Ramblings of a Stay-at-Home Mom

With cooler weather among us now, I think we can declare that Summer is officially over! And with that, also means the end of our 2016 Summer Bucket List. Unfortunately, there were quite a few things that didn't get done this ear, due to various reasons. But at least we tried and had fun while doing them! Go to the Zoo: This one didn't get accomplished due to funds. Draw on the sidewalk: This we did quite a bit of during the summer, especially if I was mowing the lawn and needed to keep the girls busy and entertained. That little guy though? That's my nephew leaving his artwork on the driveway. Have a picnic We just had a picnic this past weekend, at one of the local churches Community BBQ. Of course hot dogs were devoured and lots of playing around on the bouncers. Have a backyard Sprinkler party with friends: This one we did not accomplish this summer. Boo! Have a wiener roast: The girls had one at my Dad's place when they spent a night there this summer. Have a bonfi...

Seeing as we're half-way through August, I decided to do a quick update on our Summer Bucket List. We've made some pretty good progress with checking things off the list, and with only a couple weeks to go (I'm ending the list on September 6, 2016), it still gives us a bit of time to get some more done! This summer has passed by really fast, and seeing as Keith is starting college next week (!!) and Violet starts Kindergarten (!!!) in 3 weeks, I know that this Fall will bring a lot of changes, but it's reassuring to know that we had a good summer as a family. Go to the water slides - August 17, 2016  We surprised the girls with a trip to the local water slides last week. Both girls really loved being able to play in the water and go down the slides multiple times. Let me tell you, mine and Keith's legs got workouts that day: up the hill, down the slide, repeat 300 million times. The girls even braved going down a big slide with us and even though they both went unde...

Strawberry picking season is here ! Even with it raining last night, we still decided to go, as I didn’t want to roast in the heat next week. I dropped off Dominique at my friend's place (she was very happy to see her best friend Kianna), and then me and Violet met my Mom and Natalie’s kids at the Fridensfeld Strawberry U-Pick Farm. It was still a bit chilly out, but it was nice enough to pick. It didn’t take me and Mom long to pick about 9 gallons of strawberries (3 for her, 4 for me and 2 for my mother-in-law). The kids helped here and there, but otherwise it was just me and Mom picking. Took us almost 2 hours, but we had our pails full! Once we got home, I fed the girls lunch and started working on my strawberries. Managed to get most of them into the sink to clean off and then started cutting them up to put into the freezer (remembering to keep 2 pails aside for my mother-in-law and ½ a pail in the fridge for us to eat). After Dominique went down for her nap, Violet was adamant...

I finally got to mark a concert off my list that I've been wanting to see since I was a kid: GARTH BROOKS! Back in May, my sisters found out that Garth Brooks was coming to town for the first time in 20 years and they were going to try their darnedest to get tickets. Luckily they were cheap ($80), and they managed to get FLOOR SEATS!! 19th row!! EEEK!!! The only thing was that it was the 10:30pm show. While people were ordering tickets, they added a second show on Saturday night because the demand was that big. Which also meant that it was going to be a long day for me and I had to find a sitter for the girls (Keith works evenings on the weekends), but everything worked out in the end. There was 7 of us going: me, my Mom, my 2 sisters and 3 of their friends. We ended up going for supper at Famous Dave's before the concert and planned to get to the MTS Centre early. Good thing we were there early, because there was 2 lines snaking around the building. At 9pm. The doors only open...

Summer in the City was this past weekend and the girls had a blast! We ended up going on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning/afternoon.  The girls got face painting done, had lots of fun in the bouncy houses and the Kids in the City tent, did some rides and got to meet Rapunzel! I swear my kids are ride addicts. My Dad had bought them a couple rides on Friday afternoon and it was pretty hard to convince Dominique to get off the rides! Keith took them Saturday morning and after I was done work, I met them there. We got some more ride tickets for the girls and then Keith had to leave for work. Which meant that I was fielding 2 kids by myself on rides. But it was worth it. They loved going on the rides and Dominique especially was squealing for joy. I may have had to ask a couple times for Violet to have her picture taken with Rapunzel. She's shy around grown ups that she doesn't know, but after a bit, she obliged. Dominique was the same, but she was staying in the stroller...

As Summer is approaching very quickly, I decided to put together a Summer Bucket List for us to do as a family.  It's a mixture of indoor and outdoor stuff, just to cover sunny and rainy days. The list is pretty self-explanatory and I'll be updating it as we go along and cross things off the list!! Go to the water slides Go to the Zoo Go to a Fair Watch a Parade Draw on the sidewalk Have a picnic Go strawberry picking Go to the Beach Visit the Splash Park Have a backyard Sprinkler party with friends Have a wiener roast Have a bonfire Watch fireworks Make homemade ice cream Visit a museum Make homemade jam Make cookies for someone Have a play date Make Popsicles Make s'mores Have a water gun fight Bake cupcakes  Go to the Farmer's Market Visit a local farm or petting zoo Have a movie night with pajamas and popcorn Play in a sandbox Make cheerio/fruit loop necklaces Play with bubbles Color in a coloring book Atte...