March Break and Maple Syrup Season

Last week was "March Break" for my girls - the week-long spring vacation students look forward to shortly after returning to school from Christmas holidays.  My mother took the week off work to stay with us for a few days and to spend some quality time with the girls.  She has been doing this for the past five years.  The girls and I look forward to it every year.  If you followed my blog this time last year, you will already know that.

One of the highlights of the week was our trip to Shaw's Maple Syrup Bush.  March is maple syrup season! As soon as the sap starts flowing, a visit to the farm is always in order.  After all, it's tradition!

My mom and I outside the pancake house...

My girls...can you tell they're happy to be here?

At the far end of the restaurant is this beautiful wood-burning stove.  It kept us warm and cozy throughout our breakfast!

Three generations of girls having breakfast together! Nuno's missing; he's the one behind the camera.

Pancakes, sausage and fresh maple syrup.  YUM!

This is the machine where all the maple sap is boiled.  Can you see the steam coming out of the open lid?  Inside, the sap is boiling and when it's finally ready, the maple syrup is released into the stainless bin below.

After our breakfast, the girls made their own maple taffy on snow.

Annabel gets a little help from daddy...

Our last stop was the gift shop, where my mom generously purchased a big jug of fresh maple syrup for us to take home.

Here is a photo of my girls with grandma on her last day before returning home.   My mom's March break visits are always so special.  We had fun hanging out every day, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner together, going shopping, and thrift store hunting. I miss our daily coffee outings, talks, and the extra help in the kitchen.  She is very dear to me, so when it's time to say goodbye, it's always difficult.  But, even so, I look forward to doing it all over again next year!   

Pretty smile...

A Week of Celebrations!

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate Oprah Winfrey


To say that I have had my hands full this past week would be a huge understatement.  In the short span of seven days, we celebrated Shrove Tuesday, Valentine's Day, Family Day, and a few other things in between! 

It all started with our pancake dinner party on Shrove Tuesday...

My nieces Emily and Chloe joined us for our pancake dinner, in pajamas, of course!

We had pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon for dinner!

For Valentine's day, I baked my first ever heart-shaped cheesecake...

with a cinnamon graham cracker crust.  I baked it in a water bath - a fool-proof method to prevent cracking and sinking.  I topped it with cherries. It looked so pretty and was so delicious! 

This is the gorgeous bouquet of flowers my husband surprised me with on Valentine's day!

And...he cooked a special dinner for us too...

Is there anything more romantic than a man who can cook?

Here's Anita, having a little fun...

One of the best things we celebrated this week, was my father-in-law's last day of chemo and radiation therapy.  We are all thrilled with his progress.  To see him doing so well after everything he has been through these past six weeks, is a blessing!  Our family got together on the weekend, as we do every weekend, and shared a delicious meal lovingly made my mother-in-law.  We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed for good news next month when he follows up with the doctor.  Please keep him in your thoughts.  

Yesterday, we celebrated Family Day - a statutory holiday celebrated in parts of Canada.  We went out for breakfast in the morning and spent the rest of the day indoors, tucked away from the cold.  We relaxed, watched TV, enjoyed a fire and made a yummy mixed seafood platter for dinner.

Crab, shrimp, squid, scallops and clams

before...

...and after

All in all, it was a joyous week filled with happy occasions and many reasons to celebrate.
 How was your week?  Was it busy for you too?  Did you celebrate anything?

Wishing you all a happy week with many little reasons to celebrate!  xoxo

And It's Christmas, Once More!

Hello everyone!  Another Christmas has come and gone.  I hope your Christmas day was merry; filled with family, friends, yummy food and precious memories.  It was a lovely Christmas here at our house, although my little Annabel was sick.  The last thing I wanted, was for my little pumpkin to be sick on Christmas Eve, but she was a tough cookie and didn't let it get the best of her. 

Earlier this week...

Annabel's "Christmas Craft Celebration" took place in her classroom at school.  Children were asked to invite one special person to come to the celebration.  Since Daddy had to work, I was the lucky attendee! 

The class welcomed guests by singing three special Christmas songs

Annabel working on her wreath craft

We worked on it together

Annabel and her BFF, Kate!

Students and their guests enjoyed a hot chocolate topped

with mini marshmallows and rice crispy treats!

How I love these little hands!

I baked these Pistachio Christmas Tree Cakes for family on Christmas Eve

December 24th...

I made this double chocolate ganache cake for my sister's birthday.  We celebrated

at my parents' house on Christmas Eve.  It was a special birthday...my sister turned 22,

her champagne year (she was born on December 22nd). 

Cheers to that!

Christmas Eve...

Setting out the milk and cookies for Santa's visit

 

Annabel fast asleep after a long evening

 

CHRISTMAS MORNING...

It's M-A-G-I-C!

Mama Claus making pancakes

Daddy frying the bacon and maple sausages

A stack of Christmas pancakes

Our Christmas breakfast

After breakfast, we went on to open the rest of the presents under the Christmas tree.  We put on a fire, listened to Christmas music, and enjoyed a lazy morning at home.  It was perfect! 

Today, we are enjoying much of the same thing.  I'm loving these holidays at home with my family.  Nuno is home from work until the New Year, and the girls only go back to school on the second week of January.  This is when I'm happiest...at home with my husband and my girls enjoying the care-free days that are the holidays.  

I hope you are all enjoying these special days with your family and friends. Wishing you a wonderful week leading up to the New Year.  I can hardly believe 2012 is just around the corner!  Happy Holidays!  xo

Blueberries, Pancakes, and Pie...Oh My!

July is national blueberry month and this past weekend was the Barrie Hill Farms Blueberry Pancake Festival.  If you follow my blog, you may remember that we visited the farm last month to celebrate the Strawberry Festival.  On Saturday, we woke up early in the morning so we could be one of the first to enjoy the delicious blueberry pancakes!  We arrived at about 9 am.  The weather could not have been any more perfect - it was warm, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining!

I asked the friendly gentlemen if I could snap a couple of photos.  It was so nice talking with them!

Our breakfast consisted of 3 pancakes, and 2 sausages!  It was delicious!

Now that our tummies were full, it was time to go blueberry picking!  We headed out on the wagon ride that lead us into the blueberry fields...

We saw a large field of gorgeous gladiolus growing there too! 

I bought a few stems of gladiolus to take home and put in a vase!

Blueberries for sale!

We had a wonderful morning at Barrie Hill Farms.  The pancakes were delicious, and we really enjoyed the blueberry picking.  Hmmm...now what to do with all those berries?  Why, a blueberry pie, of course!

Making the pastry dough

2 pounds of blueberries

Filled with blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, corn starch and a little bit of cinnamon!

The pie is ready to go in the oven!

Bubbling blueberry pie, right out of the oven.  Now to cool & set for at least a few hours...

The pie turned out delicious!  

It is really special when you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  The sweetness from the ice cream really complements  the tartness of the blueberries!  I do hope you enjoyed reading this post.  It's another beautiful day here in my neighbourhood.  I hope it's a nice day where you are too!  Thanks for stopping by! XO