*#%* my two (almost 3!) year old says...

After our usual ridiculous routine of getting out of the house in the morning (Henry crying in car seat, Charlie barking at Andrew, Andrew "powing" Charlie) I manage to get us out of the door, while keeping the dog in. Walking to the van we are admiring all of the new snow on the ground and Andrew says "Uh Mommy, can I have some shoes on please?"... Woops! At lease he was polite about it!

Here are a couple videos of Andrew singing along with his birthday cards!

A pirate party!!!

This past weekend we celebrated Andrew's 3rd birthday! We always plan for this party in late November because we just can't bring ourselves to try it on his actual birthday... 5 days after Christmas. So far this plan has successfully avoided subjecting the poor little man to birthday/Christmas presents! I absolutely love planning birthday parties.  They combine some of my favourite things: baking, crafts, decorating and overall creativity.  This year was especially exciting because Andrew actually understood what was happening and was really into it!

The theme of the day was pirates, which lent itself very well to decorations, costumes and games. The house was festively decked out in red and black, a birthday banner, mop buckets, and pirate ship sail added some nice touches!

Upon arrival, all of our party guests were greeted with a bandanna and eye patch, and the kiddies even got a pirate sword (post Halloween special at the dollar store).

Andrew's "scary pirate face"

The kids had fun playing a few games... 

Go Fish - use your hands to find the goldfish crackers in a paper bag filled with yummy snacks (popcorn, teddy grahams, raisins, Cheerios)

Swab the Deck - be the first to mop all of your team's balloons to your side of the deck

Who Wants to be Andrew's Best Friend - try and guess how Andrew answered each question (My techy husband created this game on his computer so that after each question was answered a video of Andrew answering the question played!)

 (Andrew and Attie ate their way through)

We enjoyed some yummy pirate treats...

And to take away... a little pirate treasure!

I sewed simple drawstring bags from the same fabric as the bandannas and table runner.

A treat for the adults... banana chip muffins

It was an amazing day! We were so happy to have Andrew's friends and family here to celebrate with us! It's hard to believe he is already three! He amazes us everyday with his witty sense of humour and insatiable curiosity! Can't wait to see what this next year will bring!

An advent calendar & a free printable...

As a kid, I absolutely loved the excitement of an advent calendar. There was nothing better than the novelty of a chocolate with breakfast! It seems that the whole idea of an advent calendar has really taken on a life of it's own. Time intensive crafting, elaborate packaging and costly gifts seem to be the norm these days (a big jump from the $1.99 chocolate calendar I am accustomed to!).  Although I love the idea of a DIY advent calendar, I don't think I am ready to commit to a small gift everyday for the kiddos but I do love the idea of a handmade advent calendar! After searching blog land, this is what I came up with!

Using a simple graphic program on my computer I designed 24 number circles that would cover the cups of a mini muffin tin. I printed these off on printable magnetic paper and cut out each circle. 

I picked up some of Andrew's favourite treats in the bulk section at the grocery store, placed them in the tin, covered each cup and was finished!

I propped the calendar on a plate stand and set it up in our kitchen. Andrew has no idea what it's for yet, but I know he will be pretty excited to learn about this holiday tradition!

Here is a PDF version of the circles, print one off for yourself!! (printable advent calendar)