pinwheels & ferriswheels

Update

Hey folks. I've been very busy at barriolola.blogspot.com. If you're looking for interior design inspiration, check it out and let me know if you like what you see. I'm thinking of finally getting a site to put together all of my online homes. Wish me luck!

Still here. Somewhat.

I guess my continuous lack of posts sent nine followers away, which is okay. It has been worse around these parts lately because of pneumonia attacking two of my three boys :( Cole was actually at the hospital ON his birthday and we had to postpone their party. Cyve even has it again today. It's been stressful but this week will be our official start to the summer so we hope to make it up to them by fulfilling our summer list. Stay safe everybody. I'll be back.

Thank You

The last time I was semi active on this blog, I had five followers. Now it's grown to forty five. That is a big deal to me. Especially since I don't post as much as I should. Thank you for still clicking that follow button. I have been busy at barriolola.blogspot.com but I think about this blog often. So I will be back. I have been taking my house apart and getting ready for spring and summer. Party season! Kaya's birthday was last month and he had the craziest cake so I'll have to show that to you. It was made by the most talented cake artist out there (not me, haha). Cole and Cyve's party is next month and I think I am scrapping the Teddy Bear picnic and instead having a "yellow" party. We are also celebrating my brother's birthday this Friday so I'll be sure to show you photos from that as well. It's a "graphic tee" party. Thank you for motivating me folks and I won't let you down ;) Happy Easter! I hope to host a brunch next year.

quiet as a mouse

It has been very quiet in our house this weekend. A toddler with a fever will do that. We thought he was feeling better yesterday so we took our daily walk but he just got worse. So we stayed home and read our books. Made lots of soup. Hope he gets better soon. I'm sharing because I want to get back to writing.

teddy bear picnic

So I totally tricked myself into thinking that I would blog more if I got the app. This is my first time I'm using it and today I am sharing the theme to my boys' May party. A nautical teddy bear picnic! I got a whole bunch of pins to give away a few months ago at an estate sale. Then I saw these sailor bears on amazon but sadly they won't ship to me :( Oriental trading also has some cool stuff but shipping is crazy expensive. I figured since the boys love their teddies so much, this theme would be perfect. I'm going to come up with ideas as soon as I'm done cleaning the house. Stay tuned ;)

apologies and excuses

I apologize to my five followers for using this blog as a trying-to-win-a-giveaway base for the last few months. I do want to take this seriously and make it work but I am in a place right now where I have to choose to make an even better life for my family. And that means getting a job. I went back to school for a bit and they financially dismissed me because my student loan didn't come through. And my student loan didn't come through because I was still paying for a previous loan that was outstanding from six years ago. Last night, I had a conversation with my two older boys about money and how life shouldn't be about it but rather about love. I felt honest telling them that. Why? Because we had zero dollars on the day we made a snowman as a family for the first time, drank hot chocolate and played board games. It was the best day for all of us. There's something magical about winter and snow. And as I type this, it is snowing pretty hard and I love it. If you live somewhere where it snows and the weather is nice, get out there and build a snowman. If that's not your thing, then maybe skating is. I've taken the kids downtown twice to do just that and they had the time of their lives. I'm telling you this because they're simple and fun and that's why you're here, right?

 

 

p.s

I installed a typepad app for the iphone so I can blog more. Yay!

bialetti cookware giveaway http://lebedafamily.blogspot.com/2010/09/bialettis-new-aeternum-ceramic-cookware.html

another silhouette giveaway! this time from twig & thistle http://www.twigandthistle.com/blog/2010/09/giveaway-silhouette-digital-cutting-tool/comment-page-3/#comment-31374

ice cream social!

ok, it's less than three weeks for this one and if you know me, i plan my parties waay in advance because i want things to be as perrfect as possible. crazy, right? i know. so i made the invitation yesterday and this is what i came up with. you like? i was going for a simple-vintage feel.

i'm so excited! i am having serious cake baking withdrawal so i hope preparing for this party will solve it. look what i found over the interweb that will hopefully make an appearance at the social.

i love bakerella so much. i've made her cake pops, sprite cake and red velvet cake and they were all delicious! oh it's just so coincedental that my colours will be hot pink and turquoise as well. heavily inspired by this amy atlas table. isn't she awesome? i can only hope that mine turns out half as good.

so we'll be making our own ice cream, eating ice cream cake, maybe some ice cream shaped cookies too (all homemade). and will be providing the kids with ice cream related activities. i'll also set up a sundae bar. am i missing anything else? i've never really gone to an ice cream social before so i'm not sure if i'm doing this right. i wish i could rent a vintage ice cream cart or have an ice cream truck sit in my backyard. that would be awesome. hope the weather's still nice by then and people can come even though it's the last long weekend before school starts. oh well. wish me luck!

edit: right after i published this post, this shows up in my google reader. aaah! need this!

via amy atlas blog

and how can i forget this? it's an ice cream pinata!

found in MommyDo's etsy shop

and last but not least, one of my most recently found-turned-favourite blogger of all time created this amazing-ness last year (on my birthday!). get ready for your jaw to drop.

isn't she a genius? this was created by none other than amy moss of eat, drink, chic.

go visit her blog and find some free downloadable templates while you're at it.

elimination communication

I know, I know. I'm really not good at this regular blogging thing. I take pictures and say "Oh this'll go on my blog today!" but I never really get to sit down long enough to compose something worth posting. But this here, I've been meaning to post for awhile since there is not much of it in real life but getting to be heard of in the web amongst the green moms circle.

I first heard of elimination communication or infant potty training last september over here. I remember thinking "Um, that's crazy." Then after reading this blog post, I picked up Christine Gross-Loh's Diaper Free Baby book and decided to give it a try. I bought a potty and since I already know what kind of face Cyve makes when he goes. It was easy. Wanna see?

 

Hee. This was taken in March and as I was looking through the pictures, there was also another set that was taken a few days earlier which I'll post another time. Since then, there have been many potty pauses (and we are still on part-time cloth and part-time disposables) but we have to admit that it has been getting a little easier now that he has more regular going times. He has recently learned how to walk and we also switched over to a toilet insert (much easier).

Yesterday, he walked over to the toilet put the insert on it and tried to sit. He didn't have to go but he knew that that's how it works. He also signs for "toilet" but sometimes it can mean other things (like drink). We are so very proud of him and I still can't believe he's doing it. It's amazing how much you learn in a process such as this. There's a lot of negativity around it but this works for us. If he eventually has to go in a toilet then why not teach that now (if he's capable) instead of teaching him to go in a diaper and then un-teaching it later?