a hippie with a minivan

Cone cakes…

I made Cone cakes for both Xavier’s and Colin’s first birthdays and I don’t why, but I hadn’t made them since!

They are such a treat and are so much fun to eat and of course so easy to make!

Take your favourite cake recipe (for me it is Black Magic)

Put flat bottom Ice cream cones in a muffin pan… or any pan… and fill 2/3rd of the way with your cake batter and that is it!

Bake at 350 for about 20-25 min until a toothpick comes out clean…

Let cool and top with your favourite icing 🙂

(triple birthday with friends)

they are that easy!

I had never really saw the need for split-crotch pants… I would rather just pull down normal pants or use babylegs with underwear, but when I gave an EC workshop last month I thought that it would be a good thing to show what was available for EC wear and decided to make a pair… (of course I decided this the night before)

It didn’t take much time at all, though it would have taken less if I hadn’t embellished them, and then I even made another pair in the morning before the workshop…

I you EC, especially diaper -free, you need to know that these are great 🙂

Split crotch pants are so easy to make and you can get away with little sewing depending on the material that you use… Though I didn’t exactly use this pattern, here is a great pattern with instructions for those who would like to make them… I don’t use fleece because of the plastic content but if you do, fleece would be very easy to use if you are a novice sewer. I used a baby wale cord for mine…

If you already have a pant pattern that you like, you can just use that (use the back pieces only). When you are cutting, extend the inside seam at the top a bit more so that you have a better overlap and then follow the instructions on the blog linked above if you need help putting them together 🙂

I am so happy with the pairs that I made and I plan to make more… I don’t like the “chaps” style pants at all, so I sewed a bit of the overlap to make sure that it doesn’t come apart much when I don’t want them to (sitting, crawling, standing, etc)… but when she is on the potty or I am holding her in the classic position they work perfectly…

Photos for a friend…

I just wanted to share some pregnancy photos that I took for a friend last weekend…

We did a simple setup with a sheet and whatever lighting we had and just had fun while the kids ran around and made noise…

Jody is 36 weeks here and glowing 🙂

it was just really fun and I really enjoyed taking them….

There are really times that I wish that I could get into photography a bit more seriously…

(click on any to see larger or to see more of this set on Flickr)

my little lost boy…

Yesterday for Colin’s birthday we headed to TRU for him to get a gift for himself. We have been letting the boys pick out their own birthday girts for 2 years now and we love it. They get what they want and we end up spending less..

Anyway, we were walking around and decided to head to the Star wars toys, Khéna was following us around with a little pink stroller that he had been pushing around the store…Colin and Simon headed to the section while Xavier and I were looking at something… then we headed there also… Both of us thought that Khéna was with the other..

When we were looking at the toys I realized that Khéna wasn’t there… he was pushing the stroller around and often goes around an isle but always comes back within a second or two or when we call him … so I called out for him but he didn’t answer like he usually does…

I asked Simon if he saw him and he said that he thought that he was with me… Our hearts sank.

I knew that he wouldn’t leave the store, but scenarios start playing in your mind in situations like that…

We both called out and Simon went looking one way while I went the other… we were starting to panic as every time we called out, there was no answer…

Then I heard the loud speaker come on and I just knew what was coming. The voice called for the parents of Khéna to come to the courtesy desk…

Relief.

Simon arrived with Khéna a minute later…

I asked what happened and Simon didn’t know… he hadn’t thought of asking but just comforted Khéna who was scared and crying when he went to get him. Khéna explained it to me a few minutes later… he couldn’t find us so he went to see a lady that was shopping and asked her if she knew where his mommy and daddy was. She didn’t know, but brought him to the front desk where he said his name and they called us.

I am so proud of him… he did the perfect thing and found someone to help him.

He decided that the cart was a good place for the rest of the shopping trip… he wasn’t going to lose us again..

It was a scary experience, we felt embarrassed for being called but so proud that he did the right thing, and it also opened up some very important conversations…

Six…

My sweet Colin turned six yesterday…

My boy is growing so fast. He still loves to draw and can spend hours doing that but recently a few video games have also really caught his attention. He is such a great kid and it is so fun to talk to him and just hang out. He has such an amazing imagination and loves to tell stories and does so with so much expession in his voice and eyes. He loves numbers and he counts to 100 and beyond… he just counts everything and add things up and subtracts and numbers just make sense to him… it is so cool to hear him…

He is such a happy and easy kid (though he can have his moments, don’t be fooled) He loves to look good and be well dressed with his hair combed and teeth brushed… he is very proud when someone compliments him and loves to be the centre of attention.

Colin is my social butterfly. He will talk to anyone, anywhere… he is often drawn towards older kids and adults but this summer he made a best friend at SMUG, the Summer Montreal Unschooling Gathering that we went to at the end of June. Luckily, his best friend feels the same way and the other kids and us parents also enjoy each others company so we have been trying to get together more often even if we live a bit more then an hour away…

(playing a game with the older kids at SMUG)

Colin of course is still my mover and jumper… he will climb anything, jump from anything, run and dive and ride and is just always moving… He was climbing well before he could walk and continues to impress me with his moves…