The Happiest Of Summers Has Begun!

I had planned when I took my break to come back and blog every other day. My last post? Tuesday. Talk about a major fail.

Things have been crazy as it was the last week of school for my 4 school aged kiddos this week. Now, they are finished. All got amazing report cards and were promoted to their next grades come September. Very proud mama right here.

I am really excited for this summer. I quit my job 2 weeks ago so now my kids don't have to worry about me working from home while they are home and we get to enjoy the whole summer together. Today was day 1 of that and I'm thrilled.

We got a pool last week which is probably the best decision we have made in a long time. We used to have one back home where we lived but the backyard here we never thought we could pull it off. Well, we did. It isn't huge or near the size of the one we had back home, nor as deep. It's 12x12 and 30" which is perfect for our backyard and for us. It's so much less stressful being able to go out in the backyard and hop into a pool instead of gathering all of our things, packing snacks, towels, swim suits and having to walk over to the wading pool. This will be fabulous... Jackson clearly learned a lot in swimming lessons last year as hes off on his own when he has hit water wings on... it's amazing. I'm in awe just watching him swim off. Most of the time he doesn't even bother with noodles or toys just goes around and around!

In other news, we expanded our family. No, I'm not pregnant and we didn't steal a child.. We did however get a bird.

My husband has been wanting a bird for YEARS. I am not all that comfortable with them, to be honest they freak me out but I finally agreed. Everyone, meet Max.

He is an 8 week old Green Cheek Conure. He's absolutely stunning to look at. He also has a very soft head. That's all I can tell you because, well... That's all I've touched. I haven't been able to hold him yet. He's pretty scared of us still, and rightfully so. He's starting to come around though. I've done a lot of reading, A LOT about Green Cheek Conure's and not only do they make wonderful family pets they are very loving & affectionate and they LOVE attention, LOTS of attention. He fits right in here at our house!
 

I sit at his cage with my chair pulled up talking to him. He tweets.. Errr Chirps? Anyways he makes noises at me. Stares intently at me, and when I walk out of the room... Oh boy, he gets loud! He's a riot. I am pretty stoked for this journey and I have a feeling he will quickly become my bird - if I can just get over being scared of him... Haha ;) My hubby takes him out and has no problems giving him love and cuddles, I just really need to convince myself he isn't going to fly at my head and tear me apart. He's such a sweet little soul..

Please tell me I'm not the only one iffy about birds? I mean, an animal that can FLY at your head??? Gah. I feed him, clean the cage and even sit at the cage with it opened hoping he will come to me - but I won't be reaching in to grab him anytime soon.. Working on it.

Birthday Season!

When May rolls around we all tend to get excited. Not just because the warmer weather is upon us but because in our house that means Birthday Season has arrived! All of our kids were born May - Oct. We have 1 in May, June, August, 2 in Sept and October. My hubby is in June and I'm in July. So not only do we have a lot of celebrating and fun going on, but we eat a lot of cake.  A LOT OF CAKE.

This year so far we've had 2 of the kids Birthday's and yesterday was my hubby's Birthday. 

My sister in law dropped this off for him yesterday as a wonderful surprise, and it was delicious.

Back in the beginning of June, June 6th was Jayden's 5th Birthday....

And of course, May 11th was little Jackson's 3rd Birthday... He's OBSESSED with Cars.

 

We are really lucky my sister in law does them for us. She does a great job too! They are really delicious. She was doing this for fun and to make a bit of cash but she's decided to just do it for friends and family for the time being, and we aren't complaining :)

I guess when planning our family we really didn't think due dates, or Birthday's through all that much. It's a lot having Birthday's back to back, but we do it and I don't see any of the kids complaining.

Jordan and Justin are a few days apart for Birthday's too. Jordan is September 7th and Justin is September 9th, and my Brother is the 10th. Kind of neat how that all worked out, and Jordan thinks its fabulous his little brother ALMOST came on his Birthday. He did want to share - He thought it would be really cool, even if the age gap was 10 years!

Did you plan for when your kids due dates would be and when they'd be born? Did you space them out or not worry about it like us?

2015 Erin Condren Life Planner & Giveaway

After a short break I am back! Now to get right to it. On June 12th at Midnight PST Erin Condren was set to launch her 2015 Life Planners! She introduced some brand new covers which were all so gorgeous, I had a hard time choosing which I wanted. 

A week before these planners were launched I entered a contest on Instagram. Erin Condren had asked to post a photo of your favorite Erin Condren product! 

Well, I couldn't choose just one so I took this photo and entered it...

 Yep, My 2014 Life Planner, my Take Note Notebook and my Address Book. All my faves.

I was shocked when Erin herself liked the photo and commented, a little star struck even.

I was out to lunch when I got a tag from someone on Instagram, when I checked it was on Erin's feed with a list of 10 names winning a brand new 2015 Life Planner. I was name #3!

Que excitement!

I e-mailed right away since the photo had already been up a good 3 hours before I saw it and claimed my prize. I was given a $100 gift code to use at the launch of the new life planner. I was stoked!

When June 11th rolled around at midnight EST I had saw on a facebook page that people had begun ordering. They were released 3 hours ahead of schedule. I of course was in bed, so I jumped up and came down and tried to order. The website kept crashing, and I couldn't see what I wanted, it was a mess so I decided to go to bed after an hour of trying to order and I would try again the next day.

I did it! Finally mid-afternoon I was able to order. I was able to add a few extra goodies to my order to use up that gift code and the wait was on. 

I order printed, and shipped 3 days ahead of schedule and it arrived this past Friday. I was over the moon with how it looked.

I chose my own custom colorway. Teal and Gray on the Quote Life Planner "Beautiful Reasons". It looks stunning. I got 2 packs of coil clips which is a brand new product, a set of her pens, and 2 beautifully matching notepads to go with my planner. Everything arrived perfectly. My bookmark did have some issues with it but I am not complaining.

So, because I am so thrilled and want everyone to join in on the excitement not only am I offering my referral code to get you $10 off if you sign up using this link, but I am also giving away a $25 e-gift card right here on sixtimemommy! So, if you are dying to try an Erin Condren life planner or any of her other amazing products and would like a chance at $35 off your order sign up today and enter below!  Good luck!

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Sister Code

My girls are very close in age. I mean 10 months apart close. So this can pose a challenge for us all quite often. Both girls are extremely smart, funny, witty, caring and overly emotional typical 6 and 7 year olds. They are sisters so they are bound to bicker and love each other one minute while hating each other the next, but it's gotten to the point now we've had to separate them - they've both had their own rooms now for almost a year as sharing DID NOT work. 

We've many heart to heart talks with both of them individually and together but it doesn't matter, they are constantly at each other. We've given them space, gotten them to walk away if they feel the other is bothering them, and have some time to themselves. I just never really understood this kind of behaviour - I am one of 4, but all my siblings are older than me and were basically out of the house when I was this age. So, I'm a bit lost here.

I am still not sure if it's because of the age they are at right now, the fact that they are so close in age, or just because they are sisters. My sister is older than me by more than 10 years, so I can't really say I relate to what these two are going through. I know that when they get older it will come back up again, and will probably get worse. But at this age, I don't think it should be like it is at least not yet!

So, we've come up with a "Sister Code" that seem to be working for the time being.

1. Be kind: no using harsh words, telling each other to shut up or that you don't like each other.

2. Help!: offer to help each other if you see someone is struggling with something.

3. Mind each other's feelings: be uplifting - find something nice about each other's outfit, hair, story or day that you can compliment each other on at least once a day!

4. Hug it out: instead of using your harsh words and hands, hug tightly and for longer than 5 seconds!

5. SMILE: you are sisters. Be there for each other and you'll never be alone!

We've made this into a check list for them and they like keeping track of all the things they follow through with on the list for the last two weeks. There is no reward or incentive besides being a good sister and they both are completely smitten with this idea. My girls love each other, as do sisters - but they won't get along 24/7. I get that, they get that too. But right now basically every little thing they do right now gets on each other's nerves, so we had to try something constructive. 

It won't be like this forever - but when the teen years come, it will get WORSE. So I'm trying these solutions now to see how things go in hopes that when the teenage years roll around it won't be too bad.... I'm hopeful!

GIVEAWAY: AppleCheeks Riptide Little Bundle & Size 1 Storage Sac!

I am so excited to tell you - I reached 1K likes on Facebook! So, Ilana one of the Brilliant ladies behind AppleCheeks Cloth Diapers ever so graciously offered for me to do a giveaway! So here we are!

As a HUGE thank you! I'm giving away a Riptide little bundle in your choice of size and a size 1 storage sac courtesy of AppleCheeks!

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Giveaway is open to EVERYONE! Open June 13 - June 20 11:59p. Winner will be announced and contacted on June 21st in the afternoon. Winner will have 24 hours to claim prize or a new winner will be chosen! Prize will be mailed from AppleCheeks directly! Good luck and Thank you so much all of you! Thank you AppleCheeks for sponsoring this wonderful giveaway!

SURPRISE!

My Birthday isn't until July 29th so you could imagine my shock and excitement when my husband and Jordan went out for a quick little shopping trip early afternoon yesterday and came home with a little surprise for me! They got me a Nikon camera!

I already have a digital camera, a Canon but in the beginning of last summer it stopped working. I tucked it away and just relied on my iPhone. Well, after attending some concerts and live event's we quickly realized iPhone's are perfect for all occasions and lighting conditions. We had talked about getting me a new camera for some time, so I was truly thrilled when they got me this one! It's a Nikon Coolpix L830. I absolutely love it. It isn't a huge fancy DSLR or anything extravagant but it's a big upgrade from all my previous cameras and it's perfect for me, and what I need a camera for. I love it, and took it outside today for a few test images. I need to figure it out still, as I just got it last night after I got home from the boys' soccer games at 9pm but I think it will be easy and quick to figure out!

I can't get over the zoom on this camera. I took a photo of an Airplane that was extremely far and we could hardly see it from where we were and was shocked at what I saw... Just check out some of the shots I got:

 

Jayden was home so he volunteered to take some action shots with me, and I think they turned out pretty great! I am sure I will get lots of use out of this camera. I'm over the moon with it! 

Ripley's Aquarium Of Canada

Friday was my son Jayden's 5th Birthday. He had a great day, an amazing Birthday cake, all the gifts he wanted... But he also specially requested I take him to the brand new Ripley's Aquairum here in downtown Toronto. Of course, I jumped at it and made a date with him for Sunday after dad got off work. He ask all weekend if Jordan could come too.. I said yes, because I plan to take the girls together in the coming weeks. They love doing things together like this so we'll go for a day in the next few weeks!

It's a pretty penny to get in. $28.98+tax for Adults, $19.98+tax for youth and $9.98+tax for children.

Got there at 7:15, and left just after 9pm. We all had a blast. 

I tried to get as many photos as I could but there was just so much to see, and most of the fish were so fast... I did the best I could and got over 100 photos -  so, here are just some of my favorites from our trip!

Being so close to all this was absolutely incredible. It didn't take us long to see it all though, so the cost would hold me back from going again aside from taking my girls to enjoy it first of course. We were there so long because I let the boys play in the play area for about 40 minutes, then we went back into the shark area to watch them because they are incredible creatures. I am really glad we went and got to experience this. I'm actually looking forward to taking my girls and hopefully being able to sit a little longer to look at the jelly fish and huge tanks full of tropical fish in the Rainbow Reef.  Jayden had so much fun he couldn't wait to go to school to show all his friends his shark tooth necklace I got him in the gift shop! This is a great attraction in Toronto, So amazingly gorgeous.

It's Official! I'm a Soccer Mom!

Tuesday was a big day in our house. My two oldest boys started soccer. It's been a long time coming and we are so lucky we were able to get them into where we did because they absolutely loved it!

We decided we'd make the first night of games a family occasion! Jayden's game was for 530-630pm and Jordan's 730p-830p so we decided we'd watch Jayden's then go grab pizza at the pizza place and go hang out at the picnic tables having our dinner then go watch Jordan. It didn't really end up going the way we planned. After dinner and a good nursing session P ended up taking 3 kids home - the 2 littlest and Ava, while I stayed with Jordan, Jayden and Kyla because it was just too much for the others they were tired.

The boys uniforms weren't ready yet. They should be in this coming Tuesday so they had to wear their team color shirts - Jayden Orange (Uruguay) and Jordan Red (Portugal). I can't wait to see them in full uniforms!

Jayden has never played soccer before, ever. But we were pleasantly surprised that he was actually really, really good! I think only twice did he go towards the wrong net with the ball, as did many other kids so it wasn't just him. It was really awesome to watch him, and be that really loud mom I've been DYING to be cheering my kids on doing what they love! Jayden's game ended after an hour of play and his team won! 7-0! He almost scored twice! Can't wait for the next game! Very, very proud mama right here!

Jordan is a veteran when it comes to soccer. That boy has skills. He has been playing soccer for the last few years and gets VERY competitive, dramatic and emotional when it comes to the game. His team was losing 4-0 for the first half an hour, then during the last they tied it up and the game ended at 4-4. Jordan got 3 assists! Again, very proud mama right here!

Do any of your kids play sports? Please tell me this awesome, proud feeling doesn't go away! I have a feeling I will be THAT mom hooting, and hollering every single time and I think my boys will love it!

An Age Limit?

Just over a week ago now we got our oldest Jordan, an iPhone. He had been asking for MONTHS if he could get one to be able to go out to his friends house and be able to call me, call me if there's an issue at school and just to be able to chat with his friends. We thought about it for months, and decided to just go ahead and do it.

We got him a 4S, 8g which is all that they said they sell anymore. It was $0 - turns out 8g sucks because he can't have very many photos saved at a time, like less than 20 but, it is what it is. It's a great starter phone. Which is hilarious to say, an iPhone as a starter phone because this was my starter phone...

Hilarious, right? It had soft gel cases an orange, blue and another colour I can't remember... It did the job and I was super excited about it.

Well he's done really great with his phone. He has unlimited calling and text, what more could anyone want? I don't even have unlimited calling! He's also stayed mostly on wifi. I've been watching the usage. BUT - - I've gotten some pretty snotty looks when we've been out and about, and I overheard someone saying "isn't he a bit young?" to which I scratched my head because is he?? I thought it was up to the parents! 

Is there an acceptable age to get your child a cell phone? He doesn't use it often, at school it's in his backpack in his locker. He uses it on the bus, and when out at friends houses he has it in his pocket its more of an emergency line than a play thing. I monitor all he does, on a phone or computer anyways, so it's not like he can do much... I just wasn't aware there were age limits. He's more mature than most kids his age (11 in September) extremely responsible, so I'm not sure why anyone cares.

I'm comfortable with our choice, as is my husband, and of course Jordan is more than comfortable with it.... So that really is all that matters, But my question to you all is - IS THERE AN AGE LIMIT FOR A CELL PHONE? What is your opinion?

The Baby Tree Prize Pack Giveaway {USA ONLY}

THE BABY TREE (ages 5-8)
By Sophie Blackall
In stores May 1, 2014

I am so thrilled to bring you this giveaway this week. What a wonderful book this is, and I think if you have a child between the ages of 5-8 this is a perfect book for you! We got a copy of this book and my 2 daughters love reading it over and over, and my soon to be 5 year old son (this Friday! wah!!) has gotten me to read it to him twice now too! It's really great. If you have children, or know children at the age of questions or if you have more than 1 child, a new baby or are expecting a baby... You need this book!

Not only is The Baby Tree full of great photos to help show the kids what is being talked about but it's so well written that it really does help explain in a much more clear way. I always had trouble answering this question as more babies came into our family. I wasn't too sure how much to share, what were the "Age appropriate" words and ways to explain where babies come from... My kids really enjoyed this book and at the end of the book there's even more age appropriate ways to explain into more details, which I thought was just great! After reading this book my 6, 7 and almost 5 year old were happy, and excited with what they'd read... And I'm sure more questions will come the older they get and the more they read this book, but I feel like it's help paint a more clear picture for them and I will be able to tackle, in an appropriate way for their ages, any questions that do come about in the future!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sooner or later, every child will ask, Where do babies come from? Answering this question has never been this easy or entertaining! Join a curious little boy who asks everyone from his babysitter to the mailman, getting all sorts of funny answers along the way, before his parents gently set him straight.

New from award-winning author and illustrator Sophie Blackall comes a beautiful picture book full of playful details to help answer the age-old-question..where do babies come from?

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR

 SOPHIE BLACKALL is the illustrator of several award-winning books, including Ruby’s Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges, Meet Wild Boars by Meg Rosoff, Pecan Pie Baby by Jacqueline Woodson, and the Ivy and Bean books by Annie Barrows. Her artwork has also appeared in various magazines and exhibitions. Previously she lived in Sydney, Australia, and has had jobs in a shoe shop and a robot factory.

PRAISE FOR THE BABY TREE

“Blackall once again excels at portraying a thoughtful child with a rich inner life” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review



“Blackall’s text is straightforward, calm, and reassuring without being clinical. Her Chinese-ink and watercolor illustrations make the most of the narrator’s imaginative flights of fancy…cute as a button.” —The Horn Book, Starred Review



“A delightfully age-appropriate way to give young children the facts about contraception and birth…Another wonderful contribution from Blackall.”

—School Library Journal, Starred Review.

 OFFICIAL LINKS

·         Visit the author’s website

·         Watch The Baby Tree video

·         Follow Penguin Kids on Twitter and Facebook




GIVEAWAY! it's story time with The Baby Tree!

One (1) winner receives The Baby Tree and a soft kid’s blanket for story time

Prizing & samples  courtesy of Penguin Books USA

Open to USA Addresses ONLY. 

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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I was given this products complimentary to review. However all opinions are mine and 100% true.

Giveaway open to US residents only. ONE WINNER will receive 1 The Baby Tree book and a soft kids blanket .. You have 24 hours from prize announcement to claim your prize before a new winner will be chosen instead. Giveaway is open from June 2 - June 9 at 11:59p, winner will be chosen and posted/emailed the afternoon of June 10th . Good luck!