All Hail The Single Moms/Dads

We're not happy campers around here.

Daddy is gone this week...

and someone especially didn't want him to go.

We miss him terribly already. 

Airports are fun at first to a 2yr old--watching a bunch of the little planes take off before her daddy's big plane arrived. 

But when we had to say goodbye, it wasn't a happy moment...for any of us.

I walked out of the airport with a toddler clinging to my left hand, a heavy baby car seat in my right hand, a jam-packed diaper bag hanging over my arm, and I immediately felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. 

I was on my own now. Everything was up to me. 

Since Mya was born, Terry and I have never been away from each other for this long. It's only a week, his first business trip away from us, but all of a sudden it's just me. Everything falls on my shoulders, and my shoulders alone this week. 

Baby wakes up in the middle of the night? There's no turn-taking...I'll be getting up. Early morning risers after a rough night? No sleeping in while Terry takes the kids downstairs. It's me getting up. There will be no one to let me know that we're down to our last cloth diaper, or to help collect the garbage and haul the bins out to the curb on Thursday night. There will be no one to look after the kids while dinner dishes are being cleaned up. There will be no one to feed the dog or let her out, or take her for a walk or clean up after she eats too many sticks and throws up all over my floor (true story). There will be no one to soap up Mya in the bathtub while I soap up the squirming, slippery baby beside her. There will be no one to dry off one soaking wet body, while I dry off the other. There will be no one to put one kid to bed while I put the other down. There will be no break. 

So to my wonderful neighbours, if you find me curled up on my front porch covered in baby spit up and peanut butter, waving a white flag, you'll know why. 

Heck, I even missed a full half hour of high quality television last night (The Bachelorette) since no one was here to remind me it was Monday night and my show was on. There's just no getting back those precious lost 30 minutes.  

So to all of you single moms/dads out there...I bow down to you. This parenting gig isn't easy, and it's even harder doing it on your own. 

I even have the luxury of family close by who I can call this week on a whim and they'd be over here in a split second to help, and I still feel like it's an overwhelming responsibility to be home alone with two small children for this long. 

So this post is simply here to say to all of you moms/dads out there who are on your own (or all of those parents who might have a spouse, but still not the help that they need)...you are incredible. You are amazing in my eyes. You are doing a super job and I think about you a lot when I'm feeling overwhelmed myself some days--the thoughts of "How do single parents do this?" go through my head since I'm in such awe of your abilities. 

I'm getting only a teeny tiny glimpse this week into what you do all of the time--each and every day. 

Hail to all of the single parents out there. You're doing a great job.

Miss you Terry. 

Erica xo 

Wedding cake/cupcakes...and some strawberry fields

I've been a little busy lately.

With a wedding order due this past weekend, my kitchen exploded with fondant and icing while the scent of delicious lemon cake filled every inch of my house. The troops showed up (ie. mom and dad) to entertain the kids, while I meticulously worked away at every last final detail.

People ask me all of the time how I get my cakes/cupcakes done with two little ones at home with me all day long.

And I always have the same answer for them: My family. 

They show up, help to look after our kids, pop their heads in while I'm working away and tell me that my half-made cake is beautiful (when really it's not even close to looking how I want it to look like yet--and they know it, but tell me that it's perfect anyways).

And the clean-up fairy? He shows up every single time. He goes by the name of Terry, and he magically trails my every move, making sure that I'm never left with a huge mess to clean up at the end of my many hours of work.

It would literally be impossible for me to do this without them.

What an honour it is to be a tiny little part of such a wonderful day in the lives of two people who have created a day that they will cherish forever.

Tamara, I hope that your day was everything that you wished it to be!

And the location? Holy geeze...stunning.

This is what her guests got to look out on as they enjoyed every last minute of their beautiful day.

But...can I just say...THIS GUY IS NUTS.

After putting the last cupcake on the stand and stepping back to look out at the view, we noticed this guy fishing in the middle of this FAST moving water, standing on a rock. How did he even get out there?? One slip and he would have been completely washed away with the force of the water. Unbelievable.

Anyways, regardless of the crazy man...what a view!!

Congrats Tamara!

And while my dad and I were packing up the last of the now empty cake boxes into the car, we got a call saying "We're on our way to pick strawberries--meet us there!"

So off we went.

 We got out of there just before the storm rolled in...

but we'll be back, strawberry field. We'll definitely be back.

Erica xo

Great Playdoh recipe...(if you want to actually call it playdoh)

Here's a quick one for ya:

If you have cheap hair conditioner and corn starch in your house (and little people at your feet), you all of a sudden have mounds of quiet time to yourself. Seriously.

There are times when I'm on a search for fun things to do with my kids, but there are other times when I'm on a search for independent play ideas so that I can actually get dinner made or throw a load of laundry in, or clean up the toys that I've been tripping on all day long.

This one I found online--and it seemed so crazy. Hair conditioner??? So bizarre.

But I decided to give it a try, so we headed out to the dollar store to buy a bottle of cheap conditioner and we mixed the two ingredients together...

And voila! The softest, yummiest smelling playdoh you'll ever find.

If you want to give it a try yourself, this is all that you have to do:

1) Go buy yourself some cheap hair conditioner and corn starch

2) Mix equal parts conditioner/corn starch together (we used about half a bottle of conditioner)

3) Mix together

4) Keep mixing until it becomes a consistency that isn't too sticky --use your hands to knead it together until it feels like a good texture to work with (add more corn starch if it's too sticky).

**Add whatever food colouring colour you want at this point and keep kneading the colour in until it's what you want it to look like

Voila!! Instant playdoh...moondoh..or whatever you want to call it.

Really...it should be called the "Mom's magic quiet solution" doh.

Thank you hair conditioner and corn starch!!!

Erica xo