From the category archives:

Fun for kiddies

Christmas Parades of Eastern Ontario – the 2010 Edition!

1 November 2010 Feature

Edited to add: Looking for the 2011 information? You’ll find it here! Last leaves drifting from the trees? Check. Halloween safely behind us, tucked into bed with a sore belly from too much candy? Check. Weather turned cold, grey and damp — and snowy?!? Check. Yay, it must be time for my annual guide to [...]

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Outdoor family fun: Make yer own sidewalk paint!

3 April 2010 Fun for kiddies

In years to come, they’ll talk about 2010 as the year that Easter fell in mid-summer. Yesterday, Ottawa was the warmest place in Canada with a high temp of 27C — that’s around 85F and the same temp as Miami, Florida! Even without the extraordinary temperatures, I get excited when the winter finally breaks for [...]

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In which they become addicted to a thousand-year-old board game

29 March 2010 Fun for kiddies

Like so many of the best things in life, it’s deceptively simply and devilishly addictive. No, we’re not talking about cupcakes, but about a thousand-year-old board game called Mancala that has overtaken our family like a virus. Have you heard of it? I had not. Tristan got a Mancala set (also known as Kalah) for [...]

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An experienced mom’s guide to kid birthday parties in Ottawa

24 February 2010 Fun for kiddies

We’re thick in the midst of birthday party season at our place: all three boys have birthdays in a five week span. Over the years we’ve mostly contracted out the birthday party, largely because the idea of avoiding 10 caked-up boys drunk on adrenaline on the loose in my house is worth just about any [...]

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Five ideas for Family Literacy Day

26 January 2010 5 things

Did you know that Wednesday January 27 is Family Literacy Day in Canada? From the Web site: Family Literacy Day takes place every year on January 27. ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation and Honda Canada created the day in 1999 to encourage families to read and learn together. [...] Literacy is more than books. There are [...]

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Five ways to interact with Santa

7 December 2009 5 things

Back in the day, the only ways you could “interact” with Santa were to stand in line at the mall to sit on his knee, or maybe at your parents’ annual company Christmas party. Now that we live in an interactive world, though, not only can your kids write a letter to Santa, or listen [...]

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The Muppets go viral

27 November 2009 Fun for kiddies

This? May be the best justification I’ve ever seen for the existence of the Internet. The Muppets do Bohemian Rhapsody: Lucas watched this four times end to end before the spell was finally broken. Between this and Bohemian Rhapsody being on Lego Rockband’s song list, the boys will have a decent appreciation for one of [...]

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June 6 is Drawing Day

26 May 2009 Fun for kiddies

I’ll be uploading some of Tristan’s (and maybe Simon’s) drawings to Flickr on June 6 to help contribute to the goal of one million drawings for Drawing Day 2009! “Drawing Day is a worldwide drawing event encouraging everyone to drop everything and draw for the sake of art. The internet is an open canvas. Help [...]

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Five ideas for March Break fun

16 March 2009 Fun for kiddies

We’re booked solid for March Break this year with my brother and his family in town, but these are some of our favourite ways to fill time when everyone is home from school. 1. Digital camera scavenger hunt You don’t need to use a camera for this – the low-tech version is just as fun [...]

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