March Break... there is excitement in the air

Today is the first official day of March Break for my kids. 

"WOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHooooooooooooo",  screamed the children.

OK, that is from me too! 

This is my week to sleep in. And I am loving it already. As I have mentioned more than a few times, I work late. I don't get home from work until about 1:15 a.m. When the kids are in school it means getting up early in the morning to get the kids up and out the door for school. I usually only get about four to five hours of sleep most nights, except during March Break and summer vacation. Those days I get to sleep in and it is glorious. Yes, glorious. My children are old enough now to be self sufficient in the morning. They have been taught well. They have been taught not to wake up Mom early. They get up in the morning and are allowed to go downstairs to watch a movie and have breakfast. They usually get at least one movie in before the need to get me up. That need usually comes in the form of a fight (or more like bickering).


Today was a lazy first day. The kids (and Mom) stayed in their PJ's until late in the afternoon. There has already been a long list of movies watched and many more still to come. 

Tomorrow, the kids are going to go to a local shop for a gardening workshop. They are very excited. There will also no doubt be a lot of hanging out with friends this week. 

Here are a few of my March Break survival tips....

1. Be Flexible
I try not to plan too much for the week. This is for two reasons; my sanity and the kid's sanity. I am still working this week so I don't want to have too much on my plate during the day. I also think that if we do too much then the kids burn out or melt down and then no one has fun. I like the kids to have a chance to unwind during March break.

2. Have Fun
This is so important. The whole point of planning activities for the kids is so that everyone has fun. It is a chance for the kids (and Mom) to let loose.

3. Get Active
OK, I know this is not exactly what we did today. Today was all about tips number one and two; having fun and being flexible! There is always so much to do this week that gets everyone outside. Today the weather where we live was beautiful. After spending much of the day on the couch, the kids did get outside to scooter, hang with friends and enjoy the sunshine. There is nothing like fresh air to keep everyone happy and healthy.


What are you and your kids doing this March Break? 

What are your March Break survival tips? I would love to hear them, please leave me a comment and share! 

Weekend With My Girls

 

 We are so lucky. We are only minutes away from this, a beautiful beach in Burlington. It is a great place to spend a few hours with my girls. Every summer we make sure to get there for at least one afternoon. It is an opportunity to spend time together  just hanging out. I brought a book and the girls brought a ball, their shovels and buckets and got down to work.

It is so important to spend time together and just be together. I am a firm believer in the need to slow down and just be together and not running and rushing around from one activity to another.  I think kid are often over scheduled these days, running around from one sports activity to another, to piano, art and gymnastics. They rarely get the chance to just be kids, to enjoy connecting with siblings and friends, and just indulging their creativity and imaginations.  The beach gave my kids the chance to just hang out together, have fun and not worry about the time and where we had to be in an hour. They just played for hours enjoying the sun, sand and surf, together.

Summer Vacation! Do You Have a Plan?

Ah great days at the cottage. Ya, those are part of our summer plan. Well, I will admit is really isn't a plan. I actually try not to have a plan per say for the summer. It is actually more of a wish list really. I like to keep the summer months with the kids lose and free. I work nights and so during the school year I don't get to spend very much time with my two girls during the work/school week. When summer comes around we all look forward to just spending time together, no matter what it is that we are doing.

So, there are a few things on our summer wish list. We hope to make it to the beach a couple of days, they kids are hoping to play with friends a lot, they also have a few sleep overs on that list also, and of course there will be a lot of sleeping in!!!

I rarely put the kids in summer camps. I don't like to be over scheduled for the summer. I don't like the idea of having to get up early and rushing off to any particular place. Some of the best summer memories that I have are the days when the girls and I say in our PJ's for most of the day and just hang our together, watching movies or talking. Those are some serious cuddle moments and as the kids get older those are becoming few and far between.

Do you create a plan? Or do you wing it for the summer? I would love to hear what you do with the kids for the summer.

I Am Looking Forward to March Break

It is true.

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo looking forward to March Break.

Here is just two reasons why....

REASON #1

 REASON #2

But there is another reason.....

While I LOVE spending time with my girls - since I don't get to see them much on school days because I work nights -  there is another, very important reason that I am longing for March Break.

IT IS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

REASON # 3

And NO I don't mean feet. I am talking about SLEEP, glorious sleep. It will be a week where I can actually sleep in every single day. You see if you don't know already I work nights. I don't get home until 1 a.m. and get up with my husband in the morning to get the kids off to school for 8:45 a.m.. To be honest it is a schedule that just sucks the life out of me so I need this week ahead to recharge my batteries.

Are you looking forward to March Break? Why... OR Why NOT?


I would love to hear from you

Back to the Grind

I love going up to the cottage. It is so relaxing and it is always great to spend time with the family. My kids love the freedom of being at the cottage, they swim all day and sit around the fire roasting marshmallows at night. Everyone sleeps well. Ahhh.... it is relaxing just to think about our weekend at the cottage.

BUT ........

It is shocking how quickly that feeling of relaxation washes away. I was back at work Tuesday night and by Wednesday morning I was exhausted again. I was once again feeling worn down and slightly stressed out. Why is it the affects of the weekend getaway don't last longer, can't seem to withstand the stresses of regular life?

I think maybe the trick is to work a little bit of that cottage life into my everyday life. I need to take more time to relax, really relax. I need to take time out and put my feet up and not worry, stress or think about cleaning, dinner, laundry, work ... etc. Easier said then done I think.

 What do you think? What do you do to keep that vacation feeling? How do you relax and unwind during the week?

Me, Kids and Money

I am going to be honest here.....

I am not that good with money.

There I said it. It is not that I am terrible with it exactly but more that I don't really know what to do with it and how to make my money really work for me and make me more money. I work, I make money and I even work freelance to make a little extra money but I don't think that my money is really working for me. To be honest, the freelance work is not really where I would like it to be. In my dreams, the freelance work is enough from me to retire from my full time - punch a clock - work. I would love to be writing from my great third floor office (right now the great third floor office is a toy play room for the kids - a work in progress ). I work hard but would love to work better, not harder. I think part of the key to that is making the money that I do have do more things for me.

I love this blog post from Chatelaine....I would love my kids to know about money too!

http://www.chatelaine.com/en/blog/post/24593--five-things-i-want-my-kids-to-know-about-money


I think sometimes we forget to talk to our kids about money, to teach them the importance of money, of saving it and how to spend it wisely.  We live in such a got-to-have it culture now a days, our children have everything they need and nearly everything they want. We have become such consumers, we are making our children super consumers. My kids are always wanting something, needing something, desperate to have the next-latest-greatest thing. I hope that through my experiences and our family money experiences that I am able to teach my children to be better savers and smarter spenders than I am.


What techniques or tools to you use to budget or spend wisely? How are you teaching your children to be smarter spenders and savers?

DEFINING WHO WE ARE, MOMS!

It's kinda funny this Mom thing. It's the dog days of summer and by now my girls are kind of driving me crazy. They are getting restless. There is a lot of fighting and bickering and tattling. They are getting a little bored with summer vacation. And frankly, I have been ready for back to school for days, just wanting my little darlings out of my hair for more than a few minutes.


Sooooooooooooo, I put them in dance camp. They go every summer, it's just a half day till lunch time. It is at the studio they dance at during the year so it is a good primer for them to get excited about dancing again. They love it, I love it BUT I find my self sitting hear wondering what to do with my free morning. Strange right? Or not? When I think about us Moms when our kids are around we wish we had some alone time, just a few moments of solitude, of peace and quiet and the when the kids are gone we find ourselves a little lost, wishing the kids were around.

It is like our kids become our identity, who we are. We almost don't know what to do without our kids. OK, I know some of you are laughing, saying I'm crazy but deep down you know it's true you just don't want to admit it. We Moms struggle with our identity, our identity separate from our kids. That's why a lot of women struggle with who they are when their children reach their teen years and don't need Mommy waiting on them hand and foot, or when children go off to university.

How do we as women make sure we define ourselves not just as Mothers but as all the things that we are, our whole selves and not just one aspect of our lives? We are so much more than just one thing, we are complex Right???

How do you define yourself? How do you make sure you are more than just a Mom?

HEY LOOK AT MY FEET

We have a little soccer dynamo in our house. K is playing soccer again this year. I say that loosely because last year was like pulling teeth every game, more for my hubbie than for me. My husband took her to soccer nights every week and it was just painful. This year is a different story. She loves it and she's good at it too. She looks the part this year, all the way down to her toes. I discovered a NEAT product for your budding athlete, called CLEATSKINS.


They go over my daughter's soccer shoes, protecting her cleats and also protecting my floors. They come in cool colours. I got my daughter a pair of pink camo CLEATSKINS.



The other cool thing is she is ahead of the curve, no one else has a pair on her team and she is the envy of many of the kids and parents.

We have had many questions about where we got them. We love our pair, they are easy to get on and easy to get off. They just slip on and off. We can pull them off fast so K can get on the field and get playing.



The great thing about the product is that is comes in many colours and it isn't just for kids. It actually comes in adult sizes for many sports, like golf, baseball and football.
I think the story of Cleatskins is inspiring. The product was created by parents of three very active children. Rick Kay, a former college athlete, with his wife Marianne, were inspired to come up with Cleatskins out of necessity. After replacing yet another pair of expensive cleats for his eldest son, Rick was inspired to find a way to make cleats last longer. He and his wife experimented with a lot of things, including store bought sandals and rubber shower caps. With prototype in-hand, the two enlisted the talents of footwear experts Chris Walsh of CW Resources, Inc. and Erik Purdom of Erik Purdom Design to refine and perfect their innovation.
Cleatskins are crafted from state-of-the-art materials, the innovative SKINTEK™ rubber shell fits effortlessly over cleats to take them to the streets, so busy athletes can move on and off the field faster. And so Cleatskins were born.

I think this is going to be a great soccer season. K is turning into quiet the pro. She has scored at least 3 goals in every game so far.I think she has found her game. It is fantastic that she has found a summer sport that she likes, it's great exercise and a great way to meet new friends.




What do you do to keep your kids active?

GET READY DISNEY, HERE WE COME! AGAIN!

So we are hooked. On Disney that is.




Growing up my parents took our family, all 5 kids, to Florida every few years. A lot of those vacations included a day trip to Disney. It was a challenge I am sure for my parents to save up the money on one income to take 2 adults and 5 kids to the most Magical place on earth for kids. Now that I have children of my own, I wanted to make sure they got to experience the joy and magic of Disney. We went for the first time last year. There were 9 of us. We stayed at Disney, at the All Star Sport, a value resort. It was great value for the money and perfect for anyone with kids. The rooms were good, not huge but enough room. We had 3 rooms in total, two of them were adjoining. The pool was warm and the food was tasty, with a perfect choice for everyone in the family, even my Dad who has to eat gluten free. We were the perfect group, my parents ( now grandparents), my sister, my niece and nephew, my husband and our two children.



It was as magical as I had hoped for my kids. They were awe struck the entire two days at the park. It was so much fun we are going back again this holiday season. This year there will be 10 of us in all. This time we are going to stay 3 nights, 4 days.



I have to say I have learned a lot from our last Grand Gathering visit. This time I have done a lot more research, asked more questions and searched on the Internet more. I must admit advice, tips and tricks from other mothers has really paid off. The main Disney site was helpful, including the live chat option where you can chat live on line with a Disney agent, and a site I recently discovered that is all this Disney, unofficially that is. It's call AllEars.net . There is also fellow Mommy and twitter friend Resourceful Mommy, she has a Disney section on her blog.

This year we are putting a plan together, what park to go to first, what rides to go to, etc, in an effect to make it the most fun it can be. We want to get the most we can out of our trip.

The kids can hardly wait. I can hardly wait. There is too much excitement and we are still months away.

What's your favourite ride, story or memory of Disney? Would love to hear your tips, tricks or advice about going to Disney.

GET MOVING

So as I mentioned in an earlier post, my girls ran in a kids fun run. I was thrilled they were even interested in signing up but I was more than proud when they ran the run, finishing it all by them selves.

I will be the first to admit that I am not the most active or athletic person these days. I wish I was, and while I have excuses, none of the are really a reason that I am not moving more these days. When I was a child I was very active, I was a gymnast, a soccer player, basketball player, swimmer and there wasn't a single summer day that I wasn't out on my bicycle. Today, life and work have gotten in my way and now I am just out of shape ( I am ashamed to say). I could do with losing a few pounds but more than that I would like to be in better shape, to be able to keep up with my kids.

My children, like most children, are busy. They are up in the morning and outside before breakfast, riding bikes, scooters, skipping, running and playing.

According to Active Healthy Kids Canada's annual report on physical activity, Canadian youngsters get a failing grade when it comes to getting active. In 2008, 87 per cent of children and youth did not get the recommended minimum of 90 minutes of physical activity a day.

Despite the large proportion of children not meeting the guidelines, it's still an improvement compared to 2006, when 91 per cent of kids weren't reaching the target according Active Healthy Kids Canada. The biggest culprits? TV, computers and video games.

Those numbers are sad. Children should be active, enjoying the world. Most children are carefree. Most adults should be too. I am making a pledge to be more active, whether it's walking instead of taking the elevator or walking around the block or even going to the gym!

What are you doing to keep moving and get your family more active?

KIDS ASK THE FUNNIEST QUESTIONS!

It is true what they say about kids...they do say the funniest things. Case in point.

I went to the grocery story with "M" today before picking up my oldest daughter from school. We just had a couple of things to pick up. You should know that in the past weeks, "M" has become very curious about everything. She wants to know about everything, why and how. You get the picture.

So feeling rather chatty today, "M" decides the toilet paper isle is a great place to ask this..." Mommy, how do babies come out? Do they come out of your pee-pee?" It is important to remember "M" is only 3 years old. I laugh and say that maybe we could talk about in the car. To which she says "Do they come from here? ( pointing up her skirt) I answered yes and that seemed to appease her curiosity for the time being.

The lady grabbing a package of toilet paper was practically rolling over in the isle. I'm sure half the people waiting at the check out lines heard "M" as well.

Kids do say the funniest things. Do you have a funny parenting moment?

CHRISTMAS CRAZINESS

I know, I know.

Christmas is everywhere but it does seem early to be talking about Christmas. My hubbie and I have been talking about all the places and people we need to see this holiday season. Frankly, I am amazed at how much we have to do next month. We have a company kids party, dinner with friends, my parents holiday open house, Christmas dinner with the in-laws, meeting friends we haven't seen in years who are coming to Ontario from out West, Christmas dinner with my parents, and then drive to Florida. I'm sure I am forgetting a few things in there.

It may not seem like a lot, but remember I do have to get kids to school, get myself to work, write a couple of freelance articles, Christmas shop, pack for our trip. ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I worry that the part of the holiday's that I love the most, spending time with friends and family, will get lost in the shuffle of Christmas. I especially love to curl up on the couch with the kids, with a great coffee or hot chocolate ( with lots of marshmallows), and watch great Christmas specials, like Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty, It's a Wonderful Life.

What's your favourite part of the holiday season? Do you have a favourite Christmas special on TV?

GERMS, GERMS...EVERY WHERE

When it rains it pours, that is never truer when it comes to sickness in my house. The past few weeks I have been fighting off a cold, with a wicked cough to boot. All last week all I wanted to do was take a long nap, a week long nap really. That was not to be. While I was sick, my youngest got sick. She had a runny nose, cough, a persistent fever and then the vomiting began. ( hurray!) That lasted for two nights. Just what Mommy wants to do at 2 am...clean up vomit. Just when "M" got better, my oldest fell victim. As she walked out of school last Thursday she said, " Mommy, I don't feel very well." And, you guessed it, we got home and the puking began. Nice. Of course, it doesn't help that she has been coughing and wiping a runny nose for at least a week. We had another round of the vomiting on Sunday too. And is Mommy feeling better, not quite but I am on the road to recovery. I'm still waiting for that very long nap though.

What is it with kids? How do they manage to catch everything?

What's your best/worst sick kid story?