• family travel

    Niagara Falls – Americana Review

    July 10, 2010 - By 

    Three years ago we decided to take our young family to the falls for a fun birthday/graduation celebration. Great Wolf Lodge was fairly new and we were novices at waterparks anyways. Truly, we weren’t sure how a little girl with SPD (sensory processing disorder) and a variety of other diagnoses would manage all that input at three-years-old. So we opted for an affordable spot called the Americana Waterpark Resort. Well, we loved it. We stayed there for two nights under $250 a night and visited Marineland for the first time and just really truly created lovely memories. Americana sends thriftymommastips…

  • family - family travel

    My Happy Birthday Deals and Follow Friday

    July 9, 2010 - By 

    Well Happy Birthday to Me and I hope this rain clears for Sunfest this weekend. London, city I have grown to love, has the best festivals all summer long and this truly is one of them. Try not to miss it. In the mean time, here are my finds for this week and take a minute to check out myFriday Follow bloggy friends. Follow the first person on the list. List your blog and find some new fans. Saturday only: Old Navy $1 Flip Flops. Getting some of those for sure.Toys ‘R Us has five days of deals ending on…

  • family travel - Travel

    Have a Great Wolf Day! – a review

    July 8, 2010 - By 

    We went on so many water slides at Great Wolf we shrank. As promised this is my review of Great Wolf Lodge. Up until this past weekend it, in fact, felt as if we were the last family on earth to visit the infamous family waterpark. But having heard from several of my reades over the past two weeks I know now that’s not the case and many are waiting to hear if it’s worth the money. I have to say we were pretty much thrilled with this trip. We decided to celebrate my daughter’s ninth birthday and combine that…

  • family travel

    Welcome Wednesday and Waterpark Love

    July 7, 2010 - By 

    Well here it is Wednesday already this week and I am back bloghopping. All you have to do to join in is follow http://www.takeitfrom-me.blogspot.com/ I plan to post some reviews tomorrow and all next week. My schedule for blogging is jampacked, but for today I want to leave you with this selection of images from Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls. It was fun, but wait for review tomorrow. Good clean water park fun that caters to children and young families. See the great living room, or lobby, here. My kids loved the talking oak tree and wildlife.

  • Parenting

    Tooth Fairy Tales and How to Fix the Fails

    July 7, 2010 - By 

    My Payton has had a wobbly tooth for about one month now, so we’ve been anticipating the tooth fairy visit for a while. Her wobbly teeth seem never to be nudged along by prying hands or crunchy foods or anything else for that matter. She is content to let them fall out when they are ready and that’s okay by me. It’s the kind of girl she is. Cautious and happy to just take life as it comes.   Our Tooth Fairy Adventures Anyways, it is the sixth or seventh tooth she has lost. The process should be firmly entrenched…

  • family

    My New Vlog

    July 3, 2010 - By 

    Well, in the spirit of growth I am trying my first vlog. That’s right. Mama’s giving this a shot and she got her self a brand new little camera thingy (read: gadget) just in time for summer. Wahoo!! No stopping me now. So this is me telling you all about my excellent, cute, adorable and sporty new Kodak Playsport. $159.99. Good price and well watch vlog to see the rest. PSST. I will get better at this, by the way. 

  • family travel

    Happy Birthday and Sales

    July 2, 2010 - By 

      My gorgeous first-born child is nine years old today and that is truly cause to celebrate. To the girl who made us parents: I wish you a happy year full of challenges you can manage, as many hugs as you require, as much love as a heart can hold and as many friends as you need. I hope you will grow healthy and stronger by the day. I hope you will trust that who you are is good enough and then some. This picture is her last day as an eight-year-old spent celebrating Canada Day at Harris Park. This…

  • Parenting - parenting

    Toilet Water and Welcome Wednesday

    June 30, 2010 - By 

    If I had a dime for every time my kids did something that stunned me and made me fall down laughing, well I would be a very wealthy woman. The beautiful wild thing about parenting and having children is the very unpredictability of it all. A friend of mine who sat on a panel of adoptive parents with me a couple of weeks ago described her adoptive experience like this. She said it was a very calm easy slow process at the start that lulled them into believing parenting would be the same. They filled out their adoption application, waited,…

  • family

    Ironic Awards Day

    June 28, 2010 - By 

    On this rainy Monday I am blogging quickly about my first award. Yay me! The Sunshine Award – funny and slightly ironic name for the award on a day like today. (Booming thunder drumroll in the background.)Anyways so this is me thanking my readers for one year of excellent support and comments and ideas. And also acknowledging Deb Kade, over at Lucas’s Journey With Sensory Processing Disorder for giving me this award. Thanks much my lovelies. Now for this next year of growth and partnerships I look forward to having you visit me at one of my other blogs http://www.thriftymommasbrainfood.blogspot.com/…

  • family

    Welcome Wednesday and Snoezelen

    June 23, 2010 - By 

    Hi all. I spent my Wednesday morning at the local Community Living London Ford Access Centre doing a Snoezelen Room training. That was kind of cool to see the sensory tools they have hooked up for public use. All you have to do is take one two-hour training session on how to use the equipment and then call and schedule a timeslot. For those who don’t know, these rooms are great for kids and adults with any type of sensory needs or autism. I may have to try out their leaf chair myself next week when I take my daughter…