Family - Chaos and Caffeine

March Break Ideas (on a Budget)

March Break starts in less than a week (4 days to be exact). I have so many other things going on (painting my room, planning my daughter's 10th birthday party, getting ready for our trip to Las Vegas) that I haven't given much thought to what I'm going to do

Lifestyle

Spring Birthday Brunch

As my daughter's 10th birthday is approaching, it's time to start party planning. A few years ago, she wanted to do a birthday brunch for her party (totally my daughter - brunch is THE BEST!) This year, we're doing it again! She wants a Woodland theme this year so I'll

Lifestyle

Christmas Eve Boxes

As much as we try and teach our children that this is the season of giving and that it's not all about gifts, they are kids and they do get excited for presents. I remember as a child, the excitement of December 24th and Christmas being the next day. I'm

Family

Making Time

The other night my oldest daughter wanted to bake one of the recipes from my blog for her class to try. I let her stay up after the other kids all went to bed so she could help me. After we finished and she was heading to bed, she turned

Lifestyle

Back to School Questionnaire

I can't believe that another school year has begun. It feels like just yesterday that the kids were running out of school for summer break. Now we are already a week into the new school year (and one week closer to next summer break! - is it too soon to

Family

Home Alone

What are you going to do when all of the kids are in school? That is the question that I've been getting a lot lately (and have even been asking myself). My youngest starts school today and I've cried a lot lately because of it. My baby is leaving me.

Travel

Our First Camping Trip

I will start by letting you know that this was not supposed to be part of our vacation. Originally we had a cruise of the 1000 Islands and visit to Boldt castle booked (like I have on my bucket list) but somehow we ended up cancelling that to go camping

Family

Our New Family Members

A few weeks ago my oldest son turned 6. I don't know what it was about that number, but I was a wreck. I feel like 6 is so much older than 5. And with him being my second last baby, the reality that I only have one little one

Family

Our First Drive-In Movie

Well it is officially summer and we started it off right by crossing an item off of our Summer Bucket List. We decided to end our first day of summer with a trip to the drive-in theatre! Being a large family, movies can get quite expensive. Not to mention having

Lifestyle

Summer Bucket List

Can you believe that it's already June?! That means that school is out in less than a month and I need to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with these kids all summer. We have a cottage that we're renting for a week in August in Tobermory,

Food

National Donut Day 2018

It's National Donut Day!!! Let's be real here dough, there is more than one "National Donut Day" in this house (ex. my birthday, Mother's Day, Saturdays) but this is actually an "official" day. This day is basically my "Christmas". This is my day to

Food

Breakfast for a Month

I'm all about trying to save time as well as money. Mornings are a little hectic around here trying to get 4 kids ready to go to 3 different schools. One thing that I've started doing this year is not only meal planning, but meal prepping. I've created a set

Lifestyle

Experience Gifts

Having 4 kids, the amount of "stuff" they get for birthdays and holidays gets a bit overwhelming. We're trying to declutter and live a simpler life, so we've started doing experience gifts instead of toys. For their main Christmas gift, we bought each of the kids a ticket

Family

Easter Traditions

Growing up Slovenian, family and traditions have always been a huge part of my life. Easter is a special time where we decorate Easter eggs on Good Friday and have the best food for Easter Sunday breakfast. Even though we eat eggs and the meat at other times of the

Lifestyle

No Spend Week Recap

I wanted to do a quick recap of how our No Spend Week went. The first few days were great, however, by day 3 I realized that I did not meal plan properly. For example, I bought 2 dozen eggs which I thought would be enough, but I ended up

Lifestyle

No Spend Challenge (1 Week)

I was invited to do a "No Spend Challenge" for the month of March by my friend Kelsey from Kelsey Diane Blog (she always seems to be talking me into something, doesn't she?) however, March is a pretty busy month with our wedding anniversary, March break and our

Lifestyle

Declutter Challenge

My best friend Kelsey from Kelsey Diane Blog has been doing Ann Marie Heasley's (White House Black Shutters) 40 Bags in 40 Days decluttering challenge for about a week now. She's asked many people to do it along with her and has received a great response. She has the right

Food

Valentine's Day Breakfast

I can't believe that Valentine's Day is just a few days away! They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I'm going to share how you can start yours with a festive little meal. This breakfast does take a bit of time (approx. 45 min.

Food

Valentine's Day Lunch Idea #3

This last lunch that I've created is super fun and probably my favourite of the 3. My daughter said that the kids at school basically swarmed her to see what she was eating. I mean, what kid wouldn't be excited about a lunch covered in sprinkles? For this lunch you

Lifestyle

Valentine's Gift Idea

This year, Valentine's day falls right in the middle of the week. Being parents of a small team of kids, you could say going out for a romantic dinner will not be on the top of our to do list. When you have so many kids and are unable to

Food

Valentine's Dinner Idea

If your plans for Valentine's day dinner are to stay at home and cook, there are always fun ways to make your meal festive. A little heart shape can go a long way. This dinner is so simple that you could even get the kids to help. (Since we all

Food

Valentine's Day Lunch Idea #2

This lunch creation is a little bit different. It doesn't contain your typical cream cheese, peanut butter, ham/cheese sandwich filling. So what's in it you wonder? Dun, dun, dun....liver sausage. Now, if you've never had it before, just the name is enough to make some people cringe. I

Lifestyle

"Galentine's" Party

I know I said I don’t really LOVE holidays, but when Kelsey (from Kelsey Diane Blog) suggested we have a mother/daughter “Galentine’s” party, I was so excited. How much fun is it to hang out with your BFF, and have your girls who are also friends all

Recipes

Valentine's Day Lunch Idea #1

I will be the first person to admit that I don't LOVE holidays. I can't even pinpoint why, I just don't love them. However, I absolutely LOVE creating holiday themed lunches for my kids. In fact, I think I get more enjoyment out of my finished product than my kids

Lifestyle

Game On!

As hard as it is to admit, we are a very technology focused family. My husband is a software developer so he is on the computer all day long and he is also a huge video gamer. You name a system, we probably have it. My kids are obsessed with