30 Days of Photos - dayONE

Today I lucked out and upon walking out my front door had a friendly face looking up at me!  I ran to the kitchen, grabbed by Rebel and darted back outside to snap a couple pictures of our local deers.

My visitor - it almost looks like he's saying "Hi!"

 

Much like the bunnies who have taken over Kamloops, BC our town has a population of White Tail Deer that call our town home.  They can be seen pretty much everywhere, and have even been known to cross the street in the crosswalks (there is actually even photo evidence of this claim!).  For the most part, humans and deer live quite contently in the same space.  We have learned to give them a wide berth when passing by.

As is the case with all wildlife there are some residents who are not fans of the deer as they tend to eat pretty things out of gardens, but I still revel in the beauty of these majestic animals. We are truly fortunate to bear witness to wildlife like deers and eagles on a daily basis.

And a friend too!

See you tomorrow for dayTWO!

Pet Peeves

Do you have many?  My list is small.  I have three that top the charts. Lying, being late and not RSVPing to events.

With Malie's birthday party two days away one of my top pet peeves is making its way into the picture.

RSVP....respondez s'il vous plait.  It really isn't all that hard to do.  Yet no one has.  Not RSVPing to birthday parties makes it very difficult to properly plan a party.  Without knowing how many kids are coming you risk not having enough goodie bags, food and gosh, sometimes even not enough space!  It also puts added pressure on parents to invite extra people just incase no one shows up to the party.

Tala's first year in town here was one of those disappointing years for her.  She invited all the kids at her preschool and no one showed up aside from her awesome cousin and an older friend.  As she sat in the restaurant asking them not to bring out the food yet as she knew they were coming my heart broke.

The next year in Kindergarten on the Thursday before her birthday party no one had RSVPd for her party.  After much heeing and hawing about it I ended up staying up late making invites for everyone in her class in hopes of staving off that whole no one showing up kerfuffle.  To my surprise every single kid in her class, plus some family friends showed up to par-tay!  30 kids in my little house!!!!  Thank goodness for my Dad and his crazy hot dog antics.

We really haven't had a lot of success planning and executing parties in town.  The parties themselves are always well thought out, and very personalized.  My kids have a blast.  Malie's favorite from years gone past are her two years of Pancake Brunch Parties.  Who doesn't love pancakes covered with fruit compote, whipped toppings, gummy worms and sprinkles?  Tala's favourite is her Mad Hatter's Tea Party from two years ago.  The little hats I made were so cute, and are still in one piece 2 and a half years later!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party Hats, made from Styrofoam Cups!!!

 

With Malie's Mermaid Party going forward on Saturday our fingers are crossed for a wonderful turnout...and some last minute RSVPs! 

 

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Pray for Oklahoma

I like many others across the world watched in horror as the state of Oklahoma was put into a state of emergency.  I can't even imagine going through what these people went through, and I like many others wanted to help in some way.

The awesome folks of Rainbow Swirlz (located in Stroud, Oklahoma) have released a limited edition T-Shirt to help raise funds to help rebuild.  They will be taking orders until the 28th of this month, after which the shirts will be distributed, locally or via the post.  The shirts are $15 each (shipped) and proceeds will be donated where they will do the most good.

There are a variety of colours available, in sizes Youth Small, Medium and Large, as well as Adult Sizes Small through 4XL!

Visit Rainbow Swirlz at their Facebook Page today for more information, or to order your shirt!

I am not surprised that Rainbow Swirlz has stepped up to help in any way they can as they are just that amazing of a company.  I have long been a Rainbow Swirlz fan, and highly recommend them to everyone!

Growing Up

A sappy, sob story of a post!  My baby turned 7 years old yesterday.  I cannot believe that the time has flown by so fast that my babies have grown up into such amazing young ladies.  Hard to believe that just yesterday I was bringing our new addition home.

 This teeny tiny baby grew up into this little lady

Hard to believe that this is the same little girl!

As a young Mother I went through the typical panic of bringing home a new baby with a child at home already.  My first born daughter was only 18 months old when her sister came home, so that gave me an additional set of typical new Mom worries.  2 kids in diapers, what was I thinking?  Luckily the girls quickly became inseparable and quelled my worries.

 

All of these years later the girls are still the best of friends.  Sure they have moments where they get under each others skin, but they truly are amazing girls.  I am proud of the little ones that I've raised from babies to the most fantastic little people that I've ever met!

 

Time Out

Rarely do I need to pull out the dreaded time out around the ole homestead.  My kids aren't angels, but I dont find time outs to be overly effective, especially given their ages (seven and eight).

What I do use is the mandatory 30 minute house wide lay down.  And I mean mandatory.  We ALL lay down, even the cat.  Yes, I lay down too, because I do try to lead by example, and how much rest are the kids going to get when I'm banging around downstairs doing dishes?

Why would I shut the entire house down for 30 minutes of quiet time? 9/10 times when behaviors get out of control and there is no turning back it is because the kids are overly tired and need a rest.  Very rarely are the kids still awake after 30 minutes,  which means that they're getting the rest the so desperately need.

  

Tonight was one of those nights.  Both girls had a camping sleepover last night, that apparently didn't involve a large amount of sleeping.  A sleepover that resulted in them spending the entire day at each other.  Seriously, at each other.  They couldn't even glance in the others general direction without causing a rumble.  So by the time 7pm rolled around it was time for my Mommy trick.  Its always my rule that if they are still awake after 30 minutes they can get up, very rarely does this ever happen.

I am many things, and one thing that I am is a smart Mommy.  These last 8.5 years have taught me a trick or two about handing my children, and so when I pull out the mandatory 30 minute house wide lay down emergency plan I know that its going to work.  Unfortunately my children are also quite smart, and my 8 year old no longer takes an overly positive approach to having a lie down.  She knows that the 30 minute house wide lay down means an early bedtime, or a rare afternoon nap which doesn't make her overly happy.

At such, it does take a little bit more coaxing to get her to settle in, but when she does she quickly closes her eyes and wakes up in such a better mood its amazing really!

What are your tricky parenting tricks?