One last pumpkin treat...

Check out my Rice Krispies pumpkins-- I'm going to have to say that they don't look as lame as I thought they would.  Not bad for 15 minutes and someone with sub par baking skills.

Oh well.  The kids will probably still like them...

And I think I'm officially done with pumpkin flavored baking, pumpkin shaped baking, and maybe pumpkin spice lattes.  Anyone know when Starbucks Christmas drinks come out?

The plan for tonight?  Pizza party. Trick or treating with cousins.  Sugar highs all around.  Should be fun :)  My house will be handing out candy tonight-- come on by... but only if you have a costume :)

And now... I've got to go clean up all the sticky orange colored marshmallow smeared all over my kitchen...

An ode to summer

So if you're missing those warm summer evenings around the campfire-- I've got something for you.

Can anyone say S'more Cookie Bars?

via Pinterest

While I was at home visiting my family last week we had an extended family get-together to celebrate my new little nephew.  My Auntie arrives with a pan of something that looked quite delicious-- S'more Cookie Bars.  I asked where she found the recipe.  Pinterest.  Of course :)  And oh my-- they were good.  Real good.

So the other night I needed a little chocolate in my life... in a bad way.  I made a quick trip to the grocery store for some milk chocolate and a jar of marshmallow cream and quickly whipped up a pan of chocolaty marshmallow goodness.

Craving satisfied.

I like to start in the middle and work my way out :)

Don't worry-- I didn't eat it all on my own.  Doug helped.

So if you want to remember the long lost days of summer... you need to make S'more Cookie Bars, put the kids to bed, and enjoy a piece of chocolaty summer goodness.  But be warned-- you may not be able to stop after one piece-- you may be saying... Give me S'more of that!!

A Hint

I just received something in the mail today.  It's something new for the house.

Can you guess what it is?

Here are a few hints...

There's something a little fishy about these pictures... :)

All pictures via Pinterest.

Apparently I was wrong...

So I was shopping at Superstore with Caleb on Sunday night.  Of course-- it takes me a while to actually make it to the grocery section of the store.  I tend to get hung up in the home goods section.  I spied these metal bins and decided to pick a few of them up for the house.  I remembered seeing them used for storing fabric scraps over at Rambling Renovators a few days ago.  Doesn't this look great?

image via Rambling Renovators

As you may know-- fabric is a bit of a weakness of mine.  My fabric collection does not look this pretty-- those metal bins would help.

And then I remembered seeing this on pinterest the other day.  How cute is the basket of books!?  I stood there in Superstore dreaming of all the ways I could organize and store the kids toys and my crazy fabric stash with those metal bins.

image via pinterest

So I grabbed a few baskets and added them to the cart.  I asked Caleb if he liked them.  He told me they were pretty cool.  He thought we should get three.

An hour later we get home from our grocery shopping trip.  Doug and I are unloading the groceries in the kitchen.  I look around for the baskets and they've disappeared.  Where did they go?  Well apparently-- as I was standing there dreaming of beautifully organized toy and fabric storage-- Caleb had been dreaming up a totally different use for those baskets.  Apparently they aren't baskets.  They are cages for his animals.

And wouldn't you know-- they also work great for building castles.  I've said it before-- why do I even bother buying toys for these kids?  Non-toys are so much more fun...

**sidenote-- is it just me or does this "castle" look a lot like an inukshuk?**

Anyhow... Caleb gets the baskets for now.  I'll let him have his fun.  Besides, it gives me yet another excuse to procrastinate cleaning/organizing the downstairs toys.... "I thought I was buying storage baskets but I really bought cages..."

A Different World

Life on my parent's farm-- it's a different world indeed :)

A place where daily chores are done-- complete with helpers... of course...

Where Uncle Joel shows up for dinner driving this...

And it's a place where Nana still regularly bakes buns-- again... with a helper.

Of course-- no trip to the farm would be complete without a day of shopping in the city.  These days the dynamic is beginning to change-- shopping with three kids can really make things interesting.

Of course-- shopping does have the tendency to wear them out.  I snapped this picture only after they had been holding hands for about 10 minutes on the drive home.

But best of all-- the farm is a place where I get lots of good snuggles in with this little cutie.

I'm pretty sure I don't look this cute when I yawn like this...

And now we're home.  After a quick flight home yesterday we were all happy to see Daddy and crash into our beds for some long, much needed naps. (hooray!!)

And now... unpacking, laundry, and grocery shopping.  All that fun stuff...

More Maps

I've been ignoring this blog over the past few days.  I don't have any new pictures to upload and share-- so how about some pretty pictures?  Here are some rooms with maps on display-- they totally inspired me when I was hunting for the perfect map for Caleb's room.

I currently have one of these Expedit shelving units in my basement.  It most certainly DOES NOT look as neat and organized as this :)

Single maps are great-- but how about this triptych?  I kind of just shocked myself with my vocab abilities.

A collection of maps.

I love how this big map is paired with a modern crib.  How cute is that!?

Now how about these next two hanging maps?  Unframed... casual.  Love it.

Awesome.  So is that bench.

What a great kid's room.

This map looks old.  It's pretty fantastic.

Happy Friday!!

All pictures are via pinterest.

Bright and Early

My alarm went off at 4:45 am this morning.  Why?  My flight left at 6:30 am.  This morning I realized why I no longer enjoy flying.  It's because I no longer fly solo... I've had company on every flight I've taken over the past four years.

They did really great.  And they are pretty cute.  But after several hours of entertaining them on the plane I was done.  I needed a break.  Luckily we're staying at my parent's farm for the next few days :)

And... I finally am getting some quality time with this little sweetheart-- my new nephew Cohen.  I think I'm in love :)

Educational Artwork

I've been looking for something to put up on the wall above Caleb's bed for a while now.  I wanted something unique and one of a kind.  At first I was going to do a gallery wall of his artwork-- but I soon decided that a wall full of metal frames with glass was an accident waiting to happen in this kid's room.  So I did a bit of searching around on Esty and found this.

It's a vintage map of Canada from 1936.

I thought that finding a really old really cool map was going to be difficult, but I found TONS of original old maps of all different varieties-- some over a hundred years old-- for pretty reasonable prices on Etsy.  There were street maps, nautical maps, maps of provinces, countries, territories-- everything.  Very cool stuff.  I knew I wanted to frame mine and I wanted it to be big-- so my choices were a bit limited since I wanted it to fit into the largest Ikea Ribba frame. After a bit of searching and emailing back and forth with a few Etsy sellers I purchased this old Canadian map for $8.00.  Not bad.

It almost fit into the frame perfectly-- it was slightly too big-- so we had to trim it a tiny bit so it would work.  I picked up two big sheets of white poster board and put them together to give the map a neutral backing.  The map isn't perfect-- there are a few tiny holes, rips, marks, creases, and the paper is yellowed-- but I love it.  It has  lots of character :)

I know you're all thinking-- how is this frame any different from a gallery wall of little frames with glass?  It sure looks like one great BIG sheet of glass.  But it's not.  The largest Ikea Ribba frames have clear plastic instead of glass.  It makes them lighter to hang and so much safer with young kids around.  But it totally looks like glass-- totally fooled me :)

And that is the educational artwork we put up in Caleb's room.  Now every time he goes to bed he wants us to tell him ALL about EVERY place in Canada.  Oh boy...

** I found many many more great vintage maps and charts-- if anyone is looking for a cool map-- email me and I'll send you the links to some other great finds **

It doesn't get much better than this...

It's the weekend.

And I have a plate full of Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars in my fridge. 

Yup.  It's going to be a great weekend.

I would highly recommend making them.

Just a few things...

Doug "installed" Caleb's "moose" (that's what he thinks it is) last night.  We're loving it.

We've got the vintage modern vibe going on in here with a few "Canadian rustic" elements thrown in for fun.  It's exactly what Caleb wanted-- he told me so himself :)  As if.  He really could care less about what his room looks like.  One day when he wants to paint his room neon green and chooses his own posters for the wall I'll let him do it.  I think... :) 

And just one more thing.  Tuesday was a CRAZY day.  Three doctors appointments and poor Eme got her 12 month shots (a little late-- I know-- had to wait until I knew I could walk her into the clinic myself :)  I arrived home from the public health unit at 5:45 with cranky hungry kids-- trying to figure out what to make for dinner.  And it was raining.  I rush into the house to find that Doug had just gotten home from work and was making dinner.  I'm busy and distracted, the kids are going crazy, and 15 minutes later I look over at the table to discover these waiting for me...

And chocolate.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Love you babe :)

Boy or Girl...

My sister's having a baby!!  What are we at now-- 5 days overdue?  I can hardly wait-- every time the phone rings I jump (not literally) and run (not literally-- knee surgery, remember?) to the phone hoping that it's THE CALL.  Until then-- I'm waiting... and online shopping for baby stuff :)

An Auntie's gotta make a baby blanket for the little one-- right?  So-- I thought I'd share some of my favorite flannel picks from Fabric.com.

Here are my favorite boy flannel options...

1.  Baobab Flannel Geometric Shapes White/Coco  2.  Timeless Treasures Tailor Flannel Herringbone Cream  3.  Timeless Treasures Tailor Flannel Tiny Houndstooth Black/White  4.  Zoo Menagerie Flannel Blossom Blue  5.  Amy Butler Loves Flannel Sunspots Mint  6.  Claire Bella Flannel Links Blue

And girl...

1.  Della Flannel Flora Blossom  2.  Claire Bella Flannel Links Pink  3.  Amy Butler Loves Flannel Tumble Roses Pink  4.  Bliss Flannel Birds Tangerine  5.  Amy Butler Loves Flannel Cypress Paisley Mint  6.  Zoo Menagerie Flannel Blossom Pink

Boy or girl... I love surprises :)  Can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew!!

Thankful

I really love Thanksgiving-- I love how the holiday kind of sneaks up on you-- you're enjoying summer, heading back to school and then before you know what's happening a pumpkin explosion takes place.  Is it just me or is everyone a little too obsessed with pumpkin these days?  I do love me a PSL, but I mean really... pumpkin pizza?  Sometimes you just shouldn't mess with a good thing.

A couple of days ago I excitedly said to Caleb, "Guess what!  It's Thanksgiving this weekend!!"  His response?  "Awwwww!!!! I HATE turkey!!!"  I think we're going to have to work on that Thankful Tree a little more before the weekend's over :)

But I really have so much to be thankful for-- my always entertaining and awesome kids, my wonderful loving husband who cooks, cleans, and takes care of everything while I'm recovering on the couch, my amazing family, all of my fantastic friends,  a wonderful home for my family, food to eat (turkey included), health and safety.  My life is so full.  But more than anything-- I am thankful for my loving Heavenly Father who is the giver of these good gifts.  Year after year-- no matter what the circumstance-- He never changes.  He is all that I need.

So on this rainy Thanksgiving Monday-- we're cozying up in our sweaters, drinking some coffee (I am-- not the kids) and enjoying life together.

These kids.  Melt my heart.

Do you ever look at your child-- post meal-- and suddenly feel so overwhelmed at the task of cleaning them up?  Food on the floor, on the wall, on her face, on her clothes, in her hair, up her nose.  Seriously.  I love it.

And this picture was not taken this morning (there's no sun today!) but it's too cute not to post.  For a someone who refuses to learn how to walk-- Eme is remarkably skilled at wreaking havoc on my house.  She is determined to get into EVERYTHING... and she's pretty proud of her accomplishments. Cutest troublemaker ever.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!