Our Country Summer | #KinderMom

My most vivid childhood memories are of summer; sitting on the fence eating raspberries, the juice dripping down our faces, splashing in the backyard pool, jumping ditches, catching frogs and of course laying in the grass reading book and after book.

Now that we've moved away from our urban existence, I look forward to sharing a summer of discovery with my boys. I hope that this summer will be filled with laughter, joy and exploration and that the draw of the great outdoors will far outweigh the mind numbing stimulation of television and video games.

Our home backs onto a small green belt that we've dubbed the 'Secret Forest'; there's a small clearing that is just perfect for hide and seek and deer sightings are a regular occurrence. Five year old Bolt and I recently went on a 2 hour adventure and although we never reached our destination or found our geocache, it was one of the best afternoon's we've ever shared. I love nature and I hope that this first summer in the Highland Valley will instill in my boys the same awe in nature that is truly defines me.

 I want this summer will be about resetting our balance, finding our peace, playing in our pyjamas, splashing in lakes, discovering new adventures and meeting new friends. And of course, this #Kindermom has a few peanut-free Kinder Surprise Eggs stashed away to share with our friends on our summertime picnics!

And we can't wait for all our friends and family from Vancouver come visit us here at our new Country House. We just returned from a week long visit on the coast and as lovely as it was to be close to our people, we were all eager to return to a place, that has so quickly become home.

What are your plans (and hopes) for this summer? 

Disclosure: I'm part of the Kinder Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Celebrate Easter with a Kinder Surprise Scavenger Hunt | #kindermom

A new home, a new city, a new tradition.

Until recently we lived 15 minutes from all of our immediate family so any day that even resembled a holiday included running around to at least one of our family's homes. And truly, family is one of life's pleasures.

But this Easter, on what I expect will be the first of many holidays in our new home, we have an opportunity to start a new tradition for our little family of four.

As a #Kindermom I'm so excited that this year, we will be having a Kinder Surprise Easter. 

My boys love a good treasure hunt and in the past we have simply made a trail from their bedroom door to the living room and allowed the egg hunt to go wild, but this year I have another idea.

In addition to scattered eggs, I'm going to create an Easter Scavenger hunt. My boys are old enough to appreciate such an event, but not so old as to be offended by my poor quality drawings (and I promise you they are poor).

Each boy will get his own 'treasure map' created by drawing 9 sketches of locations around our home (eg. a picture of a chair or the tv) on a piece of computer paper, rolled up and placed inside a toilet paper tube. My boys LOVE to have their treasure maps rolled up, but lack the skills to keep them that way, so a piece of toilet paper roll is the perfect solution.

And their treasures? KINDER SURPRISE! We received this amazing Kinder Surprise Egg Hunt kit complete with a hollow bunny and mini eggs and although I'm cutting it close, you certainly still have time to grab one for your house too.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, my favourite things about Kinder Surprise are:

• They are Peanut-Free.
• They are Gluten-Free.
• Clear allergen labeling.
• They are more about the little toy than the chocolate.

As if I need more reasons to love Kinder Surprise, I am super happy to partner with a company that partners with the Children's Miracle Network to 'Share the Joy'. Kinder will be providing 12 baskets to CMN hospitals this Easter and donating $25,000 to help support this non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children's hospitals across North America.

How are you celebrating Easter this year? 

Will Kinder Surprise be in your Children's basket?

"Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  All opinions on this blog are my own”

We had a Crack'n Win Chinese New Year with Kinder Surprise | #kindermom

As a #Kindermom I love seeing the delight on my boys faces when I pull out a Kinder Egg as a special treat or reward and watching my boys share them with others just fills me with pride. I know sharing is supposed to be an inherent trait, but in reality, sometimes its just hard to share all the goodness that is a Kinder Egg.

By a strange twist of circumstances, my boys and I found ourselves in Vancouver for Chinese New Year this past week. Although we were exhausted from the four hour drive from Kamloops, both boys were getting over the flu and Simba proceeded to be carsick all over me as soon as we arrived, we had a great time.

We ate good food and exchanged lucky money and THIS time when everyone pulled out treats (most of which are not safe for Bolt to eat), I pulled out two boxes of #peanutfree Kinder Surprise Eggs and sent my boys to do the rounds. It's amazing how easily Kinder Surprise can cross age gaps; the little ones love them, the teenage girls loved them and the adults, well we happily devoured ours too.

And as we all enjoyed our full tummies and sugar buzzes, we immediately had entertainment for the rapidly fading children. They loved their little animals, cars, puzzles, spirographs and bracelets and suddenly spending another half an hour together seemed totally feasible.

And the three teenage girls in attendance were the ones most excited about the Kinder Crack'nWin Campaign. All the specially marked Crack'n Win Kinder surprises have a PIN that can be entered onto the Kinder Website for a chance to win some great prizes.  There's a Fiat 500 POP!, two family trips to Orlando, over 27,000 family movie nights and 201,000 free Kinder Treats all up to grabs.

Maybe its your turn to be lucky.
Have you entered a PIN to see if you're a winner yet?

“Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own”

Kinder® Surprise® Marvel Superhero and Disney Princess Collection

This year, Bolt is dressing up as Batman for Halloween. A last minute choice, but his alter ego has been slowly developing over the past year and I'm excited to see him embrace it. He asked me for a batman cape close to a year ago, but after I made it, he barely wore it, or even looked at it, for months. I'm not sure what happened, but one day he came home and asked for his cape.

I saw his imagination begin to blossom as he ventured into pretend play.

He WAS Batman.

And in the past few weeks, he's worn his cape to daycare, more than once.

In a home with two sons, Superheroes are quite certainly in my future, and having boys that aspire to both greatness and altruism seems pretty awesome if you ask me.

This year I have the opportunity to be a #KinderMom, which means I get to share Kinder Surprise with my friends and family, and tell you all about it.

Kinder Suprise are Gluten-Free and Peanut-Free so they are safe for us to have in our home; for those of you wondering, they do contain soy and dairy.

Kinder Surprise is celebrating Superheroes, and Princess, everywhere with their Marvel Heroes and Disney Princess Limited Toy Collections. Two out of every three eggs contains a Superhero or Disney Princess. Of course no kid is happy when they are the one without the Superhero and the kids weren't keen on the flying jelly either, but it certainly keeps things exciting.

Much to my boys delight, we shared Kinder Surprises at daycare and I shared them all over my office and let me assure you the adults were just as excited as the kids. it Those with families took them home for their kids and those without were eager to discover their toy. In fact, I've promised one particular co-worker that I'll share my Ariel.

Curious about the toys? You can check them all out and vote for your favourites on Facebook, then come back and tell us who you voted for. Around here, we like Spider man and Ariel.

Disclosure: I’m part of the KINDER® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.