hockey night in Tampa, FL

Being a Canadian living in the states for these some odd years there have been a few things that have oh-so-gently and quietly slipped away and have been replaced with US of A.....things. Things such as calling pop 'soda' and asking where the 'restroom' is versus calling it the washroom and I now 'fix' supper instead of making supper and I may or may not have picked up a bit of a southern accent. If you ask a few members of my family they will say I've gone "American" while several people down here tease me whenever an "eh" slips out. I can't help it when I'm tired or excited....it just happens. But you throw a hockey game in the mix and all my US-isms go out the door and my true red and white roots come right back as though I never left! 

 I think the last time I attended a live hockey game was 1992 (give or take a couple of years) with my Dad and so I know that I was over due big time. My timing couldn't have been more perfect since my home team was in town playing against the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night. 

It totally made my day to see several blue and orange jerseys mingled in with the dark blue and grey Lightning colours. I wore my 'away' colours this game and wore them with Edmonton pride. We definitely got our money's worth with the game ending in a shoot out. Talk about intense...aye ya yi! 

 ^^^#1 Fan^^^

gotta love classic self portrait shots! ♥

Nosebleed seats or not I am so happy I went and that I had the best Orlando native with me cheering away just as hard and just as loud. Ultimately our team lost this game but that didn't take away any of the fun we had that night! One thing is for sure, when I go back home this fall to my hometown I will be picking up some Oilers regalia like foam fingers and toques.Team spirit baby!!!

youer than you

I can't get over sometimes how dynamic kids personalities are. Like seriously, this little chickie poo cracks me up like no other. She loves the camera now and as long as she gets to do some silly poses she will give me some nice poses sans bribes!!! It's great!

Alas there are still a times where she'll call me saying "Hey Mommy, take my picture" then fake me out. But I still have some tricks up these mommarazzi's sleeves that I can sneak a few shots in between. Thanks goodness for digital photography that gives us the chance to snap a bazillion photos and view those photos instantly.

But then she will turn and look right at me and hold her pose just so I can snap that one photo that melts my heart.  ♥♥♥

the tooth fairy door

In a blink of an eye it inevitable happened. My freshly five year old lost her other baby tooth (one of the ones she was born with-yes she was born with two teeth) and is growing up. *sniff*

When I heard the great news I knew that the Tooth Fairy would be expected later that evening so I quickly made a Tooth Fairy door so that she wouldn't have to break and enter to make the transaction. Instead she would use her "fairy magic" and come in through the special door.

Pipa keeping a watch out.
Maribel was so excited and actually went to bed on time with no hastle or extra requests. But she did keep checking the door to see if the Tooth Fairy had used her magic to open the "magic portal."

Nothing yet. It didn't take long before she was fast asleep dreaming about cupcakes and fairy dust.
When she woke she was beyond excited about her $2 and when she went back to check the door to see if the  magic portal had been left open she found that the portal had been closed...but evidence remained....

"Mommy, Mommy! The Tooth Fairy left some fairy magic in the door." as she starts rubbing all over her hands. At least Milo is safe. For now.......

cozy center

Oh for the love of all things Pinterest I pinned this photo of a perfect reading room with all the books on display using the IKEA picture frame shelves. Soooo pretty and picture perfect…*sigh* and because of Pinterest I now have a micro mini version of it in M’s room. 

When we moved in to our new place I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this odd shaped space and just recently I finally got around to setting it up. It's no surprise that Maribel loves it. 

I tried calling it the Book Nook but Maribel corrects me every time with “No, it’s call a Cozy Center.” Pfft ‘scuuuse me. Who am I to argue? I guess it would make sense since she will throw all her pillow pets and a soft blanket and will lay in there reading, playing DS, watching Netflix via mommy’s Nook, even sleep. Yup, I’ve caught her in the middle of the night sneaking out of her bed to sleep in her new favourite little space.

Right now it’s holding her top favorites and I really like how it works great for keeping the library books separate from the rest of the collective. Maribel's school has this sweet program that for every book that a child reads they get to add a link in this super duper long paper chain. This chain runs up and down the school hallway and Maribel is so proud that she's added to it with the books that she's read so far. 

For her birthday she received a bean bag pillow for a more comfortable sitting spot. After all it's supposed to be a "cozy center" so why not make it cozy? I have plans to sew a cover for the bag. I just need to find a pattern, a really big pattern.


Can you believe it's March already??? Me neither since it also means that I will have to face some music...in the tune of Happy Birthday. It might be my 7th 29th birthday... I stopped counting.