I feel like I’m always bowled over by my kids getting older. But seriously, this time… Double digits. Ten years ago I became a mother. I’m sorry but this is kind of astounding to me.

It’s a tradition that we sing Frances England’s You and Me every year on Lily’s birthday as the words are so apt.

Click here to hear the song!

You & Me

You and me, happy as can be
Flying through the park on our bikes
On a Sunday afternoon

You and me, rolling on the floor
Practicing your somersaults, cartwheels,
You donkey kicks and more…

How did you grow so big overnight
How did you get so smart and bright
Yesterday you were asleep in my arms
Today you’re growing off the charts

I’m so proud of you

You and me, drawing pictures wild and free
While the paint goes flying,
Your big smile brightens up the room

You and me, reading books in bed
Your head on my shoulder,
You eyes on the pages ahead

How did you grow so big overnight
How did you get so smart and bright
Yesterday you were asleep in my arms
Today you’re growing off the charts

I’m so proud of you

This might have been Lily’s favourite birthday yet. Her best friend Lily V came to stay with us for the weekend but the birthday excitement actually started weeks before.

With all the work going into finishing the house for sale, I was worried about what Lily’s birthday would look like. I’d likely be looking to celebrate her birthday out at a park or otherwise away from my sparkling clean house. It’s hard to plan outdoor events though here because they often get rained out! Luckily our dear friend Kim thoughtfully stepped in and helped Lily plan an amazing birthday party. She even offered to host it at her house to safe me the grief! Thankfully our house was sold by her birthday and the party could resume here and it was a steller sunny day to boot!

A plan for a Crazy Hat Crazy Lady Tea party was then in the works. Lily made invitations and worked on a crazy hat for her big day. Lily’s hat had moss, flowers, fake birds and peacock feathers attached to it. Also planned was the cake (Chocolate Quinoa), music (Frances and Sarah), games (charades…), a photo booth and pop and mentos explosion.

So many great friends came to celebrate with us and we all had a wonderful time. Man, we are going to miss these friends when we move. We’ve done it before when we moved from the Kootenays and then from the island and it doesn’t get any easier. Our time in Prince Rupert has been our longest stay in one place in many years and my heart aches when I think of leaving it. I know the friendships don’t end when we move but I’ll miss seeing these good people as often as I do.

This weekend was also the weekend the carnival came to town. You might remember our first experience with the travelling carnival last year. Last year, we used a coupon for three rides for each child which seems laughable to me now. How careful I was about keeping the rides to that minimum! Perhaps at the time it made sense and didn’t have everything to do with my own motion sensitivity issues? Hopefully not. Hopefully Lily simply wasn’t as daring last year.

This year both Lilys bought a wrist band allowing them on any and all rides for the day. I baulked at the exorbitant price but very quickly was ashamed of my resistance because it was exactly the right choice for my little daredevil. Those wrist bands were paid for in the first hour we were there.

(click on the above picture to see a shot of Lily’s face the first go around on this ride. Once you click, then scroll down.)

I was motion sick just watching them line up for all the rides! A few of them the girls went on back to back without getting off. The ride operators were for the most part friendly, perhaps a bit too friendly at times, once coming over to chat me up while the line up stood and stared at us. Scandalous!

I can’t say I was sorry to see the carnival go, even when I think of the fierce joy shining out of both Lilys faces. All the noise, and people were really over stimulating but the carnival only comes once a year. Might as well enjoy it.

It’s actually kind of weird. We’ve been working on one project or another in order to finish the house for the last four months, well longer really but focusing all our time for the last four months and it sells before our realtor even has a chance to take interior or exterior photos!

Of course I can’t leave without taking some pictures of this beloved home of ours.

We put in bamboo hardwood throughout the main floor. The original layout of the house didn’t include an upstairs and had an extra wall here and there so it was nice to remove any transitions between the current room layout. We are so happy with how it turned out.

One of the major changes we made to our house was to completely gut the bathroom. I’ve always described the previous bathroom as “hideous”. It had brown and beige subway tile on the floor, mismatched 80′s floral tile in the bath enclosure and it felt like you stepped into a trailer’s bathroom. The finishing work on this house wasn’t great so it was a joy to take it out and put everything all back together properly.

We’d purchased an old claw foot tub from another house renovation quite some time ago and we finally brought it up to our hoarded-in sun room to be refinished. We took great care and left it to bake for more than a week.

Cam built a chopping block countertop to replace some terribly built set of drawers in the kitchen. Did I mention that the previous owners weren’t great builders? Ugh. You can tell what they hired out and what they did on their own and we took pains to replace their “handiwork”.

I’m really excited about the new owners of our home. They happen to be very good friends who I know will make this a home for their growing family and enjoy it like we did. We will be handing over the keys and on our way to our new home my mid June! Until then we can rest easy knowing we don’t have to show our home and can get back to our normal lives of exploring the outdoors, spending time with friends and each other.

Our friends recently sold their house, as their time in Prince Rupert has also come to an end, and it was encouraging to see how smoothly the process went for them. I felt sad that they were leaving and I’m honestly feeling really sad about leaving as well. I love Prince Rupert and the friends and community we made here. :(

Anyway, on to sharing a recipe. We eat a lot of salad in this house, especially now that spring is here and the days are getting longer. This dressing recipe comes from the Hollyhock Cookbook and is one of our favourites. I keep promising to share this recipe with all my friends, so here it is:

Sesame Maple Salad Dressing

• 1 tsp Garlic, minced
• 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 cup Maple Syrup
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/3 cup Tamari
• 1/3 cup Safflower Oil (or Sunflower)
• 3 tbsp Sesame Oil

1. Blend all ingredients together except the oils. While blending, slowly add the oils to combine.
2. OR place all in a mason jar with a lid and shake, shake, shake!

This steak pie was outrageously rich and all kinds of yum! I had bought a couple no hormone, no antibiotic steaks and organic beef stock at the grocery store recently and wanted to try something different. Cam’s not a fan of meat though; he won’t eat pork (and other than local bacon, I don’t either) and he’s not huge on beef. He was willing to try this pie and loved it from the first bite!

This recipe is best started earlier in the day. The filling needs to simmer for a couple hours and then you’ll want it to cool a bit before putting it in the pie crust. It will then cook for about 30-40 minutes so keep all this in mind if you plan to make this crazy delicious pie.

Here’s what I did:

Pie Crust

• 1 cup cold Unsalted Butter, cubed into 1 inch pieces
• 2 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Almond Milk

1. Put the cubed butter in the freezer to chill for about 15 minutes. Measure out the almond milk and pop it in the freezer for a few minutes too.
2. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor with the dough blade in place. Take the cold butter from the freezer and process it with the flour mixture until lumpy. Don’t over process.
3. While the machine is processing, add the cold almond milk. Once the dough has come together, wrap the dough well in wax paper in disc shape and put in the fridge for an hour (or while you are making the pie filling). I like to make one disc a bit larger than the other. The larger one being for the bottom of the pie and the smaller for the top. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Steak Filling

• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Onion, diced
• 1/2 cup Carrots, diced
• 1/2 cup Celery, diced
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp Thyme
• 2 tsp Oregano
• 1  14 oz can Diced Tomatoes
• 1/4 cup Wine (I used a red I had open.)
• 1 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cracked Pepper
• 1 1/2 lbs Sirloin Steak, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I used a sirloin and a boneless ribeye)
• 1 tbsp Flour
• 1 1/2 cups Beef Stock
• 2/3 cup frozen Peas
• 1 Egg
• 3 tbsp Water

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until softened. Add the carrot, celery, garlic, thyme and oregano and cook for a further 5 or 6 minutes. Add the can of tomatoes, wine, salt and pepper. Stir in and simmer for another 5 minutes.
2. Add the cubes of beef, stirring to combine and then add about 1/2 cup of the beef stock. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. You may need to add more stock as you go to ensure the mixture doesn’t dry out and burn. I ended up using about a total of 1 1/2 cups of stock.
3. After the mixture has simmered for 2 hours, turn off the heat and sprinkle flour over the mixture. Stir well to incorporate, and the residual heat from the mixture will allow any cooking liquid to reduce and thicken. You are after the consistency of a Bolognese sauce. If you need to add more stock, do. Fold in the peas, and let the residual heat defrost them. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Set the pan to the side to cool.
4. Preheat oven to 400′F and in a small bowl whisk together the egg and water. Set aside.
5. After the mixture has cooled slightly, take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll the discs out into circles big enough to line a cast iron skillet or deep dish pie pan.
6. Transfer the pie filling mixture to the pie shell and pinch the crust edges together with your fingers or a fork. Brush the top of the pie with the egg wash, and cut a few slits into the crust to allow steam to escape during the baking process.
7. Bake at 400′F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350′F for an additional 20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I still think about that night that Leif was born. From the moment I started to think that my labour was impending and preparing to give birth to him on my own at home, to the slow, intense 3 hours I laboured him during his birth, to welcoming my only son to our lives.

He changed me. He healed me.

I’m reminiscing tonight and want to share some of my favourite photos of Leif.

Leif less than a day old and and waking up next to his sister always eager to make him smile.

About 7 months old sitting and playing with wooden fruit while I make supper. Nursing pillow behind and pillows in front!

Newly walking. (sorry about my voice!)

Trying to get up on the counter and a picture Paxye took when she visited us on the island of Cam and Leif walking on a log. This is how my kids dressed growing up and being ec’d always in t-shirt, one wet pants and baby legs!

Spending time with friends on Gabriola and exploring Prince Rupert after our move.

Spending time with dad and new playmobil and being my second shooter when making another empathy poster.

Always with the faces and being silly!

But sometimes just being himself.

Celebrating Imbolc in style

Feeling shy.

Having a bath at the cabin and showing me what I always look like with a camera on my face!

Dress up!

Visiting Oona River and showing some excitment!

Sometimes Leif is a bad guy and sometimes a rock star!

Time spent on Kitson Island and Lucy Island!

Fishing with Dad.

Bonfire at the cabin.

So peaceful when asleep and with his best sister, Lily.

So curious!

We received exciting news that our good friends gave birth to a baby girl the day before and of course our friend Kim’s birthday is shared with Leif. It’s so wonderful to celebrate these birthday’s together every year!

Or maybe something incredible!

Leif and Lily packed their own packs for this hike. Leif had his rain coat, rain pants, pliers and knife. Lily packed a swim suit for some just-in-case saunafication along with her rain gear.

The hidden and hushed sauna was there and sits next to a lovely meandering creek and lush mossy beds all around.

At first glance, we were wowed and then as we got closer we were feeling really let down. It looked like the place had been ransacked by beasties with bits of plastic, a strewn first aid kit and random flip flops all about. The telltale sign of beer and cheap liquor bottles suggest that it was a drunken free for all that made such a mess. A shame because the sauna looks well supplied apart from being extremely unappealing in it’s current shape. Next time I’ll know to bring garbage bags with me for a bit of clean up.