Happy Halloween!

Ha, Ivan and I probably have the worst costumes ever this year. We were going to a Halloween party but only for about an hour so we just looked around to see what we could come up with. I was the Log Lady and Ivan was the Log. Milo's costume was the Giant (all from Twin Peaks) but I already told you guys that.

Today isn't just Halloween for me anymore. I will always remember October 31st as the day I found out I was pregnant! Ivan was home from work and really sick. I hadn't even missed my period yet (yeah, now I'm talking about my period on my blog) but I was feeling really off so I decided to take a pregnancy test. When I say "feeling off" what I really mean is that my boobs hurt a lot. I already mentioned my period so I might as well throw boobs in there too. I took a test in the afternoon and it was positive. I was surprised but not surprised at the same time. We were trying to get pregnant but I think it is always surprising when you find out you actually are. I went to the couch to tell Ivan who had a high fever and who I wasn't even sure would understand what I was saying. I said, "This might not be the best time to tell you this but I took a test..." His response was, "That's nice!" in a sick, smiley, happy as he could get, voice.

I remember feeling really weird because I knew I was pregnant but obviously didn't look it and also didn't want to tell people yet. I did email a friend who is a midwife to ask her what the heck I should do next because I had no idea. She said that if I wanted a midwife to call right away. I wanted to get doctor confirmation that I was actually pregnant first so I made an appointment for the following day and once I got my confirmation I called a midwife clinic and since I called so early on in my pregnancy (I wasn't even 4 weeks along yet) they took me no problem.

It is so strange to think back to that time and then look down at Milo snoozing on me in the wrap. A year ago he was so small you couldn't even see him and now he is a big, happy, healthy four month old. I feel very lucky.

What was the point of this post again? Oh yeah, Happy Halloween!

♥elycia

ETA: I should be clear that I am not currently pregnant. I found out last Halloween that I was pregnant with Milo. Just to be 100% clear! Ha!

Review :: Vegan Desserts in Jars

A while back I was asked if I was interested in receiving a copy of Vegan Desserts in Jars: Adorably Delicious Pies, Cakes, Puddings, and Much More by Kris Holechek Peters and I was immediately really excited. When I received my copy in the mail I got even more excited about the book because everything in it looked delicious and I couldn't wait to try some recipes. 

I couldn't find the right size jars (because canning season had just ended and they aren't everywhere anymore) so I haven't tried any of the baked recipes because I wasn't sure how the different size and shape of the jars I had would affect the recipes. Here are the four no bake recipes I have tried so far and what I thought of them.

Peanut Butter Cream Cups

These were really easy to make and really yummy because you can't go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate. There were a few things that I noted about this recipe. It is not overly sweet and I am not usually one to think that something needs to be sweeter (unless it's icing, I like my icing super sweet). I found that the chocolate mixture turned out grainy but that is probably something weird that I did or something weird about the chocolate. One thing that the photo shows is that if you want to be able to see the two layers you should let the chocolate layer harden a bit in the fridge before you put the peanut butter mixture on top. I doesn't say to do that in the recipe but you can see what happened to me when I didn't. And finally, this really did taste 100x better chilled so don't bother eating it before it spends at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Raw Pecan Pie

I cheated for the Raw Pecan Pie one and didn't use jars because the shape of the jars I have didn't lend itself well to this recipe. Doesn't really matter, the jars just make it extra cute. This is another one that needs to be chilled to taste the best. After spending the night in the fridge they were even better than they were the day before. This dessert is really rich and super filling. Actually, it is another one that isn't super sweet and I actually ate it for breakfast one day. I am craving this one right now! One last thing to note is that I found that the recipe made more filling than it did crust. It may just be because I didn't use the recommended sized jars but I had quite a bit of filling left over.

Grasshopper Pies

The grasshopper pie was another one that I found made more filling than crust so I ended up crushing up extra sandwich cookies to make more crust. I highly recommend making these at least 24 hours before you plan on serving them even though the recipe says only 2 hours in the fridge are needed. When I tried them after about 4 hours I found they tasted too much like cream cheese. Minty cream cheese. Bleh. Once they had been in the fridge for about 24 hours though they were delicious. This was Ivan's favourite recipe from this book so far.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

This was by far my favourite recipe that I have tried from this book so far. I didn't actually brulee it, I opted for the other option of topping it with coconut whipped cream and I am so glad I did. The whipped cream was such a perfect addition to the pumpkin custard it was ridiculous. I would like to make this one again soon because it was so yummy.

As you can probably tell I am a big fan of Vegan Desserts in Jars and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. I can't wait to try some of the baked recipes. These cute little jars would be perfect for a small party.  In addition to desserts this book also has some jam recipes and a really yummy looking recipe for apple butter. I think I may eventually make almost everything in here!

I hope everyone has a good Tuesday. I feel like I want to do an update on our baby situation over here and see if anyone else had dealt with some of the same things that we are going through right now. Nothing too terrible is happening, just some car seat hate and other miscellaneous things. I'll talk to you guys about that stuff soon!

♥elycia

This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to my family. For more info on affiliate links click here. Thank you for your support!

Photos :: 365 (October 21 - 27)

294/365 :: Milo has pretty nice eyes if I do say so myself.

295/365 :: Babywearing.

296/365 :: Must eat blanket.

297/365 :: Some baby toys are really pretty.

298/365 :: The sun was shining in through the screen and I thought it looked pretty. And maybe we need to clean our screen.

299/365 :: Milo's Halloween costume for a party we went to. You will never guess what he was so I'll just tell you. He was the giant from Twin Peaks. The giant may not have had bears on his bow tie though.

300/365 :: Farva and Pinny either love each other or hate each other. There isn't really a middle ground. Actually I think it's that Pinny always loves Farva and sometimes he will tolerate her.

Man is it getting cold out around here! I can't believe how quickly the summer went by or the fact that Christmas is less than two months away.  Seriously, where is time disappearing to?

Did everyone have a good weekend?

♥elycia

5 Fave Friday

5. I am in love with baby legwarmers and this pair is really awesome.

A few people asked about Milo's in my post the other day. They are Baby Legs and they are awesome. Changing his diaper is much more convenient than with pants. These inspired me to actually knit him some leg warmers for winter to go on top of his pants when we are out in the cold in a wrap.

4. These coats are so nice!

Mad About Madison Coat from ModCloth

Scooter or Later Coat in Olive from ModCloth

Diagonal Alley Coat from ModCloth

ModCloth is having a sale on coats with the code BRRR25 for 25% off. It ends tonight so be sore to check it out before then if you are interested!

3. This hat!!

2. I really wish I was a good painter.

1. Coolest thing.

I can'i iype much because I'm using one hand, have a baby on me, am not wearing my glasses and can't see what I'm typing unless I pick up my computer and hold it up to my face.  I think my eyesight is getting worse. Anywaays, happy Friday!

♥elycia

This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to my family. For more info on affiliate links click here. Thank you for your support!

Review :: Projecteo

A while back I was sent a Projecteo to check out. Of course I filled it with baby Milo photos. This thing is seriously tiny and adorable but has nice sharp images when you project them onto the wall. Milo actually really enjoys looking at the images. Probably just because it is something glowing in the dark but whatever.

This little projector is really fun and would be a neat way to remember a special event or it would also be really cool to get holiday photos from the last however many years and put them onto a slide. I made this video to show you how all the photos. They are actually more clear than they appear in the video.

Projecteo from love elycia on Vimeo.

The song is 192 days by Eisley.

♥elycia

Baby :: 4 Months Old

Oooops!! I thought I had this scheduled to post but apparently I forgot to do that. Here is it a little later than I would have liked!

Yesterday was Milo's 4 month birthday and oh my goodness my baby is getting so big. It's funny because sometimes I look at him and think how huge he is and then I realize how incredibly small he actually is. It's pretty crazy and really awesome to watch him grow.

Milo is really into smiling (although you can't tell from these photos), laughing, chewing his hand, stroking his Dad's beard and grabbing things. He gets the giggles if I make an exaggerated "Hmmmm" sound or if I squish his cheeks and say squish in a silly voice. He is the happiest and chattiest on his change table for some reason and he has really started to become interested in the cats. Especially Farva, ha! He watches them, makes noises at them and pets them if they are close enough. Adorable.

That's all I have to say about this cool little baby today.

♥elycia

Photos :: 365 (October 14 - 20)

287/365 :: I think this photo is so sweet.

288/365 :: My neighbours house is so pretty.

289/365 :: These past two weeks will forever be known as the time I got that cookbook and made everything in it. Well, not everything. Not even close to everything. I've made four things and I'll be talking about my favourites soon!

290/365 :: Just a little before bed mirror time.

291/365 :: Farva hanging out with Milo.

292/365 :: Ukuleles!

293/365 :: Yummmmm.

Well there we go! Another week gone by. We are almost into the 300s and I can't believe it. Another thing I can't believe...today Milo is four months old. I am excited to take his four month photos and compare them to the others.

He just woke up from a (way too short) nap so I'd better go!

♥elycia

Photos :: Fall 2013

glasses :: WarbyParker, sweater :: c/o OASAP, polka dot thing :: skirt from F21, cords :: Gap, shoes :: Converse

On the weekend we headed over to a park to hang out and enjoy the nice weather. And of course we had to take some photos.

Milo is so smiley normally but he was not cracking a smile while we were taking these so we put on grumpy faces as well. Oh yeah, he was also drooling a ton but we didn't join him there.

I was going to do a separate outfit post to talk about what I'm wearing but decided to just include the details here instead since you can see everything. I just need to mention that I had to have this pear sweater because of our pear tree in the backyard that gives us more pears than we know what to do with.

Have a good day!

♥elycia

This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to my family. For more info on affiliate links click here. Thank you for your support!

Photos :: 365 (October 7 - 13)

280/365 :: Peeking out our front window.

281/365 :: What I'm travelling with these days. Except I don't travel with Pinny.

282/365 :: I took some more photos of diapers for when I eventually post about our cloth diaper experience so far. The only problem is...I have taken photos about two or three different times for this post so I have to search through my photos to find them. I organize by date so hopefully I will kind of remember when I took the others.

283/365 :: I received this book 'Vegan Desserts in Jars' in the mail to possibly review on my blog. I don't think I have ever been more excited about a cookbook. I have already tried two of the no bake desserts and I plan on trying a few of the baked ones once I get the proper mason jars. I will tell you more about this book in the future!

284/365 :: Yep, here's one of the desserts already. Once again, more on this later.

285/365 :: Oh my gosh, we had a great day on Saturday. The weather was absolutely perfect so we spent some time at a park I visited at about this time last year. I'll share more photos soon.

286/365 :: And...another one of those fancy desserts. I cheated this time and didn't use a jar though. Basically I'm a rebel and I do what I want. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you may have already heard me mention that. Really though, I just like saying, 'I do what I want' because it reminds me of South Park and the episode where Cartman says, 'Whatever, I do what I want'.

We had a really great Thanksgiving weekend over here in Canada. And yes I'm speaking for everyone in Canada...we all had a great long weekend. I am probably going to be confused and a day behind all week but that's ok, it's worth it.

Oh yeah! We took Milo swimming for the first time yesterday evening. It was a lovely salt water pool and Milo loved it. We took it really slow and after a little while he seemed really comfortable in the water. He was kicking his little feet, making an adorable face and it was basically the cutest thing ever.

That's about all that's new with me at the moment. I hope everyone had a good weekend!

♥elycia