Mutant Mania arrived here this week and I originally thought, well this is just another trendy toy. But, then we started playing with them together, my daughter and I, and I really found myself enjoying these hot collector toys. First thing to know, these are not for teeny people under five years old or anyone who puts too many toys near their mouth. They are, however, extremely fun hot collector toys. The heads and bodies of Mutant Mania Mix and Match Wrestlers come apart and can be interchanged to make each tiny figure into something different. These are so much…
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Baby’s first Christmas is a time of special magic. Babies bring hope and wonder to the world just by their presence, and depending on their age, they help us see this season with new and excited eyes. My oldest daughter Sunshine was ten months old at her first Christmas—old enough to taste the mashed potatoes and peas, play strange at all the new relatives, need help opening her presents, and have fun with the wrapping paper. The following year, she made us all laugh by ripping a piece of wrapping paper from a present, running across the room to…
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No big secret here that my kids are Barbie fans. So, when we heard this new movie featuring Barbie was coming out we had to see it to believe it. Some days I am still certain Barbies are hatching a plot to take over my house. My one daughter has collected Barbies since she was two. I have written about our Love for Barbie often over the years. I fact my daughter’s love of Barbies is well documented. But what about my Barbie beginnings? Timeless Toys Look Like This In the 70s and 80s I grew up with Barbie…
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Raising Tween girls is a special kind of madness. Er.. I mean, fun. Just kidding, every stage of my children’s growth and development has been enjoyable and memorable. But tweenhood is slightly different than anything else you will encounter. Let’s just start with the hormones for instance. As soon as they kick into gear and puberty is on board then you better buckle up and get ready. It’s my personal observation that personality plays into puberty a lot but girls generally seem to hit the landmark changes a bit earlier and that means more explosive potential for conflict and moodiness…
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How do you capture a summer? Is it a series of snapshots on an iPhone? An entire deck of tiny Instax mini photo cards tucked into the border of a child’s bedroom vanity mirror, with bright red hearts and flowers, decorating the names scrawled on the border? How do you measure July and August? Is it the inches your children grow when they are free to imagine, run, travel, swim and draw without limitation of time or bells? Is it the height of the green grass on your front lawn, the length of the ivy trailing down the side of…
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Ainsley’s backpack is from Hilroy Canada Well here we are almost the end of August. Tear. Tear. Sad panda face. I love me a good summer break. Mostly, I love beautiful weather and gorgeous hot sunny beaches. But I can see the writing on the wall and it spells: Back to School. So this coming week is all about Back to School at Thrifty Momma’s Tips. This coming week, or two if I need to go longer with the amount of stuff I want to highlight here, will be dedicated to bringing my readers all the best products. The cutest…
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I am $1.20 in the hole. My youngest daughter made me a bet that I had to take for the weekend. She challenged me to quit swearing. Ten cents a swear word. So I set up a swear jar. A dime? A couple of my friends huffed angrily that I was taking advantage of my daughter by not advising her that she should have made it a loonie a swear word, but the amount wasn’t the point. I am not proud that I swore twelve times over the weekend (within hearing range of my child. She might have missed a…
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This summer I am trying my hardest to trick my brain into forgetting summer math. June plus July plus August equals my three favourite months. Summer is fleeting, especially in Canada. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it-kind-of-season. Time flies, but summer time well that’s like a Concord whipping by at breakneck speed. how many more weeks do we get to enjoy this beautiful weather? How much more time off school? How many more summers with my kids at home? Only 6 more years and one will be in college or university. That’s tween Mom math. Summer math. In my experience, the only way…
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Think they don’t care much about what is written on report cards? Think that little people are oblivious to how the teacher sees them and feels about them? Words matter, and never more so than when someone is assessing a child with special needs after a year of school. This is our first experience with a really accepting and lovely teacher who clearly understood and liked my youngest daughter. I am driving both my kids to Build-A-Bear to celebrate their last day of school when the little one cracks open her report card and starts reading it word for word.…
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I am the daughter of a teacher. My memories of marking papers and playing games at the back of my mother’s grade two classroom are strong. Many August days at end of the summer, I worked with my Mom, steadying the ladder as she lovingly decorated her classroom. Teaching is a calling I respect. A teacher’s job can be hard, rewarding and trying all at once. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock However, as the parent of two girls in the school system and I am very often frustrated with education. Funding decisions, allocation of resources, and even teachers in my kid’s lives sometimes don’t…