Halloween finale

Ok, so this is my last Halloween post!

The kids had fun at school, went for a health walk, ate and made crafts.

Once home, we had supper and got ready to go out. We started off getting together with our friends and their friends.



We even trick or treated at a police car! Friendly policemen were handing out candy and shiny wristbands.



We went around for about an hour and then came home to hand out candy. Maelie got home and spread out her loot.



Bebe Lapin was pick and choosing what he wanted to keep.



So now after an intense month of Halloween prep, it's officially time to take it all down and get ready for Christmas! November 1st... Winter curtains are going up!

More Halloween treats!

Here are the snacks I prepared this morning for Maelie's class.

First up, a veggie skeleton, courtesy of Kraft website (dip had not been added yet). I did use up extra veggies to fill a plate since there weren't that many veggies on the skeleton.



Secondly, an item I am not sure will pass the health food police at school, little mini caramel apples, courtesy of Family Fun website. (hey, it's a fruit!)



And finally, a plate full of Ritz cracker spiders.



More on the afternoon in the class later...

Halloween prep

Happy Halloween everyone. Today I am going to Maelie's class to volunteer helping with the kids. After lunch they have a health walk followed by a parade in the gym (I assume as they did that last year), then to the class for games and snacks.

I have been working on ideas for treats that are not considered unhealthy in their view since we are not allowed to bring candy or cake. Personally, I don't think we are showing our kids a good example this way, really. I think they should focus on educating them about being healthy most of the year but having an occasional treat is ok. I am not one to argue too much about it because it's the School Board's choice.

So I prepared some little pumpkin rice balls yesterday. Very easy to make and cute as can be!



Then I prepared spooky hands for each child to take home. I used some dried fruit bars for the nails and then filled the gloves with Smart pop popcorn. I used about 5.5 bags of microwavable pop corn! Holy moly!



I have a few more preparations this morning for snacks... I will post them later.

Even if we couldn't bring sweets for the kids, I made little bags of chocolates for the teachers. A bigger container for Maelie's homeroom teacher. I have a lot of mixed feelings with that, because it seems hypocritical. However, one day last week, the principal, knowing that I make homemade chocolates for occasions, said jokingly "you know, the grown ups are still allowed chocolates!" So now I don't know if this meant to encourage me to make some or if they will refuse the treats.





Maelie will be going to school with her costume this morning. She didn't like the wig so much so we will spray her hair black... I can just see every single item of clothing returning BLACK, black marks everywhere... uh!

It should be a nice warm day for trick or treating today (well relatively speaking)! Hurray!

Wish list

This morning Maelie, just like her mama, was up before dawn. Way before dawn.

She is going through the toy flyers right now.



She is working on her Christmas wish list already! It's going to be a long 2 months...

IGA workshop

This past weekend on Sunday morning, Maelie and I headed off to our local IGA so she could decorate Halloween cupcakes. That is one great thing about our IGA. Other that always having fresh produce, they offer kid workshops for special occasions - for free! All you do is register ahead of time, select the flavor you want (chocolate or vanilla) and then show up!

They give you a plastic apron, icing, cake and sprinkles... and they demonstrate. Then you are on your own. It's awesome!



Maelie divided her work into three parts. 2 cupcakes for dad with a lot of icing, 2 for mom with regular amount of icing, and 2 for herself with barely aqny icing since she doesn't like it that much.

Tada!



I guess you could not ask for a better thing to do at 8:30 in the morning!

Good morning winter!

Princess, will you marry me?

Happy Halloween!

Today was the day Maelie had been waiting for for a long time! It was her Halloween party. I planned for weeks and weeks! I read so many Halloween magazines and websites to get ideas. I made lists and tried to make a plan. I changed my mind many times! Turns out, the final plan went well, but the 3 hours went by way too fast!

I spent countless hours preparing food on Friday and Saturday. Pictured below are spider cupcakes, mini caramel apples, Spiderweb pizzas, worms in dirt, mummies, worms on a bun and spider cheeseballs. (not to forget of course a plate of veggies & dip)









I had so much fun preparing! I also prepared empty goodie bags that the kids could fill along the way as prizes were won for games.



Maelie posed before the guests arrived... a bit dramatic no?



I thought I would take a group picture before the costume pieces started coming off!


We played Pop the ghost balloon, then we built a spiderweb together and had to try and get treats without touching the web.



We ate supper, then set up to make haunted houses.



After the haunted houses, it was time to get wild and crazy with music, glowsticks and the disco ball!



As exhausted as I am , it was a blast! The kids were great, there were no problems at all. I think it was a major success! I am wondering if I will be able to sleep tonight!

Halloween Dance

Here is Vampiress Maelie at the Halloween dance at school....



She takes her costume very seriously.....

Our Guinea-Guin

It seems as if our blog features Bebe lapin pretty often... I think that it's also important to introduce Bebe Lapin's pet.... Guinea-guin. He doesn't get out of the cage much, he is much happier in his cage eating away. When I so pick him up though, I am always amazed with the size of his tummy! He is ADORABLE (and quite the chubby chub...)!

Painting pumpkins

Maelie's teacher invited me to volunteer in the classroom to paint pumpkins. From what I understand ... she is not too fond of painting with the kids. After a whole afternoon there with all of them... I can understand why!



STAY - Don't even think of walking anywhere!!!

One more down

Maelie lost another tooth today! This time it is the top left one (right if you are facing her). She is down 5!

As usual she wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking her to leave her tooth when she visits. This time, she added "Sign here" and drew a line. She say she wants to know her name!

This season brings another passion

For some reason, Maelie LOVES ice skating. She certainly doesn't get that from me because I disliked it since I was about 12.



Since grand-maman was coming this weekend, Maelie asked her to bring her skates. Thank goodness the indoor rinks are actually open!



We headed off to the rink for 7 pm last night. Maelie was determined to this skating thing down pat! She has only been skating 3 times in her life. She got on the ice, fell, got up again, and was happy the whole time. Grand-maman had to suggest breaks a couple of times, but Maelie would not have it. She stopped to rest for about 1 minute twice during the whole hour and ten minutes! She didn't complain once.



I am extremely proud of her! This is an activity I will take her to more often because she truly enjoyed it. I will remember to pack a few extra pairs of gloves though! They get wet quickly when you spend a bit of time getting up from the ice!

Nothing better than a beautiful fall day...

I enjoy the beauty of the fall (as do most people, i think).



Maelie insisted on posing for the camera a bit while playing in the leaves! Our big tree was trimmed this summer, so we have much less leaves than we are accustomed to.



I raked up the leaves, but did not pick them up yet. It's much to enjoyable to watch Maelie playing in them. We will fill up or plastic Halloween pumpkin bags soon... but in the meantime, the leaves will serve a purpose.



All hail the fall!

Maelie's fundraiser

Maelie is having a fundraiser at school right now. There are a few options. She is selling cookies dough, which is harder for people to buy from afar. However, she also is selling magazine subscriptions.

I will mark down tha names and prices. If you would like to encourage Maelie, please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated!!

Canadian Living - 12 issues for 25$
Sports Illustrated kids - 6 issues for 15$ or 11 issues for 25$
TIME Canada - 21 issues for 15$ or 39 issues 25$
Lou Lou (english) 10 issues for 15$ or 16 issues for 25$
Money Sense - 4 issues for 15$ or 7 issues for 25$
Today's Parent - 10 issues for 15$ or 17 issues for 25$
Canadian Gardeing - 5 issues for 15$ or 8 issues for 25$
FamilyFun - 10 issues for 15$ or 20 issues for 25$
Homemakers - 15 issues for 15$
Elle - 12 issues for 15$ or 20 issues for 25$
Bon Appetit (english version) -6 issues for 15$ or 10 issues for 25$
Men's Fitness - 10 issues for 15$ or 16 for 25$
PlayStation - 6 issues for 15$ or 11 issues for 25$
Entertainment Weekly - 20 for 15$ or 37 for 25$
Food & Wine - 6 for 15$ or 13 for 25$
Golf Magazine - 6 for 15$ or 11 for 25$
People StyleWatch - 6 for 15$ or 10 for 25$
People - 9 for 25$
Sports Illustrated - 15 for 15$ or 27 for 25$
This Old House - 10 for 15$ or 20 for 25$
Travel + Leisure - 6 for 15$ or 13 for 25$
Maclean's - 20 for 15$ or 34 for 25$
Chatelaine (english) - 9 for 15$ or 15 for 25$
Flare - 14 for 15$ or 24 for 25$
Ontario out of Doors - 8 for 15$ or 13 for 25$
Canadian Home Workshop - 5 for 15$ or 8 for 25$
Canadian Home & Country - 5 for 15$ or 9 for 25$
Outdoor Canada - 6 for 15$ or 10 for 25$
Style at Home - 12 for 25$
Official XBox Magazine - 7 for 15$ or 12 for 25$
The Hockey News - 9 for 15$ or 14 for 25$
Real Simple - 4 for 15$ or 7 for 25$

Then there are a bunch fo French ones too:
en francais:
Le Lundi - 14 pour 25$
Star Inc. - 10 pour 25$
Clin d'oeil - 12 pour 25$
150 plams de maisons du Quebec - 4 pour 15$
Les idees de ma maison - 8 pour 25$
Cool! - 8 pour 25$
LouLou (francais) - 10 pour 15$
Chatelaine (francais) - 9 pour 15$
L'actualité - 8 pour 15$
Espace parents.ca - 8 pour 25$
FCD - 5 pour 15$
Magazine Animal - 6 pour 25$
TV Hebdo Cable - 18 pour 25$
Moi & Cie - 12 pour 25$

So check the list out and if you are friends or family, please e-mail me or leave a comment and I will contact you. I think the orders are due by next Friday, so please let me know as soon as possible!

Thanks for helping Maelie out!

too shy for the camera

Wonder-full day!

What a wonderful day we had on Saturday. and when I say wonderful, i also mean FULL. Our day was packed with fun!

We started off the day going to the Museum of Nature which has free admission on Saturday morning. We went with Jacinthe, Koryne and Raphael. The kids get along so incredibly well that you wouldn't even know you have 3 kids in tow.

We went specifically to check out the dinosaurs as it is currently Raphael's passion.



Afterwards we headed off to a park to have a pic nic. It was GORGEOUS outside!



The kids played at the park for a while.



They ran around and expended a whole lot of energy!



Once we were done with that, they happily hopped in the car to go shopping at a few stores. We went to Michael's and Bulk Barn, PetSmart and Party Packagers. Stocked up on a few items for Maelie's Halloween party, and then headed off home.

Once we got home, we just had time to unpack, change clothes and head off for supper at my uncles house. Pierre and Isabela served us dinner on their "raclette". I found that amazing. As popular as it is, I had never tried it. Maelie even baked cookies with Pierre as I toured their new house. We are a very chatty family so there were no dull moments in the conversation. Maelie fell asleep on their couch at about 8:45 and we chit-chatted until about 10:45 after which I packed Maelie in the car and drove home. I am usually in bed by 8 at the latest so this was pretty late for me!

We had a wonderful busy day.

Maelie was up at 6:45 this morning and has already asked what we are doing today! This girl is unstoppable!

Friend or foe?

Hmmm... who is this little creature at my door?



Let me get a closer look.



WHOA!



Let me move back here. No need for you to try and mess up my hair!