Simple is AWESOME

Tomorrow is my little man's Birthday. He is going to be 4! I can not believe it!!! Time as flown by! We had his birthday party this past Saturday. So I thought Id take the next few days to share the party with the blogging world. It was such a fun party!
  Today we will discuss venue! Jaxon loves to swim. He is constantly wanting to go swimming. So I thought it would be perfect to have a pool party. That was until I started pricing it out at the local pools in calgary. EXPENSIVE. But we havwe a little gem just 15 minutes from our house... OKOTOKS! That little town has so many hidden treasures.. this time it was the rec center. I was able to rent the entire pool (yes we had it all to ourselves) for $104.00 and we could invite up to 75 people. They had lifegurads and everything. AWESOME. In calgary I only found places were you spent $100.00 and could bring in 10 guests and you didnt have the pool to yourselves. As you can see this was a way better deal. So we invited a bunch of Jaxons friends and their familes and have a great time. We had invited close to 80 people but of course not everyone could make it so I think that night we had close to 50 people there. It was great. the kids had a blast swimming. Then we headed over to the chapel and have some pizza! It was so easy to plan because I didnt need to worry about games... they had just swam for an hour so then we ate and had cake and that was the end. Wonderful!

a little slice of Heaven

I LOVE CHEESECAKE! because of my deep love for this desseret I am often found at the Cheesecake Cafe. Its Wonderful. last night was one of those awesome nights when I find myself sitting there in a booth enjoying a slice of heaven. They even had a new flavour for me to try! Terry's Chocolate orange cheesecake. It was great! Ok... it wasnt my favorite flavour... ROLO... but this was really really yummy!
  I think I also love cheesecake so much because I have this super wonderful friend, leah, and we have made it sort of our traditional night out. When I need Leah time we go for cheesecake. I love leah and i love cheesecake so it makes me one happy girl!
  So any of you ladies out there needing a boost??  Grab your Bestest girl friend and head over for Cheesecake... that combination cures all!

Another great deal!

I was totally planning on doing a book review of I am Number 4 tonight for you... but Owen didnt sleep last night. I dont know what my little monsters problem is... the last few months there is at least one night, now generally two nights a week where he just doesnt sleep. He isnt upset or anything... just awake. So last night I was up from 1:30-4 watching food network with him. I would try ti turn the TV off to force him to sleep and he would SCREAM... so Im done.. so the book review will have to wait until I have more brain power... hopefully tomrrow.
  but I found another great deal for you mothers out there. here is the tale; Saturday is errand running day. First we headed off to Walmart. I try to get all my christmas shopping done before Dec 1 and I had to still get a gift for both the boys and I wanted Tims opinion.. so we did that... then we went to library so I could get my new book... Clockwork Angel... and then we went to Home Depot to get a latch for our new gate. Anyways... as Im walking with with the boys the greeter says "you must be here for the free kids workshop.. its in the back corner" I had no idea they do free kids workshops (lets  face it I dont know much about home depot... but Im learning!) So we go since what else am I going to do in home depot with a 3 and 1 yr old. They were making spice racks. and it was totally free! They get an apron with threir name on it and a kit with everything to make the spice rack... so daddy showed up and helped the boys make spice racks and then they get a pin for their apron showing which project they made. The boys LOVED it. Owen now hammers everything! and jaxon is anxious to paint his rack. To top it off the guy running the workshop tells me they do this every second saturday of the month from 10-12... I have already marked the calendar and you can bet we will be there with bells on next month and the following months too! So if you need something to do then check it out!
  (I know all/most home depot locations do the workshops.. but I dont know if they all run at the same time... the location I was at was the Shawnessy store.)
  I was dissappointed that I didnt bring my camera... next time!

A Great Deal

Today I had the Elders and my good friend Claire and her daughter Krysten (jaxon's buddy) over for dinner. it was pizza night. I love making home made pizza. As you have probably figured out Pizza is my favorite food. I love pizza because I can make it any flavor I want... asian, bbq, traditional, breakfast... Ive done it all and its all amazing!
  Anyways... I normally make my own pizza crusts in my bread machine... but I must have been kind of distracted today because it did not turn out at all... it was a nasty mess... so that meant a 4pm trip to safeway to get store bought pizza crusts.
  So while I was at Safeway I picked out a Calgary's Child magazine. That is a free magazine that is published every two months and it has articles on parenting and ideas on what to do with your kids and for yourself and coupons and a calendar of events going on arould town. LOVE IT. So i was flipping through it once I got home and found an amazing deal I had to share with you all!
  Calaway Park 2011 season passes are only $30 at Coop stores from nov 21- Jan 2! AMAZING! I have marked the date on the calendar and will for sure be picking up mine. My boys LOVE LOVE LOVE Calaway park! So anyone planning on going to calaway park should get one... Heck even if you arent sure you will go more the once get one... $30 is cheaper then a day admission!
  (dont you love how I can start off talking about Pizza and end up at Calaway park!)

Praise!

I am having a wonderful day today. Im not sure why but I woke up feeling fabulous and wanting to get tons done. Im not complaining though it was an awesome day! I sure hope this feeling lasts. So since I am in such a great mood I thought Id pass on some praises...
  First... Birkam Yoga... thats my hot yoga class. If you will recall my past post about hot yoga; I wasnt very thrilled with my experience... but My friend Ashley convinced me to go again. So I did... Im a sucker for punishment. It was so much better this time around. I dont know why but it was way easier. Dont get me wrong it still hurt and sucked but it wasnt nearly has bad. I enjoyed myself as much as I ever do while working out. So I think Ill give it a shot for a while.
  Second... Chapters is currenlty having their Mom's night out sale event. Its tonight and tomorrow night from 6pm until close. If you go to there site there is a coupon you can print and get 15% off (25% if you have an irewards card) all regular priced items. I went and I have never been so impressed with a store event. (I will have to say I went at like 6:30 so the thing barely started... which is how I tend to do things) But I went and they must have had every employee on that night because there were workers everywhere. They had samples of food, and tons of toys on display. When I was there, there must have been about 1 employee to every two customers. I wanted to look around but I had to get home to help with the boys and to get out of the store before I spent too much money...So I got the thing I went for (an christmas present for my Jaxon) and then I go to pay and they gift wrap it for free!!!! I even got to choose the paper! It was awesome.
  I dont know... maybe I am just in a really good mood so everything seems totally awesome today... but I was very impressed with it. Way to go Chapters and a special way to go to the Crew at the Shawnessy location!

Kill me NOW

As you have probably noticed, I am a practically perfect blog poster when it comes to loyally posting everyday. And Im sure you noticed that I didnt post last night... I blame the worst invention known to man... HOT YOGA!
  I have a few friends who do hot yoga and rave about how awesome it is. A few of my friends bought passes to Birkham (?) Yoga and convinced me to try it out. So I went last night with my good friend Ashley. I was nervous to begin with, but as I was sitting in the room waiting for the class to start I was loving the heat and thought I was going to rock it. I eagerly start the warm up... two poses in Im taking and knee adn it was all down hill from there. I spent at least 50% of the class sitting or laying down willing myself to not puke. Sweat was literally dripping off me. I hated it. In fact... I would rather go through child birth again! (and for those of you who know me know what that means!) And yet Ashley has convinced me to go again on Monday. Maybe it wont be so bad the second time around... or maybe it will and Ill just be the moron who tortures herself repeatedly!
   I had nightmares last night about hot yoga... yes I was that affected!

Tommy K Play

We discovered a new play place near our house. Its Amazing. Its called Tommy K Play and its on 130th (Ave?) It has it all... a HUGE climbing structure, a couple of X Boxes, cool cars to ride, a laser maze and even a toddler area. There are also super comfy seats for the grown ups to rest in. The only down side is that is expensive. Its $8.95 for any child under the age of 4... so it cost be almost $20 to get in. (The price goes up for older kids but since I dont have any I didnt take notice of how much) My Boys love it so we will have to make it a treat trip. I just can afford to go all the time like Jaxon now asks! LOL! But if you are looking for a way to have the kiddies burn some energy take them here... you can even climb and play too and burn some calories. Its funner then the treadmill!

Jaxon Building a tower

Owen loves to climb

These are some super fast slides. Jaxon loves them!

Kooza Review

So as most of you know I went to Kooza on Thursday night. IT WAS AMAZING! I was blown away. There really arent any words to describe how much I enjoyed it. They had awesome music and dancers and tiperope walkers and those crazy bendy people. There was this asian guy who piled up chairs and did crazy stunts on top. Of course there were clowns and a girl who did unbelievable things with hola hoops. My favorite was these two guys who did incredible things in these two rotating wheels. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. If you ever get a chance to see Kooza or any other Cirque du soliel show GO! They are incredible.
  Kooza was a real return to the circus for Kooza. In previous shows it was much more story-ish and this one was more about the acts. There was a story along with it but to me it seems secondary to to the actual circus acts.
  of course the evening was even more fun because I went to the show with one of my long time best friends Leah. Whenever we get together its a riot! And the evening was less stressful for me because my other bestest friend Stef came to babysit my boys. I am pretty picky about leaving my boys with people especially around bed time so to have Auntie Stef and uncle jarett come over to watch them was an ease to my mind. Thanks guys! (Jaxon is still talking about uncle Jarett and wants to know when Auntie Stef with bring uncle jarett back!)

Playtopia

Jaxon has been asking for a while to go to Playtopia. It's a really cool place out in Okotoks that has a big climbing structure and a ball pit and a toddler area. It's a great place for active kids to burn off energy! Jaxon loves it. It's sorta like Let's Play here in Calgary but smaller. Which is nice for me since its easier to keep an eye on him. Today was the first visit since Owen has been walking. Owen loved it too! He tried to escape from me on our way out and play some more. I am glad that there is a place like this since Jaxon is in Preschool out in Okotoks I will be taking Owen to Playtopia at least once a week to have some one on one time. (We will of course still take Jaxon every once and a while too!)
There is one down side to Playtopia. They dont allow outside food or drink in the place. they claim its because they want to keep it allergy free but even if you bring products that say on it "nut free" They wont let them in. If you want to eat or drink you have to buy there food, which of course is way overpriced. So I just make sure I plan our visit between meals and snacks and when the kids get hungry its time to leave.

Yes these are older pictures of Jaxon enjoying playtopia... now that I am chasing 2 crazy boys I didnt have time to snap any new pictures....

Calaway Park

A little over a week ago, one of my friends took us to Calaway Park. It was my Boy's first time at something like that. They had a Blast! Well really I think Jaxon loved it more then little Owen, but even owen seemed happy to watch and ride a few rides.
The Weather was perfect, and the drive wasnt as long as I thought it would be. We will for sure be getting passes next year and going often!

Mommy, Owen and Jaxon on the Baja Buggies! Jaxon was more interested in how the ride worked then into the rides

Jaxon rode this mini rollercoasted 3 times in a row. I think he would have gone more but I said it was time to move on!

Yes My 3 yr old is big enough for the free fall. I thought for sure he would cry, but he laughed and loved it!

My favorite part of the entire day! ;P
So all you moms our there thinking "is my kid big enough!?" Jaxon is and he is only 39 inches tall! GO! Your kids will love you!

World's Greatest Pizza

I love pizza. It's one of my favorite foods. I love how it can be different every night, depending on your mood and what flavours you are craving. For those of you living in the SW of Calgary (or those of you, like me, who are willing to drive to get amazing pizza) There is a fabulous pizza place in Cedarbrae. It's called Sammy's (yes there is one closer to Shawnessy... but you have to go to the one in Cedarbrae) Anyways, it's so good!
  Tonight I tired something new and I was beyond surprised. I'm not a big red meat fan. I love my chicken and so Chicken Pizzas have long be my favorites. BBQ Chicken, Fajita Pizza, Peanut Chicken. But I have a new favorite that beats out all the rest. Its a Donair Pizza. It was amazing. The sauce was to die for and the meat was so tender and wonderful. The crust is nice and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I could not find a flaw with this pizza. I am so glad there is left overs for tomorrow!
GO GET SOME SAMMY'S NOW!

A New Discovery

Tonight we had my good friend and a wonderful photographer, Kim Hawkings take some family pictures for us. She took us to a place I never knew existed and I have spent the majority of my life in Calgary. Just outside the city limits there is a place called Ann & Sandy Conservation. Its just a wildlife preserve. We didn't get very far in down the path since we have little Jaxon who hates the outdoors and pricklies in the grass. But from what I saw it was a beautiful area. I dont know if Id called it a hike but a good walk. I'd like to go back and do some exploring! There is an honor system, they ask for a $2 per person donation. No one is there to make sure you donate but come on lets all make sure we help places like this out!
  Jaxon was hungry and tired so I have to give a shout out to Kim for doing the pictures. Im glad I know how talented Kim is because Im sure despite the lack of pictures Jaxon allowed her to take and his grumpy attitude, that she still got some wonderful shots! I cant wait to see them!

Heritage Park

Today we woke up to a deary cloudy day. Which was ok with me since it as house cleaning day. But Days were I am at home all day doing nothing too exciting make me miss the days were I am able to get my boys out of the house and doing something fun. So I thought Id share one of our favorite places here in Calgary. HERITAGE PARK. I am actually a little surprised at how much fun my three yr old Jaxon has when he is there. I bought an annual pass this year figuring it will force me to go and make use of the pass I had spent money on. We had been three times already this year and have many more visits planned. They have fun events through out the year, like Day out with Thomas, Rail Days, a Harvest Sale, etc, etc. but Jaxon's favorite part of this historical village is the Midway. He loves the rides. He is big enough to ride the mini ferris wheel on his own but I go on the rest with him. They have the catterpillar, the whip, a mini ferris wheel, a big ferris wheel, swings (which he has not attempted), a Carasoul and even mini boat swings.

Besides the Midway he also loves to ride the train the circles the park. Jaxon loves trains! We tried the Ferry but it was a but long for my little man.
My favorite stops??? Well the bakery is to die for and I have a sweet tooth so I always stop at the candy store too.

Bridal Gift and Hair Cut

Third times a charm.. I hope... I have been trying to post forever and it just wont work... so hopefully this time it works!
I was going to post the yummy dinner I made tonight but I am upstairs and the recipes are downstairs so you will have to wait. But keep in mind that there are two very yummy recipes coming to you soon!

One of my bestest friends, Stef, is getting married on Saturday. The other week I went to a shower for her and this was the gift I brought. Its a bowl I painted in her wedding colors and filled it with all sorts of random grocery items. I remember when I first got married (and even some months now!) That the grocery budget never seemed to allow for extras. So I got her the extras. Cute Pastas, different chocolate chips, fun sauces. I didnt think it was anything special but everyone at the party thought it was really cute. So I thought Id share!
What is the best bridal shower gift you ever gave or received?
Also a side note... you can paint dishes like that at all sorts of paint your own pottery places. But I went to the Clayground here in Calgary. I have been to a few of them around town and the Clayground is the best...because there are no studio fees! LOVE IT!

On to my proud mom moment.
My little Owen got his first hair cut today. I cant belive how big he is getting. He did really well too! But I dont know what look I like better the before "Boy band" look or the after "Big boy" look. What do you think?