dance class

mack started dance class today.
it was too cute. she was there with her bff's ava and sadie. they love it and it's a great way to spend some time running them tired.
the school is stages performing arts school. it was the only dance school i could find in the area that offered ballet, jazz, creative dance etc for children 12 months and up. check out there schedule here. it's a brand new program they started and we think it's a great idea! mack loves to dance and especially loves ballet. one of the best features is that at the end of the 12 week program they put on a performance (how precious is that?) and the price is totally affordable.
so if anyone reading this is a parent/caretaker and living in victoria please support this new program and come drop in for a free class to try it out. the only way victoria is going to keep having new programs for parents/kids is if we support the businesses offering them.

is there such a thing as too young for heels..haha

is there such a thing as too young for heels?

mack is obsessed with my shoes. she loves nothing better than dragging out each pair of my high heels and walking around the house in them. at first i was reluctant to let her do it for fear she would fall and hurt herself but i quickly realized she is quite a good little walker in heels. she must get it from her momma.

at least someone is getting some use out of my heels because at the moment it's sure not me.

old navy madness

i just love it when they get the tickle giggles.

it's just one of those gazillion special things that kids do that have the amazing power to just make you "happy". that kind of ooey gooey goodness that makes you warm and fuzzy inside.

she had a good, long squeal giggle from this two footed armpit tickle (it's her new fave) and it also gives me quite the workout for my legs..haha.

we went to old navy on the weekend. i couldn't help myself. i just knew in my bones that their baby sale was on and i couldn't resist. we stocked up for mack's spring/summer clothes there a long time ago during the last sale so we knew it was time to go again. they have great, cute, durable clothes that are reasonably priced.

i thought i better post some pics of them so my mommy can see how much i have learned from her parenting. all of her outfits that we bought are wearable together and match each other. my mom is the best at doing this and whenever she buys mack clothes it comes in soooo handy. so this one is for you mom. (miss you and wish you could have come too) ((oh and the pic of the three tops are the ones we picked up from the big sears sale.))
jer got a new coat and i got a bucket load of new clothes but wouldn't you know that none of my stuff was on sale but jer's and mack's was. that is always the way it works when we go there. darn it. oh well. it is hard enough for me to find shirts that fit right now with the breastfeeding momma jungas still working that if i find a top i like i buy it in a few colors.

needless to say we had fun and ended up wasting a few hours getting sucked into retail heaven.

superbaby

we couldn't help ourselves from getting pics on friday night when we tied our baby's sleeper on her like a cape and let her run wild around the house. it was hilarious and i am sure these pics will be the ones in her album when she is older that she will always look at me and say "what the hell were you doing to me mom?"

orange drops

i have been finding myself with a need to bake the last few weeks.

yesterday mack and i were going through some cookbooks and i really wanted to make some lemon bars. but when i went to the fridge low and behold i only had 1/2 a lemon left and needed a whole one. oops.

so i scoured the fridge to see what i had left. oranges. what the heck can i bake with oranges? now i am a new to all this cooking stuff and am absorbing and learning as much as i can, so i found myself amazed to find so many recipes for desserts using oranges!

i ended up making a great little orange cookie recipe. i cut down the sugar, used organic whole wheat flour and paboom, a yummy, somewhat healthy little cookie. i did add a single semi-sweet chocolate chip to every other cookie because i love the mix of orange with chocolate.

mack and i love cooking together and she has alot of fun playing with all the mixing bowls and measuring cups. she especially loves my garage sale fave finds. i don't usually like her playing with them which probably makes her want to play with them even more. but i love them and couldn't stand to see them broken.

in the next few months i am going to get really ambitious and try to make some cute little aprons for us to wear. i have dug out my sewing machine and am going to try to make a few little projects for around the house and finally finish my pillows for the bedroom. the fabric is calling to me and now with jer doing homework at night i have more free time to dibble in my crafts. we'll see if i make it down the long road of sewing. if anything it should make for some interesting blogging.

frame it up

i found the cutest frame at the dollar giant the other day.

i have a lot of frames, but i rotate them and do use them all quite regularly. i never really thought much about it until jer said when i showed him this one "another frame?", but he is a man, and like shoes, they think 2-3 pairs is an acceptable amount to own.

i love it. i think it's adorable and was just the thing i needed for in our bedroom. even though i live with a man a girl's gotta have a little sparkle here and there. we are almost done decorating the new place, but the bedroom (as usual) is the last one to be finished and the catchall for all the stuff we haven't put away yet.

the candle holder beside the frame is my fave candleholder. i love it and wish i could find a print of the pattern to frame. speaking of prints, i finally put some pictures up above our bed. i have been humming and hawing about what to put there and finally decided to use the last two frames I had from our last ikea splurge up. i loved the designs I had found online and printed out in black and white. the grey tone goes perfect with the rest of the house and the colors in the bedroom. we are still hunting for a few things like bedside tables and lamps for the bedroom, but haven't found any we want yet.

i still sigh every night i go to bed and slide onto our super soft sheets and comfy bed and realize i am just that much closer to my new year's resolution of having the cozy, relaxing, bedroom of my dreams. it's worth every hard earned penny.

latte?

we are in love with our new electric kettle.

jer and i have been indulging in daily pomengrate green tea soy lattes made at home by moi lately. and let me tell you, my kettle was oooold. i was starting to get scared by the fact that we were still drinking from it. so after some coercing on the weekend i got jer to come to sears with me to pick out our new little kettle. the thing is a godsend.

it boils water so fast, i can't get over it. it also has a built in filter so you can just plop the tea bag right inside the kettle. something other people may have been aware that electric kettles could do, but obviously we didn't...haha, or we would have bought one sooner.

now making our espressos and lattes has been a breeze. who needs starbucks when you can make your own? who am i kidding, i still need my starbucks..haha, but this is a pretty close second best and a hellavu lot cheaper.

baby did a bad, bad thing

i did a bad thing.

well, maybe not a bad thing in some people's mind, but in my little mommyhood world it was kind of bad.
mack and i were out for a walk and i spotted the most gorgeous hydrangea bush in an alley road of an apartment building and couldn't help myself from picking some and taking them home.

it was actually quite absurd to find myself skulking around on this little street pushing my child in her stroller, trying to look casually innocent as I steal foliage from some property. what has my life come to? ahaha. just as i was about to rip the bloom off the bush mack decides to start screaming. it was hilarious. i grabbed the flowers and took off speed walking before i got caught. seriously, i felt as though some old biddy was gonna jump out of the bush and come at me any second. and yes, the old biddies here in oak bay are a bit frightening when messed with, so i actually felt the adrenaline rush as i tried to escape with my pretty stolen flowers and screaming toddler.

they look gorgeous though and i figured they would go great with the greenery we stole from strathcona park earlier in the day...hahaha. i know, i know, my life is sad..haha, but a girl's gotta get some excitement from somewhere right?

kelly ripa arms

ok, seriously, i am obsessed with kelly ripa's arms.

i am in love with her arms. i watch the show sometimes just to see her arms.

she never fully reveals her arm workouts either. she will give away her fitness secrets, but never her arms!!! that lady is one ripped momma. she looks phenomonal. a bit too skinny in other parts, but her arms make up for it if you ask me...haha.

so my goal is to achieve the closest arms i can get to ripa's delicious ones.

tonight is one of my new steps to achieving this goal. i am going to a pilates sculpt class. i love pilates and am looking forward to this class which mixes in the body ball, bands and other equipment with pilates. should be a good workout and i need all the help i can get to banish my baby pooch.

ahhhhhh, baby pooch sucks. hopefully all our biking, running, and pilates/yoga will help plus i am going to be going to the gym as well. ripa arms here i come!!!!!

90210

i have designated tuesday night as 90210 night.

jer is at school so i figured it would be a great night to round up some ladies and watch us some 90210.

i miss the old gang though. i don't think i am going to pass too much judgement on the new series until i have seen a few more episodes. i am one of the fans who would love to see some of the old cast return and join jennie garth and shannen doherty.

i still watch old beverly hills reruns late at night when mack is up. gotta love those shows.


my only complaint thus far is the amount of money they all seem to flaunt around. it gets to be a little bit much, but other than that i think they did a good job casting.


the ladies could stand to gain a little weight though. my oh my. when mack gets older i don't want these girls to be the "ideal" body weight. they look like toothpicks about to fall over and snap in half from holding up their heads! i mean look at this girl's legs!!! that is skinnier than my arm for crying out loud!

i love that they have the storyline for us "non teenagers" out there. especially when they bring in cast that i love. you can't go wrong when you mix "full house" with "melrose place". hahaha.

i am looking forward to this weeks episode and i am sure jeremy is sick of hearing me say "same drama, new zipcode".

it's an adventure on my ironhorse

here's my bike mom! your turn to get one now!

after getting mack a bike trailer i also got a new bike.

i don't know anything about bikes and after doing a bit of research and the advice of a really helpful staff member i ended up getting a "hybrid". it's called the "adventure" by ironhorse. i love it.

the bike is a cross between a mountain bike and a street bike. the seat is extra cushy and oh so big (no sore buns riding this puppy) the handlebars are completely adjustable so you can move them forward/back or up/down, (which is great for us short people) it's got great shocks and the ride is so smooth and easy. i have my own little bell on it as well.

i never realized bike riding could be so much fun, so relaxing and so easy. my old bike was a piece of sheat that was so hard to ride. overall i am very happy with this bike, i only wish the bottle holder i attached to it could be configured to carry a starbucks coffee in it and that i looked better in a bike helmet. a girl can dream can't she?

tightie whitee

we were going through mackie's pj's yesterday to see what still fit and what was for donation and got some cute pics of her in a pair of skin tight white velour jammies.....hilarious! she looked like a bad version of elvis and to make it even worse she kept running around the house on her tip toes which just added to the hilarity. such mean parents are we that we kept her in them and got it all on video to torture her with when she is a teenager...hahahaha.

kiss my face rocks!

i woke up to a nice surprise this morning!

a nice little comment on my last post in regards to my addiction to "kiss my face" products. (www.kissmyface.com)

Lewis you rock! Thanks for the 25% off code for the online store! I will definitely have to get some things for Mack to try out in the tub and maybe a nice lip chap for myself.

For all you other "kiss my face" lovers or those that should be lovers (you know who you are), Lewis was nice enough to let me pass along the code you enter when purchasing online:

BLOGKMF3 at kissmyface.com for 25% of your order until 9/1/08.

a big thank you to "kiss my face" and it's so nice to see that a company still cares when customers love their products.

hair, hair, everywhere

i got a few new products to reccomend recently.

i was out purusing through the local pharmasave and found a great selecetion of all natural and organic products and food that i usually have to go to 2-3 stores for and pay a higher price (ex. lifestyle market) for.

i scooped while i had the chance on the sales and picked up these goodies:

best shaving cream i have ever used!!! smells like lavender and leaves my legs silky soft and so smooth. no irratation with shaving with this product. the stuff feels like an indulgent deep hair conditioner for your legs. if you hate having no foam, this isn't for you, but believe me, it's worth trying just for the softness and the scent. Avalon Organics Lavender Moisturizing Cream Shave (http://www.avalonorganics.com/?id=93&pid=56)

i also bought some more of my favorite shampoo/conditioner from "kiss my face" (www.kissmyface.com) called "big body" and it's lavender scented which again, i adore!!! mmmm...relaxing. i love this company's products and am excited that they have finally started a kid's line as well. i haven't seen it in stores yet, but may buy some from their website for mackie.


so go out and indulge. a little lavender goes a long way......and believe me, a mom needs it.

the mullet is growing

mack's mullet is growing.

her hair is finally growing in and i am getting to experiment with her hairstyles more. she doesn't like it though and loves to torture me with the ripping out of my cute creations.

here's the reaction i get when i am done styling her hair.

bike trailer heaven

yippee! we got a bike trailer!

so excited. after a lot of research (aka the jogger scenario) we decided to invest in a bike trailer. we had been toying with the idea of getting a front mount bike seat, but after reading how hard it is to ride the bike with the seat on it and knowing about the rain in the winter here we decided against it.

we picked up the double trailer from mountain equipment coop. (www.mec.ca)

i read a lot of great reviews and talked to a lot of other moms/dads who use this one. it's a great little trailer for those who cannot afford or don't want to spend a ton of money on the chariot version.

mackie is super excited to go for a ride in it and we are looking forward to not having to lug groceries on our backs every week!

we decided to get the double size since it was only $30 more or so and that way if we have another baby or just a child visiting we don't need to upgrade later. they also have a great resale value.

i will post pics as soon as we take mackie out for her first cruise! she's gonna look adorable in a bike helmet.

i finally won

we got a new game on the weekend.

we have a group of friends that we all like to play a game called "settlers" with. it's basically monopoly and risk's love child. i was hesitant to play it years ago as i hate strategy games, but i am addicted now. they got me hooked. it's fun, but requires a group of people to play with.

we have been hunting for games to play with only 2 players so we can play together. there is only so many times you can play scrabble.

after talking to the friends that got me hooked on settlers they told me about "carcassone". they are a couple and play it all the time with only 2 players. so on saturday my frugal shopper came out and i phoned around victoria to the gaming stores to get the best price. we have played it almost every night since we got it and love it.

not sure how long jer is gonna like it though, cause i kicked his butt the other night!!! hahah! i am a sore loser and can get vicious when playing, so it was fun to finally beat him at a game because usually i lose.

I highly recommend it for a fun 45 mins of game playing, especially if you are sick of cards or any other monotonous 2 player game.

not a bad view

jer get's up with the baby at the crack of dawn and get's to see a gorgeous sunrise from the deck every morning.

i thought i would post a few of his shots from the other day.

snap, crackle, pop

who doesn't love rice krispie squares?

i made the mistake of sending jer out to get the groceries alone the other night and he came back with rice krispies and marshmallows...haha.

so mackie and i surprised him with the gooey deliciousness that is rice krispie squares. she loved helping and watching the marshmallows melt.

red hair rules

wes rules. he rocks. (except when he has hard alcohol..haha)

just wanted to send out to you a huge thank you!

thanks for going to two weddings in one day an ocean ferry ride apart and getting a speeding ticket to do it.

thanks for travelling again the next weekend by ferry again to help us do the horrible task of moving.

you are a great friend. we owe you breakfast.

i am not sure you will see this, but i have a sneaking suspicion you are one of the few people who actually read my blog...lol.

and all you single ladies out there looking for a great guy? wes is your man. he is one of my hubby's best buds, loves my kid and kids in general, puts up with me, owns his own house, car, no debt, cooks great food, is smart and funny and has a job! (sorry wes, i just had to advertise ya a bit...lol)

hope you are doing good and when you coming back over for a visit????