5 mom hacks for a fabulous birthday party.

1. Combine your kids birthday parties. I love planning birthday parties but what I soon realized was that as soon as I was done Big Sis' birthday, I had zero motivation to plan to do anything for Little Brother. So instead of having an elaborate party in July and then only give Little Bro a high five in September; for the last two years I decided we would pick the median of their birthdays and have one epic party in August. 

2. Pick a fair weather month and do it outside. It works out fantastic that August is the median birthday month and we have been able to have the party at a park the past 2 years. This year we picked the park closest to our house that had a wading pool.

3.Pick the park with free activities.  I had picked this park because it is 3 minutes from my house but it also has a pool, a playground and lots of space to run. But the icing on the cake (no pun intended) it just so happened that the park also had summer activities going on with a park leader doing crafts and face painting. And then someone from the rec centre came with 'Imagination Blocks" -these huge foamy stack able blocks that the kids loved building with. What a win!

4. Cupcake hack. So I made from scratch 24 cupcakes but after counting the number of kids and parents I realized I probably needed more but didn't have enough time to bake a bunch from scratch since the party was 24 hours after coming back from the no-dads-allowed-camping trip. I was just going to buy some cupcakes but the Type A control freak side of me was not OK with that because then the icing wouldn't match the ones I already made and iced (I know, I know, first world problems). Anyways, I figured out you can put one of those store bought 2-bite brownies in a mini cupcake holder and ice it in the same colors and decorations as my other cupcakes so it looks like a petite version of the regular cupcakes. Ta-da! Cupcakes for all!

5. Order the loot-bag present waaaay in advance. I told the kids 6 months before their party they had to decide on a theme. They just saw Finding Dory so they agreed on Nemo & Dory and then I went online and found stuffed Dory, Nemo and that turtle from Finding Nemo. Anyways, they were shipping from China and it took seriously like 4 months for them to arrive and they all came separately. It was so nerve-racking to see if they would arrive on time. We could only invite friends to the party as each parcel trickled in. Note to self: next time order through Amazon Prime... But once they arrived it was so easy to put a ribbon on each package and a label on it. And I know all kids have an infinite amount of stuffed animals so I do apologize for adding to the stash but honestly, the kids really did love them and I think it's much better than a $5 bag of dollar store junk.

OK so that's the 5 short-cuts but every year I have to pick something in the party planning process that is the opposite of a hack...I have to pick a birthday project that makes me question my sanity....last year it was making sugar cookies in the shape of dog bones and icing them in all the Paw Patrol colors...I still have the meringue powder that that stupid YouTube video promised would make the icing so 'simple'....that sucked....I am never making sugar cookies again.

So this year, the kids wanted Dory and Nemo pinatas, I actually saw a Nemo pinata at Walmart for $25 but I figured I could make 2 pinatas for cheaper than that. I watched a YouTube video promising me how easy the process was and Big Sis was interested in helping for about 3 minutes until she realized how tedious the process was. Then the next few days I spent doing paper mache at 10:30 pm, waiting for a layer to dry and then doing it again and then painting it, waiting for it to dry and then painting it again. I am not quite sure if my 10+ hours of work was worth the less than 10 minutes it entertained the kids for.....especially for Little Brother who thought that he would hit the pinata and then it would split open and all the candy would come flowing out like a river of sugar euphoria. He enthusiastically took the first hit and when nothing happened, he instantly burst into tears. By the time he recovered from the devastation of this, both pinatas had been busted open and he missed out on getting any candy. Cue the second round of tears and utmost devastation. Note to self: explain to child realistic expectations of how a pinata works for next time.

After recovering from the trauma caused by the pinata incident, all was well and I think everyone had fun and now I have 365 days until I do it again...Happy birthday to my love bugs!!!

No Daddys allowed Camping Trip

So let's just cut to the chase. My friend invites me to come camping with 3 other moms and I evaluate how much fun it would be versus how much camping hates me. And yes I say camping hates me and not the other way around because I have tried to like camping but it ALWAYS rains when I attempt to like sleep in a bag on the dirt in the middle of woods.

Anyways, I decide I didn't want to miss out. So here we go: 4 moms and 9 kids (ages 3 months to 6 years old). No Dads. Bring it on.

I have to say I felt quite empowered just getting to the campsite. I packed up the tent, 2 SUPs, the kids bikes, suitcases and all the food by myself. It took a bit of figuring out but I set up the tent relatively easy. Poor Jennifer and her 'instant tent' from Costco took more time to set up than all three of ours combined. But she is amazing and figured it out with a baby strapped on the whole time. 

I must admit there are actually a few things I do quite enjoy about camping.  For one, everyone seems to be fine with letting their kids scamper off into the woods on their own, climbing over the trees and discovering bugs and slugs. No one really knows where their kids are but everyone seems to be OK with the fact that they are somewhere in the forest, somewhat close to our campsite. Maybe different rules apply at campsites or something. At home, my husband worries if the kids are in the front yard unattended but apparently when you're camping, they can be  ninjas wielding sticks as weapons and fighting imaginary dragons. The Park Ranger gave them a scavenger hunt mission and the kids were so thrilled to complete it and earn their shiny pin.

On that note, I love how all the little kid biker gangs....some still trailing behind with training wheels, it was super fun to do circles around the campsite. Just wait until next year, I bet everyone will be riding with no training wheels.

I also love that the campsite was minutes away from the lake so we had time everyday to bury the kids in the sand and also test out how many kids can fit on a SUP before it sinks. Which if you're wondering is 1 adult and 3 kids.

One thing I don't like about camping though is cooking and doing dishes. When I am on vacation, I want everything to be easier not harder. I don't really want to hike to a tap to collect water and then wait for the water to boil slowly on the BBQ but actually it wasn't that bad at all. I love the way moms just naturally divide and conquer,  two moms would watch the kids play while the other two cooked in peace. The kids were also really good when it came to mealtimes. Maybe because the kids were ravenous from fighting all those dragons in the forest but most kids devoured their supper without protest (or maybe because camp food is primarily a mac and cheese, spaghetti and hot dogs). Anyways, the moms got to enjoy a mostly whine-free dinner by ourselves.

Thanks to Jennifer bringing her propane fire pit, we were able to have a campfire during the fire ban. So thankful that she had it because it really isn't camping unless you give the kids their s'mores so they will go to bed. Its kind of like a race where all the moms duck into their tents in efforts to get your children to go to sleep while its still so bright outside. We read stories, rubbed backs, hushed, played the Moana soundtrack (I think that was just me) and one by one we emerge out of tent victorious when they go to sleep or at least stop being loudly awake. It was really nice to sit around the fire after with our much earned mommy drinks after =)

The part about camping that I dislike the most (other than packing for camping) is the actual sleeping part. When you're in a hotel or at home, you only have to listen to your own whiny kid but when you're in the "great outdoors" this is not such a predictable factor.  There was some baby that was having a rough night and wanted to make sure the entire campsite knew how miserable he/she was and there was also some creature that sounded like a cross between an owl and a rooster on steroids that kept me awake for some portion of the night...but other than that it wasn't that bad and the kids were so excited to wake up together in the tent that it (almost) made up for the miserable baby and the owl-rooster cries. Oh it also helped that my mattress didn't have an unfortunate hole in it...

 So long story short(er), I guess camping doesn't hate me.  It didn't rain. The kids loved it. Cooking didn't suck. The campfire rocked. So guess if I'll be embracing this camping thing more, I should invest in a new air mattress. I don't know if we can convince Daddy to join us next year but if these super moms are going next year I'm up for this again!

Besties roadtrip.

So I think it was two summers ago, my besties convinced our family to camp with them in Summerland and it rained in the middle of Aug. Seriously, are we cursed or what? So this year, I convinced them to rent a house big enough for 6 adults and 7 kids. All you need is 5 bedrooms, a fenced in backyard and 3 glow-in-the-dark fidget spinners and the kids basically entertain themselves.

Vacationing with friends is awesome, splitting the cost was less than renting a hotel (but obviously more expensive than camping but that's not the point). There were 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 downstairs. The kids took turns in the different bunk beds and sleeping arrangements.....they all stayed up way to late chatting but at some point, they did go to sleep and were delighted to wake up next to their best friends in the morning.

 No one really wants to cook on vacation but it is infinitely better when you have a full kitchen AND a dishwasher after. Plus dividing up meals means everyone only cooks a couple times the entire trip and you get to try things you never cook yourself like blue cheese on steaks which is totally delicious!

The house also had a hot tub and it was like 35+ degrees every day  but apparently children are immune to hot or cold weather when they feel like it and were in the hot tub as soon as they woke up and again before bed.

Then in between the hot tub they were swimming or watersliding, boating or SUP-ing at the beach.

Atlantis waterslides, Vernon

Bear Creek Park, Kelown

Peach Orchard Park, Summerland

Peach Orchard Park, Summerland

Boating in West Kelowna

Boating in West Kelowna

Boating in West Kelowna

Skimboarding in West Kelowna

And it's also not summer until you do these things...

have a peach from Summerland

get ice cream from Summerland Sweets

and slurpees from the waterslides

My favourite moments was the little things like swapping kids in the cars for our day trips. Singing along to the Moana soundtrack 15 million times...

pre-bedtime bike rides around the cul-de-sac

the kids taking turns making the baby laugh...

and different dads taking turns with bedtime stories

And Big Sis turned 6 during our trip ....pretty special to spend your actual birthday with your besties at the beach and then have cake a sleepover......

Growing up, I remember vacationing with my these two other families and there was this picture of all the kids sitting in a row from youngest to oldest and every year we would take another one....I tried to orchestrate this but apparently I underestimated how difficult it would be to get 7 kids in a row at the same time looking somewhat happy.  3 out of 7 is not bad....I'll take it

I don't know if I have convinced them to ditch the tent again next year but as long as these kiddos are altogether, I know we're going to have a great time!