a hippie with a minivan

15 months

As of yesterday, Wilhelmina is now 15 months old.

That seems like such an arbitrary number but it amazing to see her change and grow.

She runs to the window and screams out “daddy!” when simon comes home…

She stands at the top of the stairs and calls ” guys!” when her brothers are downstairs…

She gives the biggest and most meaningful hugs…

She walks around with her stuffed cat and meows…

She says yes and no and runs to the bathroom when she needs to go on the potty…

She puts shoes on and drapes her coat around her shoulders to go outside…

I could go on and on…

This stage never ceases to amaze me.

Dry Ice Ice Cream…

We had so much fun at our friend’s house with dry ice…

I didn’t have my camera, but I did get some video of making the Ice Cream. Not the best video either with the light we had but is was too fun to not share.

In the bowl was an Ice Cream base made with eggs, soy milk, cream etc… The dry Ice was crushed and added to the mixture…

Last week we went out and bought a new *to us* car. For the last 5 years I had been driving a 2000 dodge caravan and though it was still running I wasn’t sure for how long. As we pulled out of our driveway to head to Montreal to check out a car I saw on a dealership’s website, I got stuck in the street, not able to put the minivan back into Drive. Finally, I got it in to gear and we put a few dollars of gas in just in case we would not be driving it back….as I pulled out of the dealership after a test drive of the new car, my armrest fell off. A definate sign that we had to take the plunge.

On Tuesday we went to pick up our new stealthy black 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. What a difference! I kept on bracing myself for bumps that I didn’t need to brace for and realized just how bumpy our old car was and being able to hear the kids in the back without them screaming made me realize just how loud it was also. I am loving our new ride.

Instead of heading straight home, we went to hang out with friends for the evening. I had debated on bringing my camera and finally decided not to… what a mistake!

Our friends had picked up some dry ice the day before and the kids had a blast with it. Not only did we make water “boil”, bubbles with fog in them and balloons that inflate themselves, but we also made dry ice Ice Cream… it was so much fun! I did get video though so I will clean that up a bit and share in another post…

We decided to not leave too late and headed home and as Simon was taking Wilhelmina out of her car seat, he heard a gag.

By the time he passed Wilhelmina off to me, Khéna had baptized the car. He threw up everywhere…It was the start of week long bout of Gastro with each of us getting our turn, no one was spared. So that was our Easter weekend, sick and all of us taking turns in the bathroom. It was a beautiful weekend too and we have a week of rain ahead of us… *sigh*

I think the hardest time to be a parent is when the whole house is sick. Everyone needing attention, yet we have little energy to give it. It also made me realize that it will only be in times like that that I will get a day full of cuddles again. Though Willa is still so small it made me realize that she is really not a baby anymore…

(feverish Willa)

hmm… can I dehydrate that?

We did it… we now have a dehydrator. I have been wanting one for years, especially since last year when I borrowed a dehydrator for my placental encapsulation process but there were things that I wanted/needed more that needed to be crossed off the list first… Now the time had come for it to be at the top and we went for it and I am so happy!

I went with the Excalibur 3900 and I am glad I did. It might be big, but we fill up the 9 trays easily.

I have been having so much fun finding things around the house to dehydrate… Apples, Oranges, Strawberries, pineapple, herbs etc…

The kids of course are having a blast eating it all…

One of the finds in the back of my cupboard was some Plum-Vanilla Apple sauce that I had made 2 years ago. I mixed in a bit of blueberry syrup that a friend gave me and I poured it out onto the trays and made the greatest Fruit roll ups!

Khéna is really enjoying the apples… He is not a big fruit eater, so if he will eat more like this, I have no problem making a new batch every few days especially because I found a permanent place on my counter for the dehydrator (Not an easy task with the size of that thing)

I loved the Pineapple and Wilhelmina is enjoying the strawberries….

There are so many things that I can’t want to try… Next time I make a creamy soup, instead of freezing the leftovers and forgetting about them, I am going to try dehydrating it and storing it within arms reach for a quick homemade cup of soup… I can also make flax crackers… and jerky…

There are so many possibilities!

Do you have a dehydrator? What are your favourite dehydrator treats!

Ankles and Kettlebells….

This morning I woke up and I realized that I didn’t limp out of bed…

My left ankle is finally on the mends … though it is still a bit painful to the touch, when I move it a certain way, or when I am on the stairs, the pain is pretty much gone.. My right ankle was at this stage last week and is pretty much completely better, so I am guessing that in a week I should be pain free…

I am not sure that I am going to go back to running any time soon, though it is something that I still want to do one day… I did go swimming soon after I got hurt, and I love being in the water… but the amount of time it takes (go/swim/come back) just doesn’t fit into our routine very easily and it means that I have to have supper ready on time, but can’t eat with the family…

2 weeks ago, I was reading on a forum and read about Kettlebells, it peaked my interest and I read more, and read more, and then asked questions and then decided to try it out… Though my ankle was hurting when I walked , working out with the Kettlebell did’t hurt at all… and what an amazing workout! I have been doing 20 minutes every few days doing various exercises including swings.. By the end of that 20 min my heart rate is way up, I am breathing harder and my legs are feeling a bit jittery… but I feel great! I feel sore the day after, but it is a good sore and it actually surprised me that I did feel sore because though I felt it was a workout, it wasn’t too hard and it was fun..

I have to say… I am sold!

I had found a 10 lb Kettlebell at Zellers which is great to start but I had the feeling that I would be outgrowing it soon, especially for certain excersises, so I found some on sale at treadmillfactory.ca with decent shipping prices and while I was at it I also picked up a mini-trampoline that was on special as it is something I know that we will all have fun doing…

20-30 min a few times a week is so easy to fit into our family routine…

Here are some great links:

How to do the two handed swing:

This blog is a great resource and inspiration (she used to be 120 lbs heavier and is now a Kettlebell trainer)… http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/… she shares workouts and videos etc…

15 months

Dry Ice Ice Cream…

No one was spared…

hmm… can I dehydrate that?

Ankles and Kettlebells….