• Remembering Leonard Cohen

    16/11/2016 - By 

    When I was younger, a toddler even, my parents (especially my mom) would play Leonard Cohen on the stereo while she cleaned during the week. We often played his music on Sundays- our day to play loud music and read or bake. Music was our religion since my mom is agnostic and my dad is atheist (or was). I grew up listening to Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Iggy Pop, David Bowie….and more obscure and eclectic artists. There was also a lot of heavier rock and folk music mixed in. Leonard Cohen was one of the folk artists that…

  • 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…

  • Isabella the Future Hockey Star

    27/10/2016 - By 

    My daughter, Isabella, is her own person. She needs things to switch up a lot, is naturally fidgety and is very vocal and competitive. She doesn’t put up with any long-term B.S. – in fact, we have been called a couple times to the school when things have gotten physical between her and someone teasing her (almost always a boy). I recently bought a pair of pants for Hunter that were a bit too big for him, so Isabella wears them now and they are her fave pants because they have the most pockets for collecting rocks and specimens to…

  • How Grief Made Me a Better Parent

    14/10/2016 - By 

    My son’s six-year-old playmate died suddenly not long ago and we are still going through the waves of grief. I still wake up at night to check on my own kids. I believe that Hunter is just now realizing it is a forever thing….I am sure that this will affect him forever. Sometimes I find him just gazing at her photo and I am comforted by the fact that he has his own interpretation of the afterlife. I have read on countless websites that you must impress on yourself and your kids that your life must go on. It is…

  • A New Book Discovery and A New Parenting Strategy.

    05/10/2016 - By 

    As I sit and write this, I can hear my cat out on the open balcony, playing with leaves. He is pouncing and chasing. I can hear the patter of his feet and the rustling of the leaves as he attacks and bats at them. The fall light streams in through the window in a golden glow and the air smells of cinnamon and pine. My kids are at school and I sit hear and sip coffee, researching ideas and writing to you. If you are an aunt, a sister or brother, a lover of art, a fan of quirky…

  • 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…

  • Being Sick and Parenting

    20/06/2016 - By 

    Last week I had to pretend I had super powers. Being very sick and feeling like a zombie, I lurched myself through the week in a daze. Twice I nearly fell asleep in my lunch, and Hunter had to ask me what I was doing, and if I was looking at my lunch “real close”. LOL. But I survived it and managed to be an okay mom to my kids at the same time! I also managed to drop off the fairy garden I had made for a friend in her yard (more about that next week), and I managed…

  • 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,…

  • A Wondrous Weekend: Atwood and Penner

    30/05/2016 - By 

    Good morning! I hope your last week was as busy but as fantastic as mine was. Now I just need a week entirely alone to curl up and process it all. (Seriously).   The beginning of the week was the long weekend, but our week really kicked off for us on Wednesday, when we got to see Fred Penner live. Amazing Canadian children’s singer that I grew up watching. He is from Winnipeg, Manitoba and has a list of hits that include “The Cat Came Back” and “Sandwiches”. Fred Penner used to be a part of my day when I…