If you’re looking for some quick and easy Easter recipes that will keep the kids busy, consider a no-bake recipe. These Easter delights are simple to do, don’t require a lot of ingredients, or savvy cooking skills. Best of all, they’re tasty!

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
3 cups rolled oats
4 Tbsp. cocoa powder
pinch salt
1 cup coconut
1 tsp. vanilla
mini chocolate eggs and coconut

Instructions:

1.  In a saucepan, bring sugar, milk and butter to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients until well mixed.

3. Spoon into lightly greased muffin cups. To form nest, use the back of the spoon and press the mixture down in the middle and up along the sides. Allow to harden.

4. Using a knife, loosen the edges and gently pop out the nests.

5.  Sprinkle nests with coconut and fill with mini eggs or jelly beans or get creative!

The other day I was walking through the mall and a little girl called out to me “would you like to buy some Girl Guide cookies?” Of course I bought some. Even though I personally don’t like the cookies I bought them to support the Girl Guides and because I respect the effort those girls are putting in to their cause.

It brought me back to the days of running door to door in my Brownie uniform to sell my case full of cookies. My Mom used to buy the leftovers from me. How often does this happen when your child, your nephew or the next door neighbor kid is selling something you don’t really need or want but you buy it just to support them?

It was this experience that inspired me to get the Calgary Kids Club Easy as 1•2•3 FUN-draising Program started.  I want to be able to help schools, teams and charities to be able to earn a lot of money and at the same time deliver a product that will truly be valuable to their supporters.

The Calgary Kids Club provides those supporting your FUN-draising efforts with great value for their money and an opportunity to save with discounts, free events and tons of prizes and giveaways. The Calgary Kids Club membership is something that all families can benefit from.  PLUS They receive over $200 in freebies with our ADVENTURE PACK BONUS!

If you are looking for a great way to FUN-draise for your school or team sign up here!

These gourmet products are gluten free and 95% organic as well as good source of fat, high fiber and protein. They are also naturally sweetened and low in sodium.

I received my order in the mail a few weeks ago and have to say everything I’ve tried so far is delicious. Their product line includes granola, trail mix and truffles.

The granola is so delicious and filling. It comes in 3 flavours including berrynana, chocoberry and gojinana. My favourite is the berrynana. It’s a mixture of dried cranberries, dried blueberries, banana chips, sunflower seeds, gojiberries and granola. There’s more than enough berries for every bite too!

I am always looking for quick, yet healthy food to grab on the go and the trail mix is ideal to keep in my purse when I’m on the run. The vegan truffles were amazing and are perfect for those times when you want to satisfy a craving for something sweet but want to keep it healthy.

To learn more about the Girlnola product line visit their website at www.girlnola.com.
All of the products are available to order online and Calgary Kids Club members save 15%.

I’m ready to let go of this weight. No more excuses! I want to be able to pick from any of the stylish clothes I like instead of being limited to items that come in my size and even be able to get an amazing pair of boots around my oversized calves. You know the ones that I see all the skinny b@#ches wearing! I also want to be able to run after Jordan without huffing and puffing.

I lost all the weight from my pregnancy really quickly but now I probably weigh as much as I did when I was 9 months pregnant. I’m at an all time high. Arggghhhhh!

On the weekend I met Jady from Calgary’s Biggest Winner. When she told me all about the program I decided to take the plunge. It’s 8 weeks which just flies by in my normal everyday life so I think I can commit to that. They also offer more than just boot camps including nutritional guidance, motivational coaching and access to exclusive member only discounts

Another thing I love about the program is they have the classes at 5 different parks throughout the city and 5 different times per day. The 9 am class fits perfectly in my schedule. You can attend up to 4 classes per week.

There are also several other perks including:
* 3 additional weekend workouts
* 7 free meal sample menus
* 2 nutrition seminars
* Recipes, nutritional articles, daily food logging and support
* Member website (featuring articles, updates and further dicount opportunities)
* 30% aesthetic services at Shiva Medi Spa for 6 months
* 50% off two scheduled Side Track Adventures outings
* Discounts on nutritional purchases at Morning Sun Health Food stores
* Free Personal Best Seminar level-one ($1,000)

After talking to her and deciding to make the commitment, I have been sitting on the fence as to whether I should bring this challenge public and share it with everyone. But what if I fail? I’ve decided to go for it and hope that this will make me more accountable. Hopefully it will be fun to see the transformation and hear all about my experience.

The cost of the program is $649 and they offer a payment plan. When you look at what they offer it’s great value for your money. My personal health, happiness and well being are so worth it. Plus I’ll be saving money on cupcakes and chocolate! CKC Members can save $60 off the cost of registration.

You can win $5000 plus tons of other prizes throughout the competition! Hello new clothes to fit my new body! To me this is a win-win opportunity. If you are thinking of letting go…

Don’t wait another minute, there are only a few days left to register. Weigh in is on Saturday, May 7, 2011.
www.thebiggestwinnercalgary.com

I’ll post my before pictures after I weigh in on Saturday!

She advised me that she just says “That isn’t an appropriate word to use but you could say uh-oh”. The light bulb went on for me how important it is for me to have direction and coaching as a parent and that is what inspired me to write this post.

I was 38 years old when he was born and the first one of my tight knit group of girlfriends to have a baby which means I have very little experience with children. I didn’t know what I was doing in the least and I am still terrified of doing the wrong thing.

I know that I don’t spank him but I often find myself in situations where he is misbehaving and I’m thinking “I can’t spank him… um ….what do I do?”  and cross my fingers that someone will jump in and help me.

That is where people like Ruth Buffam from Positive Discipline Canada and Lisa Kathleen of Full Circle Parenting save the day. Both of these ladies are amazing and I dearly love them.

The tips that I have received from them really do make a big difference in our day to day lives. It can simply be the wording you use with your little ones that changes everything, I know it has for me.  Both Lisa Kathleen and Ruth are experts and when I bring my real day to day struggles to either one of them they have a great suggestion for me of how to handle it.

I want Jordan to use his inner guidance to make his own choices. I don’t want to control him. I want him to have confidence and high self esteem. I want to understand him rather than lose my temper with him. That is my vision as a parent and so to do that I need to learn how to be a better parent and knowing that there are people out there to offer support and share their knowledge is of great comfort to me.

We seek coaching for everything else and if you ask me parenting is one of the most important things we will ever do so why not get the support of a professional coach. Both Positive Discipline Canada and Full Circle Parenting offer discounts to Calgary Kids Club members so if you need a little advice I highly recommend either of them.

Some of my fondest memories from my childhood are arts and crafts I did with my Mom. There was always an abundance of crayons, paints and craft supplies around and there is at our house too. Mom always used to order kits from the Pack-O-Fun magazine and we would make them together.

I attribute my creativity partly to this so it is very important for me to provide the same environment for Jordan. Plus, I’m such a kid at heart that I love the arts and crafts just as much as he does and it really allows us to spend some quality time together.

When I first walked through the doors of 4 Cats Art Studio in Inglewood, I couldn’t wait to sign Jordan up for a class. At the same time though, I couldn’t quite imagine my almost 3 year old being able to follow instructions or sit still long enough to actually complete any of the projects. I looked around at all the great artwork on the walls and pictured my office looking the same, except with artwork created exclusively by Jordan, so we enrolled in the Bumblebee workshop.

The curators Christin and Alicia were great! They really know what they are doing when it comes to holding the attention of the kids and engaging them. Surprisingly enough, he was an eager student and really followed the instructions and now I proudly display the finished product on my office wall.

Other than watching my little Rembrandt paint, the next best part of the whole experience is that I now have a great piece of art that I will never let go of. He was just as enamored with the bumblebee as I was and every time I hung it on the wall for the first day or two after we brought it home he insisted I take it down so he could proudly tote it all over the house with him. I followed him around like a hawk, cringing at the thought of potential damage to my priceless masterpiece!

I’ve already signed Jordan up for their self-portrait workshop on April 23 from 10:30-12:30. The cost is $75 and includes stretching. What better gift could a Mom hope for on Mother’s Day than a self portrait of her little pride and joy? I know this will really be the only way I will get a gift and one that I couldn’t love more!

4 Cats Art Studio offers all different kinds of workshops including the Bumblebee painting, Van Gogh Sunflowers, a Clay Frog and Les Petit Rats and they are reasonably priced at $15-$25. They also offer Calgary Kids Club members 2 for 1 workshops.

Their birthday party options include dragon parties, fairy parties and the paint splatter party that would surely be a hit with kids of all ages! For those of us kids at heart they also feature adult and corporate parties.

Check out their website as they have a long list of summer camps available as well and CKC members receive 10% off.

4 Cats Art Studio really does live up to their claim of the Best, Most Fun Art Studio Ever!

I was elated with the positive feedback and in the end realized that the most important thing about Saturday’s event was not the number of people that showed up but that the kids had fun and when I looked around the room they were all having a lot of fun. It was also nice to see parents mingling with other parents while the kids were playing.

Someone mentioned to me  that Calgary Kids Club will probably become a community and culture of its own and members of the club will become friends. I love this idea. I know that for myself, since I started working on the Calgary Kids Club in September, I have met some of the most amazing people and made some really great friends that I really want to get to know better. The business people that are supporting the club and members too make everything so worthwhile.

A huge thank you to all the wonderful businesses who supported our event including our sponsors:

Studio i Photography
Positive Discipline
Kulinary Kids
Hapkido Kids/Jin Jung Hapkido Calgary
Calgarymoms.com
Fusion Events
Calgary Child’s Play
The Little Cupcake Shoppe
Carefully Crafted Henna Designs
Grab-A-Scab
Kim Fleury – Realtor
4 Cats Art Studio Inglewood

Prize donations courtesy of:
Nakiska
Vinyl Expressions
One World Drum
Positive Discipline Canada
Hapkido Kids
Sproutz Kidz
Canyon Meadows Cinemas
Grab-A-Scab
4 Cats Art Studio
Uberlicious
Sugar & Spice Photography
Canyon Meadows Cinemas
Kulinary Kids
Absolute Dance
Wean Green

Thank you also to everyone who attended and helped make it such a success!

During the first two years of Jordan’s life I didn’t allow him to watch television at all and I still do make every effort to limit his time in front of the TV but he is obsessed with Toopy and Binoo and I have to admit I don’t mind them either. Toopy is just so darn positive and fun!

All week I was anxiously awaiting the excitement on Jordan’s face when he saw Toopy on stage in real life and it was pretty much as I’d anticipated. He was elated to see his favorite characters. A trailer load of lego or a tonka dump truck could not have dragged him away!

The show included a lot of great music as Toopy was on a mission to find the perfect song to sing and the perfect place to sing it so as usual it was a magical and entertaining quest.

Judging by the full house, the smiles beaming throughout the crowd and the echoes of laughter, Toopy and Binoo and the Marshmallow Moon was a huge success!

My only regret is that I bought Jordan one of those light up wands and at times that was a big distraction for him. So note to self for next time: buy light up toy after the show is over!

Thumbs up to Koba Entertainment for bringing excitement and joy to so many children’s lives with their family theatrical productions.