A new friend in the house.

We apparently have been adopted by a kitty. His name came within minutes of meeting him: Edgar.
He is a sweet very small young male cat who just decided to follow my best friend home a few days ago. Since she is allergic he made his way into our home and hearts.
Victoria couldn't be happier to finally have a cat around. She still shrieks with joy when she spots him in the house and he is ever so patient with her, it's quite adorable to see. He is completely comfortable with both baby and dog, which is truly amazing.
And I am in awe of how much I've missed the sound of a purring cat in the last months. The best way to meditate is while holding a purring cat in my opinion!

Here is the little bugger:

And yes he lets Victoria grab him like that!

An

This Moment-Meeting our new friend

{this moment}- A Friday ritual. A single photo -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.
If you are inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see
{inspired by Amanda Soule of SouleMama}  

Making Crepes

I am having a crepe craving suddenly and so have invited a bunch of friends over tomorrow to have a play date for Victoria and to make and eat crepes.
I thought I would share my go to crepe recipe... one that my aunt always uses, and she makes the best crepes in the family.

Crepes (Not sure about the exact serving, we eat too many of them right away, but I would say it makes 20-30 crepes)

2 cups of milk
2 cups of flour
5 eggs
Half a stick of butter, melted
Zest of one lemon and one orange
Dash of vanilla
Pinch of salt

Easy, right? Here are a few of the tricks that I learned from my Grandmother.
First, it is best to make the batter the night before and let it rest all night long covered in the fridge. If you can't do that, one hour rest is acceptable.
Also, in the morning, after mixing and testing the batter you need to thin it down... often with as much as a whole other cup of milk, crepe batter is supposed to be very liquid, so much so that you can just pour a bit in the pan and swirl the pan to cover the whole bottom with the batter really fast.
The next trick, is your flame... it is sometimes hard to pinpoint the exact heat at which crepes get done the best. Usually on my burner it's at about a heat of seven, which is high! Crepes are supposed to cook quickly as soon as the edges are crisp, flip them over and just leave them on the pan for a scant few seconds before moving on to your next crepe.
And finally, don't take crepes too seriously... have fun... any ones that you burn or fold over are called "chaussons" and are usually devoured right away. This was my favorite thing in the world and I believe my grandmother sometimes messed up on purpose. I would wait by her side for one of these "chaussons" and would usually get one or two while she made the rest of the crepes. We weren't allowed to eat the nice crepes until they were all done and we could sit together of course.

Happy crepe eating!

Gifts

A day to reflect upon this beautiful life and all the gifts that surround us. 

Both me and Victoria have been so blessed with the people that have entered our lives recently. From amazing landlords and friends, to other Moms who are raising their children with similar goals and views to my own, every person we have met has been so supportive and simply amazing to us. I am so grateful for the gift of friendship that life has awarded us!

Grateful for the health of both Victoria and myself. She is such a healthy, vibrant little girl and I am so thankful for that gift. Looking at her grow, think her way through new discoveries every day is such a beautiful thing.

Also grateful for a very mild winter and an absolutely amazing spring. The past few weeks have been simply beautiful, with weather that made the past few cold months seem like a distant dream.  

Grateful for the perfect job, where I get to take my daughter with me, and where I take care of a wonderful and kind little girl. 

I am also grateful for my ability to get back on my feet no matter what life throws at me. These past few months were touch and go and we are finally finding some stability again, and it is a great feeling. 

Grateful for the ability to create as well... and grateful for the space to do it in. We will be doing a lot more of that in the near future!

I hope your weekend is filled with gratitude for all the wonderful gifts life has brought you.

This Moment-Loving the March Weather!

Ticky Tacky Doll

As I was thinking about what to make for Victoria's birthday gift, I fell upon a post from Journey Into Unschooling about the book The Ticky Tacky Doll. The story itself, of a little girl who loves the doll her grandma made her from scraps and doesn't want to leave it at home when she goes to school, is extremely sweet and endearing; but I was especially loving the look and idea of the Ticky Tacky doll made out of scraps.
So I grabbed a few of Victoria's baby clothes, and decided to make a Ticky Tacky doll of our own.

Once finished sewing, I couldn't get Victoria's hands off of the doll for long enough to take a picture, which made me feel really good about my choice of handmade item for her! She absolutely adores dolls!

Here is the inspiration, I do love the patchwork on the illustration and wish I had done more of it on Victoria's doll, but I wanted to only use a few pieces of clothing from her pile since I'm planning on making her a quilt out of the rest of her baby clothes:

A quick picture of the doll, before little hands grabbed her:

Close up:

Right before she took the doll away from me :)

I love the look of this doll, from the very visible seams, to the crude embroidery and the crazy hair, it's one of my least polished creations but also one of my favorite! Her legs are not even, her arms are a bit low... and yet she is exactly how I meant her to be... an odd looking doll to bring a smile to Victoria's face when she sees her.

A successful Birthday Party.

What an amazing few weeks. I am sorry I was away from the computer so much. I wanted to share everything that was happening so badly, but with out of town guests, and celebrating Victoria's first birthday, I barely had time to breathe, let alone find a few moments to write on the computer.

We have finally moved into our new place. We had been "camping" more or less while renovations were under way. By camping I mean that we lived mostly out of one room with little furniture as we knew that we would be moving again really soon (up the stairs) once all the renovations were done.With everything painted and the kitchen done, we were actually able to celebrate Victoria's birthday in the new apartment! It was such a wonderful feeling to have our own space again. And Victoria is loving how big the place is for crawling and (hopefully soon) walking.

Victoria had a full week, between a personal cupcake to destroy the day of her birthday:

Her first balloons! Which she adores:

Her own personal ball pit:

Great friends to share toys with

I had one exhausted little girl by the time the week ended!

One of the highlights of the birthday party I thought, was the cake. Thank you Pinterest for inspiration! This little bunny bottom cake was taken from there, and it was a great hit. I don't have the best quality picture of it, but it was simply adorable:

I am so proud of my big girl. A year has gone by so fast and I am so blessed to have this amazing little girl in my life. Victoria has grown into a big kid all of a sudden, from a chubby cheeked little baby. Her first steps are here and running is not far to come. She loves talking and expressing herself all the time and I am so overjoyed to be her Mom and see all these wonderful things. 

Thank you for being in my life Little One!