Easter Egg hunting!

    So, we have an amazing store on Roncy called Scooter Girl Toys. They sell all of the best and cutest toys you can imagine and are one of the boys favourite stops in the hood (obviously, toys.)  Last year they did an Easter Egg hunt around our area giving out clues on their facebook page until they are found (four eggs, clues every day or so)  Last year we were big winners and were able to get a little wooden BBQ floor model which has been rediculously loved by kids and adults alike.  This year things are a little more hectic for us but we have still found the time to go on the hunt. I think it is awesome to have a store that wants to inject fun into the neighbourhood creating a more family friendly city.  We were a mere few feet away from egg number one when we went on the hunt only to have it found a few hours after we gave up the search.  Today however we were triumphant. We were hot on the trail of this egg from the first clue and scoured the area with the following few clues. They must have gotten tired of this egg because the last clue all but said "look by the Emus!!   well thats just what we did, and little Danny was the lucky egg finder :)

                    My lucky boys watching the Emu at High Park Zoo make its freaky grunting noises at them.

                                                 Our little green egg hidden in the tree

                      Victorious! (they were excited really, it was just the Emu freaking them out)

The best part of an Easter egg hunt is the spoils after its all over.  Inside the egg was a ticket to return to the store and get a $25 gift card.  Thomas of course wanted the big Bruder trucks but once he came to terms with them being a little more than the gift card was for settled on his $5 airplane (which is totally awesome)  leaving Danny with the big pot to get a Duplo supermarket set (it has Duplo bananas and apples and cake with it making Danny a happy little 2 year old)     A big thanks to Scooter Girl for being super awesome and fun.  Always a nice reminder to why we try to buy all of our kids gifts from there :)

http://www.scootergirl.net/

High park Zoo

Who doesnt like a zoo in the middle of the city?!  High Park Zoo is a place my mum remembers being taken to as a kid. This march break they did special activities like feed the Llamas, colouring pages, where you could buy a peacock feather etc.  all in the hopes of saving the zoo for yet another year.  We went on a saturday and enjoyed ourselves looking at all of the animals.  I couldnt tell you how many times weve been in the 3 short years weve lived in the city but I dont think that we will ever get bored of it.

                         JM and the boys on our way to the Zoo.  We took the mucky way there.

Hockey Hall of fame!

I hadn't been since I was a kid going on a school trip but because its been cold outside  I was hoping to take the boys somewhere new (indoors) for a little entertainment. Anyone else with two little kids taking transit knows that getting there is fun, getting home after a day out is exhausting.  My solution to this was Grandparents.  We met up with my parents at Union Station and made our way through the path.  The boys had a blast and I think my Dad had just as much fun.

                                              Little Dan going past the origional Stanley Cup

This was possibly one of their favourite parts of the whole day. The boys were hopping from one metal grate to the next counting and then stopping to look at the stained glass skylight above them.  Thomas remarked on the skylights pictures that it was like a story.

Thomas and Daniel out on a Date

This past saturday Thomas was lucky enough to get taken to the ROM by my good friend Auntie Niska.  Danny got a much needed Mummy and Daddy date.  I was a little nervous having Thomas out ALL THE WAY TO THE ROM without me (Im a little attached)  I let them go and they had so much fun!  I got a text about 3 hours later telling me that Thomas was "beside himself" having fun. They even managed to think of us when they reached the gift shop.

Thomas picked out a rubber ball that lights up when it bounces, a marble and a Pteradon eraser for his little brother and a marble for his dad and I.  Auntie Niska picked us out a dinosoar sandwich cutter.  Its nice to know they were thinking of us.

Danny on the other hand was thinking about Thomas and Auntie Niska through out the day, randomly saying "bwa bwa" (his nickname for Thomas) and " Niska".  We decided that we would take Danny out for the day in the neighbourhood since I had to pick up my shades from being repaired.  He wanted to stay in the stroller on the way down since it was still kinda chilly but was more than happy to get out once we got to our lunch destination.  We ended up going to HEY on roncy for brunch.  Danny had pancakes with blueberries and whip cream, JM had their breakfast sandwich and I had a classic breaky plate with toast scrambled eggs, mushrooms and bacon.  They make everything fresh there and it tastes like it too.  We then meandered our way home through a school park then on to one of our favourite parks for the kiddos. Daniel was having fun knocking the icicles off of the equipment and working on his ballancing on the timber walls around the sandbox.

It was so nice to get to spend a little quality time alone with Daniel since hes always with Thomas when he goes out. It was about time he got our full attention.

St Patricks Day

Now that I have kids, St Patricks Day isnt another day to go out with friends and be silly but rather have a little fun with the kids.  I saw this great Pattys day treasure hunt on the blog Love Grows Wild.

  http://www.lovegrowswild.com/2013/03/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-kids-activity-free-printable.html

I didn't use the free printable, instead I made the hunt with my kids during craft time (they cant read anyways)    I saved the finishing touches for when they were in bed.  They turned out great and Thomas at least had fun trying to figure out what a clue is and how to figure it out.

                                     
We opted for new water jugs with a few skittles and gold wrapped chocolates since spring is just around the corner.

                                          Rockey and Eddie even helped out with the first clue!

It was great to see the boys run around and be excited about their little hunt but the best part for JM and I was once they found their treasure.  Daniel asked me to open it and once I did he gave me the first piece of chocolate that he pulled out and he and Thomas continued to share with us and each other :)  such innocent hearts.

I hope you had a great St Pattys Day too!

whats your go to outfit?

We all have at least one. One outfit that makes us feel great that we go to for any special outing with friends or date.  Mine used to be a crisp pair of wideleg jeans and a white blouse that I scored a few years ago at TK Maxx.  Not anymore though.  On a much needed shopping trip to winners I hit up the sale rack and came across this ombre shirt for $15. Score one for me. I love Winners

     
Coat - Calvin Klien  (TK Maxx)
Cardigan-Belldini  (Winners)
Leggings-SWS
Blouse-Stella Tweed   (Winners)
Boots- Frye (gift from husband)

Jamie Oliver is my hero

       When my husband and I got married we decided to be serious about our future goals from the start and like most people realize is that that starts with a budget.  This left us with little money for entertainment and we became homebodies. We both enjoyed cooking before but this left us with food made at home as our entertainment. In enters Jamie Oliver.  I watched his cooking shows and looked up his recipes and came to this conclusion. He is a real guy who knows food. He knows what it means to be on a budget and he knows that your diet doesn't need to be compromised.  If you've ever watched any of his shows you have to agree that he has a passion and a talent and that means a lot these days.   Last year I made his make ahead gravy and turkey with sage and cranberry butter for Christmas and can honestly say I've never tasted better (credit to the recipe not me, sorry mum).  I have a few of his recipes in general rotation for our dinners but I think that my favourite is the Carbonara.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/beautiful-courgette-carbonara





I think my next Jamie recipe to try is going to have to be his Pasta Pepperonata

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/pasta-peperonata

8 out of 10 cats!

8 out of 10 cats, if you haven't seen it I fully recommend. It entertained us for a year and a half abroad and countless references are made to it in our house now. Typical to British humour there are no rules and no topic is out of bounds.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSlR705B0EI

My Sons Pinterest Album

         My husband says that I have a pinterest problem, its not true hes just joking.  I only joined a little while ago so hes just teasing me about it because I can get excited about the great ideas I see on there. Luckily my husband has found out he likes pinterest too now that my son has an album.  Thomas was watching me pin things and wanted to help, only he didnt want to help me pin the cute outfit or dresser for the bedroom pictures. He wanted to pin what he wanted, so I made him an album and let him type or tell me what to write on his pics.  My friends, JM and I are finding it seriously cute and funny to see what goes through his little head.


                                               http://pinterest.com/reeseraymo/thomas-picks/

HBC blanket

                 I've loved the green, red, yellow and blue stripes from HBC since I was a little girl and saw it at my grandparents house.  It reminds me of comfort, simplicity and love.  I'm a true fan of anything iconically Canadian and love to decorate our house in a Canadiana modern style. So one of the things on my 'must get' list is a Hudsons Bay Blanket.  I love the coats and bags but I think more than one item would make me a bit of an advertisment.  To me it would be the perfect addition to our home, helping to create a welcoming and homey atmosphere.

                                                           

      http://www.thebay.com/eng/hbccollections-blankets-Multistripe_Point_Blanket-thebay/156989

  

High and Low

I was thinking about our whole reno process now that we are through to the other end and was trying to think what my High and Low of the whole process were. So here they are...

HIGH-  Getting the kitchen backsplash done.  We hired a professional to finish this part for us because we didnt want to try tiling for the first time in such an important part of the house.  The reason this was a high for me was because at this point our list of things to complete in the house was under a page long. When starting with a book full of lists over a page long per room to be down to such a small number of tasks felt so easy and not stressfull in the least. The end was fully in sight and that would make anyone happy.

LOW-  There were many lol.  The obvious one for me was the only time I cried during this whole reno and it wasnt the worst thing to happen during the whole process by far but at the time I felt beaten.  Not to worry though because now it is one of our funny stories about the whole thing.  It was somewhere near the end of Phase 1 as we called it, the house had been gutted, drywall put up, mudded, sanded, primed...I was about a little under a month away from giving birth to Daniel and I was trying to get everything painted since I wouldnt be painting once he was here and renos would be at a standstill for a few months so I wanted to have all of the painting done. I had taken the time to have a shower and straighten my hair for the first time in a while since I was getting a little tired of the reno film over everything and had gotten everything completed except for the awkward part of the stairwell where one of us needed to prop a ladder on the stairs to reach the far part of the wall.  It was about 10 at night and we were both exhausted.  It making the most sense my husband was the one to climb the ladder to do the awkward part and I held the ladder just in case.  First thing to happen of course was a huge glob of paint fell from his brush and landed square on my head. I burst into silent tears with my husband staring down at me unable to see my face. A few moments later I get the question...are you laughing or crying?  Unable to even answer I looked up at him with tears streaming down my face and managed to get out,"keep painting".  Not a minute later another glob of paint falls.  It wasnt an angry moment, or one of the moments we felt we were in over our heads, it was pure exhaustion finally making its way to the surface.

A lot of blue

  Thomas decided that he wanted to do a little arts and crafts this past weekend.  He came to the table with the table cloth and made his trips to and from our little craft drawers in the basement with everything he wanted to use. There was blue paint, blue rice, blue sparkles...you get the point.  I joined in to play and just let them do whatever they wanted as long as they wanted.  It lasted for about 2 hours and ended with our typical playing with water in a soapy sink :)

 We have some beautiful, very sparkly and very blue artwork for the fridge now.

Stripes

          I am happily rid of most of my baby weight and as soon as I got back into my jeans it was time to get a few tops.  I had previously had almost only solid shirts (most of which got stretched way out of shape with baby belly or demolished through our whole reno process) so I went out to get some new shirts. I thought that I would mix it up and get stripes since they are still so in style...

I think I need to try to branch out a little bit more now. Although I could probably find room for a few more in my closet...



Juno Stripe Tank
by Ella Moss
 Striped knit tee

Vince Striped Boatneck Sweater
Theory Jilliane Striped Cashmere Sweater
Trina Turk Artmageddon Maxi Dress
Maybe a dress to round out my wardrobe :)...a jacket, shorts...oh dear. I want to go shopping for stripes again.

Our food filled weekend

          After last weekends dinner hits I decided to go through my recipes and pick out a few more for this past weekend.  I settled on two lunches and a dinner.

On saturday lunch we started with a great Quinoa salad that hit the spot. Danny liked the new texture and the feta mixed in with it but got turned off of the rest of the ingredients when he ate a kidney bean thinking it was a kalamata olive lol.

http://www.dairygoodness.ca/recipes/quinoa-greek-salad?click=feature_menu

Dinner on Saturday was Lamb Chops with a garlic mash and beans.  Nothing makes a parent prouder than when thier kids mow down on dinner (lunches alway go over so well)  Danny was a true meat eating bebe and devoured the two lamb chop bones with half the meat on it.

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/rosemary_dijon_grilled_lamb_chops_and_smashed_potatoes.php
Lunch for sunday was a little more involved for me, it was a stellar Nicoise salad. Instead of tuna it called for trout fillet.   Lucky for us there is a great fish monger here on Roncy called De La Mer   http://delamer.ca/
I always find them helpful and they give you lemon and dill with your seafood of choice should you need some.

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/trout_nicoise_salad.php


Sunday dinner was at one of our favourite restaurants on the strip The Ace which gave me a great reprive from cooking and house hunting all weekend

Im a recovering picky eater so this was an intense weekend for me in terms of broadening my horizons for the sake of our boys and my future of enjoying food wherever I may go and I have to say I rather enjoyed it.

The Ace

The Ace is one of our new favourite spots to eat on the strip.  Its in a relativly small space near the corner of Roncesvalles and Fermanagh with old wallpaper and tiny tables. Its not a place to go with a large group but perfect for more intimate gatherings. They are naturally laid back without any pretention with a nice mix of golden oldies and french tunes both of which had our kids swaying to the music in their seats.
https://www.facebook.com/TheAceToronto

          This family friendly restaurant does great food for the family right. Their kids food is up to the same high standards as are the adult courses. We have enjoyed a few meals here from brunch to dinner and have been impressed every time. Their BLT has been imitated in our own kitchen of which I now call "Best BLT", and their deconstructed breakfast burrito is worth going back for. They do a great promo on sundays providing a free kids meal with the purchase of an adult entree.  Jm and I both got the steak frites and the boys got a mac and cheese (with cauliflower to keep it healthy) and grilled cheese for their meal. For dessert the kiddos had chocolate stout ice cream and I had the pecan pie which was loaded with pecans.  It was a much needed break from cooking and looking at perspective houses all weekend.

                                                Danny managed to steal some of my frites.

Learning from Lego

The other day the boys and I were playing with their lego (random bag of stuff scored from Value Village for $4) and I decided to organize it in order to get a better idea of what sort of sets I could put together.  In the process the boys wanted to help and spent the better part of an hour with me sorting out the differnt colours, pieces with hinges, ppl and their shields, hats etc...  This is what we ended up with, and they enjoyed every minute of it :)

This is how I want to store their Lego in the future...although I bet it will all be in giant tupperwares like my brothers was