Your comments on my last post are so supportive. It never ceases to surprise me every single time when an outpouring of support comes in on certain posts, how much it really affects me and makes me feel better. Thank you.

One other project I attempted to do with Oscar last week was some abstract painting. Selfishly I wanted some art for the house, and I love the look of black and white art - but wanted to do it with Oscar as I though it would be fun, but I also thought having a child beside me would make me loosen up my brush strokes. Kids are awesome at not caring what a final piece looks like, so Oscar was my support in "loosening up". ;) The results were ridiculously awesome in my opinion and I want to frame them all through my house.

Here is what we used to do it: 
1. Watercolour Paper (It's expensive for a kids project but the thickness of the paper is beautiful)
2. Black acrylic paint
3. Old Bowl / Tin (See top photo)
4. Big Paint Brushes (Dollar Store)

Getting the paint right:
All I did was watered down the black acrylic paint with some water to make it slightly more of a watercolour vs. acrylic paint - I knew we'd get some more variation in colour that way. I originally thought I'd buy black watercolour paint but a small tube was ridiculously expensive. So I opted for the acrylic. Kids art paint seemed to thin, and I worried it wouldn't dry nicely. So I opted for acrylic that sits on the middle in terms of cost.

The watercolour paper is really beautiful - and I thought is we were to frame a piece, having a nice paper would be beautiful. Plus, the watered down paint sits beautifully on watercolour paper. So that's something I think is integral in the success of this.

I did one piece to show Oscar he could do whatever he wanted and talked about abstract paintings. But he didn't really care. So then it was just the two of us splashing paint on paper. Oscar painted a piece of the paper ALL black which at first I tried to stop but then was like, whatever, because that's what painting is all about. We got some awesome pieces out of the event and one ended up framed in our living room (that I'm still updating...sloooowly)

Anyhow, I thought I'd post it as it was a ridiculously easy project to do, but the tricks of the watercolour paper and the acrylic paint I thought were worthwhile highlighting.

xo Linds

I played hooky from work yesterday afternoon - I had products in production and nothing waiting my immediate response - so we scooted over to the new aquarium here in Toronto. I've been excited for this to open ever since I saw it being built. I am fascinated with underwater creatures - I could go weekly and find new things to stare at. Unfortunately it is a wee bit expensive - It cost almost $90 for Aubrey, Oscar and I to go - but by the end of the visit I had even Aubrey (who is pretty skeptical of things) raving about how well they did and how worth it the visit was. Oscar was in heaven, and loved seeing animals he had only seen in books up close.
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As we transition to fall, I've been dressing Oscar in a few new pieces that I've picked up from the GAP when they have their 40% off sales. (They are having a sale now too, so check it out) If you have a little man in your house, you have to grab this little sweater/cardigan. It is SUCH a awesome piece. Oscar is a three year old but I bought the size 5 - it's a little big but will wear well through the fall and winter.  Also a a shout out on their pajamas - Gap Kids has the best pajamas. Since Oscar has been potty trained (yippeee!) I've avoided the footed sleepers as it's impossible for him to get undressed (quickly) if he has to go to the washroom. So I've stocked up on their 2 piece pajamas whenever they have a 40% off sale. I bought the Skull & Cross Bones style and a few others that are in the store but not showing online. Anyhow, just a little compliment on the styles offered at The Gap for boys. xo Linds

Ps., I'm kind of obsessed with The Gap & Banana Republic as they know how to do "classic" really well. I'm not one for pattern or crazy colours, so I am really loyal to these stores because they consistently offer classic looks with some style. If you find this come back in stock, grab this dress. I tried this dress on the other day while I was at Banana Republic and it sadly looked like a bathrobe on me. Booooo. I bought this dress online from Old Navy and love it. Yes. I like black. Don't judge. 

Every night at the cottage after Oscar had brushed his teeth, said goodnight to everyone and after Aubrey had finished reading him stories - I'd go into his room and sit beside him to hold his hand as he drifted off to sleep.* And every night I'd kiss him goodnight and quietly ask what his favourite part of the day was. Often his response was "Playing in the sand" or "Eating Pink Ice Cream". It was a little conversation I cherished. My sister captured one of these moments between us (above) as Oscar and I snuggled on the couch at the cottage one evening. I have so few pictures of us (taken by someone else) and this one makes me so unbelievably happy.

On the topic of Oscar - I'm still trying to maintain what I guess I would consider as respect for his privacy by not posting a lot of photos of him. But as I also said, I was going to try to find a balance that felt right to me- because being his Mom is a major part of my life, so not show him at all was going to be impossible. But this moment above really is so special to me that I wanted it here, and also has become my profile picture on the blog.

Do you have a special moment at night with your kids? Do you find that they talk to you more openly as they lie in the dark, and the day is almost over? I'd like to continue our conversations as he gets older - so he always knows there is a time of the day, that I will sit and listen no matter how busy the day has been.

*Oscar still likes to have one of us sit with him as he falls asleep. Sometimes, it's a wee bit frustrating that we're in this habit, but 99% of the time I don't mind as I like sitting with him as he holds my hand and rubs my fingers to fall asleep. 

One of Oscar's birthday gifts was a new shiny red bike. For the better part of the last year Aubrey and I went back and forth trying to decide if Oscar should have what I considered traditional toddler bike or a balance bike. (See this site for a great explanation on them plus some videos)

So how did we come to decide on a bike with no pedals? When I saw a child on the street with a balance bike I would run over to the Mom and ask her opinion. Always the response was the same - that the kids loved it, and that if they had older kids, they skipped the training wheel stage.

Prices on balance bikes seemed pretty high which contributed to my hesitation on getting one - until I happened across a Radio Flyer Balance Bike and fell in love. The fact that it was Radio Flyer (a brand I really liked from my days working at a toy store) and the price was right, made me feel a lot more comfortable taking a leap. Anyhow, here is the little guy on his way down the street.... :) (He'll get the hang of it)

Helmet from Spokes in Toronto. 

Ps., I appreciate he's not really riding it - but for his second time out I think he's pretty good. :)

We threw a BBQ for a small group of friends this past Saturday to celebrate Oscar's third birthday. I almost didn't throw the party as I was plagued with self doubt about what to do and overwhelmed with seeing really detailed parties online. I finally realized I didn't have to do anything - all Oscar wanted to do was play with his friends, and have some balloons. So I went with that.

My Mom had given me some advice a few years ago with regards to setting up traditions with children. Although I forget her exact phraseology, the underlying advice was to be careful at what you do for an event, as you'll have to keep that up year after year with kids. I think the advice was originally was a reference to Christmas traditions (and Santa) but I've applied that same philosophy to other traditions over here.

I decided to throw a super low key BBQ.  I think sometimes we all get intimidated because of the explosion of Pinterest and people show off these amazing parties - and the parties that are low key just get forgotten. Or maybe they aren't forgotten - they just aren't blogged about. ;) Read more after the jump.

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So I went into Costco with my Mom two weeks ago and went in for salad and left with a monster sandbox. They get me every-time.

I had been on the lookout for a sandbox so it wasn't too much of an impromptu purchase. The fact that it was under $200, a really nice design, came with a cover (for sun protection) and an additional cover to protect the sand from rain, and animals, I did a happy dance at the find.  I was a bit worried that the cover - blue, green and red - would look circusy from the house but where we've have positioned the sandbox it's hidden from view because of the lilac tree. We now have a nice little nook in the backyard where Oscar and his friends can play with the sand and his playhouse (also from Costco). 

We went to Home Depot and loaded up 16 bags of play sand into our little itty bitty car and drove home really slowly because it was about 1,000 pounds worth of sand in our car - so we were riding realllllly low. But we managed to get the bags home without breaking our car.

We were in a bit of a rush to build it because Oscar was having some of his friends over for a birthday BBQ - and I'm so glad we did have it ready as the kids had so much fun with it. Anyhow, more pictures of his party tomorrow but I had to share this find!

*I unfortunately couldn't find the sandbox on the Costco website, however I did find it here (but it's more expensive than at Costco) The official name of the sandbox is Gorilla Playsets, Play-ZeeBo Children's Sandbox. It's also at Target in the US.

Oscar turns three today! Yay!
Here was the first post introducing our little man to the blog, and here is a series of posts that include my sweetheart. :)

"Look! An Elephant Truck!" - Oscar, 2.5 years old

In December I wrote about my desire to keep Oscar's life private, but I did mention that he wouldn't be totally removed from my blog. Hopefully I'll find a way to share my love of being his Mom, but also find the balance of respecting his privacy. Here are some pictures from the last week - Top Row: Playing in the laneway in his new red boots (Reminds me of this post). I love this shot of Oscar and my Mom, playing with shipping tubes (aka the microphone / car tunnel.) Middle Row: eating home made Popsicles while watching TV and beside that, a shot of us napping in my bed. We're back to napping after a 2 month hiatus (thank goodness*), Bottom Row: going shopping for his very first "basketball" with Aubrey - Oscar waved goodbye to me right before this shot was taken. It was clearly an excursion for just he and his Dad. (Which I loved) And the last photo was taken after Oscar woke from a nap, and I was carrying him downstairs. I don't know why I snapped it but I rarely get photos of Oscar and I. I wanted to capture our snuggling. The iphone selfies with Oscar are probably my favourite photos ever. ;)

Anyhow, for other Moms (Dads, or caregivers) here are some links that liked related to the topic of parenting. This article made me laugh.  Have you seen Reasons my son is crying? I can relate. And lastly, my friend Steph posted this on Facebook and it was a good reminder that less is more. 

*The napping thing has thrown me for a loop. He started resisting naps in January and we thought he dropped them for good. Then lately he's been cranky come afternoon, that we started trying to force the nap again. Which the past week has worked, but it means he's in bed at night so much later. Honestly, I can't figure it out. I think I'll take a kid that naps that goes to bed later (and is happier) - than making him stay up  exhausted, to go to bed early (and be cranky). I'm sure we'll figure it out. 

I'm all over the place. NFL videos, bathroom renos, photo shoots of Valentine's Day stamps. I guess that is reflective of the fun times over here this week. Anyways, this is such a ridiculously simple craft for kids I resist posting it but I think sometimes the simplest of projects are overlooked. This turned out to be a huge hit with Oscar and resulted in a few days of fun. Collect rocks at beach. Awesome adventure. Bring home the rocks and paint them. Get messy - super fun. While painting talk about mixing colours. Educational. When the rocks dry, you shellac them and the little one now has cool treasures. A lot of "I made that!!" is said by the toddler. End result - awesome, cheap craft. Yup. I just posted about painting rocks.

Ps., Oscar gave Aubrey a rock that he painted and that I shellac'd for his desk at work as a paper weight. They make the cutest gifts.

Ps., Truthfully I thought it was over his head to talk about mixing colours, but a few days later I overheard Oscar was telling family how when you mix red and blue you get purple. I don't give him enough credit sometimes - little ones soak it all in.

The new pine dresser is in Oscar's room. I love it. I actually clasped my hands together, jumped up and down and beamed.  A year ago I don't think I would have put pine in this room but for some reason when I saw the piece it felt like it was meant to be for Oscar. It just feels like a family piece, worn with bumps and scratches from years of love and ready to handle many bumps and scratches from our family.

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Glow in the Dark Skeleton Pajamas from Carter's. :-) Hope you all had a nice Halloween!

I've been thinking of Oscar's room a lot lately. I think it's important to make his room more for him instead of what I thought it should be when he was a baby. I don't want to do a huge updates   - just little changes to make it more appropriate for him as he gets older.

Earlier this week I spotted this dresser on GUFF's blog, and although we weren't anticipating spending any money on furniture, it was too perfect to pass up. Now, I do love the dresser I have in the room right now, but it's proving to be too small to fit his clothing as he (and therefore the clothing) gets bigger. But that little dresser worked perfectly as a change table when he was a baby. :)

The new dresser has drawers open perfectly, it has a warmth to it and will grow with him. I'll post some updates later on, but needed to show you what prompted some little updates to his room.

Ps., Guff is amazing - they constantly post new products that they get in on their blog. I see new products come in on my blog reader - it's a fantastic way as a business to economically promote your wares and as a shopper, find out what's new without trekking into the store.  

If you're looking for THE perfect set of wooden blocks, check out Melissa & Doug Wooden Architectural Block Set. They are amazing. My Mom gave this to Oscar for his birthday and they get played with every single day. We make tunnels, parking lots, more tunnels. They are thick pieces, making it easy for little ones to stack. The price may seem a little steep, but truthfully they are 100% worth it. It's kind of the perfect gift from Grandparents. :) xo Linds

Ps., Although I like to shop locally and support stores I love, I just did some price comparison and this set is available on Amazon for $50, and it looks like they ship to Canada. Grab them. 

It was raining outside. Oscar was playing quietly in his room.... I stepped in to make sure he wasn't causing mischief and caught this moment - he was playing with his rabbits & making up sweet little conversations. I quickly took this photo with my phone and tip toed out and went back to quietly folding laundry in my bedroom. It was too sweet not to share.

Speaking of little ones I've added a complimentary advertisement on my blog for "Change for Kids" - a program for Holland Bloorview | Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.  I'm very passionate about any organization founded to help children and adults/children with disabilities. If you have a moment please take a peek at their website and see what they are doing for Halloween. xoxo Linds

Ps., Thank you for all your support on the launch of my collection. You can see some photos of my art  spotted around Ontario on my facebook page. Love it. :) xo

This may be the silliest post I'll ever do. But I decided to post it because it has been such a huge hit in our house.

Last year when Oscar was teething my Mom froze some banana slices. They were the best for his poor teeth. Have you ever had frozen banana? It's AWESOME. They are super cold, but still chewy. So the other day while organizing my baking drawer I found my sticks that I used for my "5 Minute Cake Pops". I decided to make banana Popsicles for Oscar. Sure enough, Oscar goes "bananas" for them. (Sorry, had to say that) He keeps asking for "Banana Popsicles" and thinks they are such a treat. Way healthier than the sugary stuff. :) Seriously - best thing ever. Just a tip for Moms out there. xo

Side note: My friend Steph reminded me to The Bluth family's Banana Stand  (Arrested Development).

Ps., I felt ridiculous taking good shots of this. Seriously, here is me cutting a banana, putting it on a stick - so I used my phone. Seemed more appropriate. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving. xo

After staying indoors for the past week to help Oscar kick his little cold, we decided to head out today to burn off some energy. Our destination.... The Toronto Zoo.  Favourite exhibit for me is always  the water exhibits .... which made me realize how excited I am for the Toronto Aquarium to open up. (Eeeek!) Anyhow, that was today. More fun posts next week, I'm playing catchup in my shop, and trying to get the last pieces of this darn kitchen done!

Ps., The shop had a sale, there is still some things up for grab!

I will save you from seeing the 700+ photos that I took at the cottage (yikes) but these photos above were too sweet not to post. Oscar was so excited to wear his bright yellow rain jacket. I hope you have a lovely weekend - see you next week. xo Linds (To see Oscar at the cottage over the years, I've posted some after the jump)

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