November Ipsy Bag Review

For those of you that are unfamiliar Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription. For approx $16 you will receive a makeup bag every month filled with 4-5 deluxe trial size-full size beauty products. There is usually a good mix of both drug store and higher end products as well.

Here is a review of all the products that I received in my November bag:

First off is the body wash from Delectable by Cake Beauty: (full size) I was really excited to see this product since I have seen this line at both Shoppers Drugmart and Target many times, and it is made in Canada! I haven't used this body wash though because the scent is sooo sweet. I smells exactly like vanilla frosting. I may still try this one day just to try out the formulation so I get a better idea of the products the company makes.

You're So Fine Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner from Elizabeth Mott in "Gliteratti": (full size) I was very happy to receive this since I do not have a black liquid eyeliner. It also has fine glitter in the liner, but it's very subtle. Perfect for the holiday season! It's a fine brush applicator so it can be a little more tricky to use, but not the hardest liquid eyeliner that I've used by far. I have used this and really like it.

Love and Beauty Creme lipstick by Forever 21 in "Berry": (full size) The formula of this lipstick is good. It also has okay wear, and wears off the lips nicely. My only complaint is the colour. It's a little bright for me for day to day wear to work. I have worn it in a thin layer with some gloss over it though.

Be a Bombshell eye base in "Submissive": (full size)This product has to be my favourite from this bag by far. I have used this quite a few times. It is a great eye base, and really gives the eyeshadow something to hold on to. I use this the most when I'm doing a matte eye look. I put this on the lid and it helps to give a little bit of shimmer to the lid, and helps to deepen up the darker shade in the crease because it has a subtle copper/champagne colour to it.

Temptu S/B Highlighter in "Pink Pearl": (sample) If you're really into highlighting then I'm sure that this would be right up your alley. I have a really subtle powder highlight that I prefer. I'm not a fan of liquid highlighters or blushes. This is no exception. It does have a night pearl glow to it though. I will be giving this product away.

Last but not least is the absolutely adorable glittery make up bag that everything came in. I was afraid that glitter was going to get everywhere, but this is like a plastic material so there is no worry about that. I love the bag.

Overall I was really impressed with this bag. There was a great variety of products this month, and some brands that are easily found in stores in my area, so that is a big plus!

If you are interested in subscribing to Ipsy you are more than welcome to use my referral code. I get points that I can accumulate to get goodies for free!:

http://www.ipsy.com/r/9sio?sid=ipsypoints&cid=general

Halloween!

I honestly do not know how many times I was asked "Mama, when Halloween coming?" this year. I think I lost count after about 100. I'm not joking. My kid was extremely excited about Halloween. I don't know how since we don't really put too much focus on the holiday. I don't go all out decorating. The only decorations were little window decals that my mother picked up for Emilie at the dollar store (that may or may not still be on the front door...). Even our door decoration is fall focused instead of some witch or goblin.

Regardless we had one very excited little girl on our hands. All she could talk about was going trick or treating, getting treats and getting dressed up like Rapunzel.

Here is a picture  of Emilie on the big night:

Yeah, not so much with the Rapunzel. She had a meltdown when I dared to make her wear a pair of pants and a jacket under the dress. The nerve!

So as a last resort she ended up wearing her cupcake costume from last year. Thankfully it still fit, and bonus it has a matching fleece hat and pants so she was super cozy.

But lets rewind a bit.

We had originally bought two pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Two big ones. One started to decompose all over the back patio, so that left us with one.

This was the first year that she actually wanted to help us clean it out.

That was until she realized that she would get dirty while cleaning it out.

I had fears that she would want an elaborate Disney Princess based design. Her request? A happy face. She chose the shape of the eyes, nose and mouth and we got to carving. She helped to poke out the pieces.

She loved her pumpkin.

The day before Halloween she went to our friend Bev's house while we were at work. While she was with "Bevie" they carved me a pumpkin. She was so excited to bring her other little pumpkin home with her. Here are our two happy pumpkins.

On Halloween she was so excited. Then it came time to get ready. She is used to wearing her Rapunzel costume just as a dress so she was not impressed that she needed to wear an outfit underneath, but we live in Canada and it gets cold on Halloween.

After refusing to wear a costume at all Andre suggested her cupcake costume from last year. Thankfully it still fit so she got dressed and we were ready to go!

It had threatened a downpour of rain that day but thankfully it was just misting and she really enjoyed herself. About halfway through trick or treating she kept asking to go to Bevie's house so we walked over and Bev had a special little treat just for her. Emilie's favourite a Kinder Egg (for those in the States it's a hollow chocolate egg filled with a plastic egg with a little toy inside). She gave Bevie a hug and then we were off to walk down the street to her daycare.

On the way back Emilie told me that she had too much candy, and wanted to go home and have her "Kindergarten Egg" and some milk. So we walked home and she did just that :)

I hope everyone else had a great Halloween!

From the Archives: Easter in our house

**After publishing the post on the Pumpkin Patch I found this post that I had written months ago about Easter, but never published, so here you go!**

Before we knew it, it was Easter. This year is flying by!

Last year a friend of mine invited us to join her and her family for her town's Easter Egg Hunt. We went and even though the girls didn't really get the hunt, they had fun. This year everyone was a year older, and they definitely knew what was going on. My sister and her family went to the hunt this year as well as more friends of ours. It was a lot of fun for all the kids, young and not so young. 

Emilie's cheese face.

Emilie and Josh, partners in crime.

Someone got a little camera shy while Papa snapped some pictures of us together.

Showing Papa her haul.

She needed to sit in the middle of the field and taste test.

Thankfully this year I was feeling much better than last year so I was able to actually snap some pictures. Andre and I really try our best with each holiday to really get across the true meaning of the holiday. We have quite a few books about Christmas, which Emilie loves, but I was at a loss about how to handle Easter. I just felt that explaining the Crucifixion of Christ was just a little too much for a three year old to handle. So we decided to let Sunday School handle that issue this year and just focus on the fun aspect this year. Next year I plan on doing a little more research and try to find some age appropriate stories/activities at home as well. Anyone have any suggestions?

The Easter Bunny left Emilie's little basket in the livingroom and also some chocolate eggs hidden around the house for Emilie to find. It was so funny to see her run out in the hall and see the trail of eggs on the stairs. She thought the Easter Bunny was very silly!

A few weeks before Easter Emilie had gone shopping at Target with Carrie and my mom. We love checking out the dollar and $5 sections and this trip was no different. Emilie came home talking about this Doc McStuffins camera and how she wanted the Easter Bunny to bring it for her. I had totally forgotten about it until shopping the Thursday before Easter and I saw it. I figured why not, and bought it for her basket.

On Easter morning Emilie came running into our room, sat on the bed and let out a long sigh. "Welp (her way of say welllll). I don't think the bunny will bring my camera. ::sigh:: He bring it next time"

We went downstairs and she was so happy to find the camera in her Easter basket. Mom Easter Bunny for the win! She had to line up all of her new jammies on the floor and snap pictures of everything with her "camera".

We finished off the day with a big Easter dinner at our place. The weather was so beautiful and sunny that afternoon. Emilie's favourite part of the dinner was the ham. Our girl get not get enough of it.

It was a long day full of activity (and chocolate) and the night ended with me having to rock her to sleep.

Fall Adventures at the Pumpkin Patch

When Emilie was born we I became a little bit obsessed with trying to create traditions around the holidays. I don't really know why. My family was never big on traditions. Routines yes, but not so much with traditions. Andre loves holidays and any excuse to do fun things as a family to mark the holidays, so thankfully he has been on board with my obsession.

We started Emilie's first with just a trip to an apple farm not far from home to pose for some cute pictures and pick up a pumpkin. The next year was when the fun really started with a trip to a local pumpkin patch. Emilie loved the wagon ride and choosing a pumpkin. We went to the same farm two years in a row, but now that she is older and enjoys more activities we decided to visit a bigger farm with more activities.

It was a little bit more expensive, but she had a great time. They had a pumpkin patch, a wagon ride of the property, a hay barn, animals, corn maze...you get the picture!

As you can tell from the pictures her favourite thing to do that day was play in the hay barn. We could not tear her away. We got home that night and she was standing there wiggling her little bum and I asked her what was wrong. She started laughing and said "I have hay in my pants!". It was literally everywhere!

I tend to be behind the camera most of the time on days like this, but I did manage one "usie" of Emilie and I on the wagon ride.

 

 

After all of the excitement of the afternoon we stopped off at the little coffee shop and grabbed some hot apple cider and a little snack. Emilie loved her first taste of "warm apple juice".

It had been so difficult finding a day to go that wasn't raining and we really had a perfect day. We all dressed in layers and by the end of the trip Emilie had shed her hat, mitts and jacket and just played in her fleece. It was the perfect fall day. 

She is already talking about getting her pumpkin next year!

Emilie's Birthday!

As with Emilie's previous birthdays I decided to take the day off work to spend the day with her on her birthday. There is only one more birthday I can do this before school will consume her birthday, so I am going to take advantage of this for as long as I possibly can. I can't help but feel that her special day is a special day for both of us. Not only do I celebrate the day that she entered this world, but I celebrate that day since it was the day she made me a mother.

We decided that we would make the day low key. We've started a tradition last year that we would have her gifts ready to give her in the morning as soon as Andre got home from work. She loves Doc McStuffins so we got her a stuffed Lambie and a doctor bag. She loved it and continues to give everyone "check ups" long after getting the gift.

Andre had to work late that night, so he wouldn't be home for dinner, so we had my mom and grandmother over for dinner and then Carrie, Darren, and Josh came over afterwards for birthday cake. We've found that we really like a low key celebration on the actual day and then we do her birthday party for her and her friends afterwards.

Andre and I really hadn't decided what we wanted to do for her birthday party, but back in January Emilie started to talk about her party from last year and how she wanted to go back to the same Indoor Playground and how she loved the homemade Elmo birthday cake. The one thing I knew for sure was that I was buying a cake this year. I was NOT making another one. The bonus for having her birthday party at the same place is that we knew the routine by now,  and we knew the kids would have a blast, so we booked it.

As predicted Emilie and her friends had a blast at the Indoor Playground. We went with Little Goobers, just like last year. They are one of the only ones in our area that does a true private birthday party. Since the majority of the party goers were between the ages of 1 and 4, we didn't want the stress of having to hover the entire morning making sure some rambunctious 10 year old was going to mow them over. They can run around the entire place and we can sit back and drink our coffee knowing that they are safe. It's really a win, win.

 We opted to wait until we got home to open gifts because having to round up all the kids to watch Emilie open gifts just seemed like more work than it was worth, and we only had the place for 2 hours, so we wanted them to have as much play time as possible. Emilie loved all of her gifts, she is a blessed little girl.

Dear Emilie

I'm sitting here tonight in a silent house. Both you and your Papa are sound asleep. The only sounds are the sound of the dishwasher and the air of the video monitor that is sitting beside me.

You are snuggled so cozy in your bed. You were so tired tonight. You refused to have a nap for your Papa while I was at work today even though you were up earlier than usual this morning and needed one. You were so excited to be going over to your Great Baba's house for a couple hours this afternoon while Papa and I were at work, that you just couldn't sleep.

I'm sitting here at the computer with tears in my eyes. There are so many feelings that I want to write down, to record for you, but my thoughts are just one huge jumble. I don't know which one to record first, and how to fully articulate others. I just don't know where to start.

I think about you, and all that you do now. You are so independent, and yet such a Mama's girl all at the same time. You are so outgoing and bubbly, and yet shy and introverted as well. You are so goofy and silly and yet so serious too. Everyday you surprise us with something new that you do or say. Sometimes it's like a 13 year old is talking to us and not a toddler.

You are so grown up now. You can get dressed all on your own, and love to choose your own clothes. You are potty trained during the day, and sleep in a big girl bed. Almost all the "baby" things have left this house. Instead you have your own babies. All of their names are Baby, you won't give them a name of their own. As sad as I am to see all the baby stuff leave the house I continue to be amazed by you and the amazing person you are becoming.

You love helping me with everything I do around the house, from cooking and the laundry, to vacuuming the carpet and making the beds. You are always right by my side wanting to help. Most of the time it means that particular job will then take even longer, but I love to see how excited you get to help me do something completely mundane like moving wet socks and towels from the washing machine to the dryer.

A lot of the time as I'm watching you I pray for a pause button. I've always said that I would never wish for a stop button, but I wish some days that I could slow time just a little bit. I wish I could stay in that moment for just a little bit longer with you. I've joked with people a lot lately that time has passed so quickly, that somehow I blinked and you went from this tiny little squish in my arms to this big girl.

Tonight when I put you to bed, I put to bed a two year old. Tomorrow when you wake up, probably a little too early for me, chanting "Maaaaama, Maaaaaama" from your bed you will be a three year old.

When I go up to sleep tonight I will slowly creep into your bedroom to check on your like I do every night. I will cover you up if you have kicked off your blankets, and just stare at you resisting the urge to pick you up. Which is ironic because just hours ago I was tip toeing down the stairs praying to God you would fall asleep quickly.

Sleep tight my little one. Who knows what new adventures life has in store for us tomorrow.

Love,

Mama

Loss

It has been a rough two years.

Just over two years ago my Memere passed. I think my mom best described her when she said that God broke the mold when he created her. She was one of the most loving, giving, warm people you would ever meet. Her greatest loves were her husband and her family. She didn't speak a lot of English, and unfortunately we never spoke a lot of French, but we found a way to communicate regardless. Even with the language barrier, we never doubted that she loved us, and we still loved her.

Andre and I with Memere and Pepere.

Just one year ago we had another loss. This time on my mothers side of the family. Our cousin Leslie passed suddenly while on vacation. We were all in shock when we got the news. Leslie was always the life of the party. You were always greeted with her infectious laughter and a warm hug. It's still hard to believe that she is no longer with us, even a year later.

Ron, Leslie with Kevin and Rose

Today we unfortunately had to say good bye to someone else. Another sudden death. Another loss that we're still struggling to understand. It's one of those situations when you just can't understand it because we just saw her. Two weeks ago she was just having tea and chatting with one of her friends. A week later, gone. Today we said good bye to my Step-Grandmother, Joan.

Let me start by saying I hate the term Step-Grandmother. I feel that when people asked who passed and I said the word "Step" that they almost stopped listening, or didn't care as much. People hear that word and for some there is a negative connotation. Instead of someone saying "I'm so sorry" They said "Oh", or worse yet, nothing.

Joan has been a part of my and my sisters lives as long as we can remember. We can't remember a time when she wasn't with my grandfather. There was a never a time when we can't remember her not being there. She was the type of person that when you went to visit her and my Poppy she was always up and about. She never sat down until everyone else had their food, and was taken care of. She was always taking care of everyone else, and her cat. She loved her cat.

Today her daughter Dorothy gave her Eulogy. I don't know how she managed to hold it together long enough but she did, and she did an amazing job. It was great listening to stories about when her children were younger, stories we had never heard before. She shared one story about when her and her brothers were just children. Joan had found an abandoned lab. She nursed him back to health and then posted that she had found a dog so the owner could claim him. No one did. They lived in a small apartment that didn't allow pets. So what did Joan do? She bought a house. It makes me smile whenever I think of that story because that was so her. She was always giving and thinking of others.

Today we said good bye to my Grandmother Joan. She was loved and she will be missed.

Joan when she met Emilie for the first time.