Please Note: Click here to see a before of our kitchen

For us (and for so many) the kitchen is the heart of the home and where we wanted to focus a lot of our energy (and money) to making our new house feel like ours.

Over the past year we replaced the counters, backsplash and most of the appliances. To me this really made our kitchen feel like a personalized part of OUR home. As an avid baker I love having stone counters, I really do notice a difference when I roll out dough on them. 

We worked with a family friend/designer to pick our Cambria Summer Hill counters. When you look at the sample it seems a bit bold, but seeing it in the space it really felt alive with the different veins of light and dark grey and the glittery accents.

For our appliances, we opted to go all-in with Samsung. We have loved our washer and dryer and really liked the features of the kitchen appliances. The fridge is huge, the oven is a dual oven with one handle which makes me feel safer with my little guy.

My only complaint with the appliances was my original Samsung stove/range came very damaged and had to be sent back. I'm not sure where the error occurred but somehow between Samsung and Home Depot both said it was the other's fault and it would take two to four weeks before they could get me a working stove.

I spent a lot of time on the phone with both Home Depot and Samsung and was often left with the feeling that regardless of the issue they simple weren't going to help. The stove would get there when it gets there. I was lucky to be on leave as dealing with the issue took up a ton of time. 
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My experience dealing with this issue was so negative that I will definitely go to another retailer like Lowes or Rona in the future versus Home Depot, but I was glad to finally get my new stove.

This is our stove, our fridge and our microwave. I'm thinking of doing a full review of the appliances after we've used them for a month or so. Let me know if you would be interested in that.

How did you update your own kitchen? What lessons have you learned doing home renos? Leave your comments below.

 I feel very cliché saying, yet again, that time is going by quickly. But it is. If you've read my other baby updates (check them out here) you know that we've had a heck of a ride with Finnley and getting him healthy, well rested, and well fed. Now that he's on track it is amazing to see how far he has come.

He likes to be independent when feeding himself a bottle. It's rather bitter sweet, I used to love our feeding cuddles but now he likes to lay down and feed himself. He's trying to take over when he's eating solids too, but I haven't let him win that battle yet.

He's sitting very well; strong and sturdy and independent. He's enjoying reaching for toys and spends his time either trying to get what he wants or learning how to move (the latter of which is a bit of a slow process).

He's also developed a rather strong personality. He likes what he likes and has no problem letting you know when he would like to change things up. I can see him getting frustrated and when you change up the activity (or food, or whatever) he's all smiles again. 

He's also cut two teeth and a third is on the way. To be honest, the first tooth was rather hard. He was cranky and was of course surprised by the fact that a something new was growing in his mouth (and hurt!). The second tooth though was much better and it didn't involve as many wake ups (thankfully).

As we move into the eighth month I know that crawling or cruising will be just around the corner, and maybe even a word or two in the next few months. 

When did your babies meet their moving milestone? What surprised you about the last months of their first year? Leave them in the comments below!

I am sorry that this is a day late. My husband has been travelling and yesterday Finn got a bump on the head, so obviously my time was largely spent googling things and freaking out. Fear not, it really was absolutely nothing as a very polite nurse told me. 

I wanted to share with you our kitchen before we started doing some updates. We didn't want to completely rip out our kitchen because we loved the layout, but we did want to make some changes to make the space feel our own.  

In my family we spend most of our time in the kitchen. It doesn't matter if there are two people or twenty people we will all try to cram into the kitchen. I also love cooking, and wanted to enjoy the space as well. We ended up making some major changes that really place the place ours. Next week, I look forward to sharing our reno updates with you and the 'After" pictures. 

What do you think we changed? How did you update your kitchen? I can't wait to show you the final results!

If you have read my posts about food you know that I love to cook from scratch, but i love a good cheat too, and that's where Bisquick comes in. I can make pretty much any meal on short notice if I have a box of Bisquick.

Last week my cousin came over for a visit and I wanted to have something yummy to eat but had a pretty awful night (first tooth!) so I needed something quick and easy, so I made these guys which were like two bite brownies.

Dough

• 2 1/2 cups Bisquick
• 1/3 milk (and a little more)
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg (if you like)
• pinch of salt
• melted butter (I melted a quarter cup I think

How To

• Preheat oven to 375
• Combine the ingredients of the dough together. until it forms a dough ball. 
• On a really well floured surface (like REALLY floured) roll the dough into a thin rectangle, maybe 12 x 20 inches
• Tip: for two bite brownie style rolls roll the dough very thin, for a bigger roll leave the dough a little thicker.
• Paint the dough with melted butter, be generous, if you're making Cinnamon Rolls you're not really worried about the calories...
• Cover the dough with the sugar mixture and then splatter the sugar dough with a little extra melted butter (why not).
• Rolling away from you, slowly and tightly roll the dough into a long log.
• Cut the dough into one inch rounds and arrange in a well greased cake tin
• Bake for 20-30 minutes or until tops are golden brown
• Enjoy!

What do you keep in your pantry for quick and easy fixes?

So you may be wondering why this is so important to me that I'm writing a blog post about it. And, in short, this movie has been a huge part of my life. Not just because it was a fun rom com with deeper values about how you can achieve what you dream, but because it was my Grandma's favourite movie, even at 92. 

Yes, the movie taught me how to "bend and snap" and the subtle art of telling someone off without being rude. But it was also much more than that. For fifteen years it brought a great deal of enjoyment to my Grandma. She would watch it once every week on VHS. She was legally blind and couldn't operate a DVD player.

So when her copy of Legally Blonde got worn out we would take to Amazon to find her a new one. Her only request was that it not skip in the same spot as last time. It was okay if it wasn't perfect as she knew all the words by heart. The movie brought her a tremendous amount of joy and laughter.

When my Grandma passed earlier this year and we got together to celebrate her life we didn't wear black, we went in pink instead (in true Elle Woods Style) in honour of Grandma. So "Happy Anniversary!" Legally Blonde, you meant more to me than you'll ever know.

For Mommy Monday I was going to tell you all about Finns's first swim. But then instead, I went to bed. At like 6:30. Ever have a day where you're just overwhelmingly tired and everything else can wait? That was yesterday. Maybe it was the heat and the toll of a little guy who has been cranky AF for three days, but Momma needed a rest. 

As for the first swim, to be honest it wasn't the magical experience I'd dreamed of. My little guy who LIVES for bath time was underwhelmed by pool time.

However, in general he was pretty cranky that day so it could have been that. Getting ready for his first swim was monumental, the right floatations devices, sun shirt, sunscreen, swim diapers, hat and towels. In the end what he liked best was being held by Mom or Dad.

Especially when it was just all too much and he had a rest on Momma. 


How was your first time swimming with your little one? How do you get them used to and excited for the pool? 

To celebrate Canada Day I asked my twitter followers what truly Canadian dish they'd like to see and "Maple Anything" was the winner. When I told my hubby about this he suggested Maple Bacon Cheesecake, and since I like maple, bacon and cheesecake I thought it was a great idea.

This is actually pretty easy to make, just takes a little time because you have to bake the bacon at a really high temperature so you can't do the cheesecake at the same time.


Maple Cheesecake
Ingredients

• 2 packages of cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)
• 1 tsp maple extract
• Store bought mini graham cracker crusts

How To

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a mixer mix all ingredients until smooth (told you it was easy)
3. Pour into the crusts and place on a cookie sheet
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until centre is set
5. Drizzle extra syrup on the top of the cheesecakes
6. Refrigerate until ready to eat

Maple Bacon
Ingredients

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup (100% Canadian)
  

How To

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil (cover the edges, this is a must) and place a metal cooling rack on top, spray with cooking spray.
3. Lay pieces of bacon on the rack and baste with the maple syrup.
4. Every 10 minutes or so flip the bacon and baste it again. 
5. Cook until crispy (about 40-50 minutes). 
6. Remember the bacon will crisp up when it comes out of the oven so don't bake too long.
7. Once cooled cut into little matchsticks.

Top your maple cheesecake with the maple bacon and enjoy!

What are you doing for the Canada Day long weekend? Want to have a say in what I make next? Follow me on Twitter!