These are a few of my favourite things.......

This weekend I went to a going-away party for my good friend Misty who blogs over at LifeWhereWeAre. I don't actually like to call it a going-away, as I am sure that I will see her again. I may even have to take a trip to New York just to visit her as I have heard nothing but how wonderful that city is!

The theme of this going-away party was Favourite Things. I had heard of a favourite things party before but I had never been to one. So when it was decided that this would be the theme I was excited to finally get to go to one myself.

The general idea is that you buy 5 items (all the same) that are all between $5 and $10. You need to bring something that you actually use and love. Sometimes there are rules that are placed like No Candy Bars etc... as you want some variety in the items.

When I got to the party the host, the wonderful Merry of MerryWithChildren, asked us all to place our bag of items on the table and to write our name on 5 different pieces of paper and to place them in a bowl. Once everyone had put their names in the bowl, she went around the room and asked us to pick out 5 names - not ours and not two of the same.

Then we started handing out the items. The first person stood up, introduced themselves to everyone and talked about their favourite thing. Where they bought it, why they love it, etc. They then looked at the 5 names that THEY had picked out and handed out their items to those 5 people. It was so neat to see what everyone brought and how it was all so different!

I thought that it would be fun to show you what I scored from the party.

The lovely Catherine from TheDabelsDivulge brought a book by Kim Edwards called The Lake of Dreams. She said that the reason that she brought this book was because she loved The Memory Keeper's Daughter and thought that this author was just great. I was happy to be on Catherine's list as I am in need of some new reading material for the summer, and books are always a favourite of mine!

My friend Kristina the creative mastermind over at Bouncing Off The Walls brought one of my most favourite things; sour soothers!! Who doesn't love a giant tub of candy?? It was exactly what I wanted.

Leslie the owner of Hippo Hug and who also blogs at RuffRuminations brought Arnica Gel. I am no stranger to arnica as I use it myself when I have a headache (especially when pregnant) but I have never used the gel. I joked with the ladies that with my 3 boys and camping all summer that there will be enough bumps and bruises from bike riding alone that I will have to replace it!

Derby Girl Marlaine who is one of the most fearless and fiecest women I know in the Rockyview Rollers brought the most amazing lip stuff that I have ever tried. EOS lip balm in sweet mint.  I also love how big it is!! I am constantly losing chapsticks in my bottomless pit of a purse! Never again!!!

And lastly, Dana from CalgaryPlaygroundReview (where I recently did a guest post) brought dairy-free chocolate from Theobroma. I am pretty sure it was fate that let me get this one! I have to say that this is the one item that is all gone!

This was the funnest party that I have been to in a while, even though it was supposed to be a sadder occasion. ;) I will be doing this again for sure - maybe for my next birthday as it really was so neat to see the variety that people brought. I think in total there were over 30 favourite things.

If you decide to throw a party like this - drop me a line and let me know what you think!!

Oh, I almost forgot! You may be wondering what my favourite thing is.....

An Apology and an Excuse - or an Excuse and an Apology.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you will have noticed that I have not put a post up since January.

If you are a long time reader of my blog - you will have noticed that I follow a pattern like this.

I made up this picture as a "surprise I am pregnant" for my blog and meant to post it again and again... However, I have had the most horrific morning sickness that I have ever had for any of my pregnancies - and for the most part (for the last 14 weeks) all that I have been able to do is scroll facebook on my smartphone.

So, yes, this is my excuse for neglecting you dear readers. I hope that you will forgive me.

I promise that I will get back on track in the next couple weeks!!

Homeschooling, Kindergarten, and School Memories

I have been thinking a lot about what I am going to do next year. Next year all three of my children will be "school aged". 
Now, I know what you are thinking. I am a homeschooler. Why do I even care?
Well, the problem is that I care a whole lot and that is why I have no idea what I am going to do. See, in my province we get funding for our children's education when we homeschool, but this is only true for children between grades 1 - 12.
Kindergarten children do not get any funding. Yes, there are a couple boards that do offer funding for Kndergarten, but it is few and far between. (plus the driving to those boards would take me forever.
I really wish that the program my older son is in had funding for Kindy as it would be so much easier for me.

When we started down this homeschooling journey we looked at a lot of factors and you can go back and see how much I worried about it. If I was making the right choice, if he would be okay, if I could do it… all sorts of worries really. But as we have been on this path I am becoming more confident in my choices to homeschool my son. A lot of his doctors and his psychologist also commended me for tailoring this learning path for someone with ADHD.


But, my second son is nothing like my first. My husband wants to put him in full time kindergarten at the local school. Coupled with the fact that he can't sit to save his life and that 4 days is a long time at school for someone who hasn't been…the idea isn't really sitting so well.
My friends say just to homeschool Kindy, or to send him to the homeschool kindy school, or even skip kindergarten all together and just send him to the blended in grade 1…The problem is though is that I am torn. I want him to get as many good memories of Kindergarten as I did and sometimes I think everyday kindergarten would be the best option…that or the private school down the road.
My best memories of school were in Kindergarten. I know that they are old, and that Kindergarten is nothing like it used to be…but it was the first time that you were alone to make friends and be somewhat autonomous. I remember playing house and baking cookies, listening to Sharon, Lois and Bram - "peanut, peanut, butter, jelly."
I remember reading in this special nook (maybe not actually reading), sitting there with my friends, looking at all those pictures. I remember having a nap, which I know does not happen any more. I just remember this loving and caring teacher who let me learn as I wanted to, no pressure and being happy.
And I don't want him to miss it. This decision is going to be a doozy…I can already tell.

*************************************************************************************************************************

I'm participating in the Our Kids Private School Expo Blog Hop.  Yesterday's School Memories post  can be found at Raincoast Cottage.  Tomorrow, the fun is happening at Linkie's Contest Linkies
Join the conversation!
Twitter: hashtag #OKSchoolMem
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/ourkidsnet

Stay tuned for Twitter Party Dates and times!

Looking for a Private School for your child?
Don’t miss Canada's most successful, best-attended Private School Expos.  They’re the easiest way to learn about private and independent schools.

• Meet the leading private and independent schools and speak with current students and parents
• Learn how to find the right private school for your child and explore different types of schools, educational philosophies and special programs
• Find out about the admissions process, when to apply and what schools look for
• Understand how to budget and receive information about scholarships, bursaries and tax credits

Vancouver, NOVEMBER 11

Click here to register and receive free admission for a family of 4.

Halloween Treats to take to School

A lot of you may be thinking by now that I must have nothing better to do that spend time in my kitchen. I promise you that this is not the case, I have actually spent more time blogging about this week of food than I have making it!

I have been trying in this series of blog posts to show you that making themed food is so easy and a really great way to show the kids that the holidays can be a whole lot more fun than just going Trick-or-Treating and overdosing on high fructose corn syrup.

In this post I am going to show you some really simple ways to make Halloween "treats" for school and in tomorrows post I will be sharing some more lunch ideas - so make sure you come back!

Ghost Yogurt

Even I run out of ideas when it comes to Halloween and every day I thank goodness that there is such a thing as Pinterest. Before I was a pinner there was half the ideas out there and they were incredibly hard to find.

The yogurt ghost was something that my son actually thought of, he saw the grapes and threw them into his breakfast one morning (not even in October) and laughed and said how it looked like eyes.

So grab a whole bunch of yogurts, take the tops of or spoon them out on to the plates at preschool add a couple grapes and there you have it! Instant Halloween!

Pumpkin Tray


What is easier than throwing some carrots on a circular serving tray? Nothing, that's right!

This is the easiest themed food ever. Honestly. Look at it.

All I did was take some carrots throw them on a tray, and then take two ramekins and fill them with hummus and put them on top where the eyes would be. I added cherry tomatoes (a staple in a Halloween kitchen) and cut up a red bell pepper to look like a mouth. I have also seen people use olives or another type of dip instead of the peppers.

Whatever works for you!! I promise all the kids will eat it and it is healthy!! Win/Win!


Bat Hummus

Hummus is one of the best things that you can feed your kids.

Not only is it chock full of protein but it also has great fats in it, is low in sugar, and it tastes good too!

I use hummus in a variety of my Halloween meal planning as it is just so easy to add to dishes, sandwiches and the like.

This was one of those times that the kids were looking to get some quick protein and I was in the middle of making the Pumpkin Tray and so I grabbed a dollop of Hummus, added a couple of olive eyes, snap pea ears and rice crackers for bat wings. (it was a stretch I know) This year I went out and got some blue corn chips to make my hummus bat even more bat-like.

I hope that this post can help you to see that it really is that easy!

Please keep sharing your ideas with me on Twitter and Facebook. If you need any more Halloween inspiration please follow me on Pinterest as well.

The Blissdom Canada 2012 recap

Well, I am back from Blissdom Canada 2012. Did you miss me? I promise that I will get back to my regular blogs about Halloween on Thursday (and then some!)

I had a great time in Toronto, and better still my kids had a great time without me! My house is clean, I am renewed and refreshed and I got to spend the weekend with 500 other women (and a handful of men) that speak my language.

Love Marilyn!

Sitting in the Chair! My dream!!

I came in early for the conference as I won tickets to the Marilyn Denis show. This was a dream come true for me. I have been watching Marilyn for years with my mom and so to see her live and get to talk with her one on one was so great. She gave me a big hug and I got to sit in her chair…it's the little things you know….

Town Hall

Spent the rest of the day just walking around the city. It is SO big, and so so much faster paced than Calgary. I have to say that I actually got quite overwhelmed and had to retreat back to the hotel just to have a little quiet time. I love the city, but it also scared me at the same time.

Not even a 1/4 of the mall!!

That night I was waitlisted for the Road Rally (think Amazing Race), but in the end I got to go. (thanks Brooke!) We ran around Toronto being chauffeured by our wonderful driver Patrick and took many different pictures, videos and tweeted the whole time. It was so crazy and I am glad that all 3 of my team mates were from Toronto (lucky that way).

Next was the kick off party where we had Microsoft show us some neat things and I watched many women dance the night away with the Kinect dance challenge. (it was pretty funny)

It was at this party that I met Annie of PhD in Parenting. I felt like such a nerd and fan girl, but she was so nice and made me feel right at home. (thanks to Mara for introducing us - and thanks to Candace for showing me that she was there.)

Annie and I

Ann and I

Saturday was the first real day of the conference. It started with a welcome breakfast and we had a presentation by Dove. Next we had 3 micro-sessions to talk about things that we really wanted to learn.
The micro-sessions were by far my favourite part of the conference. I learned about analytics with Annie, How to Be an Expert with Candace, and How to Write a Book with Ann Douglas.

After lunch we had the opportunity to listen to the keynote speakers. While all of the talks were amazing in their own right, my favourite by far was Bonnie Stewart. Here is a post that she wrote that has some of the key ideas of that talk. It is something that we really have to take to heart as the internet is really just an extension of us in the real world and we must always be aware of that.

Jian and I

I was able to get my book signed by Jian Ghomeshi, the Sh*tty Moms, Andrea Nair, and by Amy McKay. (Bliss for a book lover like myself.)

So cute!!

Saturday evening my blogging girlfriends and I went to get our hair done and we dressed up as Mad Men Women for the karaoke costume party. We had planned this group costume for over two months and it was great to see it in action! It was too fun and I looked so cute! I could be a 1950's housewife every day! The party also gave me an opportunity to connect with other really neat people. I met Kyla from MommysWeird and I swear we were best friends in another life! I love this conference for stuff like that!

Hope I don't crash!!

The next day I went to the GM plant in Oshawa and learned all about the new technology that they are putting into their cars. It was pretty neat to see the "behind the scenes" and I really like how they listen to the consumer. I actually talked to them about integrated carseats and they discussed it with me. My favourite new feature that they showed us was that they have sensors that see the lines on the road and if you go over the line it vibrates your seat to alert you. How neat is that? I think it is for rumble strips (since there is talk about getting rid of them due to cyclist commutes).

Pretty Sweet!

I got to drive a Camaro (a new souped up edition) and do a slalom course, a doughnut course, and a fast breaking course. It was pretty neat and I joked with the drivers if they knew the Stig (since they all spoke french).




After the excursion was over we were whisked VIP style back to the airport to await our (delayed) flight to Calgary. The drive was great and I have to note that out of all the sponsors at Blissdom, GM were my favourite as the always had cars and drivers waiting for people, and if you were from out of town like me, that service was really invaluable.

My Ride

I learned a lot, not only about Social Media, Marketing, Books and Branding, but also about myself. I learned that I need to really look deep inside of myself and see what I want to do, apart from being a mother and a wife, and to take more time just for myself.

My kids survived, my house survived, my husband is capable.

Blissdom Canada 2013?? I think so.

*Vlog* - Going to Blissdom 2012

As I said in my last post I am going to Blissdom Canada this weekend. I am busy packing and trying to figure out what to wear!
I am hoping to go to a couple micro sessions on how to read analytics, learn how to do an elevator pitch  and maybe improve my vlogging!
Until then, enjoy!!