All posts by Raina

Okanagan Easter Family Activity Guide 2019

Okanagan Easter Activities

The Easter bunny is coming 😉 and it’s time to check out those fun family Easter activities! I’m a local Mom to two little girls (plus a baby boy on the way!) and we love checking out all the fun activities in our community. Did I mention holidays are our favourite? Here is a quick guide to all the fun events happening in Kelowna & area for Easter weekend. Enjoy! xo  Continue Reading

It’s a … Baby #3 Gender Reveal!

Gender Reveal

Eeeekkkk. You guys, we did it! We found out the gender of baby number three! I am SO excited to write this post and let you all in on our gender reveal secret! We didn’t find out the sex of our girls, so this was a crazy, fun, new experience for us. Mike was the one who really wanted to know this time around, and I think it will be so helpful to plan for babe’s arrival, especially with how busy we are with the girls. We took this opportunity to get some beautiful family sunset photos too! Thank you to Jamie Taylor Photography for capturing these beautiful images.

Family sunset photo

Family beach photosFamily photo shootFamily sunset photos Continue Reading

And Then There Were Three

Pregnancy Announcement

One, two, …… THREE! We are so excited to announce that Baby number 3 is joining our family this year! It has been a long road of getting this little nugget on board, and we are so happy to be able to finally announce our big news! Life is about to get a whole lot crazier and we are so excited to share our journey with you. Thank you so much to everyone for their love and excitement on our big announcement! Continue Reading

Kid-friendly Kelowna Coffee Shops

Kelowna Coffee Shops with Kids

It’s always amazed me how challenging it can be to find a coffee shop to enjoy a cup of coffee while your children play. Can’t a barista understand that the key to happiness may well exist at the bottom of an uninterrupted cup of hot coffee? I guess as a Mom I’m a bit biased. We wouldn’t want to cramp anyone’s style. 😉 But here are some local coffee shops that have a welcoming atmosphere for kids. Enjoy your coffee, parents!

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Easy Christmas Morning Cinnamon Buns

Christmas Cinnamon Buns

One of my favourite Christmas traditions is making cinnamon buns to enjoy on Christmas morning. They are the most indulgent breakfast ever, and pair perfectly with presents and a little fancy coffee. This recipe is incredibly easy, and can be put together in five minutes (…as in at midnight after finishing your wrapping!) 😉

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A Year in Review with Chatbooks

Chatbooks Gifts

With Christmas upon us, and New Years just around the corner, it seems another year has flown by. Time is a funny thing with kids– the pace increases, yet reflecting back so much has happened in a seemingly “short” time. What they say is true, the days are long but the years are short.

Each year I look back on all of our memories and milestones while creating an annual Chatbook for each of the girls. These books capture everything from the big moments–birthdays, celebrations, and events, to the the little ones– breakfasts, slow days at home, or time passed at the park– and everything in between.  Continue Reading

Yummy Christmas Tree Brownies

Christmas Tree Brownies

Festive baking is one of my favourite things to do! With two little ones, I always turn to recipes that are easy, tasty, and fun. These Christmas tree brownies are super simple, and will have people raving! I brought these to our preschool party last year and was asked for the recipe twice (confession… they aren’t homemade!). I especially love that the decorating is simple and straight forward!  Continue Reading

Little Library: Christmas Books Kids Love

There’s nothing quite as magical as Christmas with kids! One of our favourite ways to get in the Christmas spirit is with our Christmas book collection, which is quickly growing full of stories about magic and holiday traditions and fun. This list is perfect for school-aged children, these are all favourites of my five year old.

Home Alone  Kim Smith
Kids will love this fun story based on the favourite holiday movie! Vienna loves hearing about how Kevin takes on the bad guys, and its a bit less scary than the movie for a five year old. 😉

How to Catch Santa Jean Reagan
This story full of ideas about how to catch the big guy is perfect for kids interested in how Santa does it all! This book is part of the “how-to” series, filled with fun tips and tricks!

Pick a Pine Tree Patricia Toht
We love this pretty book all about the Christmas tradition of picking and decorating the tree. It’s sets the perfect opportunity to discuss your family’s holiday traditions together.

Tallulah’s Nutcracker  Marilyn Singer
This is the story of a little girl who plays a mouse and is determined to be the best mouse ever and the star of the show, until something terrible happens during the big performance! Tallulah learns what’s behind being a real ballerina and that mistakes are ok as long as you try your best. This book is perfect for my five year old daughter who loves ballet.

The Littlest Reindeer Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
A story about a little girl who befriends a lost reindeer on a magical night. We especially love the beautiful black and white illustrations of this book.

If you’re looking for more story suggestions check out our Christmas Stories and Baby’s First Christmas library posts!

Enjoy! xo