babies n' kids
9th
September
2009
Posted in: Local Shop n' Dine, Product Reviews, babies n' kids, events, play
Our friends at MusiGo are throwing a FREE dancing, instrument-playing, yoga-posing wiggle party this coming Monday in Bowmanville for kids 6 months-3 years:
Mon., Sept. 14
9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Theatre Dance Academy
2445 Baseline Rd., Bowmanville
Registered programs begin the following Mon., Sept 21st.
We’d love to attend and share the fun with you, but both my girls are in daycare.
Are any of you free to go in our place and share the experience with a write-up and photos?
Leave a comment and let me know!
5th
September
2009
Posted in: Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, shopping
A week from today is the Durham Parents of Multiples giant consignment sale in Oshawa! This is the fall sister sale to the spring one held in May.
Bring a wagon and reusable shopping bags, leave the kids at home (if at all possible — you need your full attention for scouring the racks and digging through toys; but there are tons of kids there), and be prepared to stock up on tons of kids and maternity clothes, toys, books, gear and more.
Sat. Sept. 12
Oshawa Curling Club @ 226 Bond St. E.
9 a.m. – noon
The line up starts early, so get there as soon as you can to be one of the first in the door. Big ticket items such as strollers and outdoor toys go first.
 Durham Parents of Multiples is a non-profit organization providing support services for families with twins and higher order multiples in the Durham Region. We strive to help each other through the unique challenges of raising multiple birth children and share in the many joys. For more information visit www.drpomba.com.
21st
May
2009
Posted in: Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, events
It seems like from here on in, there’s some family fun-ness happening in Durham.
This weekend is no exception.
Saturday is the much-anticipated Mom2Mom Sale in Ajax. All the details are here.
Many of Durham Region’s Farmers’ Markets open this weekend or next. All winter, when we drive by the location of our local one, Lucy yells, “Therrrrrrre’s the Market!” Can’t wait to get some fresh and local food again. Click here for a list to find your closest one.
Saturday is also the Region of Durham’s annual National Public Works Week celebrations, where you can tour various recycling, traffic, water and compost facilities. It may SOUND boring, but they’re actually lots of fun for kids to see where our stuff goes. Plus, you get to see big tractors and diggers and dudes in hard hats (perhaps that last one is something for the moms?).
Finally, and this one is for us north Durham folks (go Boonies!), there’s free compost to be had at the Uxbridge Arena from 8 a.m.-noon.
Take a spin through your local paper to find all the garage sales, too. This weekend seems to be the unofficial kick off to the season.
(Eric, I’m gonna be gone for a few hours on Saturday morning. Good luck with the kids!)
Don’t forget to visit our local events page here for more.
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Want to advertise your event to our targeted audience? Email info@durhamregionbaby.com to find out how!
25th
April
2009
Posted in: Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, events, shopping
If you live in Durham Region or anywhere in south central Ontario today, you know it’s GORGEOUS out — currently 28 degrees up here in the Boonies! Unfortunately I’m spending some of the afternoon getting ready for tomorrow’s Mamas & Chicks Show, which includes this reminder blog post, which in hindsight is probably pointless because you’re probably all outside!
Eric, Alice and I will be there just inside the front entrance, so be sure to say hello and enter to win all this booty:
Another special thanks to our friends in the Durham Region parent-geared business community for the support and product donations. Don’tcha all love freeeeee stuff?
See you there!
20th
April
2009
Posted in: Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, events, shopping
CONTEST CLOSED: FREE TICKETS ALL GONE!
It’s spring shopping time, and the Mamas & Chicks Show in Oshawa this Sunday is just the place to mingle with other moms and support local businesses (my fave!).
There’s free parking, tons of great prizes to win, more than 55 exhibitors, and the Cutest Spring Chick Competition to win a photography and art portrait. We’ll be at the very first table when you enter the show, so be sure to say hello.
Want to go and not pay? I don’t mean sneak in the back door (is that even possible with a babbling baby and ginormous stroller?), I mean get on The List for free tickets.
These contests are always so challenging. My brain hurts from coming up with this skill-testing question:
How much is admission for the suckers who have to pay because they won’t be on The List? You’ll find the cost somewhere on the show’s website.
The first 50 to send the answer to info@durhamregionbaby.com win, so enter soon!
Here’s what we’re giving away on Sunday:
See you there!
20th
April
2009
Posted in: Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, events, shopping
Lucy had great fun drawing these names for the Baby & Toddler Show winners, which included grabbing a fistful of ballots and throwing them in the air like confetti. Note to self: 3-year-olds make terrible office assistants.
If you think one of these is you, and you haven’t received an email, that means your spam folder ate my note. And if you get home tonight and there’s a message from a stange woman with someone blowing spit bubbles in the background? It’s not a crazed person from the mental health ward at the hospital calling…that’s Alice and I.
Congrats to all!
I’ve got more goodies to give away at this Sunday’s Mamas & Chicks Show in Oshawa, including free tickets. Stay tuned!
14th
April
2009
Posted in: Blog: Life with Lucy & Alice, Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, events, news from the change table, photos, the hubby, the outside world
The show went great. There were more than 1,000 people through the doors (I wonder if they count babies, too?), and the place was steadily busy until around 2 when nap time hit. I met a ton of people, said hi to some readers, and received lots of interest in both sites (and giveaway entries, too! Winners announced tomorrow).
Thankfully Alice was like this most of the day. She slept for a bit in the morning in her car seat, then Eric took her to the mall for a while so she could doze in the stroller. I keep meaning to write about how she’s freaked out at strangers since, oh, birth, and how worried I was about how she’d react to everyone. But like a true baby, she surprised us all.
My (pregnant again!) friend Colleen sent the girls these fabulous matching Easter pajamas from Old Navy (there’s an egg with sunglasses on, and the caption says, “I’m a cool egg”). Lucy is so tickled when she and Alice match. I’ve got to find more paired clothes for them. This was at bedtime on Saturday after a long day at the show, and Alice is quite understandably done.
She was in a much better mood in the morning.
Lucy went absolutely bonkers over the eggs the Easter Bunny hid for her. She shuffled around the house in her bunny slippers, squealing each time she found one (“Look, Mumma, ah-nudder one!”). The Easter Bunny was supposed to keep track of how many eggs s/he hid to make sure Spencer Dog did not come across any, but s/he was slightly tired. And Lucy loved the hunt so much, she’s spent the last two days re-hiding all the eggs herself, then finding them (or asking us too, all along the way showing us where they are). Makes for much hilarity and eye-rolling, as the kid hides the eggs in the same places over and over again. Still, I think we’re down three or four.
They’ll probably show up at Christmas.
10th
April
2009
Posted in: Blog: Life with Lucy & Alice, Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, baby gear, events, work
The last package arrived yesterday evening, and I can’t believe all the goodies I have to give away to you at the Durham Parent Baby & Kids Show tomorrow: more than $1,000 worth of treats!
Please stop by and say hello to Eric, Alice and I, and enter to win all this awesome stuff, OK? There are 13 prizes in total, so your chance of winning something is, as Lucy would say, awe-sommmme!
Special thanks to all the local businesses who generously donated products and services. We couldn’t be prouder to be offering such kick ass goodies to our readers from the fantastic network of parent-geared companies in Durham Region.
2nd
April
2009
Posted in: Contests, Local Shop n' Dine, babies n' kids, events, shopping
Friday update: The tickets went so quick that I asked for and received another 20 to give away…and still have 10 left this morning. So it’s not too late if you haven’t emailed!
It’s just over a week until the Durham Parent Baby & Kids Show. And I’ve of course got free tickets to give away! Actually, this is the best contest ever, because everyone wins — if you don’t get a free pass, I’ve got a $1 off coupon for everyone.
I have a TON of great stuff (spa baskets, baby blankets, fitness and clown gift certificates, fun clips) to give away from local businesses, too, so you must stop by to see Eric, Alice and I (I’m not crazy enough to bring a 3-year-old to a show for 8 hours, so Lucy is blissfully spending the day with my Mom).
- kids are free, and adults just $5 ($4 with coupon)
- free parking
- free face painting
- meet the Easter Bunny between 10 a.m. – noon
- meet Nanny Robina from the Mom Show
- free stage presentations & classes, including mom & baby pilates, dancing, potty training Q & A and more
- free goody bag for the first 500 guests
- more than 50 exhibitors (including me!) offering shopping, education and entertainment
- enter to win a 3 foot chocolate Easter Bunny (seriously…THREE FEET OF CHOCOLATE)
- door prizes
- enter the smoothie contest and Big Crawl Diaper Race to win amazing prizes (click here for details)
Here’s how you win: Visit the show website, and find out where the show is being held (city and venue). The first 20 people to email me (info@durhamregionbaby.com) the correct answer pay nothing at the door.
Emails after 20 will receive a batch of $1 off coupons.
Good luck!
25th
March
2009
Posted in: Blog: Life with Lucy & Alice, Local Shop n' Dine, Product Reviews, babies n' kids, creative, moments, photos, shopping, the outside world, toys, toys
For her birthday from Jen O. et. al., Lucy received a gift certificate for Build a Bear. So a few weeks ago, off we went to the Oshawa Centre — just the two of us – for a girly morning with Jen and Eirinn.
Making the animals is quite the thing: There’s a stuffing machine (Lucy was scared of because it makes so much noise) and a big production with sewing a heart inside and kisses. Then a washing/grooming station (which Lucy was also scared of), and TONS of clothes and accessories. The place is a bit of a female-sentimental-pusher, reminding us how much we loved playing and dressing animals as kids. I can’t believe I paid $12.50 for an outfit for a stuffed CAT. I’ve never spent that much on an outfit my own kids! But Lucy loved it. Here is she is with “Pink Star” and Eirinn with “Dorothy Lamby Inch Kinch” (go visit here for the story on that one…).
We ate lunch, shared frozen yogurt (yes, Lucy DID eat an entire small on her own, eating all of us under the table, as they say), then Lucy and I stopped in the bathroom for an impromptu photo shoot.
I’d forgotten, these past months of chaos with Alice, how much fun Lucy and I have on our own. She is such a bright, funny and sensitive little girl. The whole day was just wonderful, from her uninhibited excitement to holding hands in the mall and cracking jokes with Eirinn and Jen. My heart swelled all day.
The end of us did happen. But there’s no reason we can’t recapture it every now and then.
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