January 2015
  

February 2015 Sharing Time - Week 1

Welcome to February's Sharing Time Linky!

Before we get to the party, here's a quick recap of the week:

There is a Giveaway this week, for 4 Tickets to Medieval Times in Toronto!
I blogged about our trip to Medieval Times as well and shared lots of photos-
it was fun to take pictures during the show!



... and I also shared some Valentine Photo Art Gift & Decor Ideas
as well as a photo that I recently had printed from when Talia was little :)



Before we get to February's Party, here are the Top 3 Posts from January!

Melissa from AVirtuousWoman.org shared 12+ Healthy Breakfast Ideas,
Julie from FrugallyBlonde.com wrote about How to Control Spending With An Envelope System,
and Phyllis from grandparentsplus.com shared 40+ Valentine Box Ideas .

       


Lastly if you're thinking about Valentine's Day,
you might like to check out this Collection of 25 Free Valentine Printables!



Now, on to the link party- I can't wait to see what you share! :)


Please join the Raising Memories Sharing Time & add a link to your latest and greatest blog posts
about activities to do with your children or fun projects that you have done!
 ---------------------------------------
If you're participating, please share the button on your blog & "hop over" to at least one other blog post that's been linked up- let's support each other!











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Valentine Photo Art Gift & Decor Ideas

If you are a returning blog reader then you've probably caught on to the fact that I love photographs. I also love to decorate with them- I'm always trying to get images into print form and not stuck, hidden, in digital form.

With Valentines Day coming up, there are lots of fun ways to gift photographs and Posterjack.ca has teamed up with me to share some fun Valentine Photo Art Gift Ideas with you! :)

Valentine Photo Art Gift & Decor Ideas

1. Decorate for Valentine's Day with Photos

The first photo I thought of to use for a print that I could put up for Valentine's Day was this one:


I have often thought about printing it but hadn't done it yet.  I think it's so cute and whimsical and although it's largely black & white, the colours that are in it are very Valentine's Day appropriate. :)  I think it would be so fun to display around Valentine's Day!

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament Giveaway

For Christmas this year we surprised the girls with a trip to Medieval Times in Toronto. We were really excited to take them because we had been there for our first anniversary (10 years ago!!) and we knew that the girls were at a good age to really enjoy it!


They knew what Medieval Times was, so we were able to reveal this gift to them with a few visual clues:


These are pictures of them reading their clues Christmas morning.  In that last photo, Katrina put her head down and let out a thrilled squeal! haha :)  We got the reaction we were hoping for!

January 2015 Sharing Time - Week 4

Welcome to January's Sharing Time Linky!

Before we get to the party, here's a quick recap of the week:

This has been a busy week on the blog- I've posted every day!

I started the week with a funny story about something Katrina did one night (read about it here)



... and a recipe for one of my favourite dips is here (including a Mexican version from my husband).



I wrote about my Laundry Struggles (I have found one solution which I shared in that post, but continue to be frustrated by some stains that I just can't get out!)



I shared some Winter photography on Wednesday.  I just loved getting out and photographing nature on such a beautiful winter day!



Yesterday I shared my review of the Dyson DC62 Animal.


Lastly if you're thinking about Valentine's Day,
you might like to check out this Collection of 25 Free Valentine Printables!



Now, on to the link party- I can't wait to see what you share! :)


Please join the Raising Memories Sharing Time & add a link to your latest and greatest blog posts
about activities to do with your children or fun projects that you have done!
 ---------------------------------------
If you're participating, please share the button on your blog & "hop over" to at least one other blog post that's been linked up- let's support each other!











Thanks for visiting my blog!

Please subscribe or follow to keep in touch.

Dyson Digital Slim DC62 Animal Cordless Vacuum

Christmas came early for me this year when this box arrived at my doorstep! I had been very excited to try out the Dyson DC62 Animal and now that I've been using it for over a month I'm ready to tell you all about it!  It really is fabulous and I will tell you why!


I am seriously excited about this vacuum!  I love using it (it is light and easy for me to carry around so I don't hurt my hands when I use it, it doesn't have a cord.. and it's purple!) .. not only that, but I have never seen Ken vacuum so often!  He is good about helping around the house anyway, but I would say that this vacuum has us both excited to clean the floor whenever the opportunity arises! (It's an opportunity now, guys... that's what a good vacuum can do for you! ;)

Winter Photography on a Sparkly Snow Day

One morning last week, we woke up to a Winter Wonderland! Ken said something to me first thing in the morning about looking outside (but at the time I was still lying in bed, too tired to move!) I got busy with the morning and didn't really pay attention to what it looked like outside until I rounded our first corner on the way to the bus stop and I stopped for a moment when I took in the sparkly, snow-coated wonderland before me! I knew I had to get back outside with my camera after the girls headed to school and that's just what I did!

I love the way the snow just sparkled in the sun.  There was a small amount of snow gently falling through the sky as I walked and it literally looked like glitter softly falling around me- it was beautiful!


I found a little evidence of Autumn...


Laundry Stain Help!

I have been having some major frustrations with laundry over the last several months, so I turned to some friends and sisters-in-law for advice. Several of them recommended OxiClean™ and one of them even gave me what was left of hers before she moved away! (Thanks Rachelle!)

I'm most excited about the fact that it can get out extra stubborn stains by soaking them in a concentrated solution of OxiClean™ Versatile Stain Remover Powder (even if I've already washed & dried the item!).


I have tried it a couple of times following these directions (this involves hot water) and once I foolishly included a shirt with red trim (don't do that.. it bled and made everything pink)... BUT I washed everything else (without the red trimmed shirt) with OxiClean™ a second time and almost all of it came out- phew!  (Lesson Learned: Heed Clothing Labels!)

Refreshing Cucumber Cottage Cheese Chip Dip

When I was at university, one of my roommates shared this healthy dip recipe with me and I have loved it ever since!  This is actually the same roommate who taught me the Pumpkin Roll recipe! :) 

So, back to the dip recipe... I love it because it's light and refreshing and just perfect to eat with Nacho cheese chips... uh.. yeah... I didn't say it was a completely healthy snack! ;)   We made it just last night in preparation to share the recipe here on the blog and my husband came up with a delicious variation (which I will share at the end of the post), so stay tuned! :)





Here's What You'll Need:
(This makes quite a bit of dip, so you could half this recipe)

Monday Moments: You Made Your Bed, Now Lie In It

A couple of Fridays ago, Ken was out with some friends at a games night. We had plans to attend a movie the next morning as a family. Before the girls went to bed, I was encouraging them to clean their rooms so we could go to the movie the next morning (any motivation I can find..). They did pretty well but Katrina had not finished her room yet. She carefully and seriously suggested that she could maybe stop cleaning for tonight and have time to finish her room in the morning. I said sure and the three of us hung out for the evening, reading and talking until bedtime.

After putting the girls to bed, Katrina came downstairs a while later (I would have expected her to be asleep). She was wearing a housecoat (which is odd because she rarely wears it). She told me she had stayed up too late. I hugged her and agreed and encouraged her to go back to bed and go to sleep. She told me she had been working on cleaning her room and asked me if I could do up her housecoat for her.

I suggested that she probably would want to take it off before she went to bed and she said that's why she needed it, because she had made her bed so she would have less to do in the morning and she had no more blankets to put on top of herself! What a girl!

I told her she should have time to make her bed in the morning and she went up to bed. A little later I decided to go up and check on her and I found her bed looking like this (I turned the light on for the photo, later) :


I thought "Oh no, poor girl is probably sleeping on the floor because she was so worried about her room being clean so she could go to the movie!"... then I looked around her room and she was nowhere to be seen.  My next thought was that she might be in my bed.. but she wasn't.  Next I tried Talia's bed (sometimes she'll climb in with her) and again, not there... at this point I started to get a little confused and had to get creative, looking for her!  I turned on her bedroom light, looked under her bed and in her closet.  I started calling her.  I checked my closet and behind my curtains.  I even went down to the basement and checked the bathrooms.  Finally I lifted Talia's bed-skirt and found this:


What a girl!  I'm not sure what made her decide to sleep under there instead of on her made bed (perhaps under that soft blanket she had draped over her quilt!)   Realizing it would be a tricky task to get her out from under Talia's bed and back into her own (and not wanting to wake her up to do it), I grabbed my camera and snapped these photos. I waited for Ken to get home to help me transport her to her bed.

Before that happened, Talia woke up to go to the bathroom and I asked her if Katrina was still under her bed.  She looked confused for a moment and then a look of realization passed over her face, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Oh, she's FREAKING ME OUT!"... haha Talia had woken up and heard Katrina breathing under her bed, but didn't know what/who it was!


Have you ever found your child sleeping in a strange place or position?
What's your best one?


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January 2015 Sharing Time - Week 3

Welcome to January's Sharing Time Linky!

Before we get to the party, here's a quick recap of the week:

This week I shared a tutorial on how to make a DIY Tic-Tac-Toe Game- it's a great beginner sewing project for kids!



... and some things we did over the holidays, including a Ballet Concert and New Year's Eve Celebrations.


The Smart Mitts Giveaway is still open for a couple of days!



Lastly if you're thinking about Valentine's Day,
you might like to check out this Collection of 25 Free Valentine Printables!



Now, on to the link party- I can't wait to see what you share! :)


Please join the Raising Memories Sharing Time & add a link to your latest and greatest blog posts
about activities to do with your children or fun projects that you have done!
 ---------------------------------------
If you're participating, please share the button on your blog & "hop over" to at least one other blog post that's been linked up- let's support each other!











Thanks for visiting my blog!

Please subscribe or follow to keep in touch.

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