april showers bring may flowers?

i thought april showers brought may flowers?

in my little corner of the world there are a few flowers

but by golly gee, it seems like all april has brought

are more may showers! 

the gloomy weather only means one thing to me:

i must find creative ways to entertain two little girls indoors

i was browsing online and saw this necklace which zoe happened to spy over my shoulder

and immediately told me she had to have (like mother like daughter i tell you!)

using supplies on hand

and to satisfy the taste of one very girly girl and one not so very girly girl

we decided to make our own versions

we used wooden beads, fabrics scraps and string

we strung the beads onto the string (which was the girls favourite part)

 and tied the string of beads to 2" wide strips of fabric

the length of strips depend on how long you want the necklace

i also didn't bother sewing the edges down of the strips because i liked the look

of the frayed edges

tada! didn't take very long at all

the part that took the longest was the girls choosing their fabric

they kept changing their minds and asking me for fabric designs that i didn't have

(side note: though mommy has a lot of fabric, she is not a fabric store)

zoe finally settled on a pink fabric with flowers

and pia blue fabric with rockets

and best of all, they wear them everywhere

even to bed!

i think because they made it themselves, they love them just a bit more



for the road

some people may bring chips or candy to snack on for a long drive

we brought macarons

we left our heart in san francisco

dear mr. san francisco,

our visit was way too short....

we will be back soon!

love always,

zoe and pia

a walk in the leaves

after we dropped zoe off at school

i asked pia what she wanted to do

she told me she wanted to walk in the leaves

so that is exactly what we did

we also inspected the leaves very carefully

 and had great fun just being out in the warm autumn sun

i must admit that christmas is my  very most favorite time

of year

but the crisp fall air

and the crunching of leaves under my feet

and the gorgeous fall palette of reds, yellows and oranges

make me wish that fall will stick around a little while longer

last days of summer

a few weeks ago
with the end of summer just around the corner
we decided to head to the beach

to enjoy the last few days of summer

to have fun with the ones that we love most

and to watch the summer sun set

over the beautiful ocean.


come back soon summer!
we miss you already.

happy birthday... to me!

It's my birthday next week
and my baby girl will be celebrating
her fifth birthday (where does the time go??)
the day after me

My little family and I are taking off for a few days
(that's all I wanted for my birthday)
to enjoy the sunshine
to enjoy each other

And when we get back I have to prepare
for a special little girl's big girl
birthday party

So I will be taking a little time
away from my little blog

Be back soon!!!

bubble fun

The girls and I spent a lovely evening blowing bubbles in our backyard

Becoming a mom has taught me a lot of things
One of the most important things that I have learned
is to enjoy the simple things

Like the wonderment and fascination on my little girls' faces
from something as simple as bubbles

summer to do list #1

#1 on our "summer to do list":

teach Zoe how to ride a two wheeler bike

We bought her a bike a few days ago. Nothing fancy, but we made sure there was a handle brake as well as a pedal brake

oh! and streamers on the handle bars... of course!

My first born is by nature a very cautious little girl

Put her on a two wheeler big girl bike and she turns into a 4 year old granny

She is an extremely conscientious biker, never going faster than one kilometre an hour nor going near any "hills" (which in reality are only little slopes on the road)

We are hoping this 4 year old granny will throw caution to the wind and pedal faster than one kilometre an hour... just fast enough to gain her balance...

and maybe just maybe we will be able to take those training wheels off by summer's end!

abc's and 123

When we enrolled Zoe in preschool, at the tender age of 3, she couldn't recite her ABC's from beginning to end or count past 10.

Now 2 years later, she can recite her ABC's from beginning to end and back again. She can count as high as she wants. She can write her name and has started to read.

She had her graduation ceremony from preschool last week. Yes, a commencement ceremony for preschooler's. It was pretty neat!

Here are the 2010 graduates!

Their feet can't even touch the floor.

As each graduate received their preschool diploma and walked across the stage, the teacher would ask each student what they wanted to be when they grow up.

Zoe said: "A cheerleader and a dentist."

There were quite a few rockstars, cheerleaders and police officers in the bunch. There was even a priest!

No photos please.

Here is the graduating class of 2010!!

Zoe and her Tata (auntie)

Zoe with Lola

Zoe and Dad

Zoe with her Lola and Lola Mama (Great Grandma)

Family photo with the graduate!

Proud mommy

Zoe with her Nangy (god mother)

After the ceremony finished, we asked her "Zoe, you just graduated preschool, now what do you want to do?!"

She replied, "Go to Red Robin and drink a strawberry milkshake!"

Which is exactly what she did.