Happy Canada Day!

I am a very PROUD CANADIAN! 

And since today is Canada Day I thought I would share the top ten reasons that I am so glad to live in Canada!

1) It's a beautiful country! And lots of it is still untouched... you can still take a hike in the woods, or go jump in a lake!

2) You can see almost anything in Canada from beautiful oceans, to big cities, to the Rocky Mountains that seem go on for ever, sand dunes, dinosaur bones and grassy plains.

3) There are so many diverse cultures... our country really is a melting pot! 

4) SNOW! I love snow... in the winter at least... 

5) Tim Horton's! There's always time!

6) Captain Kirk was born here....

7) Trivial Pursuit! It was created by two Canadian journalists you know...

8) Democracy! Getting the right to vote is one amazing thing I tell ya!

9) Robert Munch! Amazing Canadian Children's Author!

10) C-A-N-A-D-A.... its easy to learn how to spell in school and it means Village! Our Country is one big village!

There are so many more.... but either way you look at it its great to be Canadian!

So to all you Canadians out there... 

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Photo Friday! Delaneys Bugs!

Delaney has developed a fear of bugs.... and in order to help her get over it her Nana (Robyn's mom) got her a jar and helped her collect some bugs to show her that they just aren't scary...

I love how proud she looks to be holding her bugs!

You can't see them but they are in there...

One aphid, one spider, two flies and later a worm as well...

She was so proud of her bugs and it really helped her forget that bugs are scary....  

(she cried and cried when she had to let them go...)

so much so that she now has a spider friend outside our window that she talks to everyday. 

Tell the Truth Thursday! Im a trekkie!

Its been a while since my Tell the Truth Thursday reveled something about me...

So here goes my confession my dear hubby has turned me into a TREKKIE!

Yikes I know!

It all started a long time ago when we first started dating.... and he would occasionally put on re-runs if he saw them on while channel surfing...  and then when we moved in together I realized that he regularly watch re-runs of the long running series (and I'm talking all of the three newer series's).

I started watching just to not be the nagging girlfriend who hated what he wanted to watch... and then in no time I was hooked... 

They had such great writers, story telling and guest stars over the years...

I guess that is what I love the most... yes its set in space, yes its all aliens and science fiction with transporters, new planets and  crazy beings always attacking the ship or the station but at the heart of it all was a great story and great characters. The story was usually something that anyone could relate to... inequality, standing up for yourself, embracing a new culture, even God... (on more than one occasion) and you felt that even in the craziest situations you could feel connected with the decisions or feeling of one of the characters...

Its gotten worse over time... I have been looking for Star Trek onesies for Baby Max, I just finished watching all of the seasons of Deep Space 9 and have moved on to Voyager.... 

And sadly I have seen the most recent Star Trek movie (which was a recommendation as a Christmas gift to Robyn... you know one of those gifts that are more for you than for him but you feel too nerdy asking for it yourself...) more than any normal girl should...

No More Sippy Cups!

Over the last few weeks I have been tackling the sippy cup issue... as we approach Delaney's third birthday I think its time she learn how to use a cup the right way! Maybe I'm a bit early or late but up until now it hasn't been an issue...

But lately when given a sippy cup she bites the top and pulls the lid off and thus spills her drink all over herself and he floor.... Then we thought a straw would do the trick but she then figured out she could fill her mouth with the drink and swish it around in her mouth and if she did it fast enough it would dribble out the sides of her mouth and thus still make a mess.... so its time to be a big girl, time to correct bad behavior and time to drink from a big cup! 

I started by giving her very little in her cup and a little encouragement and day after day she got a little better and a little better...  and now....

So, all of these cups are TRASH! It made me so happy to toss them and get rid of the chewed up lids and grungy old cups....

When did you transition from sippy cups to a regular one for a big kid??? Did you have a hard time making the switch?

Bachelorette Party fun! Part 2

I showed you yesterday some of the fun things I did for the Bachelorette Party we held this past weekend and here is more....

I made each party goer one these survival bags....

These were planned as a way to give the attendees everything they needed for the night in one neat package rather than passing out the few game cards and such throughout the night as needed.

I used the same label on the outside of the bag as I did for the cupcake toppers and I just glued them with a regular glue stick to the front of the bag.

Inside they each found, one pair of Mardi Gras beads (this was for the don't say his name game, no one was to say the name of the groom to-be all night), a ring pop (cause they're fun), a glow stick (to easily identify each other when they went out to the clubs dancing), a party goers pledge (see below), a card with the phone numbers and names of the DD's and the bridesmaids in case anyone got lost in the clubs and the two game cards they would need (see below).

The survival bags were such a hit! 

Everyone loved them! 

And they made things flow a lot better too as all we had to say was in you survival bag is... and they all just pulled the item out and were ready for the next game.

I made up this party pledge based on one I found online and I just changed it up and re-worded it to suit our party!

 Basically I wanted to make sure they all knew that we had DD's available so drinking and driving was completely eliminated and that this was a night of fun, giggling and being silly!

The games we played were Guess the Name of the Dirty Drink, and Well I've Never. 

The Dirty Drink names were easy to find online and I just made a fill in the blank page for that game and did up a poster board to give them the names for the drinks. 

(I wont post them here due to ADULT CONTENT but if you Google it trust me there are many to be found!)

The Well I've Never game is loosely based on two other games, Never Have I Ever where you tell the group out loud something you have done that was naughty and anyone else that has done it has to drink with you, and the other game I think... (can't be sure because there was alcohol consumed when we played it) is called WHAT its a board game where you write down your answer and everyone has to guess who said what when they are read out loud. So I did up little sheets so that each lady could write down their answer and play that way but as things tend to do when alcohol is involved it deteriorated and just became Never Have I Ever.... but I must say that it was very interesting to hear what all these ladies had written down!

And besides that we had the typical  Brides scavenger hunt and pin the parts on the hunky fireman... (priceless) 

A lot of these ideas can be adapted to other parties, I plan on doing the cupcake toppers for Delaney's Birthday Party (which is approaching faster than I keep up with) and the labels on the bags make for cheap frugal loot bags too!

PS. if you'd like a copy of the game cards or the pledge leave me a comment or email me and I will certainly send it pack for you to print at home! 

Make it monday! MeatBalls and Dipping sauces!

This past weekend myself and a few girlfriends held a Bachelorette party for our Best Friend! 

It was so much fun and there was so much food!

SEE! 

I told you lots of food!

For the party I made, the cake and cupcakes (see more on this tomorrow) , meatballs with two dipping sauces and apple dip (more on this next Make it Monday!)

Today I share the meatballs unfortunately without pictures but I'm sure you can imagine what a meatball looks like...

Easy Party Meatballs

Ingredients:

2 lbs of Lean or Extra Lean Ground Beef

1/2 of 1 Small Onion

1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs

1/4 Cup Milk

1 Large Egg

1 Tbsp Ketchup or BBQ Sauce

Steak Seasoning (I like the Keg Steak Spice)

BBQ rub ( I use one that the Chef at Robyn's work makes but you can pick them up in the supermarket or make your own...)

Start by dicing your onion as small as you can (I sometimes grate it into the mix rather than leaving bigger pieces in there). In a large bowl mix all of your ingredients together, be careful not to over mix the meat! Then roll into balls that measure about 1 tsp each, and bake on a sheet pan (I cover mine with foil so that its easier to clean up!) at 350 for about 10 min then flip them over and bake for another 10 mins. 

These are great as an appetizer or add them to a week night supper, you can even put them in marinara sauce and put them over pasta! 

(They freeze very well too)

I got so many compliments on these meatballs but not as many as the dipping sauces.... so here they are!

I used the same basic recipe (that I made up as I went) for both but used two different salad dressings for flavor... I used Ranch for one and the new Kraft Mango Chipotle dressing for the other.

Creamy Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 pkg of cream cheese

2 Tbsp of mayonnaise

2-3 tbsp of salad dressing of your choice

Mix the cream cheese with your electric mixer until it is smooth, add your mayonnaise and then your salad dressing, you may need more dressing than I used to thin it out so its a good dipping constancy. 

Both of these sauces worked out great! 

They were enjoyed by all and I was asked for the recipe several times.... 

(don't you love when that happens!)

PS. don't worry about the mango chipotle being too spicy its really not that spicy but does have a bit of a kick in the after taste! 

What is your go to party recipe, is there a recipe that your family love that you modify for parties....

Hope you give these meatballs a try! You might just love them!

Bachelorette Party Fun! Part 1

This past weekend, myself and my girlfriends held a Bachelorette Party for our Best Friend... (Her name is on a few of the things I made for the party so you will learn very shortly that her real name is Erika... I guess her anonymity is gone for good now!)

Of course I made her cake but I wont be posting that due to ummm ADULT CONTENT.... but I also made a few other very fun things!

As well We all made a few things to contribute to the snacks for the evening.

As you can see we didn't go hungry!

We didn't really have a theme to the night but one running joke was that We're Team Edward! as Our friend is marring a man named Edward and she is a bit of a Twi-hard (like me.... )!

I made some very yummy cupcakes that went over very well!

I used the same recipe that I used here for the Easter cupcakes... and of course I use my recipe for butter cream icing found here. Then I just dyed it teal which is the main color for the wedding it's self, I did that with the Wilton teal icing color. (gives such a rich color and doesn't water your icing down! highly recommend it if you haven't used it before!)

I also made the cupcake toppers as well I used them for the survival bags for the guests! You can see them above but here is a close up...

(Sorry its a bit dark had to turn off the flash so you can read it!)

To make these I used Microsoft Word, I made a circle then typed the wording in the circle. Then I printed and cut them (you could do this with a circle punch) then I cut out a circle of the black or teal card-stock that was just a bit larger than the paper circle.Than I hot glued a toothpick to the back!

More on the Bachelorette Party tomorrow!

Here's a sneak peak at the survival bags I made up too!