This Boys Life

A Little Christmas Dance For You!

2010-12-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

Jingle Bells!

2010-12-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread House Decorating!!

2010-12-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

Nile with the blank Canvas

We signed Nile & Zola up for a gingerbread house decorating event this afternoon. They both decorated one house together. They really enjoyed it and did really well working together.

Getting Started

Carefully applying some icing
look how focused he is!!

Gina & I couldn't resist helping out a little - That's my window & my attempt at curtains.

The finished product (and two wired 5 year olds who ate way too much sugar)

Ta-Da!
note the little woodpile Nile added in front of the house, isn't that cute?
Zola sprinkled lots of icing sugar "snow" on everything .. so sweet!

a few more from halloween

2010-11-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

nile & arayah trick or treating. his bag got so full & heavy he was dragging it on the ground. we still have candy lingering around. i have developed an unhealthy relationship with o'henry bars. nile is all about the tootsie pops.

zola the ballerina, arayah (a character from peter pan .. can't remember her name) and a happy boy with lots of candy in his bag

Clearly this is the end of the evening .. Nile looks cold & disheveled. he went up to someones door and they asked him, "what are you? a clown?" my little vampire / skeleton was very offended.

i'm not quite sure why these photos are so small and why it repeated that last image.

we are enjoying a blissful week of fall break .. it's so nice not to have to get up and rush in the morning. it's also worked out that i have absolutely no cake orders this week, so i'm able to relax with nile and do things like spend hours at the library and stay up late watching toy story 3. on the agenda today: go to the co-op and buy cashew butter. that's it.

Lately ..

2010-11-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

Lately the trees have been shedding and we've been raking golden leaves. Lately we've been going to be early and getting up in the dark to make it to kindergarten by 8am. Lately Nile has been been playing imaginatively and growing quickly. Lately we've been reading Harry Potter together, riding bikes in the crisp autumn air and baking pies. Lately life has been sweet.

Auntie Rania's Visit

2010-10-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

Chill-axing at Halfway Hot Springs

......

Dragon Bread in Nile's Kindergarten Classroom

Auntie R handing out Dragon Bread to the hungry kids (they ate 2 whole loaves of bread!)

Nile & Rania .. Pulpit Rock

at long last i am posting pics from rania's visit with us in September. she stayed two weeks and we had lots of fun, including a trip to halfway hot springs. the water in some of the pools there was so hot it could burn you. one man claimed that he cooked his ravioli in a bag in one of the pools!!

we took rania to some of our favorite eating spots and she even volunteered as a helper in Nile's kindergarten class one day!

Making Pretzels with Auntie - one of the highlights of the visit for Nile. They were Delicious!!

Boo!

2010-10-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

We just had a lovely visit with auntie Rania. She brought Nile his Halloween costume & he has been wearing it nonstop since he laid eyes on it. He wants to be a vampire and is especially excited to have a drop of blood on the side of his mouth.

Autumn is in full effect here & it's beautiful. Our drive to the Waldorf school each morning is an amazing display of bright red, yellow and orange.

Kooky Kids

2010-09-19T12:14:00.001-07:00

we took the kids to see the Salmon spawning at Kokannee Creek Park last week. they loved it - especially the "killed ones"

New Helicopter

2010-09-14T15:17:00.001-07:00

Victorious

Little Nile spotted a remote control helicopter at Safeway several months ago & instantly fell in love with it. He begged me for it but it was $25 and the box said that it was for ages 8 and above, so I said no. He continued to ask for it once we got home, and was so persistent, that I agreed to give him $5 a week for five weeks for his piggy bank so he could save up enough cash for the helicopter.

Initially he was upset by my offer. He wanted instant gratification and five weeks is a long time. But eventually he realized that patience was the only way he was going to get that helicopter into his hot little hands and he embraced the challenge. We made a checklist, one box for each week that he had to save up, and we agreed that his $5 bills would be issued each Sunday.

By the time the last Sunday rolled around even I was excited to get to Safeway and pick up that helicopter. Nile brought his piggy bank along with him to Safeway and took charge of the entire transaction. It was pretty adorable.

Here's a photo of Nile flying his new toy

...and being a monkey

...more monkey business

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-09-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

Nile debuts his new haircut. pretty cute. ox

Syringa Park -

2010-09-06T11:24:00.001-07:00

nile & zola on a very big rock

Syringa Park

Moving a log with Cyrus

Cutie Pies!

Windy Day - Nile Flying a Kite in his Underwear

Good Times
ox

Summer is Over!

2010-09-03T23:33:00.000-07:00

my baby!

Nile starts kindergarten next week!! I cannot believe how quickly summer has passed. the leaves are already changing color & falling...

...and Nile is getting so big!

He has decided that he would like to be a vampire for halloween this year. as always he has been creating some amazing art lately - i'm going to take some photos of his latest works to post because they really are great. he is constantly creating. i love walking into his room and finding him sitting at his easel focused on some work of art. his latest painting was a portrait of Poppy as a painter .. she is holding an painter's palate and wearing a painter's hat. it's really sweet!

kindergarten is going to be quite a change for us. we have never really had to adhere to any schedule and now we'll have somewhere to be at 8am four days a week. yikes! wish us luck!

he's growing up so fast. it makes my heart hurt a little bit.

wragge beach camping trip .. and a big cake.

2010-08-25T16:28:00.001-07:00

nile chops wood!

Summer Fun

2010-07-30T07:56:00.001-07:00

Here's Nile at Starbelly Jam - He slept with this face paint on .. he was so happy with it & refused to wash it off! Summer is finally here in the Kootenays. we are going to float down the Slocan river today. Nile will start kindergarten in the fall, so we are really trying to enjoy our last few months of freedom before we have to buckle down & get into a routine.

Nile's New Haircut

2010-06-14T20:05:00.001-07:00

BEFORE
the wild-haired boy

AFTER:
the only-slightly-wild-haired-boy

Trip To The Coast

2010-05-27T14:46:00.001-07:00

vancouver aquarium

we just got back from a really fun trip to the coast. nile & i went to vancouver,
port townsend, wa, seattle and victoria - all in one week!

we visited old friends and tons of bakeries & cupcake shops and also the vancouver aquarium, seattle zoo and the touch tanks in port townsend. we both had so much fun.

and now we are both delighted to be home!

nile at the aquarium - he loved this guy. he named him "little clapper"

"cupcakes" on denman in vancouver
since i'm not eating wheat, nile was my taste-tester at all the bakeries.
it was really fun to be back in vancouver - our old home.

port townsend
justin caught a 15lb halibut the day we arrived!
we ate halibut tacos, halibut curry & halibut fillets - yummy!

nile loved watching the process of filleting the halibut - his favorite part was seeing what the halibut had eaten for dinner (2 big prawns and a fish)

touch tanks, port townsend
i fell in love with this guy

seattle zoo

nile had the best day ever .. he loved the zoo!

see the bear in the background??

Marigolds

2010-05-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

Nile started at the Waldorf School's daycare today .. he'll just be there one day a week, but it feels like a big step for us since he's never been in any daycare or school setting.

When I showed up to pick him up and asked how his day was he said:

"Great. Except for when that weird bald kid watched me go to the bathroom!"

I laughed so hard.

Other than that I think he enjoyed himself. He even made me a card shaped like an ice cream come and some yummy smelling lavender bath salts for mother's day!!

Nile & Poppy

2010-05-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

How Cute is this Pic?
oxoxoxox

Bliss

2010-04-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

we went camping at garland bay this past weekend for james' birthday - it was lots of fun & really beautiful weather. nile & i took a long walk & saw an eagle & climbed three "mountains" (actually big rocks). we found a beautiful rock circle that someone had made & also discovered a gorgeous secluded beach.

cuties.

2010-04-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

zola was a model in a fashion show .. nile was an eager, admiring spectator. ox

Artistic Endeavors

2010-04-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Nate, Rayya & Co. got Nile a blank canvas for his birthday ..
what a perfect gift for my little picasso! He decided that he would like to paint a farm-yard on it ..And this is how it looks after his first few sittings. I'll post a photo of the finished painting. I think his plan is to add some details to the cow and a few more animals in.

Nile got so much cool art stuff for his birthday - thank you everyone!

Here's a few pics of him enjoying his birthday loot.

As you can see this was taken RIGHT after the party (he's still in partial cowboy costume!)
Jess & James gave him this super-cool birdhouse to paint.
He painted it & now it's hanging up on the front porch waiting for a lucky birdy to move in.

Aloka got Nile a really cool cowboy fort that fits Playmobil figurines that we built & now we are in the process of painting it. It's a big job, so it's taking some time. He loves it, thank you Aloka!

I'll Post more pics of his Birthday Creations as they come.
Happy Easter!
oxox

Cowboy Party: Mission Accomplished.

2010-03-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

Wanted: Jess and James
Notorious Horse Thieves

Horse Pinata

The Party was at Lion's Park Near our House.
Everyone went all out and got dressed up.
Thank You Everybody for making so much effort and making Nile's Birthday so Special!

Abilash

My Sweet Little Cowboy

Nile's Birthday - Part One

2010-03-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Nile's actual birthday (my baby is FIVE!) and today is the party!

We woke up and opened presents in bed and then had a lovely family pancake breakfast with Nick. I got Nile a headlamp for his birthday - so he can have his own when we go camping in the summer (and do Where's Waldo in bed in the evenings - a headlamp really helps to find that sneaky sucker!). He was pretty happy with his gift - he even wore it at breakfast!

Cutie

In the afternoon, Nick took Nile to the hot springs for a Birthday soak. I took advantage of his absence and made his cake. He requested a "Cowboy Cake with Yellow Fondant", so that's what I made!

And here's a pic of me blowing out *MY* candles last week ..
I'm on a no-grains eating plan right now, so my very sweet housemate Gina made me a delicious "cake" out of avocados, coconut milk, cocoa and berries. The kids didn't think much of it but I thought it was delicious.

I was feeling a bit weird about turning 36 - so I decided to embrace it and I insisted that there be 36 candles on the cake. Gina told me later that as she was carrying it towards the table with all the candle lit it was "really hot".

PS - she got the yummy recipe for my cake from this website:
http://www.sexyfoodtherapy.com/

I'm off to prepare sausage rolls for the party .. I'll post Birthday Party Pics next time!

oxox

nile & xena

2010-03-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Boys ONLY Cowboy Birthday Party

2010-03-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

We're in full swing planning Nile's upcoming "Boys Only" Cowboy Party.

I can't believe that my little man will be FIVE!

Initially I was panicked because I wasn't sure how to really do the cowboy theme. But I have since figured a few things out and I'm really excited .. Nile hasn't let me throw a Birthday Party for him since he turned Two. So, for the past few years I have been feeling secretly deprived of this wonderful, fun, mom-duty.

We're going to have a pinata (in the shape of a horse) .. I've filled it up with Earth Balls (yummy, & cute grain-sweetened chocolates in the shape of a little planet Earth).

And Nile has been VERY specific about his cake, which delights me. He has requested a "chocolate cake with yellow fondant with a cactus and other cowboy stuff on it".

He and I spent yesterday morning crafting - we made an awesome party invitation. I'll try to scan it in and post it here.

We also went to the Dollar Store and each picked up a cowboy hat and I'm going to borrow a Western shirt and some bandannas from my friend Rayya because I don't own anything like that! I'm so excited!

Oh - and although Nile did specify "boys only" he has designated a few honorary cowgirls who he'd like to join us, Including Zola and his old friend Aloka!

And Oh! For a party activity I got a game of horseshoes from. Now I need to come up with a cowboy party food menu.. (any ideas from you all out there would be appreciated! i feel sort of stumped on this one).

I'll post pics from the party next week.

oxoxo

Valentines Day Mess-Up

2010-03-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

So, I decided to make the kids some pink play dough for Valentines Day and surprise them with it in the morning. We all woke up and had a nice breakfast (pink grapefruit juice and egg in a hole with a heart-shaped hole).

After breakfast Nile & Zola scurried off to play with the play dough and it became quickly apparent that something was very wrong.

I have no idea what happened but it was gross and messy and they loved it!

My theory is that the Cream of Tartar that i bought in bulk at the coop to include in the play dough recipe was not actually cream of tartar (maybe baking powder or some other white powder?) ... and perhaps that mix-up could account for this sticky mess.
But actually I have no idea.

Either way, this was the most memorable play dough we've ever had.

Nile Shoots!

2010-03-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

Portrait of Mama by Nile

Sweet Little - Almost five-year-old - Nile has been taking photos with my camera. And, waddaya know, he's got a pretty good eye!

Mama Melissa & Mama Gina

We call this masterpiece: "Poppy Butt"

Princess Zola

Bubba

"World"

"World II"
(Nile made these Titles)

Gina did Henna with the kids tonight - Fun!!

NIle got a feather on his arm and Zola got a Botanical design on her leg.

Henna Boy

Nile and His old Buddy Maikah

Long Time No Blog!

2010-03-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

Nile, Jess and I were in a movie!
Our friends Vince & Kathy, who are attending the Selkirk Film program, cast us in their film "You're Not Cathy"

Me & Jess on the set
(I'm a beautician)

The House where we shot the movie (it's actually a restaurant in Colville, Wa)

"Quiet on Set!!"

NIle did amazing - He memorized his line and took the whole process very seriously!!
We arrived on set at 8:30am and he didn't get to say his line until 6pm. He was very, very patient & had fun plating with the other kids who were in the movie.

How cool (crazy) is this chair?!
We all had lots of fun playing in it. It was pretty comfy.

The film will be showin at The Capitol Theater in the Spring.
We're looking forward to cheking out Nile's cinematic debut!

The movie is set at Christmas Time - so we all wore ugly holiday sweaters.
It was such a fun experience!
Thanks Vince & Kathy!

January Days

2010-01-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

Boing! Boing!
Bouncing on a mattress in the middle of the house.

Nile & Zola creating a masterpiece the Easel...

Check it Out!

My Little Artist
Nile did this painting of an Elephant & a mouse .. Isn't it amazing? We went over to a friend's house who is a painter and has a painting studio in his home. He set Nile up with paints, brushes and a huge sheet of paper and let him loose. This is what he created - I was so proud! It's now hanging in the living room.

He is such a little creative artist. This is a picture of Spiderman the he drew this week. It's been amazing to watch as his artistry develops .. it changes and improves so quickly.

Sweet Poppy Girl

Bub-Bub

Happy New Year !!!!

2010-01-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Fondue
we made it with Toblerones, which I'd never done before
but it was a Holiday tradition in Gina's childhood
and it's YUMMY!!

We had a huge fruit platter to dip into it .. Once that was gone the kids went wild and started sticking their entire hands into it. Oh the delight.

Cuties running Wild .. Nile, Arayah, Zola and Kailash

Dancing on the Table
Nile's new favorite activity. Check out his hip-swingin' moves

Welcome Baby Sabian!!
Cyrus has a baby brother, and he is so cute and tiny. Nile was thrilled to get chance to hold him.

Check out Poppy - always at the center of the action.

Happy New year!!! 2010!!
We had a kid-friendly dance party at our house .. It was complete mayhem but very fun.
the older kids had a great time with sparklers on the front porch.

Nile & Kailash

Gina set up a craft station and made hats for all the kiddies.
Nile requested a cowboy hat - check it out!

Holidays Part Deux

2009-12-26T14:29:00.001-08:00

The Aftermath

Nile with His big pile of pressies.

Opening some Building Blocks from Santa
(does this kid need a haircut or what? He's been refusing to let me cut his hair)

Oil Pastels from Auntie Ra
yay!

Spiderman PJ's !!!
Spidey is Nile's very favorite right now - he loves watching old school
Spidey cartoons from the 60's on youtube.

Little Sweeties
(funny glasses courtesy of Auntie Ra)

Merry Yultide Joy!

2009-12-25T23:16:00.001-08:00

Christmas Morning

Nile & Zola Playing Around with a cool Crayloa toy that Auntie Rania Sent .. NIle loves it so much he brought it to bed with him.

Cookies For Santa!!

Cute Kids Baking Cookies for Santa

Nile got a New Easel from Jess, James and Steve...
He LOVES it!!!!
He has been a Mad Artist creating painting after painting ..

Holiday Altar

More Art From My Cute little Buttercup.
The Easel becomes a chalkboard when you flip it over. How cool is that??

Nile wearing thigh high grey leather boots. why? I have no clue.

I'll post some more photo sin a few days .. there's tons.

Thank you all for checking in & reading the blog and caring about our family & loving us.
We are so grateful for you.
We love you!
Happy Holidays.
love love love
Happy New year!

Also, Gina posted a few sideways videos on Zola on youtube ... Nile & our holiday home are featured...

Blue Eggs and Christmas Trees

2009-12-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

Nile & I attended a Santa's Workshop craft event for kids. Nile loves art and crafts and he's been asking me to find him some art classes to attend, so I was excited to learn about this little event. The kids got to work with wood and clay and make various holiday crafts. Nile painted a few really cool wooden ornaments for the Christmas tree. And there was a visit from Santa. (Nile didn't seem too fussed. He looked at the other kids and said: "I'm pretty sure that's just a guy dressed up as Santa Clause")
We had fun.

Nile & Zola

We got our christmas tree up last night! It was lots of fun. We had our friends Zola and Gina over and we decorated the tree and put lights up all over the house.

Decorating the tree was a real exercise in letting go for me. I am usually really anal and meticulous about the decorations and how they are put on the tree. But with two wild, very enthusiastic four year-olds helping out it was pretty hard to control what went where and I just had to let go and let them have fun. In the end the tree looked considerably different from how I would have decorated it - but the kids had so much fun. ( I actually considered re-doing it after Nile went to bed but I think i'll just leave it).

This is our fifth Christmas with our sad little four ft. tall fake tree - I think we'll get a real one next year. I've collected so many ornaments over the years that I need a bigger tree to hold them all.

Voila!

Some of the treasures created by the kids at the Christmas craft workshop.

Nile working with clay - he loved it!

Nile's Advent Calendar
We got a Playmobil Advent Calendar this year & he is loving it (although the temptation to rip open each and every box seems to be quite overwhelming for the little guy!).
We keep it right beside the bed so he can open up the little door the moment he wakes up!

You get a new piece each day and at the end you have a nice little Winter Wonderland scene.
Nile had the *brilliant* idea to put a white sheep skin under the scenes it looks like snowy.

Here's our scene so far .. Isn't it pretty?

And Finally .. I just had to include a photo of these amazing eggs. I got them from a farmer in Glade (nearby) who sometimes orders cakes from me. In the fall he brought me almost a dozen GIANT zucchinis! I'm not sure if you can really tell in the photo but the eggs are a gorgeous shade of blue and they are tiny. and delicious.

Choo Choo!!

2009-11-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season for gingerbread.

NIle & I have been making gingerbread creations. It all started out the day after Halloween when we went to Safeway to check out the Halloween merchandise that was on sale. Nile fell in love with a gingerbread Halloween Haunted House. We bought it, brought it home, assembled it and he decorated the whole thing on his own. It was a really fun project.

So, we decided to tackle a Christmas Gingerbread Train next.
It was a bit more challenging to assemble, but really fun to decorate.
It came with WAY to much candy - so my little OCD child decided to organize all the extra candy by color (pictured above).

Ta-da!

The original Halloween House that started it all...

Yummy Times .. Puzzle Mania

2009-11-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

Puzzle Mania runs in our family. Me, Nile & Rania all love puzzles... and my grandma liked them too. The other night right before bedtime I got the wild idea to start on a 1000 piece puzzle with Nile. That's by far the largest puzzle he's ever worked on. I thought it would be a fun project to work on together (he's really good at puzzles!). After about half an hour Nile got tired & bored and requested that we go to bed. But by that point I was already obsessed...So he had to drag me away from it

The next morning he didn't seem particularly interested in the puzzle, so I worked on it alone for a while and then called Jess and James to see if they'd be into working on it - and they were! so we worked on it for 2 days & got it done. It was really fun and Nile regained interest towards the end when we were in the home stretch.

Fun Project!

I baked a delicious chocolate cake from the Whitewater cookbook for the occasion.
Puzzle sustenance: Chocolate Cake and Almond Milk. Yum!

All Done!

Here's a funny little video of Nile. He's been really into Spiderman lately & literally climbing the walls.

Thanksgiving & Halloween

2009-11-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!
Nile & Zola admiring the Pumpkin Pie

Nile being generally excited about Thanksgiving ..
I made a Turkey (my first!)

Spiderman
First Nile wanted to be a Prairie Dog for Halloween, which I thought was really cute but I was slightly stressed about how to make a prairie dog costume.. The he suddenly changed his mind and wanter to be a pirate, which delighted me because it's easy and cute. But that was short lived and he switched to Spiderman and stuck with it - he has been absolutely obsessed with watching OLD spiderman cartoons from the 60's on youtube .. So I picked him up the costume while I was in Chigago & he was thrilled with it. He wore it all over town for the week prior to Halloween.

On Halloween night we went to the Waldorf School for the Halloween Journey - this is our third year going to it and we love it. It's very magical.
The we came home, threw a chicken in the oven, did a quick round of Tick-or-Treating and then ate roast chicken for dinner. It was a fun night!

Nile's Art Project
we traced his body and drew his bones

Chickens & Chicago.

2009-10-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Pink & Shiny
A cake made by a lady from Kentucky.

I just returned from a week on the outskirts of Chicago where I was taking a course with Colette Peters (Amazing Cake Celebrity with a hugely successful shop in NYC..http://www.colettescakes.com/wedding_cc.html) at the Wilton school.

I learned so much! I got a scholarship to attend the course (http://www.lesdames.ca/scholarship_recipients.htm) & it was hugely valuable.. It was very humbling to learn from an absolute pro and realize how much i still have to learn. There were women there from all over the country & the world..Costa Rica, India, Holland, Vienna, Peru, and me from Canada.

My absolute favorite of the student cakes - made by a woman names Eva. Aren't those bugs awesome combined with the pink frilly look?

My Gum paste Flowers!
The Result of 2 full days of work!

Cakes made by students in previous classes..

My Class!
It looks like a Gum Paste Sweat Shop.

My Cake!
It's quite gaudy & busy.
I wanted to make something completely different than anything i'd ever made before. and i generally tend to do pretty simple cakes. We had two days to work on it - the assignment was to make a cake utilizing all the skills we learned over the course of the class... So, it's not really supposed to be entirely cohesive.

Me & Colette Peters!!
Getting my Diploma, which I intend to frame & hang in my kitchen!

These are some OLD pics from when Nick & Nile had chickens
(sadly they don't have them anymore because all got eaten by coyotes) ...

Nile enjoying a FRESH egg from the coop.

Eggs!!

A cute video of the chickens .. it was shot sideways but you can still see them .. & hear Nile's always-amusing commentary.

I Used To Love Doing This When I was A Kid

2009-10-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

Step One: Dig a Hole in the Back Yard.
Step Two: Pour Baking Soda into the Hole
Step Three: Pour Vinegar Over the Baking Soda

Step Four: Watch the Volcano Magic Happen

We Even Added Orange Food Coloring to the vinegar so the "Lava" would be orange.

Nile LOved it .. Poppy too.

Pears!!! We have a pear tree and the front yard & it has been ABUNDANT this year. we have been eating pears, giving away pears, making pear churney & pear butter and putting pears in our oats every morning.

Nile & Zola Enjoying the Bounty

Sidewalk Art

Autumn is Here!!
Nile climbing the pear tree

Nile in front of my LAST wedding cake of the season!

Happy HALF Birthday Nile!!!

2009-09-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Sweet Nile is 4.5 today!!

We had originally planned to have a party for his half-birthday (since he declined my offer for a party when he turned 4). He actually seemed excited to have a party this time, but i wasn't on it and completely forgot to organize anything. Oops.

The plan had been to have half a cake and other things to eat that were halved like deviled eggs.

Instead we chilled out on the grass at the Saturday Market and ate pizza and watched people juggle. Nile seemed to enjoy it.

In other news, he has decided that he wants to be a Prairie Dog for halloween. Random!! NIle is the little king of randomness. He's been working on his prairie dog noises (apparently they go: "Yip Yip" who knew).

I am just so in love with my sweet boy - we are having so much fun lately. He is absolutely adorable & really into dinosaurs.

Happy half-birthday sweet boy!

oxoxox

Happy Birthday Zola!! & Nile's First Rally!!

2009-09-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Our friend Jess organized a rally today for Global action against climate change .. apparently thousands of cities around the world were participating with similar events .. We stood outside of City Hall in Nelson and made lots of noise at 12:18pm. Nile loved it .. We came armed with a kazoo, pots & pans to clank and various other noise-mailing tools.

There was a great turn-out & the rally was a success! yay Jess!!

And some cute ones of Nile & Kailash at Zola's Birthday party... She's 4!!

(probably) the last camping of the season...

2009-09-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

We went camping this weekend with Gina & Zola to Wragge Beach - it was absolutely heavenly. We didn't want to leave!!

We originally picked that spot because it's pretty close to New Denver, which is where the Garlic Festival is held. We were planning to camp on Saturday night & then head t the Garlic Fest on Sunday. We didn't even pack any food for breakfast because our plan was to make coffee, give the kids cereal & pack up and head out right away. But when we woke up on Sunday there was not a single cloud in the sky and we quickly realized that we could not tear ourselves away from that beach - it was absolutely amazing. So, we ended up improvising with food (cooking up the last remaining turkey burger and putting it between corn thin crackers with lettuce & mustard to make "sandwiches". And then sustaining ourselves with multiple coffees and lots of tortilla chips.

Wragge Beach - Paradise!!
This is by far my favorite camping spot that i've discovered so far in the Koots.
The water is shallow and warm, we swam! In September!

Practicing the Alphabet
He's really into writing things these days - he can write his own name!

Grumpy Boy having a bath once we arrived home
He's super into wind-up bath toys these days .. he calls the "robots".

We didn't arrive home until 7:30 pm on Sunday & we were tired & grumpy from too much sun & lots of driving. So I left all the camping gear & cooler in the car & decided to deal with it in the morning. When I got in the car this morning all of our blankets were thrown around and there were crackers in the front seat - someone had obviously gotten into the car and rooted around in there last night. As far as I can tell nothing is missing except a tupperware full of homemade cookies from the cooler! strange. I'm really glad that our tent & other camping gear wasn't stolen - that would have been terrible.

Bannock... Autie Rania's Visit

2009-09-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

NIle Says...

2009-09-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

"wouldn't it be great to be sitting on the balcony
and eating grapes and drinking juice and drawing birds?"

2009-08-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

the little artist using his sidewalk chalk to decorate our maple tree.

i'm blown away by so many of the drawings that he is doing lately - he is such an artist ..
i will post some soon. they are truly amazing! he is constantly creating.

Feeling Grateful For Creative, Colorful Brides

2009-08-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

i've been having a fun summer of wedding cakes..
it seems like i've got a lot of really unconventional, fun, creative brides this summer & it makes my job so much fun. oxox

Starbelly Jam !!!

2009-07-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

Waiting for Ice Cream

This was Me & Nile's Third Year attending Starbelly .. and by far the most fun since I was not a vendor this year, so we got t fully enjoy it.

Baby Amber

Ice Cream Faces

Oh-So-Serious Nile

Front & Center

Spokane, WA. Home to the World's Largest Radio Flyer Wagon

2009-07-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

A few more photos from our visit with Alsion & Medwen .... These are mostly from our visit to Spokane.

Feeding the Birds

Nile loved this sign, of course!
it gave him some new ideas for his next series of "NO" signs

Alison &Medwen's Visit Part 1

2009-07-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

Miss Medwen

We had a lovely visit with Alison & Medwen this past week. Nile & Medwen were so cute, alternating between acting like sweet little siblings to an old, bickering married couple. We had a jam-packed week with an early birthday celebration for Medwen, Canada Day Festivities, a trip to the beach and visits to Sandpoint, ID and Spokane, WA!!! I'm including some photos of the highlights... and a video of the two showcasing their musical talents.

There's LOTS of photos. so i'll post them in batches...

We miss you guys! Come back soon!!

The Cake I decorated for my friend Rayya's B'day

Nelson .. Our Beautiful Town from the Lookout at Gyro Park

Alison Checking out the View

Kiddies Eating Ice Cream in the Wagon

Happy Canada Day!!

Forbidden!

2009-06-28T08:34:00.001-07:00

"No Smoking"

Nile is utterly obsessed with the "No" signs that he sees all over town: No Parking, No Dogs, No Smoking etc. (The ones with a picture in a circle with a line through it). He likes them so much that he's started to make some of his own "No" signs and placed them all over the place.

He made a "No Smoking" sign for Nick's new car (pictured above) , and a "No Pooping in the neighbors yard" sign for Poppy, and a "No chasing birds" sign for Bubba". Here's a few of his beautiful creations. The Bears one below is my absolute favorite .. He is such a little artist!!

"No Bears Thinking About Eating the Garbage"

"No Dogs in the Garden"

A few weks ago Nile saw a "No Parking" sign on the street (a letter "P" with a line through it) and he asked me if that sign meant "no singing the alphabet out loud". I laughed so hard!

Alison & Medwen will be here next week visiting from Portland!!! We are super excited.

Camping at Garland Bay

2009-06-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend camping on the East Shore. Our friend Nathan caught three Rainbow Trout, which were delicious. The kids were fascinated with the fish-gutting process.

Marshmallows!

Sweet Zola with her charred specimen.

Cyrus & Nile still in PJs checking out the trout

My Little Angel...

2009-06-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

ha! ha!

so, i tell nile often that he looks like an angel when he is sleeping (he totally does) ..

when we woke up this morning he says to me:

"I was watching you while you were sleeping and you looked like an angel...
Except big and fat and snoring."

ha!

cheeky monkey

Weekend in Argenta

2009-06-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

NIle & Maikah .. Sweet Boys

we spent the weekend in argenta with our friends elise, davide & maikah. they have a beautiful spot out there on 10 acres with an amazing garden. nile & poppy absolutely loved the wide open spaces (me, too!). we came home with a car full of chives, violets and tomatoes to plant in our garden.

i love this photo...

David the goat man
Elise gets 2L of fresh, raw, unpasturized goat's milk from him every 2 days. Delicious!
Nile was thrilled to meet the goats.

Nile drinking milk straight outta the goat. As fresh as it gets.

Action Jackson
He reminds me so much of Nick in this photo..

Nile in Elise's garden

Sweet Maikah on the move

"c'mon mamma! get up and play!"

Nile & Sheba
He's finally overcoming his fear of big dogs. He was really comfrtable & happy with Sheba.

Scooby Doo

2009-06-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Mama: which of the girls do you like better Daphne or Velma?

Nile: Velma

Mama: Why?

Nile: Because she has glasses and a computer.

Sweet Spring Days in the Koots

2009-06-06T13:50:00.001-07:00

We go to the Toy Lending Library now and then .. last time Nile insisted on getting this huge crate of multi-colored plastic chains. I was hesitant at first, I thought they'd just make a big mess. But he has been so creative with them and plays with them for hours! He has made booby traps, wrapped up Poppy, made himself some mountain climbing gear. He seems to be constantly finding new ways to use these chains! We even spent a few hours dividing all the links into piles according to color and made really long chains with each color. Nile is really into organizing stuff into piles according to color. Luckily so do I !!!

Here's a wedding cake I made today for our friends Jessi & Osmo. I have been experimenting with writing in fondant with my rubber stamps & i really like the effect!

And Finally... we got a new BBQ!!! As soon as the deck was remodelled I really wanted one. So I posted on the Nelson Freecycle website & I had a BBQ within 24 hours! I had to buy a new burner for it (only $19.99) and now we are cooking on the BBQ almost every night. My favorite thing to do is roast peppers on there - it's so quick & easy & delicious.

Our Friends Cyrus and Rayya enjoying dinner on our "new" BBQ with with Nile on the deck. We love our new deck!! (wow, i'm using a lot of exclamation marks in this post...)

East Shore

2009-05-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

New Deck!!!

2009-05-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

BEFORE...

and

AFTER!!!!

We have a new deck & beautiful french doors in our kitchen leading out to it. It brings so much more lights into the kitchen, which was previously a dark gloomy dungeon. And since I spend 95% of my timein the kitchen I really wanted to make it into a space I enjoyed being.

Blissful Spring Days

2009-05-25T06:28:00.001-07:00

Zola, Abilash and Nile

Camping at Kokanee Creek Park for Cyrus's 3rd Birthday.
Lots of fun.

Breakfast. yum yum.

All the kiddies brought their bikes to the camp-out
& tore around like the sweetest little bike gang you've ever seen.

Here's Nile sporting one of my new "Long Time Sun" t-shirts.

"I am Light"

Nile & Abilash
Lakeside Park - Mother's Day.

Funny fake smiles for the camera.

LEGO

2009-05-11T12:10:00.001-07:00

Nile sings!

2009-05-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Lady & the Tramp

2009-04-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

It appears that male confusion about us women and our ways starts early.

After watching Lady and the Tramp last night for our weekly Mama & Nile Movie night, Nile & I had a funny conversation:

Nile: Why was Lady rude to the Tramp when he brought her that bone?

Mama: Because she found out he had been flirting with other ladies all over town.

Nile: What's flirting?

Mama: ..Attempt to deliver an explanation of what flirting is (try explaining that to a 4 year old - harder than you think!!)

Nile: But the Tramp loves her, so why was she mad just because he was flirting?

Mama: Because that made her feel confused and not sure if he really loved her.

Nile: (slightly exasperated) But he brought her a bone! Isn't that enough for her to understand that he loves her?!!

a couple more camping ones....

2009-04-23T21:07:00.001-07:00

Nile on a big Bannock rock

me toting a glass of red wine. as per usual.
(last summer i added plastic wine glasses to our camping essentials)

the above two beautiful photos taken by my friend Simon de la Salle.

First Camping Trip of the Season....

2009-04-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

The theme of this camping trip (for Nile at least) was MARSHMALLOWS.
He couldn't get enough and as a result we had a pretty hyper, energetic boy on our hands.
We camped at Bannock, about 1.5 hours from Nelson. I'd never been there before - it's absolutely, breath-takingly gorgeous. We loved it!

Roasting Marshmallows to golden perfection (for breakfast!)

...more marshmallows

Spring is Here!!!

2009-04-16T18:01:00.000-07:00

....we actually went to the beach today. we packed up nile's wheelbarrow and shovels and sun hats and we spent an entire afternoon making sand castles and eating almonds at lakeside park. spring has arrived! sunshine is here! i am thrilled.

Easter & A Wheelbarrow

2009-04-12T11:01:00.001-07:00

Here's a few recent pics ... Nile got a very special gift from Jess & James for his birthday - can you guess what it is?? We're looking forward to taking it to the beach tomorrow. And it will be a good addition to his constant "farmer" role play.

ceramics! i'm taking a clay class and these are some of my recent bowls. i'm really happy with them and it feels so good to eat something delicious out of a bowl that i made.

cupcakes! nile & i made special easter cupcakes with fondant robin's eggs on them. aren't they pretty??

i was hoping to just let easter slip by unnoticed but nile was totally aware of it and woke up on saturday all excited about easter eggs, the easter bunny and chocolate.

so i had to rush out and get some easter stuff and plan something.

yesterday we dyed eggs together, which was really fun (although our eggs were brown & didn't take to the dye that well). and then i planned a little scavenger hunt for him this morning - the easter bunny left him a basket of clues by the bed and he searched the house for goodies. and then he ate a kinder egg for breakfast.

i like chocolate

Nile & Maikah

2009-04-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

A visit with Medwen

2009-03-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hot Cocoa and Muffins

We stopped in Portland on our way to Mexico & on the way back.. We stayed with our dear friends from Bahrain Alison, Pete & Medwen.

Medwen is 7 months older then Nile & they get along really well. She is really imaginative & sweet & it was really fun to see her & Nile playing & having such a great time together.

Medwen's mamma, Alison & I met in the third grade, so it's really wonderful to watch our own kids hang out & grow up together.

Rainy Portland

Little Nose-Picker

A Coffee Date with the Munchkins

Troncones, Mexico

2009-03-26T19:12:00.001-07:00

Nile is 4 today!! We just got back from Mexico, it was beautiful & amazing. I celebrated my 35th birthday there. We built many sand castles. I read a lot and had a generally fabulous time with my sweet little munchkin.

Fun with a magnifying glass and a camera on a Monday afternoon

2009-03-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

Nile doing some reading

2009-02-28T15:14:00.000-08:00

nile was being really quiet yesterday afternoon - i popped into the living room to check on him & found him reading to himself like this.
so cute!

..more winter

2009-02-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

It feels like spring is on the way. and amazingly, i, the ultimate hater of winter and all things cold, am not feeling quite ready for spring's arrival yet. i spotted some buds on my lilac tree yesterday and actually felt a bit disappointed. winter has felt like a bit of a rip off this year, i guess.

Nile has been asking repeatedly if he can get on skis and it sort of feels like there won't be enough time. everything is melting and there's been no new snow.

Nile, Poppy and I went for a nice long walk with our friend Jess this week. I'm in love with the sepia and b&w functions on my camera so i've been snapping away madly.

Winter

2009-02-13T21:57:00.001-08:00

I decided to photographically document our entire morning today.

playing outside on "eagle mountain"
(aka a big pile of dirty snow outside of
our front door)

cinnamon bun at oso

Oldies

2009-02-10T13:23:00.001-08:00

These are some older pics that i just got from Andrea of a fun escapade in the wagon to the corner store to get ice cream last summer. I have known both of Andrea's sweet babies since before they were born..Nile loves little Amber with all of his heart.

sweet amber

The wheels of this wagon have since fallen off because we used it so much.

WAR

2009-02-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

while nile was in the bath last night i was sitting with him in the bathroom reading a book set in WWII. i got to a really sad, moving part and i must have made some noise or said something out loud because he looked at me worried and asked me what was wrong. i told him that my book was sad. he asked me what my book was about. i told him it was about people during the war.

Nile: "what's war?"
Me: :uuummm. you know how people fight sometimes? well, a war is when countries fight."

short pause.

Nile: "but how do they fight without hands?"

oh, how i love my little boy.

ooxox

Photos from Christmas & this Winter

2009-02-06T12:51:00.001-08:00

Cookies For Santa ...

Taking a Snowy walk with Poppy

Sorry for the LONG absence .. we've been cold & unmotivated.

Snow!

2008-12-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

December 5 and finally some snow! We've been waiting.

...Hey it's Franklin...

2008-12-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

We took Nile to see a Franklin the Turtle Christmas concert this weekend. It was in Trail, about an hour from here and he seemed to really enjoy everything except the long drive.

He's such a funny one, when the characters all came out on stage in their costumes while all the other kids were cheering Nile started yelling, "Hey! Who is that in those costumes?!" ... "How can they talk in those costumes?!". He was basically a three year old heckler. It's interesting to observe how his mind works and that he knew that it wasn't the "real" Franklin - but just someone in a turtle costume. But like I said, he seemed to enjoy it none the less.

We picked up my friend Jessica on our way home from the concert and when she asked Nile how the concert was he replied, "Sorry, I don't have time to tell you right now". (He was just sitting next to her doing nothing in his car seat!) I guess he didn't feel like chatting. Funny guy.

Here's a few pics....sort of blurry but you get the idea!

dance!

2008-11-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

Nile & I have been making funny movie & taking pics on the camera on my computer..here's a silly one.

and by the way, he is now just over 3 feet tall, so he has 2 more feet and he'll be the same height as me!

Behold the Naked Baker!

2008-11-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

We have been baking lots of bread this week. It's a fun project that both Nile & I enjoy. I'm including a photo of a loaf of Honey Curry bread from the Hollyhock cookbook that we made this week for our full moon dinner. it was delicious!

And check out Nile's little loaves..he did these all by himself - no assistance. He was very pleased with them & would not share them with anyone.

My boy like to do his baking in the buff

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T19:35:00.001-07:00

BOO!
Here's Nile getting all ready to go trick or treating & then head out to the Halloween Journey at the Waldorf School.

Nick dressed up as a jellyfish! It was raining, so he lost a few tentacles along the way (they were made of tissue paper, so they disintegrated in the water).

Here's our doorstep all lit up with the Jack-o-lanterns from the party!

Here's Nile with his loot!
This was his first year trick or treating, so he was pretty thrilled. He was confused at first but got the hang of it pretty quickly. After the Halloween Journey at Waldorf we came home to hand out candy. Nile had lots of fun checking out all the bigger kids' costumes and i had lots of fun secretly giving away Nile's candy to the trick or treaters. (Check out out mouse house jack-o-lantern on the table. I got the idea from Martha Stewart & it's my favorite jack-o-lantern this year). We're hoping all our pumpkins don't get smashed again!!

Sugar!!

Autumn Festivities ... Pumpkin Carving & Autumn Leaves

2008-10-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

Autumn in the Kootenays is so beautiful.
The leaves are incredible. I love this time of year. We had our annual pumpkin carving party this week and it was lots of fun.

Nile decided that he wanted to be a bat this year for halloween. Our friend marianne, who is a very talented seamstress, sewed him this amazing costume.

Nate's Pumpkin..

Bianca's Pumpkin

Nate, Rayya & Cyrus dressed up as the three chefs from the book "In the Night Kitchen" (one of Nile's favorite books!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

broken arm!

2008-10-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

poor little nile boy broke his arm last week. he fell off a chair and landed badly. poor little fella. he's handling it like a trooper, though. we spent the better part of the day in the ER getting his cast on. they gave him a fiberglass cast, which can get wet so he can still go to the pool & have baths, thank goodness. he is such a water baby, it would have been really challenging to have a regular plaster cast that can't get wet.

Zen Boy

2008-09-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

Nile, Poppy & I were walking by our neighbors house last week and we saw a HUGE apple in the grass underneath their apple tree. It was truly huge, the biggest apple i have ever seen. Nile and I marveled at it for a while and then moved on. The next time we took Poppy out for a walk we stopped by that house to see if the apple was still there. It was gone and it it's place was a huge pile of dog poop. Nile considered this for a moment and then said, "I guess every time you walk by it's something different".

I really loved that. It's just solidified for me that our children are born with so much wisdom and grace and understanding of how this crazy world works.

Autumn Festivities

2008-09-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Over a year ago our friend Rana sent this amazing gift to Nile... it's a felt cake with decorations that he can apply to it. It's so nice that i decided to stash it away until he was a bit older & could appreciate & play with it properly (i even contemplated keeping it for myself!). I hauled it out of the closet yesterday & Nile has been playing it with it non-stop. He loves decorating the cake!! And he also loves neatly arranging the decorations in color coordinated piles (i think he gets that from me..i love color coordinating things!).

the website for the "Twinkle Garden Cake"
www.twinkle-kids.com

there's lots of other cool cakes & felt toys on the site...

The other day my baking assistant botched a whole batch of chocolate pumpkin loaves (8 loaves!) by forgetting the baking powder. the result was 8 very flat loaves that tasted kind of like pumpkin fudge. they actually tasted pretty good but i could not sell them. i threw most of them away but Nile claimed one and ate it!

and finally, i had to include a pic of this beautiful dish made by Rayya for our last Full Moon Ladies potluck. Baked squash with blackberries. Isn't it pretty? Autumn is officially here

My Sweetie's First Day at the Waldorf Perschool

2008-09-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

he was pretty damn excited about his new lunchbox. he clutched onto it & refused to put it in his cubby when we arrived. it' been an emotional transition being away from him. but he seems to be really enjoying it.

...and my last wedding cake of the summer! phew.

One more Camp Out Before Summer Ends

2008-09-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Sweet Bums
Nile & Maikah

We went out to Johnshon's Landing for a camp-out this weekend. The weather was a bit dreary but it was still fun. We were planning to get out to a place called Fry Creek only accessible by boat or a long hike but we didn't make it. We had heard that if you stand on the beach and wave a flag that a man in a boat will come & pick you up and take you & all your stuff over to Fry Creek (the hike wasn't really an option for us because we had young kids and the weather was supposed to be iffy). So, we optimistically headed out to the beach at Johnson's Landing (about 2 hours from Nelson on a windy dirt road). When we arrived we waved the orange flag to signal the boat-man and in return he raised a purple flag, which means that the water is too rough & he could not come to get us.

So we set up camp on the beach in Johnson's Landing next to a prominently placed "No Camping" sign and proceeded to have a lovely little camp out with lots of delicious food. We had the beach to ourselves it was really gorgeous. The boat-man eventually made it over later that night and told us that he wouldn't bring us over anyway because there's a strict no dog policy and we had a dog with us.

Enjoying a book in the sun at our hobo camp

Nile

The dessert that Jess brought -
chocolate chips in bananas melted together over the fire. yum!

We found these monster tricycles in a shed on the beach

Sweet Maikah
He & Nile are both such passionate warriors. The had several all-out fist fights where we had to pull them apart. then five minutes later they were partners in crime again.

Fry Creek, where we were hoping to camp, is off in the distance to the left.

Last Market of the Summer

2008-08-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

boo hoo. summer is coming to a close. i did my last street market last week. and the weather has taken a turn, we've actually slept with the heater on the past two nights. we're hoping to get out camping this weekend, so hopefully it will warm up a bit.

New Wheels for Everyone

2008-08-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

I got a new car!
and Nile got a new bike!

It's been a pretty exciting week full of wheels.

I have been wanting a vehicle that has 4-wheel drive for the snowy, icy winters here. i can't tell you how many times I have been stuck in ridiculous places (like right in front of the coffee shop or trying to get up our hill) because the car I was driving before didn't have it.

Anyway, I had been putting my desire for a different car on the back burner because life has been so busy & I can't really afford it right now. But then I saw this Toyota Wagon for sale and I had to buy it. Now I just need to sell the old car and life will be swell.

The "new" Toyota is actually quite a bit older than my other car and has a lot more kms on it but they are known to be reliable and it feels so much more *me* then the other wagon. Nile & I took it for a spin yesterday and it felt so right!

And in other news, we have searched high and low for a Run Bike for Nile but they seem to be on back-order all over Nelson & the surrounding towns. While we were in the bike shop looking around we spotted this "Mini Shogun" bike with training wheels and decided to get it. Nile seems a bit bummed that he didn't get the Run Bike that he was promised, but i'm hoping that he'll grow to love his Mini Shogun.

A Visit to Argenta

2008-08-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Nile, Jess & I went out to Argenta last week to visit with some friends who just bought a home & some property out there. It's a stunningly beautiful place, only about 1.5 hours from Nelson but it feels like another world. We had a cook-out on the beach, an evening swim in the lake, and Nile rode a horse (this has been a dream of his).

I'm considering enrolling him in riding lessons because he is so passionately interested in horses. There's an old-school VHS movie at the our video store called "All About Horses" that Nile loves. It's from the early 90's and is truly painful to watch but he wants to rent it every time we go! He loves it.

Below is a photo of "black horse" and "red horse". Nile & I rode black horse, she's an old, retired work horse. She's over 20 years old and very sweet & gentle.

Morning Coffee in the Argenta sunshine

Picking Raspberries with Auntie Jess & Maikah

Beach Cook-Out
Almost everything we ate was fresh from somebody's garden

Nile enjoying a roasted carrot.

Big Boy Bike

2008-08-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

nile is becoming such a big boy. it's bittersweet to watch my baby boy grow up (so fast!).

his buddy abilash just got a super-cool new "run bike" (a little bike without pedals) and nile loves it.

these bikes promote balance and help kids to transition to regular bikes more quickly. us moms have also noticed that the run bikes help our walks flow more easily because the boys are so mobile & speedy. i'm hoping to get nile a run bike of his own soon. but in the meantime here are some pics of him enjoying abi's bike and looking safe & stylish in a helmet, too!!

that little doll that aloka is holding is nile's special baby. he changes her name almost every week. her most recent name is "baby amber" he takes her everywhere and dotes on her!

Dress Up Party For Joey's 30th B'day

2008-08-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

Nile has become really confident socially. It's really fun to take him to parties & watch him hold his own. He's so full of life & he's really social. Lately he seems to prefer adult company. Playing with kids his own age tends to be a bit more sticky and fights often break out over toys, territory, etc. But grown-ups are cool. Especially when they dote on him, give him lots of attention & constantly tell him how cute he is.

Littlefest and a haircut.

2008-07-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

The other night we went on a walk with our friends, Abilash, Amber (Nile's girlfriend) and their mama Andrea. The kids had been playing around in the tickle trunk and decided that they wanted to wear their costumes on the walk. It was pretty funny & very cute.

It's been a busy, busy weekend. Nile got a haircut on Friday. I took him to a fancy salon. He really enjoyed being doted on & pampered. Then on Friday evening we did the Market Fest, where I sold t-shirts and baked goodies. It was a pretty fun night. Sarah Harmer came to the booth and bought two t-shirts!! That was definitely the highlight for me.

On Saturday night we rode out to the valley with our beautiful neighbors Chris & Nikki to go to Littlefest, a sweet little music festival where Sarah Harmer was playing. It was really nice to see her live and there were only 400 people there so we got up really close to the stage. Sadly the weather turned sour as soon as she came on stage . The wind was raging and it was raining, so we got pretty wet & chilly. After every song Nile would ask, "Is Sarah Harmer done yet?".

Nile & Nikki at Littlefest, Little Slocan Lodge.

Starbelly!

2008-07-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

i'm up way too late so i'd better make this quick! nile & i went to starbelly jam this weekend to sell the t-shirts, camp & listen to music with friends. we had the best time. it was so much fun snuggling in the tent with my little sweet boy. he was super into camping. i am definitely going to try to make time to get out camping with him again before the summer is over. i can't believe it's already mid-july. boo-hoo. before long i'll be shoveling the sidewalk again & dreaming of the warm sun. here's some pics from stabelly jam in crawford bay, BC...

Me with baby Amber, Nile's little girlfriend. The age difference won't be
so startling when they're older.

Nile & Jess - one of Nile's favorite Aunties..

The Campground Cutie Pie Gang: Amber, Nile, Abilash and Cyrus.
It's so wonderful to watch these kids grow up together.

The Parade! One of my favorite Starbelly traditions.

Sweet boy enjoying the parade.

Our Booth at Market Fest

2008-07-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a big week for Long Time Sun Designs - my t-shirt company. I got a full color two page spread in the local paper promoting the shirts (complete with lots of photos of Nile modeling the shirts - so cute!). The same day that the story ran in the paper I had a stall at the local streetfest and sold a ton of shirts. It was so much fun. I had people coming up to me all evening saying, "I saw you in the paper!".

I shared a booth with my friend Sarah (Kailash's mama), who is also a cook and baker. We sold t-shirts on half the booth and cupcakes, tarts and herbal iced tea on the other half. People kept coming up to our stall and telling us that they were drawn to the booth because it was so pretty. We strung up pretty christmas lights so the whole booth twinkled after dark. It was super busy all evening & lots of fun because there were tons of people out & about & live music, a samba band & lots of activity. It was a really fun event.

I've also set up a new store on etsy.com (www.poppypug.etsy.com) where I am selling the shirts. And I am going to be a vendor at the Starbelly Jam music festival this summer (my second summer selling shirts at that festival). I've got lots of new colors and I've added onsies and adult shirts .. and I'm working with Bachan to create some new designs, too. so there's lots happening!

The Newspaper article..
..and the Goodies.

Cottonwood Lake & A Few Others...

2008-07-09T22:27:00.001-07:00

Nile striking a pose at Six Mile Beach...

Cutie Kailash Rockin' one of my Shirts

We spent the morning at Cottonwood Lake with some friends today. It was lovely! The boys all played on this floating wooden platform pretending to be pirates. This evening when he was in the bath Nile gleefully informed me that he was "born on a Pirate Ship".

Sweet Boys & Mamma Sarah (she was the only one bold enough to
brave the water & take a dip)

Happy Canada Day!!

2008-07-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a big week! The sun has been shining we've been at the beach a lot. I love this time of year so, so, so much. How I ever endure the winter I do not know - It seems so unnatural and wrong. I feel so happy when the sun shines!!

Today we celebrated Canada Day at Lakeside Park. There was music & food & a sandcastle building contest & fireworks (Nile's first fireworks!). I didn't think he's make it for the fireworks because they didn't start until 10pm, but he was wide awake & utterly mesmerized. I thought the noise might scare him but he handled it like an old pro.

Nile's buddy Abilash with a snazzy new haircut

Oh Canada!
Nile could not get enough of the temporary tatoos. He even put one on his butt cheek.

I'm also including some photos for a day spent at the beach in Crescent Valley, about 20 minutes from home. We had a lovely day in the sun. I love the Kootenays!

Pretty Poppy

Little Baker

2008-06-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

..we were at the thrift store a while ago & i bought nile some really cute mini-cake and muffin pans that look like something that my grandma would have had in her cupboards. he absolutely loves them and has been using them for play dough "baking". here's a few shots of him making blueberry muffins.

he has been showing a lot more interst in my baking lately and really wanting to help out. it's sweet. he's awesome at cracking eggs and often stirs batter for me. i hope that his enthusiasm carries though until he's older and can actually help out for real.

Our Trip to Golden

2008-06-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Golden, BC for the wedding of our beautiful friends, Nate & Rayya. Golden is in the Rockies (a six hour drive from home) so the trip was a big adventure.

Rayya - the Beautiful Bride with her baby, Cyrus.

We all stayed in a rustic lodge together and had bonfires every evening. Nile had lots of friends there, it was really fun to wake up, eat breakfast together and then have adventures all day. The property where we stayed had several tee-pees, a beautiful garden, a river, a labyrinth, mud baths and best of all - chickens! There were chickens wandering around freely, which Nile and the other kids absolutely loved.

Nile on the Ferry

Myself and another guest named Sarah made the wedding cake together (she's a baker, too). Rayya wanted chocolate spelt cake with lavender and blueberries.

Pet Snail..

2008-06-07T20:49:00.001-07:00

Nile has a pet snail. He's pretty excited about it. I feel sorry for the little snail. He eats spinach and plots his escape from the plastic box.

I mentioned to Nile that perhaps it might be a nice idea to let the snail out for a walk today. He said, "No! What if he meets a friend and decides to go over to their house instead of coming back?!"The Gatekeeper

Oh, and the snail's name is "Olive".

Sitting on My Perch & Eating an Orange with My Pup...

2008-05-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

Here's Nile & Poppy being cute & eating an orange on a lovely spring day...

Also a few pics of us wet felting with our friend Jess.

We all worked together and made a wall-hanging for our friend Kendra, who is abou to have a baby. It was a really fun project to do with Nile. He got super into it. We felting is actually an awesome craft to do with kids his age...

Rub, Rub, Rub...

The Finished Product..Isn't it Pretty?

Life is Dandy

2008-05-20T13:41:00.000-07:00