Father’s Day

6 / 17 / 126 / 17 / 12

Sadly, Bradley has to work today… But since we’re headed home to the Okanagan at the end of the week, we’ve set aside a day to celebrate our own little Father’s Day while we’re there. Grae and I did manage to sneak out of the house this morning (in pajamas and gumboots no less) at 6:30 a.m. to retrieve Papa’s favourite hot drink and breakfast treat from our local cafe/bakery. We stayed a while, allowing Brad to sleep in, and when he awoke, he was very confused to find us at the table with our goodies all laid out. Yay for little surprises.

Happy Father’s Day, to the best Papa Miss G could ask for.

We love you!

♥

Toddler Food: What Miss G Eats {15}

6 / 17 / 127 / 13 / 12

Our 15th Toddler Food post… Crazy! Here’s this week’s question:

What are Gracen’s favourite foods? I mean, things she’ll ALWAYS eat.

Good question! While she eats almost everything, as she gets older, she’s definitely becoming more vocal about wanting certain things at certain times. So although she may love bananas, she may not want a banana at the time you offer her one.

Here are the things she will almost never turn down: tofu cubes, steamed edamame beans, yogurt, watermelon, nuts, seeds, cottage cheese, crackers (especially these and these), energy bites, steamed carrots, avocado, frozen blueberries, granola, and freeze-dried berries. Oh, and I mustn’t forget, what she calls ‘treats’… Organic, no-sugar-added fruit leather. But who in their right mind would turn that down?

Here’s some of what my munchkin ate this week…

Breakfast // Bear toast (squirrely bread, all-natural almond butter, banana coins, and organic raisins).

Breakfast // Breakfast burrito (flax wrap, scrambled free-range eggs, grated cheddar, and salsa). Orange slices and banana coins.

Breakfast // Apple sandwiches.

Breakfast // Veggie quiche (artichoke hearts, asparagus, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and mozzarella). Roasted potatoes. Fruit and cinnamon yogurt fruit dip.

Breakfast // Organic plain whole milk yogurt with homemade granola and freeze-dried raspberries.

Brunch // Multigrain french toast with all-natural almond butter. Berries. Turkey bacon. Over-hard free-range egg.

Snack // Wild rice sticks and fresh pineapple.

Snack // Plain organic whole milk yogurt with berries.

Snack // White nectarine slices. Energy bites (made this time with peanut butter instead of almond butter, raisins instead of large chopped nuts, and less than the 1/4 cup of honey/pure maple syrup we used last time).

Snack // Fresh raspberries.

Snack // Wild rice sticks and old-fashioned white cheese curds.

Lunch // Egg salad on multigrain flax bread. Steamed edamame beans. Berries.

Lunch // Burgoo‘s gooey cheese griller and sunset corn and chicken soup. Steamed carrot coins and edamame beans.

Lunch // Leftover salsa-baked chicken. Carrot coins and edamame. Roasted red pepper humus and flax flatbread.

Lunch // Fruit salad. Flax flatbread with roasted red pepper humus. Veggie-packed muffin. Carrot coins and edamame (gheez – enough with these already!)

Dinner // Southwest turkey chili (with sautéed red, orange, and yellow peppers this time) and grated cheddar.

Dinner // Mediterranean green salad with avocado. Corn on the cob. Creamy dill potatoes. Salsa-baked chicken.

Dinner // Peanut chicken. Steamed asparagus and carrots. Sesame buckwheat soba noodles.

Dinner // Mexican rice bowl (brown rice, sautéed onions and peppers, roasted corn, avocado, and salsa-baked chicken – goodness gracious – was I in a salsa chicken rut this week or what?!)

iPhoneography // Garden Goodies & An Outdoor Dinner

6 / 15 / 126 / 16 / 12

garden goodies round 1 // garden goodies round 2

picnic dinner for 3 // swooping in to munch on Papa’s corn on the cob

Determined to make the most of our rain-free day, this evening we all headed out into the backyard to put our new barbecue to good use. While our asparagus, corn, potatoes, and chicken were grilling, Gracen enjoyed appetizers straight from the garden. Actually, to say that she enjoyed them would be an understatement… She ate everything in these photos, plus an additional 2 carrots. How she had room left for dinner, I’m not sure. But she did. And of course, Papa’s corn on the cob was even more delicious than her own.

♥

Photos edited using Instagram. Find me under ‘jkossowan’.

Maplewood Farm Visit

6 / 15 / 126 / 16 / 12

I had planned to sub today, but late last night, we decided that I’d skip what would have been my final work day this school year, and we’d head over the bridge to North Van as a family instead. And I’m so glad we did. With me working the weekdays that Brad has off, our one day a week as a family often becomes a ‘to do day’ instead of a day to get out, do something fun, and enjoy one another’s company.

A trip to Maplewood Farm as a family was just what we needed. The sun shone all day, we all had a blast, and Gracen got to show her Papa all of her animal friends she met on our last visit. We brought along with us a picnic lunch, a bag of bird seed, and by recommendation of North Shore Mama, some fresh mint for the rabbits (best tip ever seeing as the rabbits are so well fed that they turn away carrots and lettuce left and right, but gobbled up our mint leaves!)

Ooh! And did I mention that our visit cost a whopping $5?! When I got an email from Groupon advertising 2 adult admissions and 2 child admissions all for $10, I jumped on the deal. Little did I know, Groupon was having a deal of their own – $5 off any Groupon. Whew! Doesn’t get much better than that, now does it? Especially since admission for the 3 of us would normally cost about $20. (Have I mentioned that becoming part of the Ogasawara family has made me a sucker for a good deal?!)

Here’s our visit in photos…
The ‘moos’.

Pot-bellied piggies.

‘Hello, turkey!’

Gracen’s favourite – the horses.

Duck feeding.

‘Come, ducks. Come!’

Papa and his little lady.

Family favourite – goat visiting!

Goat watching.

Hands washed and ready for lunch.

Picnic lunch!

Duck feeding never gets old.

Fresh mint for the bunnies.

Cow milking.

Kisses.

Farmer Grae.

Last stop – the playground.

Do you think she enjoyed our day?

♥

Dyed Pasta Jewellery

6 / 14 / 126 / 16 / 12

This morning our dyed rigatoni noodles were perfectly dry and ready to be put to use. And thank goodness. Gracen’s been asking about our “pretty papta” since the moment I put it out in the solarium to dry.
We chose to use pipe cleaners this time around as this was Grae’s first real time stringing ‘beads’. Of course, any sort of string will do (wrapping one end with tape makes it easier), but I find that the rigidity of pipe cleaners makes it a lot easier, especially for munchkins who are just learning.

To start off, I strung on one noodle and folded the pipe cleaner up around it to secure it (much easier than making a giant messy knot).
For the first couple of noodles, I held the pipe cleaner for Grae while she did the stringing and sliding.

And then she was on her own. Easy peasy! She was a pro.
We ended up making all kinds of pretties – bracelets, crowns, and necklaces, and Gracen very happily modelled them all.

Of course, if you’re not into stringing them, rigatoni noodles make gorgeous rings too.

♥

Off to Vancouvermom.ca’s Top 30 Bloggers Event, Fabulous

6 / 13 / 126 / 16 / 12

About a month ago, I learned that I had been nominated as one of Vancouvermom.ca‘s Top Mom Bloggers, and later selected as one of their 30 finalists. To say the least, I was shocked {and flattered of course}. As I mentioned in this post, when I started blogging, I really didn’t expect anyone but friends and family members to visit our little corner of the internet, let alone to become part of a group of 30 wonderfully funny, dedicated, and inspiring local mom bloggers. While the whole ‘vote for me’ part has never been my thing, I’m super excited to be heading down to the Museum of Vancouver tonight to attend Fabulous, Vancouvermom’s celebration of local mom bloggers. I’ll finally meet all of the other ladies I’ve been tweeting with, be pampered (make-up and hair stations – yes please!), have a couple of glasses of wine, and chat the night away with other mommies that call Vancouver their home. Can’t wait!

♥

Check out all of Vancouvermom’s top 30 bloggers by clicking on the links:

1 – 6 | 7 – 12 | 13 – 18 | 19 – 24 | 25 – 30

And a special congratulations to Melissa, of The Thirties Grind, who very deservingly won the top spot! Her weekly Absurd Vancouver Property posts are hilarious and depressing all at once. Love them.

Simple Fun: Pipe Cleaners Paired with a Strainer

6 / 13 / 121 / 4 / 14

On the one and only afternoon I need to get ready for an fancy evening event, my ultra routine 2-hour-nap-every-single-day girl wakes up after 50 minutes, ready to get up and get busy playing again. Ugh. I had only painted my nails in that time, let alone prepped dinner, had a shower, done my hair and make-up, or selected a purse to bring along. With some serious mommy time needed, I pulled out a little independent play idea I’ve had in the back of my mind for a long while now… Pipe cleaners and a strainer. Now, if you’re on Pinterest, you’ve most likely seen this idea circulate dozens of different times. And rightfully so. It’s ridiculously simple, it requires only two very basic supplies, it’s super engaging, and it is great for fine motor skill development. Just what the doctor ordered for a day like today (well that and some hot water, because when I went to have a shower I discovered we had not a stitch). I set Grae up in her room, gave her the brand new bag of pipe cleaners she’d picked out at the store a few days ago, along with our kitchen stainer, showed her how to put a pipe cleaner through a strainer hole, and let her be.

Let me tell you, she seriously loved it. There was probably about 25 to 30 minutes of silent, serious play that followed. In fact, it was so quiet, that I kept peeking around the corner to see what she was up to, and there she’d be, sitting in the middle of her carpet adding more pipe cleaners to her colander masterpiece.

♥

Dyed Pasta

6 / 13 / 129 / 12 / 13

I’ve been wanting to get Miss G a wooden beading set for a while now, but had a little idea when passing through the pasta aisle the other day… Why not just dye some rigatoni noodles bright, fun colours like I used to do for my Kindergarten students? I love old school art projects and the macaroni necklace is just that. Old school. Not to mention that dyed noodles aren’t only good for making necklaces… They’re great for sorting, patterning, crafting, and counting too. In the past, I’ve always used a combination of liquid food colouring and rubbing alcohol, but since I wanted Grae to be able to dye the pasta with me, I decided we’d try using vinegar instead. And I’m happy to report that it turned out just fine. Plus, Gracen loved the whole process. Add that to the fact that it’s super easy and cheap, and what do you have to lose? Here’s how to make your own coloured pasta…

Add about a sixth of a large bag of rigatoni to a zip-close bag already prepped with 1 teaspoon of vinegar and about 10 drops of liquid food colouring.

Shake like crazy to evenly distribute the colour and absorb all of the moisture.

Then dump the noodles out on a baking sheet and allow to dry. (If you order your colours right, you can minimize the number of plastic bags you use. We started with yellow, then did orange in the same bag, and then did the {more orange than anything} red. I had planned to just rinse out the bag and then do the cool colours, but by that time my little monkey had really taken a liking to the shaking bit and our bag was toast. We started fresh with a new bag, and did green first, then teal, and then blue.)

By the time we’d moved on to the cool colours, I realized it was a smart plan to double bag. Good thing, because Gracen went crazy.

In the end, this is what our pasta looked like. As you can see, I got a little carried away with the vinegar when dyeing the blues, but I think they’ll be just fine. We set the out in the solarium to dry, and hopefully we’ll be able to do something fun with them tomorrow. By then, I’m fairly certain Miss G will have said, “Papta (pasta) – pretty, pretty, pretty!” and “Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiyeee pretty papta” about a million times.

♥

Mama, Shoe!

6 / 13 / 1212 / 10 / 13

This morning I was tidying the house while Gracen happily played with her chocolate play dough. My cleaning frenzy was interrupted by a very pleased voice announcing, “Mama, shoe! Shoe!” I turned to see this. Oh, my little monkey. How I love her and her crazy little ideas.

♥

Bird-Themed Sensory Bin

6 / 12 / 123 / 24 / 14

Always looking for new, fun sensory bin ideas, I stumbled upon this webpage last week. Since Grae is such a little bird lover, I knew that a bird-themed sensory bin would be a total hit. We already had huge bag of bird seed on hand for our feathery friends who live in the backyard, and throughout the week, I went about collecting little extras. Everything needed was very inexpensive and was found at our local dollar stores, but would be available at craft stores too. The little birds are called ‘Mushroom Birds’ (I have no idea why, but they are) and can be found where fake flowers are sold. The nests are formed with faux moss (also found in a fake flower section), the flower branches are held in place by folding the branch over and anchoring it in the seeds, and the pinecones were borrowed from one of Gracen’s many collections. The little wooden bird house was painted by the little lady a few days ago, which was a fun activity in itself. With all of our items collected, I assembled everything during today’s nap and had it ready to go as a fun little afternoon surprise.

Gracen literally couldn’t get out the door fast enough when I told her I had something fun for us to do outside. And when she saw the birds? There was a serious squeal of excitement. She immediately set about exploring the nests, moving the birds from place to place, and filling the bird house with seed.

Shortly after, the birds started flying! Accompanied by little ‘whooshing’ sounds, they zipped through the air doing dives, spins, and figure eights. Hilarious.

Then it was time to empty the bin so that there was plenty of space for hand burying.

After selecting the very best peanuts from the mix, Gracen took the time to hand feed each bird. She tapped the peanut onto the birds’ beaks, and naturally, each responded with an enthusiastic “nom-a-nom-a-neh”.

With all of the birds properly cared for, it was time for the real fun. Gracen’s sensory bin finale of sorts. Off came the shoes, and in went the munchkin! Needless to say, we had seeds everywhere.

And then this happened. Perhaps she’s working on a new grand finale? I don’t know, but all I can say is that I’m happy she chose to break me in with this new maneuver on a bird seed day instead of a cloud dough day.

♥

Feathers, small pretend eggs, and anything found around the yard (sticks, leaves, flowers, etc.) would make great additions to this sensory bin.

You can see Gracen’s beach, ocean, gardening, moon dough, and construction-themed bins by clicking on the links.

A Day in the Life

6 / 12 / 129 / 17 / 13

I’ve been wanting to do one of these posts for a long time now… In fact, I kind of wish I had done one every few months since Gracen’s arrival so that I could forever have one of our typical days for each stage frozen in time. I already forget little details of those early days, and I’m fairly certain that that’s not something that will improve with time. Now, I know I could look back through Grae’s log book and see every pee, poop, nap, activity, and feeding for the first 10 months of her life clearly time stamped and described, but that just doesn’t seem as fun, now does it?

So here is a typical day with our {21 month old} duckling…

6:23 a.m. Our house wakes up to a little voice calling out, “Mama? Mama?”

6:24 a.m. Mama and Grae snuggle in bed for a few minutes while Papa gets ready for work.

6:40 a.m. Gracen takes a potty break and enjoys her morning milk while Mama prepares breakfast.

6:57 a.m. Breakfast time. On the menu this morning – avocado and mozzarella on squirrely bread with fruit salad. Papa heads off to work.

7:35 a.m. Gracen reads and plays independently in her room while Mama cleans up from breakfast, does the dishes, sweeps, tidies the living room and Grae’s room, flips a couple of loads of laundry, and folds bed sheets at lightening speed.

8:16 a.m. Gracen enthusiastically picks out her outfit for the day.

8:35 a.m. Ready for the day! We cozy up and enjoy a few books {and a little dance party}.

9:00 a.m. Mama has a quick shower and gets ready while Miss G plays 250 elastic pick up and imitates Mama applying “pretty pretty pretty”.

9:28 a.m. Gracen draws G’s (that’s what she told me she was drawing at least) while Mama gathers a few ingredients in the kitchen.

9:30 a.m. Together, we make these delicious veggie-packed low-sugar muffins. (Today we cut the sugar down even more and they’re still plenty sweet.)

10:15 a.m. Muffins are fresh out of the muffin and ready to be gobbled up as a morning snack. While Grae eats, Mama packs a quick lunch and stocks up the diaper bag.

10:40 a.m. We head out the door. Gracen put “Papa Baby” (I think she calls him that because of the fact that he’s a boy) out by the front door just after she got dressed, so there was no forgetting him.

10:58 a.m. We visit Hillcrest Centre and Gracen has a blast at today’s play gym session.

12:00 p.m. Gracen picks a corner overlooking the ice rink and enjoys lunch in the company of her baby doll before we head home.

12:41 p.m. We do our usual pre-nap time routine (potty, story, song, and snuggle) and the little miss lays down in bed. She chats with her animals for a bit, and by 1:00 p.m. the house is quiet. While Grae snoozes, Mama empties the diaper bag, eats lunch, catches up on email, preps a couple of things for dinner, and pulls together a little afternoon activity.

2:53 p.m. Gracen wakes up, cozies up on the couch with Mama and a cup of milk, and we watch a few nursery rhymes on BabyTV. Afterwards, we turn off the television and read a stack of books together.

3:32 p.m. Gracen beats Mama outside and is very pleased to find a blanket waiting underneath our plum tree. We play a few little games and soak in the fresh air.

3:40 p.m. We explore a new sensory box (which was a huge hit) and do some light gardening.

4:45 p.m. Back in the house, Gracen reads and organizes her picture cards while Mama prepares dinner.

5:30 p.m. We rush out of the house and head down to the Canada Line Station to pick up Papa.

5:40 p.m. Grae and a happy-to-be-home Papa have a race to the front door.

5:45 p.m. Dinner time! Pad thai with veggies, tofu, and shrimp tonight.

6:03 Papa and Grae enjoy a little downtime together, share a bowl of yogurt with berries, and watch some baseball on TV.

6:19 p.m. Papa bathes Grae while Mama cleans up the dinner mess, does a few dishes, and packs leftovers into tomorrow’s lunch containers.

6:35 p.m. Bedtime routine as usual. Diaper, lotion, teeth brushing, jammies, stories, songs, and snuggles.

6:49 p.m. The little lady is in bed {and quite clearly blinded by Mama’s camera flash}. The rest of our night involves some housework, a couple of shows, blogging / internet surfing, and a hot cup of tea.

♥

Ocean Visit

6 / 11 / 126 / 11 / 12

Gracen and I had a regular little day planned out, but when the sunshine popped out and we received an early morning text from my good friend Steph, it was off to White Rock for a morning along the ocean with friends. We explored the beach, dipped our toes in the water, drew G’s in the sand, strolled the seawall, grabbed iced coffees, and had a picnic lunch on the grass. And one of my very favourite parts? Waving to our shadows and making them jump and dance along the beach. Seriously – is there anything more entertaining than watching a toddler discover the wonder of shadows? I’ve been soaking up moments just like these for the last couple of weeks and just can’t get enough. Today she even crouched down to touch her shadow… Gosh, I love this girl to bits.

♥

Park Crawl

6 / 11 / 126 / 11 / 12

After a busy weekend with Gracen’s Grandma and Grandpa (a.k.a. ‘Manmaw’ and ‘Poppop’) here, we headed out for a relaxing afternoon at the park. We decided to visit one of our favourites a little ways from home, and on the drive over, Gracen spotted a different playground out the window and asked to visit. It was too late for me to jump into the lefthand turn lane, so I quickly decided we’d do both. Why not, right? We went to the original one as planned first, then stopped at the other one on the way home. A mini playground crawl to end our weekend was just what the doctor ordered.

Favourite saucer swing position. Sunnies mandatory.

Big girl swinging.

Balance.

“Muwahs” for Mama.
Cautiously crossing.

Space car riding.
Serious.

Recreating these photos.

“Mama, Grae Grae sleeeeeep.”

Her first time saying, “Higher! Higher!”

♥

Small Style {4}

6 / 10 / 126 / 10 / 12

I received a question from a reader this past week, and thought I’d share:

I’m pretty sure you mentioned that your daughter picks out her own clothes in a previous post. How do her outfits still end up looking cute? When I let my daughter choose her clothes, she just looks ridiculous. Any tips?

Well I’m certainly no expert, but here’s what works for us… I usually start by having Gracen pick out any one item she wants to wear, whether it be a top, a skirt, a dress, or pants. Once she’s chosen her item, I normally pick out a few different options that coordinate with her item and complete the outfit (so if she’s chosen a top, I’ll lay out a few coordinating bottoms, or if she’s chosen a dress, I’ll lay out a couple of pairs of tights that go). She gets to choose the next part of her outfit, but from my selections. We do the same with sweaters, hair accessories, shoes, etc. until the outfit is complete. On days when I want her to wear something more specific (like a pretty dress for a special occasion let’s say), I pull out 3 or 4 completed outfits, hang them on her crib railing, and have her choose from there instead of starting with free reign in her closet. It definitely takes a little more time than me just picking out her outfits, but I think it’s important to let her make age-appropriate decisions and she really enjoys it, so for us, it’s worth the extra couple of minutes. And since the end result is something that at least “goes” and is weather-appropriate, there’s really no downside. ☺

I hope I answered that alright… Anyways, onto this week’s Small Style post. Gone are the sundresses, shorts, and rompers… As Gracen’s outfits clearly show, it’s been a crisp, rainy week here on the coast.

Crocheted hat: Made by a friend’s mom / Black cardigan: H&M (boys’ section) / Pink tee: Next / Cheetah print leggings: Joe / Gumboots: SportTek

Crocheted hat: Made by a friend’s mom / Ruffled top: Joe / Striped skirt: Joe / Brown tights: H&M / Glittered flats: Payless

Crocheted hat: Made by a friend’s mom / Ballet sweater: Baby Gap / Ruffled top: Joe / Ruffled skirt: Baby Gap / Tights: H&M / Glittered flats: Payless

Plaid button-up: Joe / Pink onesie: H&M / Grey skinny jeans: Joe / Fluorescent sneakers: H&M

Red peacoat: Baby Gap / Plaid shirt: Joe / Leggings: H&M / Boots: H&M

Floral sunglasses: Joe / Poodle dress: Jack & Jill / Fuchsia leggings: H&M / Ruffled flats: Jack & Jill

Hooded cardigan: Levi’s / Striped tee: Baby Gap / Dotted leggings: Baby Gap / Glittered flats: Payless / Cabbage Patch Doll (a.k.a. “Papa Baby”): Mama’s from when she was little