Enjoying the fruits of our labour

Picked these beauties today from our humble garden ... nothing tastes better than home grown organic vegetables!

Enjoying the 4th day of Autumn

What an absolutely glorious afternoon! Andy and I spent about 1.5 hours walking down by the river today, capturing these images. The only problem with autumn in Calgary is that days like these, are short lived. All too soon the leaves will drop leaving the trees bare; a constant reminder that winter will soon be here. *sigh*

Car Seat Cutie - Then and Now

Brynne, asleep in her car seat, 6 days old, and a current photo of her at 3.5 months .. she's growing like a weed!

A note from the past...

Andy found this note and photograph while tidying up the storage area yesterday, amongst a box filled with my grandmother's photographs and memorabilia. What's odd about this note & photo is that I have no idea who the children are in the photograph, or what their relationship might have been to my grandmother, or why she would have kept the letter/photo carefully preserved with her memorabilia. The letter is addressed to "Terry", and reads as follows:

"Dear Terry,

     We enjoy problem corner very much. Mr. Hanson marvels at your knowledge of housekeeping. I hear quite often people asking about stains on carpets. I clean house for different people who have wall to wall carpets. I use two tablespoons of vinegar, two of detergent. Rub it over the stains with a clean cloth. This does not sound a large amount, but goes a long way. I have found it to get stains such as tar and crayon off. Trust this finds you all well.

          Mrs. Erick Hanson"

Even more amusing is the handwriting (not in my grandmother's hand) on the back of the photo which reads: "Mary Ann and Terry (a smile would crack her face) Sun. Sept 18, 1938".

Missing moments like this ...

In this clip, Poppie entertains Brynne assuming the role of the "kissing helicopter" ... and I'm missing moments like these even moreso NOW, after learning that Brynne started giggling this past weekend! I can only imagine all the ways Poppie will have Brynne giggling when we next see her. Can't wait!

Country Yard Sale

Went for a drive south and west of Calgary and came upon a big "yard" sale ... not so much a yard sale as a barn sale, filled with all manner of cowboy/horse gear, including the board game "Horse-Opoly"!

Bye-bye Brynne

Our sweet little Brynne headed home today to Vancouver. We sure enjoyed having her (and her mommy & daddy) with us for the past 8 weeks! We've gone from having 9 people in the house, to just Andy and me. We are officially empty nesters!

Exploring the mountains

The day after the wedding, we headed off to the mountains with Teresa, Sarah and Danny, spending one night in Jasper. On our return trip to Calgary, we spotted a bear, just off the highway. A hike @ Heart Creek rounded off the final week of holidays.

Erin & Lyden's Wedding Mosaic

What a beautiful day it was!

Double Chocolate Fudge Cups ....yummm

decadent, and delicious, especially when served with fresh strawberries and whip cream!

My Special Girls

update from this.

Royal Tyrrell Museum Mosaic

Christine joined our family outing to Drumheller today and a good time was had, by all!

Lovely day for a ride down by the river

I just love, Love, LOVE this sweet face!

Baby & Wedding Shower Mosaics!

August 21 - Erin's wedding shower held at Erin's maid of honour's home. (The big photo is the beautiful bride to be, and her proud mother, Marg.)

August 15 - Bynne's baby shower - both events were timed a week within each other so that Teresa and Sarah wouldn't miss out!

The Calgary Zoo & Prehistoric Park!

Danny reads Curious George to Brynne

Brynne kicked her feet and waved her arms through the entire book of Curious George! She LOVES it when people read to her!

Sarah, Danny & Teresa help pick Saskatoon Berries!

Day 3 and we went berry picking, and within hours the berries were converted into jam!

Sarah's first S'More!

To round off day 2 in Canada, we had a backyard fire, roasting marshmallows and Sarah was initiated into the Price family tradition of making delicious s'mores.

The English have arrived!

Teresa (Andy's mom), nephew Danny and niece Sarah arrived on Saturday...and Teresa finally got the opportunity to hold her first great Canadian grandchild.

Sunday ... their first full day in Canada was a busy one. Brynne's baby shower was today. I woke up early (6:15) to bake a banana loaf before breakfast for the baby shower. Upon rising, I noticed there was a puddle of water in the guest bathroom, a result of the the toilet overflowing! Not a great way to start the day... but the problem was soon resolved, thanks to some fine plunger action! After baking the banana bread, I whipped up a batch of homemade buttermilk pancakes (Martha Stewart's awesome recipe) for breakfast, served with home-made saskatoon berry syrup and of course, the regular standby, pancake syrup! After breakfast, it was off to church.

Above: The watermelon "baby carriage" filled with fruit salad and other goodies for the baby shower.

While the shower was happening, the boys went to the Calgary Archery Range and timed their return perfectly with the end of the shower, returning just in time to make dinner!

Andy enlisted some help from Danny and Sarah who acted as his "sous-chefs" in the kitchen, seen here, ready to whip up a huge batch of meatballs!

Nanking Cherry Jelly

Last night I picked these cherries at my friend Lori's house, with a whole lot of help from her, her daughter Amanda and 3 of Amanda's friends. After having picked 8 litres of wild saskatoon berries, picking these cherries was a breeze! These ruby red delicacies are somewhat tart and make absolutely delicious jelly. Tasting the remnants of the jelly clinging to the pot brought back many happy memories of jelly making from the Nanking Cherry trees in our yard of our Mountview home ... 13 years ago! Thanks Lori!

Morning Play Time with Nana

photo taken this morning.

The big day will soon be here!!

just two weeks to the big event!

a little iphoto booth fun!

Rachel reading to Brynne

Just a short snippet of Rachel reading some of the books Brynne has received as gifts, to her. Andy and I believe reading to your children is one of the greatest gifts you can give your child. Growing up, our children will tell you that one of our favourite family pastimes were trips to the local library. As a result, both of our children love reading and we know this tradition will be passed onto our grandchildren.

It's amazing to think just how much babies and children learn from the simple act of reading to them. They hear new words, hear different expressions and emotions and soon they will learn words ... and eventually imitate the sounds they hear, even the inflection of your voice, when they "read" back the story you've read to them a hundred times. Language development is rather amazing, when you think about it! Brynne will certainly learn that reading is a valuable skill, worth learning.

Saskatoon Berry Picking!!

Yes, believe it or not, there is more going on in my life than taking adorable photos of Brynne ... this morning I made 4 batches of peach jam using most of the 20 lb case of peaches my mom brought back with her from BC last week (yummm) and then headed out this afternoon with Andy to pick Saskatoon berries - they are deliciously ripe and a little messy to pick, but well worth the effort!!

Brynne Mosaic - Weeks 2 & 3 in Calgary