• Looking Back On Myself as a Formally Judgmental Mom.

    19/04/2017 - By 

    I used to be so judgmental. I was judgmental because when I was a new mom, I felt out of my depth and wanted to feel like everyone else was doing it wrong if I felt that way about myself. Sound familiar? Now, I see a mom walking her kids to school with her pajama pants on and my immediate thought is not, “Omg, make some effort!” Now I think, “Maybe that person has athletic shorts underneath like I do for their workout when they get home,” or, “Maybe those are her comfiest pants,” or, “Maybe that parent was dealing…

  • Struggles Last Week & Life Loves

    22/02/2017 - By 

    Last week was sooooo long. I did a lot of crying. My workout seemed harder than usual and the kids were cranky about school (“It’s booorrrinnnnggggg!”) and the days seemed so short. I cried a lot over our dumb cats….our “fur-beasts”, as I like to call them…. because they are still not being great. No medical reason has presented itself as of yet, so we are left with questions. The problem? They are both peeing and Thorin is occasionally “middening” downstairs. I have never used so much stain remover in my whole life. We get the smell out by wet…

  • Hunter Turned 6 Years Old!

    23/01/2017 - By 

    Hunter turned 6 years old on Friday, January 20th. My children turning one year older is not something I take for granted, as I used to. Hunter’s birthday was full of joy tinged with sadness. He mourned the fact that his friend B. couldn’t celebrate with him as she was so excited for his birthday this year. We talked to the moon, where she lives, and we made her an invitation and a goodie bag in case her spirit made the trip. Hunter was able to let those rituals lift his mood a little bit and was able to celebrate…

  • When Schedules Change

    21/11/2016 - By 

    Hello friends. How are you this Monday? Over here, we are still adjusting to the new schedule. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but my husband just got a new job (yay!!), and he started last week. It turned our whole schedule upside down. Our weekend was super busy so it was harder to jump back into the new (ish) routine that we had started last week. Especially for the kids. Every time someone asks me about Josh’s new schedule I say, “Oh, it’s good. An adjustment” and Izzy shouts, “Terrible! We never see him anymore!!” We were spoiled…

  • When We Open Presents

    02/11/2016 - By 

    Hunter had 3 birthdays to go to this month. It made me think of a switch in how we do things at ours, that I thought we would share, in case you wanted to try it, too. Birthday parties have changed a lot since the ’80’s. When I was little, you went to birthday parties and they were always the same. You would show up at their house in a nice dress or good pants and greet the birthday girl or boy. Then, everyone would play some games like pin the tail on the donkey or guess how many sweets…

  • The Damaging Sentence I Will Stop Saying to My Kids

    12/09/2016 - By 

    Welcome Autumn, I missed you.   Is anyone else surprised that the leaves are changing “already”. I am. This is the time of year that change in nature is physically evident and I get antsy about changing things in my own life. One of those things I want to change is the way I word things, especially when it comes to parenting. A potentially damaging sentence I say a LOT is, “What’s your problem??” Every time I say it, I cringe. But, seriously, it is the first thing that runs through my mind in a lot of situations. Hunter is…

  • Izzy Heals A Head Wound Which Motivates me to Workout Again

    24/06/2016 - By 

    I kicked it back in gear this week and started getting up for my morning workout routine, after I stopped. It felt like starting over again! It is the first week I have given it my all since we went on vacation in March. It was tiring and hard to get up but in the end I was happy that I tried to get back on track…mostly successfully. Friday is usually my strongest workout once the week has created momentum. But this morning I had other duties. Yesterday Izzy hit her head on a metal playground platform when she tried…

  • Royal Canadian Circus Weekend

    06/06/2016 - By 

    Sometimes weekends fly by. This one did. We were very busy, it seemed, which is unusual for us. Normally we try to keep weekends low-key. We all need the time to become hermits and recharge. I never regret saying no to weekend plans. That sounds awfully anti-social, doesn’t it? I think we are just so in tune to how we work now and, with the weeks being so busy, it is our only time to reconnect as a foursome. My little tribe of 4. I love us. As a result of our busy weekend, though, I can’t help thinking- “Monday,…

  • It’s All About the Wording. How We Can Change Our Parenting Strategy.

    11/04/2016 - By 

      I had a thought the other day. In our front hall is a mess of coats and shoes and at the end of this controlled chaos is a spot for the kid’s backpacks. Just behind that is a lovely wall adorned with a mirror, three lovely art prints and hooks for our favourite scarves.  So why does it make my kids cringe? Because, silly me, I have decided to put the kid’s chore charts there as well, just beside the scarves and under the art prints. In big BOLD letters it yells at them CHORE CHART. The chores they…

  • I Went All the Way to Cuba to Gain Confidence in my Parenting.

    29/03/2016 - By 

    My little family of four just went to Cuba for a friend’s wedding. It was magical. The midnight flight there wasn’t magical, but totally worth it to end up in paradise.  My kids were tired but also enthralled by the sight of the blue water and the white sand. None of us had seen such a perfect landscape in our entire lives and I felt like a billionaire being able to show my kids this so early in their lives- endless memories being made for them. Isabella and Hunter couldn’t wait to get down to the water so they went…