Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto

We took a trip to Toronto on our March Break this week to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame.

(Warning lots of pictures but the architecture sort of makes up for it I hope.)

Located in a former historic bank building in downtown Toronto the Hockey Hall of Fame/Temple de la renommée du hockey is a must see destination for hockey fans.

The HHOF is both a museum and a hall of fame highlighting the history of ice hockey. There are so many beautiful and informative displays and exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and NHL trophies. There is also lots of information and displays on Women's hockey, Olympic and International IIHF.

My husband and our youngest son, J, are always most interested in the memorabilia and trophies but it is the beautiful architecture of the old bank and vault that draws me in. The original Stanley Cup is in the original bank vault.

This girl loves hockey, but the metal, gears and wood detail of the vault and trophy room are even more appealing. Shh, don't tell my guys!

I guess I can't take one of these beauties home with me ?!!

More details and intricate woodwork.

With each visit I can't help but stare up at the gorgeous ceiling like a tourist, but c'mon, can you blame me?

We had an unseasonably warm and beautifully sunny March day (double digit warm, 17 Celsius, no snow and t-shirt weather in Ontario, Canada in March, are you kidding me?) and the light streaming through the stained glass dome was just gorgeous.

The Stanley Cup was out of the building until 12:30 but there were lots of other trophies to admire (we chose not to go back upstairs when it returned because we have seen it on previous visits and the crowds were growing.) 

The interactive area is always a blast, in this case shooting on a virtual goalie.

Our oldest son was up north this week doing farm things he loves so this was a special trip for J. My guys have all played minor hockey (as most boys and girls in my extended family do) and love hockey at all levels, from local to NHL to Olympic.

Olympic Gold for Canada's Women and Men.

International hockey.

Hockey legends (and Canadians) like Bobby Orr...

and the Great Wayne Gretzky.

Newer teams and the Original Six.

American and Canadian teams.

And did I mention great architecture? If you are in the area, and you like hockey, you might want to spend a few hours here. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week. Now back to painting my little desk.

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Painting My Sister's Kitchen

One of my March Break projects is coming along nicely. I am helping my sister paint her kitchen and I am very happy to say the painting part is finished.

I love the look of new paint and freshly painted trim. We started with the ceiling (two coats but so worth the fresh look) on the weekend and continued with the walls and trim yesterday and today.

Above and below are before shots, the original very very light grey the builder painted quite a few years ago. This is my younger sister E, who always jokes that the square footage in my home is shrinking because of all the layers of paint.  

We used Behr Paint and Primer In One and the colour is Parachute Silk. It is the top sample in the photo above and a lovely colour. It looks great in daylight and at night.

Another before, above. My sister and brother-in-law just bought the new fridge and dishwasher and are planning on replacing the stove and microwave with stainless soon.

  

It is quite a large kitchen with this work area, an eat-in area and the butler's pantry (behind the fridge.) I enjoy painting but this was a really big project and I was very happy to have the help of my sister and her two daughters (14 and 17.) My neices are becoming quite the accomplished painters and I am envious of how easily they can pop their athletic bodies (field lacrosse, hockey, volleyball, swimming....) up and down off counters with such ease.

We still have some tidying left to do, and arranging items on the counter. My sister is not big on accessories, but we plan to add a few functional things, and maybe I can talk her into a few decorative pieces. I'll share pictures of course ;)

Hubby and I are planning a day trip tomorrow with our youngest (oldest is away at a relative's farm) and then I hope to get a few items checked off my list.

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Little Brother

Exactly one week ago today we welcomed the fifth member of our household - a LITTLE BROTHER!!!!   I know this comes as no surprise to any of you as this baby has been the only thing I have been able to blog about over the past few weeks:)  I am happy to say that all is well and he is a healthy little boy.  The family is adjusting well and he is very loved by his parents and his big sisters!

This one loves her little brother!

It took this one a few days to warm up to the idea:)

I plan on taking a few weeks off from blogland but am sure I will still be checking in from time-to-time.

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Breakfast with Peyton

Sometimes I tend to over think things and today I had one of those moments.  Peyton (The Youngest) has seemed to be a bit more sensitive than usual over the past few days and I made the assumption that it was probably because there has been a lot of focus on the arrival of The Baby.  You see Peyton doesn't really handle anticipation very well (as I am sure every other 4 year old is) so I thought that she may be a little nervous about what is going to happy over the next few days and what it will be like at home after The Baby arrives.
So, I decided to take her out to breakfast at one of her favorite establishments, Tim Horton's, for a little girl time.

Once she had settled in with her Vanilla Dip Donut I got serious with her and tried to talk to her about how she was feeling. I asked her if she was excited for the baby to come and she answered "Yes".  I asked her if maybe she was a little nervous too and she answered "No". I asked her if she was concerned about Mommy being in the hospital and she answered "No".  So finally I explained to her that she seemed a little sad over the weekend and I was wondering why.  Her answer - "um, Mom I was just a little bit sad because Lainey was home and I couldn't play with her toys."

Seriously!!!!  Here I am all concerned that Peyton is feeling a little unsteady because a new baby will be coming into the house and all she was upset about was that her sister was off from school for 3 whole days and that she didn't have reign over all of the toys.  That's sisters for you:)

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Bathrooms

I am sure that you have all heard me complain talk about our bathroom situation before.  It is not necessarily ideal but we are making it work for now.  Technically our house has one full and two half baths.  One of the half baths is in the basement and, frankly, I am afraid to walk into it let alone to anything else.  The second half bath is upstairs and as much as I love that guests get a full house tour every time they have to use the bathroom, a downstairs guest bath would be nice.  The full bath is actually a master bath which is really nice and works well for us while the kids are young but could get a little inconvenient when the kids get a little older - not to mention that we do not have a bath tub anywhere in The House which has pushed us to get a little creative for when we will be bathing the baby:)

So I am going to ask you to cut me some slack here and let me dream a little bit....because we do plan to put an addition on The House.

Our addition will be off of the first floor of our house and I would like it to include a Master Bedroom, an additional bedroom which will be for The Boy, and a den which will also serve as a guest room when necessary.  What this will also do is give The Girls' the full run of the upstairs.  So what do bathrooms have to do with this?  When the addition goes on I would love for The Boy's room to have its own bathroom, for there to be a beautiful Master Bathroom as well as a third full bathroom which will serve as our guest bathroom.  Upstairs, I would love to knock down the wall between the bathrooms and create one big fabulous bathroom for The Girls.  Yes you heard be correctly 4 FULL BATHROOMS!!  And I want them to all have their own personalities so I have been collecting ideas as I come across them

Here are two of my favorites:

Inspiration for out Guest Bath down stairs. I love everything about it, especially the horizontal boards on the wall and the wall-mounted faucet.





Inspiration for the Master Bathroom, I love that the shower and toilet are separate from the sinks.  I would also love the the entrance to be two big ol' sliding barn doors - how much fun would that be?


For The Girls' bathroom I using IKEA as my inspiration - very sleek and clean lines but with lots of color.

For the Boy's bathroom I almost want it too feel like a public bathroom (is the weird?) with a very simple wall mounted sink and lots of subway tile.

In four years I will let you all know how it turns out:)

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Packed Bag

Baby and I are all packed for The Hospital (just in case).  Seven more days!!!

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Thank You Pinterest

As far as Holidays go, I love Christmas (which most of you probably figured out if you read my blog in December) and I also love the 4th of July but, as for all the other holidays, I am pretty much a Grinch.  Totally okay with me but not so much fun for my kids.  So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Pinterest for saving our Valentine's Day.

By the way - are you n Pinterest yet?  I am addicted!  I started using in just as a way to collect ideas for The House but now it has turned into so much more:)

So anyways, our Valentine's Day fun started when our oldest daughter's teacher sent home a note about the upcoming Valentine's Party at school and it mentioned a "mailbox" for all of the kids to collect their Valentine's in.  Up until this point, she had always made them in school so I started to worry a little bit because I couldn't even begin to think of what we would use to make a Valentine's Day Mailbox.  Until I was thumbing through different Pins and came across this great Cereal Box Valentine!  Shoe boxes we didn't have but Cereal boxes we did - perfect!
You can see the tutorial here.  I think they turned out pretty cute:)

Then it was on to making breakfast a little more special with some heart shaped cinnamon rolls.  In the tutorial you will see that the cinnamon rolls are made from scratch.  That I did not do, I just used pre-packaged cinnamon rolls and rerolled them into heart shapes.  The best part, The Girls were so excited about it!

Finally, I felt like we probably needed one more sweet treat for such a sweet day.  I used a recipe from The Pioneer Woman for Chocolate Cookies which I cut out in heart shapes, dipped in white chocolate, and covered with red sprinkles.  I think The Oldest will be so excited to find two of these in her lunch today!

So, I have to say that I am quite proud of myself today.  Not necessarily super-mom material but much better than what I had planned a week ago!

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Two Weeks from Today!!!!

Can you believe it?  In both ways I feel like I have been pregnant forever but I also feel like the time has flown by.  It has been over four years since we have had a baby around and as excited as I am, I know I am going to miss my eight straight hours of sleep I have been getting for the past three years.

I am proud to say that we are ready - nursery is ready, diapers and wipes are in place, clothes have all been washed, carseat is in the (trunk of the) car and I will officially be full term tomorrow.  In addition, The Husband is currently on an airplane home from San Diego so - bring it on little guy, we are ready and waiting!

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The Month of Love

...is just around the corner!

And since puppy Hope & I all love you, we're offering a discounted rate for the month of February!
Spots are already going quick so please email me at michaelawarner90@gmail.com to inquire!  We {Hope and I, of course!} would love to help promote your business, blog or shop!


In other news, my dad thought it'd be a great idea to teach Hope how to run on the treadmill.

....and it's totally working.
What a healthy, fit little girl ;)


Happy Weekend!
Love,

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One Month From Today!

It is hard to believe but one month from today we will get to meet the newest member of our family AKA The Baby.  I had a wonderful "sprinkle" this weekend to celebrate him and am totally digging all of this Blue!  I have been buying pink dresses for way too long:)

We also finally have his room ready for him.  Everything is cleaned, washed and ready for him to use.  Although, knowing me, I am sure I will wash everything one more time.

So, here are the last of the pictures in our Nursery Series.  I know it looks like I took pictures of the same part of the room three different times and you would be correct.  But, as I have said in my previous posts, it is hard to get a picture of a room that is only 6 feet x 9 feet.  We were plesently surprised to find that all of the furniture fit but I am a little sad that we were not able to get the rocker in there.  The good news is that there is a very comfy chair right outside his door in the hall.  I am sure I will be spending many a night falling asleep in that chair:)

Enjoy the pictures!

Wall Color:  Thin Ice by Valspar

Furniture: Babies R Us (6 years ago)

Drapes: Target

Lamps: Target (6 years ago)

Rods: Lowe's

Rug: IKEA

Pictures:  Illustrations from the book "The Night You Were Born"

Baskets:  Michael's (6 years ago)

Bedding: Carter's

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Enlisting Some Help

Now that all of the demo and construction was finished it was time to do some painting.  I was pretty much banned from the entire nursery project and being eight months pregnant I was totally okay with it.  Plus, there was an unspoken agreement that even though I was not doing anything physical, I still had final say in anything decorative.

By this step, The Husband had done A LOT of work and was ready to ask for some help.  Enter two Big Sisters and we had ourselves a painting party.

My job was to make sure this little one did not fling paint all over the room.



This one is a natural, I mean look at those brush strokes!

For anybody interested we have used Valspar paint throughout the entire house.  All of the trim in this room is China White and the walls are Thin Ice.

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