Dear Lily, you are one.

Party set up

delicious fruit platter with homemade flags

kettle corn for party guests

Chocolate cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese buttercream

more of the spread

photo wall of Lily's twelve months of life

rocking horse from Uncle Ryan

practicing knocking

the rejected cupcake

birthday outfit

dancing queen

one of our favourite guests, cousin Hank

one of our other fav's, our friend Celia.

My dearest Lily, on January 20th, 2012 you turned one. It has been an incredible year and it just keeps getting better. We celebrated your year with a big birthday bash at your uncle Ryan's house (thanks uncle Ryan!). About 30 of our family and friends came, here is the list: Sandra, Amber, Lorna, Gloria, Marie, Amber, Nya, Skye, Jason, Presley, Caitlin, Henry, Mollie, Logan, Celia, Allie, Shona, William, Colleen, Jim, David, Jules, Gavin, Alejandra, Wendy, Tessa, Nana, Papa, Gramma, Ryan, Mama and Dada. It was a lovely party decorated with lots of homemade crafts and delicious food and treats. Mama made Martha Stewarts tissue paper pom-poms, homemade pennant flags, cupcake flags, and a little "1" onesie for you! For the food we made hummus and pita, veggies, fruit, olives and cheese, assorted candy treats, vanilla vanilla cupcakes and chocolate raspberry cupcakes. You loved the party and spent the two hours dancing around and greeting everyone, not stopping to sit down once. Nearing the end of the party we all sang "Happy Birthday" while you looked on curiously and we offered you a vanilla cupcake, you opted for a bit of breastmilk instead. Overall it was the perfect party to top off the perfect year. You are such an incredible little girl and I am so proud to be your mom. In case you were wondering what you were up to at the time you turned one, here's a recap of all of your incredible accomplishments. You have been walking for over two months and you are so steady on your feet, you walk, run and dance! You can say tons of words and are incredible at communicating what you want, you can say: duck, light, eyes, all done, hot, peek-a-boo, mama, dada, nana, papa, hi, banana, what's that, what's this, night-night. You can sign baby and all done, you can make the sound for peeing on the potty, you can make kissing noises and blow kisses and horse noises. You are so happy and good natured, you laugh and smile all the time. You love music and dancing and playing instruments. You love to read books and play with blocks, most of all you love to play with wooden spoons, pots and pans, the dishwasher and the spice cupboard. You are so curious and smart. I love you so much. Thank you for coming into my life it has never been so enriched.

Baby's First Christmas

Pecan Lace Cookies

Gingerbread with lemon icing

Peanut butter chocolate "DeeDee balls"

Boxing Day breakfast

borrowing Jordan's hat

Love sandwich

Talk about your free range chickens.

Lily with "Santa"

Lily and Papa

Christmas walk

Christmas Night 

One of the MANY close crib games

Wrapped gift for hubs

Family recipe book

It was Lily's first Christmas and as with most children's first Christmases, she didn't know what was going on. She did enjoy all of the company, music and general jolly feeling around the house. I'll start at the top with one of my favourite parts about Christmas; the food. Dan and I were determined to bake everything this year, we spread it out over the week before Christmas and we ended up with a nice variety of goodies. Here's the list; pecan lace cookies, gingerbread trees with lemon icing, peanut butter chocolate balls, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, sugar and spice candied nuts, almond bark, and eggnog cheese cake bars. Don't worry, we didn't eat it all ourselves, we had about 25 family members over the course of 4 days to help us, although we did eat way too much and we are now on an extended salad binge. We had a lovely sushi dinner with a local tuna for Christmas Eve dinner, a traditional Swiss fondue for Christmas Day and a big turkey dinner with the whole extended family for Boxing Day. Christmas morning was really low key, we did homemade secret santa gifts so there was just one small handmade or vintage find gift for each person. I made Dan a family recipe book with recipes from our grandparents, our parents and our own family favourites and a homemade card with our favourite holiday sentiment "Creamy Hollandaise!".  Lily got two new wooden toys from us: a ball dropper and a shape sorter, a ride on bug from her Nana and Papa, a down quilt from her Grandma and a set of vintage chairs from her aunt and uncle. We went for a lovely winter walk in the sunshine and got some pictures of Lily with "Santa" in their matching jackets (thanks auntie JoJo!). We played lots of cribbage and Cranium over the course of the holidays and spent quiet, quality time with family. Overall it was the perfect quiet and thoughtful Christmas that we intended.

Winter Solstice Family Traditions

We spent winter solstice this year doing what we have been trying to do every day since we got here; going for a walk. We changed up our walking location for our family solstice walk and walked through a lovely forest path to the beach. We decided that since solstice is celebrating the light that is coming, we went at sunset, which is 4:30pm. We were laughing and remembering how we spent summer solstice and how at 4:30pm we would probably be heading to the beach for a swim instead of watching the sun set. It is really amazing how the light of the day changes with the seasons. We talked about what we wanted to do this winter and what our hopes and dreams for our family are for the new year. When we got to the beach we lit a candle and sent our dreams out into the ocean, something we would really like to make a tradition on solstice each year. Happy Solstice and may your dreams come true what ever they are.

Treasure Island

We've been on our little gulf island paradise for 19 days now and we are really starting to settle in. Lily and I are just getting over being sick (somehow Dan managed to escape!) and we are starting to enjoy the crisp air and the quiet days. It's the perfect time to recharge as a family for the busy year that lay ahead of us. With Dan being in school and me working a couple of days a week we never really have large amounts of quality time to spend as a family so this has really turned out to be quite a blessing. Renovations on our house are moving along, we are trying not to think about it too much and just enjoy every day, every moment of quiet uncomplicated life that we are living right now. Well not entirely uncomplicated, a family of three living in one room within our family's house can have it's challenges but it can also have it's perks. Dan and I sat down as our day was winding down to reflect on the day's events and both came to the conclusion that it was the perfect day. We woke in the morning with lots of hustle and bustle in the house, we had company and we all sat down to a big breakfast together, soon the house emptied as guests went home and my parents went off to work. We spent the rest of the day making Christmas treats, reading, drinking tea, going for a walk to the beach and then making a chicken pot pie from scratch for dinner. The weather outside was crisp but there was just the right amount of sun and no wind. Ideal for the perfect family beach walk, we brought our camera to document the amazing things you are sure to encounter on a walk on this amazing island and tried to slow down and take in the breathtaking scenery all around. These walks into nature create such a quiet, calm and peaceful mood within our family and it is amazing to see how much Lily is affected by the crisp air and the magic of outdoor life. She normally spends her days running around the house picking up everything she sees and exclaiming "wassat?" or "wassis?" and busily exploring. On these walks into nature she is quiet and reflective, she doesn't say much, just looks and takes in the treasures all around. We feel blessed not only to be surrounded by these treasures that nature has left us, but also the treasure of our family that surrounds us. Don't you ever feel like you are the luckiest people on earth?