Swiss Natural is a pioneer of the natural health products industry in Canada, being one of the first companies to sell herbs and vitamins.  They have a long history of making health supplements that work with our diets and lifestyles.  Calcium is one of those things I try to remember to take and always forget.  Now that I am over 40 it is crucial to make sure I do NOT forget things like Calcium.  I do not want osteoporosis.  However, calcium is also crucial to maintaining healthy blood pressure, blood clotting and healthy bones and teeth.

We do receive most of our calcium through what we eat.  Dark greens like broccoli, cheeses, and other dairy products, nuts like almonds, all contain calcium.  But the daily recommended intake is about 1200 mg/day and many adults are not getting that through diet alone.

Now, thanks to Swiss Natural, calcium is calciummmmm.  They have introduced their Chocolate Fudge Brownie chews, with Vitamin D.

I will be totally honest and thanks to an odd childhood (don’t ask) I have had distaste for any thing chocolate flavored that was ‘medicinal.’  Brought back memories of laxatives.  (seriously, don’t ask)  However, these Chocolate Fudge Brownies are very tasty and easy to eat.   I keep the sample bag by the kettle in the kitchen. Then I grab em as I stroll in and out of the kitchen.  It is more like a chocolatey snack than a health supplement.

They got the thumbs up from the kids too, and that is amazing since they won’t eat anything good for them unless it is in a gummy state.  However, my mom does wonder if we will ever have calcium in a gummy style?

Do check out their website at www.swissnatural.com or like their facebook page to, for more information on Swiss Natural.

On Thursday May 17, fans are invited to join Lindt to help make dreams come true at a very special celebration event. The first 75 guests will get the chance to meet Canada’s skating darlings, 2010 Olympic Gold Medalists & 2012 World Champions, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir from Stars on Ice.

Come join in the fun with chocolate galore, prizes, autographs and celebrity meet and greets and more.

The event takes place at the Lindt Boutique store at  Queensborough Landing located at 805 Boyd Street, New Westminster from 5 to 7 pm.

Am a bit to giddy that Lindt has an ENTIRE store so close to my house.

Just when I am ready to quit blogging, give up social media and embrace my poor ass momness full time, something interesting shows up because of it. No, no more amazing Disney Cruises, but something much more symptomatic of the power of moms on social media. I got asked to be part of a round table with 16 other mom blog/social media types with non other than Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia. What was almost cooler was that the email came from Pamela Martin!

I love the blogging community in Vancouver. I know from experience that we have a lot to say on any key issues and we ain’t just pretty faces. We know our stuff. An hour is not enough for our lot. These ladies came prepared with notes. Some had polled their readers, others, the Twitterverse, others like myself had been scribbling notes on my iPhone.

Not being a huge Liberal supporter, I was wondering what the atmosphere would be like…how much of a ‘please vote for me’ atmosphere this meeting would have. I was totally wrong. Christy and Pamela were cordial and quiet. They listened, offered feedback, asked questions, and were pretty honest in my opinion.

Mom bloggers get slammed a lot. We are called sellouts if we review products, we are called trite. We are accused of exploiting our children for the sake of ‘fame’ and ‘fortune.’ Marketers and news struggle to stuff us into a simplistic pigeonhole……it can’t work.

What we had at that table represented the variety of women who happen to be mom’s who happen to love the internet in all their glorious diversity.

So with all that diversity, from income to employment statuses…the biggest issue was affordable childcare.  I only made it because thanks the to magic of networking the people at Women in Biz Network put me in touch with Kids & Company, who kindly offered THEIR services to me for free.  I don’t have the budget for on demand top quality child care.  I tend to rely on my mom, who at 67 is still having to work to supplement her income.  I can’t always afford to pay her anything for watching the kids, so work comes before helping me.

Many of the women (like myself) have been inspired by blogging and social media to  start our own businesses.  We are all trying to stay home and create income and employment that will support our  families without looking back to traditional work.   We pointed out to the Premier that while job creation is important, it can’t be ‘old fashioned’ jobs, but work that encourages and enables parents to spend more time with their families and not rely heavily on outside support.

I found it interesting that Clark emphasized the more ‘ethnic’ model of families with multi generations living under one roof. This is pretty much the only way you can afford housing in the lower mainland.  This is a breakaway from the suburban post war model of the North American family unit, where we all splinter away from our extended family.  Many people can’t turn to our families to support us, this is true when it comes to childcare and eldercare.     This needs to be considered. I very much feel that more and more burdens are being put upon the individual and families where before it was the government that we turned to for support and service.   This would be nice if incomes matched the needs, but they don’t.  The governments are feeling the pinch of inflation as badly as the individual.

A government cannot please everyone, and that is not their job.  However, their job is to listen and to compromise and to build plans based on what they hear.   From someone like me who sadly LOVES emailing my MLA’s and council members, being ASKED for my opinion was a real pleasure.   Premier Clark cannot get to everyone, but I think this round table idea is a great format for feeling out what people are really concerned about.  This format avoided the usual rhetoric and agendas and stuck to what a great focus group had to say about the state of mom and parenthood today.

I will freely admit that Cheerios are usually as “healthy” as we get when it comes to breakfast cereals.  I feel like I am pushing out the healthy boat when I treat myself to the sugar loaded Harvest Crunch.  You can imagine my enthusiasm at trying a new line of cereals that promise ‘simples pleasures’ when it comes to their line of cereals.   I was dubious.

But.  But…this stuff is good.  They have a great line and you are sure to find the taste that appeals to you.  I have been reading up on what people are concerned about when it comes to their cereals.  The origins of their grains is a big concern…are all these tasty nuts and grains from genetically modified stock?  Is anything certified organic?  How much fat or sugars are there?

It all seems pretty complicated when you just want a breakfast that won’t make you fat.

What I like about the Dorset Cereals is that they are not going the route of promising amazing health benefits OR having packaging YELLING at us about how NATURAL  their products are.  Their cereals are what they are.  What is on the box is in the box.

They have made no promises regarding GMO products or in promising organic products.   This isn’t diet food.  This is food.  This is unprocessed grains, nuts ….the things your cereals should have.

The Simply Delicious Muesli was one of my favourites as was Honey Granola.  Any of these cereals would be great with some nice Greek Yoghurt.

If you are a person interested in reducing the amount of fillers, additives and processed food, the Dorset Cereals are a good choice.  I was happy to see that London Drugs was carrying them.

Also, gazing at the pictures of how pretty the area is where these cereals come from is as close to rural England as I will be getting for a while.  Sigh.

Anyway….the people at Dorset Cereals want you to try them, so we have a bit of a giveaway going on here.

Shame on Jane is well known among the celebrity set thanks to her quirky and fun and totally YOU jewellery.  They kindly sent me a sample of their fun REMINDER Rings to check out.

The Reminder Rings are a riot…..for people like me this is the step up to writing on my hand or tying strings on my fingers!  Mine are more inspirational – they remind me to think beyond the daily – “Make a Difference,” “Repair the World,” and “Inspire Change,” are but a few of them.  But there are true reminders for things in your life or things that should be, like “Make a Reservation,” or “Mani/Pedi.”  Each ring is 2.5mm wide available in sterling silver or sterling silver plated with 18k gold.

I am running totally behind on my blog and for things like this, but they have great ideas for Mother’s Day on their site….check them out.

For me they are doing a giveaway of a set of the rings….a fun gift for a friend, mom, sister or yourself.  Simply comment here about what the rings would mean to you and I will enter you in a draw….winner will be drawn this Thursday right before Mom’s Day…oops.

I am in awe of the bloggers out there who not only are amazing writers but can share their darkest moments bravely and openly. I am not like that. I never have been. I don’t like to unburden myself online, I am not out for sympathy or traffic. However, I do feel the need to apologize to people who have been expecting things online from me and nothing has been happening.

Another thing that I hate ever admitting (hubs will attest to this one too), is that sometimes I am wrong. Wrong and admitting defeat totally suck for me.

But I am sitting here in a house that stinks. It stinks of dog and dog stuff and I have had it. I just spent money a month ago getting the house cleaned up and it was a waste as the place stinks. Two dogs are too much. Once again I am in a home that I can’t invite people over too.  It stinks and is a disaster.  I am overwhelmed again by it all.

Too much dog. Too much mess. Too much noise. The vet also thinks that all the DOG stuff is what made our cat sick. The cat that I currently cannot locate and really need to as I need to give him medicine and make sure he is ok.

I have had a migraine all week. Both the husband and I are feeling stretched to the breaking point by kidstuffanimalstuffmoneystuffworkstuff. There is just too much stuff going on and it all sucks and when you have kids depending on you, you can’t just curl up and hope it all goes away.   Being an adult sucks.

I also realize that my issues are tiny compared to the things other people are dealing with right now.  But however, they are MY issues and they suck.    I don’t think we ask too much for our little family….a little bit of reward for our labours is all we ask.

A year ago today we were sailing up the coast on the gorgeous Disney Wonder.   That was an amazing trip. To many it would have been a lovely treat for their family….for us…..it was beyond amazing.   My kids still talk about it.   We don’t do vacations like that.  It just isn’t in our budget.

We got to go on that trip because of this blog.  Hence I do tend to feel beholden to this site and to keeping it alive.  I don’t write here just for free stuff.  I started the blog because it was a great way to find and share parenting experiences with other moms.   The friends I have made as well as the experiences I have had make me very grateful.  Life has been good because of the site.  However my ability to organize myself around the site has sucked.  Perhaps that is why my house smells like dog.

I joke with people that my biggest problem is saying yes too much.  But I hate to see things slip away…opportunities, experiences…..life would be boring otherwise.

I feel envy for those who are conferences, lunches, etc……budgets and family do not allow for so much..therefore I tend to feel the need to take advantage of whatever opportunities do come my way….even when they threaten to overwhelm.

Many times I feel….like today, that life just wants me to take a step back and walk away.

Keep Calm & Carry On is the saying……I keep saying this over and over….I am trying.   It just doesn’t feel like it is working out so well right now.

After a mistimed nap, Tara was wide awake and asking – nay – demanding to go out to play. This was exacerbated by the fact that the two older siblings were out taking full advantage of the longer daylight. This led me to be following in her pursuit of the kids to join in their games.

I gotta admit, we seem to have a ‘different’ crop of kids around here for this generation. I remember when I was a teen, the kids seemed to only play street hockey and catch and nothing else. Not this lot.

They were playing a game based on a video game. It involved lots of drama, action, and most importantly, unfettered imagination. They were PLAYING.

Playing is an art I fear is dying due to the often over scheduled or isolated lives of kids these days. I am much relieved to see my kids have found neighbours who are just as much into imaginary play as they are. Let us not forget that they are school age. The age range there with Tara included, ran from 2.5 to 12. They were completely unselfconscious even when I arrived on the scene shadowing Tara. This made me smile.

Apparently this is the norm at school too. The kids have a long list of play based games that get rotated and pushed aside as they create new one’s. There seems to be little mockery from the more ‘grown up’ of the kids. The school seems to have done well cultivating a culture of fun and expression among their diverse students.

This joy of play is one of the reasons festivals like the Vancouver International Children’s Festival needs continuous support, as does the few child focused theatres like Carousel and Arts Umbrella. Children need the opportunities to see what play can be transformed into and what an active imagination can create.

We can’t let the art of play die. We need to create a space that doesn’t involve US. We need to be able to back away and let children be children. They need to create fun for themselves out of nothing. They need to be able to create something out of nothing. You can’t teach fun….you can only allow fun to be there for the kids and nurture it from a safe distance.

This weekend was my hubs birthday. The big idea person in me had planned a getaway to the Opus hotel overnight for us….the dream of a child free night danced in our head.

Then reality slipped in. Sneaky sneaky reality. The kids had been….em ….difficult, to put it nicely. By Friday we were feeling beaten down. We also wanted to remain true to our rules of engagement and punishments. We felt we needed to stick around a bit more. There went THOSE plans. We did however stick to our plan of at least getting out for a meal together, which we did…and home by ten. We ARE excitement.

I think the kids appreciated it too and  hubs seemed to enjoy the domestic bliss we created by hanging out at home. We puttered, we walked dogs and we lazed in the sun. I gotta admit, that I love that my kids want to be with us ALL THE TIME. My nine year old son was content to lay jumbled in my legs while we chitchatted and soaked up the vitamin d.

We cleaned up our back yard a bit…am hoping what we did will convince Zia to poop outside.  She doesn’t seem big on that idea and prefers Adams room.  Since that is a big EWWW we have doors barricaded and baby gates up to help her figure it out.

Our evening together was a welcome break. I love how Patrick and I can chit chat about anything.  I love having big discussions about any topic….I love that we can laugh together.  It was a great date night.

It was made better by only have Tara and the dogs to worry about.  Adam headed to a sleepover and Nana took Caity with her…made for a quiet night and easy morning.

Here’s hoping our family togetherness helps out the kids.  They have seemed so angry lately and we need to fix that.  Tara we can’t fix. She was just pissed that it wasn’t her birthday…to the point where she wouldn’t wish her dad Happy Birthday and kept searching for her presents.  Being that her birthday doesn’t till July, after her siblings birthdays, it is going to be a long summer.

I am a bit behind in this but Earth Day is coming up this weekend. We usually spend Earth Day at our local nature park where tree plantings take place and so on.

The latest from Disney Nature – Chimpanzee also debuts on Earth Day. As part of this, Disney hosted an Earth Month event, the Disney Kids and Nature Celebration ran between April 12-14 in Orlando – and among other things, addressed the relationship between kids and nature today.

I am lucky in that my kids have inherited my love for the planet and the creatures that exist on it. I teach my children to respect animals….from pets to bugs. My son was in a fight once when he tried to protect a bee from being tortured by two boys. Their favourite dvd’s are the Disney Nataure and David Attenborough’s Planet Earth and Blue Planet. My daughter wants to rescue dogs when she grows up and my son did a speech in school about the various types of gecko’s that exist.

Living with two dogs, three cats and a lizard have taught my children respect of animals. I try to teach them an understanding of balance when it comes to our planet too. I do feel that many children are too removed from nature. I wonder at the kids who don’t notice the eagle flying overhead, or the raccoons shuffling past them. Love and stewardship of our world is crucial.

The people behind the Earth Month idea shared a few ideas to think about when discussing our place on this planet:

“According to Richard Louv, a Disney partner and author of the bestselling books Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle, every child needs nature. Not exactly a groundbreaking revelation – but certainly one that poses challenges when you look at your weekly calendar (where’d the white space go?).

Here’s some advice we can take away from his philosophy and the bigger discussion in Orlando:

1. Get nostalgic. Take a moment to talk to a grandparent – or even a peer – about his or her favorite nature memories from childhood – was it skipping stones? A favorite picture book about elephants? Drawing horses? Climbing trees? These simple memories might be enough to remind you just how easy it can be to make nature part of your own parenting style.

2. Think manageable. Connecting kids with nature doesn’t require a family trip to Yellowstone (phew). What it really takes is getting your kids curious about animals, wildlife and the outdoors – the world beyond their house and school. What do baby turtles eat? Why do leaves change colors? How do fish breath underwater? What kind of insect is that in your backyard? Hikes, museums, books and videos can all help spark that fascination.

3. Teach early lessons. Intuitively, we know kids need to learn about and appreciate nature. But what are the real benefits? For one, it’s a sensory explosion for their young minds. Reading about how birds build nests, watching a baby elephant play, touching a sheep’s coat, smelling a rose or digging a carrot out of the soil — all of this stimulates curiosity in young minds.

More important, however, is that it instills a love of nature. And if our kids love nature – won’t they be more likely to protect it?”

A walk to school where you spend the time looking around you..urban or suburban can reveal so much that is interesting to a small child. Ants hard at work, birds building nests…all fun things to discuss with your kids.

Library books about a child’s favorite animal, story books and colouring books, can all spark an interest in our world. Everything can be a lesson…from the why behind recycling to growing a vegetable patch in your back yard or patio.

Make everything a discussion, a teeny bit of learning about our world. Teach kids to ask questions and explore.

I can’t find the Chicken.

This was probably more crucial BEFORE Easter when I received another fantastic box from Hallmark.  Unfortunately, things got away from me and I didn’t manage to share with you all the fun Easter ideas Hallmark had. The Chicken is awesome by the way.

Spring isn’t just about Easter though.  Spring is a time of nature starting once again to show it’s true colours and Hallmark is helping YOU do that too.  Their Blooming Expressions are  their idea that takes the card to the next level.  Press the button on the vase and the flower slowly opens to share a lovely message with those you care for.

An ongoing hit in our house, with all ages have been the Interactive Storybook and stuffy.  Nugget is the newest addition and was perfect for us since we now have TWO dogs in our house.  Tara loved hearing Nugget chip in about his story about his trip to doggy daycare. Anything that makes reading fun is okay in our books (pun intended).

Hallmark is not just the place for meaningful cards….Hallmark is the place to find ideas to commemorate all that is special, from the seasons to birthdays, to graduations…..Hallmark does a great job of being a one stop shop.