Tuesday, April 29, 2014

[love these!]



These gorgeous family trees can be ordered from Evajuliet Atelier. Great gift idea for parents, grandparents...
Website: Evajuliet Atelier




Saturday, April 26, 2014

[snippets]


It hardly ever rains here (except in the summer we do get some mighty rain and thunder storms) so when it does - I really love it and can appreciate it. Air is so fresh and often I love the gray mood it creates. Especially when something melancholy is on my mind and I'm listening to Sade's King of Sorrow song. Little bit of melancholy at times is healthy for you. :)


I have been patiently waiting for a full blown spring. I'm pretending spring is well under way and started making smoothies again. :)

Spring dust and mold is not the best for my seasonal allergy lungs. I read somewhere that pineapple can help loosen mucus from lungs so I used pineapples and blueberries for this smoothie. Plus a bit of orange juice. I love it that you can throw whatever fruit or berries you have into the blender and it always ends up tasting good. Fail proof "cooking". :) So healthy too!


Love them trees!


Hope I can keep these alive! My thumb isn't even a bit green.



My raspberry flavored Xylitol pastilles tin comes with a cute quote. Something about eating stuff from a cute tin instead of from a regular packaging, makes the enjoyment so much better. :)


A quick visit to the pond to check out the very many geese and ducks. The sea gulls were fighting and when I closed my eyes, for a second I could pretend I was by the ocean listening to sea gulls.


Always enjoyable to check out the kids' art at our daughter's school.


Still going strong pinning stuff on Pinterest. Blythe dolls are not creepy but super cute. Said the way past 40 year old me. :)


Too early to buy plants for the garden (for us anyways) but I enjoyed browsing at the greenhouse. So many gorgeous plants! How do you choose? I just want them all. Please and thank you. :)

Friday, April 18, 2014

[the good and the bad]


The bad news - we got lots of snow last night. It's been a nightmare of a winter this year. It just keeps going and going and going... 
Pity, please.

The good news - it's Easter!
Good news, indeed. The word gospel means "good news". How fitting.

ps. Hiding Easter eggs in grass is for wimps. You gotta build a snowbunny and hide white eggs in the snow. 
(Not our snowbunny. As seen while out and about today.)

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

[gotta love Easter!]


I love Easter! 
The message of Easter is so uplifting and full of hope.

We visited the farmer's market on Saturday. Many Ukrainians live here in Canada. Gotta admire Ukrainian Pysanky eggs. So much work goes into making just one egg! 

I bought a bunch of pussy willow branches. These are so big and fluffy. I will probably add some feathers to the branches as is the custom in Finland. 


Here are some ideas I have collected in my Easter Pinterest file.
I love black and white, as always, but of course these can be made in lovely spring colors as well.


Use a label maker to add text to eggs.



Use a Sharpie pen to draw/write on eggs.


Stamp wooden eggs with alphabet stamps.


Sew an egg garland from textured paper.


These cuties can be purchase at the Spagat Shop at Etsy.


Jelly beans on branches. The idea and instructions are from here.

Friday, April 11, 2014

[help for parents]


My husband and I waited what seemed like forever until we were able to have our daughter. We truly appreciate being parents and rejoice that we have that blessing in our lives. That being said, there are times when your children try your patience to the limits. Children don't come with an instruction booklet attached to them and there are times when you just don't know how to help them to listen to you, etc. This book came to me at a time when I felt like I was talking to a tree when trying to get our daughter to get ready for school, or to brush her teeth, etc. I have truly enjoyed this book and it has helped me see some of the tough parenting situations in new light, offering me suggestions on how to keep my cool in those situations.

This book was written by a Latter-Day Saint and it does have some religious quotes on it. But I feel it's a book that has much wisdom to any parent who wants to improve his/her parenting skills and who doesn't want to be a nagging, impatient parent.

Here are just couple of quotes from the book:


Dr Goddard tells about his childhood experience with his aunt Mary and Uncle Grant:
"Every summer they invited us to come visit them. I'm not sure why. We added to their burdens and weren't asked to help with chores, yet they seemed to genuinely enjoy us. And they tolerated our antics without visible chagrin. When I crashed Uncle Grant's motor scooter with no injury to me but no benefit to the scooter, he merely laughed. When Alan and I dragged back to the house after we narrowly avoided burning down all of southern Utah, Aunt Mary simply turned on the sprinklers to cool us off."

It is easier to be a part-time parent than a full-time parent. But even so, think of this quote and relate it to your role as a parent. None of us are perfect and I do believe that our children are trying their best. Dr Goddard says: "When we understand that our children are doing the best they can in a big, confusing world in which they often feel awkward and powerless, we... can act redemptively. When a child falls short because of lack of wisdom or experience, we can teach rather than punish."


Think about it! When we do get impatient with our children, our response greatly depends on how we are feeling overall, prior to the incident that seemed to cause the impatience.

Anyways, much wisdom in this book. Many things to make you ponder about your own actions and what makes you impatient. I wish the mere reading the book would make you into a super patient, gentle parent. But it does take work and conscious effort to put things into practice. But at least there are things out there to help us in our efforts to become a better parent. 

My advice is that we need to ensure that everyone in the home gets enough sleep. It's so super easy to become irritated and impatient when we are tired. I have noticed that our daughter's diminished listening and crankiness is usually caused by few late nights in a row. Children need so much sleep. It blows my mind sometimes when I see parents out and about late at night with their little ones. I always hope that it's an exception rather than a rule in their lives. We can't expect children to function well if we chronically let them stay up too late. So often, the general crankiness in a home could be avoided if everyone gets enough sleep.



And remember, one of the most important words for even parents is the word "sorry". Our children need to hear that each time we have been impatient and cranky with them. We need to live what we teach.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

[fun with ice]


It's a bit late in the season to post this but I wanted to share this idea. Our daughter's school does this every year. They freeze colorful water (just add a bit of food coloring to water) in various containers and then make ice sculptures.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

[wishful thinking...]



To blog or not to blog. That seems to always be the question.

Haven't given up on this blog of mine yet. 

Haven't given up on spring either. It's gotta happen, right?