Getting Pictures of the Kids - a Parent's Easter Journey

Last year I got a really nice picture of the 3 kids on Easter Sunday. They were all dressed up for church anyway.  And they were great about it.  The picture was so good, I put it on a mug for my grandmother.  This year I thought I would do the same thing.  Kids are dressed up, I put my quilt down and set them up for a picture.  This is what happened.  I always try to take as many pictures as I can because with three, you have to be ready for THE shot. 

Take 1 - blurry and the girl dives over her brother in giggles

Take 2 - blurry, no good faces on them anyway

Take 3 - almost, but the oldest has his tongue sticking out

Take 4 - better, but now my oldest is buggy eyed

Take 5 - now he's closed his eyes to compensate for the buggy eyed previous shot

Take 6 - now the two boys have their eyes closed

Take 7 - girl is losing interest and is blocking #2 child

Take 9 - We're losing interest from 2/3 here

Take 10 - not great, but the best so far

Take 11 - more of the same, but a little bit better

Take 12 - we're losing them again and we're out of time, off to church we go.  I have a brilliant idea that unless I figure out how to transpose heads or fix expressions in Photoshop I'll have to go with plan B when we get home.  Plan B is to get individual shots of the kids to create side by side pictures instead.

I start with my oldest.  2 shots and he's done, one from the front angle...

And one from the top.

Then comes my 2nd born - again, he's ready to go, nice smile

Very sweet

Lookin' Good

Still good.

And from the top - a little blurry

Getting there

That's the one!

And one extra.

Now it's the girl's turn. - Shot 1, she actually sits on the blanket, but won't look at me, just wants to play with the Easter Eggs

Then she's up, playing with the blinds

She teases me by saying she'll come back to the blanket

And she's off

On the blanket but refusing to sit

She'd rather check out the Easter Eggs

Still won't look at me

Gone to see what her brothers are up to

Too Noisy!  She tells them

And closes the doors - this is the picture she posed for

After more of the same running around and chasing and then rolling on the blanket, she consents to sit on the blanket once more, still not looking at me

playing with her tights

Still playing with her tights, but at least she's looking at me now

The best I can get and still not great - but at least she's sitting, looking somewhat happy, ponytails still in, tights still on - after this those ponytails were out, and comfy clothes were on instead.
Photos with a 2 year old!
A little side note about the Easter Dress.  My sis in law bought this for her last year to grow into.  It's so perfect for Easter.  When I showed it to her that morning, she said, "Yes, my dress!  I princess!" She was all over it.  Oddly enough, she refuses to wear her pretty Mary Janes style shoes anymore, she has to have her Tinkerbell sneakers on because Tinkerbell is a princess too.  She's definitely becoming a girly girl with her own sense of style.
 

Green Works Blog Tour and Giveaway!

Guess what came in the mail last week? This fantastic package of cleaning products. I had never tried the Green Works line before. I have my old faithful standbys. But when I was approached by Mom Central Canada to try these environmentally friendly products out, I thought I would give it a go. I have to admit I was wary about them. I've tried other products labelled as good for the environment or natural before and haven't been too impressed. Though I like the idea of being better for the environment than what I currently use, I still want my house to be clean.  I've found other products lacking in their ability to actually get things really clean.

This line was different. I was surprised and I was impressed. I used them from the top to bottom of my house (and you know with 3 kids how out of sorts a house can get in a week). When I was finished the house was truly clean, with no chemical smells and no streaks. I would buy these again and I'm glad I had the chance to try them out because I might not otherwise have picked them up off the shelf.

Mom Central is offering one of my readers the chance to try them out too! To enter, just leave me a comment below telling me either, what your favorite Green Works Product is, or, (if you are like me and hadn't tried them before) why you would like to try out Green Works.  Please leave an email address as well so that I can get a hold of you if you win!  Contest runs this weekend only (April 14th) and is open to Canadian residents only.  You may enter across multiple blogs, but can only win from one of them. 

Some more info on the Green Works line, how they are environmentally friendly and natural: Green Works is committed to creating naturally-derived cleaning products. Here are a few ways they make this possible:
· Green Works® products are made with plant- and mineral-based cleaning ingredients. These ingredients are biodegradable and are naturally derived.
 · Green Works® products are not tested on animals.
 · Green Works® products are acknowledged by the EPA’s Design for the Environment program. · You can find more information on these products here: http://www.trygreenworks.ca/

There are also some great deals going on this month, check them out:
Wal-mart 
April- Products available may vary by store.
o Special 2-pack offer (All--Purpose Cleaner and Dish Soap) exclusively at Wal-mart for a great price!
o Exclusive All-Purpose Cleaner refill only at Wal-mart location o April 14/15 Weekend - In-store educational demos. Learn more about the naturally-derived Green Works products in-store at participating Wal-mart locations.
 Sobeys 
 April - Products available may vary by store.
o Buy 2 Green Works products at Sobeys and receive 200 Sobeys Bonus points
London Drugs
April - Products available may vary by store.
o Green Works will be hosting a twitter contest at London Drugs where customers can tweet their favourite Green Works Product to #WinWithGreenWorks to a chance to win 1 of 5 $500 London Drugs gift cards

“Disclosure – I am participating in the Green Works program. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of The Clorox Company of Canada Ltd.”

*update* contest is now closed - thank you for your interest!  I hope to have more giveaways in the future :)

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

How to Patch Pants for Little Boys

I have little boys. Little boys are hard on pants. I don't care how much you advertise things like "double patch knees" and "super tough style" they will find a wear to wear through the knee. I've tried to patch pants before and it doesn't work well. Patches come off, or, they just look funny. So my boys have a lot of play clothes with some stitching at the knee that I don't let them wear to school or daycare. Then I saw this idea on Pinterest (original post here). It was "oh my goodness cute". It didn't look hard to do and I figured if it didn't work, what difference would it make? Well, it did work. And it's cute. And I've washed it a couple of times now and it still works!

First, get your pants with the hole at the knee as well as your other supplies.

Red and White felt, scissors, regular thread, embroidery thread and some tough needles (we are going to be sewing through denim after all.

Cut out a red oval that is larger than the hole you are patching.  Cut out some zigzag 'teeth' from the white and stitch it on with regular thread.  It doesn't have to be great, neat sewing, just stitch it on.  Cut around the worn thread of the jeans to make a mouth opening.

Place you inside mouth patch inside to check that it looks right, hold it in place with a pin and flip your jeans inside out.

(Patch inside, minus the pin).  Start stitching around the patch with embroidery thread - neatness doesn't count, we're making patch monsters for little boys after all.
Flip the jeans back around.  Stitch on 2 white circles (they don't have to match) for eyes with embroidery thread. 

And voila - the cutest little monster patch you've ever seen.  BTW - these were for my younger son who is 5, it passed the coolness test from his 7 year old brother.

Till Death Do Us Part?

This week I was discussing The Barber of Seville with a class of grade 5 students. Most of them did not know what a dowry was. After explaining it to them one of the boys asked, "What would happen if they got divorced, would he still get all her money and stuff?". I told him that back then that divorce didn't happen very often. "Why?" I told them that marriage is supposed to be for life. "What?!" The class was totally shocked by this idea.   "Why would you get married if you couldn't get divorced, that just doesn't make sense!"  said one.  "Well, I'm not ever getting married if you are supposed to marry for life" said another.
Wow.  I know I sound old when I say this, but I've always viewed marriage as for life.  When I was a kid very few of my classmates had parents who were divorced.  In fact I'm pretty sure in my circle of friends that there was only one.  But now, most of my students have parents who are divorced, or, who were never married at all.  They have no memory of their parents ever being together.  That's pretty amazing really.  It really makes me wonder about where we are going.  What kind of relationships will this generation have as we forge ahead?
 

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

April Fool's Day Breakfast for the kids

April Fool's Day is a very tricky little day in our household. The kids love it, BUT, they don't love thinking people are laughing at them. This year, I decided to go with things that were just a little bit fun and silly. Breakfast was my main target. Add a little food coloring to pancake batter and milk and voila:

                                             Colorful Pancakes

                                             Blue Milk anyone?

                                                      My delighted 7 year old

                                                  "April Fools!"

                                                            Orange Pancakes!

In addition I played 2 more little jokes on my family this year. The first was putting some tissues into the toes of their shoes and the second was writing a April Fools! on a piece of paper that went into their sandwich at lunch. The second idea I remember my mom doing to me when I was little.