Everyone's birthday

Have you ever noticed the way kids always want to help the birthday boy/girl blow out the birthday candles on a cake? They crowd in and hover as close as they can get, take a deep breathe and blow all over the cake! There's no wonder they all want a piece of the action, birthdays make you feel special! So why not create that moment of magic any day of the year?

Not too long ago Joel and I baked a cake and decorated it. He insisted that it was a birthday cake, even though it wasn't his, nor mine, or anyone's birthday that day. When I asked him who's birthday it was he replied 'everyone's birthday!'

That's when the idea came to me, why not have it be a birthday cake? So with some friends, we lit the candles, sang happy birthday to everyone, and let the kids blow them out.

You should have seen those happy faces!

ABC Challenge : Week 6

I'm loving the beautiful weather because we've been outside so much and I've been getting lots of great photos. I hope you have too! Let's get together

I am hoping that we can combine a bit of business with pleasure! I would love to meet many of you, and also learn from you.  Kids in the Capital also needs more photos of kids on Parliament Hill for promotional materials. So, is anyone interested in a meet-up on Parliament Hill on a Saturday or Sunday in June? Leave a comment here or I've also started a discussion thread in our flickr group.

Photography tip

Rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is one of the basic things you learn in photography classes.

According to wikipedia the rule is "The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections."

So you try to make the focus of your photo land on one of the intersections in a grid like this one:

I don't often think about the rule of thirds when I'm taking photos, but I realize that lot of the photos that I really like do tend to more or less follow the rule:

Try shifting your focus this week and see if you get any shots you like better that way. Or you can even try cropping your photo to see if it can adhere to the rule.

My two picks this week

F is for friends

These boys had such fun together.

Q is for quiet

I adore this photo of my daughter with my mother in law

Participants’ photos

We love going to feed the ducks and geese. G if for green by Dani.

Look at that hair! X if for xcited by Stella.

Z is for Zooooooooooom by Eisangel

I want to be in this moment. Q is for quiet by lilypilly.

As always, it’s never to late too join the challenge. We hope you’ll play along!

Lara is the mom to 3.5 year old Kiernan and 1 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can find her at her blog Gliding Through Motherhood.

The Green Door

by Brie For a long time we never ventured out to restaurants with our kids. When the boy was a baby, the girl was two and in that stage where she never wanted to sit quietly. Now that she is almost four she is a perfect restaurant companion. It is her little brother who won't sit still for longer than he has too.

We have started eating out anyway, but we are careful in choosing our locations. Food courts are great for a quick meal. I avoid any where with table clothes. And my restaurant of choice is always The Green Door.

Located at 198 Main Street in Old Ottawa East, The Green Door is perfect for kids. The wait time to eat is only as long as it takes to serve yourself from the buffet and pay which means kids aren't cranky by the time the food hits the table. There are always a few dozen different dishes to choose from, guaranteeing that there will be something that every family member will like. The options are healthy and made, when possible, with locally grown ingredient so you can feel good about what you are feeding your kids.

On our last visit the kids ate some of their favorites. The girl loves the spanakopita and will eat an entire one herself.

The boy liked the sushi and the noodles.

Me? I like everything. But just remember when you are piling your plate that you pay for your food by weight!

Brie is the mom of a 3.5 year old daughter “the girl” and eighteen month old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

Junior Mall Walkers

by Dawn My kids NEED to get out of the house, everyday. Days spent stuck at home because of poor weather outside are torture, not only for them but also for me. We could bundle up and dress appropriately of course, but sometimes you only get 10 or 15 minutes before the kids are whining to go back inside.

Head to the mall! Lots of room to run around. (Leave your wallet at home if you're worried about being tempted. Just remember to bring enough for a coffee.) Go early. Most of the malls are open to the public before the stores open for Mall Walker clubs. It's also an ideal place for eager little walkers who like to touch everything. Let them burn off some energy running down the halls when they can't get into the shops.

Our favourite is Carlingwood Mall. It's almost all one level (the Dollarama and Bargain Shop are downstairs) so few worries about tumbles down stairs and the stores don't open until 9:30 which gives us a little extra hallway time. My youngest (a toddler) and I head over after dropping her older sister off at school. She gets 30-45 minutes to run before the shops open, then is tired enough to sit quietly in her stroller munching on a Timbit while I run my errands. It's a popular mall with seniors too, so if you little one likes attention as mine does, (s)he'll get plenty there!

And it's not bad for Mom's self-esteem either to be told how cute your kids are. :)

Dawn is mom to two daughters, 5 year old Dolly-girl and 18 month old Booboo. She tries very hard to remember which one is which.

Victoria Day Festival

by Sara The Victoria Day Festival is the perfect opportunity to combine kid-friendly fun with tulip gazing at Dow's Lake.  The Festival runs from May 13th to May 24th and culminates with a fireworks show on the final evening.  The festival is being held at Queen Juliana Park (corner of Carling and Preston), which is across the road from Commissioner's Park on Dow's Lake.

On the weekends there is a charity breakfast from 7 am to 11 am and all proceeds are donated to CHEO.  The festival opens weekdays at 4 pm and free parking is available (evenings and weekends) at the Sir John Carling building across the road as well as the Dow's Lake NCC parking lot and Dow's Lake Court parking lot (intersection of Champagne and Carling)

We arrived just as the midway opened at 11 o'clock and took advantage of our early start: the boys were oftentimes the only kids on the rides.  The rides are best suited to preschool and elementary children, with only two stomach-churning spinning contraptions on site.  There is a 7 metre high Ferris wheel, which gives you a birds-eye view of Dow's lake and the tulips and several midway games where you can test your hand-eye coordination (for the record, mine is sadly lacking).  My boys especially enjoyed all the vehicle midway rides and took turns driving a fire truck and big rig.  I was greatly appreciative of the seatbelts on every ride, which kept my almost two year old in his seat.

There is a small petting zoo and pony rides at the back of the park, where a very loud turkey is currently in residence.  While we were admiring the sheep, we were treated to a show by the three ducks, who took turns bathing themselves in the water trough.  Even my animal-phobic four year old peered through the fence to check out the action.  Along with balloon animals and concession stands, there is live music everyday starting at 12 pm.

The festival gave the boys a chance to burn off their energy before we ambled through the tulips in Commissioner's Park.  I wasn't expecting so many tulips to still be in bloom and was pleasantly surprised that there were still so many flowers to admire.  The boys enjoyed running along the pathways and through the park and took turns (gently) smelling some of the flowers.

Summer is scheduled to make a return this week so I encourage you to get out and enjoy both the Victoria Day Festival and Tulip Festival before both events end on the 24th.

Sara is mom to a 4-year-old firefighter and 2-year-old monkey.  You can find her at her blog, My Points of View