• family

    Save and Scrimp Fridays and Disney On Ice

    January 8, 2010 - By 

    So here it is Friday again and I’ve got a couple of excellent hot tips for you to help kick off the new year/decade. First off go visit your local library right now if you live in London. The Disney On Ice/Monster Jam reading contest is on right now and I’ve gotta say this is one of my favourite times of the year. From the time my girls were two years old we have managed to see Disney On Ice at the John Labatt Centre for free. Yes, that’s right. $0. Sweet deal, right? So follow these tips and you…

  • Uncategorized

    Happy January!?!

    January 4, 2010 - By 

    Dear January: Bite me! This is us looking all cute last year at this time with my sweet little nephew Taiga. Those were fun times for sure. Nostalgia of course somehow paints everything a bit prettier than it really was, but nonetheless aren’t we cute? January is such a lovely idea of a month. Fresh starts. Kids back to school etc. Won’t I be so productive. Won’t I get so much cleaning done, so much writing. Life will be grand. No more pine needles in my socks. Now, I am no fool for January’s crazy fickle ways. I knew darn well…

  • family

    Funderland

    December 30, 2009 - By 

    This is one you won’t want to miss if you are having a winter staycation with kids and are hunting for stuff to do. Western Fair Agriplex has a Winter Funderland running this week. I plan to check this out asap with my crew. The indoor kids carnival runs until the end of this year and there is a special New Year’s Eve bash. The Western Fair location is at 845 Florence Street in London and this is a limited time event. Cost for a ride all day pass is $20. Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Presumably at…

  • family

    Alvin and The Chipmunks The Squeakwel

    December 29, 2009 - By 

    My two girls have been pestering me to go see this movie for the last couple of weeks, so we decided to take them today. Apparently a very popular choice as it was packed at Rainbow Cinemas in the Galleria Citi Centre downtown London this afternoon. While I have read some questionable reviews of this Alvin sequel and despite the fact that I would have happily chosen a different Disney show (Princess and The Frog) I was happily suprised by the movie. Alvin and the Chipmunks are now a major rock band performing at venues througthout the world when Alvin,…

  • family - Parenting

    Building Adoptive Family Traditions at Christmas #adoption

    December 23, 2009 - By 

    People are forever writing and asking about traditions this time of year. I didn’t always feel as strongly as I do now about creating family memories and traditions. In fact there was a time I would have scoffed out loud at that kind of talk. My traditions in my family of origin were sometimes fun and sometimes, as a child, they seemed painstaking. Many were aimed at pleasing adults and a lot were centred around eating and sitting around the Christmas tree. When I got married I made a choice to create my own type of marriage, my own style…

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    Christmas Giveaway

    December 14, 2009 - By 

    Deck your halls with two brand new beautiful Christmas ornaments! This marks one of my coolest giveaways yet. I am so excited to launch this one with my new friend over at Deirdre and Company. Deirdre and Company makes truly lovely unique ornaments and jewelry for everyone on your list. I blogged about their Christmas ornaments and beautiful jewelry before and have even purchased a couple of these ornaments for my children this year. It’s a tradition here for us to set aside one special ornament each year for each of my daughters. The two girls love this and enjoy…

  • family

    Weekend Roundup

    December 11, 2009 - By 

    This weekend again there are excellent deals to be had in and around London, so don’t miss these: Saturday Dec. 12th Mark’s Work Wearhouse has a customer appreciation event running from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Also on Saturday Zellers has a customer appreciation hour from 8 to 9 p.m. save 10 per cent off every purchase. Northern Reflections: on line coupon for 40 % off until Sunday. Also customer appreciation event now on 30 % off all regular priced items. Gymboree amazing sales on now. Tabi has a whole host of weekend deals, ranging from buy one get one…

  • family travel

    FDR and Jamaica

    December 10, 2009 - By 

    FDR Resorts are excellent family vacation destinations and while I have never yet made it there in person I can’t wait until the time we are able to swing this trip. Jamaica is a fantastic family vacation destination and FDR Resorts has been recommended to me by many travel agents over the years. While some shy away from Jamaica for fear of high crime rates, it is entirely safe as long as you take some precautions. We travelled to Jamaica last year with our children and stayed near Falmouth in Starfish Trelawny. We loved the food and our family resort had…

  • family

    Alternative Advent Calendars

    December 8, 2009 - By 

    This year we found some of the coolest Advent calendars we’ve yet to find. Advent calendars are as much a part of Christmas as stockings and mistletoe in our house and the kids love them. But too often, in past one of my children would find the cute chocolate advent calendar and scarf all of the chocolate bits down and be left with nothing. Then other child would follow suit of course. Monkey see, monkey do, right? For the last two years I have made it my mission to find toy Advent calendars. This year instead of the cheap chocolate…

  • Health

    H1N1 and How to Help Your Family

    November 30, 2009 - By 

    It was one heck of a flu season with the H1N1 here at my house for much of November. The only one who escaped the misery was my husband, which I suppose is good for him, as there needs to be one healthy individual in every household. In our immediate circle of friends and family many were impacted this year severely. My brother and his family all got the bug. They live in Toronto and have a one-year-old. My brother’s flu bug evolved into bronchitis while the rest of his family quickly got better. My daughters and I also got…