Toddler Easter Basket

It's hard to believe that Easter is already sneaking up on us!  Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful because that means warmer weather is somewhere in our future!  On a side note, if you read my spring post you'll be disappointed to know that I was just a forced to bring my boots back out for a few days; not cool spring, not cool.

Back to the Easter basket!  Last year I didn't do anything too exciting for Roman's Easter basket, just a stuffed animal and a ball, since he was too little to even care about most things.  This year is a whole different story.  I feel like I went a little overboard but at the same time I managed to keep the dollar value under control by shopping in the dollar sections of Superstore and Wal Mart.  If you are still looking for some basket ideas for the little one in your life, hopefully this will give you some ideas!

When John and I were shopping in Bismarck and looking at Easter baskets I was stunned by the ginormous size of them these days!  Maybe I'm just old because I never remember seeing a basket that was large enough to hold a puppy or a small child when I was growing up.  After looking at the Ninja Turtle, Cars, and bunny baskets, we settled on the old, flimsy, normal sized, wicker type basket.  I like the idea of getting a pretty, durable basket to reuse every year but there are two problems I see with that.  1.  I don't want to have to store it and then try to remember where it is, or that I even have it, by next year.  2. I guarantee Roman won't like the same things next year that he does this year and soon enough he'll be able to voice these opinions and request that the Easter Bunny get a new basket.

 

Of course the plastic egg is a staple of Easter baskets so I picked up this package when we were in Bismarck.  I needed something to put in the eggs so I picked up a package of Planes stickers at Superstore.  I actually didn't end up putting them in the eggs because I decided to add some mini eggs instead because Roman has become horribly addicted to them.  We've actually had to move them into our top cupboards because Roman was constantly into them.  He really is my son!  I also found this shaker stick in the dollar section at Superstore.  They have a larger version at the place we have play group and Roman loves it so I knew this would be a hit.  Can we just talk about this whistle for a minute!  For $1 at Wal Mart I found a whistle shaped like a duck bill and it even sounds like a duck!!  I just about died when I tested it out before I put it in the basket.  I'm sure I'll want to snap it after Roman blows on it for 20 minutes but it's a good idea until then.

 

 

Sticking this the toys I'm probably going to want to smash, I also found a harmonica and another bell noise maker in the dollar section at Superstore.  Roman already has a pretty good collection of chalk but when I spotted these eggs I just had to get them.  Luckily he's still at the age where I can have him pick the colors and he won't remember that he ever saw them.  He has always had a thing for brink pink chalk so I wasn't too surprised when he picked this package.  Next year is going to be so much harder when Roman can't pick out his own things!!

 

Selby and I LOVED these things when we were little.  They are little capsules that have sponge shapes inside them.  When placed in water the capsule dissolves and the sponge shape expands.  I picked up two packages because I knew they would be perfect to stuff inside some of the plastic eggs.  Roman loves having new and interesting things to play with in the tub at night so I'm sure these will be a huge hit with him!

 

 

Last but not least, bunnies, bunnies, everywhere!  These gems I found at Wal Mart and they were a total score.  The package of 12 rabbits are all gummy and stretchy; exactly the kind of thing I hate but all little boys seem to love.  Because they are gummy I manage to shove all these rabbits into 4 plastic eggs.  I'm hoping they will burst out of the egg when Roman tries to open them and give him a bit of a surprise.  The two larger rabbits have wire inside them so you can position them however you want.  I decided to wrap the yellow rabbit around the basket handle but unfortunately I had to toss the blue rabbit.  He had a piece of wire sticking out of his hand that was pretty sharp, so into the garbage he went.  Last but not least, who doesn't want a hopping bunny in their Easter basket.  Roman loves these type of toys and usually destroys them within a few days because he plays with them so much.  For $3 I won't be crushed if it doesn't make it past noon.

 

When I think of Easter the first thing I think of is chocolate.  While I don't want Roman eating his weight in chocolate, I did want to put some treats in his basket, so I filled a few eggs with some banana vanilla Gerber yogurt drops that I picked up in Bismarck.  I was going to wrap Roman's basket, and I still might, but as it stands right now, this is what his basket will look like on Easter morning.  I have a few other tricks up my sleeve for Easter morning so be sure to watch for that blog post!





Bismarck, ND Bound!

That's right, it's vacation time!  The last family vacation we took was in June to visit Trellyn and her family in Alberta.  We had a fantastic time, but if you've ever traveled with a small toddler then you know that 8 hours each way in a car isn't exactly relaxing.  So this time we decided to let Roman have a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa and John and I headed off to Bismarck, North Dakota!  We've been to Minot, ND but never to Bismarck so we were pretty pumped!

Friday
Of course the one day we want to leave the house first thing in the morning, Roman wants to sleep in.  Luckily when we wake him up he isn't a total bear and was happily eating his oatmeal in no time.  Once we loaded everyone up, including Bronx and Lola, we headed in Regina to drop everyone off.  The first drop off was Bronx at VIP Pet Care.  We use this kennel fairly often and Bronx use to go to daycare there the odd time when I was working in Regina.  They are a great kennel and I highly recommend them!  Lola isn't a big fan of playing with other dogs and would much rather sleep for an entire weekend so we usually send her to my parents' house with Roman.

With everyone dropped off, John and I hit the road!  The drive to Estevan went by pretty quickly because we spent this time talking like adults without a certain someone screaming "money" (which means semi by the way) every three seconds.  We stopped at 7-11 in Estevan for some water and a bathroom break and quite frankly I'm surprised I made it that far without having to stop.  I also picked up a few bags of mini eggs since I've been mildly addicted to them lately.  Those mini eggs sparked an interesting discovery.  Apparently if you eat enough mini eggs your farts smell like cookies.  Maybe a little TMI but I felt the need to share.  Next stop, North Portal, SK!

There is something about crossing the border that always makes me feel like a criminal.  Does anyone else feel like that?  Just as we were rehearsing our answers to the questions that were going to be hurled at us I spotted a miniature donkey in a nearby pasture.  At that moment I was totally prepared to abandon this trip all together, sneak into the field and nab that tiny donkey.  That donkey was clearly better than anything I was going to find in a store in Bismarck anyway.  John managed to convince me that it probably wasn't a good idea, which was likely for the best, so we continued through the border crossing.  The North Portal crossing has these huge towers that the border guards are in, which is obviously handy for the semis that are crossing but not so much for passenger vehicles.  Once you've cleared customs they give you this slip of paper that you then have to give to the guard as you enter the United States.  Well be darned if the guy in the tower doesn't have one of those claw/pincher/grabber things like you can buy on a million infomercials to reach down and grab the paper.  At first John thought he was going to pinch him but we managed to escape unscathed!

Here is something to ponder.  At the border crossing we were asking if we had any fruits or vegetables with us.  Not a strange question I agree, but think of this.  Most of our produce comes from the U.S., so why can't we bring it back to the U.S. after they ship it to us?  Food for thought!

Welcome to the USA where it looks exactly like in Saskatchewan!  Driving to Bismarck isn't exactly exciting when it comes to scenery.  It's a lot of farms, small towns, farm equipment and if you're lucky the odd cow.  The drive between Minot and Bismarck seemed to take longer than the rest of the trip but we managed to survive and arrive in one piece, and mostly sane.  I probably would have taken some pictures of the drive if there was something to see, so I guess you'll have to use your imagination. 

Since we are heading home Sunday morning we didn't want to waste anytime, and immediately got to shopping!  First stop was Hobby Lobby followed by Joanne's for some crafting and planner supplies.  I managed to find a few good items and lucked out that most of the scrapbooking supplies were on sale 50% off!  Once we concurred the craft stores we needed to take care of our hunger pains.  I feel like I need to start off with a disclaimer; John and I are taking the trip to indulge and not worry about nutrition what so ever.  My parents had gone to Golden Corral with my Aunt and Uncle a few years back and told us we absolutely had to go there just to see how huge it was.  Huge is exactly the word I would use to describe this place.  To be honest we didn't have very high hopes for the yum factor of the food but we were pleasantly surprised.  Not only was there a ton of food but it was all pretty tasty!  My favorites were the mac & cheese and of course the red velvet cakes.  After stuffing our faces with more food than we should have, we decided to head over to Target and the Kirkwood Mall to burn some of it off.  We picked up a few things at Target and I found a pair of shoes in the mall.  I wasn't in the mood to look for clothes since I felt as round as a beach ball.  Of course no shopping trip is complete without a trip to Wal Mart.  I wanted to pick up a laminater there since they are half the price there as they are at home, and we also found a few things for Roman; like Thomas the Train socks!

By this point we were both exhausted and decided to head back to the hotel and get some much needed sleep.  After all we have another day of shopping again tomorrow!

Saturday
We slept in until 7:30am!!  Now this may not seem like sleeping in but to us it is!  I guess it was actually 6:30 our time but even that counts as sleeping in in our books!  One of the reasons we chose to stay at the Days Inn was because it had a fantastic continental breakfast!  The had a chef cooking eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns and pancakes to order, toast, cereal, oatmeal and ever a waffle maker!  This is a great way to save a bit of money while travelling because if you fill up at breakfast you might be able to make it to supper with just a small snack.

John has been looking at the Menards flyer since we first started talking about making the trip south.  Ever since we went to Menards years ago with my parents and found BBQ sauce for $0.50 a bottle John has been obsessed.  Plus where else can you buy flooring and pre-cooked ribs within two isles of each other?  John found some tools that were a killer deal, a new light fixture for our kitchen, and I managed to find myself a new slow cooker since I melted the knob off of my other one.  I also picked up some slow cooker liners.  I've never seen these in Canada but they are genius!

After Menards we headed to Shoe Carnival followed by Old Navy.  We each managed to find a pair of shoes at Shoe Carnival along with a pair of sandals for Roman.  I knew Old Navy was going to be an expensive one because Roman and I both needed clothes.  While we were heading back to the truck I noticed there was a Dollar Tree a few stores down.  Of course I couldn't resist checking it out.  Unfortunately I was really disappointed.  I was surprised to find that the Dollar Tree store actually had less of a selection than our Dollar Tree in Moose Jaw!  At the very least I figured they would have about the same selection.  I guess there is one store that is better to shop in Canada than in the U.S.!  Another store that fell short for us was Big Lots.  Maybe we just had the store built up in our minds because of the commercials we've seen for it, but it wasn't nearly as good as we expected.  We did a quick trip around the store and then decided to head back to the Kirkwood Mall to give it a more thorough search. 

Target is very much like Wal Mart in that you intend to go in for one thing and come out with $200 worth of stuff you had no intention of buying.  After going in for some clothes, we came out with clothes, makeup, red velvet and peanut butter Oreos and an inflatable pool for Roman, along with a few other things.  John was getting hungry by this time so we stopped in at Grand China for some Chinese food.  The buffet was just okay for me.  The sesame chicken I had oddly tasted like ketchup which was a little strange, but overall it was okay.  After wandering the mall for awhile I managed to find a few more clothing items and John found some phone cases for super cheap at Radio Shack since there were going out of business.

After taking a break back at the hotel we settled on Red Lobster for supper.  Yes we have a Red Lobster in Regina but we don't go often so it was still a treat for us.  John had surf & turf while I had the ultimate feast.  I really didn't have any room for my salad, and I never thought to tell our server not to bring it, so I pawned it off on John.  He was a trooper and powered through them; such a nice husband I have!  I tried to remember to take pictures of our food but I didn't do a very good job, which is obvious by our lava cookie dessert.  I tried to make up for it by taking a picture of the coaster that had a picture of the cookie on it.  Points for effort right?  The rest of the night was spent enjoying some interesting COPS episodes before taking advantage of one more child free sleep!

Sunday
Today is the day we make the long trek back home and back to our baby boy!  All day yesterday John and I kept seeing little kids around Roman's age and we really started to miss him.  It was getting to the point where even a toddler having a meltdown made us miss him.  You know you have it bad when.  Granted the video Mom sent me of Roman playing with Grandpa's changes didn't help matters much.

After filling our bellies with another delicious breakfast we headed over to Dan's Supermarket to pick up some snacks for the road and something for supper.  We try to leave the fridge fairly empty when we're gone for a few days so there wasn't going to be much in the house for supper tonight.  We ended up with some Lunchables (mature I know) for lunch, cheese slices, water, a frozen stir fry for supper and John found some jalapeno popper chips which turned out to be angry spicy.  After two chips he was coughing and sputtering.  Why do men do this to themselves?  By 9:00am we were on the road.  Thankfully the trip North went by a little faster, but the drive between Bismarck and Minot still seemed to take forever.  I don't know what it is about that drive but it is not fun.

When we finally saw the sign for Portal, ND we were both more than ready to cross back into Canada.  I had all our receipts totalled and ready to hand over if need be.  I've never actually had to but I figured better safe than sorry.  Turns out I was right.  This was the time that we were hauled into the office to have our receipts added up.  I had to pee really bad so I was hopefully it would be over quickly.  Wrong!  After they were satisfied with our receipts they had us pull the truck into a garage where two border guards searched the entire vehicle.  Not sure looking for but the didn't find anything, obviously.  We were laughing that because they new I was a stay at home Mom they were probably looking to see if we had a baby walker tied to the truck's exhaust.  10 minutes later and we were on our way to Estevan and to a much needed bathroom break!

Two hours later we pulled into my parents' driveway to reunite with our handsome little man, and of course our fuzzy little poodle.  An hour after that we picked up Bronx at the kennel.  Apparently he was an angel and had a great time with the "crazy and flaily" dogs.  Crazy and flaily are definitely two words that I would use to describe Bronx.  By 4:00pm we were back home.  There is something so instantly peaceful about walking through your own front door, even after only a few days.  John and I weren't exactly looking forward to unloading the truck but we managed to get it done in record time.  Partly because Roman and Bronx seemed to miss each other so much that neither of them really cared what was going on in the house as long as they could play together.

This was the first time John and I have spent any significant time together away from Roman.  Usually when we spend time away from Roman it's so that we can finish some sort of project; like painting the house.  It was so nice to take a break from being John & Kendra the parents and be John & Kendra the couple.  This was definitely a much needed trip for us and we will not be waiting near as long for the next trip.  Of course this trip would not have been possible, or the same, if it weren't for my parents.  We are so thankful that they were willing to sacrifice sleep and sanity to look after our little monster!

If you would like to see a post of clothes or planner supplies I picked up in Bismarck please comment below and I'll hop right on it!

Weight Loss Update - 1 year mark!

If you've been following these posts then you might be wondering how it's been a year already.  Well I originally posted about the starting point for my weight loss journey back in September, but I had actually been working on losing weight since March 2014.  It's a little mind blowing to think I've already been at this for a year and how far I've come, and how far I still want to go.  But I'll get into all of that in this post!

Back in March I decided to join a "Biggest Loser" group through one of my mommy Facebook groups.  I had no idea that this little challenge was going to turn out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.  To be completely honest I didn't think it was actually going to work.  I figured I'd lose a few pounds and end up leaving the group out of sheer embarrassment haha.  How wrong I was!  Turns out my competitiveness isn't just limited to Mario Kart!

This past month was a bit of a tough one for me.  I was trying to come down off my Christmas food coma which was harder than I thought.  When you get used to just eating, eating, eating, and all of a sudden you try to stop, it can be such a shock to the system.  You know you don't need that cookie but the little devil on your shoulder says "but we always have a cookie at 3pm!!!!"  I spent most of the month bouncing around 165-163 and was really getting frustrated with myself.  I knew what I was doing wrong but just couldn't kick it.  I finally managed too after a couple days of desperately wanting to eat junk.  If you're having problems cutting out the 3pm cookie, the first two days are the hardest, but after that it's so much easier. 

How much easier?  Kicking that bad habit to the curb I managed to lose 5.4 pounds in 3 weeks and 3 pounds of that was in just one week!  I can't take all the credit though.  During that week I attended the most grueling DanceFit class I have ever been too.  I don't know if the instructor thought we were way more advanced than we were but she gave us a beating.  There was a point in the 50 minute class, about 3/4 the way through, where all you could hear in the room was panting.  I was quite convinced I was going to die.  The instructor actually had to yell at us to get us to keep squatting because we were all on the verge of giving up.  Remember the steaming car window scene from Titanic?  That is exactly what the windows of the studio look like half way through that class.  You know you're getting your butt kicked when the body heat in the room steams up the windows.  It was really a miracle I made it down the stairs from the studio, and even when I got to my car I had to sit for a minute because I was a little light headed.  Now that might sound like the cruelest form of torture to some, but it was pure bliss for me.  Why?  Because I survived!  The instructor tried to kill me and I not only survived but I kept up and didn't quit!  I've noticed in the last few dance classes that I'm starting to get quicker on my feet, my balance is better, and I can dance like I did when I was a competitive dancer in elementary school!

There is one downside to all this weight loss though, I never seem to have pants that fit!  Yes I can hear your eyes rolling from here, and yes I'm aware this is a good problem to have, but it's a problem none the less.  People always say losing weight is expensive because fresh food is expensive.  I disagree, weight loss is expensive because you have to keep buying clothes every couple of months.  In my last update I mentioned that I could finally fit into Old Navy clothes (size 14 jeans and large shirts).  Well those same jeans are now constantly falling down and come right off without even undoing the zipper, and those shirts are so baggy that Roman has recently learnt the word "boobs" because he's constantly seeing them.  I did purchase some tighter fitting white t-shirts a few weeks back in the hopes that they'll last me a little longer, but I have to wear a cami under them because they are fairly sheer.  So I pulled out a cami from Ricki's that I've had for a couple years.  No word of a lie it could pass for a night gown now.  Not only is it too baggy but it's now so long that it hits me mid thigh.  Who knew losing weight made your shirts longer?

People often ask me what diet or plan I'm on and, as I've said before, I'm still eating anything and everything I want, just maybe not all at once haha.  I use the My Fitness Pal app on my phone and I love it.  If it fits in my allotted calories for the day you can bet it's going in my mouth.  If I want a Double Fudge Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard for lunch I'm going to have one.  Granted that means that's all I've having for lunch and it's going to be a small, smart supper, but I can still have it.  I have fewer days where I feel like I'm doing to die if I can't have something to eat, and I've actually had days where I ate a popsicle at 8pm because I needed those extra 40 calories to get me into the "safe" zone for the day (if you use the MFP app you'll understand what I'm talking about).  I hate that people think they should learn to survive on lettuce and soup if they want to lose weight.  If you love lettuce and soup be my guest but I just can't do that.  I LOVE food!  The way it tastes, smells, cooking it, going out for it and sharing it with people.  You don't have to give up everything to be healthy.  The best quote I've heard when it comes to eating smart is "You can have it all, just not all at once".

Now for the cold hard numbers.  When I posted my starting weight it was a little nerve wracking to say that I weighed 195 pounds.  It has become easier as the posts go on, but this time is different.  This time I want to scream my weight from the rooftops.  Why in the world would I want to do that?  Because I have never in my memory weighed what I do right now.  I now weigh 154.6 pounds!  When I left the 180s I thought it was amazing, but leaving the 160s is just shocking to me.  That makes a total weight loss of 40.4 pounds!  Now I don't normally pay attention to BMI numbers mostly because I've always felt they weren't totally accurate, but I check mine the other day and I am .62 away from being in the normal weight category.  Considering I've spent most of my life in the obese category I was a little surprised when I checked it.  I had always thought my ideal weight would be 160 pounds and that I didn't want to lose any more weight than that.  Turns out I'm not done at 160 and am going to keep this weight loss train humming down the tracks!

Spring Has Sprung!

In Saskatchewan this is a very dangerous statement to make in the month of March.  At this exact moment we've only been out of the deep freeze a few days, but I'm willing to put it out there and declare that spring is here!  The sun is out, temperatures are up, snow is melting, and the streets are riddled with pot holes.  Yep, sounds like spring in Saskatchewan to me!  I've even gone so far as to bust out my flats and put away the boots.  Hopefully I won't have to eat my words and dig them back out.  You really can't write off the snow until well into May, and even then you might not be safe.  After all, I do remember a certain car trip in high school after a May snow storm that included getting my car stuck on the highway in three feet of snow.  But I digress.

There is something about spring that just warms my soul right to the core.  I myself happen to really love winter and everything that comes with it, but when the sun emerges from the gloom of winter and the warm rays start beating down on the world it reminds me what I've been missing for the last 5 months.  Spring is often thought of as a time of new beginnings.  The flora regrow and bloom, the fauna vacate their winter accommodations and greet this glorious season with the birth of the next generation.  We as people escape the confines of our homes and venture out to trench the water from the melting snow, greet neighbors we haven't seen in a few months, and of course tackle the massive mound of dog poop that has accumulated in the yard over the course of the winter.  Of course I myself will not be tackling this mess, there are people that do that for a living and I highly suggest hiring one for the post winter clean up!

Just this morning I woke up to sunshine streaming in the window and I was immediately filled with happiness.  Even more so when I realised the sun was up at 7:30 instead of 9:00.  Just a little dose of sun first thing in the morning can really change your attitude and outlook on the entire day.  I've noticed that I have a little extra pep in my step these days and I have more energy and ambition in general.  Even Roman seems to be happier, but that could just be because he gets to jump in puddles on a regular basis.  This spring/summer is going to be such a hoot with Roman this year!  I can't wait for all the outings to explore the parks, playgrounds and different events that he was look young for last year.  He has already firmly established his love of rubber boots and puddles so I can only imagine the adventures we will embark on as the weather continues to improve.

The smell of BBQ already permeates the air each night at around 6:00pm and I can't wait to uncover our own stainless steel flavor machine and start grilling.  Maybe this year I'll actually figure out how to start the darn thing so John doesn't have to do all the grilling!  Heck, maybe we'll even use the fire pit this year and have an old fashion cook out supper rather than just gorging on marshmallows after Roman has gone to bed.  Although I'm sure there will still be a fair amount of that happening.

Spring not only brings warmer weather and color, but it also gives us the opportunity to start fresh and make the changes we think we need to make in our lives.  This is the time to wash the windows and walls, dust the cobwebs out of the corners, and starting living the life we deserve to be living.  Whether you want to lose weight, improve your relationships or just be a happier person, soak in some vitamin D and put it to good use!

My Plum Paper Planner!!

When I was in high school and college I absolutely loved having a planner.  It made life so much easier being able to write down and keep track of everything that was going on in my life.  When I left school I didn't really bother to continue since I could pretty much handle knowing when I needed to work.  When Roman was first born I purchased a big magnetic calendar for the fridge to keep track of all his appointments and play groups.  But now that Roman is involved in more things and I have my blog and Steeped Tea business, the big calendar just isn't cutting it.

After watching a few videos on YouTube and looking at all my opinions, I decided to purchase a Plum Paper Planner!  Of course as soon as I decided on a planer I became obsessed with it before it even arrived at my door.  I watch countless videos on how to decorate your planner and different DIY projects for customizing your planner.  But before I get into that, which will likely turn into more blog posts in themselves, let me give you a tour of what these amazing planer looks like!

 

I decided to go with this cool chevron pattern for the cover.  On the website it can look gold but it's actually this great distressed wood grain pattern.  This card stock cover is protected by a frosted plastic cover, which is handy for durability, but I think I might just end up laminating the cover itself.  We'll see.  The great thing about Plum Paper is that they allow you to make a ton of customizations to your planner.  My planner starts in the month of April and I decided to add in a few extra months to extend the life of my planner, so it ends in July 2016.  Maybe after a few years I'll be able to get back to the standard January-December planner.

 

 

After the cover is a full year calendar, and in my case, there is one for 2015 and 2016.  I like full year calendars because it makes tracking bi-weekly payments/recycling schedule/paydays easier to track.  I really like the weight of the paper itself.  It isn't thin and flimsy but it isn't super thick either.  It has a smooth texture to it as well which is kinda cool. 

 

 



Each month of the planner starts and ends with a "NOTES" section.  I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to use this section for, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.  At the very least they will make good coloring/doodling pages for Roman.  After the notes comes the monthly view.  Obviously I couldn't help myself and I've already started decorating for Easter.  Most of these stickers and washi tape I picked up at Dollar Tree or Dollarama.  The weekly view in the planner is awesome because there is so much space to write!  There are a few different setups you can choose from for the weekly view but I decided to go with an undivided column.  The weekly view also includes a small monthly calendar, which is nice to have for reference. 

 

 

The last section in my planner is for my blog.  It includes a variety of sheets from to-do lists, post idea pages, posting schedules and blog stat pages.  Granted I've never been that organized with my blogging but I think it will be nice to have a designated place to write down my ideas and keep everything together.

 

At the end of the planner there is a section for special dates, contacts, and another 2016 calendar.  There is also a card stock pocket that I think will be handy to hold those stray papers that seem to accumulate on my entertainment stand until I can find a permanent home for them.

 

All said and done I love this planner even more now than I did the moment I ordered it.  The quality of the planner is great and the fact that you can make customizations to it is fantastic.  I was also incredibly impressed with the shipping from Plum Paper.  My planner wasn't scheduled to ship until March 13th and I had already received it on March 12th!

 

Now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to decorating!!!!

Korean Beef

I've been in a bit of a rut lately.  I haven't kept up on my freezer cooking, because I haven't had a lot of time without Roman, so we've fallen into the deadly trap of takeout.  Maybe deadly is a little over the top.  Regardless, we've been eating out way too much which is not only hard on the wallet but also our stomachs. 

When I posed the question, "what do you want for supper" to John one afternoon he suggested pasta with meat sauce.  Not an overly inspiring meal but it wasn't being delivered to our door!  As I went to the freezer to take out the beef I had an epiphany!  I was not going to make boring meat sauce, I was going to make delicious Korean beef that we haven't had in a dogs age!  I found this recipe on Pinterest (originally posted on Lizzy Writes) a few years ago and John and I both love it.

Korean Beef
1 lb ground beef
1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1T sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2t fresh grated ginger
1/2-1t chili flakes
1 bunch green onions

Over medium high heat, brown ground beef with garlic in sesame oil.  Drain fat from the pan and add al ingredients except the green onions.  Simmer for a few minutes and serve over rice, topped with green onions.

This recipe transforms your regular ground beef.  I don't normally use oil when I'm cooking ground beef but it is a must in this recipe.  It adds so much flavor to the beef and turns your regular weeknight meal into an Asian delight!  The fresh ginger and chili flakes gives a slight heat to the dish but it isn't overpowering; even Roman enjoyed it!  The crunchy green onions are perfect in this dish and I wouldn't skip them.  When I made it I didn't have onions on hand so I used chives.

Photo Box Picks

I've been struggling for some inspiration lately so I did what everyone does when they are lacking in the creativity department and headed over to Pinterest!  Who knew you could search on Pinterest for blog post ideas?  After reading through a few pins I came across the idea of sharing photos and the story behind them.  Well I thought this was a dandy idea so here is the first instillation of Photo Box Picks!

This first picture is a picture of my brother Selby's cat, Kit.  Or maybe it's Kitt.  I'm pretty sure his urn said Kitt but that could have just been one of Mom's typos.  Anyway, this picture is one of the many cat photos Selby and I took back in the day with our Crayola cameras that took the long 110 film cartridges.  We used to take pictures of everything and anything with those cameras and had a blast with them.  Looking back we probably almost bankrupted Mom by making her develop roll after roll of film filled with cat pictures.  Now if you weren't born in the 80's feel free to google 110 film, or film cameras in general.

Kit wasn't always Selby's cat.  He actually started out as my cat but we traded cats when a friend told us that my cat was a boy and Selby's cat was a girl.  Because clearly your cat's gender must match your own.  Kit was always trying to bust out of the house and constantly pawed at the screen door.  Oddly enough though he would only ever go out and roll on the concrete sidewalk.  Both of our cats were deathly afraid of going any further than the sidewalk, and they would claw your eyes out if you tried to carry them further.  When we moved from this house in 2003 I had the lovely job of transporting the cats.  Clearly putting them in a carrier was just out of the question so Kit and Jennelle rode loose in the car with me.  I had cats on the dash, cats under my feet, cats everywhere.  Shedding, everywhere.  Longest 15 minute drive of my life.

Kit passed away in 2004 (I believe) from a urinary track infection.  I woke up one morning and the poor guy was sprawled out on my bedroom floor on his stomach after crawling out of my closet, his favorite sleeping spot.  He was pretty much lifeless so we loaded him up in the laundry basket and attempted to take him to the vet, but they were too busy checking cows to see him.  Turns out he was so sick that there was nothing that could have been done for him at that point anyway.  Poor Mom though did have to take him to the vet to make sure he was dead because she was too creeped out to actually touch him and take his pulse haha.  We had Kit cremated and he stayed on my bedside table for many years until Jennelle and our dog Casper passed away, and then we buried them all together in my parent's back yard.

Don't you wish you kitchen wall looked this good?  If you were around in the 1970's you probably remember these fabulous racing stripe paint jobs in houses.  When my parents bought their current house it was a bit of a wreck and needed some renos.  There was an entire wall in the kitchen that was covered in wood planks, which may have looked cool but it didn't work for our family who needed more cupboard space.  I also have to add that there were swinging saloon doors in the entrance to the kitchen as well which I was highly disappointed my parents didn't want to keep!  After we pulled off the wood planks we discovered this spectacular racing stripe.  I was sold on it from the minute I saw it but Mom thought the wall would look better with a bank of lower and upper cabinets, so that's what replaced this racing stripe.  A piece of Canadiana destroyed for modern day convenience.  It was a sad sad day....

I'm probably going to anger a few people with this photo, especially Mom, but this is a throw back to my high school graduation!  The first thing I noticed about this picture was how young Dad looks, how dark his hair is and how much of it he has haha.  I guess that's what happens as you get older and have to deal with the antics of a teenage daughter.  Poor man would probably still look 25 if he didn't have kids!

I haven't colored my hair since I was pregnant with Roman because I really don't have the time or want to spend the money on it.  But looking at my hair in this photo makes me want to get back on the dye bottle!  Oh but the maintenance.  Well maybe I will, we'll see!  Trellyn used to spend hours during English class trying to track the red streaks from my neck up into my ponytail.  Obviously English was beyond exciting...  Selby looks like such a little boy in this photo!  These days he's sporting a Duck Dynasty style beard and hits the gym on a regular basis so you would never even guess that the two people are the same.  Other than the fact that Mom no longer colors her hair, I think she looks exactly the same as she does now. 

I'm not sure if they do this in all schools, but when each student walked the stage to accept their diploma, someone (I have no idea who was speaking at ours) announces what that student's plans are for the future.  Now maybe I was out to lunch or was just so nervous to walk the stage that I was tuning everything out, but I don't remember what they said about a single person.  I don't even remember what they said about me!  Now granted that was 10 years ago but it's like that entire day was a blur.  Almost like a wedding, you know you were there and that a big event happened but you don't really remember the details.

HAHA okay this picture makes me giggle.  This is my dear friend/sister Trellyn.  No we aren't actually sisters but we are quite certain we are Siamese twins that were separated at birth, but that's a long story, maybe for another post.  When we turned 18 we decided we needed to do all the things 18 year olds could legally do, and in Saskatchewan that means you can vote and gamble.  Voting isn't exactly exciting so we headed to the casino.  Now being two 18 year olds out in the world for the first time we had no idea we weren't supposed to take pictures inside the casino.  After I snapped this picture, two or three security guards descended upon us from seemingly nowhere and promptly gave us heck.  We must have look terrified because we didn't get in too much trouble, they just told us not to do it again.  Well that was enough for Trellyn and I too both feel like a couple of shmucks and we slithered out of the casino and I don't think we even went back.  We're such rebels! haha

Well I hope you enjoyed this new little post!  I actually had a hoot writing it so I think I'll have to keep this one up.  Heavens knows I have tons and tons of photos I could pull from, some that should probably never see the light of day, but if you can't laugh at yourself then who can you laugh at?

Parenting tips from the experts

As you probably know, Roman and I attend a play group at the YMCA every morning.  Well recently they had an early childhood behavioural consultant put on a workshop while we were there.  I didn't get a chance to sit down and listen to everything the woman had to say, since Roman is too busy for that, but I did get a chance to catch a few interesting bits, and I wanted to share the knowledge with you!

The behaviour you respond to the most is what you will get the most of.  I'm sure we're all guilty of this, I know I am.  It's so easy to get into the habit of focusing more on what our kids are doing wrong and less on what they are doing right.  I find it's so much more obvious when Roman is doing something wrong (ie. throwing things) that I have to really make an effort to catch him doing something right.  Sometimes I'm enjoying the silence or break so much that I forget that Roman needs to be told he's doing something right.  Mental note to me, catch him being good!

Initiate play time at least once a day.  Everyone knows that kids will sometimes act out to get their parents' attention.  According to this consultant, initiating play with your child at least once each day will let them know that you will pay attention to them and this will reduce the amount of attention seeking behaviour.  I don't know if Roman does this just yet, but I have caught him doing things he knows he shouldn't while looking right at me so maybe he does.  I try to initiate play with Roman throughout the day but I know it can be easy, especially with older kids, to just tell them to go play.

Teach kids what "calm" is while they are calm.  This was definitely an "ah ha!" moment for me in the workshop.  Clearly telling Roman to calm down isn't going to work unless he knows what it means.  Yet I find myself doing it several times a day.  This relates back to the first point about catching them being good.  The consultant suggested catching your child in a calm state and then praising them for being calm so they understand what calm means.

Tantrums should be ignored.  Tantrums have been one of my biggest struggles with Roman as of late.  I never know if I should attempt to reason with him (HA!) or ignore him.  Well apparently I'm supposed to be ignoring him.  The catch is that you have to stay in the vicinity of your child during the tantrum.  When the tantrum stops then you can turn your attention back to the child.  Now if your kid is like Roman, they will flip out as soon as you look at them.  If this happens, simply go back to ignoring and repeat until the tantrum is over.  Might I suggest a calming phrase like "goose-fra-ba" while your child is screaming and maybe a shot of vodka after to calm your nerves?  Just kidding....well, maybe a little.  **UPDATE - this works like a charm!  Roman melts down for at the most 2 minutes and then it's over.  Thank heavens!!!

Saying sorry immediately doesn't teach empathy.  Luckily I don't have to get Roman to say sorry too often (yet anyway) and when I do it's usually to the dogs, but it never occurred to me that I should be teaching him empathy.  Am I completely clueless in thinking that that kind of thing was instinctual?  The consultant suggested taking a moment later on after the incident to talk about what happened and how they feel.  This would obviously work better for the older kids, and since Roman isn't really at that level yet I think we'll stick with the immediate sorry for the time being. 

Use humor to dissolve an argument.  I found this point extremely interesting!  How many times a day do you say "no" to your kids because they want something that they can't have?  I know Roman and I have this "discussion" a few times a day.  The consultant suggested using humor to diminish the tantrum that tends to follow.  Instead of saying "no, you can't have another granola bar" you would say "wouldn't it be crazy if you had all the granola bars in the world and you could eat them all!".  Then when the conversation continues about how you would eat all the granola bars in the world the child has forgotten about wanting the granola bar.  Now I think this sounds good in theory, and I look forward to being able to try it when Roman is older, but I have a feeling that having a conversation about granola bars isn't going to make kids forget about granola bars.  Maybe I'm completely off base, but I would love to hear from those of you with older kids if this actually works!

I thought this workshop was super interesting and incredibly helpful, and the fact that it was during play group was even better because Roman got to run around like a wild man while I got some helpful tips!  It's also nice to hear that other parents are having the same struggles as you and that your kid isn't a bad seed!

Potty Training - Week 2

Monday
We started off the day with a bang!  The first trip to the potty was a hit and Roman had a good pee.  We've kept up with the bathroom trips every half hour, even at play group.  Tomorrow's play group is at a different centre so I think I'll have to pack our potty seat along with us.  There was a day when carrying a potty seat with me would have mortified me and now I don't even think twice.  Oh how life changes!  Roman didn't end up going on the potty again for the rest of the day.  If nothing else we had lots of time in the bathroom to look for and watch tractor videos!

Tuesday
This morning right after I dressed Roman he headed off to the bathroom and had a big pee!  Maybe this will be the new trend?  Play group was a whole other ball of wax today.  They had a sensory table filled with snow and it was like pulling teeth to get Roman to leave the snow to pee.  On the plus side all the snow he ate meant for lots of pee!  I managed to catch one pee while we were there, but having to fight a temper tantrum each time really wore on my nerves.  I was so ready to just throw in the towel and quit.  Unfortunately that was as good as it got for the day.  I didn't have any luck catching him for the rest of the day.

Wednesday
Roman was quite happy to hop on the potty this morning but unfortunately it didn't last long.  By the second trip Roman was starting to push back.  After battling with Roman all morning, I decided to try the "no pants" approach in the afternoon.  After taking some cute photos of Roman in his big boy gotchies, we got down to business.  Or at least Roman did...on the floor.  Three pees and a poop and still a fight to sit on his little frog potty.

This is where our potty training endeavour ends, for now.  Roman was the one who initiated this process and he clearly has had enough of it.  He's still only 18 months old so I'm not going to push him if he isn't ready.  We still have plenty of time to worry about potty training so for now we are going back to diapers.  He will still sometimes want to sit on the toilet and in those cases I'm sure to put him on it, but that's the extent of it.  I've heard many other moms say that forcing your kids when they aren't ready is not only stressful for the kids but it also makes it harder in the long run.  So I'm going to take this opportunity to step back and let Roman decide what he wants to do.

Potty training - 1, Kendra - 0