Legoland

1st Tuesday of the month is free legoland activity might at Water Tower. So fun to come hang out with Ann Marie midweek. Ellery loved it! She had so much fun working on the activity. The only negative was Water towers food court which in my open is way over priced and not that cool. If only my kids could appreciate the wine, olive and cheese bar with me! Need to find a salad that they like in that area.

Avery turns 2

We had a small family gathering to celebrate lil Avery turning 2!!

Open Books-Dr Suess

I have memories as a kid of my dad hating the nonsense of Dr Seuss. JR was into more direct moral or storytelling approaches such as Berenstein Bears, Richard Scarry and Mercer Mayer. If you know me well, I am constantly on the look out for creative books that a) aren't Disney or Elmo (even though yes my kids always ask for those. While Ellery does love Richard Scarry short stories, my kids do love Dr Seuss classics and thanks to Uncle Justin we do have a few ;). I find myself as an adult finding my creative side in his rhyming whimsical tales, and yes I do think their are some underlying meanings in there. He just doesn't smack you in the face with them and make you feel guilty for missing the point, like the dear author of the beloved Thomas series my kids also love so well. I digress.

Saturday we met Aunt Jamie at Open Books which is right next to her place. The ethos of the store is donate and buy book exchange with proceeds going to their reading program with kids in CPS. They were celebrating Dr Seuss. Kids had a ball. http://www.open-books.org/store

It's a wrap

I love gift giving and do feel my identity wavering as the life of a working mom has kicked in and my gift mailing ability has decreased. But at Christmas, the kids and I made 2 rolls of wrapping paper! I have so enjoyed pulling it out to wrap gifts and relive the memories of paper making. We have a huge stack of gifts to go out, so it will be Elle and I's project for the evening. I apologise for the delay and we hope to have you taken care of soon!

Play Doh

Making Play Doh was a regular occurrence in London. Great and easy activity for kids and it keeps well for weeks. My fav recipie is just flour, water, salt and cream of tartar. We had lots of fun last Saturday with it and even shared with our new friends Megan, Meike, and Avi. Although Elle was super interested in Megan's wool project.

We made a tasty Lentil, Spinach and Potato Stew that I loved, but unfortunately my kids were only interested when I puréed it and put on pasta. Super simple ingredients and delicious. I used veggie spirals this time ;)

Fun at Ann Maries

We had a lovely Sunday afternoon at Ann Marie's after wade aced his 1st Arch exam Saturday morning and we spent the evening thriftin as a fam at Salvation Army. Ellery will be posting her finds soon I am sure. It was fun!

Ice skating with Aunt casey

We enjoyed some lovely extended time with Aunt Casey in early Jan. She is a refreshing person to be around and we really enjoyed it!