Payback??

Arabella has been starting to pout when she doesn't get her way. I was able to finally capture it today when we were eating lunch...


It is hard to keep a straight face when she does this and I joke that I am going to put her in acting lessons - she is really good. But something tells me that this is the start of my payback from when I was a child...

Pinkalicious Party Details

For Arabella's Pinkalicious birthday party, I made sure that everything was PINK and I tried not to overlook some of the smallest details. I have been wanting to share some of them for the past month, and now that the blog is completely caught up, I can! One of my favorite details were these great straws that I found on Etsy. They made the pink lemonade even more fun!


If you are looking for fun, retro party supplies, I encourage you to check out the DimeStoreBuddy shop on Etsy - just follow this link: http://http//www.etsy.com/shop/DimeStoreBuddy
I also ordered the pull string pinata from Etsy. It was a perfect match with the Pinkalicious cupcake in the book and was such a hit, that despite it being a little more than I wanted to spend, just seeing how much fun the kids had made it worth it.

You can find it here: http://http//www.etsy.com/listing/67995953/ready-to-ship-cherry-pink-cupcake-pinata

The loot bags were just small pink gift bags purchased from Party City and I printed up stickers that matched the party theme with a little thank you from Arabella.

I also made a fun popcorn snack that people are begging me to make again. I found a recipe for it on another blog and then modified it to fit with the theme. All it is is lightly salted popcorn, melted candy chocolate tinted pink and then some pink and green M&M's. Mix everything together, spread on a baking sheet until the chocolate hardens, then break up and store in an airtight container. You could add sprinkles, other types of candy or use dark or milk chocolate instead of white like I did. The possibilities are endless and it is an easy and fun snack to make.



And the final PINK detail is my favorite. I made cupcake cake pops that were modeled after the cupcake in the Pinkalicious story. To do so, I purchased the My Little Cupcake cake pop mold. Find it here: http://www.mylittlecupcakepop.com/
I then made the pops, they were a little time intensive, but I loved how they came out and they were delicious. The mold comes with a recipe which is easy, the longest part was decorating them. But I was very happy with how they came out.
Pops right out of the mold.
Waiting for the pink while chocolate tops and milk chocolate bottoms to harden before the final details were put in place.
I made a lot of them... The final result - just like the Pinkalicious cupcake and so yummy!

Martha Moment

I am liking the title of my post the other day on the brownie pops I made - Martha Moment - so I think will start using that as the title of some of my food/recipe/craft entries - what do you think??

Anyway, I had another Martha Moment the other day, when Laura asked me to make some of the brownie pops that I made for the D&B for Allyson's party. I was happy to help out since they were so easy the first time around. However, this time I modified them and made them a little smaller since I was going to need to make about 40 of them. I also made them into more of a round shape, which was easy since I used a baking mold. Once they had finished baking and cooling, I dipped them in melted white chocolate and then sprinkled them with a special blend of "Princess Sprinkles". OK, so it wasn't really that special - just white, pink and purple sprinkles mixed together - pretty simple. Once that was done, I put them on a pink platter lined with wax paper and let them dry.



They were a hit and I am sure I will be making them again soon!

Princess Allyson Turns 3

Yesterday, one of Arabella's best friends had a birthday! We attended Princess Allyson's 3rd Birthday, and despite the very rainy weather, we had a blast running around and going "crazy" at Petit Gym. All the girls were dressed in their princess outfits - it was so sweet to see them one minute being monkey's on the equipment to then dancing around in their dresses. The boys also had a great time! There was good food, great friends, an amazing Ariel cake (done by Carrie) and lots of presents! If this party didn't brighten up our rainy day, then nothing would have! Happy Birthday Princess Allyson - we are so happy to be part of your special day.
"Come on Dad, let's get this car rolling"!
Giving Cynthia a BIG Hello hug!
Even the little ones got dressed up...priceless!
I can still do flips on the bar in my princess wear!
Face painting
Linda and I taking pics of each other at the same time...see we can be silly!
Even I can wear a princess crown!
The birthday princess - Allyson!
Carrie did an amazing job on the Ariel cake!
Cynthia, Carrie & I also wanted our faces painted!
They love to bounce on the air track!
Look at that height!
June and I hamming it up!
Swinging from the high bar!
Giving Allyson her present...which led to the next picture...
Meltdown #1 - She wanted the butterfly Barbie that was part of the present we gave to Allyson...she has almost the exact same one at home...but wanted "THAT ONE"!! She then calmed down and went to play some more....but it didn't last too long...Meltdown #2 was on it's way....
Meltdown #2...I guess it was just a sign that she had too much fun....is that possible???

I Believe...

I came across this quote from Audrey Hepburn and it inspires me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I believe in pink.
I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.
I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.
I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.
I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.
I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

- Audrey Hepburn

Montreal Traffic

This post has been 18 months in the making. One of the first things I noticed about Montreal was the traffic. There is a lot of it at any time of the day or night. Case in point, last Thursday I had an appointment downtown at 10:15 - you would figure all the rush hour traffic would have been over - guess again - it took me 2 hours to get downtown, good thing the appointment I had was flexible and able to take me at 11:45 instead of 10:15! It is not like we live that far from downtown so it shouldn't have taken that long. And in the Summer it gets worse since this is when they supposedly do construction on the roads. In my opinion, it seems like they put out the construction cones, but you never really see any workers around. I guess all this traffic is the price we pay for living on an island...I am just happy that I am not working here and having to make a commute into Montreal on a daily basis! Take a look at all the traffic mid-day...it is as far as the eye can see and in every direction!

Thursday's Thoughts

Hearing: Light summer rain falling outside my open office window.


Tasting: Crisp, cool water.

Seeing: A sink full of dishes and a mountain of schoolwork that needs to be completed.

Smelling: Freshly baked brownies that I will be making into brownie pops for a very special Birthday party tomorrow.

Feeling: Love from Arabella...she has been a snuggle bug today and has given me the best hugs just when I needed them.

Martha Moment

On Friday, I went to a D&B at my friend, Carrie's house. We all bring something fun and yummy to eat or drink. Most of the time we just hang out and relax sans kids, which is a great break for all of us. I decided to make something sweet - brownies in the shape of Popsicles! I randomly found them here http://loveandtwentytoes.blogspot.com/2011/03/brownie-popsicles.html They were pretty easy to make and they were a hit. Laura even asked me to make a modified version for Allyson's birthday later this week!

Making Croissants

After spending Thursday with Cynthia and GiGi, Arabella woke up from her nap asking for croissants. She didn't have any at Cynthia's house, we did not have any at our house and she really wanted one. She asked for them on Friday, Saturday and on Sunday morning...which resulted in a trip to Tim Hortons since it was the only place open that early in the morning. She she had been asking so sweetly, I checked to see if one of my cookbooks had a recipe...how hard could they really be to make?? I found a recipe in my Larousse Gastronomique cookbook and sure enough it seemed simple, only about 5 ingredients and it looked as if most of the recipe time would be spent waiting for the dough to rise. So on Monday, Arabella and I decided to finally make them.


After a lot of waiting for the dough to rise, and a lot of rolling, dotting with butter, rolling out again, they finally begin to take shape.

The final product, not too good looking or tasting...


My friends may call me Martha Stewart, but apparently the only thing that Martha can't make are croissants. They just didn't come out right, too doughy, at least we tried. Needless to say, croissants are the one thing that I will leave to the patisserie!

Wordless Wednesday

Slide, Slide, Slippity Slide

On Saturday, we had an impromptu playdate at Laura & Allyson's. It was perfect weather to set up the slip-n-slide and there was even a little hill in the yard that made the slide even more fun! The kids loved it! Although, after a little while, they complained that the water was too cold and wanted us to make it warmer - if only there was a way to make the hose deliver warm water!
Arabella slides!
Allyson goes on her bum!
Cristina twists and turns!
GiGi splashes down!

And while the kids had fun, the Mom's enjoyed a nice, cold refreshing drink - frozen pina coladas - YUM!

Happy Summer Solstice

To ring in Summer, we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the sun today. Arabella looked so cute in her pretty pink sundress and cute flip flops. I love this picture of her checking out her outfit in the mirror.

While I was getting things ready for outside, Arabella decided to vacuum up her playroom.

After clean-up, it was time to get out and enjoy the afternoon. Arabella took Olivia with her and they had fun running and playing in her sprinkler and then lounging in the sun. She just loved it and I loved hearing her laugh, giggle and talk to Olivia.




Here's to a great Summer!