chocolate popsicles

Wow. I love finding recipes that list ingredients I already have in the house! A recipe that will be a sure hit this summer in our house comes from the wonderful 'Adventures in Crafting' blog. Click the link to get the tutorial!

summer fun!

In preparation for the dreaded 'long drive' that accompanies summer vacations I'm trying to find as many car friendly toys as I can. Here's 3 fun toys I've found. What are your favourite car toys?

buckle clip toy

the Melissa & Doug Memory Game

the Melissa & Doug Monster Puppet

'apple' cupcakes

This years search for creative and fun 'Thank the teacher' gifts led to some amazing finds. These 'apple' cupcakes are brilliant and shouldn't be too hard to do. Too bad I took a trip to Laura Secords yesterday and bought my teacher & bus driver loot. Check out Edible Crafts to get the skinny on these treats.

best summer kiddy parks in the capital

What's better than free?

I can't think of anything. And when you combine free with parks you get fun! This summer we are going to try out different Ottawa parks and see if they are all that they are cracked up to be. If you live in Ottawa here's a list of recommended parks. If you've been to one of these please comment and let us know what you thought.

Brewer Park off Bronson Ave. Lots of playgrounds and green space plus washrooms for our potty training tot.

South Nepean Park on Longfeilds Dr in Barhaven. Will please the entire family with it's skate park, splash pad and playground.

Andrew Haydon Park (Carling Ave) situated on the Ottawa river in the west end not only does this park boast beautiful views but this is one of the longest parks in Ottawa with several playgrounds, bike paths, an amphitheater and BBQ pit sites for your family or company picnics.

Walter Baker Park (Terry Fox Dr) in Kanata is the site of the Kanata Canada day celebrations. This park has a large playground, splash pad, skate-park and tons of green space.

Mooney's Bay Park (Riverside Dr.) is the site of the wildly popular HopeBeach VolleyBall tournament. It has it all, beach, canal, a great tobogan hill, winter skiing and summer bike paths and all in the middle of the city.

Vincent Massey Park (Heron Rd & Riverside Dr) situated on the Canal, this is a very large park with washrooms, water fountains, on-site parking and a beautiful views in all directions.

If these parks don't strike your fancy you might want to try inputting 'parks near Ottawa' in Google maps to get a layout of all our Ottawa area parks.

nienie

I just added my nienie button and thought I'd mention it. I know I have tons of buttons, but I have to say. This one is probably the most important one. She is a superhero and has incredible strength. Go nienie!

Emmeline you're so fine

Let me tell you a little secret.

I'm buying myself a birthday present. I am even going to gift wrap it and have it arrive at the front door. I am going to act surprised. And then I am going to open it on my birthday and be super happy with my new present. Wanna see it? I thought you would. Here's my Emmeline Apron. (fabric not exactly as shown)

I won't pretend for a moment that I could make this myself. I would have to be far too organized and skilled for that. I can however have one made and I really hope it comes in time for my birthday.

To find out more about the Emmeline apron check out Make Me Studios, Penny Carnival or the wonderful www.sewliberated.com.

wine bottle bag

My momentum has faded. With school finishing, a month full of birthdays and preparations for a jam packed summer, I'm loosing the knitting itch. I did finish my wine bag though and I'm so happy I did. I'm hoping to start J's robot hat next, but I'm inclined to believe it will be August before I get serious about it. No matter. I'm glad to be knitting again.

reflection

I can hardly believe it but E's almost finished her first year at school. It's been wonderful. She's grown so much over the year. Her sense of humour, her sassy attitude, her need to spell everything she's thinking about.

I'm excited to have her home with us this summer so we can take trips and have tons of playdates with her friends. I'm also looking forward to next year and the fun she'll have when she heads into a new class and starts learning french.

When reflecting back on this year I see things I want to get better at next year. Among those I'm most excited about is snacks. I've been watching Wendy over at Wendolonia do Bentos for a year now and she is my hero. I've got to find some fun bento boxes in my area and I hear there is a big new Asian Grocery store in the city! Woohoo! So I'm planning a trip there this summer so E can pick out her favourite bentos. Here's one of Wendy's creations!

do the mending already!

I save up my mending for months and months. Do you do this?


I guess now's the time to admit I do this for all the ironing too. When I'm finally in a get-er-done mood I mend all the shirt, pants and towels that have started to unravel.


I will be mending my first costume today. Although not meant for long term use, Batman is a staple in our home, and Batman needs lots of attention.


Its been tucked away for almost 2 weeks now and today I realized just how serious things had become.


When we are without, we make due.

Even if it is his sisters Bat girl costume. Sigh.

keeping the memory alive

Yes, I've found yet another way to save those pictures, paintings and crafts that have come home with the kids. Take a picture like this:


And turn it into a template to embroider on a pillow, canvas bag or t-shirt.

thankful

Today I am thankful.

Thankful that I mentioned the strange burning smell I noticed at J's preschool.

Thankful that I have a great friend who offered to take E for the afternoon so she could play in the kiddie pool with her friends. (yes I think she deserves something nice from starbucks)

Thankful my husband is only a 15 minute drive away and always comes home in time for dinner.

Thankful my gang is happy and healthy.

Thankful my plumbing is working and thankful that I have always found the crayons in my kids pockets before they went through the drier.

Thankful for this blog.

Yep. Today is a great day.

trampampoline

I know that's not a word but it should be. Try saying it. It's fun.

Okay, I'll get to it. With a little luck I'm signing E up for a Trampoline summer camp at the very fine Spring Action Trampoline Club.

Okay.. and now my rant. Years before my husband and I considered having children of our own we would voice our opinion about how others should raise there kids. (yeah, we're those bastards.. but we focused on one subject) Trampolines.

We saw a documentary.. or perhaps it was a 60 minutes expose? On the growing statistics that link severe childrens injuries with backyard trampolines. Without even looking for it we seemed to come across article after article describing the serious injuries associated with backyard trampolines including this one from the National Post. So our minds were made up. When we had children there would be no backyard trampoline. We still stick by it.

Since having children I have seen many, many more trampolines. Friends of ours bought their one year old daughter an indoor trampoline at Christmas only last year and we had to exercise enormous restraint with our children in the face of such a bouncy and fun toy. In fact, a giant trampoline was just erected in an UNFENCED yard just behind our unfenced yard and gleeful children are calling out to my 2 and 4 year old almost every afternoon. My children will not being going over though. I am sticking to my dislike of backyard trampolines and both my children are quite aware that the punishment for stepping foot in that backyard is coming inside immediately.

That being said. I do not wish to punish my children or keep them from physical activity and sport! So we are going to provide a safe alternative. Spring Action of Ottawa has 6 Olympic sized supervised trampolines with bungee harness training systems. They provide a safe environment with trained staff and don't they just happen to have a summer camp. I'm so happy that I can provide a safe alternative. Yay Spring Action!

what Jamie Oliver has done to us

When we started watching Jamie Oliver we were just thrilled to see this Steve Irwin type brit so excited about food.

Now that we've watched most of his shows and most of Gordon Ramsay's shows we're starting to get excited about food in our house as well. More than ever, we want to buy local and make as much as we can ourselves. So far that has resulted in a few more homemade dinners, some bread machine bread and now our new spaghetti sauce.

We've been living in our neighborhood for roughly 10 years only just decided that we should be using our local bakery for most of our breads & buns. So imagine my disappointment when I discovered that last month they closed there doors.

In our house we've decided that due to the recent recession/financial crisis it helps our economy to buy local and we benefit from the freshness and lack of chemicals that are necessary in foods that need to stay ripe and fresh by artificial means.

So we're on a mission to discover our local bakery and outdoor market. We're checking to see where our grocery store produce is coming from. We visited our local nursery to buy fresh herbs and seasonal vegetables. It's amazing what you can grow even if you are in the smallest of apartments. Herbs, tomato plants, strawberries, potatoes, peppers and more can be grown in pots and hanging baskets. Many farms now offer delivery runs of seasonal vegetables right to your door.

Ok.. ranting over.. Now I'm off to scout out bakeries. Wish me luck.