The other day my kids, getting in the spirit of Halloween, grabbed a tube of fake blood and bright colored eye makeup when we popped into the dollar store nearby. I have a natural distrust of $1 makeup. So I refuse to buy it. But this year, even more so than others, I have been reading a lot about the toxic nature of some commercial makeups. It’s hard not to be worried when reading about parabens lately in the news. So how can you keep your kids safe and your Halloween from being toxic? Well, I consulted with the Environmental…

This is the finished result with Oliver’s Labels Roomeez Personalized Wall decals My child is a funny one. When she was tiny I had an elaborate beautiful hand-painted mural that I had painstakingly drawn all over her walls. There was Arthur and the ABCs and multiple Disney characters and Blue’s Clues ( remember them) and Toy Story Buzz Lightyear and so on. It was Fa-a-a-ncy. But then we realized our daughter had special needs and was having a lot of trouble with sleep. In fact there was a really long time where she never slept day or night (a side…

(THIS IS the FIRST POST FROM my new reviewer BROOKE – Please make her feel welcome and leave a comment!) Aren’t little girl parties the most adorable things ever?  It just seems like any toy for a girl is cute, sparkly, has a bow, or princess related.  Being the mother of 3 boys, I see the cute things my sister in law gets to do with her daughter and it makes me giddy, yet filled with jealousy.  Luckily I get to live through her, and do girly things with my niece. This summer brought a fun girl’s princess party.  The…

This is my kid. Not a celebrity. Oh I know you thought it was an American Idol candidate or some Next Star wannabe (well, it is actually) but she’s also my kid and apparently she likes hats and hip hop this year. Oy! I get to shop with this styling little thang. I am definitely not ready for this. Wordless Wednesday is a photography meme hosted by several blogs.  I like to link up at Tara’s View of the World. 

Well, what do you know, we are back again with a vengeance here at #LinkedMoms. This week’s chat is going to be a great one. We have several prizes lined up. Thanks to our sponsor Ascenta Health, we will be keeping you healthy while we chat it up Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST – the Topic Twitter Chats!  Anyone who knows us, knows that we love a good twitter chat or a twitter party.  Twitter parties and chats are some of the hottest tools around connecting brands with Moms and Dads on line fast and spreading the message about your…

  My oldest daughter’s birthday was this summer and we took a few kids to see Brave, which was a perfect summer birthday movie. Afterwards they all hopped in to the Hurricane Simulator in the lobby of Rainbow Cinemas at Galleria London. Or Citiplaza as it is now called. If you look closely you can almost make out Ainsley’s eye under all that hair. The wind speed is located over her head. Sometimes I have been known to call her my tornado girl. I once wrote a piece about it for the Globe and Mail and it was dubbed Look…

Hello and Happy Monday! Here’s to a great week. Good luck with all your projects and events and relationships this coming week of summer. Yes, it is still summer until I say it is not. Well, actually two more weeks, I think. So this is my Monday mingle vlog meme again. For more information link up over at Jennifer Regan’s site http://www.eightymphmom.com/

Wordless Wednesday is a hop hosted by many. I link up over here at http://www.tarasviewoftheworld.com/

I am journaling again. Oh I know you are thinking-  isn’t that what you do every day on your blog thriftymommastips.com? Yes, in some ways. But 10 years ago when my kids first joined our family, and before they joined us, when we waited to adopt, journaling was one thing that kept me sane. As I waited in between the period of time when we applied to adopt and were matched with a child, I wrote in a journal, a bit like this one, about all of the challenges and feelings that brought. A few years ago I gave that…