A Breakfast Treat for Mommy!

Shortly after Hannah turned 4 she woke up one morning and said, ‘Mommy, I want to make you breakfast!’  I was all over that so let her go to it while I got ready upstairs.  It was cute as she ran upstairs once to ask if she could open the cupboards and a second time to ask if she could open the fridge.   (I like to be aware of what she’s eating and drinking so she asks me before helping herself to food.  It works well for us and saves her snacking so much she doesn’t want to eat meals.)

So, as I got ready for work I heard my little chef making her way around our kitchen.  She’s a confident climber and I knew that this meal would involve climbing on counters to reach bowls and glasses.  I used to stress about these activities until she was old enough to realized the dangers and climb safely.  Now I don’t even flinch – except on the rare occasion when she jumps from the counter to the floor.  Oy!

On this day when I went downstairs I was greeted by my proud girlie who had created her own concoction of a cereal trio using  Life Cereal, Sugar Crisp and Fruit Loops.  She also made a drink combo of prune juice and orange juice with a bit of extra water.  I’m not a huge fan of prune juice but drank it since it was made with love.  My poor sweetie struggles with keeping things ‘regular’ so I’m always aware of the fibre in her diet and increasing it wherever I can.  Thankfully she is an awesome eater so things like prune juice (aka syrup juice to Hannah), Raisin Bran, lots of fresh fruit and dried apricots are part of her daily routine.

I love that Hannah enjoys cooking like she does and what a treat it is when it includes breakfast for Mommy.  So far this has happened on pretty much a weekly basis this past month and I think that’s a wonderful treat for both of us! 

Look how proud she is – and rightfully so!!

Thank you chef Hannah!

A Treasured Gift

When Hannah turned 3, M3 and I were chatting about gift ideas and she told me how much her girls had enjoyed the Disney Junior magazine when they were Hannah’s age.  I mentioned this to my parents and they purchased a 1 year subscription for her.  This gift quickly became a treasure and something she checked the mail for on almost a daily basis.  We receive either 6 or 8 magazines each year so it’s a long wait between them but she reads them over and over and over again!  (There are times when I spot it in the box but if we don’t have time for her to delve into it or if she’s not with me I leave it there for her to discover the following day.)  MMC magazine days are special days where she gets to get out of the car and help me collect the mail.  A special treat for sure!

These magazines are a wonderful combination of reading, writing activities, craft ideas as well as cutting and pasting. 

This year may parents extended her subscription again and she’s still just as excited now as she was then to open the mail box and see her magazine waiting!

This is what I hear each time she climbs back into the car.

The moment she’s buckled back into her car seat the magazine is open and then once home she can often be found walking down the hallway still reading it as she makes her way to a comfy spot to pour herself into her magazine.

If you’re looking for a gift that keeps on going for your 2-5yo, I don’t think you can go wrong with Disney Junior.  There’s nothing better thank making supper and seeing your child absorbed in a good book!

21 Questions on Hannah’s 4th Birthday

Last year I started a tradition of asking Hannah 21 questions around her birthday. 

This year I took a tip from Auntie Doris and recorded Hannah as she answered the questions.  What fun it was as she even sang one of her responses.    (PS – No baby dolls were harmed in the making of this video.)

1.  What is your favourite colour? Red
2.  What is your favourite toy?  Doc McStuffins
3.  What is your favourite fruit?  Banana
4.  What is your favourite TV show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
5.  What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  ‘Old McDonald’s’ – chicken nuggets and French fries
6.  What is your favourite outfit?  Butterfly dress
7.  What is your favourite game?  Candyland
8.  What is your favourite snack? ’Crunchy things’ which I’ve since found out are mini rice cakes
9.  What is your favourite animal?  Giraffe
10. What is your favourite song?  Jesus Loves Me
11. What is your favourite book?  I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
12. Who is your best friends?  Noah (and Ben, Owen, Grayson, Lucas and ‘Falia’)  Mommy is glad she had at least 1 girl in the mix! ;o)
13. What is your favourite cereal?  Bear Cereal (Sugar Crisp) with Cheerios
14. What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Blow bubbles
15. What is your favourite drink?  Chocolate Milk
16. What is your favourite holiday?  Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My friends!  (Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto and Donald x 2, Nemo, Baby + 3 bears!  Yes – it’s crowded in our little bed!)
18. What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Cereal – see number 13 above
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Pizza
20. Where do you want to go on vacation?  Mickey’s House!!  (Walt Disney World)
21. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Princess

I was really surprised that a year later 8/21 questions still had the same answers!  Hannah tends to be a kiddo who sticks with things for a long time.   It’s helpful when planning birthday parties as I can ask her what theme she wants about 6 months before her party and she will normally not stray from that.

Happy 4th Birthday baby girl! Mommy loves you SOOOO much!!!

My adorable little girl looking a little sassy in her birthday outfit from Auntie Carol and Uncle David.

Finally!!! Welcome to Canada Target!!

For a little more than 2 years now we’ve been seeing signs like this posted outside a number of locations that will be opening as Target stores.

I fondly remember the day the announcement was made that Target was officially coming to Canada and the excitement that I felt.  I’m a Target fan during our US visits so very happy to have them close to home now. 

3 stores opened a few weeks ago but they were all located more than an hour away.  This week one of the stores just 10 mins from our home opened and Hannah and I were excited to be invited by special friends to enjoy and sneak preview the night before the official store opening!  Oh baby, we were all over that!

Even though it was less than 48 hours before spring arrived you’d never know it by the weather.  It was a nasty, cold, snowy evening but a little snow wouldn’t stop us!  We even stopped to pause for our obligatory ‘Uncle Mark’ picture with Hannah perched upon the (cold, wet…oops!) red Target ball!

LOL!  Just realized I was concentrating hard on on getting the sign at the top that I completely cut off the red ball she was sitting on!  Hehe….you can imagine that’s where she’s perched!!  Hannah’s ‘cousins’ Tor and Josh were with us for this special evening of fun!

Hannah was the first to use this cart. 

I remember when she used to stay in carts!  (Hannah – 23 months old and Ben, Jan 2010)

Now she hops in and out like a jack-in-the-box so we quickly traded in the big cart for a small one to hold our few purchases.

We were even there for the official ribbon cutting which was neat!

Hannah with our 2 purchases.  Surprise, surprise – a princess bathing suit and Cinderella shoes.  That’s my girl!

For 2 years we’ve been seeing pics of the sign posted at the top of this post.  This week I took a picture of the back of the sign and I think it sums things up perfectly!

Science Fun–Part II

Hannah received a really neat birthday gift from her little friend Ella.  (Pic from last October.  Can’t believe how they’ve both grown in this short amount of time!!)

Ella gave her a Primary Science Lab Set.

Hannah has been excited to try out this fun kit and recently we tried our first experiment.  It was a great success!  One of her favourite books to read is White Rabbit’s Color Book.  We’ve read it many times and it’s about a little white rabbit who hops into a pot of yellow paint.  Next he hops into a pot or red paint.  Expecting to turn red he’s surprised when instead he turns orange!

The first experiment the kit suggests is mixing water with food colouring to create new colours.  But, rather than just doing it in little bowls the kit supplies test tubes with lids and holders plus an eye dropper, all kid sized and made of sturdy plastic.

What fun we had!!

Step 1 was assembling the materials and donning the safety goggles included in the kit.

Step 2 involved filling the test tubes with water and some drops of red, yellow and blue food colouring.

Finally Hannah used to eye dropper to add the red water to the yellow and blue tubes.  What fun it was to see her little face light up when she saw what we’d read about many times actually be displayed before her eyes!

As soon as we finished she asked if we could do another experiment!  I love it when learning is fun for my girlie!

I’m hoping we can do another experiment this coming week and it will be a fun one.  We’re going to put pennies in water and others in lemon juice to see what happens.  It will be fun to watch her reaction.  When we go to Disney she creates pressed pennies for her collection and is saving for those.  How fun it will be for her to have bright shiny pennies that she created for herself to use for her pressed penny creations!

Science Fun–Part I

The weekend before Hannah turned 4 I received a call from my SIL while we were at gymnastics.  They were headed into the city to go to the Ontario Science Centre and invited us to join them.  I quickly said yes and plans to meet in an hour were set in motion.  It was one of the last things where she would still get in for free.  *sigh*  Oh well, it was a fun way to say good-bye to the ‘baby’ freebies offered!
When Hannah found out she was going to spend the day with her cousin Kenna she was jumping with joy! 
I haven’t been to this museum since I was a kid but Hannah has been a couple of times with Ange.  (The most amazing daycare provider in the world!!)  There is an area that is similar to the children’s museums that we’ve been to when visiting friends in the states so Hannah and Makenna were in their glory. 
First stop – grocery store!

Shortly after we arrived there was a craft class offered and the girls were all over that!  We made pinwheel hats that ended up being really neat.
Makenna and Daddy (my brother Dave) working together
Adding the first set of beads.
Showing off her finished product.
She wanted to see if she could make it go around and I think she thought the additional height of the stool would be helpful.
The girls taking their new hats for a spin – literally!

Kallen was their ever patient cheerleader and kept an eye on the girls!
Water play is always a hit with the kiddos!

Hannah had me in splits at the fishing pond!  Other kids were gently dropping their lines into the water to catch fish but my girlie was attempting to cast over her shoulder.  LOL!  Mr. Cory would be proud!

Our future astronauts!
At the craft station.  Less is never more for my girlie.
As we were waiting for my brother to get the van I caught this sweet picture of Hannah playing pee-a-boo with her baby cousin.
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful day with us Uncle Dave and Auntie Trish! 
We had a great day with you!
This final pic just made me laugh.  As I was trying to figure out the logistics of moving Hannah to a place where she would stay asleep while we moved her car seat from the van back into our car, David came up with this solution.  Heh!  He was able to move her in her seat (by pulling her out the back door of the van after reclining the seat!) and securely install her car seat (faster then I ever can!!), all the while Hannah slept.  The next time she woke up was the following morning in our bed!  Dave – you rock!

Whaaat?? No More Google Reader?

I opened Google Reader this week to see a pop-up notification that Google Reader will no longer be available as of July 1, 2013.  Ugh!!  I use Google Reader to follow well over a hundred blogs.  I have them organized by those I check most often, people I’ve met and also by topics.   I’m going to miss this program that I use almost on a daily basis.

If you don’t use Google Reader, what do you use to track blogs and their updates?  Are you happy with it?  I’m on the search for a new tool to use and will begin to move my blogs over.

Buh bye Google Reader.  You’ll be missed. 

A Day Filled with Family and Fun!

Sundays are normally days when we have a nice combination of activities and quiet time together at home.  This past Sunday was all that with a couple of birthday celebrations thrown in for good measure!
We started our day at church which is a special part of our week.  I smiled when Hannah hopped up on this pew and began to ‘read’ to herself from the hymnal.  I love her interest in ‘reading’ and hearing the stories that she creates.
After church we hurried home to prepare for some birthday celebrations.
First we decorated Nana’s birthday cake.
We went for our normal lunch at Nana and Papa’s and celebrated Nana’s birthday with Papa, Tor, Josh and Grandma Dale.

Hannah helping Papa with the dishes.
Later in the afternoon Grandma and Grandpa came over so that we could celebrate his birthday too.  He was singing Happy birthday to himself so Hannah stopped him.
A birthday pic with Grandpa and Grandma.  Hannah was in charge of the candles at both parties.  She felt the straight line approach was best!
Our day ended with a little time outdoors.  The weather was warmer and the sun up later so we took advantage of it.  You can tell when I get tired of winter because I take days like this and shovel the snow off the lawn and throw it on the road to melt.  Today I was doing that and Hannah decided a much better idea was to build a snow castle on the driveway.  So creative!
Ta da!!!
I love Sundays and I think you can see why.  Lots of time with my sweetie at church, home and with family!