Canada Day Flag Cake

I got the idea for this cake from the Kraft Canada Site. they have full directions HERE. I didn't use their recipe I just made a chocolate cake, spread cool whip and added some strawberries to make the cake look like a flag. I'm sure you have seen this desert a million times as it's a Canadian favorite.


Just wanted to add this pic as it was so easy. I cut slices of watermelon and used my bento cookie cutters to make them into shapes. Perfect for the kids at our Canada Day Party!

Snow Cone Shop

When I was out shopping last week I found a snow cone maker and thought Wow that brings back memories. I haven't seen snow cones since I was a kid! I also thought Great replacement for ice cream. Less calories and fat. Anyway we have been making snow cones all week and today it rained:( no need to stay cool but decided to make a snow cone shop for dramatic play.
The set up:


I put some colored fake flower petals in the squirt bottles to look like syrup. worked like a charm:) One thing I love about kids is that they never complain about things not looking real enough

Pouring some syrup on

Jada's turn at the cash register

This Snow Cone shop was a huge success and will stay open for a few more days until we come up with our next shop or office

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Wordless Wednesday

Balloon Sprinkler/ Pinata

Yesterday was hot here on the East Cost! like really hot! I decided to get a bit creative to keep the children busy and cooled off. I filled balloons with water and hung them off the clothesline.


Then I gave each child a chance to smack the balloons with the broom handle. No one could break the balloons so I poked them with a pin

After I poked them they sprayed just like a sprinkler

Jada and her friends had fun running through the water streams and it kept them cool :)

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Homemade Games

My husband bought these crazy claw things on a stick at the dollar store. We have been having fun making up games with them. In the picture below the children were chasing each other until they could catch the other person's clothing. As you can imagine Jada got angry with this game very quickly

Then we had picking up balls races.

It was pretty hard but each child mastered picking up the balls

Then I made up a game that each person got a bucket of items. They could only pick up the items one at a time. I even had small pieces of chalk in there and the older children had fun trying to pick those up. It also slowed them down so the younger kids could catch up. Whoever got all the items out of their bucket first won

Daddy helping Jada master the art of picking up the items from the bucket

It didn't take long for Jada to get the hang of it

And Just because my boy is so handsome

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Pack My Lunch Series Day 5

Sooo I forgot to go to the grocery store. Well......I may have been too lazy to go lol. So I was left scrambling to find a quick lunch to throw together. So clockwise: yogurt, yucky oatmeal that I don't like very much but as I'm the only one in the house that eats oatmeal I feel compelled to finish the box. Blueberries, soup, hard boiled eggs, fruit to go, peach, rice cakes, pita bread, crackers, hummus, dill cream cheese and a apple. I really need to go grocery shopping. I have a ton of food but nothing that is appealing to me at the moment lol

Fence Painting

Little Jada Roo was off fishing with her Daddy but I snapped some pics of her friends enjoying a little free style fence painting.


These two children took their paintings very seriously with long stories to go with their paintings

It was a beautiful day here on the East Cost. Too bad it's going to rain for the next four days:(

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Pack My Lunch Series Day 4

Clockwise: Blueberries and honeydew melon, strawberries, pita wedges, soup, hummus, oatmeal (It's the one I don't like very mush so it may not get eaten. Note to self go to the grocery store and get that yummy oatmeal!), 2 rice cakes, 8 crackers, yogurt, dill cream cheese and a apple.


So it's only day 4 as of tomorrow and already I feel the lazy lunch packing coming on. Maybe it's just that I'm exhausted! I worked a 10 hour shift, packed Jada in the car and we went to the gym. Well Jada went to the gym daycare as hubby is off building the cottage. By the way it's almost finished! I will do a post on Friday with updated pics. O.k. back on topic HA! so we went to the gym then headed for Subway for supper, came home emptied the dishwasher, reloaded the dishwasher, made my lunch, showered myself and Jada, prepared the children's lunch for tomorrow, put Jada to bed and now I am finally sitting down. Oh and I still have 2 loads of laundry to fold and put away. That may have to wait until tomorrow!
So today's lunch I forgot to eat the strawberries and totally forgot about the grapes because they were in the freezer (I should make myself lunch notes for reminders of yummy grapes in the freezer)oh and I didn't feel like eating the soup but everything else I ate lol. So now I'm off to surf the net then lay out my clothes for tomorrow and hit the hay. Night all Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wordless Wednesday- Kind of

Jelly Fish. I got this idea while searching google and had to try it. All you do is cut up hot dogs stick dry spaghetti into one end then boil until cooked. Jada gobbled this up in no time flat! I think we can add this to her favorites list.

Pack My Lunch Series Day 3

Not pictured is today's salad and chicken that I didn't get to eat. So I will have it with what is pictured above for tomorrows packed lunch. Above clockwise: apple, frozen grapes, ww soup, strawberries, oatmeal, pita, crackers, hummus and cream cheese with dill-yum!

Star Sponges Tutorial and Sensory Play

Aren't they fun!?

I have been wanting to make a new set of these for a while now but I couldn't find any sponges at the dollar store. I finally found them at Canadian Tire. I know this has been done on a million blogs now but I do it a bit differently so I though I would share.


You will need sponges in different colors, scissors and zip ties

Cut each sponge into 3 strips. You could cut them into more strips but I find 3 is the perfect thickness . Also if you have a different kind of sponge it may be easily to cut into more strips. A perfect example is HERE at Play Create Explore.
(Sorry for the dark pics I cut up the sponges the night before at dusk)

Next pick out your color combinations. Also now is the time to decide if you want really full looking sponges or not. I did combinations of 3, 4 and 5 strip sponges at a time.

next wrap the zip tie around the middle of your sponges and pull as tight as you can get it. Then just cut off the left over zip tie strip. I have seen people use dental floss, string and yarn. I have always used zip ties but I'm sure the other methods would hold up just as well.

And voila! Aren't they pretty! A little tip I learned along the way is that these make great bath time toys and Jada loves to use it to wash her body too. Also they hold up really, really well in the washer and dryer. I made a batch 4 years ago and just today I made a new batch. Now that's getting your moneys worth! I imagine they would also make great toys for the pool too:)

Pack My Lunch Series Day 2

Almost the same as todays lunch but I changed up the kind of salad and added different fruit. Clockwise: honeydew melon, strawberries, apple, ww soup, hummus, pita, rice cakes (actually didn't eat todays), oatmeal, salad, chicken cut up, yogurt and salad dressing.
Today was a sucess! I stayed on track:) I had ww lasanga for supper went to the gym and ate a toasted pita with salsa as a snack.
I would love if anyone would like to share their pictures of a packed lunch:)

Camping Sensory Bin

One of our favorite things to do is in summer months is camp. Jada has been camping since she was 9 months old so I knew Jada would get a kick out of a camping sensory bin

I used:
trees, green rice, blue noodles for water (because you can't live on the East Cost and not camp by water. Plus you have to fish for your super), small logs, pine cones to collect, peg people, small dollhouse table, boat, rocks and felt for the fire, big rocks for peg people to climb, because you know you have to climb rocks while camping. Oh and a plastic tee pee. I was going to make my own out of a party hat but I saw this one at the dollar store and I was sold.


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