Where to begin...

It's been a very sad week. I've been so distracted with everything that my house has been a disaster for about... well... a week.
My grand papa passed away on August 11th, 2011. We knew things weren't going to get any easier for him, but I don't believe any of us thought this would happen so quickly.

He was the very best mashed potato maker! I used to eat at least two servings. Everyone always thought it was so funny how I inhalled those mashed potatoes! But they really were that good! Mmmm... I already miss his perfect version.

When my brother and I were kids, we always went camping - our family with my grand parents. I remember my grand papa going into the bush just off the dirt road while we were taking a walk and he derooted a small tree! Oh my goodness.... we were so impressed! He was our real life Superhero! lol!! What we didn't realize at the time is that the trees he pulled out were chiccos - dry dead trees! But he impressed us just the same!! It was just awesome!

My grand papa used to come up with all these great ideas! I remember him giving me this little ring once... he had cut a piece of copper pipe and made it into a small ring for my baby finger! I thought it was the coolest ring ever!

I remember him always saying... "Ok, BlueJay" ... I've caught myself saying that to my daughter for some time now... lol.

My grand papa was simply an amazing man. He loved his wife dearly - they got married in September of 1956 - that makes for just about 55 years of marriage! Incredible!

He was also a fantastic father to my mom... she admired him greatly and always will!

As for me... he was my dearest grand papa, my godfather and will always be that one extra special dance partner I had at my wedding in April....

Grand papa Marleau touched all of our lives in a very special way - he will always be in our hearts, in our thoughts.

Je t'aime beaucoup Grand papa... tu me manques déjà énormément... xox

Big girl headboard!

As we are renovating O's new room, we are also trying to transition her from her crib to a twin size bed. So far she's done ok with her toddler bed, but we've still got a long way to go before she's ready for her BIG big girl bed (twin size vs. toddler size). My grandmother was getting rid of a twin size headboard - which was perfect because the one I had bought at a second hand store was actually for a full size bed. Anyway, she mentionned she had always wanted to cover it in fabric! I LOVED THE IDEA! It is the perfect shape for recovering! So, last week I went to Fabricland with my mom to see if we could come accross something nice to recover O's headboard with! We were in luck! We came accross a fabric that was meant for the outdoors, but could also be used indoors. I took home some samples and sure enough it worked very well with the curtains I had made for her in our previous home.

So covering the headboard with foam and batter using staples to keep them in place, we then recovered it with this beautiful floral print fabric! It turned out fantastic!!

Check it out!!

I paticularly liked the curves on the top of the headboard and definitely wanted them to show once the fabric was on. We had to pull quite a bit to accent the lower part of the curves and we put a huge amount of staples... but it worked!

I intend on going to purchase the match to this fabric which is a nice striped fabric in the same colors to make her duvet cover! 

Mmm Mmm Good!

For lunch today, I suggested banana pankakes!
O - our daughter - completely agreed!
Since she has severe milk & egg allergies, I've done some searching and found an easy receipe that she really loves!
Here is it...

1 cup flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cinnamon
2/3 soy milk (I've used formula too)
1/2 banana
1 tsp vanilla

Usually I make them on the stove top... but today I remembered that my grandmother gave me a heart waffle maker! We had to try it!

Yes, I used too much batter! Oops...

But, she loved them!

We'll definitely be having heart waffles again very soon!

p.s. Grand maman.... merci pour la belle machine! Je l'adore! xox