The other day my son asked if we could paint. My answer to that question is usually an astounding YES. I wanted to switch it up a bit because I am running out of space for their master pieces. I usually let them paint on canvas but the downside is that the paintings aren’t easy to store or recycle. But the upside is that they take their time and are more dedicated than if I give them a piece of paper. These are a few of my favourites that I keep in my office.
DIY
Cupcake Sliders
If you are heading to a BBQ this weekend, or hosting a BBQ what are you serving for dessert? How about cupcake sliders? These are a great conversation starter, plus you might fool the occasional guest into thinking that they are actually meat burgers.
Use your favourite cake recipe or boxed cake mix for the vanilla buns and chocolate patty. If you happen to have a silicone cupcake tray use it, because it means that there are no paper wrappers to remove.
Canada Eh!
Canada Day is a special holiday for me aside for the fact that it’s Canada’s birthday, its the holiday that I spent with my Nana. Sure we spent lots of holidays together, but rarely did we have holiday time without a whole pile of other family. On July 1st my grandparents would typically be at their cottage, and once I was able to get there independently I would call up a few days ahead of time to reserve my room. She would always tell me that it was ready and waiting.
Fireworks
Did you go out this year to watch Canada Day, or Independence Day fireworks? What city were you in? I am not sure but I don’t think that I have ever been to the Canada Day fireworks in Victoria, my excuse is young children. Almost the entire time we have lived in Victoria we either had a newborn or a toddler to take care of, and nightfall was way past their bedtime. Never mind the noise which is frightening to me as an adult. This year with a seven and not quite four-year-old we were able to enjoy the fireworks together as a family. Continue reading
Eating Beavers
Canada Day is tomorrow! What are you doing to celebrate?
For our Canada day celebrations I made beaver cupcakes for the little cannucks, or at least that is what they are supposed to look like. For some reason when I made them they did actually resemble the animal, now looking at the pictures I wonder how much wine I consumed while baking. Either way the kiddies ate them up.
If you want to take a run at them this is what I did, perhaps you can improve on it.
- baked and iced cupcakes with chocolate frosting
- for the tails I used lady finger type cookies cut in half
- the flag is helping the tail stand up
- ears are M&M’s
- eyes are fondant with brown food colouring dots
- teeth are white fondant
- the nose is the last step and it a red M&M
Peach and Rat Season
It’s that time of year again, the peaches are almost ready. I better not see any rats!
Three years ago we bought the house in the city with a yard slightly bigger than a postage stamp. We moved in at the middle of August and on the third day while I was cleaning a paint tray in the kitchen sink I looked out the window and saw a rat. A huge ugly long-tailed rat sitting on the kitchen window sill. I freaked out, completely. After calling my husband to observe the rat, I called the real estate agent and demanded that he get the compost bin out of the yard. Sorry about that Brad. There was no way I was going anywhere near the compost bin to find out what was living in it. When the real estate agent did get the compost bin removed we learned that it was yard waste only.
We also learned that we had a peach tree with rotting fruit which had attracted the rat. How is it possible…
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Birthday Books
With the advent of digital photography, photos are snapped and lost into the black hole of technology. Some of us do not ever get the photos out of the camera, and some transfer them to computers but then do little with them. The other day I looked for photos that I took last October at the pumpkin patch, and I could not find them. I could not even remember which camera I took them with. I know I took them but finding them has proven to be a challenge. Continue reading
Watch out Ferragamo
I make one pair of shoes (from a kit no less) and I think that I am a famous shoemaker! I am killing myself over here laughing, who am I kidding….Ferragamo. But seriously, I made myself a pair of shoes how cool is that. Like real shoes that can be worn outside, not slippers, and I did not just bedazzle a pair of flip-flops (not that there is anything wrong with that). Continue reading
Minecraft-ING
My seven year old is obsessed with Minecraft. I hear a lot of “Mom did you know, in Minecraft……” which is about where I zone out because I really know very little about Minecraft. However, I am interested in expanding upon his interests. I think it is great that he is so passionate about something, even if it is based on a video game. Instead of incessantly playing video games I want him to build on the creative problem solving skills learned in Minecraft, and apply those skills to other things. Continue reading
Horsing Around
Sunday morning my oldest has drawing classes, and he was refusing to go recently because he was “too busy” pretending to be a cowboy. He and his brother were both galloping around wearing cowboy hats. After I promised that, he could return to playing cowboys after drawing he dropped the hat and off we went. As soon as we returned, I was roped into their pretend play.
“Where are your horses?” I asked
“We don’t have horses,” they said
“Do you want horses?” I asked
“YES” they said
“Where do we get some?” they asked
“We make them,” I said
Making A Life 