lion’s 3rd birthday party!

July 15, 2013 by mama lola

last weekend we celebrated my youngest boy, lion. it was such a wonderful weekend spent with family and friends.

we had dear friends come and spend the night before the party at our house. the kids had an awesome time playing, finding inch worms, climbing fences, playing games, while us adults had an opportunity to catch-up.

this is how it started! BEER!
every time dear hubby or i are drinking beer’s, lion wants to try it. he loves the taste of beer and keeps going after the bottle, it’s funny at first, but then it becomes a little concerning! haha!

we played. did gymnastics. chatted. laughed. watched tv. ate. drank. and laughed some more!

we had such a fun time together!
the kids were delighted to have so much time to play. then the next day was PARTY TIME!!!
i tried to keep things simple food wise; fruit kabobs, crackers, cheese and gravlox salmon, watermelon, and cookies!

the kids LOVED the pinata!

after the games it was time for business.
CAKE!!!
we made lion a layered ice cream cake. it was so yummy and perfect for a hot summer birthday!

and just on cue, as soon as we all sang happy birthday to my littlest guy, i got all choked up with emotions and tears. i looked over at my mom, and saw her looking at me with tears in her eyes. haha! they were tears of joy and pride, but this is what we do in my family; we cry about everything!

HAPPY MONDAY!

summer beach day in kincardine.

July 13, 2013 by mama lola

if you have never been to kincardine, ontario, you should try to make it a destination for a day trip or longer vacation. we try to visit kincardine once a summer, which is a tradition that started way before we ever had kids.

the beaches are amazing. on one side of the main pier it is sandy and soft, the other it is rocky and pebbly. the waves that crash the shores are always cool as the water in lake huron never gets too warm!

the main strip in town has a variety of stores and chip stands, so there’s yummy grub for all! we left home in a hurry that morning, and i forgot to pack the kids’ bathing suits (duh! slaps palm to forehead) sowe had to stop at a box store to buy new bathers for the kids! haha!

the kids love kincardine. it is small and during the busiest of times, it was still pretty calm. there is enough to keep them busy and happy for the day. even dear hubby got to work on his new thing, his strength training. which is lots of jumping without a running start. he’s getting pretty good at it!

we played at the different beaches, ate picnics on the different beaches, found a playground with lots of other kids for the boys to play with, we drove around the town a little so lion could nap and bear could have some quiet. we left just before sunset.

it was a ~~completely~~ nearly perfect day.
you see lion sh#t in his brand new swim trunks at one point! hence the naked bum. it’s all good, these things happen even on the best of days!
haha!

these are my instagram pics.
to follow me there CLICK HERE!

can’t wait to do it all over again next summer!

this moment

July 12, 2013 by mama lola

these photographs were taken on lion’s 3rd birthday, july 8th, 2013. we had had a lovely sushi dinner and then headed to the wading pool downtown. the kids ran and ran, laughing and splashing the entire time! it was such a wonderful way to end our birthday celebrations!

still can not believe he is three…

make a paper mache pinata!

July 9, 2013 by mama lola

my lion turned 3 and i decided it would be fun to have a lion head pinata at his birthday party. i did some research on pinterest on how to make the perfect pinata, but decided that we would just do our own thing… i mean, how difficult could a paper mache lion head really be???

well, as with most of our projects things didn’t go as smoothly as i hoped. but, the end result was surprisingly marvellous, dontcha think?

i wanted it to be big, and a regular latex balloon just didn’t seem to be the right size or shape. so we used a clear garbage bag instead; filled it with air and shaped it a little by taping the corners down.

and off it started… lots of news paper ripped into various sized strips. dear hubby was in charge of the messy part, so he made a big ol’ bowl with flour and water mixed together (no recipe required). just make sure you don’t make it too think and depending on the project lumps don’t really matter either. especially in a pinata as the end result is that it is damaged badly, and quickly!

the kids got in on the action too! it was soooooooooo messy, but luckily the paste is super easy to wash up!

where the bag was knotted became the opening and the bottom of the lion’s head. this made it easier in the end for painting as i was able to prop the head up with my easel inside it. a broom or stool leg would work just as well.
for the ears i took a toilet paper roll, cut it half, made a cone shape, stapled it once i had it at the desired size. then the guys attached my paper macheing them on.

before you start painting make sure your paper mache is thoroughly dried first. the paint will adhere better and it will just be much easier.
to paint the lion head i just mixed a few different acrylic paints together; reds, yellows, oranges. the tone was more red than i had hoped. i painted it very haphazardly, intentionally trying to create uneven textures and colours. i used straight black paint for the detailing of the facial features.

the lion’s mane is made of various colours of tissue paper; gold, yellow, orange, violet, burgundy and black to give it depth and vibrancy. the pieces were all randomly cut with pinking sheers to create texture. i glued them on individually, which initially felt daunting, but went much faster than i anticipated. i just used kids white glue.

paper mache, pinata, lion head, birthday activity

i will post pics later this week from the actual party and the kids hitting in, but it was a total hit!

i discovered this amazing paper mache website for tons of info on different paste recipes and more at the ultimate paper mache.

and, here’s papaD getting his lion groove on while wearing the lion head after the kids got the loot! it was totally creepy and weird seeing him dance with that head! but, i’ll save it for halloween, i think! might be fun the! haha!

this was such a fun project! good luck with yours!

my baby is no longer a baby.

July 8, 2013 by mama lola

as i write this, tears are welling up in my eyes.
birthday’s make me a bit sappy, especially my children’s.

it is hard to believe that my littlest guy, my lion, was born three years ago! his birth was a nightmare and i won’t get into that now, you can read more HERE and HERE. this post is about the happiness he brings. lion’s short life has been full of adventures, laughter and love. he has brought such joy into our life and i am so honoured to be his mama.

lion is such a sweet little boy. his big blue eyes melt hearts where ever he goes, and his little voice is hard not to smile at. he is such a character; he loves to give kisses, loves to do puzzles and LOVES to help in the kitchen. his energy is always positive, even after a fall he typically bounces back quickly and says “me okay” . lion is very easy going, always keen to participate in whatever is happening, rarely throws a tantrum but, watch out as there is always a slight glint of mischievousness in his eyes!

it has dawned on me that i really do not have babies anymore. lion has been toilet trained (night & day) for almost a year, we took his soother away at 18 months, so there is nothing left from his baby days, which really emphasizes his big kid-ness. he is able to express himself, creating opportunities for adorable conversations. his speech is still a bit slurred, and now he has started stuttering, but i think with time they too will be outgrown. every day he is gaining more independence by striving for those big goals; having a big brother is very motivating and pushes him to try new things that maybe he wouldn’t otherwise.

i am so proud of my wee lion.
he is loving, kind, smart and super silly.
he lives every day to it’s fullest effortlessly.
he is so gentle and fierce, all rolled into one awesome little boy.

happy birthday to my sweet lion.
i love you.

(sniff, sniff… gotta go find some tissues now!)

this moment.

July 5, 2013 by mama lola

i would love it if you left a link to your { this moment }.

the donkeys.

June 30, 2013 by mama lola

about a week ago we visited the donkey sanctuary of canada.

it was a beautiful, peaceful place where you can’t help but let yourself slow down and let your brain from racing along. we enjoyed the company of many of these serene four legged, furry animals. we were all pleasantly surprised at how calm donkeys are.

all of donkey’s here have a story to tell; where they came from and why they were brought to the sanctuary in the first place. some of the stories are heartbreaking ones of cruelty and neglect, while other’s easier to understand. there are about 60 donkey’s at the a sanctuary, and the name alone should describe the purpose of this place. it’s a safe place for donkey’s to live out their lives. we met one lovely donkey dame, names summer. she was 42 years old, which is considered old for donkey’s.

we spoke to several staff members who were eager to answer our questions and teach us about these quiet, often forgotten animals. donkey’s originate from northern africa and do not have any hierarchy in their herds, the way horses do. their “flight or fight” response is to fight, unlike the horse whose is for flight, and hence are considered stubborn.

we also had a belated father’s day picnic celebration.
the kids made my dad binoculars. it was pretty cute and hilarious!

if you’re in this area, south-western ontario, go visit the donkey’s. they need our hearts and support and they are just so awesome! check out the sanctuary’s website HERE for operating hours and other details. there are also walking trails and a pond with fish and turles! fun!

this moment.

June 28, 2013 by mama lola

as inspired by souleMama; one photo from our week, no words, only an image to sum up our time as a family. one that captures a moment in time and is a visual reminder of where we were at this time in our lives.

we have all officially survived bear’s first year of school.
here are a few pictures from his last day with his best bud and his awesome teacher’s! we love them all so much!
woohoo, summer!!!

i would love it if you left a link to your { this moment }.

mini cottage vacation in june!

June 26, 2013 by mama lola

sometimes, a mini vacation is just what i need to re-charge my batteries, get my head in order and just relax with family.

we went up to the cottage with our dear bubba & patty. the kids had a fantastic time playing in the water, swinging on the new tire swing, collecting sticks n’ things, making smores, sleeping in (wait, no that didn’t happen), and just having a jolly fun time! If you are interested in having a cottage vacation, you can find a great range of self catering holiday cottages in Silverdale or somewhere more local to you!

to our dismay, the cottage (or mansion worth $3 million) next door to us was purchased by a very wealthy person, who has now built an even bigger mansion worth at least $10, 000, 000!!! it’s not so much the value of the new “cottage” that us disturbing, but it’s the destruction they are doing on the natural environment that is heartbreaking. they have cut down massive swaths of trees on theIR property, which has in turn caused terrible erosion on their hillside land. everything about this mansion is custom and extreme to the max. the windows and doors are all bigger than anything you would find at home depot! they are creating a water feature about the same size in width as the cottage itself, with a waterfall, a river and a pool. this confuses me, BECAUSE THE PROPERTY IS ON A LAKE!

the new neighbours will not be moving in this summer, maybe not even next, as construction on such a massive scale takes years. all day, everyday the dirt road was busy with catering trucks feeding the workers, various pic-up trucks and vans driving back and forth… the dust was insane!

and then, one day we came back from town to this in front of our drive way…

a huge digger being transferred onto a flatbed, to be taken away. yes, this was a five year old’s dream, so we stood there and watched as the worker drove the digger on there, and then chained the huge piece of equipment on. but, it wasn’t really what we had hoped as our lion was napping in the car!

but, that being said we did have a great time boozing, snoozing, playing games, canoeing and hooping! We were able to enjoy a range of different games whilst we were out here. When the kids went to bed, the adults would make use of online casino websites to have our own casino night. We made sure to use a reliable recommendation website like best-casino.net/ to find a good casino website. Then we were able to enjoy slot machines and poker games online. That was fun. The cottage has decades and decades of family memories in it, and being up there is always so amazing!

eating outside is one of my favourite things to do at the cottage!

a dear friend and her darling daughter came for a visit, so we went out on the row boat.

the boys love the water up here.

went into rosseau. played on the bouncy castle and at the beach.

dear hubby and bubba put up a tire swing.

i got back into hooping! everyone had a turn!

us adults had many boozy nights with a lotta laughs and all sorts of shenanigans!

oh, the cottage life!

happiness!

some of the pics are taken with my phone so that’s why the quality looks different. I’m considering getting something like memory t shirt quilts made from all of the photos to remind me of what a terrific vacation this was.
HAPPY HUMP DAY EVERYONE!

this moment.

June 21, 2013 by mama lola

i would love it if you left a link to your { this moment }.

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