Happy Birthday Sweetie!

It is my hubby's 36th birthday today! We went out to a steakhouse to celebrate. He loves Indian food best but that is hard for the rest of us to eat - me the spiceaphobe and the kids like "American" food best. :)
J as a baby.
J, enjoying a cup of coffee. I love you Sweetie!Pin It

Work for Me Wednesday - less dishes to wash

I read this great tip at the Real Simple website. When giving out dry snacks to your kids, instead of using bowls or plates, use a coffee filter. It holds snacks well and you can even find smaller ones. I'm using less snack bowls since I started doing this. Anyway I can reduce the number of dishes to wash is a good thing!For more great tips, head over to Rocks in My Dryer for Works for Me Wednesday!Pin It

Felt boards and a short, fun video on YouTube for kids

I recently made a flannel board for my boys. Thanks, Kelli at the Sparrow's Nest for the Three Bears story pieces! I got the directions to make the board here. I actually used peg board from the hardware store and a $2 frame from Value Village. You need 1/2 yard of felt. I bought a whole yard but hey, I have a supply of light blue felt to last forever! :)

I was surfing and found this fun video.

There are quite a few more videos made by Cullen (the woman in the video).

I'm desperate these days to find activities for my boys. Preschool ended for my 4 year old and my almost 3 year old has been behaving especially badly. :(Pin It

What kind of wife am I?

In honour of me and hubby celebrating our 10th anniversary today, I found this hilarious link about rating a wife in 1939.

I've got LOTS of demerit points, especially that cold feet one!

I'd love to share a picture of our wedding day but our scanner isn't working. :(Pin It

These are a few of my favourite things!

My friend Leah posted some of hers yesterday and I feel inspired to do the same. This has been rolling around in my head for a while.

And first of all, raindrops on roses is NOT one of my favourite things. I'm tired of the rain!!!!

1. Izze - Pomegranate flavour. I buy this in small cans at Target. I love that this drink is just a mixture of fruit juices and sparkling water. No sugar. I'm not good at drinking water alone but *this* I can do. Blackberry is also good but tastes a bit sweeter.

2. Trader Joe's whole grain sesame pita chips. Almost the whole family fights over the bags of these.

3. Life's Picture Puzzle books. I am on my 4th one of these! They are a great way to unwind at the end of the day or take along for waiting at appointments. I've gotten my hubby addicted to them as well. My 4 year old does the super easy ones at the front of the book, with a little help. I found them at Target.

4. Tazo Awake Tea. I drink this every morning. It has just enough kick to wake me up but isn't bitter.

5. Strum Whole Wheat Blueberry Oatmeal. Since I found out that I have high cholesterol, this is my breakfast. I get this at WalMart.

6. Bloglines. When you read as many blogs as I do (I'm not going to tell the total), you NEED bloglines. When there is a new post, that blog shows up in bold.

7. The Crafty Crow. Since my sons like to make crafts and I'm a crafty gal, I love this site. It is a collective, that is it has daily links to blogs that have posts of kid crafts. Even if I don't end up doing them, it is fun to find new ideas and new blogs.Pin It

Some YouTube laughs

Family Dance Night - the dad (Bart Millard) is from the band Mercy Me. Thanks, BooMama, for the link.

Remember your dating days? Would these lines work?
Kids and milk
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Getting dirt under my fingers again.

We've had an unusually cold "spring" this year. Today was the first Saturday we've had that wasn't rainy or cold or snowy, seriously. Well, there was one Saturday where the temperature got up to 80 or so but who wants to spend a day like that in the garden?

Today I did a lot of weeding, working the soil and planted sweet peas and stock. The directions for planting stock seeds said to NOT cover them with soil. Hmmmm. I hope the birds don't eat them.Pin It

Mother's Day songs and poems and a craft

Today at A's preschool they sang and recited some songs and a poem for the moms.

Oh, I wish I had a little red box to put my Mommy in,
I'd take her out and (kissing sound) and put her right back again.

Oh, I wish I had a little red box to put my Daddy in,
I'd take him out and (kissing sound) and put him right back again, etc.


Mommy, Mommy, here are my gifts
a special hug and a great big kiss.
You always love me even when I'm bad.
You always love me and never leave me sad.


Plus the "I'm Bringing Home My Baby Bubble Bee" song.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the video camera to work. :( I did take some photos but there are other kids in the photos and I don't want to post those.

We made hand print cards for Grandma with paper clay, an idea I found here. The clay I used was from Daiso - the $1.50 Japanese store.Pin It

April photos

The most exciting event here in April was the visit from "Grand Dad," my father in law. He lives far away in eastern Canada and visits about once a year, or less. The weather was terrible but the boys had fun with him nonetheless.Activities included:
- a trip to the Science Center- painting and constructing model boats- operating a remote control boat on a quiet pond
- wrestling
- playing Hi Ho Cherry O and Chutes and Ladders
- doing word games with A, reading to C and A.

Earlier in the month we had a gorgeous sunny day and we visited the Zoo. I love the look on A's face as he enjoys the chickens. He is a big fan of farm animals.
Here are my boys watching the elephants.Pin It