Tiles of fun!

Tiling in the kitchen is well underway.  We finally got it all together and went out and purchased the tiles and related supplies we would need to finish the backsplash area of our kitchen.  Let me go back a bit.

When we first moved into our house, we decided we would update the look of the kitchen, it was not decorated to our taste and the counter tops were horrendous.  We replaced the counters and were very pleased with our choice.  Next step was to paint the kitchen, however, we discovered the previous owners had painted over wallpaper.  Our attempt to take down the wallpaper revealed we had SEVERAL layers of wallpaper mixed with drywall compound to hide seams and whatnot.  This brought us to a standstill.  Funds at the time were limited and we decided to wait a bit so we could fix it properly.

Such is life that we had a major leak in our bathroom and so kitchen work was further delayed.  We are not rich and have to take things one at a time.  We also had a wee one and let me tell you, daycare is VERY expensive, worth every penny with the right person (or people as our luck would have it), but expensive nonetheless.

Now, I am thrilled that we are finally working on the tiling in the kitchen.  DH is doing the bulk of the work, but in my supervisory capacity, I believe it is going extremely well.  He is very particular and precise about the placement of the tiles and pays so much attention to detail, it's unreal!  He is also planning a small tiling job for the powder room which pleases me to no end!  That tile saw was worth buying for sure. 

I love home renos, for real too, not just watching them on tv!

Disney on Ice

When I was a kid, we used to go to the Ice Capades.  My mom and grandmother would take my sisters and I to see the figure skating show, since we were huge fans of skating in general.  None of us were destined to be figure skaters, but we sure enjoyed watching!  I remember being so excited to go watch these events, back then we called the venue the Corel Centre.  I'm pretty sure the last show I attended was a mix of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.  My younger sister would have been about 7 or 8, so we're talking more than 17 yrs ago!  I can't tell you how excited I am to be going with my own son.  I know he may not love this type of event for very long, but for the moment, he is thrilled to be going to see Disney on Ice:  Treasure Trove.  The show is tonight, so my next paragraph will describe how the evening transpired!

I took my son to see the show on Friday night.  It was such a wonderful event!  First of all, I myself am a huge fan of Disney.  You just can't go wrong.  It is truly fun for the whole family.  If you follow me on Twitter you would have seen my tweets throughout the show.  I didn't intend to Tweet like that during the show, but, I was excited, and my 4 year old was even more so!  When we walked in the front doors to Scotiabank Place we were immediately bombarded by the souvenir stands.  Immediate eye candy, for both him and me.  Of course I let him have a look, and of course I let him have an Incredibles spinning light toy!  It is his favourite Disney movie!  He is a particular fan of Dash because "he runs really fast Mommy!".  I bit my tongue and just paid the $20 for it because it made him happy.  Off we went to find our seats a few minutes before the show started.  We ended up having really good seats.  We were able to see everything with no difficulty and close enough to make out facial expressions! 

The show itself covered many wonderful Disney movies, they played out on the ice the most beloved scenes from each movie that was part of the show while Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy narrated between scenes.  I will give you some highlights from each scene.

Act I

Alice in Wonderland:  The playing cards had amazing choreography.  It was fairly intricate group skating with a lot of intersecting lines where the skaters had to be quite close together.  It looked so good!

Peter Pan:  The crocodile costume that the skater wore was incredible!  He skated on his hands and feet with picks on the front and his blades in the back to maneuver around the ice.  The Lost Boys set was very true to the movie with a tree house and slide.  Tinkerbell was a little firecracker and got to be suspended by wires, how cool was that?

Act II 

The Lion King:  Again, wonderful costumes, skaters with billowing 2 piece costumes, one part was carried overhead and looked like a herd of what I think were meant to be buffalo, they were just gorgeous!  They also did the giraffe in the same style, very visually appealing.  And what can I say, I LOVE Timon and Pumba.  I sang every word of Hakuna Matata.

Snow White:  Snow White and her Prince were beautiful dance style skaters.  I really enjoyed just watching their skating solo.  They were expressive and to me their skating was quite good.  Again, fantastic costumes on the dwarfs and the witch.

Aladdin:  Amazing job on the set in this scene.  Jasmine's balcony was just like the movie.  I was disappointed they didn't have Rajah, Jasmine's tiger in this piece!  He was such an important part of the movie!  Or  Abu, the monkey!  ("Kiss the monkey, Blech, hairball!")  They of course had Genie and the magic carpet ride, but I honestly think this one could have been better!

The Little Mermaid:  Ariel, Sebastian, and fish of many beautiful flourescent colours.  It really looked like it was Under the Sea! 

The Frog Princess:  I have never seen this movie, but I am glad to see that Disney is embracing multiculturalism more and more.  Princess Tiana had a gorgeous dress and I enjoyed the skating the most in this scene. 

The final group skate incorporated many characters from movies they didn't cover during the show.  We saw Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Mulan and so many more!  What an enjoyable evening.  My son was very well behaved, he was enthralled by the show, and he smiled and danced throughout the performance.  He also amused himself with his spinning light toy, just like a boy!  It was all said and done just before 9:00 pm and of course, my son fell asleep in the car on the way home, surefire way to tell the evening was a success!

Check out the official Disney website for clips from the show!

http://disney.go.com/disneyonice/

The small and the sweet

On this day of flowers, candy, and romantic dinners I would like to share with you some of the unsung romantic gestures that I can say really do add to the sweet life that I have. 

1.  He comes home, to us, every single day.  With a cheerful "Hello!"  I can tell he's happy to see us at the end of the day.  

2.  He takes the garbage out, every week.

3.  He is a damn fine cook.

4.  Cleans too!

5.  He is a great dad, loves our son to pieces and would do anything for him.

6.  He is honestly my very best friend and we have always had fun together.

It is wonderful to have romance, flowers and candy to celebrate the love that we have for each other.  The points I mentioned above are the glue that holds things together for the long haul.  Without the consistency of a partner that can be counted upon for anything in any situation, it just doesn't work.  And it goes both ways.  Equal partners however the division of labour is decided.

So this Valentine's Day, for me, is about recognizing what happens every day that makes me feel loved.  Kisses and hugs to my sweetie and to my little bug as well.  

Be my valentine

I have realized that this year, I will have the pleasure of writing Valentines for nearly 30 kids!  WOW.  Um, I haven't started yet.  I think I might be underestimating the time it will take to actually do this job.  Especially if I want J to attempt to write his own name on each one.  Maybe my expectations are too high.  At least I went for the pre-packaged variety of Valentine's Day cards.  What kind of mother am I??  Not to hand make each individual card for each child in his class??   Um, a smart one.  With almost 30 kids in his class, I just can't see us making that many little cards by hand.  We would have had to have started at Thanksgiving.  :)  The joys of having a child in school.  You just don't think of these things ahead of time!  I wish he could be a baby again...playdates and diapers and bottles.  Seems so simple now...they say it gets easier, but here I am to bust that myth.  It actually gets much more intricate.  Try explaining to a 4.5 year old that talking about their problems is actually a good thing.  It has taken me 2 days to figure out what was wrong that he didn't want to go to extended care at school!!  Turns out there is a little boy who likes to play a bit rough, and J doesn't like that at all.  I'm not concerned that he is being hurt or anything, but my guy just isn't physical in that way with others.  When he backs off, he expects they will too, but not all kids at this age can read those cues, especially if that's how they are used to playing  They don't get that it might not be so much fun for another kid.  So we came up with a plan to first tell the boy he doesn't like it and he wants him to stop.  If that doesn't work, he needs to get the help of a teacher.  All that to say that in some ways things get easier, but others get much more complicated.  Explaining life and the nature of people is something so abstract and hard to grasp for our little ones.  So we muddle through as best we can and hope they learn something...

So now, to devise a plan to complete many many Valentines before the 14th...sigh.  I know I'll be up late the night before. 

Lady and the Tramp Giveaway

I am now addicted to entering contests.  Here is my latest endeavor!  Wish you luck if you choose to enter as well!

I really enjoy Nolie's Place website/blog.  Everything I read there is entertaining, enjoyable and I seem to relate to really well. 

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