Your mid-week giggle

For the last couple of months we have been finishing the lowest level in our home. My husband had plans for a "man cave" but of course... this has changed since our little guy entered the picture. It was not too long ago that he cringed at the thought of the space being "kid friendly" but now he cannot wait to smack pucks around with Max in the new toy room. Sometimes I wonder who enjoys playtime more ;)

We are at the final stages now, painting and installing the flooring. After that my imagination will take me away and I will start to decorate! Yay! The painting process has been sloooow. It is a big job and I am doing it myself, so I have been doing a little bit here and there when I have the time. For those of you that follow my Instagram (@kimmieflo) I posted a picture of a bunch of paint chips a couple of months ago. I did go with these colours in the end, and I painted a striped accent wall on the back wall of the room. This picture makes the paint job appear crooked. I promise it is straight. I must have used the level a gazillion times to make sure. I am pleased with the result :) The other walls are light grey which really makes this wall pop!

Okay... so now the giggle portion of this post. I have been keeping this to myself for a couple of months now. It's embarrassing but at the same time friggen hilarious. So you know how I made the teepee for Max for Christmas. The one that I put so much time and effort and burned hot glue fingers into!? Well a couple of months ago when my husband was shoveling snow in the driveway and Max was napping, I decided for whatever reason to sit on our window ledge to watch him outside. Somehow :( I lost my balance while sitting on the ledge, and before I knew I was falling off the ledge. Guess what broke my fall? Yes, it was the teepee. It was like slow motion as I tried to get my barrings while all I could hear was pine snapping all over the place. Honestly, I felt like crying but I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of this happening to me. So alas, the teepee has never been the same and is probably a safety hazard now. It is still strategically standing in the living room, but if it is even touched in the wrong way you better run for the hills because you are about to have a teepee on your head. So when you see the teepee in the finished basement post in the coming month(s) you can have a giggle to yourself knowing that it could kill us at any moment :) lol

and with that, I hope I made my readers smile today :)

~ K

Snuggles, speeding and self-reflecting

Tonight is one of those nights… since returning to work I’ve only had one of these nights once before. It involves me wanting desperately to climb in to Max’s crib and cuddle with him until I fall asleep. These nights seem to come when I have had to work late and the day has been a long, emotionally exhausting one. Unfortunately on both of these nights my husband has been MIA. Tonight he is playing poker, ah the life ;) Tonight I unexpectedly had to work until seven, so my husband had to pick Max up from daycare and take him to his parents, and I picked him up from there. I then went through Tim’s drive through to buy dinner. I had not eaten since noon, so I indulged in a Tuscan sandwich, sprinkle donut and large chocolate milk. I had planned on waiting until we got home to eat but somehow by the time we pulled in the driveway there were only crumbs left .. yum. We passed on bath time tonight so we could have extra time together playing. Max loves to be chased. After crawling around on my knees until he grew tired of the game, we headed upstairs for story time. Max is great at bedtime. We are lucky. I know this. He falls asleep easily and loves to cuddle with his blankets. I then shut his door and immediately missed him already.

Being back to work is hard. I like my job and like having a career but man, there are some days, especially like today when I drop him off at 8am and see him at 7pm I’m like WTF, this is insane. It is necessary obviously because we need to put food on the table so to say, but jeez it’s hard some days. Lately at work I have been completing a lot of training, which has me self-reflecting all over the place. While I think it is so important to self-reflect and constantly work on yourself, at the same time it can be overwhelming and exhausting. I like to see myself as a work in progress towards the best version of me. At the same time in my work I am exposed every day to people and families who are struggling to get through each day, and it is my job to support them and help them to see their strengths and believe in themselves. Do you see where I am going with this? It can be difficult when you are working on yourself to be that rock for others. Don’t get me wrong, I love to be that person for people, but at the end of my day sometimes it leaves me feeling like I’ve got nothing left. Poor husband :S So what is a girl to do. Live for the weekends. I don’t think I have ever loved the weekends as much as I do now. Don’t let anyone hear this, but  doing the dreaded Saturday groceries doesn’t even look that annoying on this Thursday night. 

So to you working moms, you are not alone. Watch videos of your babes on breaks, go buy them a cute shirt on your lunch (h-e-l-l-o retail therapy) and drive a little faster (but don’t get caught) on your way home from work to get some extra play time in. Oh, and don’t forget TGIF!!

I hope everyone has an easy work day tomorrow whether you are in an office, out on the road or a mama who has the privilege of being a stay at home mama :)

~K

Chocolate coma

I need someone to remove the chocolate from my home. Seriously. 

I also made the mistake of bringing a massive bag of mini eggs to work for my desk. Today I took them out while I was trying to multi-task, doing about four different things at once. Before I knew it I think I ate over half the bag. But they tasted oooh so good .. oh well ;)

We had a super fun Easter with Mr. Max. He loved his Easter basket which I was pleasantly surprised about. I thought he might still be too young to care, but oh my goodness you should have seen the smirk on his face when he saw his loot!!! It was freakin' adorable, and he made his mama oh so happy :)

I definitely should have re-thought the plastic carrot eggs filled with cheerios. Once he eyeballed those in his basket it was game over. I am still finding random stale cheerios in crevices I didn't know existed in our living room.

On Monday we were lucky enough to be all home together. We took Max to the park, where he went down the slide a gazillion times. It was so cute. He loved it and giggled every time he went down.

This week I am off work Friday so we are heading to the library for story time. I doubt he will be able to contain himself to sit and listen with the group.. but we will make the attempt. I will be the one who is up and down a million times wrangling the crazy 15 month old boy ;) Then on Saturday we are starting parent and tot swimming! We have not been since Max was about 11 months, so I think his kicking and splashing will be on a whole new level now. I am anticipating getting soaked. It is so worth it though :)

I hope everyone is having an easy week back after the holiday weekend. Hang in there.. warmer weather is just around the corner now!!!

~ K

Easter happenings

We are in full Easter and Pinterest mode at our house!!!

Last weekend we shared Easter cupcakes with our friends and family. My husband made a rare appearance on our weekly trip to the grocery store so he was given the exclusive privledge of choosing the cake for the cupcakes. He chose confetti cups of course... they never realllly grow up ;) But I will admit it was a good choice.. they were sooo yummy!

 

 (how long do you think it took me to pick out all orange and green M&Ms from the bin).. yes I'm that person.

This week Max took Easter treats to his friends and daycare and I made treats for my office mates at work, and Max's daycare provider. I have had these pinned forever and was excited to finally have the chance to make them. I had everything needed to make them already in my craft supply, so I only needed to buy the treats for inside. A very inexpensive, but super cute gift. And while I was at bulk barn picking up chocolate eggs for the mason jars I was also able to pick up the frosting baggies to make the goldfish cracker carrots. Again, I had the crackers and ribbon in my home already so another inexpensive gift for the little one's in your lives :) Makes a great addition to an Easter basket or an alternative for the toddler on your list who is not quite eating chocolate yet.

Max was a lucky boy this week and received a special card in the mail. He has had fun opening and closing it while he waits for his meals. He has also playing with a basket of plastic eggs this past week. He will fill up his basket and then shake it hard until they all come flying out and land on the ground.. and repeat.... a million times.

 

And of course, our chalkboards are festive and we have put out our fireplace mantle bunny banner (scrap booking paper cut in the shape of bunnies with cotton balls tails) and our framed bunny silhouette that I made last year.

I am very excited to give Max his Easter basket on Monday. I can picture him sporting his new shades while stomping through puddles in his new yellow rubber boots :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend spending time with your loved ones :)

~ K

feeding time (at the zoo)

Meal time been a huge part of our day for some time now. Between the time it takes to prepare the meal, watching Max eat at a snail's pace, and then sweep a gazillion times clean up, it sometimes feels like were spend most of the day in the dining room!

We are fortunate enough to have a very good eater on our hands (when he is feeling well and not teething). Max loooooves to eat. When we bring his plate to him he always lets out a happy little squeal, and if we leave the plate on the table because we forgot to grab something he lets us know how unimpressed he is by losing his bananas. 

Some days I find it SO difficult to figure out what to feed him. I can be hard on myself, always trying to make sure that he has something from all of the food groups... something I need to work on caring less about. I started using plates for his food when he turned 13 months. Before this I used the bowls that suctioned to his tray. Before 13 months he was way to unpredictable with flipping his plates. Now he just does it to tell us when he is done ;)

Every morning Max has a piece of toast with PB on it. Crusts removed and cut into small pieces of course ;). He also always has a handful of plain cheerios and some kind or fruit. Kiwis, blueberries, pear, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, oranges or peach slices (from the can and rinsed) are our staples. On work day mornings I always read books to Max while he eats. This way I feel as though I got to do something fun with him before he gets to spend the day with someone other than me (insert tears).

For lunch he typically has a yogurt (which he is starting to feed himself... m.e.s.s.y) and he almost always has avocado chunks. He LOVES avocado. Some days he will have pasta, or bread with hummus spread. I also once in awhile make scrambled eggs (which he will take or leave depending on the day), or I will warm a can of vegetable soup and then rinse a large spoonful in the colander to remove some of the salt. He will have some form of vegetable (peas, carrots, beans, broccoli, squash) and he'll end with more fruit. 

For dinner he will eat whatever we are having. This could be chicken rice and veg, a pasta dish such as tuna casserole or meatballs and sauce, fish with sweet potato fries, etc. For nights when it is just him and I, and I have worked all day, I will try to have a piece of homemade quiche defrosted, or some form of leftover I can quickly heat up. For dessert.... of course fruit fruit and more fruit. The kid loves his fruit. On Saturdays I always pick us up a spinach and feta twister from the grocery store. Crazy enough, he devours these. This has become our Saturday lunch time tradition.

During the day he will snack on the unsweetened apple sauce cups and goldfish crackers. He loved puffs for the longest time but he has recently developed an aversion to them. Now he sees them more as a toy. He loves to walk around with the canister and shake them, but he wont eat them. He has also started to enjoy my homemade muffins... finally... I was starting to feel pretty offended ;)

It is nice to not have to blend food anymore, but sometimes it is frustrating trying to find something that he will eat on his off days. But have no fear, if Max does not like something Charlie our dog is sure to have a good meal. Our trusty scraps pup is a permanent fixture underneath Max's highchair at mealtime waiting to vacuum up flying toast and fruit that hits the ground with a "splat!!!!" He has also been clunked on the head with Max's sippy cup a few too many times. 

I would love to hear what you feed your babes. I am always looking for new ideas for Max at mealtime :)

 

~ K

 

Dreaming of easter baskets

My memories from last year's Easter are really special. Since Max was born in the middle of winter, and my parents and brother's family live in different towns than us, it was pretty much impossible to get my family together to celebrate his birth and also the birth of my niece who was born six weeks before Max. So last year's Easter was the first time we were all together under one roof. It was so much fun and so cute to see the cousins together.  

 I tend to go a tad overboard when it comes to filling Max's Easter basket. Wait. Let me back up. It all started when I first went a tad overboard when purchasing his Easter basket. It is pretty massive. But it's perfect :) I have a feeling when Max is older to start taking stock, I will bring it down a few notches. I don't want him to be too spoiled. But for now I will continue on with the fun of filling his basket to the brim :)

This year I have lots of fresh ideas for his basket. I love the spring vibe it has. This spring will be so much fun as Max will get to explore outside... a whole new room to him! Whenever a door is open in our home that we typically have closed to keep him out of, he will look around the room with a look on his face as if it is something new and fantastic.

So here is this year's Easter Basket list. Most of these ideas can be good for the little princesses too :)

- rubber boots for puddle jumpin' (from Carters)

- adorable miniature pinwheel to hold in the wind outside during wagon rides (Superstore)

- bubble wand (from Superstore) tested out at by daddy at the dinner table tonight.. it was a HIT

- Sassy Grow with me Cups (Amazon)

- large plastic sailboat for the bath tub/summer pool from Superstore (I have been looking for one of these forever!!!)

- Babiators (amazon)

- super adorable backback to take to daycare (Amazon)

- plastic carrots (dollarama) filled with gold fish crackers

- plastic eggs filled with plain cheerios

- Kinder Egg Bunny (this is the only chocolate he will have in his basket, and I decided to go with something that was thin as opposed to a thick brick of chocolate. I figured this would be easier for him to eat). 

- Melissa and Doug puzzle 

 Yes, I know a little much. But he's just such a good little guy and deserves it all ;) What will you be putting in your little one's Easter Basket that is special and fun? I'd love to know!

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend. The first weekend with 'explore outside weather' this year! Oh and my 30th birthday weekend too! Eeks! :)

~ K

Poker and perogies

Tomorrow is my husband's 30th. Since I will be working, most of his celebrations were this weekend, with my fam, his fam and on Friday night with a few of his poker playing buds.

I do not play poker, and I know pretty much nothing about the game. So planning a poker game was interesting to say the least. For awhile now, I have been asking him random sneaky questions to figure out the max. number of guys I could invite, how many chips I would need, etc, etc. I ended up having way to big of a list of guys, so I had to trim it down. I ended up inviting the guys I knew were poker fanatics like my hubby.

One of his fav. junkie foods is perogies. I have never made them homemade, we just buy the ones from the grocery store which are nothing to special. So when I found out about a local business that makes a variety of homemade perogies, a party theme was born; poker and perogies!!!

The business is called OB1 Perogie. I bought three different flavours; Nacho, Pizza and Potato Cheddar. Of course I added some "fixins" ... nothing too special, just some sour cream, hot sauce and bacon bits. They were soooo yummy. The potato cheddar were my fav. We will definitely be buying these again.  We also had pizza from his favourite local family run pizzeria, Giresi's.

Later on in the night I brought out cupcakes. Not just any cupcakes of course, but special poker themed cupcakes ;)

I rented a poker table from the local rent-all, which ended up smelling very strongly of gasoline. But have no fear, hubby called them and we got a discount from the price. Rightfully so, since it stunk up our basement pretty bad. 

  Everyone was able to make it, and by the sounds of their laughter and chatter they all enjoyed themselves. My hubby very much dislikes being the center of attention, and he somewhat cursed me for surprising him with this idea, but when it was all said and done he had fun :)

Happy Dirty Thirty to my love and the best daddy ever!!!

 Super fun birthday lawn decor thanks to Lawn Ninjas!!

~ K