shoe boxbag

I snuck out last night after putting The Sprout to bed and just couldn't pass these by...

You see, I'm starting to have nightmares about going back to school in the fall. Just over a month to go until my first day.

I like doing school work and loving all the classes I have signed up for and am excited to meet other Grad students but I am TERRIFIED about being hopelessly out of style and standing out like a sore thumb. I have never received an A+ in fashion but I think that I have been a little too relaxed in the fashion department this last year at home with The Sprout. Luckily the three of us will head to Miami in a short time and hopefully I'll be able to fashion watch and pick up a few closet must haves......any suggestions?

Don't you think ALDO deserves an A+ for their great design of a box/bag? I love how the little handle is both cute, handy and comfortable to carry.

little red wagon

The Sprout was treated to his very 1st wagon!

We love to take our wagon to the paddle pool, Pike Lake Beach and the park. We even fit the wagon into Starbucks during a walk last week. The Sprout loves the wagon, particularly he likes hang half out of the wagon to watch the wheels and scare his mother. McDreamy told me to get photos of him in his wagon because soon he will be piling his toy trucks in it and pulling it around himself.

special night

McDreamy and I had a fantastic night of uninterrupted appetizers, lava lamp margaritas, delicious pasta on a trendy local deck and even a late movie!

A big thanks to The Nana and Yoda who ventured over to chase after their favorite little 1 year old.

McDreamy and I attempted to make a list of the 10 favorite times in our first year of marriage and each point circled back to our precious Little Sprout. Research grants, family dinners for 22, big themed birthday parties, 7 or more international family trips, fixing/saving lives and publishing in numerous different medical journals just seems like everyday stuff around here lately. Add love to these busy lives and everything just makes sense, this is the way life is supposed to be.

Our love is one of a kind.......my favorite kind!

1st

One year ago today we were.....and......and......celebrating with friends and family from near and far... enjoying fresh cotton candy and popcorn to snack on during the ceremony...snacking at a yummy candy bar....sipping signature drinks called the perfect pair.....drooling over an amazing cupcake tower piled high with the sweetest cupcakes you've ever seen and dancing the night away.

This has truly been the most wonderful year of my life in so many ways.

Need a good laugh? Here is our non traditional wedding dance on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPaqygs0_bU

Congratulations to little Aiden! Let me know when you'd like your new cars delivered! Tell your Mommy to email me your address so I can send them out, I just know you will love them!

free car give away!

Do you love fast cars?
Do you need a reliable vehicle?

Do you ONLY drive well made high quality cars?

Do you want to be noticed on for your exquisite high end taste? All you have to do is sign up as one of Sassy's friends and leave a comment on this post about how much you would LOVE a whole set of 3 these naturally exquisite, fast, reliable high end cars made just for you by Happy Squash.

These cars come very highly recommended by The Sprout himself...comfort... style... these cars have it all! They are perfect for small hands too!

Check out more of Happy Squashes great creations at the Happy Squash ETSY store

click here

winner will be announced on Saturday!

vrooom

The Sprout has new wheels! We had the box open and tossed aside in the front doorway even before the mailman made it to the end of the drive way. Sassy just couldn't pass these vrooms by when she spied them on ETSY.

Happy Squash made one very Happy Sprout!

Do you have a car lover in your life? If so you must vroom on over the Happy Squash ETSY store and stock up on these beautifully designed cars. These fast cruisers made it to our door step in just over a week.

Oh Yeah......another reason why Sassy loves Happy Squash.....

now Sassy has her own vrooms!

Check back for a very special giveaway tomorrow!

VROOOM!

hosting summer sunday swim suppers

Sunday's are great fun. Each Sunday we swim, eat, play and laugh family style. This past Sunday we had BBQ chicken breasts, oven roasted potatoes with chive and bacon dip, strawberry salad with fresh banana muffins and mango peach sorbet for dessert. I had a little extra fun personalizing the cups with characters of my family members, this was a great trick to help keep other peoples lips off of your cup.

This Sunday I will attempt to talk my sweet nephew into playing campfire songs so we can sit around the bonfire, sing and make smores.

Hmmm, I'll need to make a list of campfire songs, do you have a favorite campfire song?

fishing for fifties!

Have you ever dove for small change?

To this day I credit my strong swimming skills to hours of holding my breath searching for pennies, nickels and dimes on the bottoms of pools across Saskatchewan. Although probably not invented by my brilliant parents, this simple genius game where the adults toss small spare change (quarters would only be found on rare occasions) into a pool kept us 4 kids busy and happy for hours.

Yesterday was a new chapter in pool treasure hunting. The Nana was tossing in $50's! In hind sight, rolls of toonies might have worked a little better but the floating fifties put big smiles on each of the grand kids faces just the same.

My niece carefully laid out the bills to dry only to return to find the pink bills replaced with blue ones of much lesser value.......Yoda tried to explain that's what happened when 50's touched salt water, everyone knows that they turn to blue fives don't they? Very funny Yoda.

(the money was really a yearly passing the grade gift for the grandkids)

new tupperware!

top secret....I love Tupperware!

McDreamy said that boys don't have tea parties so The Sprout and I called up Lori our favorite Tupperware lady and she set us up with this great "lemonade" mini serve set! It is PERFECT for our outdoor picnics. The Sprout can pour as much water on himself as he desires and we eat muffins and watermelon all day long without worrying about crumbs everywhere. (this is all before we race cars, fight ninjas and crash boats of course! See McDreamy, Sassy knows how to do boy stuff too!)

Readers help.......I need more summer boy-ish things to do!

secret summer play spaces

...have you ever felt like you've found a secret garden that no one else knows about?

...a place so quiet and peaceful and safe it feels like you are a part of a secret world? a place where you can pretend you are a king, a world famous athlete or a speed boat racer?

...we've found a wonderful summer paddle pool that is surrounded by soft green grass and shaded by big trees.

...the Sprout and his little buddy were the only 2 in the whole park for 2 hours on a perfect summer day earlier this week. I know we'll be spending many hours at this park a 10 minute walk from our home.

Want to come to our secret paddle pool park?

Bugs in My House

This was The Sprout's first butterfly experience.

He was in awe of the beautiful creatures and I was impressed at how very kind and gentle he was. Raising butterflies is a great family tradition now which teaches the kids very important values about respecting and loving nature.

From caterpillar to pupa to butterfly, each stage captivates me over and over again.

Yoda laughed at me having "bugs" in my kitchen. He said he thought I'd be the last person he'd know to have bugs in their kitchen. It must be the tough wilderness woman in me(underneath the layers of cupcake icing and cookie batter of course!)

Goodbye flighty friends! Be safe!

kinsmen park

.....a kid sized pool
.....a warm summer day
....tons of kids small like me
.....my sharkie swim trunks
.....my Mom AND Dad splashing with me
.....a banana and my OWN water bottle
LIFE IS WONDERFUL!

Happy Birthday Canada!

After breakfast yesterday The Sprout and I heard an ad for $1 Canada Day T-shirts at Old Navy, lucky for us Old Navy is on the way home between our house and Yoda's Restaurant.
We arrived promptly at 9:31am to find several large tables with a sparse few XXL shirts-just a little big for The Sprout, good thing Mommy had a Canada T-shirt all washed and ready to go at home for The Sprout. XXL or not, the $1 shirt deal was too good to pass up so we found 3 of these

and turned XXL into XXL-ovely!

Step 1
find any old t-shirt, cut off sleeves and neck

Step 2

turn inside out, serge or sew bottom of the t-shirt

Step 3

turn right side out

Step 4

use your wonderful new bag for groceries or for collecting other treasures

* different sizes of shirts make different sizes of bags. McDreamy saves his old t-shirts for me, you know the ones that "shrink" in the dryer. Children's shirts make great kid sized bags for lunches and toys. Wouldn't this be a fun activity to do for a kids "green" birthday party.