May Book Club

Another book club meeting and surprise I have read the book (which is not a real feat as it was my choice). In fact not only have I read the first Hunger Games I have read all three. I could not put the series down once I started. I can honestly say that I will someday read them again. I am sure that our book club night will be full of great conversation about this one. I hope the rest of the group liked them as much as I did. Maybe I will get a chance to see the movie some time.

Physiotherapy

So my insurance company thought I should start a physiotherapy routine to prepare me for my return to work. They thought I could build endurance and strength by exercising a couple times a week. Well what they had in mind and what the physiotherapist had in mind are totally different. I am to report to the gym every morning for an hour long circuit of training including 10 min on the bike, resistance band training, weight equipment and reflection exercises. The trainer is pretty hardcore about me being there daily. It would seem I am giving up my rest time I order to do this training as the only available time I have to go is in the morning while both the kids are at school thus leaving me no alone time to relax. I guess exercise is meant to be relaxing I have yet to determine if I will i fact enjoy the routine of hitting the gym each morning. I have never had the motivation to do it before maybe I will become addicted to exercise endorphin's and keep it up once the allotted 6 weeks is complete. At least it will help get me back in bathing suit shape before the summer is in full swing.

Bonfire lol

So this is it, hardly what you may call an Bonfire. In fact by the time the fire department showed up on a Saturday evening of the long weekend, we had already extinguished the fire and headed inside to watch a movie before bed. We had only lite it to roast a few marshmallows as part of our fun filled sleep over with my nephews. Yet, one of our very friendly neighbours felt in necessary to call in a complaint about a Bonfire on our street, thus causing some real excitement as the fire truck came barreling onto our little crescent with their sirens going. The firemen had to walk door to door trying to figure out who was burning something as they could not see any smoke, and due to the fact we live two blocks from a campground and the whole subdivision smells of camp smoke all summer it was hard for the firemen to even determine who was having a fire. We got issued a warning and an apology for our crappy neighbours. It is in fact not illegal to have a fire if you are cooking over it( I guess the marshmallow count).
Oh well the kids had fun before we had to put it out, and now we know that we won't be having any more backyard BONFIRES! I just hope we don't let the BBQ flare up or the neighbours may call 911 on us again.

It's a Jungle

After we completed Madison's Fairy Garden on Sunday my son decided he wanted to make a garden as well. However in his very grown-up five year old opinion there are no such things as real fairies. In fact, he tell me that his sister always believes her imagination is real but he knows better. So he is going to make his garden for the garden trolls because they are real. So here is a picture of what he came up with. He calls it a jungle garden.

Dance

This Saturday was picture day at my daughter Madison's Dance Studio. We had fun getting dressed up in this years recital costume and doing her make-up and hair for the photo's. We snapped a few shots on the porch before heading to the studio. I can't wait to see the recital after a year of dance classes.

Fairy Garden

My daughter Madison is a huge fan of Tinkerbell. We have watched the three Disney Fairy movies more times than I can count. She is so excited that she may get to meet her when we go to Disney this summer. So when I saw a PIN on Pinterest of a Fairy Garden someone had created for this backyard I knew Madison would love to create her own.

So today she and I spent some quality time together first shopping for our flowers and pot. Then searching the dollar store for some Fairy Garden decorations. It was tons of fun listening to Madi pick out the flowers, and accessories she thought all her Fairy friends may love, then creating her garden. What a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Survivor Cake

So I am in a cake decorating mood. I thought after finishing the big Disney reveal cake plus both the birthday party cupcakes I would be ready for a break. However, when my Aunt called and asked if I would make her a Survivor One World Season finale party cake for Sunday I said yes. This is what I came up with. Enjoy.

Reminisce

This evening I went searching in a few of our packed boxes for my collection of unused scrapbooks. I have started to scrap 2011 and it is time to find a book to house the pages. During my search I came across a book that I gave my Grandmother the year before she passed away. I was a question and answer book titled To My Grandchild with Love. In it she answered questions about her childhood, her first crush, how she met my grandfather and how she picked my mothers name among others. It is truly a treasure that I have it. I needed to write a quick post to tell the world that I had and have the most amazing, wise, generous, loving grandparents and as Mother's day approaches I am glad I found that book today. It reminds me of how incredibly lucky I am to be a Mom of two children with 4 wonderful Grandparents.

April Showers

I am sitting at my kitchen counter looking out at the dreary day and thinking how much I am actually enjoying the quiet solitude of being home alone with a hot cup of tea and my computer for company. In fact the photo a day challenge today was a smell I adore  and I am reminded how much I love the smell of a fresh spring rain. It is the small things that make me happy. Besides as they say April showers (or May ones in this case) bring the flowers.

Skylander Surprise

Okay so here is the end result of the Skylander Cupcake theme. I did end up getting our local Sobey's to print me the topper pictures on edible paper with no hassle about the copyright. I think the images turned out great. I was worried they would be blurry as I did not have great photos to begin with. Then I just iced plain buttercream and once again added sprinkles a request from my son who has to always have the same as his sister. And voila super simple Skylander cupcakes for tomorrows party.

Colin tells me that they are just perfect and he wants the Slam Bam figure (pictured at bottom of the photos). This is ironic as as a treat I purchased the real Slam Bam figure and will add it to his cupcake tomorrow at candle time as a surprise. One of the last 5 Skylanders he is missing from his collection he should be thrilled. His seal of approval is all that counts as he is the customer in a way.  Now we just need to survive the 2 hours with the 14 kids from school. Happy Birthday Colin.

Skylander's Cupcakes???

This weekend is the final in our birthday party marathon. We are going to spend 3 hours at our local Cheeky Monkeys (an indoor playground) with my son Colin and 12 of his school friends. He originally asked for a Mario themed birthday after I designed a cake for a friends son. However he has found a new obsession and has changed his mind now asking for a Skylanders theme.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Skylanders., it is a game that was introduced at Christmas 2011. The game comes with a Portal of Power which effectively links micro chipped characters to ou WII console allowing you to play the character you own on screen in the game. The creators are very clever individuals as it causes you not only have to buy the game but the characters as well. My son is a sort of collector so although he does not actually need all 35 characters he is determined to collect them all. We currently have 30 I think thanks to the family party and the generosity of my family.  

The problem with a Skylander themed birthday is 1 it is so new it is impossible to find any sort of decorations. 2 we are not holding the party at home so I had decided to go with cupcakes again which rules out making the portal cake which would have been easier and 3 I would usually purchase a new character for the top of any cake I make but it is impossible to find new ones we don;t have right now as they are hugely popular and sell out very quickly. So I have improvised by downloading some Skylanders images to take to my local Sobey's and have printed on edible paper which I can attach to cupcakes. It may be problematic if they decide not to print copy-written pictures however, so wish me luck. I will be sure to post my finished product on the weekend.  

Book Rebel

Last night was our monthly book club meeting. I have to admit that I am not a great book club member as I seem to have a mental block about reading books that I know I have to read. Nicknamed a book club Rebel by my good friend Jen, I often arrive a book club having not read the assigned novel for the month. My book club is made up of some wonderful ladies who I look forward to seeing each month.Although officially labeled a book club we often only talk about the book of the month for a short time unless it has a really good debate topic, moving on to whatever catch-up chat we feel like. I love this social gathering that gets me away for the house for a few hours of adult time with smart, successful, friendly ladies.  I am going to make a pledge to myself to try harder to actually read the books so I can participate more in the book club portion of our monthly evening together. It should be easy for May as it was my choice and I choose the Hunger Games which I have just finished reading. 

The block about reading the book club books is strange as I am a very avid reader. In fact I have read 3 books this week. The first was the new Nora Roberts book Witness. I always enjoy Nora's books and this was no exception. The second and third were the first two books of the Hunger Games Series. I realize I am a bit behind the times for these but with all the hype I decided to give them a try. I could not put either down and will be looking for the third very soon.. Maybe I will catch the movie before it leaves the theaters. I am also about to start the next book in the J.R. Ward Black Dagger Brotherhood Series which if you are vampire and love story nut you will love these books. I would ask you for suggestions but I fear if you suggest I will probably be less likely to read it.