Life Love Laughter Linds

This weather sucks!  Although, for a few hours this morning we actually had some clear skies and we didn’t have to wear mittens – woohoo!  Now, as I’m ready to kick the boys into the backyard for some fresh air before the thunderstorms arrive (again), the clouds are rolling in and it’s getting dark out there!  Too late!  We’ve had so much cold weather… and if it hasn’t been freezing, it’s been raining – spring seems to be taking it’s sweet ol’ time this year.

I’ve been neglectful in my blog-mistress duties!  It’s been crazy busy around here (when isn’t it?!?)  I thought with the bridal shower out of the way (keep reading for details & pictures!), life might just slow down a wee bit.   That was wishful thinking.  With California dreaming, some kids returning from mat leave, trying to organize my tax info, sort-of spring cleaning and all the regular stuff on the go, I find I’d rather sit down and get a mini-escape in a book than absolutely anything else – and that’s usually after getting up at 6:30 and go, go, go all day til kids are tucked into bed, house gets tidied for the night and I finally get to sit on the couch uninterrupted for more than 5 minutes – sometime around 9 pm!

So… as I’ve been rather distracted/preoccupied/neglectful, I’m a few weeks overdue on posting pictures from the shower.    We had a fantastic turnout for our tea-shower themed party.  The bride-to-be, my sister, Becky, was spoiled and I’m thrilled it was such a successful event!

The invite:

The bride-to-be:

2/3 of the Bridesmaids (the other girls aren’t local):

Best Wishes Banner & Gift Table: 

Food Table & Congratulations Banner:

Plants (courtesy of Mom) that went home as favours:

We offered a few different types of tea, had a pot of coffee going and we did a raspberry iced tea for those who didn’t want something hot.  We rented a room at the Aurora Seniors’ Centre – which ended up being an excellent venue!  We had 5 round tables (pink tablecloths with plants above as centrepieces), 3 banquet tables (beverages, food & gifts – with black tablecloths and skirts), approximately 40 guests and a ton of fun!   Our local party store rents out dishes & cutlery so I splurged on actual teacups, saucers, and teaspoons for a slightly classier touch.  The decor was simple, sticking to a pink & black theme reflected in the invites.

I created the banners using my Cricut, cardstock & some ribbon.  I cheated with the lettering – I found some adhesive letters in the ‘school project’ aisle at Walmart on clearance -woohoo!  It still seemed to take forever to cut out and assemble what I had but I absolutely love how they turned out.

For an extra keepsake for Becky, I also created colour-coordinated “Advice for the Bride-to-Be” cards – an idea I stole from an old back issue of Scrapbooks Etc.   Part of Beck’s gift from me was a set of hand-crafted thank you cards (postage stamps included!) using the same colours again, hand-stamped with ribbon.   Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of both projects before the big event.  Whoops!

On the gift table, I decided to take advantage of Kev’s business resources and created a small black & white poster with various photos of the happy couple (sourced from Facebook, of course) tiled with a cutesy sentiment.   I ‘borrowed’ a table-stand from Kemik and it was a nice addition to the overall decor.  Using hand-crafted for all those extra touches means quite a bit of extra work – but it lends it a special touch that hopefully reflected how special we think she really is!

My favourite photo of the day:

He’s just might have been the cutest guest there – of course, I’m a little biased 🙂  Hope you all had a lovely Easter!

…or whatever it’s called, I feel like I haven’t posted one in a long time!

Here is our mealplan for the week:

• shepherd’s pie
• Italian turkey sausage & pierogies
• roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, and strawberry spinach salad
• peanut chicken (from leftovers), coconut rice & broccoli slaw
• tacos
• pasta
• chicken strips, roast potatoes, fresh veggies & Salad

I’ll be celebrating bridesmaid style this weekend so Kevin will have to fend for himself. I have my doubts he’ll be sticking to the plan. Can you say KD or McDonalds drive-thru?

I love my monkeys and my hubby. They mean the world to me. So once upon a time I ordered a necklace from The Vintage Pearl with their names on it. Everytime I wear the necklace, people comment on how much they love it. And it reminds me how much I love them (the boys). And then I remember how much I love the products offered at The Vintage Pearl. So I browse the site and want to get more custom jewelery. Or buy gifts for people (my mom got each of the grandkids’ initials on hers for Christmas.) Ooooh, I love shopping! Anyhow, check them out – they’re doing a fabulously huge giveaway for their blog readers: The Vintage Pearl: happy birthday to me. (BIG giveaway!) Good luck!

It’s March Break/Spring Break here and woohoo – the weather, with the exception of today’s off and on drizzle, has been cooperating!  What gorgeous SPRINGlike days we’ve been enjoying.   The kids (my monkeys and a couple of daycare sidekicks) were so thrilled that we got to spend hours outside on Monday – the playground was damp & spongy but with rain boots, who cares? And we broke out the chalk (it looks like we had a rash of bodies dropping dead on the driveway!)  We went for a walk and just enjoyed the fresh air without freezing – we even survived without mittens – wow!

Yesterday was a trip to the mall to buy new runners for the boys – we tried their ‘old’ ones on and it resulted in tears and squishy toes.  I think they’ve both had growth spurts.  Can you believe that with just a tad more than 18 months between them, they’ve got the same size feet?  And wanted the same shoes?  And they’re both in that awkward phase between ‘toddler’ shoes and ‘junior’ shoes?  And they like labels?   Shoe shopping with two little monkeys ≠  fun times!  Luckily, we found what we wanted at SportChek (always buy one, get one half off on kid shoes) so we limited the chaos to one location.   We found the cutest little DCs (phooey expensive!) for Kaleb – with real laces, yikes – and some Lego shoes for Justin (half price).  Ended up being about $35 each but I figure it was reasonable for ‘labels’ when you consider you can spend upwards of $30 at Payless for kids.  Sheesh!

We also hit the library and the rec centre (same building).  Boys are both registered for lessons – semi-private for Kaleb and group for Justin.   Different days.   I waited too long and got stuck scrounging for whatever spaces I could get.    (Remember that recent post about neglect and procrastination?)

Today we had some sidekicks spend the day again.  Because of the wet weather factor, we opted for an indoor day   The kids broke out board games, coloured, played Wii Family Game Night 2 from the library (free = fantastic!), watched “Diary of A Wimpy Kid” on Netflix, begged me to make chocolate chip banana muffins, exercised their fantastically amazing imaginations, did a little “freeze” dance and we experimented with making our own Chinese Yo-Yos (you know – those strips of paper wound tight around a dowel that you flick out and they coil back in?   Note:  scrapbook paper is too heavy but strips of wrapping paper worked great.   Tape it to an unsharpened pencil, wind it up and let it fly!   Cheap entertainment.)   Overall a busy day.   Although busy, I didn’t find it stressful per se – it’s amazing how different personalities contribute to different group dynamics and besides a few brotherly squabbles, they all got along pretty well.

Tomorrow is a playdate in the afternoon and I’ll probably head out to the local party store to look at some shower tea party supply options in the AM.   Hoping the hall I’ve rented doesn’t have a no-decor policy!  Didn’t see anything in the contract so fingers are crossed!

Friday, I get to wait in the passport office with the monkeys – more fun times ahead I’m sure.  Thank goodness for those wonderful, portable, easy-to-keep-them-amused gadgets also known as “DS’s”.  After that, we’ll see… and finally to kick off our last day of the break, Sunday afternoon we’ll be heading to the Rogers Centre to see Disney On Ice:  Toy Story 3.   (Coupon code:  SING on the $34 tickets.)   Note to anyone in Durham:  We don’t have a Ticketmaster outlet anymore…. you’re stuck driving to Scarborough or Lindsay.  I say save the gas money and pay the fee to print your own.  Seriously wish I had known all this before checking out – whoops!

Here is our menu of sorts for the week:
Monday – frozen pizza (we needed something fast before our 6:15 dental appointment)
Tuesday – Kev treated me to Boston Pizza, with 2 free kids meals, it was a nice treat.
Tonight – Spaghetti with meat sauce
Thursday – Italian sausage, roasted potatoes, mixed veggies  – where’s the green in honour of St. Patrick’s Day – hmmm we’ll have to think on that one!
Friday – Chicken of some variety
Saturday – ????  Your guess is as good as mine!

But hey, it’s been 2+ weeks since the big grocery shop and I just did a small top-up on the weekend so we’re doing okay.   Here’s hoping you’re all breakin’ out of your routine and breakin’ in your smiles!  Happy March Break!

I’ve reached a new low and will be dedicating today’s post to toilet seats.  In my own defense, when you’re outnumbered 3-1 in the male/female ratio, ‘potty talk’ becomes the (unfortunate) norm. 

Today we took a quick trip to Home Depot to buy a replacement seat for our ensuite toilet.  (We also had to replace the patio door handle because I broke the actual handle right off last week – but that’s another story!)  The builder-grade seat that came with the house has turned colour and started to peel – odd considering it’s the least-used bathroom in our home.   

We thought it would be a quick in and out – I mean how many toilet seat options can there really be?  And then reality hit and we remembered that nothing is ever a quick in and out with two monkeys in tow, multiple bathroom trips, an overwhelming level of energy and a wall of toilet seats.     We found what we needed – budget friendly basic white but this is what caught my eye:

Kohler Transitions(R) Quiet-Close(Tm) Toilet Seat

I know – it’s a toilet seat!  It’s not really worth getting excited about especially because we’re through the major potty stages, but, geez!, someone was thinking when they came up with this (apparently not unique according to Google) concept. 

I don’t think the picture I’ve shown is the exact model we found as the monkeys flip-flipped up every toilet seat on display, but the idea is there:  a toilet seat with built in potty!  The one in store was cheaper and the potty insert stays tucked into the lid magnetically.  Great idea and I wish I’d known about these when we forayed into the overwhelming world of potty training.   If budget was not a concern, I’d still consider replacing at least two of our toilet seats to avoid little bums splashing into the bowl and the ick-factor of the removable potty inserts.  Hmmm….



This sweet little card was made for my niece – although I think she’s still just a little too young to appreciate it.

And last but not least, the “dream big” card  was crafted for my brother’s birthday using scraps – but it’s one of my favourite to-date!

The weather can’t seem to make up it’s mind.  Is it spring?  Is it winter?  Let’s freeze one day, snow the next and melt it all down a few days later.   I find the weather actually affects my cravings and eating habits – and this wonky weather has me just as confused as it seems to be.   I want light spring-time meals, I want tummy-warming comfy food, I want someone else to cook for me for once!

I made it 2 weeks without doing a major grocery shop again (so proud!) – with just a quick run to replace some of the consumables (aren’t all groceries consumable?  I don’t think that’s the word I want… but my brain is not cooperating this morning.)

Here is our mealplan for the next week aka – week 5:

• Turkey Pasta Bake (made this last night so I just have to bake in the oven – hooray for easy meals!)
• Turkey Stew
• Turkey Pot Pie (using leftovers from the Turkey Stew)
• Maple Chicken, Brocolli & Rice
• Perfect Roast Chicken, Twice Baked Potatoes, Spinach Citrus Salad & Fresh Cut Veggies
• Pulled Pork, Fresh Rolls & Asian Coleslaw
• Pulled Pork Pizza

& a spare:

• Lasagna

All of it sounds delicious… although I seem to be going through a poultry phase. Strange!  I’ve never made the turkey stew or turkey pot pie but I figure it should be simple enough to substitute the turkey for the chicken in a couple of my no-fail recipes.  

Now that I’ve made up my mind, let’s hope the weather will do the same…and preferably leaning towards spring!

I’m skipping the wishlist today.   I’m seriously slipping because I skipped Monday’s meal plan (we had enough groceries remaining from last week and dining misadventures that we’re borrowing from the last one.)
Now that I think about it, Friday’s post was a day late too!  Such is life in the Brown household.  Always late or off-schedule.  

I could take the time to come up with some wishes… but really I’m feeling satisfied today and there’s nothing ‘jumping’ out at me that I ‘want’.  Oh sure, there’s lots that I want… just nothing to throw into a collage and talk about. 

I’ve been workin on more shower details for April – including the finishing touches on the last of the 40 handcrafted invitations.   For today, I’ve had it with ribbon, charms & embossing powder.  Our venue is booked (Aurora Seniors’ Centre), colour scheme selected and I think we’ve picked the favours we’re going to use.   We’ll be throwing a tea-style shower – lots of finger foods, mixing and mingling!  Still no thoughts on shower games – I don’t want anything too cheesy, and we only have a 3 hour window for all our fun.  Any thoughts or tips on hosting a fantastic shower?   Any good game ideas?  

Best part of all of this shower stuff?  No boys… and I get to dress up!  Bring on my fun & flirty Madden Girl Rosette Pumps!

So I’m going to make this quick – I’m in the car (passenger seat!) typing with my thumbs. Ignore the typos please! We’re all dressed up for a night in the city – it’s my sister’s engagement party and I’m so happy for a grown-up night out.

I realize that it’s Saturday but in finite if Family Day here in Ontario on Monday, here are some affordable family fun boredom busters:

1) Teddy Bear Picnic – great for the under 6 crowd. Simple fun that encourages you to use your imagination. Grab a quilt, your favorite stuffy, some honey sandwiches and lay out your spread and enjoy!

2) Slumber Party – stay in your pjs, build a fort, tell silly stories and don’t forget the microwave s’mores.

3) Family Game Night – break out the board games, start a tournament on the Wii. Encourage your kids to take turns, play fair and the rediscover the importance of laughter.

4) scavenger hunt or any variation thereof. Got some pirates? Draw a map and make sure there’s some hidden treasure to discover at the end. Looking for dimple? Sometimes we play the uninspired Alphabet Game – search the house or neighborhood for all the letters A to Z.

5). Movie Marathon – let everyone pick their faves (no complaints!) get your comfies, order pizza, pop the popcorn and settle in for mindless together time. Cuddles in the couch are a definite must!

Happy family Day – enjoy the ones you’ve got!