Wreaths make me happie

I have a board on Pinterest for wreaths called "Wreaths make me Happie". I love wreaths. One thing I want to do is to have a wreath on my front door all year round. Of course, the wreath would have to be season appropriate. I would have one for Winter, Valentine's day, Spring, Easter, Summer, Canada Day, our birthdays, Fall, and Christmas. Currently, I only have one for Winter but I'm always on the lookout for other wreaths. I just haven't found another one that I like enough to purchase yet.

The other day my son came home with a craft. When he got home, he went straight up to my room and taped it to my door. He made me a wreath! I will happily keep this one up year round on my bedroom door. It brings a smile to my face everyday. It truly makes me happie.

AZUL Sensatori....here we come!

Last year, we went to the Grand Sunset Princess in the Riviera Maya, Mexico and it was our family's first all-inclusive vacation.  We went with 2 other families with the same aged kids (6 adults and 6 kids, aged 1 and 4) and we had a blast.  The resort was beautiful and we hung out by one of the kiddie pools most of the time.  The desserts were consistently not great but there was lots of other good food including many a la carte restaurants for dinner, a beach BBQ at lunch, a sports bar, and a few buffet restaurants.  The kids loved the kids club and my son still talks about it 10 months later.

We just booked another all-inclusive vacation from itravel2000.com.  We are going with Sunwing again this year but to another resort called AZUL Sensatori.  All the reviews on tripadvisor are very good.  It's a 5-star resort 20 min from the Cancun airport.  I am looking forward to getting away and enjoying the food which is touted as "gourmet".

We are going this year with one other family so there will be 4 adults and 4 kids (ages 5 and 2).  I'm really hoping to get connecting rooms so that the kids can play together while we are in our rooms.  There's an adult only restaurant so my plan is to take turns going there while the other couple takes care of the kids (good time to try the 24-hour room service).  The kids club looks amazing.  It has its own splash pad, water slide, kiddie pool, FisherPrice room, in-door rock climbing wall, gym equipment, video games room, etc...  I've been reading all the tripadvisor reviews and watching all the Youtube videos that I could find about this place.  I even started a list of things to pack.  Can't wait!!

@arthurchristmas was great!

We just watched Arthur Christmas on Rogers On Demand (ROD) with my 5yo and 2yo in the comfort of our home with our own freshly popped popcorn and snacks. My husband, my 5yo and I really enjoyed the movie and my 2yo really enjoyed the popcorn!

ROD - where have you been all my life?! No wonder Blockbuster went bankrupt!

Dukan diet - end of week 20

I've now been on Phase 3 - Stabilization for 5 weeks (35 days).  I am supposed to be in this phase for 100 days (5 days for every pound I have lost).  According to the diet, I can be on PV days everyday except for 1 day a week where I go back to PP.  I'm allowed to eat 2 slices of whole wheat bread and one fruit everyday.  I can eat 1 serving of starch per week and 1 celebration meal per week.

I haven't been fully following the prescribed diet but I've still maintained my 20 pounds of weight loss.  I have been doing PV days almost everyday and instead of being restricted to eating 2 WW bread and 1 fruit everyday, I've been randomly eating carbs/starches throughout the week, sometimes I eat more than the equivalent of 2 slices of WW bread and 1 fruit and sometimes I eat less.  I think it all averages out in the end and as long as I'm not gaining back the weight that I've lost, I will continue this way for another 65 days.

I've convinced so many people to be on this diet now and it's amazing to see other people have the same or even better results as mine!

Are you doing an advent calendar?

You know it's time to start preparing for Christmas when all the Christmas stuff comes out in the stores.  Last year, I bought an advent calendar on sale after the holidays (SCORE!).  This year, I'm going to try to fill it with activities for the family to do each day leading up to the holidays.  I read from a few other blogs that the best way to do this is to pre-write the activity but don't put them in until a day or a couple of days in advance so you have control over what you do each day depending on your schedule.  I think this is a good idea but i have to remember to sneak in the activity everyday which may be a problem for me.  So I think a hybrid idea is to slot in something that is totally manageable everyday and when we have time to do something more time consuming (like bake cookies), then I'll sneak it in that day.

Here are some of my 'everyday' activities:

1. Read the Christmas story from Luke
2. Sing a Christmas carol together
3. Give everybody a hug and a kiss
4. Listen to Christmas music during dinner
5. Call someone and sing them a carol
6. Dress up for dinner
7. Thank God for Jesus
8. Hide something special in each other's beds
9. Make paper snowflakes
10. Do something kind for a family member
11. Take turns telling the Christmas story
12. Draw a Christmas picture for a family member
13. Tell each other what is your favourite thing about Christmas
14. Pray for a friend
15. Read the Christmas story from Matthew
16. Pop some popcorn
17. Make an ice cream cookie sandwich

Some of the more time consuming activities:

1. Set up the tree
2. Bake cookies for family and friends
3. Write Christmas cards
4. Write a family Christmas letter
5. Play a family board/card game
6. Watch a Christmas movie
7. Take a drive to see Christmas lights
8. Take some family Christmas pictures
9. Make a card for your teacher
10. Decorate a gingerbread house
11. Go to the Santa Claus Parade
12. Make ice cream
13. Borrow a Christmas book from the library
14. Make a list of things we are thankful for and post it up

Hope this works out!

Any other ideas for me?

This is the best gift you can give to your kids

I was recently at a work event where one of the speakers talked about prioritizing your life to achieve harmony.  She said that we have so many different roles as a wife and mother and we often prioritize this way: mother, wife, woman.  As a mom, we often take care of others first before ourselves.

However, she challenged us to reprioritize our lives so that we are a woman first, wife second, and mom last.  I have always believed this.  One of my favourite pieces of advice that I've received and given to a lot of new moms is this: The best gift you can give to your children is a good marriage.  And one of my all time favourite quotes is what they tell you on the plane: Put on your own oxygen mask before you assist others.

Do you agree?  How do you prioritize?

Dukan Diet - end of week 17

I'm in Phase 3 now eating PV everyday and PP once a week. Instead of eating 2 slices of whole wheat bread and 1 fruit everyday, I've been eating 1-2 gingerbread cookies and sneaking in other carbs everyday so i think it all evens out. :). I'm still at my true weight +/- 2lbs which is okay in my books.

I baked a banana bread with a sugar substitute and it tastes pretty awful so I don't think I'll do that again. It's Christmas soon so I'll need a lot of self-control and will power to stay away from all those baked goods...my weakness.

I also had my first celebration meal yesterday where I had a bowl of my favorite Vietnamese beef brisket and tomato rice noodles and spring rolls as the appetizer. I had a couple of my homemade ginger bread cookies for dessert. Delish!