Summer activities

So, Vacation Bible school/day camp is over and I'm panicking a little bit. What am I going to do with these 2 boys for the next 2 months????? My oldest son LOVES structure and constantly asks me, "what are we going to do now?" Argggg.

Well, I'm going to come up with a list of activities, both inside and out so I can look at it when I'm stumped.

Oh, A loved day camp after the first day. He asked today if we were going back next week. :)Pin It

Snack recall

I know lots of moms who love these for their kids.

Unfortunately, Veggie Booty has been recalled.Pin It

Some of the bookclub "rejects"

Here are the books that received only 4 votes and didn't get picked for the next few months. They may be reconsidered later.

The Spy Wore Red - My Adventures as as Undercover Agent in World War II by Aline Countess Romanones
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Other Side of the Sun by Madeleine L’Engle

There were a LOT of other books on our voting list. I only remember these:

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Fox's Walk by Annabel Davis-Goff
"my book" The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Beachglass by Wendy BlackburnPin It

"Mommy cards"

Have you ever scrambled for a piece of paper to write out your phone number or e mail address for someone? Well, I have! Here's a great idea - business cards for moms. Momager Calling Cards.

They are giving a set away for free for one lucky person.Pin It

Bookclub tonight

I went to my (usually) monthly bookclub meeting tonight. Always a good time. Tonight we voted on our next 4 books after compiling a VERY long list of suggestions.

Here's our next 4 books we will be reading. These ones received the most votes.
"My" book - The Thirteenth Tale - only got one other vote, sniff sniff.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. I think we will be reading this one first since it is a light, summer read.

Witness by Whitaker Chambers - my husband has read this and raves about it. He now wants to attend bookclub but, sorry J, its just ladies. :)

What is the What by Dave Eggers - story of a "Lost Boy" in Sudan.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - female friendship, foot binding in China and secret codes.Pin It

A's first Vacation Bible School / "Go camping!"

This week is VBS or "Day camp" as this one is called. This is the first year my son has been able to attend. It is held at an unfamiliar church and he only knows one child in his very large class of 18. She's a girl so he doesn't really care about her. :)

He had a hard time adjusting. He didn't want me to leave. He also wasn't too crazy about the t shirt everyone had to wear. Maybe its the colour? (Purple) Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly. His little brother was very upset that he didn't get to stay. He cried out "Go camping!" as we left. "Go camping, Mommy!"

While at day camp, A peed in the potty with complete strangers so that was pretty amazing.

C and I went shopping but we can't do that every day this week! :) I plan on exploring the local university campus tomorrow.Pin It

I love this photo of my oldest son

 

I've been doing some photo editing tonight.

This was taken at gymnastics drop in play time back in March.

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Works for Me - kids and eggs

This is my first Works for Me Wednesday!

My boys *were* very good breakfast eaters. Until recently. As a new strategy to get them to eat scrambled eggs, I decided to add food colouring. This worked! Their favourite is "salmon eggs" which is created using a little bit of red. (They love to eat BBQ salmon.) I've also made green eggs. I want to try to make purple eggs!

For lots of great tips, go to Shannon's blog.Pin It

Movie review - North and South

My husband and I have been staying up waaaay too late the last 2 nights watching North and South.

We used Netflix's watch it now (on your computer). It is no extra charge if you already have a Netflix subscription.

At first my DH thought it would be one of "your movies" which is what he calls my favourite BBC period movies like Pride and Prejudice, etc. He usually falls asleep half way through. He was pleasantly surprised to find it compelling for him to watch as well. He called it "a good couple movie."

The story doesn't dwell much on the slowly developing romance between the main characters (which I would have liked to see more of!). It includes interesting historical insights on unions, manufacturing, mills, finance, church politics, etc.

This was a very pleasant surprise. The book (by Elizabeth Gaskell) was on my "to be read someday" list so I was resisting watching the movie before the book. Oh well, I guess I have enough to read!

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.Pin It

Thomas recall

Here is a public service announcement. Some Thomas and Friends wooden railway trains have high levels of lead and are being recalled. We have a bunch of these so I'm rounding them up to mail back.

Details here.Pin It

Addendum to memo board instructions

I forgot to add something to the instructions for the French Memo board.

Before stapling down the fabric, you need to add some fiberfill to make it puffy. I bought "low loft" but ended up doubling it. I'd get medium if I was doing it again.Pin It

Getting crafty

I wanted to share some crafty goodness.

A while back after a particularly bad day of too many sippy cups and too much poop cleanup I escaped to one of my favourite craft stores Ben Franklin for some sanity saving time. I decided to make my own French Memo board.

Here are the directions.

Materials - one wood framed canvas 16 by 20 (or smaller, if you like).
One "fat corner" of fabric - sorry I don't know the exact dimensions but you can find oodles of these at any good fabric store.
Ribbon - I can't remember how many yards. Buy yourself 2 rolls and I think you'll be good.
Brads - 12 in a coordinating colour.

You need a staple gun for this. If you're lucky or have tendonitis like me, your DH will do the stapling for you - well after you do some and then whine about the pain.

First staple the fabric to the canvas. Then staple down the ribbons in a criss cross pattern. Next make holes at the intersecting places for the brads. I used a nail to do that. Then insert the brads. Voila!

I even made a second one as a gift for my mom. Unfortunately, my 2 year old discovered how to take the brads out before I gave it to her. It has been recreated and is now safely at Grandma's house.Pin It

Menu plan Monday

Here's a list of the meals we'll be having this week in no particular order.

Well, I think we'll have Jambalaya (Sausage and Shrimp)tonight with a side of green beans. The recipe is from Desparation Dinners which can all be made in 30 minutes or less.

Crockpot Chicken Curry and Roasted Zucchini.
recipe from Fix it and Forget It
Cheddar Chicken Skillet
recipe from Kraft's Food and Family magazine (free subscription here)
Tomato and Spinach Penne (I will use bow-tie pasta)
recipe from Kraft's Food and Family magazine
Veggie Burgers
My sons love burgers and my DH and I decided to try veggie burgers on them (guinea pigs!) and they thought they were just as good as beef.Pin It

Do your kids like Lego?

I just heard about a fun freebie. A free subscription to Lego magazine for 2 years.

Thanks to Free Stuff 4 Kids for the link!Pin It

Colouring pages galore

I spent waaaaaay too long at this site today printing out things for the boys to colour.

Load up on toner. :)Pin It

Peonies

Pike Place Market Peonies
Originally uploaded by abbey*christine

I wish I'd taken this photo, but things were pretty hectic.

We weet to Pike Place Market on Tuesday. "We" meaning my parents, the boys and I. We were hunting for pigs. Intrigued? More later on that.

I bought a gorgeous bouquet of light pink peonies and blue delphinium
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Beautifully written

Elise is a such a talented writer.

Go read this post about the bittersweet end of breastfeeding. I had many of the same feelings a few months back.Pin It

May in photos

Me and the boys on our train ride (antique coaches).

A climbing his first tree in our backyard with Daddy's help.
A's first trip to Build a Bear (his name is Teddy).
Unseasonably hot days, filling up the pool.Should I?
Mom, we really need a bigger pool.Pin It

Because I said so!!

Would you like a laugh?

Here's a 2 minute video every mother will enjoy.Pin It

Another sad example of our lawsuit-driven society

Florida hospital to ban photos during childbirth.

As one of my favourite bloggers Amy said "If everyone is "concerned" about homebirth safety, then this move will just push more women away from the hospital."

I'm happy to have the photos taken at A's birth by my friend Leah. She was so discreet that we barely remember her being there. Those photos are so precious. I wish I had photos of C's birth but he came VERY quickly!!Pin It

Birthday party

We celebrated C's 2nd birthday yesterday. The theme was Bob the Builder. We had a lot of fun. I made a Bob cake. I was happy to have the party outside. I'll post more details later. One of the presents was a bubble blower and its currently in use - kinda loud. :)Pin It