Happy Halloween!

Halloween history, from the History Channel:

Ancient Origins
Halloween Comes to America
Today's Traditions

Lead in face paint... and some personal news!

I just threw out a package of Alex brand face paint crayons after reading this report by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics!

Pretty Scary: A Report on Heavy Metals in Face Paints

We've been told for years to avoid putting masks on children at Halloween because most don't have eye holes big enough to allow for good vision on dark, busy Halloween streets - paint was the way to go. But with the scary results of this report (lead was found in all 10 products tested; nickel, cobalt and chromium in some), I won't be painting C's face until I can find a face paint that doesn't have any lead or nasty chemicals - does anyone have any good homemade face paint recipes? Luckily her costume this year doesn't involve face paint. She's going to be Little Red Riding Hood! I made her cape, and I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I'll post a picture after Halloween.

And as for the personal news... Hubby and I are expecting another baby! I'm 3 months along, and I'm feeling pretty good, besides a bit of queasiness. I was extremely tired for a while, but that's starting to subside - which is good, because I've been traveling the country for work! I've been banking a bunch of hours (I'm only supposed to work 2 days a week), so I plan to take some time off in December or January, when things at work slow down. I think we're going to keep the sex of the baby a surprise, and C is pretty excited to be a big sister someday.

That's it from my neck of the woods! have fun with your Halloween prep, and pray that it doesn't rain (or snow, depending on where you live)!

Graphics problem fixed!

It looks like I've been without a blog header for a few days - my image hosting site went kaput, but I've uploaded it to Flickr, so it's all fixed now - yay!

Organizing with Recyclables

When you're desperate for organization in small spaces, and on a budget, what's better than reusing and beautifying things that are in your recycling bin?

We eat a lot of raisins at our house. The PC Organics raisins are my favourite, so we end up with a lot of cans piling up around the house. They're about 4.5 inches high and 4 inches in diameter - perfect for storing small things! But, they're kind of ugly...


Voila - look what scrapbook paper, scotch tape and an hour can do!

I use them as pen jars, to hold scrapbooking supplies, put them by my sewing machine to store fabric scraps and bits of thread, and I even have a few in our craft closet to hold collage supplies.

Other ideas:

• barrettes and hair elastics
• crayons or chalk
• stickers
• dinky cars
• coin bank (just slit a hole in the lid)
• squares of notepaper (cut up paper that's been only used on one side)
• candy jar

This post is part of Works-For-Me-Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

Super simple activities for lazy days!

I'll admit, sometimes I just feel like being lazy. I use the slow cooker, put as many dishes as possible in the dishwasher, and don't feel like getting out paint or lots of supplies for activities for C. During the summer we traveled a lot, and when we were home we spent a lot of time outdoors. When we were inside, I just didn't feel like I had a lot of energy for activities (as evidenced by my lack of posts on the blog!). On some of those days, here are a few super simple, low-prep activities we do:

Sorting
My gal loves to sort. Mostly by colour, but also by shape and size. Alphabet letters have always been a big hit, and recently she's been into my button jar and a jar of beads.

Putting
Daddy's trying to raise a future golfer! Our putting machine (kind of like this) is a hit, and we have a nice long hallway to keep the balls contained! I remember my brother and I spent a lot of time rolling balls into my Dad's machine when we were young - it was fun to watch them roll back at us!

 Bead Designs
C loves Mardi Gras beads, but she doesn't wear them very often. She prefers to sit on the floor and watch me make letters and shapes with them. She'll tell me what to make, or I'll make it, and she'll guess what it is.
Shapes are fun because we can jump back and forth in them!

Beanbag Toss
Throwing beanbags into a basket is also a fun and easy activity. I just stick a piece of masking tape on the floor for C to stand on - otherwise she stands right over the basket! I keep moving the basket farther and farther away (until she gets frustrated and asks me to move it back!). If you don't have beanbags, just use small stuffed animals. Beanie Babies and Happy Meal sized toys are perfect!

Spelling
C is also very into spelling right now, and we use alphabet letter fridge magnets to spell our names, and any other word she can think of. We're working on identifying letter sounds, but some of them are tricky (especially vowels)!


So those are a few things I do when I want to be a good Mom, but I feel too tired or lazy to organize a big activity or craft! What super simple activities do you do when you're having those days?

If you like these ideas, also check out Super simple activities for busy days!

Trip to Newfoundland - we came, we saw, we caught fish!

We had a wonderful trip to Newfoundland earlier this month. We stayed with my parents, and I got to visit some old friends, my Grandma (in Newfoundland, most grandmas are called "Nanny" or "Nan"), and some aunts and cousins. The time always seems to go by so fast! Hubby and I got in some time to ourselves though, and some of the festivities at the George Street Festival.

A few highlights of things we did with C:

Playing in the water while we watched the capelin come in. It's pretty amazing. Millions of fish come close to shore to spawn and "roll" up on the beach. You can just pick up handfulls of fish, or wade out and use buckets and nets to catch them. It was my first time seeing them, and it was quite an event - there were a ton of people on the beach!


C thought they were amazing! She liked the dead ones better though - the wiggling ones made her jump!


On one of our inside days, she enjoyed filling up her Grandma's pop bottle bank!

We went to one of the coolest parks I've ever seen - this is outdoor exercise equipment! Weight machines, elliptical machines, rowing machines, stationary bikes... it made exercising fun!

We went for a walk on the St. John's waterfront (that's a navy boat in the background).

C thoroughly enjoyed "getting a home run" on a big compass at a tourist spot...

...and visiting a castle (Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, where the first transatlantic wireless signal was received).

In St. Lawrence, where my Dad is from, we took C fishing. She caught a fish right away, and my Dad caught a bunch, but after many unsuccessful attempts by me, C looked at my Mom and said "Poor Mummy. Mummy didn't catch no fish!"

She didn't mind the worms either!

All in all, a great trip!
(I love this picture - C and Grandpa, off on an adventure!)

It's 1970, and children, this is your life!

This is from a 1970s children's book. Yikes! Click on the picture to read more about what boys and girls can be when they grow up! (via The Blog of Record)


I know it's been a long time since I've updated this blog, but rest assured that we're still alive and healthy here! Our vacation to Newfoundland was wonderful, and since we've been back we've had many days where it's almost been too hot to move (summer finally arrived!). Things have also been going full tilt at work, so I've been avoiding the computer in my free time. Besides, it's summer, and I always kind of feel like unplugging in the summer, don't you?

I've also been kind of stressed out and crabby over the whole potty training adventure (any good tips to share?), but I'm trying to take deep breaths and remind myself that C will become consistent one day!

So that's it, just a little note from me, but I will post trip pictures soon, along with a few easy-peasy activities we do when I get lazy. :) Hope you're having a great summer!

Vacation!

We're midway through a two week vacation in Newfoundland, so that's why I haven't been posting lately. We're having fun visiting family and friends, shopping, seeing the sights and festivals, and enjoying the outdoors. Trip report when I get back!

I hope you're having a great summer!

The beautiful photos are from the Bitstop blog.

Painted Ladies

These little ladies have popped up all around my garden, and C and her friends like to collect them.

Rocks + red, black and white paint = ladybugs! A quick and easy mama craft!

Summer fun

We finally have sunshine here, so we've been out enjoying it instead of spending time on the computer. I hope you're having a great summer!