Playground Love

March is over, thank goodness. We’ve been all sorts of sick and are now back on our feet. This post will be a big photo dump of everything we’ve been up to, from spring break on.

The carousel at the Village Museum

Over spring break we went to the Burnaby Village Museum and enjoyed all sorts of old-timey stuff. I’d been holding off going, because I thought it would be hokey- but it was just the thing to cure the boredom and stuck-at-home doll drums we’ve been in! A was super excited about the carousel but  was quite freaked out once we got there. It goes really fast and the horses are quite high so the first few rides were spent on the sleigh bench. We eventually worked our way up to the stationary mini-horses just right for toddlers.

This inspired me to dig out a pop-out book that my Aunt S gave to me when I was really young. Amina enjoyed it and added some of her own modern day dollhouse furniture to it along with critters and dolls.

I’m usually not surprised when Amina picks out books from the library because they tend to be quite predictable (cowgirls wearing boots, etc). One book tends to stand out for both of us though and it’s Traction Man. This book is geared towards little boys which follows an action hero saving everyday objects from around the house, but who has a special action hero outfit for every adventure.  Amina is quite enamoured with him. We found a printable pdf to turn Traction Man into a physical two-dimensional dress up doll. A match made in heaven. Here’s how it turned out:

Can I tell you how awesome it is when kids can use scissors on their own?

Art, art and more art.

Amina going on an Easter egg hunt.

This is C’s first art too! He’s been watching (and eating A’s markers) and now wants to have a go. So fun! I put some side walk chalk out and got him to pound on the blackboard. Looking forward to more art firsts with him!

Happy April!

xok

This may come as a bit of a surprise to some, but I like to shop. This sounds weird and incredibly shallow. I know this.

It gets me out of the house and I feel better and more relaxed when I buy myself and my kids nice things. I like looking nice (or thinking I do) and I get a great deal of satisfaction when people stop me on the street and ask where A got her super cute horsey coat (Hatley) or where C’s awesome shoes came from (tones of donations from my mommy friends). I love it when my chiropractor asks me where I purchased my coat from (Spank, 6 years ago) because she admires my style.

So in an attempt to stop the barage of clothes and things coming home from the shop with me, I am self-imposing a 60 ban on shopping. Groceries are ok. Make up at the grocery store is not ok. Stuff to colour my hair from the grocery store is ok. A gift for C when he turns 1 in April is OK. (Several gifts are not). Fabric and supplies for the etsy shop are OK- but they must be for things that are needed, not just because I like them. Un-pretty and unglamorous things like velcro and elastic.

What I find way too convenient is to buy things on-line and get them shipped to me. I love getting things in the mail. I think this is exacerbated by being on mat-leave and around kids 24/7. The e-mail newsletters for boutique kids stuff at 70% off etc are really hard to ignore. Don’t roll your yes- I know you think it’s nice when the Canada Post people show up with an envelope from an etsy seller or something awesome to read from Chapters or Amazon.ca for you too.

Ah, Amazon. The American version accepts Canadian credit cards and lets you ship to a US package holding outlet. Since Christmas, I have ordered:  books and a baby toy, a deluxe stroller, gorgeous leather El Naturalista sandals and new leather Teva boots. All from Amazon. In defence of the boots my old ones are so worn, the holes in the soles are taking on rocks and the leather is peeling from the upper- it is time to replace them. And I wear them all the time…

..and then a stick vacuum from Costco, some crafting felt from Benzie and wool felt from Bear Dance. And a cute polo t-shirt for C (In 2T). On sale with free shipping. Argh! On-line purchasing is evil. I will need to be strong to resist the urge. ( I had actually put links to all of these things, but started to do some math in my head and thought you might think me silly and extravagant once price tags where attached).

Let me stress here, that this is all paid for and NOT on credit. There is no maxing-out or hiding of purchases from M. I fully disclose and M seems to  begrudgingly accept this. However, I would like to save more and have less stuff in the house, so my next few posts will probably be about simplifying and de-cluttering.

I’m on the fence about consignment though. I bring items I make and some gently worn kids clothes for consignment and usually buy the kids some of the new toys or clothes from the consignment store in turn as I only get credit for the things that sell. It kind of feels like cheating if I take this and then turn around and spend it again. Or maybe I should limit this to using the credit for birthday gifts? I will have to think this one through some more.

I was inspired by Whoorl’s blog and her Pinterest board about not shopping for 90 days and so I thought I’d try to do something similar. I’m going to pin the stuff I think I want to buy and at the end of the two months (April 19) I’ll see how bad these things are burning a hole in my pocket. Do you want to try too? The more the merrier!  You can follow along and see what I’ve pinned at: http://pinterest.com/kmaxom/the-60-day-no-shop/

xok

You’d think with a title like that we would own several blue macaws. Alas- A has become fixated with the movie Rio which stars- can  you guess? two blue macaws. Ironically she’s always been terrified of these birds whenever we see them at  Maplewood Farm.

Anyhow- she been playing some serious games with these two. Anything blue in our house is fair game. Building blocks, blue string, blue mittens- everything is being used as birds. I am in the process of needle felting her a bird, but that is on the back burner at the moment. Halloween is creeping up slowly and I’ve got a blue macaw costume to make! (inward sigh of relief that we’ve escaped the princess thing for yet another year!)

Blue macaw art everywhere too- which is awesome. I see her interests expanding and challenging her to draw and use new shapes.

We’ve been tackling different projects as well and using new materials- here is a necklace that we made out of old t-shirt tubes.

Cut them, stretch them and make them look like noodles.

Wrap them to cover the ends

Proudly wear them.

This is a picture A drew of me picking flowers.

A sheep.

New jacket for Callie:

M has been showing A how to use plasticine- it’s nice that they have this time together and this medium:

An alien and his planet

A ballerina.

September has come and gone with me kicking and screaming every step of the way and now we are into October. I am embracing the fall and the lead up to the holidays. Secretly one of my favorite times a year. I am resolving to get out and enjoy our creek and our trails more because all too soon the rains will be upon us. Here’s to many hours of future leaf collecting.  Happy Fall!

xok