April is Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness month and our Community Autism Centre Inc. is holding it's annual Walk for Autism on April 30th. 
 My family started participating last year and with only a few weeks notice we raised $425.  I could not have been any more proud of our efforts seeing how my original goal was $5 from 25 people (the amount of spaces available on my sponsor sheet) for a total of $125. 
I started with a message to a large group of my Facebook friends with my goal and I got very few responses...don't get me wrong the few who did were generous and gave more than the $5 requested...but it got me to thinking how else can people contribute?  Unfortunately our nation is in the midst of a recession and cost of living keeps sky rocketing while wages remain low...even when we want to support such amazing causes we can't always afford to.  So I put out a request for recycling  "please donate all of your refundable bottles/cans.  I will pick them up and take them to the depot myself." and WOW the responses from that were UNREAL!   A friend who worked at an uptown restaurant spoke to his boss and other owners on their strip and convinced the 3 businesses to donate a week's worth of their empties and from there the excitement caught on like wild fire....everyone wanted to help however they could.  In 2 weeks time I made several trips to local depots and cashed in over $200 worth of what most people consider GARBAGE.
I can't even describe the feelings I had over those few weeks...the excitement...pride...I was just vibrating with joy everytime the little red flag popped on my Facebook home page.  For years I sat back wondering what I could do to help/support my dear friend, Deb McDonald, with her battle to keep the centre up and running smoothly for her son and over 900+ other families in my community and here it was right in front of me just a few key strokes away.  
I do not by any means think for a second that my $425 raised, single handedly kept the centre open but I did raise awareness...I informed everyone & anyone who would listen about the centre and all the fantastic opportunities and support it offers our community FREE of charge...  many people had NO idea that this wonderful place existed...families who had children with autism that did not realize the C.A.C.I was available to them benefited....All because we dared to do our best, that's all we could offer OUR BEST...  1 small family making an okay living volunteered a few hours of our time and made a difference....could you imagine if the 1,000,000,000,000's of families in the world all took a few hours of their time and did their best how amazing it could be ?

All year I have been brainstorming fundraising ideas to meet and exceed the amount we raised last year.  I hoped that people would be just as excited to support again.  My friends list has not expanded much nor have any of our incomes lol.  So to double last year's total to $850 I need to get creative.

One of my ideas was a spa day was little girls...a couple hours of  "quiet time" for parents.
This weekend we held  Lil Diva's Day Spas for girls 3-10years old.  We charged $20/child and hosted 2 events for 2 hours where we painted their nails, soaked their feet & painted toe nails, had chocolate facials followed by light make-up and/or face painting.  It was a HUGE hit!  We had 7 girls on Saturday and another 4 on Sunday and they all  had SO MUCH FUN! ...and in 24 hours we raised $220! 

Another idea I had was a yard sale...the weather here though is not at all ready for that though so I set up an event on Facebook and posted all of the items/prices & info on there and so far have collected $100+ in proceeds from that! 

Already on the 5th day of April we have collected $360 of our $850 goal and I still have a shed full of bottles to go to the depot and checks to be picked up!  I am so excited to see how the rest of the month goes!  Wish me LUCK and if you'd like to help me reach our goal please feel free to make a check out to

Community Autism Centre Inc.

55 Westmorland Road

Saint John, NB

E2J-2E3

Canada



OR Support an Autism Centre in YOUR community :) 

I love Party Planning

It's that time of the year...I'm sick of winter and spring keeps teasing me by playing hard-to-get...So it must be time to start brainstorming for Ainsley's Birthday Party!

As much as I could NOT stand being a swollen  hippo pregnant lady during the entire summer of 2004, I have NEVER been so excited to celebrate birthdays in the beautiful weather (my siblings & I are ALL winter babies).  There are ENDLESS possibilities for summer celebrations! 


For the last few years when the "end of winter" blues hit Ainsley & I put our heads together and pick a theme (you HAVE to love a theme)  for her birthday (August 12th)....then we consult our best buddy Google.  

For her 4th birthday she was on a big Veggie Tales kick and their newest movie was The Pirates that Don't Do Anything...so we had a ~Buccaneer Bash~  at a local park (at the time we lived 15mins outside of town and people just didn't seem to like the drive for birthday 1yr & 2yr...we found this location for 3yr and it was a HUGE HIT...and minimal clean up)

Invitations in Root beer bottles

Ava my baby pirate

Cake

My mom gave her a Nemo pinata filled with
treasure...there was a sweet story that was
wrapped with it but as the planner/photographer
I didn't get my hands on it before someone
mistook it for trash :(

Treasure chests filled with even more loot

For her 5th birthday we had a new house and HUGE yard (in a more central area)  so we had a big Circus Party.

Thank you cards for the treat bags

we took pin the tail on the donkey and
changed it up.  I bought whipped cream & mini tart
pans to toss pies at the clown's face



cake...thanks Google LOL once she saw
this there was NO changing her mind

This was a HUGE hit!  I found this at Oriental Trading
and it was worth every penny  

For her 6th birthday we decided since water balloons had been such a BIG success at the last two parties that we would do an all water party *Backyard Water BlasT* ....unfortunately because of all the water we haven't got a single picture of that super fun day but we'll always have tons of memories!

This year for her 7th birthday she wants to go camping at Hartt's Island.  We were up there for Labour Day weekend and it was such an awesome time with their waterpark and playground.

So on this cold and dirty, not quite spring, day I am looking for ideas for cakes and treat bags. ( I have  Counting Coconuts post today to thank for the inspiration, her suggestion to use her Eye Spy bottles in goody bags has sparked me into a Google frenzy lol)

Ainsley's colourful Valentines

This year for Ainsley's class we wanted to do something a little different. So after seeing this post on Frugral Family Fun I knew we HAD to do heart shaped recycled crayons :)

So I went to the Dollarama in search for a heart shaped baking pan and found this silicon mold

...and because I can't ever walk into a dollar store and ONLY spend one dollar I also spotted these Princess & Spiderman Silly Bands (they are ALL about the Silly Bands right now lol)

I already had a package of glitter paper in my scrapbooking supplies (ask how many scrapbooks I've finished...I dare ya! lol)  and it is conveniently all pink and red (I knew it would be really cute to use someday)  so with this we're going to use our heart cookie cutter as a stencil to make the cards....but what we are stumped on is a catchy Valentine rhyme or message....What should we write on the cards besides the usual ol'faithful  BE MINE??

 

 

I was thinking something "colourful" (because of the crayons)  would be cute...but what ??  Any suggestions???

For her Teacher and TA,  we bought a couple of cute containers and plan to fill them with this great hot chocolate mix I found on Lovin My Little Ladies  ...we thought their cards would stay something like " Teacher you warm my heart!  Happy Valentines Day!" ...but we're open to suggestions on that one too :)

Are you doing Valentines this year?  What are your plans, craft ideas etc?

The Better World Resolution Blogshare...better late than never?

On the weekend I was Blog Hopping along when I found Fine and Fair.  This is a beautiful blog by Joella who types her blog posts as letters to her gorgeous daughter Delilah.  The post shared was a great one about resolutions and thinking outside of the box when making them.  I really enjoyed the fact that this post was so selfless and inspiring.  Joella challenged her readers to join in a Blog Share and write their own posts on a Better World Resolution!
The idea was to have the posts all scheduled to go live on January 2nd and to involve as many of our readers as possible... I ofcourse fell behind schedule (especially since I only found her late in the day on the 1st) BUT I thought it was such a beautiful idea I thought I would still write my post and link-up late...I missed out on the generous offer she made to donate $10 of her own money to a charity of my choice but that's fine and fair (feeling a lil playful today lol) and I will work my butt off to make up the difference this year for my charity of choice!
So here goes, better late than never....

Better World Resolution 2011

My family and I resolve to continue on with our Penny Drive for Ainsley's school Christmas charity, aswell as our year round bottle drive for The Community Autism Centre Inc.

We will again participate in the CACI Walk for Autism in April...only this year I want to try to double our funds raised from the $430 we turned in last year (our goal last year was $125 and we more than doubled it so I think we can!!)

We as a family already compost & recycle...As a household of 5+ we rarely throw more than 2 garbage bags out a month on garbage days...BUT I want reduce even more!!  This year I want to start canning my own veggies & sauces so that I can reuse our containers instead or having to buy cans/plastic/glass from the grocery store.....this should be all around healthier for my family as well as our environment!

This year we were also introduced to the Joshua Group, a non-profit group in our community that does the most amazing outreach to people of all ages!

The gentleman, Bobby Hayes, that runs this is truly inspiring. He holds down a full time job & family but spends copius amounts of time driving around the city in a school bus ministering and feeding the less fortunate.  Every Sunday morning he drives around picking up youth and providing them breakfast and devotional.  He is known to spend his evenings taking groups of youth swimming or to hockey games, Nature hikes & hunting on the weekends.  He is a supportive & positive influence in these childrens lives that they may NEVER have gotten at home...the ones lucky enough to have homes,  I want to, as a family, offer to Bobby any service we can to the Joshua Group...whether it be baking, groceries,fundraising, serving meals, doing crafts or reading with the kids, donating clothes/blankets etc...

So if you'd like to join in late as well

Here's how it works:

1. Spread the word. Point your friends, fans, and followers to this post, and let them know that you plan on participating. Encourage them to join you. The more, the merrier!
2. Write a Blog Post between now and Sunday January 2, 2011 about a resolution you plan to make that makes the world (even just a small part of it!) a better place. The point is to "think outside the box". Maybe you'll resolve to compost, mentor an at-risk teen, adopt a pet from a rescue, volunteer at a homeless shelter, or organize a protest. The sky is the limit!
3. Publish (or schedule to be published) your post on Sunday January 2, 2011. Please include a link to this post.
4. Return to this post and comment with a link to your...let's call it..."The Better World Resolution Blogshare" post.

Burning the midnight oil

It's just days away from Christmas and I am averaging little to no sleep. 
Tonight I finished wrapping gifts and then tackled Ainsley's gifts for her classmates.  We had made playdoh on Halloween (orange & black cherry) and sent it in lou of candy and it was a HUGE hit!  So Ainsley thought it'd be great to make a different kind to send in as a christmas gift (candy cane & gingerbread).  So here I am up still at 2am just finishing 18 sets of playdoh...with Ainsley's help (she woke up to go pee and "couldn't go back to sleep")
For each kid we had a snowflake cellophane bag filled with a handful of playdoh and  tied with curling ribbon with a cookie cutter & a fun-foam snowman attached.

Playdoh Recipe
2cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbs veg. oil
2 cups of water mixed with kool-aid packet

Mix dry ingredients with oil then slowly add water.  Stir til combined them microwave for 3-5 minutes removing to stir at every minute until you can no longer stir.  Then roll out on counter and knead til smooth.

** I omitted the kool-aid packet for our flavours tonight.  For the candy cane I added peppermint extract at 3mins, then added glitter when I started the kneading process.
 For the gingerbread I mixed in  ginger, all spice, nutmeg & cinnamon to the dry ingredients.

Ribbons

Ava has been doing a "Time for Tots" group at our local library for 2-3 months now and her favorite part of Thursday mornings has got to be the RIBBONS!

So I really wanted to make her some for her stocking....I've had leftover dowel pieces (from the toy shelf Wayne & I built 3yrs ago) that I have been meaning to put to use and endless bottles of paint & spools of ribbon....BUT time, oh my, WHERE DOES IT GO???? 
I have been meaning to start this project for weeks but something else always comes up and now christmas is literally just days away...so I started this morning.

You will need:
looped screw
dowel
paint
ribbon

Step 1:  screw a looped screw

 (tecnical name?  I think not lol) 

into the end of a dowel

(you can get these at Walmart or hardware stores,

 or at the bottom of my messy craft drawer hehe)

Step 2: paint whatever colour you wish

...dry...repeat until satisfied.

Step 3:  loop ribbon through screw and Voila! 

 (btw I'm far from french lol)

Simple eh? (I am Canadian though haha)
I wonder why it took me so long to start these???

Simple Pleasures

This week has been pretty busy, with Christmas just around the corner, relatives in town, parties & dinners etc etc etc....

But I just wanted to take a moment to enjoy the Simple Pleasures

This is the "work table"  in my office...generally it looks like a pile of ruble but tonight (or early this a.m rather) I have managed to get it cleared off and sorted....I know this will not last for long so I thought I better take a picture for proof LOL

Postcards, Postcards, Postcards

Ainsley came home today with her weekly newsletter from Grade 1 that describes what they're working on in class this week.  Along with their spelling words and math they have a "subject" called You & Your World.
In You & Your World this week they are Following Barnaby the Bear's trip across Canada and the postcards he writes back home.
So the enthusiastic mom that I am, I hop on Facebook and ask my friends to take a moment and send a postcard from their hometown to Ainsley's grade 1 class....and the only responses I got were from my 2 SIL's and a couple of my neighbours (from MY hometown lol)...BUT my SIL graciously posted it on her status as well and let's just say HOLY POSTCARDS!!!  Not just from across Canada but all across North America :o
I can't wait until they start pouring in so we can check them all out!

If you'd like to send a postcard to a grade 1 class please comment below for more information lol

WOOOO HOO It's FINALLY Up!!!!

I bought this calender for my girls, atleast 2 months ago, at Staples. It was something like $19 (Canadian), which I thought was a little steep.  BUT I thought if I mactac the hell out of it I could get LOTS and lots of use from it while educating my little ladies.
So  needless to say months, rolls & rolls of mactac and LOTS of patience later we finally have it hung up in our playroom! 
Grampy rescued this big dry-erase board from his office (pre-retirement) for us to hang it on....we quickly realized it was not magnetic so we had to move onto Plan B (packing tape).
 All of the dates/months/days of the week are held on with velcro dots from the Dollarama (since I mactac'd over the slidey holes...which would not have stood a chance in this house). 
Our Daddy (Wayne) works outside so you can ALWAYS find the weather network on in the a.m because of this our girls are very intrigued with what's going on outside our windows.
The weather chart is a HUGE hit with Ainsley(6yrs).  She charts the weather with the dry-erase marker and watches for patterns and trends in the weather.  Ava(3yrs) LOVES LOVES LOVES the weather wheel and it's little spinning arms (Thank you Dollarama for the pretty purple brads*)
Ava often wakes up and runs to my bed yelling out the weather forcast for the day "Mommy wake UP! It's a Sunshiny Day!!" or "Mommy GET OUT of BED!!  It's wet and rainy out there!"

I LOVE this set up for many many reasons but most of all for the fact it helps me in my argument for appropriate dressing for the weather.  If your weather wheel says windy and snowing then there is NO argument for sundresses.
I have to Thank my sister-in-law for finding this at her Staples in Niargra Falls.  I have wanted one since Ainsley was a toddler but had no idea where to look.