The Science Centre

I love going to the Ontario Science Centre!! It brings back childhood memories of going many times over the March break with my family. It is one of those places that really makes learning fun and I love being able to share it now with my children. Love the picture above that I captured at the centre...no idea what it is,  I'm sure my brainiac brother could tell me but I'll just enjoy the beauty of the unknown.

It was also really cool that my parents and both of my brothers were able to come with us and have a blast with the girls. The picture above is just missing Josh and my mom who were busy snapping photos. This tree was ridiculously huge and I stood no chance of reaching the top. The kids were really amazed by it and McKayla attempted to count the rings to see how old it was...we would have been there forever...thankfully we read the plaque and quickly moved on to other interesting things:)

Braelyn and Josh tried on these wings and tried to see how fast they could flap their arms, thus giving them their 'beats per minute' It was actually a lot harder than it looked and it was really cool for Braelyn as we have been studying about birds, feathers and flight these past couple of weeks.

Good old Uncle Joel. He has recently discovered the scientific phenomenon that enables people to be driven by their ears. If a child pulls on his left ear, he goes left, if they pull on his right ear, he goes right, pull up and he stops. Who knew??

Not sure what this was but they looked so darn cute!!

 Josh and Bray spent a lot of time trying to work out this gear mechanism thingy (pretty sure that's the scientific term). I finally got involved and after several attempts we were able to successfully make it work. It was challenging but Braelyn really persevered and it was probably the longest I've seen her work on the same thing without getting discouraged. Going to be looking into doing something like this at home.

No idea what these guys are doing here but decided to snap a photo all the same.

The highlight of trip to the science centre is definitely 'the big silver ball' or in smart talk the Van de Graaf generator. Despite how unimpressed she looks in the photo, McKayla LOVES getting up there and getting her hair to stand on end.

Braelyn and I decided to give it a try too....Bray's hair is thick so it didn't stand up quite as much....my outrageous amount of thin hair on the other hand was a little out of this world. All fun though.

A Vacay within a Vacation

Josh and I were starting to get a little exhausted with all this vacationing so we decided to take a break and have an overnight visit with my grandmother and grandfather. My Nan (aka grandma) is seriously awesome. Her and my grandpa have been such rocks in my life, such a solid place to land and anytime (since I was a little girl) I feel a little stressed out or overwhelmed with life I just pack up my stuff and take a little mini vacay to their place, regroup and come back feeling re-energized.


But first the girls had piano lessons which they are really enjoying.

Now here is what greeted me when coming to my grandparents:


I knew that they had sold their house (the beloved house of my childhood visits) but it still hit a little hard when I first saw it. My grandparents currently live about a little over an hour away (on a good Mississauga driving day) and they are moving to my lovely home town of Smithville...actually where they are building a house is probably no more than 3 minutes as the crow flies. However, McKayla snapped this photo from the van because I was a little too teary eyed.


My Nan greeted us like this: Did I mention how awesome she is??









What I will miss: 

catching frogs when I was a kid...now this is what my kids do

he's a real beauty

silly faces on the deck

my grandparents saved an old bird's nest for the girls

Here's what I will miss most:

the tree my grandparents planted when my great-grandfather passed away

where Josh and I pledged to love each other til death do us part

the bridge where we had our first kiss as husband and wife

My love for this property knows no bounds. I played in the sandbox as a child, dreamed of love as a teenager while carrying in wood from the woodpile and married my highschool sweetheart over the pond I've helped build. I'm not even capable of putting into words how attached I am to it but I know this: It was my grandmother who washed the sand out of my hair when I visited as a child, my grandfather who showed me the value of hard work and both of them together who showed me how a marriage can last for many, many years. Wherever they go, these lessons will surely follow.

I'm hoping we have many more visits before they move later on this year but I wanted to start to capture this lovely acre plot before it passes on for another family to enjoy.

The Art of Couponing

Over the past couple of months some of my friends have asked me about my couponing addiction and just how that whole coupon thing works so I decided that I would write a blog post on the topic. Now I cannot claim to be a couponing expert in any way, shape or form but I have been doing it for a while now and have actually managed to save a lot of money on my grocery bill. So here is how I do it and hopefully some of this might work for you:

• First thing you need to do is get coupons. There are 4 basic ways that I do this.
• There are 4 websites where you can sign up and they will mail them to you. You can also ask some of your friends and family members to sign up as well and to pass along the coupons they won't use. My brother and I do this and its awesome.
• http://save.ca/ 
• http://brandsaver.ca/en_ca/ 
• https://websaver.ca/en_ca/
• http://www.gocoupons.ca/
• Tear Pads - many stores (Shoppers Drug Mart, Real Canadian Super Store etc..) have tear pads of coupons either at the main entrance of the store or along the aisle ways. Only take what you are fairly certain you will use and be kind and don't hog them all:)
• There are a few places online that you are able to print off coupons from:
•  http://smartsource.ca 
• http://www.livingwell.ca/coupons 
•  Newspaper inserts - every few weeks coupon inserts can be found in local newspapers. I have relatives that save these inserts for me as well so that I am able to stock up on products that me and my family love.

There are a couple other ways to gather coupons but I will just stick with the basics for this post and maybe expand upon it another time:)

• So now that you have the coupons, what to do with them?? Well the best way to get started is to get organized! You don't have to be super organized but if you are a red hot mess and your coupons are everywhere, in you purse, in an envelope, stuck in your car...couponing will not be very successful. As most people know I am not an extremely organized person but I have a binder (see photo below) and I place each coupon in a plastic trading card sheet. Now how you want to organize them after that is up to you, I personally stick all my food coupons together, all my shampoo coupons together, all my toothpaste together etc... this is very helpful when you are actually in a store and want to see if you have a coupon for a specific product. 

yep, I'm a nerd, The Little Mermaid from when I was a child and collected cards.

a bit of a mess since I'm in the middle of reorganizing! Will show another pic once I'm done

 Now I know that it might sound like a lot of work so far but really it isn't. Especially once you get all set up it is actually very easy to maintain. One side note is that when you have more than one coupon for the same product I like to slip them in the same spot in expiry date order. So that the ones that expire the soonest are the ones that I will grab and use first.

• Ok, so now you've got the coupons, you're organized and you're ready to start shopping!! What I like to do next is make out a LIST!! I find if I don't do this it won't matter how many coupons I have I will always spend more money than I had planned on. Couponing is only good if you are actually saving money on items you already use and NOT spending money (but saving a little) on things your family won't use (or don't really need). To start off I recommend taking your weekly grocery list (you do make one right??) with all the sales and see if you have any coupons that will make those items cost even less. When I'm making my list I have a basic price in my head for each item that I won't pay more than. For example: Salad dressing - I won't pay more than $1.00 for Kraft salad dressing, if its on sale for a $1.00 and I have a coupon that will make it less than that's even better but I won't use a coupon for it when it's full price at $2.49 I will wait until I can get it for $1.00
• Once you have your list made and are ready to go shopping, I usually pull out the coupons that I KNOW I will be using and put them in an envelope so that when it comes time to pay I will just put the appropriate coupon with the product on the belt for the cashier to scan through. So with your coupons in an envelope, your coupon binder in your purse (in case you spot a good deal/something you need and you have a coupon for it) head on out and start shopping!!!

 After you have been couponing a couple times or if you are feeling extremely adventurous you can up your savings potential and ease of shopping by price matching on top of couponing. As far as I know there are two main stores that will price match and probably have what you are looking for: 1. Walmart 2. The Real Canadian Superstore. I have price matched and couponed at both stores and generally speaking have never had a problem. Here is a generalized description of how I price match:

• Write out your grocery list by store. Under each store name write your item, size and price. Make sure you bring the flyers with you when grocery shopping. It helps to circle the items you are price matching and fold that page for easy reference
• Once everything is in your buggy and you are ready to check out I like to begin by placing everything on the belt that you are NOT price matching  (with the appropriate coupons if I have any) and then I like to smile and let the cashier know that at the end of my order are the items I will be price matching. I find if I give them a heads up they tend to appreciate it.
• Then I place the first flyer followed by the items that I will be price matching from that flyer. If I have any coupons for those items I place them with the product. Then I lay down the next flyer and place those items behind it and so forth and so on until all of my items are on the belt.
• If anyone comes up behind me in line I kindly smile and say 'I just want to let you know that I may be a bit longer because I am price matching and couponing' More often than not people are interested in watching or they thank me for letting them know and move to another line. I really think it is a simple courtesy to let people know this.

Those are the basics and I know that it sounds like a lot but it really isn't once you get going.

Now I'm going to get up on my soapbox for a second here and say that, personally, I and my girls, have been blessed with a husband and father, who works incredibly hard and long hours to support our family. In turn this allows me to work minimal hours and home school our girls. In response to that I (and this is me personally) feel called by God to be extremely frugal with our grocery money (as well as other areas of our budget) and wherever possible to save, even if it means a little more work and effort on my part. So I clip coupons, I spend more time writing out my grocery list, I deal with cranky cashiers and don't always get things that I want but at the end of the day I feel that I have done my best with what I have been so graciously given. End of soapboxing. (I really don't think that's a word but I like it, so I'm going to keep it....now I'm done:)

A couple great websites to check out that helped me get started:
http://www.mrsjanuary.com/
http://www.savealoonie.com/
Let me know if anything is confusing or if you have any questions at all!!

Day 3 - The Batting Cages

Day three of our vacation is when we really started to notch things up a bit:) After mommy (aka: me) working in the morning we decided to hit the batting cages in the afternoon. Now I truly love baseball. I'm a die hard Jays fan and can't go a season without hitting at least a couple home games. The problem with that arises when I try to translate my love of the game into me actually PLAYING the game!! Josh and I have played co-ed ball for the last couple of years and I've come to the realization that I was not designed to be an athlete, of any sort. I have short legs, no upper body strength, the co-ordination of a three-legged giraffe and the speed of a snail...so all in all not so great of a ball player. However, last year in our one day playoff tournament I somehow morphed into this somewhat decent hitter and actually managed to get on base (once or twice). So myself, my darling friend, boss lady and fellow co-ed player, Melanie and I thought that we should hit the batting cages in anticipation for our opening co-ed game. Being that Josh was on vacation and we had decided to do everything possible as a family, him and the kiddies tagged along.

Woohoo all excited for the batting cages!

they definitely don't look as excited:(

did not make contact for at least the first 30 balls

Miss Melanie on the other hand killed it!!

Josh giving tips

showing us how its done

sweatshirt off and getting down to business

now some excitement!

silly faces

watching hard

We ended up hitting balls for an hour and about halfway into it the kids were starting to get bored and antsy so Josh decided to take them mini-putting. Thankfully the course was right there and the kids had a blast!!

my little rockstar:)

Bray concentrating really hard

I love her outfit! My kids always insist on dressing themselves

Over the bridge

Go Bray Go!

Way too much fun was had this day. We came home and rushed to have supper since Josh was heading out to watch some Junior hockey action with his dad and the girls and I were staying home to have a girls night. While Josh and I loved our supper the kids were less than pleased...in fact there might have been some gagging and crying involved which perhaps might have led to cereal being served. Here it is: The Portobello Mushroom Burger!!!

Super tasty meat replacement.

 Once our delicious, disastrous dinner was over I finally got around to teaching Braelyn how to fingerknit. Anyone else out there addicted to Pinterest?? It really is my new frenemy. It has so many great ideas that I will never get around to doing so I alternately love and loathe it. A couple of weeks ago I became obsessed with finger knitting (after seeing it on Pinterest of course) and knit a partially finished rug in my non-existant spare time...well ok primarily when Josh was working late and I should have been doing laundry. I quickly taught McKayla a couple days after but I knew it would take a little bit more time to show Braelyn since she is two years younger than Mick. In the end it was actually really easy to teach her and I'm glad that all of us (besides poor Em baby) know how. Really looking forward to next winter when I'm hoping we will spend more time doing this. By the way Mick took all the pictures below and I think she did an awesome job!! Even better than mine!!

casting on to the fingers

starting to get the hang of it

now we're getting somewhere!

having fun together|:)

Stay tuned for when we deviate slightly from our regularly scheduled blog post about vacationing to talk about couponing...

Our Staycation - Part Two

The first day of our vacation was a big success. Now on to day two. Unfortunately although Josh was off work I still had a couple hours to put into my job. I have the wonderful privilege of working approx. 3 hours a week for a Christian preschool that is literally within ball throwing distance from my house. So Monday had me heading off to work for an hour in the morning, coming home for lunch and a little break and then heading back for another hour in the afternoon. We decided to lay low for that day and ended up teaching the children how to play 'Pit' a favourite childhood card game of both mine and Josh's. Actually his mom had unearthed it from a closet in her house the previous night when we were there for dinner in an effort to finally get rid of the overabundance of board games they have.

If you've never played Pit here are a couple links to check it out:

http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Moves-Pit-Card-Game/dp/B001Y9CXK6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_%28game%29

Josh teaching Bray

McKayla caught on right away and while Braelyn understood the concept she found it really difficult to hold all nine cards in her hand so she started off the game by placing whatever stock/commodity she had the most of face down in front of her and her 'trading cards' in her hand. This was hilarious because we could never get her to trade them even if she ended up accumulating more of another stock/commodity than what she had down on the table in front of her!! Ah well by the end of the week we were eventually able to explain it all to her.

Mick hiding from the camera

Figuring out the cards so there are enough commodities for the number of people playing

Nothing super important here, just love his dimples!!

Yay! Mick won a hand!!

Emerson grating

After playing the game for what seemed like hours we decided to bake a carrot cake. Now I've made carrot cake in the past and it hasn't been all that fabulous so I decided to go in search of a new and improved recipe. I scoured the internet and found one, copied it all onto a piece of paper for the girls and I to follow and now I can't remember where I found it!! Oh well at least I still have the piece of paper so that I can make it again but I really wanted to give credit to whoever came up with this recipe because it is FANTASTIC!! I will post the recipe at the bottom of the post.

Grating some more

After about 5 minutes of grating!!

that Braelyn is always tasting something

Emmy loves helping out

the finished product

Now I apologize for some of the blurry photos, being as old as I am and really having never used a camera doesn't make for the best pictures. And while the finished carrot cake doesn't look like much.... boy was it ever good, especially after adding the homemade cream cheese icing McKayla and I whipped up.

We also had a really yummy dinner of bacon wrapped chicken stuffed with asparagus and roasted red peppers served with wild mushroom couscous. Stay tuned for.....Vacation Day 3 - in which Alia (and the whole fam) go to the batting cages.

before

after

 Carrot Cake Recipe
3 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 tsps cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 can crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside
3. In a large bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well.
4. Add flour mixture to liquid mixture and mix well.
5. In medium bowl combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.
6. Using a large wooden spoon or heavy whisk add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.
7. Pour batter into prepared (grease then dust with flour) 8x12" pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing
16oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, soft
2 cups sifted icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Cream butter and cream cheese together with electric beater (or KitchenAid mixer:)
2. Mix in vanilla and gradually add in icing sugar until well blended.
3. Spread on cake and lick the beaters, spoon and spatula.