Saturday we ventured down to the Oval for skating lessons. You see, I'm going for Mother of the year and forgot to sign Austin up for skating lessons with HRM Rec on the right date and now all the classes are full. And he loves to skate. I cannot justify $125 for skating lessons through minor hockey and so the logical solution is the free lessons at the Oval..yes I said FREE! It's pretty hard to beat free.

Only problem was that Austin didn't want to participate in the lesson. He just wanted to skate, so did Aisygirl, so off they went!

ahhhhh! I just love watching these two friends together :)

Now here is someone who was a little excited

And she did pretty good on the  ice! She moved her little Bob skates pretty well. Her helmet was a little big and we didn't adjust it properly (I'll have it fixed for next time) but we made it work.

Mais oui! We have matching hats :) Thanks True Moon Creations!

The snow was coming down like crazy and the ice was a little sticky. But we all had fun.

Frozen and covered in snow, we made our way to the car. And then to Starbucks...

Amelia's cup was empty but she had great fun "cheers"-ing her brother. Looking forward to doing it again this Saturday!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake

I stopped baking so that I could lose some weight...I haven't lost much weight and I miss baking.

My cousin and her family came down over Christmas and we had a Christmas Dinner at my aunt and uncle's house and I was asked to bring desert. My subconscious was obviously arrived at the place where I needed to up my game and I searched Pinterest for something simple but impressive. I found this:

I didn't follow the instructions perfectly but mine turned out like this:

And it was well received

You did say that I could use this picture L!

Someone got a fork in before I snapped the picture!

Other than there being a couple of steps, this was easy, tasty and looked pretty impressive!

How to make the world adore you...

The Parade of Lights marks the beginning of the Christmas season for us. It seems like it is acceptable to begin decorating after the annual holiday Parade. After all Santa is there, and it just seems like it would be odd NOT to start getting ready after that. Last year we started a tradition of holding a Holiday Season Kick Off Brunch the morning after the parade. This year it was at our house and it was there that I finally had Dan's Cinnamon Rolls. I had heard of these delicious little baked goods...although they aren't really little  I was told that one bite would do me in...and they were right. After my first bit I professed my love for my friend's husband and tried to barter with her in an effort to enslave him in my own kitchen. (Doesn't hurt that he is almost as easy on the eyes as my own husband ;) ! )

Seriously...look at these things! Can you blame me?!

They were very quick to offer up the recipe (probably so I'd stop trying to trade my kitchen aid for her husband) and during my back to basics weekend I decided to give them a shot.

I open the Pioneer Woman's web site and burst out laughing. Her post begins with:

"A warning. If you follow these instructions and wind up delivering these cinnamon rolls to your friends, be prepared for any of the following to occur:

1. They’ll call you after they’ve taken the first bite and profess their eternal love for every ounce of your body.
2. They’ll pass out after the first bite, hit their head on the kitchen counter, sustain a concussion, and sue you for damages, despite the fact that the one bite they tasted of your cinnamon roll was the single most profound culinary experience in their miserable little life.
3. They’ll call you and ask for the recipe, saying, "HOW did you make those?"
4. They’ll call you and propose marriage.
5. They’ll hug the cinnamon roll pan, get maple frosting all over their clothes, and send you the bill for the dry cleaning."

And ITS TRUE!!!! So go there! Get the recipe and make these bad boys! I warn you they make a lot so either be prepared to share these puppies or get super fat.

1/3 of the dough

I have to admit I am proud of my perfect rectangle...I love my marble rolling pin.

So much butter, sugar and cinnamon. The goodness just could not be contained!

 I didn't use the maple icing that Ree suggests. I ladled (yes...I used a soup ladle) real cream cheese frosting on top moments after removing these bites of heaven from my oven.

So make these....a wee time consuming just because there are a few steps, but oh so worth it!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Happiness is...2 hours with Aunt Janice on a Sunday afternoon...



Sweetly Signing

On Sunday my son showed me another reason why he is simply the sweetest boy around. You may have to turn it up. He was signing softly so that he didn't hurt Ethan's ears.

He and Ethan are going to have so much fun growing up together...and yes, that is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer that he is signing, it's Christmas carol;s year round in our house. One of the side effects of Gordon and I begging him in the womb to be like his Aunt Janice.

Cleaning out the closets...literally

If you couldn't tell from last Tuesday's manifesto, I'm sick of clutter. My Aunt just happens to be a professional mover (as in she's moved about 9 million times in the past 25 years...that may be a stretch..it's been a few times) and I happen to love how when I'm at her place there isn't anything there that doesn't belong. There are no piles of "stuff" that have little to know value clogging up the arteries of her home. One day over sewing conversation she offered to give me a hand to get organized. I think it started from my constant complaining about my kitchen and how it doesn't work for us...She offered to come give us a hand and we picked a date.

So on a Saturday morning mid-December, Debbie showed up with pizza and chocolate milk (buying Austin's love....he thinks she's the greatest! lol) Ozzy went skating, Amelia went down for a nap and she and I got to work.

I initiated a one touch rule. I had to decide if it was keep, donate or trash. We decided to start in our living room and entrance way where our "dumping station" was. You know you do it to...come home at the end of the day and drop bags by the stairs, kids coats go flying, mittens end up on the ceiling fan and boots magically appear under couch cushions. Mail gets piled on the ledge and once a month it gets opened. What? You don't do that...well this is awkward....moving on!

We went through the front closet and got rid of coats, old shoes and useless items that just ended up there. I ditched about half of my fabric shopping bags and paired down our winter accessories. Broken flip flops and too small shoes gone.  Papers were sorted, filed and shredded. The armoire that we bough as a storage solution to cure our "dumping" and was being used as a catch all all instead. It was emptied and organized. 3 hours later our entrance/living/dining room was dug out....and I could see surfaces I haven't seen in awhile. It felt good. I was tired, more emotionally than physically, but was happy with the progress.

That night G and I decided to tackle the kids' toys and play area. It was about to be Christmas and we just do not have the space to keep old broken toys or toys they have out grown with Santa about to bring in a whole lotta fun! Austin helped a bit but after the kids were in bed the real work began. If it was broken- gone, Happy Meal toy-gone (except his spy gear...he loves those gadgets),torn books, piece-less puzzles..all gone.

Our first day of cluttering yielded 8 bags of "trash" and 2 full bags of "donate". I have no before picture....You've all seen the clutter in background of adorable pics of my littles...But here is the after:

And do you know what the most incredible thing is? I took that picture on a Sunday afternoon without doing any tidying up first! That is an unheard of event in my house since Austin was 18 months old! Embarrassed- yes but way more excited than embarrassed!

Now on to the redecorating...New flooring will be installed and I've got all the furniture picked out. Maybe I should ask Hubby his opinion...nah!..on to the most tedious part...paint and fabric.  My goal is to have the main floor all painted, flooring down a a few improvements to the kitchen completed by the summer...In the meantime everyone start wishing for an Ikea sale!!!

Wordless Wednesday (okay maybe just a few)

We have a new baby and my babies love him!!! Welcome Ethan. We've been waiting for you!

Just one pinch PUHLEEESE!

This picture seriously breaks my heart... he loves his new cousin Ethan

There's an app for that...

I love my iPhone...not in a weird, I should be on an episode of My Strange Addictions way, but in a, I've found cool apps that are actually useful way.There is an app for everything and most of them are free.

One thing I desperately need to do for myself is to get, and stay, organized. I'm so much calmer and feel way more collected when things are in order. Anyone who has known me a long time will attest that I have fallen from my "Martha" perch since having kids. Before kids, I would apologize for the mess when people dropped by. My apology was met with perplexed sideways glances as people would try to see what was out of place in my perfectly put together living space. After kids, my apologies for the mess were met with sympathetic expressions. I could see the gears turning in people's heads...couch cushions all rumpled from being piled high for forts, the mountain of laundry that took up a seating space and begged to be folded in the corner of our family room, burp cloths and receiving blankets haphazardly strewn about the house, my hair was pulled back in a ponytail, yoga pants had a day's worth of boogers and drool on them and my darling newest little either attached to me in a wrap or cradled in my arm...screaming her little head off.

It's not that I LIKED how my house had fallen to the wayside... I just didn't have the energy to care about it. My main goal each and every day since having my littles has been to ensure that they are loved, busy and alive. I was getting little to no sleep, and surviving on coffee, donuts, kiddie left overs and the support of a few good friends (and my husband now understands why I wanted a text plan for our phone!)

It wasn't pretty but this was me....

And I'm tired of it....not of pouring everything into my kids, but of the chaos that holds me back from reaching my goals. So 2013 is the year to get organized... only I'm not giving us a year...I'm getting this set up in January (Well hello Super Type A Personality...nice to see you again!) and just to make my life easier there is an app for that!

I've already gotten a head start on the house (more to come) so next it just makes sense to tackle our finances. You know how you watch those tv shows that talk about money and you're all "Oh man are they stupid! There's no WAY I'd ever waste that much"....well enter Mint* and I discovered that our December latte factor was WAY out of whack. This little app allows us to always see the balances in our accounts, on our credit card, mortgage, etc. I can go to the store and know exactly how much money we have. We've set up our budgets for everything from monthly utility payments to entertainment and diapers and now we have to live within them...because I don't want to see the red line that will show up if we don't! Austin is 4 now and it's time to start teaching him about money. He is already saving for his "Special Trip" (he has no idea where we're going but he knows he needs money to get there). (More on that later)

So is January a perfect time to redo the budgets and get ourselves organized? I think so. The shiny new minivan in our driveway thinks so too. And so does my need for order and calm. Now that I have the happiest little girl instead of a shrieking violet and a boy who is growing and maturing at a rate I can hardly stand, there really is no excuse not to. And besides my kids deserve us to get this right.

Yup Christmas morning....looks like they had too much eggnog at the Reindeer kegger!

Now let's just see how this goes...

* I think I need to put in a disclaimer....no one at Mint knows me or has paid me to say good things about them!

A Snowman Dinner

No snow? No problem!!!

Oz has been wanting to make a snowman for awhile and up until a few days ago there was none to be had long enough to build a fun snow buddy out of. So the other night I decided that we would have a snowman dinner!

Snowman Pizza was on the menu along with Snowman Soup. We started with some pizza dough (I really like the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry recipe...but running short on time I picked up some dough at Sobey's), layered on alfredo sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese, veggies for the buttons, eyes and nose. Bake at 350 for abouut 20-25 minutes and voila! Snowman Pizza!

We washed down our delicious pizza with Snowman Soup (aka hot cocoa) while watching Frosty the Snowman in front of our Snowman clad fireplace. Yup...we've got a bit of a snowman problem...lol

Back to Basics

This weekend I needed to gather myself. December passed by in a blur and there were so many things I had planned, had wanted to do, that ended up going to the wayside.  And to top it all off I got sick on Dec 30 and I don't remember the last time I was so sick. I was oh so lucky to catch that flu that has been making its way around Halifax. We had to cancel our New Year plans and then I just didn't bounce back the way I usually do.  By Friday I was starting to feel better, just in time to get a text saying that Ozzy wasn't feeling so hot. So I decided that our New Year do-over would have to wait and this weekend would be a real break.

For two days we've cuddled, played match games, Gator Golf and hockey and watched a Christmas movie. We took the kids outside in the snow and built Nippy the snowman. Sweetie Pie isn't the biggest fan of snow but we finally found something she did like...the sled! G and Ozzy took turns pulling her around the yard until it was time to come in for naptime, cookies and snowman soup.

Those rosie cheeks just kill me!

Not sure where the name nippy came from...

We packed away Christmas, I planned meals for the week, packed lunches and got the kids ready for tomorrow. We hugged littles, napped, played dolly and tea party, hot wheels and read books.

I sewed a couple of small projects and then I found myself back in the kitchen. It's been awhile since I have actually cooked my family a meal. I'm ashamed to admit that it's been grab and go, simple and fast. So I took out the pots and made soup and dinner rolls. Fresh bread that didn't rise right....The upside was that the soup was delicious. Today I tried the rolls again and they turned out just fine! Even Ozzy told me that they were much better then the other ones.

These were the rolls that didn't rise so well...

2013 is a year to get pulled back together. I have allowed myself to get pulled in too many directions, and not enough time focusing my energy. I have so much that I want to do and so much that I want to teach my kids.  So keep following along on our adventure!

Happy New Years!!!

A Moment of Silence for the Children of Newtown, Conn.

I've been silent lately. I just haven't been making the time to write. I have so much to update you on..but first I have to write about the unspeakable tragedy that occurred not even a week ago in Newtown, Conn.

I cannot comprehend how something like this can even happen....how ill and misguided a person would have to be to senseless slaughter babies....yes the children were 6-7 years old but they are sombody's babies. I can not help but cry and tear up when I think of the heartbreak of the families of the children and of the teachers who tried to protect them.  During the holiday season, the family traditions and the excitement that comes along with it makes their loss that much harder to bear. I have been holding my own babies a little tighter as this was a sharp reminder that happiness is not guaranteed and that at any moment, the love and life we sometimes take for granted can be taken from us without any notice. In all the hustle and bustle of the season I challenge each and every one of you to take a moment to reflect on your blessings, hug your children and make sure that the people in your life know that you love them.



A photographer posted this on Facebook....I did not get the name but as soon as
I find it again I will give appropriate credit.

 Remember these children and teachers, keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Nancy Lanza

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

What is the world coming too? How do we protect our children yet not make them fearful of everyone and everything? You do the best you can to raise respectful, independent and loving people. You do everything you can to protect them and teach them and you pray that they will turn out okay. That life will be okay.

It isn't just the gun control system that needs to be looked at, but the health care system as well. Fewer guns would no doubt be helpful, but what would be most helpful is better access to mental health programs and more resources. The shooter was also someone's child, Nancy Lanza's child, and because he took her life as well as his own, we will never know what truly drove him to commit such an unspeakable act. Violence against the innocent and those who cannot protect themselves is possible the worst crime of all.

The Pumpkin patch

I don`t like to be cold and even when fall moves in and the chill comes with it, I put off turning on the heat for as long as humanly possible. Somehow turning the dial on the thermostat is almost like admitting that winter is coming and that I am completely unprepared for the snow. This past Saturday morning I had to turn the dial...and let me tell you I could just hear the money burning in my furnace! (The price of oil these days is a bit nuts.)

The good thing about the crisp air is that it mean the holiday season drought is over and it is time to get festive. Just a week ago we celebrated Thanksgiving and we pulled out the sweaters and shoes that cover our toes and made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.

We had a great time at Dill`s Pumpkin Patch and we came home and broke out Ghoasty (the inflatable ghost that Austin named two years ago) and decorated the front steps with our pumpkin haul. Austin had wanted to bring home the 883lb pumpkin but, unfortunately, it wouldn`t fit in the car. I think it would have made the perfect fall decoration for the front yard...I could have used it to cover my poor neglected garden!

Thanks to our trip to Windsor, I was in the mood to decorate for fall so our front entry way now looks like this:

 

and I`m working on something for the basement.

 

 

I may dread flicking that dial, but it does bring good things....now if only I can figure out how to bring home that massive pumpkin...

 



Four

I can still remember every moment of the day he was born. From the early morning call to the hospital to find out if they could take us, to the four attempts to move me from the recovery room up to the 5th floor. The most important thing I remember is the moment I changed. The moment they place my swaddled bundle next to my head and I breathed him in, the moment I became a mother.

I get to be mom to my crazy, smart, amazing little guy and his fourth birthday was something to celebrate! He wanted a Mario party even though I had been Pinning and planning a superhero party and so Mario was what he got! I started looking through Pinterest for ideas and found some awesome inspiration and some great printables. I took a day off work to get things done and with the help of Gordon and Shelley, we pulled it off. Austin was thrilled and told me that he loved it...and that is why I do the crazy birthday party thing....

We had Mario inspired cookies:

Snickerdoodles (hand shaped into the Toad)

Stars and Yoshi eggs are sugar cookies decorated with royal icing

Printables for the cupcakes, juice boxes and water bottles can be found here

Gordon made three Mario `Karts` out of boxes and set up a course in the back yard. The kids took turns with the karts but that didn`t stop them from all running at the same time! They each got a mushroom coin purse and won gold coins every time they raced.

  

Then while the parents warmed up with coffee and devoured the nacho dip, the kids ate cupcakes and opened gifts.

 

 

Any day that involves my boy looking that happy is a day that is worthwhile.



Happy Birthday Austin Walter Paul!!