Disney World...can we do it?

My oldest daughter (Lil' L) has been in love with Disney princesses since she was just over 2 years old.  Shortly there after she found out about the magical place called Disney World in Florida and she has been unrelenting in her begging to go see the castle and meet the princesses.  We explained to her that going to Disney is a BIG trip and that we needed time to save money and plan our trip - she bought into that and we bought some time.  

Around the time Lil' L turned three she decided that she wanted to save all the money she received (Christmas, birthdays, etc.) for our upcoming trip to Disney.  I found the largest plastic jar I could and we decorated it with princess stickers and wrote Disney on it as a reminder of what she was saving towards. She has been a great saver and given the opportunity to spend some of her money or save it for Disney, it inevitably went into the jar.  Around this time Lil' E was born which delayed any thought of a cross country trip (another break for us!)

Fast forward to 2013, Lil' L is now 5.5 years and Lil' E is 2.5 years and both are equally enamoured with princesses although Lil' E is far less "girly" than her sister.  However, both love to don princess dresses, tiaras, wands and shoes and play make-believe.  After two  years of stalling, one day my husband announced that this was the year we would go to Disney World.  What?!?  The good news was the girls were out of earshot.  I love my husband but  I don't think he did much research before he made his grand announcement.  I am all for visiting Disney World but I don't want to be paying for it for the next few years.  So the research began, I checked flights, low season, accommodations, attraction pricing and no matter how I worked it, this trip is likely to cost between $4,000-$5,000 for a family of four.  Once I shared this information with my hubby, he changed his tune a bit.

I am not sure how other people manage it but that seems like a pretty expensive vacation for two young children and their parents.  I want nothing more than to bring my girls to Disney and see their little faces light up and the wonderment in their eyes as they see Cinderella's castle and experience everything Disney while they still believe, in fact it will probably bring me to tears.  However, I have to be realistic and that means that I can't justify spending that kind of money on a family vacation for one week.  

So I put it out there to you the experienced mamas that have made the trip - how did you manage to do Disney on a budget or did you just suck it up and consider it a once in a lifetime trip?

Evolution of my Lil' L princess : )

Princess at one year

Age 2 from Mulan

Age 3 - Cinderella

Age 4 - Snow White

Age 5 - back to Mulan

Best Toys for Children - thanks Santa!

My girls are 5 & 2 1/2 years old and every year they get lots of gifts from friends, family and us - most receive a few minutes of play and then sadly go on the shelf abandoned for the usual favourites. This year we received some of the best toys for kids (at least from my perspective).  Not only have they endured past the first week of Christmas but they are on track to be long time favourites.  I would highly recommend any of these if you are looking for something to engage your kids.

1. Barbie Hug 'n Heal Pet Doctor by Kid Designs

My sister in law is always great at finding a gift my girls will love.  This year it was the Barbie Hug 'n Heal Pet Doctor.  Both girls received one and to ensure no fighting the only difference was the bag colour (pink/purple) and the colour of the dog inside. The dogs come with their own bag, vet supplies (needle, bottle, etc.), prescription pad and a registration.  This is a great toy for role-playing and the girls immediately donned the stethoscope to give their dogs a check-up.  My five year old is more sophisticated with her play but she actually includes her sister and they (gasp!) play together!  The dog is also good for cuddling and has found a forever home with my girls.  I should mention the dogs also "talk" which quite honestly we could have done without - it doesn't add to the play and the girls are not that interested in that part - they prefer to create their own story and dialogue for their pets.

2. Hasbro Elefun Game

This was a great choice for the girls as the rules are simple (catch the golden butterfly) and it's a lot of fun. The game runs on batteries and you load the paper butterflies into the elephant and then turn it on.  The trunk extends (via air) and the butterflies come out and float through the air as the kids try to catch them in the nets (included).  Although the recommended age is 3+, my youngest (2 1/2) has no problem understanding the concept however, she doesn't understand the "winning" yet which is probably a good thing with a competitive 5 year old in the house.  While I wouldn't consider this game educational per say it does get the girls moving and it's fun which really is the whole point.  It's a two-player game but my girls both are happy to play at catching the butterflies by themselves if no one is around.  

3. V-Tech Interactive E-Reading System

My mom purchased one of these for my oldest daughter when she was 3 years old and it was the best investment ever made.  You insert a story cartridge into the system, turn it on and voila you can watch a story.  The system is easy to use for children and they can follow along as a story is read to them (perfect break for parents too!), there is a dictionary feature which allows them to find out what a word means - my inquisitive child loves this and there are reading games.  The story cartridges are age-based (3-5, 5-7) and as your children gets older they are able to use different activities and play games independently.  I knew that my 5 year old would not share this toy with her sister so I asked my parents to get one for my youngest this Christmas.  The style is a bit different but the cartridges are interchangeable and you can download from the Internet as well.  My 2 1/2 year old quickly figured out how to work her e-reader with some help from us and her sister and now she is able to play with it by herself.  The best part of this is that it helps develop their reading skills in a fun and interactive way.

4. Fancy Nancy Books (published by Harper Collins)

We bought a gift set of Fancy Nancy books for my five year old and she loves them!  My oldest loves to read and she's actually quite an adept reader although she prefers to be read to.  I know that many of the books she has don't challenge her and she's not ready for books that are "all words" so these books are the perfect balance.  She loves the stories and the fact that the books are very girly/fancy.  The stories are a bit more advanced which keeps her engaged when I read to her and gives her something to strive toward when reading independently.  The "fancy" words with descriptions are great for expanding vocabulary and imagination.  After reading  Ooh la la it's Beauty Day, I was treated to a manicure and makeover (how lucky am I?) which just confirms that more than reading comes from a good book.

5. Melissa and Doug Alphabet Art Puzzle

This was a gift for my younger daughter, she likes her wood puzzles but they seemed a bit to easy for her and she got bored quickly so I went with something a for a bit older child (3+) that she could still manage.  The Alphabet Art puzzle is not only pretty but the pieces are not quite so chunky making it a bit more challenging for those that have mastered the toddler style of wooden puzzle.  She really enjoys playing with this and spends lots of time taking the pieces out and putting them back which is what I had hoped for.  The great thing is that we can also play together and work on learning the alphabet and naming the pictures.  This puzzle will grow with her so it's a keeper in my book and the quality of Melissa and Doug products ensures that it will last.  

That's it for my top toys of Christmas 2012...what are your favourite toys?

The best hair straightener EVER

Anyone who knows me or has seen my huge untamed mop of hair from a distance can tell you that my hair needs help when it comes to straightening.  Not only is it coarse, thick and wavy it's also prone to extreme frizziness and I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to styling, especially straightening my hair.  I'm probably what you would call a marketers dream, I have purchased almost every product that advertises a quick and easy way to straighten and de-frizz your hair - some have been moderately successful, most have not.

About a week ago, the hair angels shone down on me when one of the staff at the salon across the street from my work (Art in Hair) came looking for someone to be a "hair model" as the person they had booked ended up sick.  They just needed someone, anyone to let them straighten their hair!  Everyone on staff looked straight to me and I tried to conceal my glee as I agreed to help.

Monica Hair

At one-thirty I dutifully headed over to see the guys and gals at Art of Hair and meet Teri, the Loreal Professionel representative that would be demonstrating a new hair straightening product to the staff.  My hair was washed and a "quick" dry (no straightening or styling) brought out the true hugeness that is my hair (think Monica in the "hair syndrome" Friends episode), a smoothing cream and serum were applied and then the transformation took place.  The Loreal Professionel Steampod was put to work and seriously within a half hour my hair was gorgeous - keep in mind I was a "model" so everyone had a turn practicing on my hair and talking about how I had the perfect hair for this.  Probably not such a compliment but I was just so excited by what was happening with my hair I didn't care.  The rep explained that the Steampod was like a clothes steamer that smoothed as it went (I asked if they had a device for wrinkles - sadly no) as opposed to the more traditional flat iron that uses heat and pressure to straighten.  They can do much larger sections thereby cutting down the amount of time it takes to complete the style and the smoothing cream contains Pro-Keratin technology which will remain in the hair and help keep the frizz at bay for up to 2-3 washes. Repeated use of the product would lead to more improvement in the shape of my hair (always the skeptic I smiled politely and waited to see).

As I said, I have spent plenty to try and get straight hair, even when they do it at the salon it still has that halo of fuzzy bits that they try to keep down with additional product but the Steampod was amazing - after the first sweep through my hair was straight, and when it was all done there were no fly-aways, my hair was SO soft and straight and as an added bonus it smelled really good too!  

Now usually after I have my hair straightened I avoid any contact with it...no touching, no heat, no humidity and definitely no water.  The first test was the fingers through the hair and it passed with flying colours, my hair remained straight and lovely.  For the next 4 days my hair endured humidity, sleep, brushing and still looked almost as good as it did the moment it was done.  I gotta tell you I'm sold on this product.

Select salons like Art in Hair will have this technology as of November 1st and you can add it on to your normal cut or blowout for a nominal cost.  If you have hair like mine this service is truly priceless.  I seriously can not tell you how much I am in love with the results.  Check out the before (and this is before wash/dry) and after photos.  I had one friend who didn't recognize me and my mother actually paid me a compliment and told me that I should invest in the home model, it could change my life (thanks mom!)  I am not sure when the home model will be available but it's coming and I will be first in line to buy one.  

After

After

Before (wash & dry)

Thank you hair angels for looking out for me!

Bullying...Memories that never fade away

Recently I watched the video posted by Amanda Todd on YouTube and I wept.  I wept for her, for the other children that are victims of bullying and for myself.  The scars of bullying never fully heal and there is always a little part of you that remembers the torment you endured.  To all those who are being bullied please as cliche as it sounds, it truly does get better. For those that are doing the bullying I want you to know that what you say and do to someone now that seems so insignificant will have a lifelong impact on the person you have so little regard for.

Once again we as a society have been shocked by the suicide of a child that felt that at the beginning of her teenage years there was no reason to go on with her life.  As I read the signs Amanda Todd wrote of her years of torment I thought back to what was just as clear in my mind today as it was many years ago, the actions of a select few that rallied the larger group and made my high school experience one I would rather forget.

I started high school as a "minor niner" with hopes and dreams of meeting new friends, joining clubs, playing sports and one day "ruling the school" like the current senior class.  My high school days started out quite well with a budding group of new friends until the day one of them decided to take something that had been a funny joke and twist it into a much more hurtful rumour.  In the course of a week I went from a moderately popular girl to the butt of jokes, the girl to be taunted and the person that people didn't want to befriend.  I was fortunate that I had a couple of friends from middle school that stuck by me but in the face of so many others that would never like me or give me a chance it wasn't much of a consolation.

For the next two years I would put on a brave face and outwardly try to laugh at the people bullying me or stand up to them when I could but on the inside I was sad and scared and wished that I could just make it all go away.  Then in grade eleven I had an epiphany, if I wanted to ever get out of this school, this city and this life, I would need to go to college and that was never going to happen if I didn't focus on school and so I did and with this new commitment to school came some hope that there was a way out and for some reason this translated and I made some new acquaintances (I wouldn't call them friends as they probably wouldn't have stuck up for me if called upon).  I graduated and moved on to college where I made a whole new group of friends that never knew me or of me in high school and these are the life-long friendships that I have cultivated.  From college I went on to career and that has given me the opportunity to live in many different cities and make lots of friends, some of whom were short-term and others that I continue to have today.

So where am I going with all this?  While the bullying I faced was not nearly as bad as some, it still had a lasting impact on me and probably in hindsight affected the way I approached friendships and relationships.  In friendships I was wary and in relationships I was needy, neither of which were endearing traits.  I have grown and don't think of those days until something like the death of Amanda Todd happens and I wonder if there had been internet, digital and social media in my day, would I have made it?  I'm not sure.  It's hard enough dealing with your peers but to have the anonymous voices of thousands attacking you - I can't imagine.  

Most of the people I talk to have a similar story of some kind of bullying and none of us would have ever talked about it had it not been for this sad death of another young person. I can guarantee you that when it was happening to us we didn't tell our parents, our teachers or anyone else.  It's a silent killer.

As a parent of two young ( 2 & 5 year old) girls I worry about their future and what they might be faced with and how I will help them through the tween/teen years.  Girls are mean, it's a fact and no matter what I say or do at some point my girls might be on the receiving end of this behaviour.  I am lucky that I am somewhat social media savvy and won't have my head in the sand with regard to that but I hope and pray that the village that I build for myself and my girls with be filled with at least one person they can talk to.

I wish I had an answer to stop this abuse but women I have spoken to that are in their 20's, 30's and beyond all have a story about how they were bullied on some level.  The question is: how to we find an ending - together.

If you are being bullied or need resources on bullying there are lots of great organizations...these links are just a few
-Kids Help Phone
-Ministry of Education (Safe Schools Now)
-Safe at School
-BullyingCanada.ca

Sending good karma to all <3

Expressing feeling through art at any age

From a very young age my oldest daughter Lil' L was interested in creating.  She would happily sit at her table and chairs to draw, paint, and sticker works of art.  My husband is an artist (both at heart although only currently doing it commercially by profession) so I figured she came by this naturally.  Personally all my creativity is in my head sadly, it never makes it on to paper looking the way I envisioned it.  We have always believed that we should nurture our childrens interests by providing them with whatever opportunities we could to explore their current passions.

The Bird Kite

When Lil' L was 2 1/2 years old we took a trip to Ottawa and visited the National Art Gallery, we wandered around looking at the incredible collection of artwork.  Lil' L being a toddler didn't have a long attention span so we moved through the gallery quickly, I am sure to my husbands dismay. What really intrigued me was that I really didn't know if Lil' L was "getting" much out of our visit until part way through she told us that seeing all this art made her want to do creative.  Luckily for us this must happen a lot because they have an area for children to work on art projects.  We created a bird kite that hangs in our playroom to this day.

Clay Sculptures

I was thinking of this the other day when I took both the girls to the Royal Botanical Gardens to see ZimSculpt which is a collection of hand-craved sculptures created by artists from Zimbabwe.  If you haven't had an opportunity to see this amazing collection of artwork, I would urge you to go (it's on to Oct. 8).  Not only are the artists works on display, the artists are also present and creating on-site which means you have an opportunity to view them at work and speak to them about what they do.  At first Lil' L was not keen to leave the fish in the RBG to look at art but once outside, she became interested and starting asking lots of questions about what made them decide to make something, if the people and things that were sculpted were from "real life" or imagined and so on.  In the end what she really wanted to do was get home so she could make some art like that.  We now have a fine collection of clay sculptures created by Lil' L and her dad.

Over the years I have saved almost ever piece of art that both my girls have created and if I keep it up I'll probably be featured in an episode of Hoarders some time in the future.  My collection includes "love" cards, drawings, scribbles and so much more - lots of happy memories boxed and stored.  

Then something new happened.  As Lil' L neared her 5th birthday she began asserting her independence and decision making abilities usually at bedtime when we were all tired and short on patience.  One night after a particularly rough bedtime my husband came downstairs and showed me what had been left outside Lil' L bedroom door for him.  A drawing of his face x'd out with the words "Daddy doesn't love me" - it was both funny and heartbreaking.  But I give my hubbie credit, he got a marker and drew her a return note telling her that he loved her very much with a picture of the two of them.

Since that day there have been many a note left for the unfortunate parent that doesn't bend to the will of our daughter and even her little sister felt the brunt of it after losing one (of hundreds) of her plastics rings.  Lil' L asserted that she did it on purpose and that the ring was very special to her, even though she had given it to her by her own free will just hours before.  The next morning, several signs were taped around the house staking claim to her bedroom, the playroom and even the bathroom!  The good news is Lil' E can't read yet.

Mars Rover

Lil' L has also used art to prove her point.  After the rover landed on Mars, Lil' L was telling her classmates at daycare about it and they didn't believe her.  She tried to explain to them that she had seen pictures of the "robot" on the computer and it really was on Mars but they weren't convinced.  So Lil' L drew them a picture of the rover so that they would understand what she was talking about.  Today that photo hangs on our fridge.

The other night Lil' L and I were chatting at bedtime and she told me that sometimes she does things that she has been told not to because she wants to do them and not doing them makes her unhappy.  Then she thinks "what have I done" and she doesn't know how to talk about it so she draws a picture and leaves it for us.  She continued to tell me that she talked to our special friend (one of her dolls I believe) and she told her that family is the most important thing and we need to work together.  As she shared this story with me, I thought how glad I am that she has an outlet to express how she's feeling and that she understands why she is doing it.  I hope this serves her well in the future although I fear the pictures I might receive during the tween/teen years.  Don't get me wrong, Lil' L still creates lots of art work about love and happiness and just random stuff.  I found a drawing in one of her many notebooks just titled "happy".

If you are looking for some ways to share art with your child (6 and under) and you live in the Hamilton area I would encourage you to visit Mohawk College Ontario Early Years Centre when they have the artist in the centre. I think it is still Monday and Wednesday but check with the centre to be sure.  Mr. Jason is the artist/educator in the centre and he had a profound effect on Lil' L.  We visited almost weekly during my maternity leave and she still asks to visit to see him.  Jason takes a very child centred approach to art, he doesn't tell them what to make or how to make it instead he asks them questions about what they want to do and allows and helps them explore how to get to the finished piece.  Many children worked on pieces over a long period of time, adding and creating with each visit.  Every Monday Lil' L would think about what she wanted to make and then head in to work with Jason to create it.  I cannot say enough good things about this program.  I am not sure if other OEYC offer these programs but it's worth checking (bonus: they are free of charge).

From dollar store glitter glue to the many awesome products by Crayola, my children seem to be happy to create.  I hope both my daughters continue to enjoy the arts and we will continue to provide opportunities for this to happens.