• Back To School!

    08/01/2019 - By 

    My kids went back to school today. Oddly, because I’m a weird wannabe shut-in and usually value alone time above all else, I miss them. The missing them part is the odd part. During other school breaks, I’ve treasured the time we’ve had together but looked forward to sending them back. It felt too soon this time. I packed them off to school. It feels strangely quiet. I have all this time to get stuff done now: vacuum the floor without it becoming instantly covered in cracker bits or start work to meet January deadlines. Instead, I just want to…

  • Cornerstone Music Cafe, Calgary AB

    Entering the Tween Years or How Can I Stop Time?

    17/07/2018 - By 

    My daughter has become a tornado of ideas and emotions, seemingly overnight. Her favourite sentence is, “I know that already!”. We have officially entered the “tween” years. And here I thought I had more time. I believe she is raging with hormones already and it won’t be long until we have a full-fledged tween/teen monster on our hands. She is combative, competitive and bossy. She uses sass like no other. If there were an Olympic medal for back talk, she would earn it. There has been yelling and tears- on both sides. She always has to be the first and…

  • easy recipes!

    Easy Recipes: Cook Up Some Fun Food With Your Kids !

    05/07/2018 - By 

    Richa Iyer has generously gifted us with some easy recipes for your kids to help you in the kitchen this summer. Isabella is ten years old(!!!) this year and will probably need minimal supervision with these, plus I can get Hunter in there to help us. This article was generously written for Babbling Panda so let’s get on to the recipes!   It can be difficult to find new ways of spending quality time with your kids. Sometimes it can feel like you’re on completely different wavelengths on what makes something “fun.” And, as a busy parent, it can get frustrating to…

  • If You Need Me, I’ll Be Failing At Life This Morning

    19/04/2018 - By 

    Every Sunday, I tentatively plan my week. Every day, I plan the daytime hours while the kids are at school. I have to or the bathrooms would never get clean, blog photos and posts would never get done and I would just wander around lost. I’m not a morning person, but if I’m not productive in the morning, the kids are home from school before I know it and I haven’t gotten anything done! Any parents with me on that? Since I hate mornings so much,  I am always glad I have a plan written out when I wake up.…

  • My Kid, The Loner

    19/01/2018 - By 

    My son has a very active imagination. Alone, he can play with Lego or action figures for hours and make up several new rich and layered stories. He doesn’t get lonely. Socializing with kids during class-time at school and playing with his sister for an hour after school is usually enough for him. After school, he is often exhausted and needs immediate alone time for at least 20 minutes or he gets really cranky. His mind is really amazing. The way he thinks is so complex, old-soul, future-forward type of thinking. He has such a creative and complex story-line when…

  • 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…

  • Kid Time vs. Adult Time vs. Izzy Time

    05/04/2017 - By 

    Hello! Does anyone else’s life seem busier as soon as Spring hits?? I love Spring….it’s just SO BUSY. Which is good. My life is full of activity and obligations and love. I just wish that I was 3 people right about now, haha. Every time that I am at my most busy, I always feel my most creative and excited. I want to pile on more things…I have to hold myself back sometimes. Like, bullet journaling…I am fascinated! They are similar to the journals I used to make as a teen but a LOT more organized. Do you have a…

  • Today’s Picnic at the Park.

    27/03/2017 - By 

    Today I am looking after my friend’s boy while she is at work. Another dad friend asked if we would all like to go to the neighbouring park with his family. Of course! Way better than the kids being cooped up inside. So the four of us went to the park to meet up with two other parents and their little boys. It was sunny out but the wind was cold. I kept my toque on and played “coat on, coat off” as the sun played peek-a-boo behind the clouds. The kids had so much fun running around. When it…

  • That’s It. I’m Throwing it On the Lawn and Setting It On Fire!

    20/03/2017 - By 

    I really feel like I could do that. I do. But I won’t. We still have quite a lot of stuff. In Marie Kondo’s book, she stresses that you should not declutter your family’s things, just yours. Kondo says that even a three-year-old child will get the decluttering bug if you’re setting a good example and they see how happy it makes you. With my kids, this didn’t happen. They saw how nice my room was and then just hung out in there. (hahahah!) Going to their own rooms just had them feeling overwhelmed. I asked my kids a few…