Mother's Day Gift Guide

You have to love Google. I typed in "when is Mother's Day" and it came back in huge print, no need to click a link, IT'S SUNDAY MAY 10! Thanks Google. Not to mention there's a full May calendar sitting right beside me as I type, that actually has Mother's Day noted on it. Brain-to-oatmeal conversation complete.

So, being a mom I naturally forgot when Mother's Day is. Not that I'd miss an opportunity to celebrate my own mother, but when it comes to something celebrating me it's not exactly the first thing on my mind. (For the record, the first thing on my mind is: does Dakota need to go up a size in diapers?/ does Oliver need an earlier bed time?/ haha that's hilarious/ coffee.)

Mother's Day really is a special thing. It is so important to take a day to tell the significant moms in our lives that we love and appreciate them!

I have the distinct joy of not having to drop hints around early May about what I want for Mother's Day (if I remember that it's coming) because I pretty much want the same thing every year. since 2011, a GARDEN CENTRE SHOPPING SPREE. This is the most fun gift ever. Really, plants are only around $2 or under so it doesn't get too crazy but I really do go in there and get everything I want with no limits. It's a BLAST.

So that's one idea for you.

Or, how about this gorgeous metal Starbucks card? It is made of metal and ceramic and comes in a nice box, pre-loaded with $50. It's only a low price of $200. .... Yes, $200. WHAT? This made me laugh.

Something nice and relaxing that you could get for the mom in your life is one of Honest Company's new candles. And hey, right now if you're going to get a bundle any way (as long as it's your first one) the candle is FREE. It comes in an 8oz recycled glass container and is made from non-GMO soy and essential oils. Click here for the deal:
Free Aromatic Soy Candle with first bundle purchase with promo code CANDLE4MOM at checkout, valid 4/27-5/10

Lastly, what about a kit of totally natural and long lasting Norwex products? My friend Joy was recently talking to me about how they can totally help busy moms. She said "Norwex significantly reduces the time and effort required for regular household tasks. Plus, it's environmentally friendly - no more paper towels for all those sticky juice spills! Not only does it make the cleaning that you do easier, kids get excited about Norwex too! Can you imagine your kids fighting over who gets to mop the floor? or dust the furniture? Instead of it being a dreaded chore, many moms find that their kids love to help clean with Norwex!" Definitely a cool gift idea and if you agree go to norwex.com to find someone who sells it near you!

I might need Google to help me remember what day it's on ("Siri, please remind me to buy my mom a gift on Saturday May 9 at 2pm") but I won't forget that there are tons of sweet gift options out there and our mamas are worth it!

Family Vacation Tips and Tricks: CUBA All-Inclusive

Recently Calvin and I packed up the kids and about a quarter of our belongings and took the flight to Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba to stay at an all-inclusive resort for one week. It was fabulous! I know from my past Chicago tips and tricks post, and from various ones about Orlando, Los Angeles, and Brazil, there are some people out there who really appreciate the advice, so while it's still fresh in my mind, here are some of my tips and tricks to bringing your family to an all-inclusive resort in Cuba.

What to Pack

- Reusable cups: we are so grateful to have packed the kids' sippy cups and our own personal cold-drink tumblers. When you've paid the drink to have unlimited beverages, and the cups they're handing out are like 6oz, you'll be happy to have a big old mug to say "Hey, fill 'er up with a Cuba Libre!" and walk back to your beach chair to enjoy for the next hour.
- Food: we heard rumours that Cuban resorts can be lacking food-wise, and there's some truth to that. While we never went hungry, it definitely didn't stack up even close to our stay at an all-inclusive in Mexico before the kids were born. For this reason we brought our own personal ketchup, bbq sauce and Frank's Red Hot, and were happy we did. On "pig roast lunch" days, we'd stand in line for a huge dripping plate of delicious pork, with black bean-rice and olives on the side, and then we'd be super happy to pull out our familiar Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. We also had some room-snacks, like corn chips, salt and vinegar peanuts, the kids' goldfish, and trail mix.
- At least 2 bathing suits each: so many times I would go to put on the same suit as yesterday and be like, whoa this is still damp. Yuck.
- Sanitizer. We would often go straight from the beach to the buffet so I'd make sure to give my kids a quick spray before digging in to their food. I also used it on the high chair trays.
- Organizer: I packed our Ikea hanging organizer and it was so convenient to have in the bathroom full of undies, socks, sunscreen, toiletries, etc.


What Not to Pack
- Booster seat: Dakota received a "mother in law" booster for her birthday, and it's a cloth piece that fits over a standard chair so that she can be buckled in like a high chair. I brought it along just in case but it turns out every place we ate had ample high chairs so she was fine, short of trying to climb out the whole time.
- Long pants, sweaters: we lived in bathing suits or tank tops and shorts/skirts. It was in the high 30's (C) the whole time. HOT. Even at night.
- Valuables: I felt great keeping my expensive camera, my wedding rings, and my wallet at home. It was just better than accidently losing anything.


Other Tips
- You will have to pay a $25 CUC airport tax when you leave. Be sure to have cash on you.
- The exchange rate from pesos back to CDN is brutal. Just spend it at the duty free shop.
- You can bring back 50 cigars per person, and 2 bottles of liquor per person.
- Hang on to your "tourist visa card" that you fill out on the plane. Very important.
- Re-apply sunscreen often. We are all peeling like snakes right now.

My garden vision 2015

This year it's a whole new ballgame for me because I'm at a new house that has NO GARDEN. The joys of a new build!

Calvin and I love the idea of raised garden beds. It looks clean and neat, and it's great for the plants because the soil keeps warm and can retain water but also drain. It ends up extending the season of your garden which is great for an Ontario gardener!

I'd like to make three 1.5'x4.5' cedar beds that are 8" high and fill with an organic 3-in-1 soil. I may go steal some worms from my mom's house too. I'm sure her garden has enough to share.

I'm also planning a small flower patch out front by our porch.

So far my plan is to grow a good variety of veggies out back, along with a few fruits, and in the front I'll grow mainly ornamental things, or I guess dual-purpose (like lavender and sunflowers since they're also good for culinary purposes.)

Based on the idea of companion planting, I'm thinking I'll plant as follows...

Bed 1: Tomato, cherry tomato, broccoli, chives, garlic, onions
Bed 2: Snap peas, cucumbers, lettuce, parsley, rosemary, dill, potatoes
Bed 3: Squash, zucchini, berries, radish, spinach, sweet potato

That way each bed has a mix of large or trailing items, as well as underground veggies.

In the front I'd like to grow: sunflowers, lavender, and cool-weather daisies if possible. I'd like to plant fruit trees but I'd rather save that for a house that we're sure we'll live in for 10+ years.

I want to incorporate succulents in some way, but they just seem so small in a front garden. They're almost more of a desk plant, if you know what I mean. I just love the look of a faerie garden. Like this:



What are your garden plans for 2015?

Sample Source Unboxing April 2015

Oliver was happy to help me film an "unboxing" video today. We get boxes from Sample Source every so often and it's always fun to see what's inside. Oliver describes it as "gift for our whole family."

As described on their website - SampleSource members get the chance to "try before you buy" - with free samples from top home, health, makeup, and food products.You just register, answer questions about what you like and then wait for them to email you that a box is available.

You can watch the video below and then read our thoughts after that!

Jergens Shea Butter Moisturizer: We definitely prefer more "natural" moisturizers. If this one is meant for sensitive skin that could mean we're free and clear of the usual fragrances, etc. This may be a "give it away" product for us. We'd rather just use coconut oil.

Brookside Chocolate Covered Fruit: This stuff is super yummy but it's not as healthy as it's cracked up to be. As I say in the video, it's just fruit juices covered in chocolate, not real fruit pieces. Still a nice snack though, and probably contains at least some antioxidants. I love little packs because it helps me not eat a week's worth at once. And the company is great: last year I had a big bag of these and the bottom was covered in broken pieces, almost a dust of product that had been crushed. I emailed them and they immediately sent me a cheque (haha, yes a cheque!) to pay for me to get more product at a nearby store. They were so good about it, and really I wasn't expecting anything I just wanted to tell them about a potential issue. It's nice to find good customer service out there.

Arm & Hammer Truly Radiant Toothpaste: LOVE that they use baking soda in their products, HATE that it's a fluoride-containing toothpaste. For that reason I won't give it to my kids.

Breathe Right Strips: How awesome to find a practical solution to a problem, that doesn't use chemicals or surgery! Hello! I'm excited to see how these work for either Calvin, or myself when I have a cold. Less noise during the night = sleeping win.

Sunlight Dishwasher pucks: We might store these away for a desperate time when we've run out of our usual and can't get a new pack asap, but we are obsessed with Miele dishwashing pucks! They are the best!

Burt's Bees cotton extract moisturizer: Otttherrr than being purchased by Clorox a few years ago, I do love Burt's Bees. Generally good ingredients, cute packaging, and overall a better choice than many of the brands out there. The sample size is a little random because once you open it you can't reseal but it's way too much for just moisturizing my hands once.. I guess I'll need to find a group to share with or cover my whole body after a shower.

Everyday Exotic Basmati Rice: I am looking forward to cooking this! Both jasmine and basmati rice make the whole house smell yummy when you cook them. They go great with more "exotic" dishes like butter chicken. This package requires 1 1/4 cups of water and apparently makes 4 servings (unlikely).

Robax Platinum pain reliever: Certainly doesn't hurt to have this on hand for all of the projects we have planned for this summer (seriously: a fence, back stairs, 3 raised garden beds, a shed -- we will be busy).

Emergency C Orange: I love these 'juice crystals' for the times you think a cold might be coming on and you want a huge dose of vitamin C. Also an awesome options for people struggling with iron deficiency to take a package before an iron-containing meal like steak, for example, because it'll help you absorb the iron better. Also super yummy, kids like them.

Coupon for free Gluten free Catelli pasta: I've already texted a photo of this to my dad because he'll be the recipient of this.

Ziploc vacuum bags: Okay, so I've figured out that you use your own vacuum to suck the air out and therefore make storage easier (like, less than half the space). This'll be great for hats and mitts that we don't need during the summer. (PS It's April 21st and snowing like crazy. Love you Ontario.)

Soft soap coconut body wash: It can't hurt to throw this in a travel bag in the future. For some reason I have a hard time using sample packages for body wash at home, when I know they'd come in so handy on the road. But then wherever we go they provide body wash, so they just build up... Body wash problems.

Hawaiian Tropic SPF 30: Smells great! I do prefer to use Green Beaver sunscreen because it's super natural but like I said above, it's nice to have a little pack up sitting around the house for the times when you just run out but can't get to a store asap.

Learn about Blurb

If you're on the internet at all these days (you... are... on the internet right? someone isn't dictating this blog post to you verbally?) you know about Blurb. It's a service that prints photo books, and many other things. So today, let's learn a little more about Blurb.

I think the founding story is adorable, a total fluke. Blurb was started in the early 2000s when Eileen Gittins ( the founder) started getting really into photography. She wanted to make her photos into a nice coffee table photo book but she only wanted to print a handful of copies. The conundrum was that every publisher was quoting her hundreds of dollars for each book! She found this curious – and frustrating. So she asked herself, are there other people like me who want to affordably create their own high-quality book from their photos? The answer, of course, was yes, and it changed her life – and book publishing – forever. In 2006, Eileen launched Blurb, a simple book-designing (and publishing) site that could quickly produce beautifully made books at game-changing price.

Everyone from award-winning photographers, to couples wanting to commemorate the birth of their child started using Blurb – and still do. Even after almost a decade, people are still blown away by Blurb’s user-friendliness, quality, and affordability. People trust Blurb to create every kind of book imaginable, including: Cookbooks, Photo books, Yearbooks, Ebooks, Magazines, and more.

And little known fact alert!! You can also write and publish your own book. They actually have sales pages designed to make your book (it can be for the public or just invitation only), post a description and preview page, and then market it with social media. Don't tell anyone just yet but I totally plan on doing this.It's all compatible with Amazon and Apple iBooks Store so authors would have even more options for how they sell their books.

So that's my little "blurb", haha. Oh! And I almost forgot to mention that now through 4/28 you can get 20% off any book you create! If you make one, tell me about it!

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

14 month // 44 month update

If I do the math, apparently I’m sixteen days late on this update – my mistake! On the actual day Dakota turned 14 months we were just returning from our family vacation in Cuba, and ever since my brain has been in space cadet mode. That being said, here is my kiddo-update. (All photos from Cuba haha)

Clothes

The kids and I did a massive haul of clothes we don’t wear. We filled a Rubbermaid tote, like the big ‘put your Christmas decorations in it’ kind. I have a system with the kids… If Oliver’s clothes are too small, I throw them in a small bin in Dakota’s closet for her to try when she’s the right size. If it’s way masculine, or I just don’t see Dakota ever wearing it, I put it in a box to give away. When Dakota’s clothes get too small, I put them in the give away box too. Recently I posted on Facebook that I had clothes, toys, etc. to give away and I had tons of people interested. I was able to give away seven giant bags of things. But, sometimes I have no patience for making plans to get things to a friend who wants them and in that case we hop in the car and go straight to Value Village. Lucky enough the guy offered to lift the tote for me, and even returned it to my car after emptying it. While we were shopping inside we found some shorts, t-shirts and flip flops for Ollie, a shirt, some high-waisted jean shorts and a pair of green skinny jeans (just like her brother’s) for Kota, and a number of shirts for me. It was really fun. Then Oliver begged me to bring this Transformer toy home. He had no batteries and seemed innocent enough so I agreed. Later we took a trip to Home Depot and bought Ollie the right batteries. We pushed them in and WHOA this guy came to life. Apparently (according to what the toy screamed at us) he is a transformer robot named Stinky who turns into a garbage can. He loves eating other cars so he’ll scream FEED ME and open his mouth and Ollie can put cars inside, then they roll out the back of him like a garbage truck door. He’s so funny. Ollie says he is Stinky’s dad and he actually takes really good care of him. If we’re out and about and I want to get going back home, I’ll be like, Ollie we need to get home to feed Stinky, and he’ll say Okay no problem. Oliver is currently in some 3T and some 4T clothes, and size 10 shoes are very tight on him. Dakota is anywhere from 12 – 24 months and size 4 shoes I think. They both got new fedoras and sunglasses for Cuba – so cute!

Food

Dakota had a short stretch of being kind of a picky or distracted eater, but she’s back to being a super-eater in full force. She has no problem finishing an adult portion, in record time. Girl, loves, food. Oliver on the other hand, has huge trouble staying focused. I don’t know if I’ve seen him eat more than three consecutive bites ever. They both love bacon and doughnuts, of course. Oliver hates beans (Dakota loves them). They both drink a ton of water. Kota still nurses quite a bit.

Sleep

Another area that they are really different in. I forget if I’ve mentioned on the blog before that Dakota did a 180 in sleeping recently. Cal and I came home from seeing a movie at the theatre, our babysitter had Dakota in her crib asleep (she never used to go in there, ever), so Cal and I went to bed. We awoke the next morning at 8am stunned. She has slept 12 hours in her crib, without a fuss, every night since! (Okay there may have been 2 times in there were she cried a little during the night but nothing major.) 

Oliver…. Couldn’t be further from this. He is content to stay awake hanging with the adults until near midnight every night. If we put him to bed he leaves. Short of a physical brawl, we cannot keep him in bed. Then, if he finally falls asleep, be-it in his own bed or somewhere else and we transfer him, guaranteed by morning he will be back in our room. We typically don’t even hear or realize when he slips into our room during the night. For a while he was trying to sleep in our bed but we cut that out, so now he’ll walk to our room in the middle of the night with his own blanket and pillow and he’ll camp out on our floor. It’s so weird. Can’t understand it. But hey, at least we have the bed to ourselves and everyone’s happy. He sleeps until about 6:15am every morning. Then he helps me get ready for work and we watch cartoons together while we eat breakfast. It’s pretty hard to say goodbye to him that early because he’ll usually put up a fuss about it, asking me to stay home with him.

Child Care

We’ve been really blessed to be able to basically both work full time (I work around 60-70 hours every 2 weeks) and never need day care. Both our moms have been awesome for watching the kids at least once a week. We also had a dedicated babysitter until recently. (If you know anyone who needs some cash we have a few Tuesday morning/ Wednesday morning slots that we could use a sitter for!) It’s great that our schedules just seem to work out, save for once every  4 – 8 weeks when we both work the same weekend, then we have to do some fancy work to figure it out.

Activities

Lately we’ve been loving:

-          Playing trucks in the kinetic sand

-          Painting (including Easter eggs)

-          Bath party with ALL the toys

-          Walks around the neighbourhood / to the park / to the nature trail / to the river

-          Riding our bicycles/tricycles

-          Shopping

-          Eating pickles

-          Watching Big Hero 6 and Toy Story 1, 2, 3

-          Makeup party

-          Taking care of dolls

-          Petting dogs

-          Checking the mail, like it’s the greatest adventure we’ve ever been on

The kids have been super fun over the past while (and always). I love our little family of four and he stuff we get up to. As they get older it just gets more fun!