HRM Parent Blog

With both Earth Day and Easter falling on the same weekend there is much to celebrate! 1. The Great Cloth Diaper Change   2. Teach your children how to grow their own food 3. Hunt some Easter eggs , in your own yard or further afield 4. Make a delicious snack 5. Pass on some great lessons about taking care of the planet with the classic Seuss tale, The Lorax

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and our Shades of Love craft will have the kids seeing red – in a good way!

 

Materials:

- colored construction paper or cardstock

- red transparent paper (we found it at DeSerres on Barrington)

- heart shaped cookie cutter

- pipe cleaners

- tape

- decorations – stickers, markers, glitter etc

- scissors and a hole punch (if you have one)

Directions:

1. Use the cookie cutter to trace two hearts on the paper spaced approximately ¾ inch apart.

2. Connect the hearts with two lines to make the bridge of the glasses.  Use the scissors to cut out the whole template.

 

Cut two smaller circles out of each heart to make the eye holes (it’s a good idea to hold it up to your child’s eyes first to make sure you choose the right areas to cut)

Cut small squares out of the transparent paper big enough to cover each hole.  Tape them to the back of the glasses so they cover each hole.

 

Turn your glasses over and decorate as desired

 

Cut a pipe cleaner in half and curl the ends

 

Use the hole punch (or scissors) to make a small hole on each side of the glasses.  Insert the straight end of the pipe cleaner pieces in the holes and wrap around to secure.

 

Adjust the curled end of the pipe cleaners to fit your child’s face and ENJOY!

 Be sure to snap a photo of your child in their Shades of Love and share it with us on our Facebook page!  

 

 

Top ten tips on surviving the lead up to the holidays...Daddy style.

1. Get the lights up when your wife is not looking
2. Check and double check the batteries in the camera
3. Duct tape fixes everything
4. Just keep saying “yes honey, the gold balls are beautiful”
5. Buy everything online, unless you enjoy going to the mall
6. It may hurt, but putting beer in the water for the Christmas tree does help
7. Eggnog isn’t a breakfast food for the kids
8. Stock up on whatever your father-in-law likes...you’ll hear it if you’re out of something
9. Never suggest the summer family photo for the Christmas card
10. No matter how hungry you get, don’t steal candy from the advent calendar

Happy Holidays to all dads out there.

Sean

Growing up as the baby of 5 kids, the lead up to the holidays was filled with the hustle and bustle of school concerts, recitals, family parties and of course lots of cooking and baking!!  To this day I don't know if my mother ever caught on to how many date logs I ate along the assembly line of rolling and dipping in coconut - they were always better warm! 

In fact, now that I think about it the lead up to the holidays was and still is just as exciting as the big day for me...and I was reminded of that all over again this morning.  What's the one thing that reminds you of the start of the holiday season? Spotting the first set of lights on your street? First stock of eggnog on the grocery store shelves?  Carols on the radio?

For me it's clementines!  

Yes, the lovely crafted wooden box of delightful tiny oranges perfectly nestled together and caringly covered with a delicate little mesh blanket to keep them safe.  So sweet and juicy - they are like pringles really, you can't eat just one!  Of course the clementines were only part of the package...as it was really the box they came in that intrigued me the most. Oh how I waited in anticipation for the last clementine to leave the box and my father to tap it out in the sink before offering it up to any of us kids. As the baby I never had a worry that anyone would trump me since to them it was just an old box, but to me it was an empty canvass of fun...a serving tray, grocery cart, hat, craft bin, shoe box - the list goes on.  

Flash forward 30 something years to this morning, in my own kitchen - the hustle and bustle of the holidays in full swing and my 4 year old daughter playing quietly in the corner.  "Look Mommy" she said and there before me was the sweetest sight...her favorite doll, softly swaddled and ever so carefully placed in her new "clementine box bed".  It was the best!

So enjoy the lead up to the holidays.  Sing the carols, drink some nog, bake the cookies and simply relish in the moments that bring you back. I've shortened my shopping list as of this morning and that clementine box will remain in our house for the rest of the holidays as a reminder of how our kids can find pleasures in the smallest of things and that it only take a box to bring out their imagination!

Sarah