Our boys' Top 15 Favourite YouTube videos...just for fun

Just a little collection of our long-standing favourite youtube videos :) 

Nothing too stimulating and crazy...just low-key songs and stories that ours boys seem to really enjoy!

Honey Caramel Nuts (GAPS, no sugar, healthy snack)

I made a batch of these chewy little morsels this week, and decided that it was time to share their yumminess with everyone else!

As you know by now, we have a little man who is on a restricted (GAPS) diet, and it's pretty tricky to find some "treats" for him to have (always nice to have a special little treat when you come in from a rough day at kindergarten!).

These are perfect. They are sweetened with honey, super easy and quick to make, and the kids LOVE them!

They are chewy, 'caramelly' goodness! 

Finny couldn't wait to get his hands on them while I was trying to take a couple of photos!

OK...so....the recipe (if you can call it that) is really simple.

You really can't mess them up (unless you burn them!). 

All you need is a bag of raw organic pecans (or almonds, cashews....whatever nut you like, actually!) approx. 2 cups, about 1/4 cup of butter and about 1/2 cup of raw honey (I sometimes add a little splash of organic vanilla extract at the end).

Just put all of the ingredients in a frying pan (I use a le Creuset cast iron pan because I find it works the best), on medium heat, and let it all bubble up, while mixing constantly. Don't stop mixing or it will burn. If you want to do a quick job and turn the heat up, be extra careful because it will burn quite quickly if you stop mixing. Let it boil for about 3 minutes, while mixing/coating the nuts. Remove from the heat and spoon the hot mixture (watch out...it is VERY hot, and will burn your skin if you splash a little!..been there, done that) into a parchment paper lined pan, or little parchment paper mini muffin cups (I prefer to use the muffin cups because they're then in little snack-sized clusters, and don't have to be cut up).

Let them cool in the freezer for a couple of minutes, and you're done!  I keep these in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or so, in a sealed container. 

Enjoy! :)

A High Tea baby shower for one very small man (and his momma!)

This is just a quick little "mostly pictures" post for my own memory of a perfect afternoon tea party with a group of very lovely ladies and one very small man :) (I've been meaning to write this post for about a month now, but just can't quite find the time to do it anymore....hmm...I wonder why not?) ;)

My little Rory boy was given the royal welcome with a delicious high tea (thank you thank you thank you to each of you that planned and made this little tea party possible...you know who you are! :)  And thanks so much for all of my wonderful friends who joined us for the afternoon. It was wonderful. 

There is a well-kept little secret in Steveston (a little fishing village town near where we live).... and that is the Adorabelle Tea Room. It is a great little reservation-only tea house in a cute heritage building (used to be the old Steveston Courthouse). The food was amazing, the ambience perfect, and the service was flawless. We couldn't have asked for a better venue for our little party!

The man of the hour :) (he slept through most of his party!)

photos courtesy of michelle @b3 :)

And just for fun.....a picture of two baby bumps (9 weeks apart), who have now turned into two babies! We sat up this evening with our two little boys in our arms, and talked about how it felt like they were just inside our bellies not very long ago!

A Karate/ Martial Arts/ Ninja Party!

So....I thought about *not* having a party for Toby's 6th birthday, what with a new baby and all......but soon found out that I am in wayyyy too deep with the parties to just simply not do one! 

ya right, mom!

hah.

Not only were we to have a birthday party, but it was, once again, a very specific type of party....with many "custom" requests from one very enthusiastic Toby boy ;)

It would involve ninjas and martial arts....and weapons. Oh my. 

Let me just tell you that I do not love weapons. They're just not my style. I tried to avoid any sort of weaponry in our house for a long time, but sigh....I've given up.  I decided that if we were to have weapons at the party, they would have to be made of foam. 12 boys in a room with foam weapons is bad enough...trust me! ;) So...I headed to the hardware store and picked up a whole bunch of "pipe insulator", duct tape, and electrical tape. Toby requested that they each had a "bo" and nun chucks, so I got busy. I used zap straps for the nun chuck "chains", which I poked through the foam handles.   

They were definitely a hit :)

I figured that theere was no way we'd be able to host 12 little ninjas in our home, so we rented a room in our local rec centre, which worked really well!

The invitations were made using PicMonkey with a photo I took of Toby pulling his fiercest look ;) I just added the wording, etc and had them printed on photo paper, then glued them to black cardstock. Nice and easy.

;

The cake was completely basic, and it just wasn't my proudest moment....but the boys thought it was the best thing they'd ever seen...and that's all that matters, right? :) I just made three 9X9 square cakes and layered them, then iced it with buttercream. I cut out the fondant silhouettes and stars a few days earlier, so that they'd be hard enough to stand up. I bought some ninja weapons at the dollar store (washed them really well!) and jammed them randomly in the top of the cake. Done. 

I kept the food very simple, and decided that having everything in individual portions would minimize any germs from little fingers :) I served grapes, carrots, raspberries, blueberries, Pirate's Booty, bunny crackers, Smarties, and chips in little shot glasses, cupcake wrappers, mini muffin cups, etc. I used chopsticks to make strawberry skewers as well...and that was about it. Nothing fancy!

The red mesh bags were found at the dollar store, and were the perfect size to fit the weapons, a white karate belt, headband, etc. Everything a little ninja would need ;) 

Wee man Rory taking it all in !

I found some balsa wood strips at Michael's, which were perfect for "breaking boards". I bought the 3/32 width, but could have probably gotten slightly thicker ones to make it a little trickier (I just didn't want any little ninjas to feel embarrassed/frustrated if they weren't able to break their board!) Better to err on the safe side, right? ;) 

They boys were awarded "medals" for breaking the boards.

Dustin was a good sport and donned a martial arts uniform to be the "sensei" :) He set up a simple obstacle course, which involved kicking the target, etc.

Didda (my dad) arrived, and was instantly attacked by about 10 little ninjas! 

Fierce!

Our little Finny ninja :)

I used plastic tablecloths to make a quick backdrop because I figured the wall at the hall would most likely be somewhat unsightly. I made 4 big chinese lanterns with poster board as well as the TOBY banner. I bought the Happy Birthday banner on Amazon for $4 :)

Part of Toby's plan was that he would cut the birthday cake with a sword. Oh my. 

Whatever. They're only little once, right? 

All in all, it was a gong show. But a fun gong show :)

Toby could hardly get to sleep tonight, going over it all in his mind, and thinking about every little bit of fun that he had. 

Thanks to all of his wonderful friends for coming to celebrate with us!! 

I still can't believe our little man in 6.

Where does the time go??

xoxo