Sigh

Doesn't that look fantastic? It was the lovely view from our room on the weekend. Hubby and I had a romantic weekend planned, sans kids. A day of skiing, some spa time, a book, a few extravagant meals, and sleeping in. I mentioned that the kids weren't with us, right?

We arrived at Lake Louise, rented our skis, bought our lift tickets, and took a warm-up run. On our second run I had a freakish, lame but spectacular wipeout. It's hard to fully describe, but suffice it to say that it involved my ski edge getting caught on something invisible, the splits, a face plant, and some somersaults. Then it involved a trip to the ER, X-Rays, a knee brace or two, crutches, and lots of ice.

Needless to say, with a handful of torn ligaments, one of which will likely require surgery, there won't be much quilting going on in the coming weeks. There isn't even that much walking going on.

Soup Kind of Days

Nothing particularly bad has happened in our little house lately - unless you count completely forgetting to give my mother-in-law her Christmas present. Thankfully she's forgiven us and we've promised her a CSA membership. And just in time because she offered us a weekend sans kids for skiing and relaxing as our Christmas present. Hubby and I are escaping to Banff this weekend while Grandma and her girls have some serious bonding time.

Sadly, she won't be serving soup. Well, she can grab some but good luck trying to get the girls to eat it. No Borscht, no Chicken Noodle, not even Mama's Tomato Soup. I have no idea what their issue is with soup. From 9 months on they've insisted on feeding themselves and even The Monster hasn't mastered her knife or spoon skills. That might be it, but heaven forbid you try to feed them!

Soup is my go-to meal for a bad day, for providing a meal to a sad friend or new mom, for bread day from Aviv, and for the days that I feel fat or cold. Maybe because toddlers and preschoolers don't have days like those that's why they don't like soup.

Tomato, Bacon, and Blue Soup

Makes 7-8 cups

4 slices bacon (not maple flavoured)

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

2 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)

2 cups water or stock

1 bay leaf

3 ounces blue cheese

1/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk

1. Chop bacon cross-wise. Saute in pan on medium-high heat until just starting to crisp up. Remove 2 tablespoons cooked bacon and reserve for garnish. Pour off almost all the grease left in the pan.

2. While bacon is cooking finely chop onion and garlic. When bacon is cooked add the onion and garlic to the pan. Saute until the onions are soft.

3. Add tomatoes with liquid. Stir in water or stock and bay leaf. Turn heat down to medium and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

4. Puree with an immersion blender, food processor, or in a blender. Be careful when blending hot liquids.

5. Stir in blue cheese and cream/milk. Season well.

6. Garnish with reserved bacon and crumbled blue cheese, if desired.

Lessons Learned

While Christmas Day has come and gone, the season continues on in our house for at least another week. I can't resist sharing this photo of our stockings.  We have no fireplace so The Monster decided that our hallway laundry basket was where Santa would visit us. I'm not going to argue with a three and a half year old on Christmas! Oh wait, I did.  That would be the first lesson we learned.

Lesson #1

Do not insist on the Christmas Pajamas you bought when she dresses herself, entirely by herself, for the first time.  Instead, cheer for her and let her go to bed with two Pull-Ups on and summer PJs that are too small.

Lesson #2

Do not trust a three and half year old to keep a present a secret.  I knew my present within a hour of her returning from the mall.  She was just so damn excited to share with me.

Lesson #3

Three and a half is not too young to learn how to vacuum properly. That's what she got for deliberately throwing rainbow sprinkles on the floor.

Lesson #4

Hubby is the best dad/cousin/uncle for letting a 17, 12, 8, and 3 year old girl do his make-up and hair.

Lesson #5

Santa is apparently supposed to eat ALL the cookies you leave out for him, even if it is a dozen or so.

Lesson #6

Beef Wellington is fantastically delicious.

Lesson #7

A child can indeed survive on nothing but pork in various forms, oranges, cookies, and chocolate.

Lesson #8

Christmas with a child is seriously the best thing ever.  Everything was an adventure and sheer excitement. She still wakes up in the morning, plugs in the lights on the tree and tells me, "Mama, it's amazing!"

Oh Sweet Joy!

The other night all four of us were gathered around the dining room table, post dinner.  Hubby was using his stupid new contraption to roll up the change from the piggy banks. (Hello college fund!) The girls were enthralled with his efforts and the contraption.  To keep my hands busy I pulled out a quilt that needed some hand stitching.  Suddenly, what I was doing was far more interesting to The Monster.

Sadly, my tiny little #8 needle and the need for small stitches made it difficult for her to actually be of help. So I promised her that we would go on a special shopping trip the next day and gather supplies for her to start sewing.

 
Last night we sat down on the couch and started sewing.  I bought a medium sized hoop, some plain white cotton with a loose weave, and some large (but very real) needles.  I also let her pick out a few colours of basic embroidery floss.  Really I just wanted her to get the idea of pulling a needle through fabric while still getting a chance to see her results.

My little girl was in heaven.  We discussed the need to push the needle through front to back and back to front.  And how we had to pull the thread all the way through.  To make it easier on both of us I doubled up the thread and tied a solid knot.  I did not want to be constantly rethreading a needle! Besides, this was about process, not results.

After Smilosaurus unravelled the remaining embroidery floss and sucked the spools of thread I had also purchased she decided she wanted to learn sewing as well.  So she climbed up next to me and tried her hand at needle pulling thread.  Enthralled and impatient.

I should mention that this was actually my first time embroidering.  Seriously, I've never done it before.  This is despite the fact that my Baba was one of the most impressive cross-stitchers I've ever encountered. I worked on a little piece that had The Monster's name on it.  And honestly, I could really get behind this kind of hand work.  Look out!

This was the end result.  I moved the fabric in the hoop a few times because The Monster complained that the fabric was dirty whenever we switched colours.  That is, she wanted a fresh slate. Then she got irritated with me watching over her so I let her at it.  That's when she forgot the front to back, back to front lesson.  But isn't it perfect?