Category: Daily Happenings Page 3 of 4

Nice finish to a great week

It was a busy active week in this house.  Wednesday was a great walk at the zoo, it was at a good pace and we tackled the hill that goes down to the Canadian section.  We walked all areas of the zoo and did the hill with a break before the hill and managed to complete it in just over 1.5 hours.  There is always great conversation with these ladies.  Paige napped the whole time, so I didn’t stick around after to see the animals with Paige since she was still sleeping.

Keeping a steady pace up the hill Paige was having a great time this week in evenings playing in her swing with daddy in the back yard. It is her favourite thing to do.
Paige is reaching that age where she enjoys playing on her own for large period of times. She will roll around on the ground, crawl a little bit and just hang out on the living room carpet. It is great so I can get a few things done around the house while she entertains herself.
Yesterday was another great hike with another mom, hiking the Countryside Preserve trail in Uxbridge. We managed to get a little lost and ended up hiking a loop in Durham Forest as well. It was a good hike with great conversation. Maybe that was our problem – too much conversation and too little paying attention to where we are going! We were out for just over 2 hours. The little ones did great and didn’t really fuss at all. Paige took a nap at one point in her pack.
We then stopped in at Vince’s Market for some groceries where Paige put on a show for everyone in the store, chatting and singing away in the cart. My brother and his wife came over for the night with their little one Callum for a visit and to spend the night. The littles ones played for a little bit, we skyped with my parents and then it was time for bed for them. Once they went to bed we made some pizzas and sat around and had a visit before we all headed to bed.
Paige so happy to see her cousin Callum Today looks like a good day for a hike-sun is shining and it is supposed to go up to 11oC today. I think we will all head out for a hike together once everyone is up and that way my brother Fraser and his wife Meghan can try Callum out in the new pack they got yesterday.

Busy week

Yesterday we had a great hike with a small group of moms at Enniskillen Conservation Area, it was the first time any of them had been there.  What is nice about hiking here is that it is fairly flat, so great for beginners, the trails are not too long and there are picnic areas and outhouses throughout the trails.  We hiked the outer loop and then turned back in to the middle as we were nearing the end of the trail to stop at the main picnic area to enjoy a snack and a chat.  Two of us brought our dogs along so they had a great time rolling around in the grass and playing with each and even managed to collect quite a few burs between the two of them.  The little ones all seemed to be enjoying themselves and all managed to stay awake for the whole hike.  We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather, the sun was shining and there was very little wind.

Here’s a photo of all of us after our break Today Paige had her first swimming lesson. It is a rather large class, but I am sure it could shrink as time goes on. Paige was having such a great time kicking and floating in the water. Paige giggled away each time we bobbed down under the water and back up. I definitely have a water baby. I am happy that she really enjoyed the pool. Bath time is one of her favourite activities, but we weren’t sure how she would react in the pool, but she took to it right away. Paige definitely prefers the big pool to the warm baby pool. Tomorrow we are off to the Toronto Zoo to walk with the same group of mom’s we walked with last week. This week it is going to be a bit more challenging since we are going to be tackling the large hill at the Canadian section of the zoo. Hopefully I won’t feel the burn too much (I like to think I am in reasonable shape, but I guess the walk tomorrow will prove it!). Depending on the weather we might stick around for a little bit after to see some different animals than we did last time (maybe check out the Africa section of the zoo to see if the lions are out and watch the penguins for a bit). If we don’t stick around at the zoo, I may pull out the finger paints when we get home so Paige can do some more painting for family since she had a blast last time. I think this time I may put the navy blue away and not put it out as an option as Paige gravitated to that one when I had all of the bright colours in front of her.
Birthday card for her Pop’s Thursday we are leading another hike back up to Country Preserve in Uxbridge. Maybe this time we will try a different loop, or at least a new portion of the trail system. We have a busy week ahead, but no plans for the week-end yet. I am sure we will be off on an adventure of sorts come the week-end since we generally find some new trail to check out or some new place. We discovered a number of hiking trails near us the other night when we took some back roads home from our hike in Uxbridge, so we may need to check out a few of those and see what they are all about.

Great week-end

It was a little cool this week-end, but we made sure to get out and enjoy the fresh air each day.

Friday was our stroller walk at Colonel Danforth Park.  The temperatures had definitely dropped by the time we arrived at the parking lot to meet the other moms, but we didn’t let that stop us.  It’s always a great group of ladies to chat with.  This week there were a few women asking me about cloth diapering-tips, tricks, brands I like, etc.  We chatted about that most of the way down and on the way back there was some discussion about sign language (I took Paige to sign language classes when she was 3.5 months old) and feeding solids to our little ones.  The discussion about cloth diapers got me thinking that maybe I should write some posts on the things I have learned since starting to cloth diaper and to review some of my favourite companies, so stay tuned for that.

Paige was a little fussy since she decided she wanted to be carried rather than sit in the stroller so here are a couple of the ladies helping me get her on my back.  Paige had not slept so well the night before again.  We have discovered the cause of it and it we don’t think it was teething as we originally suspected, but rather carrots.  So I guess we will be avoiding carrots for a while and will try it again come the summer.
tSaturday we headed to Raglan to Purple Woods conservation area for the Maple Syrup festival.  There is a nice, short little trail down to the sugar shack where they were demonstrating how they heat the sap to make the syrup.  Along the trail they had made teepees out of fir trees and were showing the traditional way of making maple syrup over the fire.  We didn’t get out on the wagon ride since we were a little late for that.  Paige was having a great time in the backup with all of the new things to see and people to watch.

Sunday was cool and rainy all day so we had planned to just hang out at home after doing groceries, but Paige would not nap at all, so at 3:00 we decided to gear up and head up to Uxbridge to hike the Countryside Preserve trail. This is a nice gentle trail that runs through forest, open meadows, and back into forest. We will definitely be returning here in the spring, since one of the signs said that the bluebird makes it home in the meadows. We think it may be a little too warm in the heat of the summer since a large part of the trail is out in the open. It was a nice hike and the rain was very soft so it was comfortable for us to be out. Paige dozed off about 20 minutes into the hike and stayed sleeping until we returned to the car. We were surprised to cross paths with a few people out enjoying the day.
Paige has a thing where she has decided she does not like to have her arms covered by the carrier cover, so we just have to keep tucking her hands in when it is cool since she will not wear mittens either. Any tips for keeping little ones hands warm when out on the cooler days?
Hope you all enjoyed your week-end. What did you get up to?   Paige and I are off to lead a hike today with a group of moms, it should be fun.

We’re Going To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo….

Yesterday was a great day at the zoo.  The weather was cool when the wind was blowing, but when the sun came out it was pretty strong so it would warm up nice.
We bought an annual membership so Paige and I can go as much as we want.  (Note:  If you are thinking of getting a membership, all of the rates are going up as of May 1, so you may want to get it before then) We met up with our hiking group for an easy walk through the zoo with the strollers.  We stopped to see a few of the animals as we walked our circuit.  All of the animals were out playing yesterday.  I guess they prefer the slightly cool weather and less people staring at them!

Our walk with the group consisted of all of the outdoor loops except for Canada (since that one has a very big hill) we are saving that for next time. While walking we ran into one of the other Mom’s, and their little one, that we have been doing some of our activities through meetup with so had a quick chance to catch up before rejoining our group.   Paige had a nap for the last part of the walk which meant she would be awake and alert when we went to visit the animals.

After the walk, all of the other mom’s and babes were heading home, but Paige and I decided to make a day of it. So we headed off to see the Polar Bear Cub, since it had been on the news and we were hearing how cute he was.  Paige was quite taken with watching him (or maybe she was having more fun playing with the glass on the enclosure, since I had to take her out of her stroller to get down some stairs so we could see the cub).  

While at the enclosure we heard all sorts of people snapping pictures outside so we thought we better check it out.It was 2 of the adult polar bears having a great time playing in the water. We thought we might as well get a shot of them as well.
Paige enjoyed watching some of the monkeys that were playing and putting on a show, as well as the fish. She didn’t quite get the point of the Orangutans who were just lying on the ground. She kept looking at me as if to say, “Ok mom, not sure why we are sitting here, but can we get going to see something more exciting”. When it was time to go Paige got rather upset once we got into the parking lot, I guess she liked the zoo, but I figured we should save some for another day! What is your favourite animal at the zoo?

6 Month Checkup

Yesterday was a chilly day here in the morning, so it was pretty quiet for us here.

We had Paige’s 6 month check up in the afternoon and the Dr said she was doing great and such a great baby.  My daughter is always happy and kicking her feet.  She weighed in at 8.6 kg (approximately 19 lbs), and 75 cm long.

Paige’s favourite things to do are:
Singing and dancing to music
Bouncing in her exercauser
Going for hikes in the carrier and walks in the stroller
Snuggles
Reading books
Swinging on her swing outside
Skype with her Nanna & Pops

Milestones:
Stand on her own
Crawl (only when she thinks we can’t see her)
Sit on her own
Babbles
Feeds herself with a spoon
Wave Bye Bye
Give Hugs
Talks to her Piglet

Favourite Foods
Avocado
Quinoa
Wild Blueberries
Sweet Potato

We had a bit of a rough night last night. Paige was teething something awful, so not much sleep was to be had. We did manage to get a few hours sleep when I tucked her into bed with me to snuggle. At this early hour in the morning she is fast asleep in her own crib now (hoping that she gets a few hours sleep). We are headed to the Toronto Zoo today provided Paige is up for it with a group of ladies to walk and then I think we will stick around after to check out some of the animals and make a day of it.

First Post

So this is my first post with the new direction my blog is taking. The past 6 months have just flown by with my daughter. We head off for her 6 month appointment today to have her weighed and wellness checkup. She was born weighing 9lbs 12.6oz and was definitely worth the wait. I have been in love ever since.

We have a pretty busy schedule these days. We have a stroller walk every Friday with a group of mom’s in Scarborough where we walk a paved path down to the lake and back. I think it is about a 6 km walk on flat terrain. It is a great group of ladies and we generally have some good laughs. We met this group when we joined a hiking group back in November where we were hiking with the babies in carriers 1-2 times a week. Now that the little ones are getting bigger this group prefers the strollers.

Thursdays is Musical Babies through the Ontario Early Years Centres (http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/earlychildhood/oeyc/index.aspx) They have some great programs for little ones. My daughter just loves singing, so this was a great match for her. This is the second session we have done of this program. It doesn’t look like they are running this program for April so I will have to find another musical type program for her.

Wednesdays are a variety of activities. Sometimes we stay at home and play in the yard, go for a stroller walk up the road or a hike. Last week with this beautiful weather we organized a group of moms (through meetup) to go hiking on the Seaton Trail. It was great weather and great to meet some new moms in our area with a similar interest. We hiked just over 5 km on the trail heading south from Whitevale so it is a moderate trail due to some hills.

Tuesdays tend to be a quiet day at home with a walk in the afternoon in the stroller which usually entails visiting with neighbours along the way, seeing the wild turkeys and various other wildlife and if the weather is nice we walk up to the pond at the end of the road to watch the ducks.

Mondays are our library day, when we go to get some new music and a book or two. As I mentioned previously my daughter loves music so we usually try to get 3-5 new children’s cd’s to listen to for the week. She seems to be a big fan of Sharon, Lois & Bram in the car and loves to sing along with them. She is also a fan of The Wiggles and Fred Penner. We are also adding some of our favourites in there as well. This Monday we had organized a hike at Glen Major Forest, but with the wind chill (-12oC) I decided to cancel it rather than take a chance with the little ones.

The cancelled hike we have now tried to schedule for Wednesday (tomorrow) so we will keep our fingers crossed it is a great day.

This week-end we started renovating our kitchen. We can’t afford to replace the kitchen so we are giving it a fresh coat of paint, replacing the countertops, sink, faucet and hardware. We went to Ikea on Friday to price out butcher block counters and tried to pick them up but realized when we got there they would not fit in my vehicle so left Ikea and went and took a look at some sinks and taps and picked up the paint for the cupboards on the island. I painted 3 coats on the cabinets just to be on the safe side. We went with Behr Pencil Point for the island. (I will post pictures of the finished kitchen once complete).

Since the weather was great on Sunday we went out to hike at Enniskillen Conservation area. We hadn’t been there before so it was a new adventure. It was also our daughters first time in the backpack carrier, since I normally carry her in a soft carrier for hiking. She loved the backpack since she could see so much more. I could feel her kicking and bouncing the whole way! The trails were nice and easy and there were some great picnic areas throughout the trails with washrooms. I think we will be returning here throughout the spring and summer months with picnics.

What activities do you like to do with your little one? Any hiking trails you enjoy? I would love to hear from you.

What a beautiful week-end

Well the batteries in my camera are dead, so I will post some photos of the projects I made this week-end once they are charged up.

Spent Friday working on the reception invitations for my sister. They are not done yet so we are going to try and get them finished up tomorrow evening.

Spent Friday evening stamping up with friends and getting creative. These ladies can be so creative and gave me some fantastic ideas.

Hope everyone has been outside enjoying the lovely weather, it looks like it is only going to get better from here. I can’t complain, I love the warmth and seeing the sun.

Tomorrow I have been asked to speak to one of the local Guide units about my career, so will have fun doing that and hopefully the girls will enjoy!

It has been too long since I last posted….

So I must start off by apologizing for not posting in quite some time. Lots has been happening and yes I have allowed some time to be creative.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and the Easter Bunny found you all in good health and spirits! We went up to Ottawa to spend the week-end with my sister-in-law and her family as well my in-laws flew in from Nova Scotia. So it was nice to have part of the family together and the snuggle time with my niece was nice too!

The exciting news is that I now have a craft room. Dave got tired of me working on our kitchen table or in the living room so w converted part of the laundry room into my craft room. It is great to finally have this space, since first off I can actually see what I have now and I don’t have to clean everything up at the end of the day if I am still working on a project.


Now for the creative stuff. I made a crib size quilt using the big shot for embellishments. I got the idea at the Regionals in London and just had to try it out. Unfortunately after I got 3 butterflies on, my sewing machine decided to bite the dust. So I guess I will have to sew the rest on. I have a feeling that could wait for a bit.

I was at the Welcome Wagon Baby Shower in Richmond Hill last night and met lots of mom’s to be.

While preparing for the event I made some thank you card bundles.

I also put together some fun make and takes, which the kids all seemed to enjoy!

I have also posted the information for my upcoming class on Saturday May 2, 2009 to my Stampin’ Up! website and will post a photo and the details above.

Home!

The Stampin’ Up! Regionals in London were a blast! I had so much fun, am feeling very motivated and creative and met some great ladies.

I travelled down Friday afternoon with 2 other members of Caroline’s team and we arrived in time for the fun stamping evening put on by Heather Summers at Kings College. We had a lasagna dinner and then got to make some beautiful cards and a box using the 5th Avenue Florals set. Here is one of the cards we made, isn’t it nice!

Saturday saw us heading over the London Convention Centre for a day of stamping and ideas! I did not manage to get all of my make and takes made (so will have to work on those later this week) since I was too busy meeting people, swapping and checking out the WOW! Projects at the rear of the room. The presentations were so inspirational and left us all feeling creative!
This is a picture of my swap I made.

Recipe:
Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Scallop Die, Clear Circle Die, crimper, key tag punch, stampin’ dimensionals
This was the result of frustrations at the end of a long day. I was having trouble getting my card to look the way I wanted to, so I let Dave play around with my pieces I had put together and we ended up coming up with this together. I hand cut all of the cupcakes out and crimped the cup part.

I will post some of the cards we made and Ideas I picked up throughout this week.

Sunday had us leaving Toronto early to head down to Kincardine for a brunch at my parents to celebrate my sisters marriage. We celebrated with my grandparents, parents, aunt and her partner, my brother and his girlfriend. It was the first time we had all been together since Thanksgiving so was definitely overdue.

After eating we sat down all of us ladies and planned out my sisters reception invitations so we could get the materials ordered to get on with making them. We chose to go with turqoise and chocolate brown with a beach theme. I can’t wait to see what they will look like once they are made up. Don’t worry, I will post a picture once we get them done.

Once I get caught up on finishing my make and takes and getting the reception invitations made I will then have to really focus on the scrapbook I told my sister I would make for her for her wedding gift. They keep bumping the date of the reception closer and I want to have it done for this so I will have to get my butt in gear. Any ideas or layouts people have would definitely be appreciated so that not all of my pages end up looking very similar. I am all about variety and with this having been a spontaneous wedding on the beach in Cuba, anything goes!

Family news

Very Happy News in our family this week-end. My sister just returned from Cuba and while they were there she got engaged (to a long term boyfriend) and married all within the week. We found out today when they got home and she called us to let us know.

So in celebration of this exciting news I am extending the free cardstock package (colour of your choice) until Thursday March 12 at midnight.

Don’t forget that in addition to the free cardstock you would also qualify for a free sale-a-bration set!

Hope you all had a wonderful week-end and that the rain didn’t keep you all inside!

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