Silly faces

Last week, for my this moment post, I shared a picture of my daughter making a funny face. But that was actually just one of many silly faces picture we took, so I thought I'd share them with you today.

I just adore all their silly faces! These kids certainly know how to crack me up :)

Mango quesadillas

I know, mango and quesadillas don't usually belong in the same sentence, let alone in the same meal, but trust me, this is good!

The other day, when the kids asked what was for supper, I told them quesadillas and veggies on the side. Arianne asked :'Can we have mango quesadillas?'

Of course, why didn't I think about this? She didn't come up with it, I've been making them for a long time, but she certainly reminded me of an old favourite of mine. I hadn't made those in such a long time, and she would never eat them, so I was very surprised that she even remembered, let alone ask for it.

They both ate it, and they loved it! And I think if you just give this a try, so will you!

The trick is to slice the mango with the peel on, and not to slice it too thick. Once it's sliced, just use your paring knife to cut the peel around each slice. I find it works better this way, and the slices hold well. But you can try whatever way works for you.

In your frying pan, just put a whole grain tortillas on the bottom and cover with sliced mango.

Then, top with Daiya cheese, sprinkle some sliced green onions, and if you dare, even a bit of seeded and chopped jalapeno peppers. I didn't do the hot peppers this time, as the kids are not fond of it, but it was definitely missing that little extra flavour it brings.

Top with another tortilla and heat over medium heat. I tend to cook regular quesadillas on a higher heat, but for this one, you need a lower temperature, if you want to be able to warm up the mangoes, melt the cheese AND NOT burn your tortilla. Once your first side has browned a bit, flip over and leave until cheese has melted.

When it's ready, just let it sit a minute before slicing, so it won't fall apart. If your not vegan, you can serve with a bit of plain yogurt for dipping, and can substitute the vegan cheese for some Brie or even Havarti if you like. Serve with a side salad and most importantly, share with your friends. They'll be surprised too!

{this moment}

Silly faces

{this moment} - (inspired by Soule Mama) A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Tutorial: Friendship bracelets

Remember the friendship bracelets I told you about in my last post that I made for my son's entire class? Well here is the promised tutorial! Of course, there are different types of friendship bracelets you can make, but since I was in a rush to make 20 of them, I opted for the simple ones, and my kids loved them so much, they also wanted their own.

First, dig through your (ahem) neatly put away stash of embroidery thread to find the colors you want. (I swear, before I made all these bracelets in a rush, my stash was not a tangled mess like this. But now it is. Oh well. Things got done I suppose ;)

Pick 2 or 3 colors for your bracelet. You want to make sure you have 6 strands total.

Once you picked your colors (in this case, 3 per bracelet), measure 24 inches for each strand. That means for Arianne's bracelet, I had 2 strands of pink, 2 of light green, and 2 of blue, all of them measuring 24 inches long.

Now that your ready to start making your bracelet, find a suitable place to pin the bracelet so you can use both hands freely for your project. Note: pinning right into the arm rest of your couch, or into a cushion (like I did) works just great.

Make a knot, leaving about 1 1/2 inches on one end. I found the easiest way to do this, was to make the knot around the pin (you can tighten it a bit more when your done and removed the pin).

Now your ready to start the bracelet.

Pick your first color (which ever one you choose), and pass the thread underneath all the other ones.
Then make a knot, sliding it all the way up to the top. Continue until you have just about an inch (I don't actually measure each color. I just eyeball it and it works just fine). The trick here, is to try and pull each knot always in the same direction, as much as possible. So if your pulling your knot while holding the strand directly to your right, try to do the same all the way through. (When your all done, it will naturally give the knots a spiral effect.)

Now you've done the first color. Put that strand back with the other ones, and pick another strand from a different color.

Repeat the previous step. You'll see, the transition from color to color is very easy.

When you are all done, make a knot right at the end of your last color using all the threads. Remove the safety pin and tighten that top knot if you need to.

Voila, you are done! Just find a kid who is willing to wear it and tie it around their wrist :)

I hope you enjoy and if some of my instructions are not very clear, don't hesitate to leave me a comment, I will do my best to answer your question or correct my tutorial.

Actually, these bracelets could probably fit my wrist as well, so I might slip back into childhood and sport some this summer ;)

Last day of school friendship bracelet

Today is Ashton's last day of kindergarten. I wanted to make something for all his classmates, started looking on the web for ideas months ago (just so I wouldn't be stuck making things for 20 kids at the last minute), but nothing caught my eye. Then the other day, I was surfing on Etsy, and then I saw a bracelet (you know the kind that looks like it's a bunch of bracelets together), and then I remembered these friendship bracelets I used to make out of embroidery thread when I was a kid. There are different ways to make them, but the flat and wide kind that have patterns in diagonals take much longer to make.

So I opted to make this type, being all last minute and all! For the most part, they are all different, and I made sure I had the right amount of each for boys and girls. I got the idea last weekend, and thought I'd be done by Monday... NOT!

I only managed to make 5 over the weekend, and with weekdays flying by, I found myself making about 10 of them last night alone. If you do the math, that means I still have 5 more to go and they need to be given today! It's a good thing they are quick to make!

I am putting them in little individual bags with a little message from my son (well, ok, I wrote them because we are running out of time, but shhh... don't tell anyone!). My son decided I should write on the other side that they are a friendship bracelet, in case they don't know what they are.

I guess that means I still have some work to do, so I better stop blogging, and start crafting!

I posted the tutorial, you can find it HERE. Enjoy!

And the winner is...

I want to thank everyone who entered my giveaway! You all left such wonderful comments and it really made this gal happy to get such positive feedback about the blog and my felt creations, so thank you!

The pancake set giveaway winner is Sheila! Congratulations!

A cozy Sunday morning...

Yesterday, I was in the city and needed to go to Chapters book store to get my nephew a present. I love the book store, it's such a great place to hang out and get "lost" for an hour (or two ;). My kids also love it because the children's area has a train table to play with, giving mama plenty of time to sit down beside them, and look at possible purchases.

Of course, I can't go there to buy someone else a book and nothing for myself. I have no problem just looking and not buying for myself in other stores (most times), but at the book store, I find it very difficult!

As soon as I got there, I decided to see if Growing Up Sew Liberated was there, as it just came out. And it was, so I had to buy it *grin* It's my first sewing book ever, and so imagine my surprise when I realized that there's an envelope in the back with all the patterns! I guess next time I go to the book store, I'll have to pick up her other book, so I can sew a little something for myself as well :) I'll be sewing up a storm before you know it!

And so, this is how I am spending my Sunday morning...

Relaxing on the couch, with a warm cup of coffee and a good book. Perfect!

:: Have you entered my giveaway yet? You have until Tuesday!

Blog update and a giveaway!

Good morning dear friends!

Last night, I was playing with my blog and finally figured out how to add some tabs at the top, so I created some so you can find crafts and tutorials, recipes and one for healthy living (being that I'm studying for holistic nutrition and all, it made sense :)

I'm not done filling up the tabs with link backs to my posts, but I'm working on it, so please be patient. I hope you like it though. As for the blog background, I'm sure you notice it's quite different. I'm still unsure about it, so please bare with me as it might change again until I figure out what really works for me.

Now, enough blog talk and let's get on about the giveaway, shall we?

I've told you last week, that since I had just hit 10 000 hits on the blog, that I would do a giveaway. Over the end of last week, I completed this felt pancake set, and since you all seem to like my felt creations, I thought I would give it to one lucky reader!

The set includes 2 pancakes, a splash of maple syrup (removable), a dollop of cream, a square of butter, 2 slices of bananas and a strawberry. Yes, it's ALL for you! (There's no fine print here, such as this and that not included ;)

*** Giveaway now closed***

• Leave a comment here (and please leave your e-mail address if you don't have a blog that your comment will link up to, so I have a way to reach you).
• You can also "like" my Facebook page and come back here to tell me you've done so.

That's it! The contest will close next Tuesday, June 21st at midnight (my time), and I will announce the winner the next day.

Linking this post to:

It's a beautiful rainy day!

Yes, you read that right! A beautiful rainy day!

(Source)

You know when you wake up and your bed is so comfortable and the air around you is so fresh and cool, you just can't bring yourself to get out of bed right away? That's how my day started. I had a really great sleep and woke up to my two kiddo's fetching themselves breakfast. They just started doing that recently, and I love how they are trying to earn a little independence. Ashton climbs on the counter to get the bowls since Arianne does not have his monkey abilities ;) , and together, they set up a breakfast assembly line on the kitchen floor. Bowls, check! Cereal boxes, check! Milk, check! By the time I actually got out of bed (though it was still only 7am), they were already eating their breakfast.

This rain today makes me want to sit back with a nice cup of warm tea (or maybe I'll cave in and have coffee this morning ;) and appreciate the little things in life. Tough it does make me a little sad to see my kids grow so fast, as many moms do, I am still proud of all they are becoming. Wanting to be independent is a great quality... as long as they don't push me back when I want a hug and a kiss when dropping them off at school. I'm not ready for that and I don't think I'll ever be!

Today is the kind of day, that you just want to stay home, curl up on the couch with a cozy blanket and a good book. But I can't do that just yet. I have to drive Ashton to school first, then I get to spend the day at home with my baby girl (I know, she's 4 and not a baby anymore, but she's my baby girl anyways :).

I know for a fact, she won't let me open a book and read for more than 2 minutes without interrupting, so curling up and doing so is out of the question. So today's plan is to set her up at the kitchen table beside me with some water colors and let her paint to her hearts content while I finish some felt crafting projects and a wood memory game I'm working on (more on that very soon!). She loves painting more than I can describe, and I have a little water color painting kit I bought a long while ago that I was keeping for a special occasion and I think today is when I'll give it to her. And if we are in the mood for more than crafting, then we'll move to the kitchen and work on some new and healthy recipes I've been wanting to try.

I just find myself feeling so calm and very content this morning, I'm looking forward to the rhythm of this day and I'm thanking this beautiful rainy day for that.

What do you like to do, on rainy days?

{this moment} kangaroo hopping

{this moment} - (inspired by Soule Mama) A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A bit of this and a bit of that

We've been having lots of fun here lately in the "Sunshine" household. Yes, even some fun on an old style carousel! But first, I have some exciting news! When I checked my blog this morning, I was only 4 hits away from 10 000 visits! I always told myself that I'd do a giveaway when my little bloggie would reach 10 000 visits, but I thought it would take a couple of years to get there, not just after my blog reached a year old! So this week, I will put together a giveaway for you and will announce it later this week, so stay tuned!

Like I said earlier, our week was filled with fun. We did a little visit to our weekly farmers market and there was this table filled with goodies handmade in Kenya. I love their table! They go to Kenya and purchase hand crafted items that are made ethically and everything is fair trade. Not to mention, everything is so beautiful! This blue bowl really caught my eye. I thought it was made of wood, until the guy told me to look under the bowl... it's made of soap stone and the white you see in it? It's not painted, but engraved!

The little owl also caught my eye. My son pointed it out to me at the same time as I saw it. I have a serious owl fetish lately and the kids and I are now noticing owls everywhere we go. I've been able to resist buying every cute owl thing I see so far... until I saw this little guy.

He's so cute, he deserves a picture all of his own :) There's even another little owl carved into it's belly. It's all in one piece, so the inside owl is carved through the holes you see. I don't know how they do it, but I find it fascinating!

Saturday morning, we hit the yard sales. I used to go to yard sales weekly with my mom as a kid and have so many great memories! But I myself, only go check them out once or twice a year. This weekend was one of them, and we had lots of great finds.

I found these great books for Arianne. I didn't give them to her yet, I'm waiting for special moments to take them out, one by one. The book I'm most excited about is "A book of fairy tales". It's filled with stories such as the little red riding hood and such, and the illustrations are all similar to the one on the cover. I don't know how old the book is, but it definitely has a vintage look to it and I'm in love. I can't wait to read her stories from it!

That morning before I left to go check out the yard sales, the only thing I told myself I'd really like to find, was some wood bowls. Ask and you shall receive I guess, because it's the first thing I found! This big salad bowl, with 4 smaller bowls and the utensils for $3. I was so excited!

And last but not least, this brand new Ikea indoor igloo tent! We used to have one we had got used, and used it so much ourselves, that it got ripped up and was no longer usable. (The kids were a lot younger and my little guy was very rough with it back then). But that was a couple years ago and the kids are older and more careful of their belongings, so I thought it would be worth it. Funny thing is, Ashton was just asking me last week if we still had our old tent and was saying how much he missed playing with it. And they've been having lots of fun with it already, yay!

Here I'm backtracking a little, since this was last Friday, but I took the kids to Galaxyland at the West Edmonton Mall. I rarely take them there, but I wanted to take them out for a little fun :) Well, a lot of fun actually, they had a blast!

First stop was the carousel.

Some fun kid sized kart racing (they were going so slow, I could have walked beside them, but shhh... don't tell them! They thought they were going so fast! lol)

And some other rides too...

Our town also had organized "wacky Saturday". Some activities and sales downtown. There was a bouncy "house", street hockey, face painting among other things... and a petting zoo. I managed to take this picture of the kids snuggling with the bunnies.

They were so happy but now were all exhausted! OK, they are not exhausted, I am. They are kids full of energy while I'm just getting older, lol. So I'm hoping to stick around home today, enjoy a cup of coffee (or two, to make it through today ;) and maybe craft more with felt. I'm not sure what will be in the giveaway yet, but I think I'll be making you some of my felt creations, since everyone seem to like them so much.

Hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying life!

Stay tuned for the giveaway :)

{this moment}

Emulating Fancy Nancy :)

{this moment} - (inspired by Soule Mama) A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Dancing into June...

I'd call it doing the happy dance, but it's clearly a robot dance. I can't believe it's June already! Where has time gone? I didn't see April fly by, let alone May!

But I'm happy it's June. Happy dance kinda happy. June means school is almost out and summer vacation is approaching soon. June means warmer weather and lots of sunshine. It means long walks with the kids, and watermelon and freezer pops snacks. June means camping season is ON!
I love June and all that it represents! Especially happy kids and a happy mama!