Time to party!

Tomorrow is the Kids in the Capital anniversary party! We are getting excited about celebrating and seeing all of you there. When: May 1st from 10-12pm Where: St.Luke’s Parkat Elgin and Frank Who: All of our readers and contributors are invited! That means you!

Drop by anytime from 10am to 12pm. If you can, try to make it for 11am when Amanda from Little Lotus Yoga is going to be leading a 15 minute kids’ yoga session.

We also have some great prizes to giveaway from Shop Haven, Eko Bear, Jen and Jodi’s Friendly Kitchen , Sara McConnell Photography and Spoiled Sugar!

If the weather is rainy tomorrow we'll postpone the party until Sunday, May 8th. Follow us on Twitter to find out if there are any last minute weather changes!

See you tomorrow!

Gardening for dummies : planting seedlings

by Lara I most certainly do not have a green thumb.  I've killed many plants in my day and I'm not really into all things home repair and lawn maintenance.  But last year I decided I would actually plant a garden (after talking about it for 5 years) and I took enormous pleasure in tending my sad little garden and eating the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers it produced.

This year I decided to take it a step further and plant some things from seeds in the house.  I was nervous - I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm not great at reading instructions (it's good to know these things about yourself :)) so I went to Walmart and bought a kit.  Add water. Add seeds. Cover and ignore.  PERFECT!

This tray required us to pour about 7 cups of water into those pellets to puff them up.  Then you tore them open, put a couple of seeds in and covered the tray with a lid to put in a not sunny spot.

We planted cucumbers, two kinds of tomatoes and watermelon.  We went to the store and bought the seeds together and Kiernan specifically requested the watermelon, making them his pet project and all the more interested in taking part in whole process.

He then made drawings with his dad of all the kinds of plants (using the seed packages to help) to put into the tray so we would remember what row was what.

I then put the lid on and dumped it on the dining room table because the twins were getting crazy and the time for paying attention to this ended abruptly. Which is just further proof that anyone can do this.

A few days later I went in and saw all of them had sprouted! I took the lid off and moved it to the greenhouse window we're lucky to have in our kitchen.

In the coming weeks I will be attempting to transplant them into individual pots and then out into the garden.  I'll be documenting the journey here, so stay tuned!

Lara Wellman is mom to 4 year old Kiernan and 2 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can read her personal blog at Gliding Through Motherhood, about her weight loss journey at Losing it in Ottawa, and her social media blog at Larawellman.com

Parents in the Capital: Meet Carly

Ottawa has some wonderful bloggers and we are lucky that many of them are Kids in the Capital contributors and readers! We want to share some of our favorite Ottawa parent bloggers on a more regular basis so we are introducing a series of posts called Parents in the Capital. Let's give a warm welcome to Carly!

Tell us about yourself and your family. I'm married to Jeff and we have one son, Jacob, who is four and a half.

What is your favourite activity to do with your kid(s) in Ottawa? Jake loves anything outside, no matter the weather.  We love that about him and can often be found shoveling, making snowmen, sledding, going to the park or nearby splash pads.  We also love The Children's Museum and hanging out at bookstores and libraries.

What is your favourite at home activity to do with your kid(s)? I love doing crafts with Jacob - it's so fun to see his imagination come to life through his creations.  We're also big fans of LEGO and Thomas the Train.

What was the biggest surprise that parenthood has brought into your life? I'm not sure I've been really surprised by a whole lot, but I do love watching Jacob's personality develop.  He's so darn funny and I really enjoy his stories, imaginary siblings (this kid wants a little brother or sister like there's no tomorrow) and creativity.

What parenting tips/advice do you wish you'd known when you first became a parent? I wish someone had told me about the overwhelming anxiety that hits shortly after birth, thanks to the lack of sleep and hormonal changes.  That really caught me off guard and I hated that feeling.  I also had trouble breast feeding initially because my milk didn't come in and Jake was born early and wouldn't stay awake long enough to get in a solid feed.  I ended up working with a lactation consultant who completely turned things around for us and I've always been grateful for her advice and wisdom.

Tell us about your blog and how you discovered blogging. I honestly can't remember how I discovered blogging, but I initially started because Jacob was a bit sick as an infant with various tummy issues and he never slept more than 45 minutes at a stretch . . . for 11 months straight.  I was exhausted and felt like his infancy was passing me by.  I started blogging to help me remember all the amazing good in the midst of all the struggles.  It was so easy to overlook all the amazing moments in the face of all the doctor visits, tests, medical procedures and lack of sleep.  My blog helped me stay sane during the first year of his life, and ensured I made a point of focusing on the positive.

What do you love best about being a parent in Ottawa? I just love Ottawa in general.  I've lived here all my life, though I travelled extensively throughout Canada as a young adult.  Ottawa has always felt like home and I'm so grateful to live in a (for the most part) child-friendly city.  There are so many options for parents, no matter your interests and a never-ending list of things to do with your kids.

Thanks Carly!

Tea for Two

by Josée B.G. and I wanted to do something crafty the other day, but our craft supplies were low. We decided to make some paper placemats that would be perfect for playing tea party. The only supplies required are two pieces of cardboard per placemat, scissors, glue, and something to decorate the placemats with.  If you like perfectly straight lines you'll also need a ruler.

We started by drawing designs on our cardboard. You can get really creative here, just keep in mind that you'll be cutting both pieces of cardboard.

I then used a ruler to draw parallel lines along the width of the first piece of cardboard, stopping the lines about 1" from either edge:

B.G. was able to cut along the lines once I started her off. Make sure not to cut right to the edge of the paper or you'll have to do a bit of a fix with some tape!

Cut the second piece of cardboard lenghtwise into strips. I didn't bother drawing lines for B.G. to follow; curvy strips actually create a nice effect, and you won't need every strip for the finished placemat, so there's room for error.

Using a basket-weave pattern, weave the strips into the first piece of cardboard:

We used glue to glue down the end pieces on both sides of the placemat, but tape would work equally well.

Once the glue dries, you've got colorful placemats for tea time!

Josée is mom to four-year old daughter B.G., and two-year old son Bonhomme.  She is always searching for fun and frugal Ottawa events and activities, and puts her research to good use at her website, www.frugalfunottawa.ca.

Books to Swing into Spring With...

This post is part of a series of monthly blog posts by Ottawa Public Library children’s librarians! We hope you enjoy today’s post and remember to check back every month for great children’s books ideas. Get your children into the swing of spring with a visit to your local library.  The following books from the Ottawa Public Library are sure to get the whole family excited about the change of the seasons.

Stimulate your child’s senses this spring with touch and feel books.  Spring is appropriate for babies and introduces vocabulary for the season.  From blossom and flower to fawn and lamb, your baby will love the colourful pictures and playing with the textures.   

After you’ve seen the cute bunny and felt its fuzzy nose, you’ll have to pick up I love bunnies.  From the same series, this touch and feel book offers simple rhymes to describe the fluffy and bouncy quality of bunnies.  With sparkly flowers and a felt carrot, this book offers as much to touch, as it does to look at it.  

*Both Spring and I love bunnies are part of OPL’s English board book collection.  Board books cannot be requested through the library’s hold system but every branch and the bookmobile offer a wide selection.  They are a great way to introduce books to your babies without having to worry about ripping pages.  Go into your local branch to find these two titles and see what else is available!

With the cold days of winter behind us, it’s time for Wake Up, It’s Spring! by Lisa Campbell Ernst.  This story will take you and your child on a journey through the rebirth of the earth and its inhabitants as the days get warmer and longer.  One by one, things start to wake up.  By the end, both you and your child will be wide awake and celebrating the days of spring!

As the season changes, your child can finally shed the layers that were needed to keep them warm all winter.  Welcome the transition from winter to spring with It’s Spring! By Linda Glaser.  The text is accompanied by beautiful images of gushing streams and flowers, plants and trees created by cut-paper illustrations by Susan Swan.  Through Glaser’s story and Swan’s illustrations, you and your child will be able to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste the changes of the season!

One of the wonders of spring is getting outside and into the garden.  Include your child in this process with Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert.  It is the colourful story of the plants and flowers one child and mother team plant in the garden.  Discover red tulips, orange tiger lilies, yellow daffodils, green ferns, blue morning glories, and purple violets for a bouquet that includes all the colours of the rainbow!

Take a closer look at the life span of a flower with Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed. Your child will learn about the cycle in a garden as a seed germinates and turns into a plant, blooms and goes to seed.  Carle’s bright artwork is sure to captivate your little one.