Aurora Wells

How could you resist a face like this?

• Turkey slice face
• Crouton hair
• Olive, cucumber, cherry tomato and red onion features
• Hard boiled egg body

The rest of us just had plain ‘ol salad.

Aurora’s imagination is on rapid fire, and I sometimes get a little dizzy, switching from princess to princess. “Who is Mommy now? Belle, Ariel or Jasmine?” “You’re Mater, Mommy!” Here at the Castle/Radiator Springs, things have been pretty busy, but I have managed to take a few pictures of our activities.

Our little buddy Barrett loves waffles, so we had a waffle brunch for his 2nd birthday. They look like little grownups, happily munching on waffles at the kids’ table – with cutlery, no less!

My little creative genius working on the visual arts side of things. Nice Volcanos, kiddo.

Who needs a pesky older brother with the Beast/Max the Dog/Aladdin/Sheriff around?

Then last week Grandma Gail (Mrs. Potts/Sebastian the Crab/Nemo/Sally) came for a visit, so we did a few more fun things out of the house. First up, a Treasure Hunt. The hunt was Daddy’s idea, and he wrote the clues and did the setup. Mommy’s job was to make the prize: a board game called Pink Milk (based on Charlie & Lola).

Daddy set up clues for Aurora to find; inside her cardboard clubhouse, under the couch cushions, on a tree outside, and down the street at the big chessboard. She got so excited about finding each numbered clue, that I think she was disappointed to find an X rather than a #5 clue next to the apple tree in our backyard. She dug with her little shovel until she got bored, and then Daddy helped her unearth the buried treasure. Rolling the dice and moving the right way around the board is going to take some practice, but the four of us had a good time.

A few days later we took Grandma to Maplewood Farm. It’s been almost a year since we last went, and a much bolder Aurora was brave enough to actually feed the bunnies:

We went early enough in the morning that they were still a bit hungry, and were willing to take the carrots and celery they were offered.

The goats were still a bit intimidating, although I didn’t have to force Aurora to pat them this time. Mostly she wanted to climb the rocky goat hills.

Grandma’s favourite part was the Wood Duck sighting. They’re nowhere near as common as Mallards, and we saw three pair that day.

Then it started raining again, so we undertook an activity that should occupy us for many rainy days to come: making a doll house. A couple of large boxes, some glue, tape and a utility knife later, and we’ve got a four-room abode for a small family of happy mice (thanks, Grandma Gail!). Just like in real life, the attic is storage space for the “lumber” and supplies for making more furniture and renos. It just looks like cardboard now, but I’ve got plans, big plans. Stay tuned.

I can’t believe I haven’t already done this, but Grandma Gail pointed out that I never posted pictures of the sea life mural that Daddy and I painted on Aurora’s walls. These pictures were mostly taken before she was born, but there’s one with furniture at the end, featuring the cradle that until recently graced the East wall.

Thank you to Grandma Gail for helping us paint the fishies! We’re hoping that Aurora will like the mural until she’s ten or older, but recently she told me that she just wanted plain white walls in her bedroom. Hopefully it’s just one of those two-year-old contrariness things!

until somebody stole it in the Hanukkah game. And my cookies. And my gourd. Or so the song goes, right? Anyway, the Nestors and many of our friends and family partied it up right last Saturday at our annual Hanukkah party.

Brian the Goy and Ashleigh the Shiksa did their part by making the roughly six dozen latkes to feed us all, and did such a great job that they get to be honorary jews for another year.

Then there was the steal-a-gift game, which was a ton of fun this year. Aurora and Rafi, the toddlers, were given distraction gifts before the real thing got started, and then we got down and dirty. The theme this year was “Homemade, Preferably by You”, which inspired a lot of talent and creativity.

Here Aunt Ashleigh opens Brian’s gift, a jar of blackberry jam and a bag of a dozen truffles, both homemade by him (Lisa and Aurora decorated the box). She held onto it until nearly the end, but it was stolen eventually. Luckily, she was teamed with the formidable David, who managed to steal it back at the last minute.

Grandma Gail was delighted to open my gift, a jar of spiced candied pecans (being eyed by an interested Aunt Laurie). My godbrother Ben ended up with that prize, though.

Brian, who is male and has 20/20 vision, is not exactly sure what he’s going to do with the lovely beaded glasses holder that Cousin Sandy made, but he thinks it’s very attractive. I’m sure he’ll find a way to repurpose it – maybe for his safety glasses at work?

I picked out these great “snowball” cookies that my brother David actually made, but I didn’t get to keep them. Here’s the recipe: Spread peanut butter between two Nilla Wafer cookies, dip them in melted white chocolate, and sprinkle them with blue sugar crystals. Yum! I managed to steal a box of recipe cards and a gorgeous gourd vase, but in the end, I snared a fantastic prize:

A rainstick handmade by my Aunt Laurie. Despite all practical considerations of how I’m going to transport it back home, and where I’m going to put it when it gets there, I fell in love and had to have it, so I stole it from my brother (whose wife didn’t know where she was going to put it, either).

Other notable gifts: Uncle Steve won a gorgeous print of one of my Uncle Dean’s photographs. It’s a crane in flight at the Bolsa Chica wetlands, 15 minutes from Gail & Larry’s house.

My Cousin Anna briefly snagged a gourd decorated in an African theme, but that one ended up with the Africa fanatic, my Aunt Nancy. It was great to see Anna again, after so many years. We are not often in Southern California at the same time.

Aunt Laurie and Grandma Gail practically pee themselves laughing at something during the game. If you’re playing the game hoping that everyone will get the perfect gift in the end, you’re bound to be disappointed, but there are moments of sweet generosity as well as dastardly behaviour, and absolute hilarity is usually the result.

My latest obsession: Bento boxes. Aurora’s mealtime preferences have a great deal to do with presentation, and there is nothing like opening a cute little box and finding a happy, colourful assortment of treats inside. The trick is making veggies, grains and protein look like treats. It must be the designer in me, but I get a huge thrill out of the way these tiny pieces of food look, all fitted into compartments in a tidy little box.

I’ve been reading a terrific Mommy Blog lately, by another Vancouver graphic designer. Despite the fact that she actually works, she finds the time to make these crazy cute lunches for her boy when he goes off to daycare and camp. I don’t have many of the slick accessories she’s got (she’s been making bentos for quite a while), like molds, shape cutters and skewers, but today I did my best at a first attempt. One for Aurora:

Rolled tortilla & hummus slices
Raisins
Salami & cheese cut with leaf cookie cutters
Strawberries and blueberries

And one for Mommy:

Strawberries and blueberries
Mini pretzels
Rolled up turkey slices

No biggie, really. Most of the time was spent trying to find the tiny cookie cutters I hid away because I’ve only used them once or twice in the past six years. Unfortunately, Aurora only ate her strawberries, salami and cheese, and some of my pretzels, but it’s a start!