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Fun Stuff to do with Kids

Friday was such a gorgeous day here that J and I packed ourselves up and headed downtown to meet Hubby for lunch. He was having a pretty busy day so it seemed like a good idea to break him away for a few minutes and rejuvinate.

We went to a nice restaurant tucked into Sparks Street at Place de Ville called Carmello’s. Hubby has been raving about the gourmet pizza for months and wanting me to come down and try it out. And I have to say that I was not disappointed. I love thin crust pizza with no cheese and that is what I got, topped with artichoke, red pepper and sundried tomato, a sprinkling of a little fetta and a dash of parm. Not to mention the spicy dipping oil that was on the table. J had a Ceasar salad and rosemary bread and Hubby got a pepperoni pizza, how funny I know. We had such a delicious lunch and were out of the restaurant before the crowds kicked in.

We then decided to walk over to Parliament Hill so J could see the fire water it had been under repair the last couple of times we went downtown so it was lots of fun. J pegged off a couple of guys in suits with his coins, but they were good natured and gave him more to throw in (I have no photos from Parliament Hill because silly me didn’t go back to the car to get my camera).

After lunch J and I were going to head to Dow’s Lake to take photos of the tulips. The Tulip Festival started this weekend and knowing we were going to have great weather I really wanted to get some photos. But, J fell asleep in the car by the time I got to my perfect parking spot and when I told him he would have to walk he decided we should go this week. So, all I got was a shot of trees in bloom from the car as I passed by the Arboretum. So, this week I must get some tulip photos while the weather is still great and the rain doesn’t crush the blooms.

On to the weekend. After reading Dani’s post about being a packrat, I find it fitting that I had a Saturday full of unpacking and purging and sorting. We need to start finishing our basement. Currently it is an assortment of stuff. What you see below is our workout room, full of stuff from the shelves we have. Apparently I am not supposed to workout this week, but I guess you have to pick your battles. Eventually half of the workout room will become A’s new bedroom (the half with the window) and the other half will be a much smaller workout space.

You probobly can’t tell from this photo but there are two distinct piles here. On the right is the pile of ‘to keep’ stuff. And on the left, past the pole is the pile of ‘to sell’ stuff and our pool, which we are keeping. We also took a pile about as big up to the garage for garbage day today. I feel badly for the garbage guys today and only hope I am home when they come to offer them a soda.

All of that is going to fit back onto the shelves inside our soon to be finished storage closet! I am so excited with this little bit of progress because once the closet is finished I get to put that other stuff away and Hubby will start framing A’s bedroom. Now that we have moved the shelves into the corner and framed it up, the closet appears to have more room so all of that and more should fit in there for our reno’s. The most important part is A’s bedroom, then we will add a full bathroom to the right of the closet, our weight room will just need to be drywalled as will the tv room that is hidden from view. My hope is that the tv room is finished for the winter and we will have an extra play place, but as long as A has a new room and the baby has his old room all will be well here in our house. Stay tuned for more reno photos as the weeks of the summer fly by.

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Categories: Festivals, Fun Stuff to do with Kids, Renos

New Kitchen?

Nope, just a can of paint. Finally, after picking the colours last fall, and painting half of the main floor, Hubby pulled out the brushes and ladder and got to work. I don’t have a before photo to show, but basically it was builders white. The first paint colour I chose was Pratt and Lambert’s Manchester. Manchester is a grey/green and I had it in our last kitchen. I love it, a calming, soothing colour. But after we had painted the family room in Platinum and Toasted Wheat, then added the dining room in Vintage Claret. It became obvious that Manchester was just a little too subtle. The greyish green would just not have matched.
With a little help from my Mother and Father, both of whom are talented with paint and colour (my Mom loves to decorate and my Father is a painter by trade) we picked Blue Fox. I love blue in a house. It just makes me happy. But we have a table with green legs and dishes that are green too. The more I thought about it the more I realized that we need a new table anyway as it only seats four and we are soon to be five. And the dishes, well, they are about 14 years old now and are from another era before Hubby and I were together. So really, I just need a new table and some new dishes and the kitchen will be perfect. For now, they will just have to clash.
And on a totally unrelated to the kitchen note. I bought a Cranium game for J today called Hullabaloo. Oh my word. It is awesome. It can be played with one player or up to six. There are different shaped and coloured mats with different pictures on them. The main part is the little speaker that tells the kids directions like “slide to a red mat, tip-toe to a square mat”. It is a little like Twister, but the kids can play all alone. J lasted a half an hour playing until he was burnt out. The best part about the $34.95 price tag? It was 50% off at Indigo! Run, don’t walk to your nearest Indigo or Chapters, they have several different Cranium games on sale for 50% off. My Sister picked up one of the others for the kids to play.
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Categories: Decorating, Fun Stuff to do with Kids

Tiny Bubbles


I finally broke down about bought a bubble machine. J loves his bubbles so much I was getting out of breath trying to keep up with the constant need for bubbles. The only problem is that it uses so much solution, more if it’s windy. But, hey he loves it, what’s a Mom to do? And really with all that bubble popping, just add water and you have an instant bath.


Along with the wonderful bubbles that can occupy an entire afternoon in the backyard, I found a few green bubbles popping out on the trees. We have a very late blooming tree in our yard that we planted last summer and I was getting nervous that it didn’t make it through it’s first winter. Upon closer inspection, I could see the beautiful green popping through. My favourite colour of green is what I call ‘Spring’ green. When all the leaves pop out and are new and fresh, that is my favourite. Midsummer when they are a deeper darker green, I start to get nervous because I know what is coming but it’s the first green that really perks me up.

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Categories: Fun Stuff to do with Kids, Spring