Seb's Spooky Sixth Birthday Celebration......

Yesterday my baby boy turned six! SIX! Why does that seem so much older than 5? I don't know but I feel like he's grown up more in the last year than any other year (except maybe for his first year). He's a school boy now with a whole life that happens away from me :( He knows words in french that I don't know and sometimes asks questions that I find hard to answer. He's turned into this funny, grown up boy who can come up with witty jokes (and not so witty ones) and be all cool and independent. And I find myself lapping up the moments when he decides he really needs me for a hug or a bedtime story or to search for his misplaced favourite teddy. Oh Sebbie I love you so!!! I can't believe you are six! 

We celebrated with a spooky halloween party and lots of friends. After some crazy, frantic last minute decoration and food prep it turned out to be a really fun party! The only thing that could've made it any better would've been having with us all the people we love who live a bit too far away.....

Neil and I tried our best to re-create some gruesome snacks we found on Pinterest. Some were more gruesome than others and a few of our attempts didn't turn out the least bit spooky but I think the overall affect of the spread was pretty good! 

I loved these little pretzel and cracker spiders! They're stuffed with chocolate Philadelphia cream cheese which I'd never bought before. We would've probably used Nutella but were catering to a nut allergy so gave this a try and it turned out really yummy.

 Neil made the mini pizza's and the idea was that they were supposed to resemble mummy's...not sure if that worked or not but they were snaffled up pretty quickly! 

The winner of the "Most Gruesome Snack" award goes to Neil's wiener fingers. A couple of well-placed knife slashes, some ketchup and a slither of onion and the hot dogs were transformed! Eeugh!

 Onto the games........we played "donuts on a string" which is just pure entertainment for the watching adults! 

Good old classic "pass the parcel", which is apparently not typically played in Canada and required a translation to "Pass the Gift". Doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it.  

"Wrap the mummy", another one that turned out to be quite hilarious to watch. 

We also did a spot of pumpkin bowling in our very narrow hallway using small pumkins and stacked toilet paper as skittles. Sorry, I forgot to photograph that.

 Seb opened lots of lovely presents! Thank you so much everybody for your thoughtfulness! And we sang and ate cake before realizing it was nearly time for our guests to leave and we hadn't even bobbed for apples yet!

Once everybody had gone home, Bel set about cleaning up the rest of the Jell-o, while Neil and Seb began the mamouth task of building a million Lego sets and I spent the evening picking up toilet paper from the floor.

It was a good, good time!

Raw Plum Yum Jam

I know I already instagrammed this but I had to write this easy and super healthy recipe on the blog because it was really so yummy! To make this raw jam you'll need some always magical chia seeds which use their superfood super powers to turn things into thick and goopy jelly-goodness! For the fruity bit you could use strawberries, blueberries, peaches or any fruity thing you like I suppose. I used plums because I had so many left over from my last couple of farm boxes. I used about 6 or 7 good sized chopped raw plums and about 3 tablespoons of chia seeds, this made me enough jam to fill a small jar. Stick this into your blender with a nice dollop of honey. I used a heaped tablespoon of my favourite raw local honey but you can make it as sweet as you like! If the fruit you are using isn't as juicy as plums you could add a tablespoon or so of water to the mix just to help the chia seeds gelatify (that's probably not a word but you know what I mean). Blend until you get the consistency you like, pour into a lidded jar and chill before serving. You should end up with a delicious jam with a nice, gooey, jammy consistency full of raw fruit and chia goodness. It'll be full of fibre and omega 3 fatty acids, it'll will boost your energy, aid digestion, give you lovely glowing skin and just taste yummy. 

 Your jar of goodness should keep in the fridge for about 5 days. 

Beauty.....

 Autumn in the mountains might be short and sharp but it's just jaw-droppingly beautiful! Here's a few pics from my walk with Sully and Bel this morning after dropping Seb off at school.