Maple Leaf Mommy

Who the heck is Phineas and Ferb? Judging by the buzz in my feed I'm the only mom out there asking that question. Everyone else seems to be well acquainted with them, and really psyched about the new PHINEAS AND FERB: THE PERRY FILES 2-Disc DVD set coming out on June 5th.

The Perry Files focuses on Perry, Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus, who leads a secret life as Agent P deftly battling the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz to save the world!

Join Perry the Platypus–a.k.a. Agent P.–on his most exciting adventures as he thwarts his nemesis, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, at every turn. With groovy gadgets, mad skills and his trademark brown fedora, this semi-aquatic, egg-layin’ mammal of action is unstoppable! Experience the hilarious havoc as he defends the Tristate Area against Doof’s “inators,” battles rogue agent “Dennis the Bunny,” and much more. When it comes to secret agents, Perry’s not only the real deal, he’s real teal! 

I suspect G-Girl is going to love Perry. I'm looking forward to sharing my review copy with her and reporting back to you folks with our findings. But in the meantime I've teamed up with Disney to offer this cool giveaway....

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Okay here are a couple of gems I recently overheard while the big one was trying to teach the little one how to play Star Wars the "right" way.

First there's the names they call "The Star Wars Guys" by...

Star Guy Gun Guy Good Guy

Bad Guy Woooookie and Mom.

Wait, Mom? Yeah, I tried to convince the kids that Leia and I don't even bear a passing resemblance but the little one is insistent.

Actually, thanks to her Dad's patient prompting, the four year old is starting to catch on to the characters proper names. Which is why I recently caught her yelling at her little sister, "There are NO Brobies here! No! His name is NOT Brobie One Kenobi." I couldn't help but giggle.

Particularly when it was followed up by G-Girl yelling, "No hugging! No! No, NO! Jedi never hug when they have their light-sabers on!"

Have you guys overheard any doozies while your little ones are playing? 

98% of American homes have TV sets, which means the people in the other 2% have to generate their own sex and violence. ~ Franklin P. Jones.

Speroway is a fantastic charity that helps children in need. You might not have heard of them, and that's probably because they used to be called "Feed the Children - Canada", but recently changed their name.  Their new name, Speroway, comes from the Latin for "hope" (spero) plus the word way, so together it roughly means "to lead the way to hope", which fits nicely with their motto "Delivering hope to needy children".

Speroway does fantastic things here in Canada to help those in need; such as their Hamilton Food Drop, and the work they've done within First Nations communities.  They've also done amazing work helping to feed and meet the basic medical needs of children in third world countries like Haiti and Guatemala.  Right now they are trying to raise donations to build a new medical clinic in Haiti.

With their name change, Speroway got a brand new website, a new Facebook fanpage and a new Twitter account. To help let people know about their name change, raise awareness about all they do and to increase donations so that they can build a medical clinic in Haiti, Speroway is running one seriously cool contest.



The Grand Prize Gift Basket includes:
*      an iPad HD 2012 (16GB)
*     $500 WaySpa Gift Card
*      Cineplex Night Out Gift Pack for 4
*      2 “Big Kaboodle” combo packs from Mabel’s Labels 

There are also four runner up prizes each consisting of a Mabels Labels “The Basic Kit” prize pack (approx. value $139.80).

The Speroway Share and Win Contest ends at 5pm on June 22, and is open to Canada only excluding Quebec. ENTER NOW.

You do not have to make a donation to enter this contest. Simply fill out the form and you're entered. However, this is a Share & Win style contest. You're encouraged to share the contest via Facebook, Twitter and Email. Each time one of your friends enters via your link you earn another ballot. Spread the word! You'll be doing a little bit of good by helping to raise awareness about Speroway and all the great things they do, and you'll also be helping to increase your chances of winning one very awesome prize pack (Who doesn't want an iPad??). CLICK HERE TO ENTER. Good luck!

To learn more about Speroway:
- visit their web page.
- connect with them on Facebook.
- connect with them on Twitter.
  
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for which I am being compensated. As always my words and opinions are my own.

I've had a couple of people ask if we were going to reveal the contents of the mystery boxes, so I decided to post these pictures to give you an idea of all the awesome loot our four winners are going to be receiving.


And the winners are....
Patricia W. ~ Baby Box
Jayda T. ~ Kids Box
Eva U. ~ Box of Intrigue
Courtney F. ~ Health & Beauty Box

Congrats ladies!

Thanks to everyone who took part in this fun giveaway! And thanks to my three fabulous co-hosts; Did You Know Canada, The Knit Wit by Shair, and Talking Momcents. We had a fantastic response to this and will be doing a Mystery Box event again in the Fall.

Looking for a few unique Father's Day gift ideas? Check out www.handstampedpendants.com.

Liz, the artisan behind this small Canadian retailer, creates lovely one of a kind handstamped items. I just wasted a good chunk of time browsing through the gorgeous designs on her site. This isn't the first time I've found myself looking through a handstamped jewellery site, and aside from the fact that Liz is a fellow Canadian, what impressed me was the unique range of items she carries.

At first I was thinking, handstamped jewellery for Father's Day?! Um.. probably not. But then I took a look around her site and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many suitable for the Dad or Grandpa in your life items she has listed in her storefront.

Four-Sided Solid Bar Necklace

Duo Washer Necklace

Four Stacked/Layered Handstamped Pendants

Mother's Duo - Layered Handstamped Names Necklace

But what I found really neat is the personalized guitar picks, keychains, and golf ball markers. Any of which would make perfect and unique Father's Day gifts.

Personalized Metal Guitar Pick

Best Dad/Grandpa Keychain

Solid Metal 4-Sided Bar Handstamped Keychain

Personalized Golfball Markers

Everything Liz makes is fully customized and made to order. You chose exactly what words or names will be stamped onto the pieces, you choose the font, and whether you want upper or lowercase letters, you chose any icons you want added to the piece (hearts, stick figures, you name it). It's actually a bit overwhelming the amount of input you have into customizing your piece. But the extra thought and time put into it is totally worth it, because the end result is a one of a kind original that will make a fantastic gift.

I also want to make mention of the fact that her prices are really reasonable, far lower then many other handstamped sites I've looked at. For example the keychains range from $11 to $20.

If you want to order for Father's Day you should hurry on over and take a look at her site right now, as it takes anywhere from 3-6 weeks to receive your custom made order. Your best bet is to email Liz directly and see if you'll be able to get your order in time for Father's Day.

Or check out the pre-made items in the "Ready 2 Ship" section of the store. I spy a few suitable Dad gifts in there as well (and the prices are even discounted).

Liz was also kind enough to offer my readers a discount. Simply enter the code maple_leaf_mom at check out for 15% off (expires June 15th).

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Did you know that today is International Missing Children's Day?  


The Missing Children Society of Canada has created a simple tool that allows you to "donate" space on your Facebook feed or Twitter stream.  It's super simple, you sign up HERE and authorize their app, allowing them to auto-post missing children alerts to your networks for your followers, fans and friends to view.  They intend to use this service for only the most time sensitive cases, so you can expect to have your feed borrowed no more then four or five times a year.

I think this is a brilliant use of Social Media. I know myself and many of my friends have used our Facebook pages to help look for missing children in the past, so signing on for an automated, I don't have to do anything and I get to do good, way to take part in this seems like a no-brainer. 


I've signed on to allow them to post to my Twitter and Facebook feeds and I hope many of you will do the same. Here's the link: www.valuablenetwork.ca

This is one of our favourite ways to spend the afternoon.

We walk down to Pat & Hank's and buy a 3-piece fish dinner to split.

And then we head to the riverfront where we have a picnic....

play in the grass, chase butterflies...

and watch the big boats pass by.


We speculate on whether or not there are any fish in the Detroit River....

follow the paths,

check out the flowers,
and head home for a well deserved nap.

Jennifer over at Mom vs. The Boys had a really cute idea, she's been posting virtual playdates with herself and her boys where she invites you into their world for a fun day out, mostly through photographs. I thought, "Wow, that looks like fun! I want to do this too!" So I contacted her and asked what she thought about others joining in on her fun Virtual Play Date idea, and thus this linky was born.

We'll be posting a new linky on the last Friday of each month. Join in and link up a fun post about where you and your kids like to explore (the park, camping, your own backyard?). This way we can all "virtually" play together! 


So what have you and your little ones been up to in May?

Add your link (directly to your play-date post please) here:

Welcome to the Canadian Friendly Giveaway Link-Up hosted by Mom vs the Boys and Maple Leaf Mommy. 

Canadian Giveaway Junkies - Check out the list below for Open to Canadians giveaways going on now. Click on the link to head on over and enter!

Fellow Bloggers - Link Up all your Giveaways open to Canada. 
PLEASE ONLY LINK GIVEAWAYS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO CANADIANS. Your giveaway can also be open to the US or even Worldwide, as long as Canadians can enter.

Wondering how to participate? It's easy! 

Under "Your name:" put the name of your giveaway prize and the end date. For example something like this "Awesome Prize, 4/16", or  this "My Cool Blog - Excellent Prize (Can/US 3/12)" .  
Under"Your URL:" copy and paste a direct link to your giveaway, not to the main page of your blog.


And finally... if you link up, please help spread the word about the Canadian Friendly Giveaway Link-Up. The more folks that know, the more exposure your giveaway will receive.

Ok, I have a confession to make. This is embarrassing and difficult to admit. I have been putting off taking my in-car lessons with Young Drivers.

Yeah, I'm done my in class lessons. I'm ready to move on to the next stage, and anyone who's ever seen me attempt to play Grand Theft Auto should be running in fear right about now....

I know playing a video game where you drive a car isn't the same as getting behind the wheel of a real vehicle, but I find knowing how badly I suck at every driving game I've ever tried rather disheartening when I consider doing the real thing. Insert terrifying for disheartening and we're closer to the truth.

I keep reminding myself of WHY I'm doing this. I want to be able to drive my kids places. I want to be able to just hop in the car and pick up groceries. I want to be able to help out my Dad and my mother-in-law, both of whom can no longer drive. I want to be able to drive my dad to doctors appointments. I want to be able to take my mother-in-law out shopping. And I'm excited that I'm on the road to freedom, but I'm also scared.

You guys know I’ve had some medical issues over the past few months. The idea of having a bad dizzy or fainting spell while driving scares the pants off of me, so I kept putting off my in-car lessons hoping they’d find something wrong with me and be able to “fix” it. Waiting until I had a diagnosis with that was going on with my bod seemed like a good idea. The answer ended up being not quite as simple as I would have liked but I have to admit that just knowing it’s nothing serious, and not worrying about it so much, I have been feeling much better these past few weeks.

Yet, I'm still nervous as heck about learning to drive. I find myself sitting in our van watching my husband drive and just trying to think like a driver, rather then a passenger, and feeling really over whelmed. There are so many things you are supposed to be keeping track of. I try practising some of the "looking" techniques we talked about in class, where I'm supposed to be looking, what I'm supposed to be watching out for, and it feels like... like trying to rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time. It's too much for me to process. If I feel like that as a passenger what is going to happen when I get behind the wheel?

So next up, calling to book my first in-car lesson. Gulp. Wish me luck folks.

Disclosure: Young Drivers is sponsoring this series of posts documenting my journey as I work towards getting my driver's license by providing me with access to the Young Driver's Defensive Driving Program.

One of the many reasons I'm crazy about Adult Essentials is the fact that I've finally found vitamins my husband will actually take. For years now I've been buying vitamins for my husband in hopes that he would take them.... and then eventually tossing them away as they expire. I had pretty much given up hope when Adult Essentials came on the scene.

As I was writing this post I thought about asking my hubby why he's finally taking his vitamins, but then decided I didn't want to jinx myself. So I am guessing here, but I think the reason is that Adult Essentials gummy vitamins taste fantastic. But it could be because they're so easy to swallow, or the fact that he can just grab them off the sideboard and chomp them down without fetching a glass of water.

 Adult Essentials pectin based gummy vitamins are:

• approved by Health Canada
• gluten free, nut free, dairy free
• made with natural flavours and colours
• delicious

Adult Essentials are available online at Well.ca as well as at most Rexall, Metro, Sobeys, Real Canadian Super Stores/Loblaws, London Drugs and Shoppers Drugmarts.

To learn more about Adult Essentials Gummy Vitamins:
- visit their web page.
- connect with them on Facebook.
- connect with them on Twitter.
  
Thanks to Adult Essentials, Multi-Testing Mommy, and some fabulous fellow Canadian bloggers, I'm co-hosting this special Dads Deserve to be Healthy Giveaway.

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I've teamed up with a few of fabulous fellow Canadian bloggers, Did You Know Canada, The Knit Wit by Shair, and Talking Momcents, to do a truly fun and unique giveaway event.


The four of us have sifted through our secret stash and pooled together our goodies to come up with over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in prizes!! We're divvying up the loot into four themed mystery boxes,with a little something for everyone....

The four themed Mystery Boxes are:
Baby - products geared for infants, from new born up to year. ($200 value)
Kids - toys, clothes and other assorted treasures. ($220 value)
Health & Beauty - lotions, potions and other related goodies. ($330 value)
Box of Intrigue - Mystery, Suspense, Intrigue! ($310 value)

The total estimated prize value is just over $1060, and it goes without saying that all of the prizes included in the mystery boxes are brand spanking new. Four lucky Canadians are going to win some seriously cool stuff.

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Six years ago my husband and I moved into this house. We bought it in the late Fall and we took possession in January. In May of that year we got married. It was a small civil service, with just our immediate family, plus one best man and one maid of honour. No flowers, no cake, no photographer. A few weeks after our actual wedding we had a big reception with all of our friends and family, but it was still really low key. Which is how I wanted it.

The day before our wedding I looked down our driveway and discovered beautiful irises blooming in our garden. They were a lovely sort of deep purple-blue, and I thought they would match nicely with my blue wedding dress. So I cut a bunch, wrapped a piece of blue ribbon around them, and carried them as my bouquet when I walked down the aisle.

Each year since the irises bloom just in time for our wedding anniversary, and I cut some and bring them into the house. It's a small thing that makes me happy.

So what's wrong with this picture?


I took it three weeks ago! Three weeks ago I plucked the very last of the withering irises and brought them inside. Our anniversary is this week and the irises are all long dead and gone.

Um, excuse me Mother Nature but what the heck is up with this weather that has my darn irises blooming a month ahead of time?

I am so very excited to be teaming up with a few of my favourite Canadian bloggers, Did You Know Canada, The Knit Wit by Shair, and Talking Momcents, to do a totally unique giveaway event!

We've each sifted through our secret stash and we've pooled together our goodies to come up with over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in prizes!! We're divvying up the loot into four themed mystery boxes, and four lucky Canadians are going to win some seriously cool stuff.


So you're probably wondering, where do I fit in? Well, the problem we ran into is that shipping these amazing boxes is going to be pricey. So we've decided to sell links to help cover shipping costs. For $10 we will add one social media link of your choice to the Rafflecopter giveaway form. Any leftover moneys not used for shipping will be put towards a giftcode for one of the prize packs.

We are limiting link sales to 15 slots. We are limiting it to only 15 spots because we want to keep the Rafflecopter form short and simple. This, coupled with the ONE THOUSAND DOLLAR prize pool should make for a high profile event with excellent exposure for all involved. (EDIT: There are only THREE slots left)

You don't have to be a Canadian blogger to join in. However the giveaway will only be open to Canadians to win as we are trying to keep shipping costs reasonable.

We are super excited about this event, and the responses so far! If you want to be a part of this, then SIGN UP NOW!

(And for you non-bloggers out there ~ The giveaway starts May 14th! Be sure to stop back in and enter to win some fantastic loot!)

Photo Credit: DarkElfPhoto Perfect response to the millionth time the kids ask, "Are we there yet?"

I want tell you all about my experiences with the Young Drivers in class training, but I think first I need to explain that I had high expectations going into these classes.

I remember when my husband went through Young Drivers. It was about a dozen years ago , but I remember it quite clearly. He had only good things to say about the experience and I firmly believe that the skills which he learnt throughout the course have saved us from being in an accident on more then one occasion.

Then there's the fact that Young Drivers has been around for over 40 years and has basically set the industry standard for driver's education.

Finally, there's the fact that I've been waiting twenty-some years to take these classes. Over the years I've thought about it quite a bit, and sort of built it up in my head. So, high expectations. Really high expectations. I'm actually a tiny bit surprised, but quite happy to report that all of my expectations were either met or exceeded.

The Young Drivers drivers education course includes 20 hours of in classroom training. I had the option of either attending four 6 hour long full day classes, or eight 2 hour and 45 minute long evening sessions. I've got to say that I love that they offer such flexible class times. For me, with trying to line up a sitter for the girls, it was easiest to do the weekend all day class.

When I was in University I was notoriously bad for falling asleep in class. I wanted to stay awake, but despite my best efforts, which included taking notes, drinking coffee, pinching myself, and squirming around in my seat, I would still often doze off. So when I say one of my biggest worries was that I would fall asleep during my Young Drivers class, it's with just cause.

Since I was there for the full day class I brought along a coffee from home, and a sack lunch to eat. I was happy that they allowed beverages in the classroom. I needed that coffee darn it! Baby-G was teething and had kept me up the night before. To be honest, I was a little nervous going into the classes. My two biggest fears were that I would fall asleep and miss something important, and that I would feel weird being the oldest student in the classroom.

One of the first things we did in class was talk a bit about the psychology of learning, and how different people have different learning styles. We also took a short quiz to assess our personal learning style. This way the teacher would have an idea of what each student's learning style was and would be able to tailor things towards them. Oh my goodness, how amazing of a concept is this?  Why don't they do something like this in University?  At thirty-seven, I now know that I need to read things myself for them to stick. If someone reads it aloud to me my mind shuts down and stops parsing it, which is probably why I had such a hard time staying awake in class back in high school and University. This is something that took me years to figure out. Yet here my Young Driver instructor has picked up on this within the first half hour of class. And you know what's really brilliant? They also use this info from your learning style quiz to help customize your in car instruction. Is that not cool? 

This sort of sums up the entire feel of the course for me. I mean, have you ever sat in a classroom and felt like the teacher was not the enemy per se, but perhaps a competitor; someone you needed to work against?  Here it really felt like the teacher was working with us to help us learn the content, not simply to pass the tests, but to genuinely learn. Which considering that what we were there to learn is Really Important It Just Might Save Your Life Some Day type stuff, it felt great knowing the teacher was trying his best to really help us learn it.

Needless to say  I definitely didn't need to worry about falling asleep in the classroom. The class was interactive and well paced. There was a constant stream of visuals on the overhead projector. There were tons of short video clips showing concrete examples of the driving concepts we were covering. The teacher was both knowledgeable and approachable. Questions were encouraged and promptly answered. I really felt like everything about the in-class component was designed to prepare me for the in-car lessons.

So what about my second worry? That whole feeling awkward because I'm in my 30s, and I'm taking Young Drivers. Well, I was indeed the only student over the age of 30. I started doing the math... Let's see, I met my husband when we were 18. If we'd had a kid right away, well, that guy right there could be my son. Yikes. Man, I feel old. So yeah, the other students were all about 17 or 18,  I think the one girl may have been in her early 20s. But you know what? It didn't matter. The class size was small. The teaching style was informal, and felt more like a group discussion. There were breaks during the day, and a half hour lunch period. There was plenty of good natured off-topic conversation, and no one ever pointed at me and said, "Hey, what the heck are you doing here?"

The only time I felt awkward was when I cried. Yeah, I cried during my Young Drivers classes. It was when I watched this video clip that they opened the first day of class with:

Watching this video of Peter Christianson, founder of Young Drivers, discuss how and why he founded the company gave me shivers, and made me cry. I felt silly, and I certainly wasn't looking around the room to see if anyone else was teary-eyed, but I have to assume his story didn't have quite the same impact on a room full of 17 year old boys, as it did on this Mommy.

Overall, I was really impressed with the in-class component of my Young Drivers class. My worries about feeling like the odd gal out, and of falling asleep in class, where unfounded. I definitely "learned stuff" over the course of the four days that I spent in classroom. Though, to be honest, I am still quite nervous, I feel much more prepared to get behind the wheel now, and I'm eagerly looking forward to my in-car lessons.

Disclosure: Young Drivers is sponsoring this series of posts documenting my journey as I work towards getting my driver's license by providing me with free access to the Young Driver's Defensive Driving Program.