• family

    Barbie My Dreams Express Your Style Contest

    March 18, 2014 - By 

    I asked my kids if they wanted me to post some more stories about Barbies. They hollered great whoops of joy. “Wait, what’s that? You girls still like Barbies?” “YES!!!!!” They hollered loudly and in unison. Such are the conversations in my house.    I make no excuses ever for our unabashed love of all things Barbie. There was a time I thought my girls would be tough sporty girls (and they are). They would never like pink. (My Mom bought one exclusively pink clothing for the first 6 years of her life and it still remains a favourite colour…

  • Kids_can_help
    family - homes

    Five Jobs Kids Can Do When Your Family Is Moving

    February 6, 2014 - By 

    Kids can and should help when moving. After all they are part of the family and moving is a massive undertaking. So why not get them involved. We found several easy ways to get our kids involved and invested in the process of moving to our new house.   It’s no big secret that our family is moving. I have been writing about the process for weeks and getting prepared to move for months now. Finally the countdown is on. On Valentine’s Day weekend our family will move out of our first home and into one that will give us…

  • family

    My Top Five Family Christmas Movies

    December 5, 2013 - By 

    This time of year we love to take the afternoon or evening and watch Family Christmas movies together. Are you the same way? There’s something super festive about watching Christmas movies together as a family. If your family is at all like mine, then Christmas is a great opportunity to snuggle, take a break, pop some popcorn, and plan a movie night. Who wants to go out after eating all that turkey? I’d much rather cuddle and watch something fun before Christmas too. Wrapping presents and decorating the tree is always a good time to share a special movie. In…

  • Giveaways - parenting

    Max and Ruby in the Nutcracker Suite Coming Soon

    October 31, 2013 - By 

      When my kids were small they adored Max & Ruby on Nickelodeon. My girls still enjoy seeing live entertainment and Centennial Hall, London, has often been a space where we built happy family memories. If you ask me Centennial Hall is the perfect size for events that are somewhat intimate, welcoming, warm and family friendly. Our last show might have been The Backyardigans there.  Over the past decade there have been many great Koba Entertainment productions witnessed and experienced by our family. There’s something about these entertaining productions that makes kids of us all. Coming Soon Max & Ruby,…

  • family - Health

    Five Things NOT to Say When a Friend is Grieving

    September 10, 2013 - By 

    GRIEVING Four months ago my mother passed away unexpectedly fast. Hearts broken, we moved through our days barely breathing at times, bursting into tears at the cemetery as we chose our mother’s plot, falling asleep spent. The words “Beloved Mother” on a spray of roses and every childhood memory unravelled at my feet. Sobbing, we set foot inside a flower shop to buy the last flowers we might ever gift her with and hope the florist weighs how much we loved her, translates it into colours. In the last few weeks, tears have come and gone, sometimes with clear triggers…

  • Travel

    Bruce County Travel – Exploring the Bruce

    August 19, 2013 - By 

      All the summers of my childhood were spent with my Mom and brother on the beaches along the Bruce Peninsula. They were leisurely Bruce County summers spent sunning ourselves, swimming, growing.   Exploring Bruce County Travel Attractions  From the time my kids were little, we maintained the Bruce County summer tradition. This year, before we headed up to the beach for a week at a rented cottage I checked out a few web sites to see what was new and what we might add to our week. Tweens are fun to travel with and mine have been visiting the…

  • Giveaways - Health - parenting

    Win $25 K for Your Park – Kraft Celebration Tour #KCT

    June 1, 2013 - By 

      It might not have made front page news, but the day they unveiled Mayor Norm Jary Park in Guelph, the world shifted just a little bit for my brother and I. First of all, we had our pictures in the local daily, The Guelph Mercury (local section). That in itself was an event – and pretty cool for a grade schooler. I recall the photo opp with the mayor. I think I might have been nine or so standing in the background and my little brother was cute as a button perched atop a slide. Aside from the school playground…

  • family

    What You Miss Most When A Loved One Dies

    May 23, 2013 - By 

    After a loved one dies the things you miss surprise you. Small sucker punches all day long to the heart. They creep in the week after the funeral and you think I had no idea I would miss that.          Sensory Things After a Loved One Dies Of course you miss her smell, and it is visceral, the way you seek it, find it lingering on her shirt, a blouse, a blanket, even on a pair of sunglasses. That was my Mom. That was how she smelled and I never really noticed it until right this second.…

  • family

    But I Am Not Done with You Yet

    May 5, 2013 - By 

    In the end, you think about the many times she danced through the living room holding the cat, with those tiny cat antlers it used to hate. The times she dressed at the vanity in her room draping jewelry on and your eight-year-old eyes thought it was magic. You dreamed she was beautiful and then wished years away so you could grow fast forward. You asked her to twirl. She did and spun you around. She held your hand and said I love you and then she gave you a kiss before heading off to the dance with a friend.…

  • family - Health - special needs - Travel

    Five Ways to Save Money on Summer Camp #MuskokaWoods

    March 13, 2013 - By 

    Dear Mom: Remember last month when I reminded you all about how we needed to book my summer camps now! Well, I am really hoping you did that Mom. I want to get into the same overnight summer camp I did last year with my BFF. It was the most fun event of my entire summer. Oh I enjoyed Canada’s Wonderland too, but nothing will ever top staying up late, crafting all week long, singing songs and making my own dolls and then swimming in a lake and sleeping on bunks away from home. My counsellors were incredible. In fact,…