Camp photos

I finally got to uploading and looking through my camp photos.  There aren't too many because it really is hard to stop and take pictures while you are in the middle of something.  We also kept leaving the camera in our room.  But here you go...

Here is TJ sleeping and the boys at the Girl's Camp waterfront

TJ doing a craft, Me and the boys on a hike, TJ on the phone to Daddy, and MJ not sleeping

TJ and the baby sitters, TJ & his friend from camp trying to fish, TJ and friend exploring

I'm glad the boys had such a good time.  Looking at the photos I noticed that the board walk where the boys are fishing is where my husband and I got engaged.  Lots of memories!

Flower Crown

I got this idea from Elsie Marley

Here is how I made mine:
1. To make the flowers I went to Felt-o-rama and looked at some of the links for different flowers.  I got the basic idea of what to do and made a few of my own.
2. To make the crown I used a glue gun to attach the flowers to a 12inch x 2inch strip of stiff felt.
3. I cut a piece of fabric about 12 inches x 4 inches (approximately) and sewed a tube.
4. Cut a wide piece of elastic about 7 to 8 inches long.  Measure your child's head and make sure that the crown and the elastic will go all the war around.  Feed the elastic into the fabric and secure.
5. Glue or sew the elastic to the ends of the crown
6. Enjoy watching your little one play!

Now if I could just get one of the boys to stop moving long enough to get a good photo.

Off to Camp / Lowville Pics

The boys and I are off to Ontario Pioneer Camp tomorrow for a week.  I'm volunteering in the office/tuck shop.  We'll fill you in on all the details when we get back!

I'm also excited to announce that I'll be having my first giveaway towards the end of the month.  Stay tuned for more details.

Hope everyone's summer is going well.  Leave a comment and tell me how you are doing.

Here are some pictures we took at Lowville park at the end of July

TJ sang and played with Boaty-Boat all day

TJ and Boaty-Boat in the creek

MJ can't wait to get into the creek

MJ and Daddy going for a walk

MJ spent a lot of time filling his bucket with rocks, then throwing them out again

Collecting more rocks for the bucket

New look

So how do you all like the new look for my blog?  During the M.O.B. Society BlogHop I won a blog redesign by April McKinnon.  I am so thankful for all her work.  She is extremely creative and so easy to work with.  I love the design it fits my personality very well!!

I asked April to share a bit about herself with us all:

How did you get in to doing web design?

I am actually in school for website design and when my classes began taking me away from the basics and more into the design aspect, I really began having fun with tweaking and changing my own blogs. As I got further in school and began having even more fun with design, I thought, "I could do this. I could design blogs for people." And so, the idea was born. I have not set up my design site just yet (hopefully very soon; it's a work in progress), but am more than willing to discuss designs/re-designs with people. I just love it!

You have your own blogs.  Tell us a bit about them.

Right now I have two blogs - one is my personal blog and one is a review blog. My personal blog, Blessed Beyond Measure, is simply about me, my life, being a parent/single parent, God, faith...basically whatever comes to mind that day. I have found that not only is writing therapuetic but it is also a form of reflection, contemplation, and quiet time for me. God has really grown me through writing. My review blog, For What It's Worth, is a place where I write reviews of books, movies, TV shows, products...basically whatever I feel like reviewing. Most of my reviews so far have been book reviews as I am an avid reader, however, I am beginning to branch into some products coming up very soon and I am very excited about it!

What advice can you give to other bloggers?

Simply this...be who you are and write from your heart. If you are yourself, if you speak from your heart and soul, with passion and conviction, then you will be successful. When I started my blog two years ago next week, I didn't expect to have consistent readers or to get very far with. I honestly expected that it would be something I would eventually quit doing, like all other writing I had tried to that point. But thankfully God had different plans. 

April McKinnon
http://amblessedbeyondmeasure.com/

Thanks again April for all your work.  I encourage you all to visit her blogs.  I have been meeting the most wonderful people from the blog hops. It is especially exciting for me to meet other Crhistian moms with boys.
Have a look around my great looking blog and have a wonderful day.

No cook playdough

We've had no rain almost all summer but a steady rain all day one day this week.  That evening I actually had to think up something for us to do inside.  I think playdough is like a staple play item in many homes.  I've tried out many recipies from around the web and thought I'd share my current favourite.  I got this no cook playdough recipie from our Ontario Early Years Centre.

No-Cook Play Dough Recipe
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
3 Tbsp Vegetable oil
2 packages powdered drink mix (no sugar added)
2 cups boiling water

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl
Add oil
Add powdered drink mix to boiling water
Add water to the dry ingredients and knead
Dough should be pliable not sticky.  Add more flour a bit at a time if necessary
Store in plastic bag or container with lid

Now I've made this a few times and it always works great.  For some reason the batch we made this week required almost twice as much flour.  Perhaps I was a bit disrated by the boys at the time. I suggest you just keep adding flour (maybe a bit extra salt too) until you get the right texture.

This was MJ's first time really playing with playdough.  Last time he just poked at it and wandered off.

I prefer the home made playdough because I like the texture and because TJ (he is 3 years old) still eats it.  Actually the other day he decided to smell it and ended up with playdough up his nose!

We got out our Mr. Potato Head supplies and had fun making our own playdough creatures.

What do you do with your playdough?  Do you have a favourite recipe?  Feel free to share more in the comment section.

Featured at Layers of Learning

I am very honoured that my table setting placemats were featured over at Layers of Learning.  I invite you to go check out the post.

Layers of Learning is a wonderful site with so many educational ideas. The site and their curriculum is created by two homeschool moms who are sisters.

Popsicles- (How ours turned grey)

Summer and popsicles go hand in hand.  I prefer to make our own popsicles so that they are a much healthier snack.  Usually I make a smoothy, give some to the kids and freeze the rest for popsicles later.  I'm super crazy sometimes in my smoothies.  I add banana, any fruit in the house, and put some frozen puree veggies, ground flax, yogurt and milk (or juice).

I found some interesting recipes in the "Canadian Family" Summer 2011 magazine.  These make about 12 popsicles.  We have only 8 moulds so I used some baby cubes and other containers with spoons and sticks.  Some people use Dixi cups too.

Chocolate Fudge:
Combine 1 package of chocolate pudding with 2 cups of milk and whisk in 2 cups of yogurt (it says plain but I used vanilla).


Orange Cream:
Combine 1 package of Orange Jell-O powder with 1 cup boiling water.  Whisk in 1 cup of orange juice and 2 cups of plain yogurt.

Some variations they mention are to change up the juice and Jell-O combinations.  You can also add fruit too.

After trying a few out I made my own version of the orange one.  I used blue Jello and Acai Mixed Berry V8 V-Fusion juice.  This made a very dark purple and once the yogurt was added they turned a grey colour.  Now I thought I might add some frozen blueberries and put it all in the blender, but life happened... MJ pulled the cloth on our nature table and knocked everything off the table (the rocks landed on his head).  TJ was jumping on my bed, but did stop to see what had happened.  I was pleasantly surprised that he picked up all our nature things for me.  Well after I took care of MJ I just gave up on the popsicles and froze them.  TJ tried a bit of the un-frozen mixture and liked the taste so I think we'll be fine.

What type of popsicles do you make?

Happy 10th Anniversary

I just can't believe how fast time flies.  My wonderful husband and I have been married for 10 years!

We met at Ontario Pioneer Camp almost 14 years ago now.  Actually we had met before that becasue Jon knew my older sister, but we didn't formally meet each other until we were both working together.  Oh it is the usual adorable camp story.  He was a counsellor and I worked in the kitchen.  We got to know each other while at camp and then he came to visit me as I stayed on longer.  On our last day together he said he thought he loved me (my heat still races when I think about it).  We were not sure about how things would work out because Jon was 26 and I was 17 at the time.

Oh my did we really look like this so long ago?!

After camp was over we went on a few dates.  It is all the Lord's doing that we happened to live 15min apart. I moved to Japan for a year with my parents (my dad was working on an engineering project).  Jon and I email a lot!!! Again God's timing came in to play.  Jon got a night job and because of the time difference we were able to email in real time.

Our engagement photo

After being a part for a year we dated again while I started engineering at McMaster University.  We got engaged back at camp after dating for 2 years.  We were engaged for another 2 years.  During that time I think we probably over planned the wedding which turned out to be fantastic!!!

We were married August 3, 2001 (my parents have the same anniversary.  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad too!)

Since then our lives, dreams, priorities, and everything else has changed so much.  I finished a degree in Manufacturing Engineering, went to teachers collage, taught grades 4 and 5 at a private school for a few years, and had 2 wonderful boys.  Now I am a stay at home mom who is also the office manager for our family business.  If the Lord is willing we'd like to homeschool our children.

Jon has worked as a Fire Alarm technician for several different companies, has also become a electrician, and started his own business (Integrity Fire and Control Systems Inc.).  We have also lived in a few rental places, my parents (twice) and are still renovating our house.  The house is nearing completion and we pray that the Lord will allow us to enjoy all our hard work so we stay here a little longer.  Our new priority is to our God, and our children.  We are continually trying to expand our company enough for me to stay at home and enjoy our time together as a family.

In all of our many wonderful year together we have learned that God is faithful, His timing is perfect (although He likes to be last minute with us to teach us patience).  Jon and I try to talk often to make sure that we are on the same page in many areas of our lives.  We try to be light hearted, humorous and care for each others needs.

I look forward to many more years together!

Messy Rainbow Spagetti

My boys love to get messy.  I found this wonderful idea on the Imagination Tree website.  I simply cooked up some spaghetti (doesn't mater if it's undercooked a bit).  After draining it I added a bit of oil and food colouring.  Only a few drops worked well.  We had a great time playing although cleaning up the yard wasn't so fun for mommy but it was worth it.

We even added some toys to the mix

Check out the Imagination Tree for more fun ideas for kids.  My blog also has more activities listed under games and cfats