The Finale Of ‘The First Birthday’


09/15/21

Lake slept through his first night in Holland, minus a bottle delivery somewhere in there.

We messaged the Oma downstairs, to come retrieve him at 8:00 if she would so desire 😉

We wanted him up to try to help the jet-lag become fully extinguished, but we ourselves really did not feel like getting up at that time 🙈

So, Oma and Opa did take him, and a happily decorated downstairs awaited him for the morning of his first birthday 😉

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He had a fun morning with them, a ‘special bonding time for just them’ let’s say…the fact that us parents still slept, having nothing to do with it🤪

Come afternoon, Opa had a break to take from work, so it was time for Lake to open his present from them 🎁 

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A super cute little Vespa was unwrapped and made for the perfect photo prop as well 😉

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Though I’m not so sure what the chances of getting it back home with us are 😬🙈

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Later in the afternoon the little one wasn’t super pleased with the idea of a nap, so Mike and I took him for a walk, which is almost always a guaranteed way to get him asleep, for at least a little while.

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We ended up going almost 5.5 Km, walking through the neighbourhood and to the bridge/‘water lock’ nearer town, reading how they created a way for the fish to swim upstream, despite the river technically being blocked off.

Lock – A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways.

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Journeying on, we walked by ‘the switch’, a second hand store we frequently went to when we lived here, but they’ve since downsized and it was a little bit disappointing 😒

Back at John and Inge’s, it wasn’t long until Opa and Oma De Jong came over for a little afternoon dessert in honour of the day 😊

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A cornflake, white chocolate and almond base, topped with whipped cream and strawberries.

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A really nice, light and simple dessert that satisfies the sweet tooth without being over filling ☺️👌🏻🍓

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Uncle Erwin also popped in for a little while on his way home from work, getting in some soccer training with his nephew – aka, keeping him busy so us other occupiers got a break 🤪👍🏻

It was also the night for broccoli tart. A celebration treat especially for the parents for keeping Lake going for a year I suppose 🤪😅

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All in all, I think it’s a good thing in a way that Lake won’t recall this birthday, as it would be a fair bit to live up to 🙈

A pre birthday cake & gift giving in Saskatchewan, a pre birthday at his Aunty Judith’s with a meal, cake and gifts and then decorations, gifts and treats, after a morning spent with Oma and Opa on the actual day OF his birthday 😅

Special or just spoiled? You decide 😉💗

Sunday – Truly A Fun Day

 

09/12/21

How can such a small human body, take up so much space in a bed ? 🤪

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Lake continued his night in our bed after the early morning waking, resulting in feet and hands in our faces, as well as the occasional head bonking. Enough to make the rest of our sleep just ‘ok’ and his pleasant 😏

10:30/11 was the time the boys rolled out of bed, and after a morning of packing and preparation and a little play, we headed to Mikes sisters home in Germany, in timing with Lake’s nap 👍🏻

 

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We have to drive on the autobahn to get there and I’d slightly forgotten about how pleasant that can actually be… though some may not be comfortable with the speed of those who travel on the left side
😜 It was  around 3:30 when we arrived at Judith’s and the greeting committee was at the driveway watching for us to get there, opening the car door the moment it stopped to get a look at Lake 💗

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Once the aunts, uncles and cousins had also gotten a look at him, lunch awaited.

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A spread of burgers and all their toppings were prepared and we happily partook
☺️

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Lake still wasn’t playing shy/strange with anybody and so he was kept busy by the cousins and family members, all of us outside enjoying a beautiful day.

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As the meal/day had been in honour of Lake’s (early) birthday, coffee and dessert came out and presents followed not long after 😉

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Aunty Sarah made the number 1 brownie and he was not overly interested in the aspect of helping himself, just as he hadn’t been with his cake at home. Still seeming to prefer using a spoon or being fed 😜

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Aunty Judith helped him with the present opening and as always, the wrapping was more entertaining than the gifts were to him, but we the parents appreciated the items and thoughts behind them 😉💗👍🏻

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The guys went off to play soccer, Lake went down for a late nap and is sisters-in-law went for a 5km walk, while Inge stayed with the children.

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(It was nice to take a new route for a change😉🤪)

A little more visiting ensued once we returned, but with an hour or so drive to return to their houses, the others left and we stayed to spend a night or two with Judith and her family.

Lake wasn’t at all interested in going to bed until after 12:30 am.

 

 * I ask that you do your best to ignore any spelling mistakes, as on my iPad the set up is different and I can’t find an easy way to do a spelling / grammar check. Thank you for your understanding 🤪

Celebration Destination – Moscâstani-sîpiy

Entering the room, Jessica sits down and opens the laptop and blows dust off of the keyboard, waving her hand in the air to clear it and coughs gently.

Well, it has been a long while since I’ve posted anything, but now it’s time for a recounting of our trip to Moose Jaw, which coincided with my birthday. Thus becoming, ‘my birthday getaway’ of sorts – unexpected, but accepted 🤓

We’d thrown about the idea of exploring Moose Jaw many times but usually with life and work and having other places to go, it got tossed to the back of the pile.
Metaphorically speaking of course, as one cannot ‘toss’ a thought of a destination upon a pile of something 😏

Anyways, with Mike having broken his wrist it meant he had a lot of spare time on his ‘hand’ 🤪, plus the restrictions still being what they are, the idea of Moose Jaw resurfaced once again.

We weather watched and finally decided on leaving Friday, at whatever time ended up being Lake’s first nap of the day 😉

We awoke to the expected rain, but that didn’t ‘dampen’ our spirits (full of these puns today… haven’t written in so long I can’t stop them from coming out, my apologies 🤪🙈).

I’d attempted to pack up most of our things the day before, but there’s always those last minute things to grab, cooler bags to fill and tasks to complete and seeing as this was our first real trip with Lake, the supply list felt a bit mind boggling (for me 😜).

Mike asked if we really had so much more stuff than usual JUST because of Lake 😜
Yes, dear… that is indeed why 😅

A quick stop had to be made at the sisters house, where the nieces waited for me with their gifts, instructing me to take the cards with to read on the drive 😉😋
They were not so lengthy as I had expected after that specific instruction but enjoyed nonetheless 😂

We officially headed off around 11:00, Lake fast asleep and head bound in attempts at staving off the awfully uncomfortable neck bend babes incur so often in their car seats 🙈

The start of the drive flew by for me… as I was being showered with birthday messages and wishes and was happily posting the mornings details for others to partake in.
It felt like we were headed off on some huge adventure in some way… I guess that’s what ‘the c o v i d ‘ will do to a person 😜

We passed along a wealthier area of Saskatoon’s outskirts, remarking on the homes and what we liked or did not. Always looking for design ideas to document 😉

2 ish hours in, we made it to Kinder Surprises Antiques, a place I’d always been curious to go explore should the opportunity present itself.
Lake had just awoken, so the timing was impeccable 😉

Mike remarked that it felt almost more like a museum tour of sorts rather than just a place to shop, which is an accurate feel.
Multiple buildings being filled with items of all sorts, being the largest rural antique shop in Saskatchewan.

What we thought to be an old school house, boasted of some beautiful old windows.

The boys got to stretch their legs a little, while I took slightly more time then they to rest my eyes upon all the objects available for perusal 😉

The remainder of the drive went by without anything too documentation worthy occurring, which is not a bad thing, when one is road tripping with a wee little person 🤪

The Temple Gardens Hotel & Spa was checked into at 3:00 and we went up to deposit our bags and let Lake rip around in the room.

30 minutes later we were seated at The Mad Greek for an early dinner.
(Mike had eaten there once as he had quickly passed through the area post car buying, shocker I know 🤪)

We quickly decided upon the Greek platter and delved into it once it came.
Pork souvlaki with their garlic sauce, gyros, sausage, filo wrapped feta and spinach bites, pita bread and a baked eggplant topped with a cream sauce made up our meal and it was very very tasty 👌🏻
Lake happily ate everything as well but we found out as the trip progressed, that he does not like restaurant forks, preferring to be fed by hand or spoon specifically 🙄😜

As a gift from my mother-in-law, I had a massage booked for that evening. Because of that, we didn’t linger long at the restaurant and headed back to the hotel so the boys could test the mineral pool.

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Needing to do so in time for me to get Lake into a fresh diaper, pjs and hopefully bedtime ready, before I left. As dressing Lake isn’t a task Mikes wrist was up for just yet.

Lake has become rather an unwilling participant of diapering and clothing of late 🙄

I headed up to the spa at 6:00 and settled in for my pro sleep massage ☺️

It was done mainly with brushes dipped in hot oil, which I’d never had done before.
It was done very nicely and my esthetician was the perfect mix of friendly and conversational but, not so much that you couldn’t relax and really enjoy the treatment ☺️
I personally would have liked a little deeper of a massage but I’m not complaining 😉

I got back to our room around 7:30 and was met by a sleeping baby upon our bed and a husband who said the babe had been very unhappy and unwilling to sleep until a few moments before 🙈
I honestly didn’t feel too badly about it, as when do the dads really every have to deal with an unsettled baby, alone ? 🙈😜

He did end up waking up for an hour or so and I had to get him back to sleep while Mike went out in search of some snacks and my free birthday Starbucks… and some snacks for himself as ‘you didn’t pack any chocolate??’ 🤪

A peach green tea with coconut milk was shared as we relaxed before turning in for the night… I even took a part of a sleeping pill because I rarely sleep well in a hotel and I figured with Mike having more mobility back, he could handle a night waking for the first time in 6 or so weeks if need be, for the last of my birthday wishes 😉😋

Tastless Thoughts And Expected Surprises

Friday Oct 13th –

 

 

 

I worked that morning and Mike ran errands, got a haircut etc. between the drop off and pick up of myself.

He’s been having a hard time finding a barber that will meet his European standard for mens grooming 😏😉😜

 

It was a fresh, -1 outside, so when he was late to pick me up, I began walking and it was brisker out than I recalled -1 feeling 😜

 

Lucky for me, hubster had thought to turn on my heated seat AND buy me a Starbucks, hence the late retrieval 😉

A pumpkin spice latte.

Which I do not like, not even a smidgen and we had JUST discussed that fact, days before 😏

It was the thought that counts 💕

Though thoughts do not TASTE like caffeine running through ones system 😜

 

After getting back home… and caffeinating, to the other home we went. Continue reading “Tastless Thoughts And Expected Surprises”

Magically Easy Unicorn Cake 😉🦄✨

Magically Easy Unicorn Cake 😉🦄

 

So, I’m going to try to write out the steps and process I followed when making the unicorn cake for the niece and my birthday’s.

Now, don’t be detoured if you haven’t made cakes before, as this was really only my third or so, actually legitimately decorated cake and my first EVER with fondant! 😬

After pinteresting it up for the style I was going to attempt achieving, items needed were assembled🥄🍰

 

 

Magic Ingredients:

One box of confetti cake mix
(because never, EVER do I bother making a cake from scratch)

Three tubs of Betty Crocker icing
(as I was too lazy to make the homemade kind 😋)

Continue reading “Magically Easy Unicorn Cake 😉🦄✨”

A Blessed Little Bundle Of Sarcastic, Introverted Goodness

Sunday June 11th –



The day 22 years ago that a blessed little bundle of sarcastic, introverted goodness was born 😁💕

Me I mean 😏

As I did my hair for church, I heard the coffee being sat down that father had delivered.
I went to retrieve it and this is how it was presented 😉💕☕️

Upstairs for the Sunday morning bacon and eggs I went, enjoying it and happily wearing one of my new necklaces 😋

(Who else kind of try’s to plan an outfit around a new piece of jewelry when they get some? 🙈😋)

Anyways, off to church we went 😊💒

It was a simple lesson about Mosses parents and here’s a smidgen of what I picked up 😉

How we need to pray and trust God to answer, be it moments or years down the road but we can know that he will always answer.
It’s up to us on what attitude we take during the waiting process.
Something which I personally, could be reminded of often.

After church it was a lunch out, in honour of my being born.
What better way to be celebrated then with food right? 😏😋

We chose Montana’s to eat at and I ordered the ever tasty, though I always forget just how spicy, Kapow shrimp is.
I may or may not have requested bites from everyone else’s plates too 😋

 

 

Always wanting chicken and being interested in tasting the reuben sandwich… both were good too 👌🏻

The family jokingly told the waiter to let the staff sing happy birthday to me but I told them if they did, it would ruin lunch so they told him not to do it… but to still bring the birthday dessert 😏😜

It was a cold cookie with ice cream and after tasting it, we understood why it was free🙄

Then to Starbucks for a free birthday drink😎
Something you can’t really pass up if you’re near enough to a Starbucks and your wallet means anything to you 😋

A big size/venti lime refresher with coconut milk,  filled my belly and my taste buds sang a happy (Hawaiian like) song 😋🌺🌴🎶

(I always forget which drink size goes by what name 😜🙄)

A customary Sunday nap was taken by all 😴

Dad made us some Virgin Caesars and a while later Mom made cheese bread and heated up some leftover farmers sausage soup for a snack.
She also made dad AND Mikes work lunches.
Another perk of being the birthday girl 😉👌🏻

I began the process of sorting through pictures on my phone 🙄
A process I abhor.
I decided that every time I’m on my phone I have to delete at least one photo or if it’s pictures of house ideas, I have to create a single collage to keep, rather then multiple/hard to find photos 😬

I got distracted by the pretty sky which matched the lilacs 😊

And had to take a picture… 🙄

I never even do anything with my photos!
I’m a horrible album maker so I don’t know why I’m such a photo hoarder? 🤔

Speaking of photos though, has anyone ever gotten a blog printed into book form??
I’m considering doing that to kind of save/have a tangible story in our home but I’m horrible with computers and would like to hear some recommendations if anyone happens to have any? 😊

Or if you’re just a smart computer person and have time to help a simpleton in the Prince Albert Sask. area, let me know that too 😜🙈💕

 

Monday June 12th-




Back to being uncelebrated 🙄😜

But that didn’t mean there wasn’t still cake 😎

 

 

It’s awful having it around though because it becomes my breakfast lunch and go between snacks 😬🍰🍴

Mother was headed off to work so I was alone most of the day.

Finding meaningless tasks to occupy myself so I didn’t have to begin what I’d been putting off for weeks… 😬

Folding the clothes in our drawers 🙄🙈😂

I try so hard, really I do.

But as much as I like a clean kitchen, I cannot seem to keep my clothes folded.

I know some of you are shuttering at the very thought… forgive me 😋

But finally downstairs I went, sorting and folding clothes and then boxing up home items we’ve been accumulating so they aren’t stacked all over our room.

It always feels so good afterwords 😎👌🏻

Garage sale #2, where ya at?! 😜

After a quick chat with my sister-in-law, I hurriedly finished the pile I was working on to go sit outside.
She’d told me the UV index was surprisingly high… and my tan was fading 😜

Also, I needed to reward myself for accomplishing what I had…
Yes I’m a self rewarder and I need to promise myself things, to get stuff done 🙄

Also, yes, I am an adult… ish 😜

I was in charge of supper and chicken had seemed like a steady meal of late, so I made the meatloaf Mom had suggested the night before.
(It’s just so hard to NOT make a simple chicken dish🙄)

Once Mom was back from work, we decided to go for a walk/jog before the guys got back for supper.

So bear spray and water were readied and off we went for an hour-long bout of exercise.

Bears have been spotted a fair bit around the area lately, adding an extra adventure factor to the walks 😜😏🐻

Meatloaf, fried rice and a caprese salad was prepared for dinner, with Dad questionably eyeing the salad 😜

           The salad was a copycat of one, Mike and I ate in South Africa.
Just mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers sliced and layered, salt and pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (the odd basil leaf would have been tasty too but I only just thought of that now 😜) 👌🏻😊🥒🍅🧀

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