.monthly tables.

i was browsing around anthropologie a month ago when i came across this amazing calendar of illustrated tables of food from around the world and i immediately thought of my mother-in-law and all the amazing dishes she could teach us to make! and hence monthly tables was born!

each month she and i will get together and spend the day cooking unique foods featured from that region. for example, january's table features the country france! yum!

i plan on adding all the recipes here in detailed form, but also adding a few on my instagram account and then getting those printed off with a chatbooks or something and making a mini cookbook! if you follow me there you may have already seen a few recipes pop up in my feed last month, as i'm a little late posting this here, but i'll spend the week playing catch up to february and all it's deliciousness ;)

so to start things off, here we go! January = France.

.they're here.

my boys. 

my sweet twin boys. 

my middle and my youngest children. 

they have arrived and we are enjoying them so damn much.

please let me introduce you to our theodore edward + axel arthur. born on october 5th, 2014, they are truly amazing.

photography || pinksugarphotography

.so incredibly loved.

dear my two youngest,

yes, it's true. i already love you both more than i knew i could. more than i knew was possible.

and i didn't want you to potentially look back and figure that the lack of posts about you both has anything to do with loving you less than the first time i went through this with your precious big brother.

yes, the majority of my time is spent playing and chasing after jack, and boy does he keep me busy, but i want you both to know that you two are always on my mind as well. it has truly surprised me in so many ways to discover how the same feelings i had the first time around have circled back completely.  and they have felt just as precious and just as special as they did then. all the little kicks and twirls and love jabs you both give me daily is a constant reminder that i have been given this amazing gift...the two of you.

to be honest, at first i was so worried that i couldn't love anyone as much as the love i have for your brother, but boy was i wrong. i feel inertly protective already. i feel that momma bear fierceness for you both. i feel blessed. i feel pleasure in knowing you both are mine. i feel so full of love that i fear i might burst some days.

so while i don't get to spend as much time counting the weeks & days left or verbally sharing the milestones of your growth, i did want you to know that i am privately getting to know you both intimately and quietly and it has been an absolute pleasure. i hope you can feel that, within the roundness of my belly and in the roundness of my full full heart. i hope you both know how much joy you've already brought your new family. your dada, your mama, and your older brother. seriously so much joy.

so there you have it. being the middle and youngest [wow! so neat to be able to say that] of my children, i sincerely don't want you to think you are any less loved or important. because kids, you are   so both.

so important and so damn loved.

xx
momma

.dear, jack.

hey, bugg. it's momma.

just checking in to let you know that man - i love you. i know the twins are coming soon and your little world is about to change, but this insane amount of love dada and i have for you isn't going anywhere. that will never change. never ever. in fact, it seems to grow more and more with each passing day. i can't even explain it. you are just so darn awesome.

even with all those lovely toddler-two tantrums you've been showing us. we still love you.

even with all those insanely stinky diapers you love to save for momma. we still love you.

even with the refusal to eat anything healthy lately. we still love you.

even with the nightly 2:30 am wakings where you won't go back to sleep unless it's in our bed. we still love you.

even with the mess you make right after momma has tidied up. we still love you. 

even if you refuse to enjoy a bath alone and one of us has to crawl in with you. we still love you.

see, jack. we still love you no matter what you throw at us and these little siblings of yours, coming so so soon, are only going to make our family even better. i hope you know that. 

i also hope you know that if you ever just need a little alone time with momma or dada, we're here. anytime. we will still have our special moments like we do now, just the two of us [or three of us] if you need. anytime. you are our little bugg man and that will never change.

so remember that we love you, no matter what. forever and always. 

[and i am so incredibly lucky to have meg henderson [els photography] in my life to capture these amazing pictures of me and my boy. these mean the absolute world to me, hormonal or not, and i cannot thank her enough. and her talent....i mean, it's pretty incredible right?!]

.travel: drumheller, ab.

about a month & half ago, peter + jack and i took a little getaway over my birthday weekend to visit some old dinosaurs. it was a perfect mini holiday with my family of three [and our last as a family of three!] and i found it rather fitting considering i'm starting to feel like a 'fossil' as well ;)

we packed up our new vehicle and drove the 3.5 hours south to the tiny town of drumheller, ab. i can't really say much about the city itself [sorry, drumheller!] but the landscape was beautiful and the town filled to the brim with activities for the youngsters. jack was in heaven. 

we visited the suspension bridge, the hoodoo's [and attempted to snap a few maternity pictures in the badlands], visited the world's largest dinosaur, walked the tyrrell museum, and played on the hotel waterslide. we also had a rather delicious greek meal at a local restaurant, which reminded pete and i so much of our europe trip a few short years back. the food was so authentic it was like we where on the island of santorini again!

here's a load of iPhone pictures of our mini trip. it was just so lovely, but then again i truly think doing anything with these two people is lovely.

royal tyrrell museum

.travel: phoenix, arizona.

we had arrived in sunny phoenix well over two weeks ago and boy oh boy, did that sun feel nice. real nice. i finally fulfilled a blogging dream of writing posts pool side, one of the many whimsical envisions i had while i thought of creating fancy napkin way back when [i mean that's what blogging is all about, right? writing pool side of my exciting adventures?! ha!], and after the last 3 months of go-go-go, i think this little vacation was just what the doctor ordered. 

we stayed in scottsdale, at the links resort for 10 days and enjoyed every minute of sun and paradise before having to head home to a snowy reality in edmonton, late last week.
we choose phoenix for its family friendly atmosphere and hot weather! and had absolutely nothing on the agenda other than lounging in the sun [or shade, in my case], playing in the pool, and perhaps eating some food that we didn't have to cook. seriously a little like heaven to this pregnant girl. 

jack had an absolute awful time [i joke!], and he seriously didn't leave the pool or the spray park the entire vacation. we also learned that saying 'time to go' to a 1 1/2 year old is fun. basically it's like peter telling me we ran out of dill pickles! i mean, the pouting!!
on the trip, peter shared a pretty funny story while i was napping...apparently jack had had enough of sitting in the room so he went into his little suitcase and in one hand grabbed his waterproof diaper and in the other his swim trunks. then brought them both over to peter with a little sad face like 'time to go dad'. talk about supreme guilt trip! haha! what a character!
he also added a few new words to his quickly growing vocabulary, like phlaaane! and baay-be [baby]!  it was quite fun watching him soak up these new experiences and i think he loved having both peter and i around to dote on his every whim.

peter also quite enjoyed himself. he was constantly running after jack, which isn't as good as his usual pumping workouts, but he found the cardio pretty exhausting. i, on the other hand, didn't really leave the loungers. ha! one bonus to brewing two babies is milking the rest and having the hubby do the running! i pounded through six magazines and even started reading a book! a book!!! i haven't finished a book since the birth of jack! needless to say, it was relaxing and warm and all things family. 

one rainy morning we ventured to the new phoenix children's museum, which was kid heaven. i have never seen such a marvellous place for children! the learning, the playing, the experiencing! for all ages too! jack had an absolute blast, and i think daddy might have had just as much fun too. highly recommend!

we also visited the phoenix zoo, where jack hand fed some giraffes! which he obviously adored. the uneasiness to the smiles in about zero seconds was pretty funny. and we got some pretty great toddler leg kicking and screaming when it was 'time to go', so i'd say that meant he was having a pretty great morning.

other than doing a little shopping, lining up a bunch of blog posts for this upcoming week and working on a super fun collaboration which is coming soon, we just hung out as a family. it was needless to say, the most perfectly relaxing vacation.