Maple Leaf Mommy

A Canadian Mom's Life: Family, Food & Fun

What Lessons Can We Learn From Fairy Tales?

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Fairy tales, in their telling, have long been a source of fond memories between parent and child. Many have inspired countless movies and toys, providing countless hours of entertainment and nostalgia. Given how widely known these stories are, it’s not surprising that numerous life lessons can be drawn from their tellings, many of which have helped children the world over as … [Read more...]

Cool Contest Alert – Desjardins Insurance is offering a chance to WIN FREE GAS FOR A YEAR! #GetAQuoteAndWin

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I have found that there are three unwavering certainties in this life as a mom thing. 1)The laundry is literally never-ending. Unless you institute nudist weekends at your place, you will never, ever, get to the bottom of Mount Laundry. Every day the entire family wears clothes, often multiple outfits in one day. Thus, the laundry is NEVER done. 2)You have to feed the … [Read more...]

7 Double Duty Board Games – Good for Playing With Kids AND (or) With Adults

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Kudos to these double duty games. These are the board games that get played with my kids at the dining room table, and that we still play once the girls are in bed. I like to think of it as a two for one deal; you put out money and shelf space for one board game and end up with both a game you can play with your children and a game you can play with other adults. Some of … [Read more...]

IBD is just as common as Diabetes and other shocking facts. {In honour of Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Month}

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November is Crohn’s and Colitis awareness month. Colitis awareness is a topic near and dear to my heart because my husband has Colitis and in the years since his original diagnosis, I've found it to be a disease which many people know absolutely nothing about. Since so many people seem to have never heard of it, I had fallen into thinking that Colitis is a relatively rare … [Read more...]

Reorganzing When Your MIL Moves In, Or Life as a Sandwich

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Reorganizing your home after an elderly parent or in-law moves in can be challenging. I mean, I think I know now why they call this whole caring for elderly parents thing the Sandwich Generation. It's because you are squished flat, underneath piles of STUFF. See, a little over a year ago my mother-in-law moved in with us. For a long while, she had been focused on taking … [Read more...]

Here’s what I DON’T want you to give my kids for Halloween…

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Ok people, friendly Halloween-candy-handing-out people, I want to ask you a favour. Could you please stop giving my kids so much candy? Like seriously, one piece is enough. This whole, "Oh my goodness. Look at you! You're so cute. Here let me drop two big handfuls of junk food into your pillowcase.", stuff has to stop. Please just give my kids one piece of candy, one … [Read more...]

“Fancy-Spooky” Halloween Cookies, with Go-To Cookie Cutter Sugar Cookies Recipe

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I promised my nieces Halloween Cookies. “Aunt Holly, will you bake some Halloween cookies?” No problem. “Fancy-spooky decorated ones?”  Ummm… Sure kids, why not. I used to love baking elaborately decorated sugar cookies for Christmas, but that was back when I had a large kitchen to work in with lots of counter space to roll out dough. Now I have a tiny apartment kitchen … [Read more...]

Easy & Cheap Craft to Make with Your Kids ~ Spooky Spoon Puppet Aliens & Monsters

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  My mom is a pretty awesome grandma. She is the come over to my house and sleep over and bake cookies and make crafts kind of grandmother. She is way more thrifty and far more creative in coming up with art projects for the girls to make then I am. Possessing only the vaguest notion of what Pinterest is she does things old school, coming up with crafts through sheer … [Read more...]

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The Porter Difference, What the heck is that exactly?

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I love riding on the train. I adore riding on the train. I will jump at any excuse to take the four hour Via Rail ride to Toronto. Four hours of sitting in a cozy seat, with wifi, coffee, and a lovely view out the window. Sometimes I splurge and go business class, sometimes I ride economy, either way, I always love riding on the train. There have been times when I’ve been … [Read more...]

Over 175 Cartoons and Kids Shows to Watch in French on Netflix – UPDATED LIST, August 2018

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My children are in a French Immersion school, which means eighty-some-percent of the day they are taught in French. My own French is not exactly stellar. I mean I have the basic "I learned this in grade school because I am Canadian" level of French, which my kids, who are in 1st and 4th grade, are already surpassing. Yesterday I was doing the dishes with my seven year old, … [Read more...]

Secret Confession: I Have Beach Guilt

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I've brought my kids on a family vacation to Florida twice now. Twice we've visited Orlando as a family. And I'm finding that I feel oddly guilty about it. See, when I was a kid we would visit Florida and stay with relatives. We'd fly down, or drive (24 hours straight, my dad was hardcore) to Bradenton, or Sarasota, stay for a week or two and head home. We chilled. A lot. We … [Read more...]

That time my 2nd Grader brought Whiskey to school…

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I let my kid bring Whiskey to school. It didn't go well. To be clear, Whiskey is a cat -- a stuffed cat. I had reservations about Gigi bringing Whiskey to school, but apparently not for any of the right reasons. I was worried that her favourite doll might get ruined, that her long soft orange fur would get dirty from playing outside during recess, and that if I had to … [Read more...]