Cookies GALORE!

Our annual cookie exchange was tonight!  It's such a fun time of year, really signalling the start of Christmas get togethers, eating, eating and smells of the winter...you know, gingerbread, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pine trees, vanilla.  I'm hungry, just thinking about it!

The samples were delicious!  I knew that Graham was going to have some new favourites, as well as 1 of his favourites from last year, reappeared!  The ladies are going to make him ONE HAPPY MAN!  He is a baked good lover, and has been converted to what he calls ""Dutch baked goods", since we've been together.  I'd love to say that they last WAY past Christmas in this house, but once Graham gets his hands on them...they never last past New Year's!

Looks like we need to have some friends over, to help us with the loot! 

Rain, Rain go away...I'd rather you bring snow.

24 hours of SOLID rain.  Like the non stop, wonder when it's going to end, have to run from my car to anywhere rain.

It's not often that we have rain for so long, or so late in the year for that matter, unless it's accompanied by snow/freezing rain, usually.  I knew that I had to drive after work to Mom and Dad's and was not looking forward to making my way on a 1.5 hour drive, close to rush hour, in the rain.

The entire time it was raining, I was praying that it would turn into snow (don't kill me!).  I mean, we are supposed to cut down our Christmas tree this weekend, and who wants to do that in rain/warm weather?  I'd prefer snow, but I'd take a little bit of winter weather, while chopping down our tree if need be.

Sister, Sister.

No, not the old school cheesy show...MY sister, Jenn.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!  After numerous phone calls to try to reach her for her birthday...and a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday from Graham by answering machine message, we had to give up trying.  We figured that she was either out, talking to  A LOT of people, or no surprise if you knew her (Love you!), her phone died.

Needless to say, Happy Birthday Sis!  We all love you very much and although we didn't get to talk to you on your special day, we hope that you had a relaxing night and enjoyable day.  It's the first year in a few that we haven't celebrated yours and Dad's birthday's together and we missed you!

Just for old times sake!  Things have changed over the years!

Jenn "fanning" my tears, after our too long hug at the wedding that made me cry!  Memories!

Happy Birthday to the best Dad out there!

I am so proud of my Dad!  As I write this, he is currently serving on a Mission Trip in Honduras!  It's his first mission trip and I hope it's as life changing and exciting for him, as they were for us growing up!

While he's not spending his birthday with family, he is spending his birthday with new friends, church friends and people who will hopefully make today special!  We all had the opportunity to write Dad a letter before we left, so today, he will open those and know how much we all love him and miss him!

Happy Birthday Dad, you are not only one of a kind, you are caring, kind, loving and would give the shirt off your back to anyone who needed it.  We all love you very much!

You light up my life!

One of my favourite things about Christmas is, looking at all of the lights on people's houses.  As kids, we used to drive around this one neighbourhood in Hamilton, that had a Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause that would sit in the window and wave at passersby.  It's a favourite memory of mine and one that I have been waiting to be beat, for a long time.

When we moved to Caledonia, there was always this one street that went all out with their lights.  I used to drive with one of my best friend's Dana, every year to go and look at them.  While it was not the same as my favourite house growing up, it was a little piece of excitment every year.  I don't remember when Caledonia added their light show on the Mill/River, but the first time I took Graham, 4 years ago, I thought he was in light heaven!

This year, for the first time, we don't live in an apartment.  While we have always put up a tree and decorations INSIDE, we have never had the space to put them up outside!  I was thrilled that this year, that would change!

Today, Graham and I hung up the lights on the house, hung dozens and dozens of ornament balls from our big tree out front and started to figure out what we'd do next week, inside the house.  Graham's rule: no decorating inside the house until December and DEFINITELY not until after we've cut down our tree.

Once the lights and tree were decorated outside, I felt a little bit more like Christmas was coming!  It was so nice to turn them on and feel more "one with the neighbours".  It even got some of our neighbours so excited, they were all waving out their windows (the lady who used to live here, never decorated, or really lived here for that matter)!

Muppets.

No, not in the British sense...

Noun: muppet mú-pit
Usage: UK

1. (informal) a stupid or weak person

But in the animated puppet sense! 

We went on a date last night and while we were eating dinner, it finally hit Graham that we won't have many more dates like tonights.  A dinner and a movie out, which costs enough as it is, will cost that much more when you have to add a babysitter to it.  Weird thought for him to have (normal for me to think ahead, but not him), but nice to talk about what life will be like in a few months.

After dinner, we went to see the Muppets.  Graham used to LOVE watching the Muppets.  It was something I'd watch on occasion, but nothing that I obsessed over...The review for the movie seemed good, something that we normally don't care about, but you never know.

Overall, it was TERRIBLE (we thought so anyway).  It was WAY too cheesy and over the top.  5 minutes into it, if it didn't cost us over $30 to see the movie (popcorn and drinks really do add up), we both would have left.  It.Just.Wasn't.The.Same.

If you are planning to see it, I'd suggesting renting it (if that, we really hated it that much).  I most DEFINITELY WOULD NOT waste money seeing it in the theatre.

Happy American Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

I have GREAT memories of living in the U.S and celebrating American Thanksgiving, with friends, "adopted" family or cooking for those of us at school, who couldn't make it back to our own families (lived too far away).

By far, my favourite memory of American Thanksgiving, was my Taylor family Thanksgiving!  Jesse and I drove from Oklahoma to Arizona as quickly as we could (upon arrival, I also had my VERY FRIST TASTE OF SONIC EVER!).  I had NEVER laughed SO HARD, SO OFTEN in such a short period of time with someone's family!!!!!!!  I STILL think about that day often, as it brings back very happy memories of College life.  From randomly having to contribute to crosswords (NOT my strong point!), singing made up songs and learning new songs that I didn't know existed...piano playing...GREAT food and the greatest amount of inside jokes I had ever heard/been apart of, in my life!

I hope that if you can't be with your family today and are celebrating American Thanksgiving, that you all have a "Taylor" family somewhere to celebrate with!

Are you okay?

This seemed to be the question of the night last night, while we were "relaxing" on the couch.  I put "relaxing" in quotations, as I just couldn't sit still.

Whether it was because I was bored, was home all day, or couldn't get things off my mind, I just couldn't sit still. 

My only solution, was to get off the couch, bundle up and go for a nice, brisk walk.  Graham got out of his comfy clothes and bundled up with me, which was really nice.

Curry Night!

We LOVE curry night!  We really miss curry nights in England, as curry there is so different than it is here (read: more authentic).  When we were living in Toronto, we did find an amazing curry place that did take-out.  Since we've moved, we have yet to venture out for a curry, as we usually make it at home.

Graham's favourite meal, or one of them, is curry.  We both love a good vegetable curry, so I decided to surprise him and make an aloo gobi for dinner (potato and cauliflower curry).  We have a book by Atul Kutcher, one of England's famous curry chefs, so I thought I would cook from his book.

Dinner turned out pretty good.  The flavours were amazing, but it needs to be tweaked, as we like our curry sauce slightly thick (who doesn't like to run their naan bread through their sauce????).  I am excited to make it again, as it really has potential. 

Pan roasting the potatoes and cauliflower...

Aloo Gobi cooking away!  YUMMY!  We were too busy eating to take a photo of the whole spread, but it was DELICIOUS!

News always taints things...

I was shopping today and saw this shirt in Bluenotes:

It's a new shirt that was designed by Simple Plan for a fundraiser for KIDS HELP PHONE. 

I didn't think much of it, when I saw it, other than it was nice to see them fundraising for another good cause (they designed a shirt for fundraising for Japan before).  However, when I sat down to have lunch and read the paper, there was an article about how great it was for them to design another shirt, but how they could have chosen a different "tag line".  They felt that the tag line could get too explicit, or be misconstrued with the "teen generation".

I found that quite sad, although possibly true, as things get taken "out of context" all the time, these days.  Maybe, maybe, they could have chosen different words, but it's sad that they overall message is being twisted.

Needless to say, fundraising for a good cause it always worth it and I love picking one charity to help at Christmas time...

CRAZY new Canadian money!

I have lived in a few different countries in my life so far and one of the things that people always say to me is, "Your country has the coolest money.  We can tell what each bill value actually is, but it's weird that it looks like monopoly money".

I have always loved that I can open my wallet and "see" how much money I have (or don't have, I'm not a big cash on hand person).  I DESPISED living in the U.S and NEVER knowing how much money I had on me, and always feeling like I had a lot (HATE those $1 bills that take up so much room!), but never really knowing.  I would have to pull out all of my bills to find which one I wanted to pay with, instead of flip through my wallet and just pull out a twenty.  Trivial to some, but annoying to me.

I was working yesterday and I had to call a manager for the first time, due to thinking that I got a counterfeit bill.  I had NEVER seen or felt anything like it and was sure it was a fake.  The customer looked less than pleased at me, even telling me that I must live in a hole, as I had no idea that Canada has released a new set of $50 and $100 bills.  SOOORRRRRRYYYYYYYY!  GRR!  Ahh...retail.

Anyways, I was interested to find out, that it was in fact real and it was in fact annoying the customer.  They stick to EVERYTHING and static, she said is a whole other issue.  All of her bills stick together and she thinks that she might get ripped off, as she once handed over payment for an item and 2 bills were stuck together.  Both the staff and herself didn't have any idea until much later (I didn't really feel sorry for her, as someone who constantly has $50's and $100's in their wallet, must not miss it THAT much).

This new bill is PLASTIC.  Yup.  Environmentally friendly there...

It has a see through part on the bill, a new design and near to impossible serial numbers that we will need a magnifying glass to determine if it's real or fake (should counterfeits ever be produced).  Supposedly the government thinks it will be much harder to reproduce...but reality is, someone's probably already figured it out :)  Needless to say though, if you ever get your hands on one, they are quite interesting to look at!

Birthdays...

This year, we celebrated Dad's birthday early...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!  As my Dad is spending his birthday in Honduras this year!  We are SO incredibly proud of him and can't wait to hear all about it when he gets back.  It's his first mission trip and a big trip to take without Mom, so I can only imagine how different his stories will be when he gets back!

I remember the days when we as youth were going on Mission trips.  Now, selflessly, it's a parents turn.  Oh, how the tables turn.  It's something that Dad's been wanting to do for awhile, but Mom and Dad have always been so incredibly selfless at putting us first.  Now that we are all grown, it's fun to see the things that they are doing for themselves!

We got together today to celebrate early, Jenn and Allan couldn't be there, but it was still a nice afternoon and evening!  We laughed, we argued (isn't that a normal part of family get-to-gethers?), we ate, ate and ate some more...which is always common at a Mosselman household!  Mom cooked a delicious lasagne, some garlic bread and made cesear salad.  For dessert: mine and Dad's favourite!!!!!

CREME Brulee!!!  YUMMY!  She absolutely aced it!  Thanks Mom and again, Happy Birthday Dad, we love you!

Time for a new look...

I was getting bored with my hair.  Or indecisive.  Or creative.  Or I don't know...but I knew that I was feeling pale and "too blonde" for the winter.  Being so tired lately, I also wanted something that was a "shower and go" type of cut.

I went to the salon, thinking I would just get a trim and some darker blonde highlights, but ended up letting the hairdresser do whatever she wanted.

I ended up with blonde, caramel and chocolate brown highlights/lowlights!  I was shocked to see myself in the mirror (why?  I don't know, as I have had red, black, pink, blonde, brown and a shaved head/hair), but am getting used to it.

I couldn't take the best picture of myself, but you can get the gist of the change in the front (ignore the red face, I had my eyebrows done and react REALLY badly to wax).

It's a nice change and I am trying to get used to even shorter hair!

Relaxing night.

I got home from work late tonight and Graham and I decided that after dinner, we'd go for a drink at the Port (well him a drink, me dessert).

They had live music (we had no idea, it's been so long since we've gone), so we had a relaxing night of conversation and coffee/cocktails.  Dessert was not my favourite, but Graham ordered the flourless chocolate torte.

It was so nice to see Graham totally and completely chilled.

Pizza night...

I found this recipe in a magazine and thought it would be good to try something new.  It sounded really yummy.  While it WAS nice to try something new, there were a few things that we felt were too strong or "missing" from this pizza.

The goat cheese was too strong and overpoweing, while the caramelized onions needed a bit of acid (maybe some balsamic).  Overall, it was great to try something different and I think I would try it again, tweaking a few things.  However, I'm not sure Graham would.  Too bad...

I do suggest to try it, but change a few things to your taste.

My U.S shopping experiences near the outlets, are now complete!

I had a VERY successful shopping trip to the U.S today!  While I can't blog too much about what I purchased...hello, Christmas is coming up!  I was thrilled and shocked at how long it had been since I have gone, as two of my favourite stores/places are now right next to my favourite HUGE Wal-mart!

BOO YAH!  So excited to go explore Hobby Lobby next time when I have more time!  Although Graham doesn't usually like the damage it does to our bank account when I step foot in there!

Another delicious soup!

I think I have become obsessed with this website.  I wish I knew the blogger in real life, as I'd hug her and thank her for the cooking rut that I have been in.

Her recipes are similar to our taste, but different enough that I make something new for Graham to try.  Her recipes haven't let us down once yet!  I have tried to stay away from the baking side of her website, but I don't think that will last too much longer!

Last night, I made this delicious Cream Cheese Chicken and Vegetable Soup.  It was EASY peasy, although I had to pick out all the chicken in my bowl before the gagging got worse (really baby, gagging at chicken?!?!?!), it was hearty, yummy and very filling.  I love colder weather for soup time!

Photo from Mel's Kitchen Cafe website, as we gobbled it up SO quickly, I forgot to take a photo!  While I left the celery out (not a fan), I doubled the carrots and it was delicious!  I also prefer red onions, so I substituted those for the white/yellow onions.

Thanks to this website, we have had many new delicious meals!  Mom, think this will be another one to try?! :)

I dream of Genie....

No, this is not about the old school TV show...

It's about rubbing a lamp and hoping a genie comes out.  Comes out, so that I can make one wish.  What would that wish be???

Not only did I come home to a clean house this weekend while I was working, my lovely hubby did the groceries (I made a list, that's it!), the rest of the laundry and ate dinner with me on the couch, so that I could relax after work.

Yup, ladies and gentlemen...while I used to be SUPER efficient, lately, my dear, dear husband has been my rock when I can't muster up the energy to do anything.  Anything above and beyond "building a respiratory system", as a friend and old co-worker worded what work it takes to grow this new life.

I love you, sweetheart and thank you for helping out with anything and everything you have!

What a gorgeous day!

Today, we had a nice relaxed breakfast (homemade crepes!) and then packed up some water, snacks and the camera, to go for a walk at Durham forest.  It was a GORGEOUS, sunny day, with minimal wind and I wasn't working...so we wanted to take advantage of the last of the nice weather we might get.

We finally found the main entrance to the park (it's about 30 mins away and hundreds and hundreds of acres).  It was full of leaves, big paths and the occasional family taking their kids/dogs out for a walk.  It was perfect.  You know, that walk, where you walk for hours and only bump into one or two people.  People that are friendly and say "Hello, how are you"?, without knowing who you are.  Those nice "walking" people, the relaxed kind.  I love it and missed it.

What I missed more, was spending time with Graham on a weekend day.  Usually we only have a few hours together during the weeknights, so spending a whole day together, after two months of me working weekends, was perfect.

We finally took some photos together!  I realized this week, while filling out the Baby book/Pregnancy Journal, that we don't have a single photo together in months!  YIKES!  So we got a few photos in the middle of the forest. 

It was a perfect, relaxing day, that ended with lunch together at Williams Coffee house and some shopping at Winners and Homesense.  I miss days off with my hubby!

Baby Time Show

I went with our friend Julie and her son Jack to Toronto's baby time show today.  I knew to expect samples and basically "the best of the best" in strollers, toys and organic everything...but I never knew that I could come home with a bag so big and heavy, I felt overwhelmed.

Pros of the show:

I got to retry the stroller that's our favourite.  I still love it and we are going for it, when the time's right.  Our stroller of choice: The Baby Jogger City Select, which can convert to a double if we ever need to one day.  It has a BAZILLION configurations, which we love (car seat, bassinette, stroller seat forward facing, outward facing, two kids facing each other... etc etc.).  While it's going to be our more costly purchase, EVERYONE who has one, wants one and just bought was, said it would be bought without regret.

The amount of samples were CRAZY.  As a first time Mom, it was interesting to learn about new products (that I have not had experience with, watching other people's kids), as well as what will be useful and what seems like a total waste, or something that I can do/make myself.  I walked away with so many samples and although I won't use them all, or don't know if I will, it will make a women's shelter happy one day, should I not need to use them.

I loved seeing more products that I had not used with other children before that were more organic and less "unnatural" or filled with chemicals.  I cannot use Johnson and Johnson without getting a rash myself, and am not wanting to use it on baby, as there are some chemical issues with what they put in their product (fermeldahyde).  I bought some product from Live Clean, loving their lotion and NON PETROLEUM jelly.  Excellent.  What's better, is that it's really only a couple dollars more than J&J.  Something I usually would complain about, but not when it comes to not getting a reaction from certain products.  Some sensitive products for skin and babies can be OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive, so a couple dollars, is NOTHING in the skin sensitive world...

The time spent with Julie and Jack was priceless.  I got to ask Julie a million questions (thanks Jules!), share some time with friends and gain so much knowledge.  One thing that I was dying to get info from Julie about and see at the baby show was: CLOTH DIAPERS.  We are very open to going this route and I learned so much y-day.  I can't wait to learn more!  Thanks Jules!!!!  My favourites were these, as the patterns were SO cute:

These, for a boy.  So boyish and cute!

These for a girl!  Ruffles on cloth diapers...come on!

I did purchase a few essentials (hangers, teethers, mommy hook etc), but as I took the train in, I couldn't really stock up on anything big.  Maybe at their Spring show before baby arrives?

I totally forgot to take a photo of Jack, Julie and I for my baby book, BOO!  But we had a lot of fun!

Some CONS (they were big ones for me):

There was MINIMAL seating to rest/eat.  When you walk around all day, you need to sit, or eat, or anything, really.  The 15 tables WERE NOT ENOUGH and you saw people sitting by the washrooms on a dirty floor, just so they could get off of their feet.  REALLY?

There was 1 small elevator for strollers, which made the line ups big at time.  You could use the escaltor, but security had to bring up the stroller and you had to carry the child (fine, if your child was not sleeping, but Jack was!).

The food options were abismal.  I mean, seriously.  I'd go with 75% of people there were pregnant, and pregnant, hungry woman is a BAD situation.  What's worse, there was 1 cashier for any of the food, as their tills weren't working properly.  It took me 10 minutes to have our lunch rang through, which was WATER AND CHIPS. Yup.  And it cost $6!!!!!!!!!!!!  The only food offered was: $8 croissant sandwiches or baguettes, frozen/reheated chicken strips and fries or an extremely overpriced salad.  There were crepes, but at $10 a pop, you have got to be kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!  We later found pizza pizza across the exhibition hall, but were so tired and I didn't feel like paying $6 for a slice.

NOTE: Give healthy options for people to purchase.  Serve more food.  Have more tills.  Charging $3.75 for a bottle of water, is OUTRAGEOUS.  COME ON!  Aren't people supposed to be teaching Mom's/kids and families to eat more healthily and drink more water?  I was NOT impressed and if I go back again, I will pack a lunch and maybe a chair!

Alot of the "Mommy group" connections and information stretched as far as Hamilton, but did not reach Durham.  Weird, as Hamilton is an hour away and Durham is 20 minutes.  The answers I kept getting, were sorry, there aren't any groups or resources in your area, but alot of people have been asking for them today.  Maybe you could contact us and start one?  A little frustrating, as I think becoming a first time Mom, I'd love to join a group at first, not start one, neccesarily.  Such is life, I guess.

There were a LARGE amount of samples and companies giving out formula, but NO ONE was there from La Leche or a Lactation Consultancy.  REALLY?  I was dying to get some information on local chapters or help for breast feeding, should I be lucky enough to successfully go that route.  NOT ONE BIT OF INFORMATION WAS AVAILABLE ON BREASTFEEDING, apart from one small session in a separate room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Not a booth, not pamphlets, nothing, but this one small info session, that you couldn't just walk up and ask questions/get info quickly.  I found this SHOCKING!

Overall though, it was extremely informative, a GREAT time with an amazing friend and her adorable son and something worth going to.  Next time, I will take Graham, as I really think he could learn so much!

My husband is hilarious!

Ever since we found out that we were expecting, Graham has been on this GIANT hunt for the BIGGEST stuffed animal he could find. 

He has been eyeing up this HUGE stuffed animal at Toys R'Us, determined that he might find one BIGGER, but finally gave in and cracked.  He came home with this today:

Sammie the Dog...a lovely, soft 43 INCHES of puppy!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think he's nuts, but he is so excited about where to put it, when we start decorating it and to use it to read to the little one with.

I love him.  So much.  But if he can't downsize the toys that he buys, we might need to make the entire basement the baby's room!!!!!!!!

HILARIOUS!

Came across this photo today and thought it was OH SO TRUE and OH SO HILARIOUS!

Too cute to handle.

Yes, yes, I am a planner.  I think WAY ahead for things that most people don't think about.  I do it, mostly because I hate feeling rushed and I like to take time to THINK about something fun/exciting/special.

I was thrilled to have some time yesterday to go shopping.  I walked into Bonnie Togs and saw that their Halloween costumes were $20, reduced to $2.99!  Okay, how can you NOT pass up that deal???  I decided that I would buy one that would be applicable for each gender (we don't know what we're having) for next year.  For $2.99, it's a steal...even if we don't end up using it, for one reason or another...it was so cheap I couldn't pass them up!

Then, a girl I went to school with, growing up (Hi HEATHER!), gave me a genius idea that she does...stocks up on halloween costumes that go on sale for her kids dress up bins!  GENIUS!  I love it!  Double usage!  So thanks Heather, looks like I will keep my eyes open year after year now for any deals, so that I can take advantage of your bargain sleuthing!

Cute huh?

Old Times!

Do you ever have moments or do things that brings back memories of your childhood?

We were a family that played games...cards especially.  It mostly stemmed around camping, but sometimes we would have family game nights (Racko, Shanghai, Scattergories, Uno, Skip Bo etc).  It doesn't happen as a family very often anymore, but usually when Mom, Dad, Graham and I get together, there are always games involved (and sometimes a little bit too much wine :).  It's something that we LOVE and something that always brings back good memories of us as a family, when we were younger.

Graham and I have had a lot of talks lately about what we hope will become traditions or moments within our own family.  What was important to us growing up, what we wished we did or what we'd like to see happen.  I'm a big fan of family traditions and trying to pass them along.  Weird, as I am not a traditional person and I LOVE LOVE LOVE change, but I REALLY detest change within our traditions that we have come to know and love. 

I guess I get that from my Mom.  I am sentimental when it comes to my childhood, my memories or things that we did as a family.  I don't adjust to change well when it comes to holidays and what does and doesn't happen anymore...but it all comes with the package of growing families and getting older, I guess.

Graham was very excited last night, while playing cards together, about what Christmas will be like for all of us next year.  What birthdays will mean now.  What "type" of family that he hopes to have.  He was more excited than I've ever seen him, talking about anything in the future actually.  It melts my heart everytime he does it too.

Sometimes, the best conversations we have are over a cup of tea (for me) a martini (for him) and one of our favourite card games...

I remember the last time that we sat down to play this game and the conversation that we had...it was the day after I found out that I was pregnant! Good memories!

BEAUTIFUL!

Tonight, I walked out the door from work to see a sky and sunset that looked like cotton candy.  It was truly a sight to see!  It spanned the entire view I had in the parking lot.  Bright pinks, bright blues...just gorgeous!

While this photos isn't true to colour, as it was taken on my phone, it was 100 times better than this photo even captured!

IMG-20111105-00405.jpg

My favourite time of year!

The smells of fall...

I LOVE when the weather gets cooler.  Almost as much as I love when the weather gets warmer.  I'm a fall and summer person, make that winter at times too.  Not the biggest fan of all the rain and gloom that comes with Spring, although it has a beauty of it's own.

Fall to me, means comfort food, long cool walks, baking, baking and more baking.

The smells of pumpkin, cinnamon, chocolate, spices, apples etc.  It just smells and tastes like...fall.

Today, I made a wonderful recipe, which turned out to make 1 loaf of bread (I only have 1 loaf pan) and 30 muffins.  Some came with me to work, which made for some VERY happy co-workers!

Try this recipe out, it's delicious and makes a HUGE portion!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

It's delicious and easy.  Something that I love about every recipe that I have tried of hers!

YUM!

Cute.

Today, I went to Babies R'US.  Mostly just to look around and narrow down our "options" (there are too many out there!!!), but also to see if I could start a registry.  A process that I was NOT looking forward to, as our registry process for our wedding, was...a pain the butt.

Having family that lives far away, they find it helpful to be able to look online and see ideas, so I decided to start there (there really aren't any other options for baby registries!).  I had a little bit too much fun in the TOY section, knowing that there are quite a few childhood toys that are back with a vengance, as well as toys that Graham has seen before, that he wanted on his (I mean baby's) wish list.

When you sign up, they give you this bag of stuff.  I was dreading this, as it's usually a bunch of paper (wasteful paper at that), coupons and advertisements.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got handed the bag and it had a WIDE VARIETY of samples.  Pretty good ones too (aveeno, tummy butter, sudocream, vaseline, diapers, a bottle, a nuk brand soother and a few other goodies).

Graham was so cute when he got home from work and had a look at everything.  He picked up the diapers, made a *somewhat* inappropriate comment about what it would/wouldn't fit, that I won't repeat, but laughed at...the commenting about how cute it was.  I mean seriously, they were the tiniest diapers I had seen in a long time!

NO, that is not the size of me!  Yet...

It's slow cooker time!

I have always been a fan of the slow cooker...Graham not so much.  I don't know if it's because his Mum was at home and did any cooking (she's an amazing cook), or because it's not typically "British", but he is now converted (although yet to cook anything himself in it).

I love when winter/cold starts to come in, as it means that we can have healthy/hearty meals at the touch of a chop, dice, sprinkle, measure and button.  Most slow cooker meals that I tend to do, either have less than 10 minute prep time, or might take up to 15, if the meat needs a sear.  It usually means leftovers as well, which is great in this house, as I make Graham's lunches for work and he's up by 6am!  I am not as much a fan of summertime meal prep for Graham's lunches, as it usually means getting up at the crack of dawn to figure out what to send with him.

Last night's Moroccan chicken was a SUCCESS!  It is one of his ALL-TIME favourite meals, usually served with mashed potatoes (YUMMY!) and he LOVES when there are leftovers!

Tonight's meal is already in the slow cooker and got there in less than 5 minutes! 

Graham is a HUGE fan of split pea soup, or pea soup with ham (I need to find somewhere that sells a ham hock to make it more authentic), I have only ever had Dutch pea soup- "snert" and AM NOT A FAN OF IT WHATSOEVER!  I don't know if it was a texture thing, or the fact that I DETEST peas, but I am willing to try split pea soup, if it makes my hubby happy!

Thanks to melskitchencafe for another easy recipe to try!  Her chicken corn chowder was a MASSIVE hit around here and I hope that she's converted me to split peas by the end of the night!

photo credit to: www.melskitchencafe.com

Hope that it's as delcious as she raves!

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE EASY SLOW COOKER RECIPE TO SHARE????

Yup, I have an addiction.

Okay, Halloween's over.  I can now "officially" talk about, obsess over, start contemplating how to get around Graham's "it's too early to decorate" rule and shop/wrap the presents I am excited to buy/have already bought!!!!!  YES!

I was THRILLED to walk into the mall today to see these on display already:

I would SERIOUSLY be an elf at the North Pole, if I could.  Or deliver gifts to kids in the middle of the night.  Or anything of the like, as I LOVE shopping for the perfect gift, sitting in church with my family to celebrate Jesus' birth and everything that comes with family time...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

I went grocery shopping today and happened to decided to browse in the baby section (we have bought 1 or 2 onesies, but NOTHING else for baby at all).  We are struggling to find gender neutral items, and Graham and I really don't want everything animal/duck/yellow/green...but it's HARD!  I was thrilled to find this and while it will be saved for next year, I knew that Graham would love it as much as I do!

I sure hope that he/she is on Santa's nice list next year! :)

LET the CHRISTMAS season BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!