• family

    St Patrick’s Day Coloring Page Printable

    St. Patrick’s Day is just on the horizon and so I have been sharing a few fun activities for kids to do. I had a St. Patrick’s Day Word Search at the start of the month and I shared another St. Patrick’s Day coloring page too. There are several printables that have been running here and many are also available on my pinterest page. I have a super roundup of St Patrick’s Day Desserts too. The Marshmallow treats are pretty simple and fun to make. St. Patrick`s Day is a time for getting together with friends and or taking part in…

  • family - Food - Health

    Easy CrockPot Potato Soup

    I am a soup lover. In the winter it’s my GO to food. And when I can use my slow cooker to make soup then I am ecstatic. This Easy CrockPot Potato Soup combines my love of the slow cooker with my penchant for soups so for that reason it’s a favourite of mine. Are you a potato soup fan or no?   This February has presented us with a string of snowstorms and under minus 20 temperatures. That’s the kind of cold you can barely recover from. Luckily I have my secret weapon – my crockpot. I use this…

  • family - parenting

    Tobogganing on Family Day #WordlessWednesday

    It’s winter in Canada and as the saying goes: if you can’t beat them, join them. As soon as I started to feel better this weekend we decided to hit the toboggan hill. It was minus 25 Celsius and it was a good thing we bundled up because tobogganing is great exercise and it makes you feel like a kid again. There’s something extra fun about that. This is a Wordless Wednesday post. BUT I am rarely wordless. As I was posting this I started to wonder what does the word mean? It sounds like it might have an aboriginal…

  • active family travel - family - parenting - Travel

    Ten Things Kids Can Do on a Cruise #TravelTuesday

      Before we left for our cruise late last year we had many armchair travellers weigh in on whether we were making the right choice with our travel budget. We heard from some who said the cruise would cost us a lot more than we intended to spend. (It didn’t really.) We also heard from many who hinted it was crazy to take kids on a cruise. We heard from even more who said a cruise is a big party. One told me: “You are going on the party boat? You don’t take kids on that cruise.” Well happily here…

  • adoption and tweens - family - Parenting - parenting

    The Art of Hope and Parenting Teens

    At some point this past year I realized my children aren’t really children anymore, not in the strictest sense of the word. One is a teenager and the other a tween and that means that in the context of child development they are in fact closer to being adults than they are to being toddlers or preschoolers or children. My heart simultaneously leaps, shouts, cries, expands and contracts as I write that. As they bloom so do I, and yet it also tugs heavily when I think that they will soon be adults. Oh my god how I hope we…

  • family - Health

    Families Are the Future of Alberta: Public Funding For In Vitro Fertilization Is Efficient #abhc4ivf #abpoli

      Family Is The Future: In some small way I started in Alberta. It’s true. When my Mom and Dad got married they had their honeymoon in Banff. From Ontario, they took the train through the Western provinces to stay in Alberta. For a truck driver and a teacher in their twenties, newlyweds, Alberta was glamorous and beautiful and different. It was the destination where they started to think of the future, together planning for a family that would come first in the shape of  a baby girl and then 2 years later, a baby boy too. Alberta is a…

  • family

    Family Day Word Search

    By now you know my family and I love word searches. So for Family Day this year I decided to create a Family Day word search for everyone to enjoy. Do you celebrate Family Day? Is there a trip planned to see relatives when Family Day comes around every year in February? Or do you just relax at home and play some board games, or go watch a movie? However you choose to spend Family Day, this Family Day Word Search and all the related Word Puzzles and Free Printables here on Thrifty Mommas Tips should keep you busy and…

  • family - Food - parenting

    13 St. Patrick’s Day Desserts

    13 St. Patrick`s Day Desserts St. Patrick`s Day is a time for getting together with friends and or taking part in community events. Many cities and towns hold special events on this day. Restaurants and bars often serve green beer. You can celebrate St Paddy’s Day at home by making any of these 13 St. Patrick’s Day desserts that either are colored green or have ingredients that are used in Ireland.   Patrick`s Day Marshmallow Pops– Just Us Four Blog Irish Cream Cupcakes– Mooshu Jenne Irish Cream Pound Cake– Andrea Myers Andes Mint Cupcakes– Thrifty Jinxy Chocolate Stout Cake– I…

  • family - Health - homes - parenting - Parenting

    My Ontario Valentine Or Ten Reasons We Stay #ohip4ivf #onpoli

    Ontario is the province I choose to raise my family in, to build a business, to make my home. There was a time before we adopted our beautiful kids, when we were set to move to British Columbia. We priced it all out and were ready to go as a young married couple. But instead we stayed. There have been many occasions when I’ve contemplated moving to the United States and finding a way through that red tape so that I might work there. But still we stay. This Valentine’s Day, I wanted to take some time to reflect on…