Spring is here! Now what to do with my ugly garden!

Spring is finally here... for real.  I think we have see the last of the snow and cold and the warm weather is here to stay.

Last summer I moved to a new home, it was the end of the summer and the home had been vacant for a bit and the gardens were a bit over grown.  I didn't think too much of it as I just needed to move in and get my little family settled.

Well with all the snow gone for good and the nice weather here, we have been spending more and more time outside.  And I have had more and more time to see how rough the gardens are.

I do not have a green thumb.  Not even a little.  I kill house plants unless they are plastic, and even those ones should fear me.

I like gardens, I like the idea of having a beautiful garden, but not sure how to get started.  The idea of pulling all the yucky plants out seems daunting.   Deciphering what is a weed and what is a plant is not easy.

So I have decided I just have to go for it.... starting ripping things out and get myself to ground zero and start from there.

The problem is, once I empty the garden, what the heck do I do with it!!!! 

My first thought is just to fill it all in with grass seed.  that's easy enough, all I have to do then is wait for it to grow and cut it when it gets too long.  (and that's a whole other story on how I have never used a power lawn mower!).  Now as easy that seems, I know I wont be happy because I do want some sort of garden, maybe not high maintenance flowers or anything that needs lots work, but something that just looks nice. I have to start somewhere!!!

SO wish me luck.... let the gardening begin!!!

Barrie kiddies have fun with music with Alexander Doan and his Little Mozarts

Our kids always love any music program that we do; kids love music in general!

They love to sing and dance, play games and especially play instruments!

Our tots got the chance to have fun learning about music with Alexander Doan and his Little Mozart music program.

Along with special friends Mozart Mouse and Beethoven Bear, Alexander taught the kids some of the basic foundations for learning about music.

The kids got to sing, dance, colour and play games that all involved learning about  music!

It was lots of fun to see the kids interacting as they learned about high and low sound and how music can be fast or slow.

The kids were so great participating, even the youngest ones were enthralled with the fun that learning about music brought.

To learn more about this great music class you can visit Alexander's website at http://www.asom.ca/

Cute Caterpillars at Art and Play!

With spring finally in the air, it's about time we start looking forward at all the beauty that the season brings and all the creatures around us.

Early this month we made butterflies, so I decided to do some cute caterpillars.  A little backwards, but still a fun and adorable craft!

The kids got to choose bright coloured circles to thread onto pipe cleaners to make the body of their caterpillars.

One the rainbow creatures were all ready, we added some eyes and antennae and voila!  an adorable caterpillar!!

I always love watching the kids create crafts like this and seeing how their little minds all work differently.

No matter how they make their crafts though, their creativity is beautiful and the memories they create through their crafting is priceless

Happy Earth Day from the momstown Barrie Kiddies!

While most of our kid are to young to understand just how precious our Earth is, it is still important to teach them to respect and love our great Earth

Earth day is a great day to take some time to focus on just that.   Teaching our kids to love our Earth and about how vast, diverse and beautiful it is, is something all parents should take time to do.

Today we took some time to make a little tribute to our Earth.

We took some plain old paper plates and covered them in our most abundant resource, water!  Blue tissue paper made our earth look gorgeous.

Next to represent our great lands, we took our kids precious little hand prints and made some land.

While not a true representation of what Earth looks like, this was a neat craft that reminded the kids of how diverse and beautiful our land is, just like all of them.

Happy Earth Day.

Tales for Tots babes loved Alligator Baby!

Robert Munsch is always a fave when it comes to fun stories!

His new line of toddler friendly board books are huge hit not only with the  kids but the moms too.

These stories are the same funny and interactive tales of his regular books, slimmed down for the short attention span of a toddler and in board format for little hands.

This week our Baby Basics had their Tales for Tots and our book was Alligator Baby.

Alligator Baby is one of our faves, among dozens of others, and was just as cute and funny in this version.

The babes didn't care too much for the reading of the book but did like to look at the pictures and enjoyed getting their hands on the book!!!

Sick day for mama

Moms get sick too.  It's a little known fact. 

This past week I have been sick, probably the worst I have felt in years.  However, being a mom has not allowed for me to really "be sick".  Moms don't get sick days.

Being the only adult in my household, I don't have someone to tag team responsibilities with.  I have kids to get to school, lunches to make, dinner to prepare, laundry to do and a kitchen that doesn't clean itself.

As much as I want to curl up in my bed and sleep this whole thing off, I can't.  My kids need me.  Sick or not, I still have to be mom.

My oldest daughter is a big help though, for the most part.  She has helped with dinner and with the end of day tidy up.  Thank goodness for a teenager that doesn't mind helping out. Now if only she could drive the younger kids to school....

The kids haven't really understood why I have been less than my normal go go go self.  Yesterday one of them asked me why I sound funny, "mommy is sick".  Then I was asked why I was laying on the couch, you know because I never do that.  "mommy is sick and needs some rest"  This went on and on all day.  Apparently the term "mommy is sick"  did not compute.

I am sure most moms can relate to the fact that we don't take enough time for ourselves.  When our kids are sick we demand of them to rest and get well, as a mom we keep trucking along in hopes that it will pass and no one will notice.

Sometimes, that thinking does no one any good.  Today I declare a sick day.  Kids are at school despite a bus cancellation for some non-existent snow, and this mama is going to get some rest.  That is until I have to pick the kids up from school, make dinner, clean the kitchen, drive kids to their lessons.... and well, be a mom again.

Rainy Day Rainbows

April is known for its' rainy days and apparently we are heading into some snowy ones!

Yesterday's rain showers didn't keep our little ones from having fun though!   We got in the spirit of the weather and made the best of it by making some pretty rainbows!

The best part of a rain shower is the rainbow at the end!

We took some clouds and glued on our rainbows.  This was a great way for the kids to learn their colours as well as to learn the order of the colours in a rainbow.

The kids did a great job gluing their rainbow bits on.  They followed the order of the colours and did a great job making their rainbows come out of the clouds!

Next we had to make our clouds look fluffy and full!   We took cotton balls and covered our clouds.

They all looked great!  What better way to spend a rainy day than making rainbows!!