Our tree

Our annual trip down the lane to choose, cut, and haul our tree took place yesterday. We thought it was best to get to it first thing, but at -2 degrees, we decided to wait until after breakfast at least. I think it ended up a balmy 7 degrees when we bundled up and trudged out. 

We ended up with the biggest tree we've cut yet! Doesn't quite fit in the living room (trying a new tree spot again this year), but it is definitely the focal point. Wahoo!

Cat Cowl

(see full image)

I've been absent. But I'll try to be better. Stay warm!

Blueberries

I've got heaps of catching up to do! Summer is so full and time gets away from me. Before I know it, it's gone and I've posted next to nothing. While I organize all of our end of summer thoughts and photos, I'll tide you over with blueberries. 

Looking back at my Instagram pics, I'm finding blueberries pretty heavily featured. It was a great year for them, true, and apparently I was enamored. Still am, because I was pretty down when I went to pick last week and they were finally gone. It's sort of ridiculous to expect blueberries in September, but that just goes to show what an awesome harvest it was. (Sigh) With that, blueberries:

Fresh blueberry pie:

Combine 2 cups of blueberries with 1/3 cup of sugar, 2T cornstarch and 1/3 cup water. Bring to a boil & cook, stirring, until thickened (just a couple minutes). Stir in the juice of a 1/2 lemon and let cool. 

Spread 4oz of cream cheese (or mascarpone) in the bottom of your favorite pastry shell (pre-baked and cooled). Mix 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries into the cooked mixture and spread on the top of the cream cheese. Top with another 1/2 cup fresh blueberries. Chill and serve. 

Perfect summer pie (and fits the bill for breakfast too...)

Here we are

I thought with the kidlets at the grandparents, I might put up some more regular posts... I didn't. Here's what we did instead:

Had a Great Vacation (to start it all off)

Picked and ate strawberries

Built a deck

Had a fantastic bike ride and sail with friends

Talked

Made plans

Painted

Enjoyed the silence

Birthday 5.0

Last year, O was all about the dinos. This year... Sharks!

We scaled things back a wee bit this year. We had heaps going on and I found last year that for all of the things I planned and made by hand, a couple key games and treats were plenty.  

We had Pin the Fin on the shark instead of the dino egg hunt. And we used a store-bought pinata instead of making one. A variety of snacks... pizza... fish cupcakes... and shark (+ whale + dolphin) water guns in the goodie bags - really, what more could a kid want? A rousing success according to the celebrated, which is what matters.

Happy Birthday, O!

PS. Rather poor pictures I admit - but all I had was the phone since our camera went missing for the weekend. Thank goodness I don't blog for a living. I do wish I had more shots of the goodie bags, which I was pretty jazzed about: shark squirt gun, shark bath squirter, stickers, ocean coloring page, shark bubbles, and a pencil. I guess I should have made one for me...

PPS. Oliver has his birthday parties (locations and themes) planned out for the next 4 years. Etta's too probably. Ask him about it - it's good stuff.