.  It was terribly fun!  And loud too at times.  The kids played and ate sprinkles and decorated some beautiful cookies.  The moms' drank coffee with bailys and doled out the icing.   

Jacob had so much fun he nearly cried when everyone bundled-up to leave.  So it was a success.  The egg nog sugar cookies were devoured and we'll have another cookie party again soon.    

halloween fun

This was our funest Halloween yet.  Jake was really looking forward to the whole thing and it helped that they had a party in his class.  He kept telling everyone who asked that he was going to be a "big digger" and although I consider myself a little crafty, I didn't want to tackle that.  So we were happy that Grandma Jean sent this Buzz Lightyear costume in the mail.  It was really adorable.  And so was our little ladybug (Apparently a really popular costume this year as three of Avery's friends were also ladybugs).

These two are just too cute!

       

We also enjoyed pumpkin carving.  It took Avery a while to warm-up to it; but in the end she got her hands a little dirty.  

Jake invited some friends over to decorate mini sugar cookies and of course everyone had fun.  Good work Jake.  If you look close you can see the little ghost and moon sprinkles.  So perfect.  

The most-talked-about-event at the preschool Halloween party was ghost bowling.  Happily Miss Taylor sent out pictures and here is Jake showing us how it's done.  There was also snacks galore, so the party was a success.

And we made these paper spider webs to decorate with, which turned out super.  It was a happy, happy Halloween :)    

palm-beer

make this!

 

It's our best discovery of the summer -- thanks Kait and Elliot.  And since I don't think it's an actual drink, I'm just calling it a Palm-beer.  Perfectly summery.  Good for beer drinkers (Billy) and non-beer drinkers (myself).

A happy little drink made from a light beer, ruby grapefruit palm bay, a squeeze of lime and ice.  voilà!

I know, summer is winding down but you'll still want to make this anyway.  Trust me.