Taking kids out to eat

This is sooooooo true to life!

Baby Blues cartoon.

Thanks, Carrie at Mommy Brain, for the tip.Pin It

Bad blood

Yep, I have bad blood. I had my cholesterol checked and it is way too high. Sigh. I'm too young! :)

My doctor is sending me to a dietitian to see what we can do with diet changes. Goodbye scrambled eggs, hello oatmeal.

I asked my husband to get his checked since I want to share in the misery. His diet is worse than mine, anyway. Of course there is the chance that his cholesterol is just fine.Pin It

MOM song

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Love paper?

I found a very cool site filled with all kinds of paper goodies (and other fun things). Perfect for scrapbooking, kids pretend games, card making, etc. I could really go crazy here but I'll try to be good.

Papier Valise Provisions.

Here's a taste.Pin It

Need an artistic outlet?

Try out this website. Here is what I created.

I'm going to show the website to my boys tomorrow. Double click the left mouse button to change colour and use the space bar to erase the image and start over.Pin It

GrandDad here this week

I won't have very much time for posting this week. My father in law is coming to visit today (from eastern Canada) and will be staying for a week. We are *really* hoping the weather improves so we can do some fun things outside. If not, we'll be headed to the Science Museum later this week. My oldest doesn't want to skip preschool even with our special visitor here.Pin It

Fun personality test!

This was fun even thought I'm not sure I agree with the results. I think I'm a bit more like Piglet or Owl.

Your Score: Eeyore

You scored 16 Ego, 18 Anxiety, and 9 Agency!

"Do you know what A means, little Piglet?"

"No, Eeyore, I don't."

"It means Learning, it means Education, it means all
the things that you and Pooh haven't got. That's what A means."

"Oh," said Piglet again. "I mean, does it?" he
explained quickly.

"I'm telling you. People come and go in this Forest,
and they say, 'It's only Eeyore, so it doesn't count.' They
walk to and fro saying 'Ha ha!' But do they know anything about
A? They don't. It's just three sticks to them. But to the
Educated--mark this, little Piglet--to the Educated, not
meaning Poohs and Piglets, it's a great and glorious A.

You scored as Eeyore!

ABOUT EEYORE: Eeyore lives in his own thistley corner of the forest and wonders why people don't come to visit him more often. He is master of the Guilt Trip, and is always gently forgiving his visitors for neglecting him. Eeyore considers himself to be smarter than the other inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood, and is often exasperated by their habit of having adventures and general merriment.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are an anxious person, and you tend to expect the worst. Your friends find you somewhat cynical at times, because you have found that it is best to expect disappointment. You often feel unappreciated by the people you work with, but you rarely actually try and do anything to change that fact.

Your close friends admire you more than you think they do. They wish that you would learn to stop worrying so much and actually start trying to fix what is bothering you. If something is making you unhappy... change it!

Link: The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

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DVDs that won't rot their brains

My boys don't watch TV, as such. They have approximately one hour per day to watch videos or DVDs. They call it TV time. It allows me to get supper ready without interruption, usually.

I thought I would list some of our favourites. Now to make this list, it has to not be annoying to me and be somewhat educational. We occasionally buy a DVD or video but we get a lot from our excellent local library. I prefer to get DVDs/videos that aren't movies. Movies are longer than an hour so they get mad when it is time to turn it off. No duh!

Remember my boys are 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 and they don't like anything scary.

The Usual Suspects:
- Bob the Builder - I actually think most of them are pretty funny.
- Thomas the Tank engine
- Cars movie
- Curious George movie

Real animals theme:
- Babe
- Milo and Otis
- Napoleon (there is frequent use of the word stupid in this that I don't like)
- Hammy Hamster - Tales of the Riverbank. This is a Canadian show which uses real animals from way back but it is now appearing on Animal Planet. We bought a few DVDs from Amazon. My husband and I watched this when we were kids. Ah, the nostalgia.
- my boys also liked Homeward Bound - The Incredible Journey (movie). However, I didn't like the frequent name calling and put-downs in it so it has stayed at the library.

Non-fiction theme:

- This is America Charlie Brown - I reviewed this one before.

- Peep and the Big Wide World. This is a new discovery. It is a science show for kids. It combines animation and video of children doing experiments or observing nature. They have a website that my oldest goes to every morning.

- Real Wheels Series. There Goes a ....... My boys have seen almost every one of these! Dave is a funny guy - slapstick humour that appeals to preschoolers. They are definitely educational since they are non-fiction. My boys have seen Truck, Fire Engine, Bulldozer, Monster Truck, Tractor, Mail Truck, Garbage Truck, Farm Truck, Race Car, Tank, Train, and Police Car. There are even more in the series!

Music theme:
- Raffi in Concert - we love Raffi.
- Laurie Berkner in Concert (one caveat - she and her back up singer wear clothes that I consider somewhat inappropriate)
- The Wiggles - Top of the Tots and Big Red Car are our favourites.
- Mary Poppins
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - don't watch the last half, though. It is way too scary. There is a character called the "Child Catcher" and his job is to catch children. Bizarre!

Veggie Tales
- my boys like *some* of these. Madame Blueberry (about contentment), Jonah, Lyle the Kindly Viking, and Josh and the Big Wall.

Classic Disney:
- Lady and the Tramp
- Dumbo

Miscellaneous:

- Kipper the Dog. I love the English accents. These are pretty funny. I'm not sure about the educational value but they have a slow pace which I appreciate.

- Max and Ruby. I don't think these shows are educational and Ruby's voice can be annoying but they are hilarious. My youngest is a lot like Max but he talks muchmore since Max talks in single syllables.

- Richard Scarry. I have a soft spot in my heart for Richard Scarry and so does my husband. We remember reading his books when we were kids. There are several good Richard Scarry videos:
Best ABC Video Ever, Best Counting Video Ever, Best Busy People Video, Sing A Long Mother Goose and a few others.

We recently introduced our boys to the Muppet Show another childhood favourite. It is available on Netflix.

And, last but not least, probably our all time favourite:
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I love that is takes actual pages from the book and intersperses it with animation. This was produced in 1977.

I hope you got some new ideas from my list. Did I leave any of your favs out? Disney's Jungle Book is one I'd like to try out on my boys soon.Pin It

This stuff is great!

We went to a teacher's store today - Lakeshore Learning. It is a great place - so many great arts and craft supplies, toys and educational materials.

I bought the boys 2 small packs of this:
Play Foam! I couldn't believe how long they played with it! It doesn't dry out like play dough and can be reshaped over and over. Super easy to clean up. It reminds me of rice crispy treats but in a good way.

We didn't make anything elaborate like the photo, btw.Pin It

Happy Birthday to me!

Last night Hubby helped the boys make cards for me. Here is the result:

The inside of the card my youngest made cracks me up. He loves fire engines and I love all things tea. So he combined the two.We plan to go out for tea this afternoon. We did that last year so it is becoming a tradition. I hope to have a mini getaway in a few weeks to also celebrate.

Here is a fun fact about my birthday. I was born on Easter Sunday and I thought that year Easter was awfully early. Well, this year it was even earlier.Pin It

Teaching small children about the Resurrection

We've been doing a few activities this week to teach the boys about the real meaning of Easter. We have Resurrection Eggs and we're going through those every night before bed (except when we forget!) You can buy resurrection eggs or make them yourself. I opted for the easier option and bought them last year. A's preschool went through them in class, which I appreciated.

We have a couple Easter books some of which we found at our local library. Our favourites are- The Very First Easter- Benjamin's Box: A Resurrection Story
- Easter Bunny Are You For Real?- The Easter Story
- The Week That Led to Easter

I bought Christopher a lift the flap Easter book but he will receive that tomorrow in his basket.Tonight A and I made empty tomb cookies. You can find the directions here. They are supposed to be hollow in the morning, like Jesus' tomb.

Happy Easter everyone! He is Risen!

Easter lilies image courtesy of Karen's Whimsy.Pin It

Lovely movie

I finally got a chance to watch the movie Once. I had been waiting for it to come out on DVD for so long! I loved it.

Here's the story line. There is a struggling busker with some great songs who fixes vacuum cleaners. He meets a girl. She is a pianist without a piano. She encourages him to record his songs. They write songs together and fall for each other but nothing happens between them physically - unlike every other Hollywood movie.

Here is a little taste.


There are so many great songs in the movie, NOT JUST the one that won the Oscar for Best Song - Falling Slowly. I loved "If You Want Me" and "When Your Mind's Made Up." I'm thinking of buying the soundtrack.

The only caveat I have in recommending the movie is the frequent use of the f word. Other than that, I recommend it to anyone.

The DVD has lots of fun extras that I always appreciate. When a DVD *doesn't* have fun extras I usually feel ripped off. :)Pin It

Crying over asparagus

No, A was not crying because he was being made to eat asparagus. Last night he was crying because he was having to WAIT for Mommy to cook the asparagus. I'm not making this up. :)

While I'm bragging about my kids and what they will eat, C was eating hummus and dark rye bread for supper since he didn't want the spaghetti Daddy cooked.Pin It

Libraries - no children allowed?

Warning, this is an angry post. I had an upsetting incident at a library and I'm steaming.

Here's the scene. We are in the children's section of the library (not our local one) and my 2 year old is exploring and chatting at a normal volume - believe me he wasn't being loud. I was tidying up some books my 2 year old had pulled out. My 4 year old is sitting a child-sized desk reading aloud from a book we had just checked out. We had been there less than 5 minutes. A "lady" in the adjacent section pops her head over the bookshelves (separating us from this anti-child fruitcake) and asks us to be quiet, we are "disturbing the computer users." Huh??????

Is the library intended for computer use or for reading and promoting literacy? We were in the children's section and my son was reading!

I wish I could go back and give that woman a large piece of my mind. She was not a librarian, by the way. (I think my reaction was complacent since I assumed it was an authority figure.) A child in the children's section reading a book aloud should not be told they are bothering a computer user! It is a small library so we all have to get along. Maybe she should go buy a laptop and pay for her own internet access! If you are that grouchy you need to stay home.

It also really bothers me that she said "users" like there were a whole bunch of people banded together wanting my son to stop reading. What a coward!Pin It

On the waiting list

That is our answer for the school we applied to for the fall for kindergarten. I've been waiting all week for the call. It came during naptime so I missed actually talking to the registrar. We are "accepted but on the waiting list." So, good news and yet uncertain. We are going to phone back and find out where we are on the list. Last year we were on the wait list for preschool but we knew we were at position #1 so we weren't concerned. We don't have a back up plan so I'm not sure what we should do in the meantime.Pin It

First school photo

First ever school photo - A at preschool.Pin It

Menu plan Monday

- Spaghetti (recipe here)
- Spinach Quiche
- Fusilli, Yellow Squash and Bacon (recipe here)
- Scribbit's Creamy Chicken Rigatoni - my oldest requested this
- Crock pot Beef Stew, Asparagus
- Crock pot Beef Lasagne, PeasPin It

Welcome party hoppers!

I'm joining the party a little late but I decided to participate anyway. I love meeting new blogging friends!

If you didn't know, there is a blogging party going on at 5 Minutes for Mom, with links to a whole bunch of other blogs and chances to win great prizes.

I'm Sheila. I'm a full-time homemaker. Stay at home mom doesn't really capture my days! I have 2 little boys - 4 1/2 and 2 1/2. My oldest is in preschool 3 days a week. I love to find fun links and share them. I also like to share the hilarious things my boys say and do. I'm Canadian born and raised so you might notice that I spell some things differently. Hi Leah!

I'm over 35 - that's as close as I will get to telling you how old I am. I love reading and sometimes I write a book review. Yikes, I haven't done that for a while! :)

Thanks for visiting! If you leave a comment I will be sure to stop by your blog.Pin It

My son's first interview

We are in the application process for a private Christian school. We had an interview yesterday with the principal. She tested my son one-on-one for about 10 minutes. Well, it seemed that long! Nerve wracking for me and my husband. We think he did just fine. He was asked about letters, numbers, shapes, asked to follow directions (one, two and three step commands), body parts, and my favourite - asked to draw a picture of his family. I asked to keep that part! :) He missed chin, hips and jaw. Do other 4 year olds know where these are? I don't think so.

We don't hear back from them until next week. Sigh. I had trouble sleeping last night. I need to relax. I guess the thing that worries me is that we don't have a backup plan.Pin It

Free magazine subscription

I currently receive enough magazines and could probably eliminate a few, but here is a link to a free year of Focus on the Family magazine.Pin It