Computerless Angry Birds...

Use any recycling items you may have around the house; help your children build any structure and knock it down!

Of course, you don't need "official" angry bird toys to do this.

Depending on the ages of your child(ren), they may be able to build and re-build the structure themselves. You can also add a scoring/star system, line to stand behind, etc... or keep it as simple as your kids will allow while still feeling things are fair.

This activity kept my kids (2.5yrs and 4.5yrs) busy for hours, literally.

Bonus! Builds hand-eye-coordination, balance, cooperation skills, motor skills, and more!

Have fun!

Easy Chai Spice Anything

Easy Chai Spice mix: perfect for a chai smoothie, waffles, muffins, vanilla meal-replacement drink, chex-mix, sugar cookies, cake, trail-mix, you name it and you can CHAI-ify it!

Equal Parts:
Ginger
Cloves
Cardamom
Cinnamon
Skim-Milk Powder (optional)

15 Easy Soup Recipes

From DisneyFamily.com:

Warm up from the inside out with a steaming bowl of soup. From chicken noodle to chowder, here are 15 easy soup recipes your family will slurp up!

back to blogging?

Pinterest has renewed my passion for blogging. I love networking, creating, communicating, and being resourceful. Facebook replaced my blogging for a couple of years, but Facebook restricts ... well it limits... well, it's just a different platform/medium and it's good for different things.

I've been into baking, but with 4 kids under 5yrs, that hobby presents a few problems, not the least of which being the inability to stop in the middle of any given "project," drop everything, and attend to a crying baby/toddler/preschooler. Not the second least of which being the inability to get out of the house to work off the inevitable pounds that are gained through "quality control."

So I bought a sewing machine.

Thank you Pinterest, for renewing my passion for blogging, providing an amazing centre of resource management, and giving me a potential new audience for blogging about my new hobby! Who knows, maybe next I'll have an etsy store?!

~D

pinterest

Some Albums of Aly

Two weeks worth of Aly photos :o) and some of big brother too!

Click the links below to view albums...

Alana Larissa Choi-Tung (彩曈) Chu ("Aly")

Pink is the new black
Week 2
August

Alana Larissa Choi-Tung (彩曈) Chu

July 18, 2009
7 lb 3 oz, 20.8 inches

Pretty long handle for a bitty baby girl that we call "Aly" ...

We're still figuring out which end is up, so not really uploading albums etc yet... but here are some pics and name info:

"Alana" is in honour of Karl's brother, Alan...

"Larissa" is in honour of my mother, Linda [L], and my step-mother, Mary [ar], and my sister, Melissa [issa];

Choi-Tung [pronounced kind of like Choy-Tone] translates: Choi: "colourful"; Tung: "light at dawn"... I will have the chinese characters up soon.

Update... 彩瞳

♥ ♡ ❤ εїз

Happy Birthday Canada!

A CANADIAN CREED

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms clearly spells out the principles upon which our country was founded... namely, that our customs as a nation and as individuals are governed by the rule of law, and that freedom of conscience and religion are fundamental rights for all citizens.

Canada is a free and democratic country based on tolerance and respect for human rights of all people.

As Canadians we have the freedom to choose our governments, to speak our minds, to practice our religions and to preserve our ancestral traditions.

We welcome into our country, and into our citizenship, people from all parts of the world and we share with them our rights and freedoms.

We regard people of all nations as our friends; we send our troops to foreign lands to preserve peace and to restore freedom and human rights to oppressed people.

Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms we enjoy equal rights and benefits under the law, without any discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, gender, age, or mental or physical disability.

Because we are blessed in being permitted to live in Canada, it is our duty and privilege to extend to others those rights which we have come to enjoy.

Whether I was born in Canada or chose this land as my country, I can say with a clear mind and a joyous heart that:

I AM PROUD TO BE CANADIAN

-The Honourable Albert Ludwig

This is a time lapse video that Karl helped me make of a lunch club I'm in with some girlfriends every month... 3 hours down to about 1.5 minutes...

From june09

spring update

You can blame the swine flu... okay okay, blame facebook... I have been updating some photos there and totally abandoning the blog... but I'm back...

Here are some April pics; before that dastardly snow returned to haunt us...

(click for larger image)

Easter Eggs that I dyed; Hawaiian shirt from Grandma Jacquie; the bottom left photo is Caleb's first playdough play time... he loved it! Much to my surprise he didn't even attempt to eat any. yet.

Lately I've been hearing a lot of, "'SIDE, 'SIDE!" from Caleb; he just loves being outside... it won't be long before he's out there along side his daddy grilling the best burgers in the west... mmm... blue cheese and goat cheese burgers; grilled to perfection...

Some outdoor fun with Caleb; playing with bubbles and eating his snack.
The weather changed so quickly from one day to the next in both March and April... those two lumps under the snow are Karl's shoes that he had left out the day before because they had gotten mucky...I know it looks like Caleb is falling out of this chair... actually he's just chillaxin' like his mommy because that's about the only way I'm comfortable these days with this growing belly of mine! It is quite cute to see him imitate how I am sitting... not so cute is the way he grunts and moans and groans when he's sitting down, getting up, or picking things up from the floor!


Last but not least: from just a few hours ago... showing off his new "che" jammies from Amma and Grampa. "Che" is "car" in Cantonese... Karl will teach him "tow truck" soon enough... for now it was super cute to see him look down and point and say with surprise, "Che!"


Coming soon... adventures in potty training, moving to a big boy bed, the saga of the switch to sippy cup... and my official transition to being a mini-van mom!

Go Flames Go!

Easter Sugar Cookies

A rare journey into baking and decorating sugar cookies. Now I know why I don't go there often; it was very time consuming!... so I at least had to show off my efforts...
Here's the cookie and icing recipe I used; I found them very easy and practically flawless, even as a novice!

~D

Our own little slumdog...?

Caleb dancing Bollywood with the Backyardigans...

Art & Music...

I noticed a fascination with the "magnadoodle" at the church nursery so I got Caleb drawing... he did pretty good! This is part of his "Fire" series, going to auction later this Spring... ;o)

"lake of fire"

-as named by daddy

Click to play video...

Thanks Auntie Elaine... Caleb loves them... so does my mom (she'll really love them when they go to her house!)

;o)

The Big Kahuna...

My folks just got back from Maui and brought back a few things for our own little BIG KAHUNA... I didn't realize how seldom we've let him run around in bare feet until he was fascinated with how his toes felt on the floor!

Happy Valentine's Day!