continued strawberry consumption

we've been to the strawberry farm twice more in the last week - hooray for vitamins!  we went on saturday with jamie, because i like to ensure that we have an equal division of labour where bending is involved (ha, not even close) and then again today with friends just for fun.

both times were a treat and thank the merciful heavens - the milkshake shack was open!  too good to resist.

i think i have enough berries for now.  in years past i'd clean probably 50 pounds of berries and freeze them, but we now use our freezer for such things as cole's particular brand of organic fishsticks, bags of edamame, bread loaf stumps, stock-up chicken breasts, multiple types of popsicles and the remains of a delightfully icy bottle of gin.  so i only have room for a few pounds, i think.  and that's all for now.  i have to continue on my mission to make jam, prepare freezer berries and figure out how to make every meal for the next few days include strawberries.  ;-)

halloween hoedown

much fun was had on saturday morning, carving the pumpkins we got last week at westham island. the most fun was had, to be honest, during the goo-scooping part. we scooped goo like professional goo-scoopers. cole really enjoyed it and we had a relatively tidy time. but the morning got along and we had plans to head out to langley for some trick-or-treating in gramma & grampa's neck of the candy-stocked woods. so, while cole ate lunch, we took turns doing a lightning-round of pumpkin carving.

and we finally settled on cowboy for cole's halloween costume. it was a tossup between homemade cowboy and last-year's duck, but cowboy got the most votes (in my non-scientific, undocumented, biased, random passing mentions to friends & family...). yee haw:

the costume was a scramble of bits and pieces that turned out really well. on hand we had a hand-me-down plaid flannel shirt that he wears all the time and of course his much-loved cowboy hat. to counter the chill he wore a few sweaters under the shirt - hence the very cowboy-like physique. i have a "mystery drawer" that contains interesting toys and whatnot that i find at random regular intervals. once in a while i grab something fun from the drawer - this time i hauled out a sheriff badge and a six-pack of various stick-on mustaches from the japanese dollar store (it's quite a drawer!). on friday we stopped by the granville island toy store on main because i randomly remembered that they had the horse-on-a-stick toy that would be really perfect, and hey, at least it's a waste of money that turns into long-term entertainment! the horse needed 2aa batteries to make a very authentic clip-clop sound, so i took those from our remote (and used the tv manually - oh, the horror!) oh, and i found a potato gun because apparently i'm promoting violence? (not really - just really into accessories!) and last but not least, i made cole a cowboy-style drooling kerchief late on friday night and then gussied up a pair of brown courdoroy pants by temporarily basting a strip of fringe-cut fleece onto each leg. fancy!

we had a great night, playing outside and, when it got dark enough, trick-or-treating with the lovely folks next door. their little guy james was the cutest frog! the boys really got the hang of it after a couple of houses. mmm... "cole" is really going to enjoy that candy! ;-)

capturing the moment

i met up recently with a friend and her two adorable wee folk at maplewood farm. it was a great sunny fall day, one that included much feeding of waterfowl and an alarming incident in the goat enclosure (seriously - they really do eat clothes and baby carriages and they escape given the chance and, well, you get the idea...).

but i forgot my camera! that never happens. lucky for me then that my playdate was the lovely kim of kim culbert photography. she took amazing photos of cole and was kind enough to share.

i absolutely love how she's captured him and the style of her shots. absolutely fantastic. and it was so nice to be camera-free, if only for a day. it's hard not to get preoccupied sometimes with capturing a moment instead of just enjoying it, and having someone else to take the photos was a lovely change! i like to fancy myself a photographer but i'm totally wowed on a regular basis by folks with a special talent that goes way beyond.

if you've been thinking of professional photos of your wee ones definitely check out her site for more info!

happy thanksgiving!

we went for a great walk today with friends out at deer lake park in burnaby. i had no idea how beautiful the lake is, or any clue about the woodsy lakeside trails wrapping around it! i used to work just a few minutes back down the road before cole was born and some days while pregnant, desperate for a noontime nap, i would drive over to the park in search of a secluded place in which to doze. turns out i would have been much better off walking around the lake!

cole and abby (who can say each other's names - true love for sure!) hung out, we all walked, chatted, they walked (more on the rules of walking with babies), they rode and ate crackers, they cried and smiled, hugged and fell, and we all tried to get a photo of them together looking at the camera.

later on, we went home and cole napped, woke early from his nap, convinced me to lie down and nap with him, and then went out with jamie to get some ice cream for our apple crisp thanksgiving dessert. they came home with a GALLON of ice cream from costco, so you know we won't be wasting away 'round here anytime soon.

and we had our own little small thanksgiving dinner, just the three of us. since it was just us i skipped the whole bird (too many leftovers: we're each off later this week to parts far and wide) and made a turkey breast roast. seriously - this is the answer! so easy!!! we had all the trimmings too, and cole was particularly fond of cranberry sauce. so fond that he ate it by the handful and then tossed in a few carrots, a little turkey (the boy ate meat - a thanksgiving miracle!) and his own apple crisp (apple sauce and a little ice cream) which he also ate with his hands.

junior versions of big people

just a few photos of cole and his friend aiden. it's so lovely to have friends with babies of the same age. we hadn't seen aiden and his mama mi ae in ages and ages but it was lovely to just pick up where we left off - laughing and playing and having a good time. the funny thing is, i see mi ae in aiden right off the bat both in his features and his expressions, and i personally think cole looks exactly like me, but put them together and they just looked like their dads, hanging out.

cole tends to hang back a little and quietly observe when we meet "new" kids. he flirts and makes grown-up pals all day long, but with kids he's a little shy and takes a gentle approach... aiden's reaction to seriously everything is "ahhhh! amazing!" with jaw-dropping excitement. so adorable. i think cole was a little skeptical at first - maybe he was just being blasé, after all we were at his usual delicious playground (woodchips - yum!). as kids do when you want to just sit and talk, they played separately for a while, seemingly oblivious to each other, running in different directions (ah - goose poop over here - awesome! check it out - tripping hazards this way!) and crossing paths just long enough for us mamas to get a few tidbits in and sip coffee on occasion. but slowly they came together and started to do their own thing.

eating in the park: perfect for the wee folk

we've been spending a lot of time outdoors lately, what with the lovely weather we've been having and all - except of course on the day that i'm typing this!

we met up with friends kim & sean on friday night for an impromptu picnic at new brighton park, halfway between both our places. i'd never been to this park or even really known of it's existence since it's kind of tucked out-of-the-way, but it's a terrific secret park. there are two playgrounds and an outdoor pool, and great views of the north shore mountains.

jamie and i had to laugh at this photo (one of many!) of him being ambushed by the babies:

cole and the lovely abby. two curious babies and one person is quickly overpowered. spooky. how do folks with twins do it? more photos of the kids:

kim & jamie have known each other since they were tiny little humans way back when, and i love this photo of them each holding the kids!

friends with wheels

a few weeks ago we made the trek to langley to visit with gramma & grampa and a friend that lives next door. her little guy james and cole had a blast out in the yards - it certainly made me wish for a space of green to call our own! i think cole got his first taste of battling for the driver's seat.

and a few days later we went to a fun birthday party in surrey's bear creek park for a friend's baby girl's first birthday party. i'd never been to that park and the playground there was fantastic! a water park, bathrooms (thank heavens), shady areas on the playground and everything. and there was a wagon! cole and the birthday girl, maryn, loved riding in the cart and grampa dave was happy to oblige with unlimited towing.