Merry & Bright

Wishing everyone a bright and beautiful 2016! xo

Happy Easter!

Printable: Holiday Coupons

Merry Christmas!

Grab the pdf here. You will find it under "HOLIDAYS". Have fun!

Holiday Math: Snowflakes, Starflakes, and Swirlflakes

We are big Vi Hart fans over here so this fun little video on making unusual paper snowflakes make us very happy this holiday season.

Coffee Filter Snowflakes

Coffee filters make the best snowflakes. They are already round and symmetrical. Simply fold in half, then in thirds, and then in half again. And I like their translucent nature.

The only downside is you really have to figure out a way to flatten them. You could iron them I suppose. We pressed them between our heaviest books overnight. That seemed to do the trick.

St. Nicholas Day 2014

Spud wasn't keeping track so this year's St. Nicholas day was a big surprise! St. Nick must have grabbed his shoes for him. This morning he found them filled with goodies outside his bedroom door.

Easter Eggs: Food Colouring, Rubber Bands and Sharpies

I had a lot of fun with the white and especially the silver metallic Sharpie.

Here are Spud's creations, including a football!

You can always expect Hubs' creations to go in an unexpected direction ... national eggs!

Easter Peeps Fruit Skewers

Apple pear, pineapple, grapes, watermelon and Peeps skewers to share with friends on Easter Friday!

Someone's a Whole Decade Old!

Activity Advent 2013 Roundup

This marks the end of our first time doing the Activity Advent and it was SO much fun. I hope the kid wants to do it again next year!

1. Write Santa a Letter

2. Go Branch Hunting

3. Read a Christmas Story

4. Attend a Christmas Lighting Ceremony

5. Make Chenille Snowflakes

6. String Cranberries

7. Go Ice Skating

8. Make Cinnamon Ornaments

9. Make Wassail

10. Wear Christmas Socks

11. Make Mini-Presents

12. Make a Holiday Pillow Case

13. Play Holiday Charades

14. Bake Cookies for Friends

15. Make Christmas Cards

16. Do an Act of Service

17. Buy a Toy for a Child in Need

18. Choose your favourite Restaurant

19. Make Orange Ornaments

20. Go on a Cafe Crawl with Friends

21. Make Star Wars Paper Snowflakes

22. Have a Christmas Camp-out

23. Go to the German Christmas Market

24. Open a Present!

So what would I do differently next year? There would be way less ornament-making days; it served us well this year because we did not have our tree or ornaments out of storage (we are moving!) but next year many/all of them will be replaced with other activities. One thing we missed was a snow activity. Maybe snowshoeing or tubing or tobogganing? If you have any ideas I hope you will share them below.

Activity Advent Day #24: Open a Present!

Guess what we are doing right now ... it's game-time!

Check out all the Activity Advent entries so far here.

Activity Advent Day #23: Go to the German Christmas Market

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #22: Christmas Camp-out

This will be the 3rd year running on this tradition ... we set up a mattress on the living room floor for a family evening of Christmas movies, popcorn, and falling asleep by the tree lights (well this year, that would be a branch of a tree).

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #21: Make Star Wars Paper Snowflakes

Get your own downloadable templates here. And check out our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #20: Cafe Crawl

Think Pub Crawl ... for 9 year olds. Meet up with friends. Hit the first cafe. Check out the Christmas tree display at the Fours Seasons Hotel downtown. Hit another cafe. Run around the Gingerbread House display at the Hyatt downtown and sing Christmas carols along the way. Then a 3rd cafe. If we'd planned it right we would have also taken in the vintage Christmas window displays at Canada Place too, but it was closed by the time we got there. Do over, next year.

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #19: Make Orange Ornaments

The easiest ornaments we've made yet. We popped the orange slices in the oven at the lowest setting for 4 hours, flipping them once half way through. They aren't completely dry which is likely why the colour is still so delicious. I got this tip from here.

These are the last to go on our Christmas Branch; we are finally ready for Santa. Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #18: Choose your Favourite Restaurant

"A Legendary Burger with Triple-O Sauce ... and a chocolate milkshake" ... coming right up!

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #17: Buy a Toy for a Child in Need

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #16: Do an Act of Service

Well, I lucked out on this one! Instead of me reading Harry Potter to Spud tonight ... he read it to me.

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.

Activity Advent Day #15: Make Christmas Cards

Yes, I bought a kit for this activity. Judge if you must. I couldn't resist. It was very cute. And the boy is having the time of his life this Sunday morning sticking stickers and drawing inside each one. He has a list of more than 25 people including teachers, so this activity may go on for a few days.

Check out all our other Activity Advent entries here.