Monday, September 27, 2010

Fall Colours

View of Downtown Calgary.

Every colour you could imagine!!

Rockyview General Hospital, where both Karin and Chance were born.

Fall foliage.

Altadore Bridge crossing the Elbow River. We run across this bridge every weekend.

Streets of Altadore.

We took advantage of some nice weather this weekend (FINALLY!!) and got out for long walks every day. The leaves have really exploded into colours over the last week or two.

Starting to Play Together...

I snuck this picture the other day while the kids were playing together. Chance was showing Karin all of his trucks and letting her hold some of them.


Visitors from Nova Scotia

Cuties!

Karin was in love with Lynne's necklace.

Happy, happy, happy!

Karin and Dylan became fast friends.


This was about as good as we could get for a group shot.


Our good friends the Drovers came for a visit all the way from Halifax. The last time I saw them was a year ago, both Lynne and I were pregnant. It was great introducing our kids...their son Dylan is just 1 month younger than Karin. Calgary weather was unco-operative during their visit, however, it was cold and rainy nearly the whole time they were here. We had a great time taking walks and shopping around downtown, as well as had a big breakfast party & some nice meals once the kids went to bed. Unfortunately everyone got colds all at the same time, but I think it made it easier having everyone sick -- just took it easy some nights.

Oh Holy Yum!


Cranberry-Apple Poached Pears


I had some leftover cranberry sauce, and ripe pears. Voila!


2 ripe pears, peeled but stem left intact

1/3 can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 1/2 cups apple juice

1 T brown sugar

1/2 t cinnamon


Whisk together cranberry sauce, apple juice, sugar and cinnamon in a small sauce pot. Bring to a gentle boil and put pairs (lay them down on their sides, sauce may not cover fruit). Put on pot lid, simmer for 10-15 minutes. Occasionally turn pears so that the sauce colours them evenly (otherwise the part sticking out of the sauce will be yellow, and the part in the sauce will be pink...which, actually might look kind of cool. It's your call.) Remove pears and set aside on a plate to cool. Meanwhile simmer remaining sauce until it's reduced by about half and thickened up enough to spoon up. When pears are cool enough to handle, slice the bottoms off using a sharp paring knife. I snipped through the stem with a pair of kitchen shears. This allows the pears to sit up straight on the serving plate. Pour warm sauce over pears, coating them and forming a nice pool of sauce on the bottom of the bowl or plate. Drizzle with a little heavy cream if you like. Or melted chocolate. Or both. :)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Baby Gates

This is so not cool.

Locked up in my own home!!


What did I do to deserve this?? Oh well, maybe I'll go tip the garbage can in the kitchen. I like to keep Mom on her toes.


Tuesday, September 21, 2010

8 month wrap up


Well, Karin has really been growing up these days. She is pulling up on chairs, legs, etc. as much as she can and is definitely starting to explore the house. She has now discovered that if she moves her hands and legs faster, she can get somewhere in a hurry. Like...for instance, to that remote control on the floor...or the X Box cords poking out of the bookshelf. She doesn't like sitting still for long. It's a miracle we got this month's picture taken at all.
She popped out 3 teeth in about 48 hours last week. She was a bit grumpy, but wouldn't we all be?

Food wise, she has entered a new realm: I've been whizzing up mostly what we're eating for dinner in the food processor. The girl loves potatoes and veggies. And meat. And yogurt. And fish. And cereal. And juice and water from a cup, just like Chance.

Tomorrow she gets her "6 month" shots. We are a bit behind schedule, partly due to vacation and partly due to backlogs in the public health offices. They must have had staff cuts or something, as now they are booking immunizations about 5 weeks in advance. I'm not sure whether they will allow the shots tomorrow or not, as she seems to have come down with a bit of diarrhea in the last 24 hours. At first I wasn't sure if it was just due to all the extra food lately, but tonight was clearly not very healthy. She's happy though, and no fever or vomitting. Likely we'll be going on a repetitive diet of baby cereal and bananas, apples and yogurt for a few days.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Grandparent & Great-Grandparent Group Shots, Summer 2010

With Great Grandma Marie at her new care home in Paradise Hill, Sk.
When Chance was a baby we took him all the way to La Ronge, Sk. to meet her.
She hasn't seen him since, and was amazed at how he had changed.


Karin's Great Grandma Marie was so happy to finally meet her.


With Grandma and Grandpa Demmans at their farm near Meadow Lake, Sk.

With Gramma Jo and Grampa Phil at their cabin at Manitou Beach, Sk.