Sweet Saturday Visits

Yesterday we were visited by my sweet,sweet friend Sandra G and her twin girls! Along with the gift of their presence Sandra also brought along a sweet gift for Baby Mac.

When she was pregnant with her girls- and didn't yet know the gender- her mom had begun knitting this beautiful blue cardigan. Sandra held onto it all these years and would not allow her mom to give it to anyone else, until little Mac. I am so thankful she passed this treasure along! It is still a little big for him, but that is perfect because it's so hot out right now I wouldn't get full use of it during this time of year. It should fit him perfectly this fall and winter! I am so excited! I am so in love with cardigans, and this one is especially gorgeous!

Thank you friend!!

Projects

Once we are all settled in New Brunswick I intend to attack my project list.

Like every other girl in the world, I fell completely in love with the movie "The Notebook". One of my favorite parts is the "If your a bird; I'm a bird" scene. I intend to add touches of it into our new home. First I am going to have a framed picture much like this:

and I want to have a few cross stiched pictures like these throughout the room. I have not yet decided what colors I will be using, as I am not sure if I want this for our bedroom or if we will have them throughout the living room.

Next I intend to tackle a few things for Mac and his new nursery:

I love this quilted play mat from "cluck Cluck Sew!

And I think these pictures should be fairly easy to scrap book:

Finally, I love having printed quotes or pieces of songs as art- and of

course I would like to do a framed birth announcement :

Disclaimer- I have been gathering photos for projects for so long that I no longer recall where most came from - If you recognize something as yours please advise so I can give credit where credit is due!

I "heart Lazy days

Mac grew weary of looking at paint samples and decided to have a little nap

Wednesday Cuteness

Cradle Love

During my pregnancy I had full intentions of the baby sleeping in his crib - in the nursery - from the very beginning. I would set up the playpen in the living room for the occasional nap - but that would be it.
Then I had my little wee man.
Everything Changed.
I couldn't bear the thought of having him away from me at all. We had been given a beautiful bassinet from B's aunt that had been used for generations in his uncles family. We set it up next to the bed with the intention of Mac sleeping there at night. Mac had other intentions. He would not sleep for more then ten minutes at a time in the bassinet.
So began the babe in the big bed.
We caved and allowed him to sleep with us from that point forward.

I am not going to lie and say that I didn't want him in the bed with us. To be honest I felt he was safest cuddled in my arms through the night - and having his little eyes open to make sure I was close by, or his hourly face rub, as he reached his little nose up and rubbed his face all over my cheek. BEST FEELING EVER. I was his comfort. It was a good feeling. HOWEVER, I knew this could not continue. My aunt suggested that I try out the cradle she used for her daughter and grand babies.

This cradle was hand made for her by a neighbour in a village she used to live in years ago.
It.Is.Beautiful.

I love it so much, so very much! And, thankfully, so does Mac. Although he still wakes in the early morning and, realizing he is all alone, cries until we bring him to bed for a couple hours of slumber next to his mama; he is now sleeping about 7 hours a night in this cradle and taking most of his daily naps in it as well.

One of the things I am saddest about with our upcoming move to NB is having to leave this beauty behind with my aunt. I will miss being able to peek over the side of the bed and see my little man blissfully sleeping- or better yet- smiling his big silly, happy grin at me.

Another Set of Living Rooms I Love

Disclaimer- I have been gathering photos for projects for so long that I no longer recall where most came from - If you recognize something as yours please advise so I can give credit where credit is due!

Easy Breezy Beautiful!

When B and I moved in together we had very different decor tastes - and the compromise ended up being his dark colors and my simple lines ( he likes really old fashioned decor.. eeek)
So our Apts have always had a very dark feel to them- browns and blacks everywhere... Which I am not a fan of at all - but I adjusted- you know, being the good wife that I am :)

After years of wandering antique stores, watching design shows and pouring over the Internet together endlessly- we finally have similar tastes and desires for our home decor.

Now that we will be *hopefully* settling into a home of our own, our goal is to lighten things up! Some of the furniture that we currently have won't be making the journey to New Brunswick with us (thankfully) and the stuff that will is going to be receiving a paint overhaul as soon as we settle in.

We haven't picked definite colors yet but the pics below are our inspiration.

Disclaimer- I have been gathering photos for projects for so long that I no longer recall where most came from - If you recognize something as yours please advise so I can give credit where credit is due!

Blueberry Madness

Since we are moving in 19 days, we have an urgent need to eat everything in our freezer quickly. We have had two packs of blueberries in there forever it seems and I haven't known what I was going to do with them, until today.

After throwing around a few ideas we settled on Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins.



None of the recipes I was coming across were exactly what I was looking for, so I decided to combine a few and see what we came up with- the result?



mmmmmmmmmmmmmm soooooooooo goooooooood!



CAN'T STOP EATING THEM.



Brett has had 3 in the past hour.. not a good thing considering we are both attempting to lose weight lol

The Recipe:

4 cups stone ground wholewheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
1.5 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
4 eggs
1.5 cup milk
3 cup frozen blueberries


Topping:
4 table spoons of brown sugar with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon


In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix the milk, eggs and butter together in the measuring cup and add all at once to the flour mix and stir. Add the blueberries and stir just enough to distribute them evenly.
Lightly sprinkle topping over muffins or loaf.

Bake at 350° F in a lightly greased muffin tins for about 25 minutes.


The Prep & Mix:

The Final Result:

The quest for a family shot

The final shot:

the outtakes

No smiles from the little man.... we think he has figured out what a camera is. He will smile non stop until we go to take a shot - then Mr. Serious comes out.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Great start to a lazy, rainy day..
Breakfast made by Hubby - not gourmet, but sweet just the same..

And sweet baby cuddles..

My Beautiful Little Boy

Lazy Day with mommy and Daddy hanging out around the house:

Lazy Day with mommy and Daddy hanging out around the house

Turquoise and Red

I am so in love with this color combo rightnow!! I almost have B convinced that we should do a room in this shades !

Disclaimer- I have been gathering photos for projects for so long that I no longer recall where most came from - If you recognize something as yours please advise so I can give credit where credit is due!

I want a Nook

Moving right along with my dreams of being a home owner, today I have been trying to imagine how I can create a sweet ,sunny, quiet little reading/cuddle nook in each of the homes we have looked at.

Here are some of my favorite "nooks":

Disclaimer- I have been gathering photos for projects for so long that I no longer recall where most came from - If you recognize something as yours please advise so I can give credit where credit is due!

I "Heart" Toronto

June has arrived, and with it we have begun the bittersweet "Goodbye Toronto" days. I am, without a doubt, very excited to be returning to the Maritimes; but that is not to say I won't miss certain aspects of Toronto very, very much.

Since we had to venture downtown today to gather boxes anyways, we decided to spend the day wandering some of our favorite streets.

Queen St West:

Kensington Market

And, of course, Chinatown

L'il Mac had a Fantastic day!

Tomorrow may be the Eaton Centre and Dundas Square.. hate how busy they are but feel the need for a final goodbye.. and have an errand to run for my lovely sister-in-law :)

When planning for my wedding I was constantly searching for unique and crafty ideas to incorporate into the day. While hunting I came across the most wonderful site- ETSY! So many great artists sharing their gifts on here! Some of my recent purchases were for Macs' Nursery.

From http://www.etsy.com/people/bluestreakdecals?ref=pr_profileI got a great decal for the wall- SO very sad that I wont be able to take this with us when we move.

From http://www.etsy.com/people/SimpleBlockSayings we got Macs block set



From http://www.etsy.com/people/BBCrafts?ref=ls_profile"> we got the cutest pulltoy- Shapleigh the giraffe!

My First Mother's Day

My first mothers day was spent in New Brunswick. We had a wonderful and tasty BBQ at my Brothers- hosted by my fantastic sister in law. Here are a few shots of me and my date.