There's A Hole In My Bucket: Summer Bucket List

The minions really loved knocking items off of bucket lists since we started the project this winter, and continued it into spring.  I'm happy to report that we're getting better at knocking things off of our list and actually managed to complete 18 out of 30 items on our spring bucket list (much better than the 14 we managed on our winter bucket list!   Bucket lists have inspired us to book activities, appreciate what each season has to offer and get out and move, even when we were tempted to just curl up and binge on some Netflix.  Since some of the items are still doable for summer we moved a few from spring over to our summer bucket list that we worked on collectively as a family last night.

This list is designed to get us out there and enjoy everything that summer has to offer; I'm hoping that we keep improving our records and eventually complete all the check marks.

Feel free to steal ideas from our list, and if you have any must see / must do suggestions please let us know so we can keep adding to our own list.  I'll be adding check marks and writing posts as we cross stuff off our list.

Climbing a log on a Father's Day Hike at Tiffany Falls

1. Go and see Despicable Me In Theatres✔
2. Go to a Drive In Movie✔
3. Explore three new playgrounds or parks✔✔✔
4. Fly a kite✔
5. Try using a scooter
6. Ride our bikes (learn to ride a bike)
7. Complete a nature themed scavenger hunt✔
8. Go on three hikes✔
9. Make Toronto beautiful with a park clean up day
10. Have an outdoor garden tea party
11. Go canoeing ✔
12. Have a picnic in the park✔
13. Celebrate Molly & Jack's 6th Birthday✔
14. Visit the ocean✔
15. Collect sea shells✔
    
    

    

    Molly climbing a tree stump on a hike

16. Say hello to a French person in French in Quebec✔
17. Go to the cottage✔
18. Go to Black Creek Pioneer Village
19. Eat food from our garden✔
20. Try new recipes for food from our garden✔
21. Make our own ice cream sundaes
22. Enjoy the sun and lay on the ground to watch the sun and the clouds
23. Make a flower crown out of wild flowers
24. Go to Santa's Village✔
25. Jump in muddy puddles✔
26. Go to a baseball game with daddy✔
27. Go to an outdoor flea market or craft market✔
28. Visit a farm✔
29. Try three new splash pads✔✔✔
30. Read all of the Captain Underpants books (Read 1-10)
31. Read all of the Ivy and Bean books✔
32. Read all of the Bad Guys books✔
33. Read all of the Princess & Black Book Series✔ 
34. Go to Canada's Wonderland✔

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Words of Wisdom: My Kids in 140 Characters or Less

We spend a lot of time with the minions and I'm fortunate enough to record the things that they say and do so I can look back on it and laugh.  Some of it makes the blog and other smaller moments don't.  One of the brilliant things about Twitter is how it's the ultimate parenting "elevator speech", because you have to keep it short. Below are Tweets, conversations, parental musings and things that the minions have done or said over the past month, for your reading pleasure that haven't made it to the blog.

Image Courtesy of Giphy

1. M: What if I ask Drake to marry me and he just shrugs? #Toronto problems when you're 5 years old #parenting #toddlerlife #thesix

2. J: We can't leave Dollarama until I finish smelling all of the gum #ToddlerLife #parenting


3. M: Look an eagle! Me: That's a seagull M: Isn't it beautiful? I hope it doesn't poop on our car #perspective #ToddlerLife

Image Courtesy of Giphy

4. J: Who's singing on the radio? Me: The Red Hot Chili Peppers J: Can you turn them off? They're too spicy for my ears #ToddlerLife

5. Bedtime story & my son climbs up on my back for what I think is a cuddle & yells FART BOMB at the top of his lungs #ToddlerLife

6. M: don't worry about opening the car door. I'm just going to kick out the window to escape #mydaughter


7. J: The most dangerous thing about #BrainStorming is the lightning & explosions #ToddlerLife #parenting


8. Parenting level expert. jogging 4.2 miles per hour while creating a cheese string spider for your son #joggers #parenting

9. Muse is playing on the radio. M: Why are they singing like ghosts? Are they trying to be scary? I don't get it. #ToddlerLife 10. J: Let's write a song about a scorpion & a lobster who fight. Maybe they die, maybe they become BFFs Let's find out! #ToddlerLife

To read more blogs featuring the wacky things my kids say as featured on twitter, follow me @Sarabethbug & click here, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Paperback Writer: Sharing My Writing From Other Sites

It's that time of the month again when I share some of the writing I've been completing for other publications.  This past month I wrote an article that went viral and to date has earned nearly 1.6 million views (13 Things Celeb Parents Did That Were Sketchy AF).  One of the interesting things for me in terms of parenting and entertainment articles is how it's hard to predict if what I write is going to be popular or not.  Some of my favourite articles to write and research are the ones with the least "sexy" topics and titles, so I'm always curious to see what attracts readers.

Nowadays as my full-time job I write and ghostwrite articles for online publications, organizations and blogs, in addition to providing public relations services.  While I can't really share my ghostwritten articles on this platform, cause then I wouldn't really be a ghostwriter would I, I can share some of the other stuff I have been working on.

I'm looking forward to lightening my work load a little this summer to enjoy some lengthy vacations with the minions as well as more time with them on a day to day basis while they'll only be attending camp part time each week.  As always, the more time I spend with Molly and Jack, often means more content for Multiple Momstrosity...so buckle up!

Click on the links for the topics that interest you most, and if you enjoy what I wrote please share, like, and follow, and keep parenting and reading on!  If you have any ideas for a story, a playground review, or article on any front, feel free to share it with me!  I'm always looking for new sources of inspiration!

Family Vacation Planning

Image Courtesy of Yahoo

Family Vacations & Staycations That Won’t Break Your Budget

Parenting Bigger Kids

The Ins & Outs Of Growth Spurts In Kids

Coping When Your Child Picks A Favourite

Mean Girls & Boys: A Pre-School Bullying Problem?

Parenting Humour

Image Courtesy of Babygaga

12 Most Epic Tantrums These Celeb Parents Had To Endure

15 Funny AF Pics That Show How Dad Really Raises The Kids

12 Crazy AF Baby Showers That You Won’t Believe Went Down

13 Things Celeb Parents Did That Were Sketchy AF

Relationships & Romance

Image courtesy of The Richest

15 Fails Inspired By Fifty Shades Of Grey

Pregnancy

14 Surprising Foods That Can Boost The Baby’s Brain During Pregnancy

14 Warning Signs A Woman’s Pregnancy Might Be In Serious Danger

Dinosaurs

Image courtesy of The Richest

15 Stupid Things About Dinosaurs People Actually Believe

Celebrity Articles 

Image Courtesy of The Richest

15 Scandalous Celebrity Pics We’ll Never Forget


15 Photos Of Brutal Celeb-Fan Meetings


20 Photos Of Hollywood’s Hottest Trainwrecks



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Song For Dad: A Father's Day Post

For the second year in a row a dedicated Father's Day post didn't happen where I ask a bunch of dads questions about being fathers.  Instead I decided to see what kind of difference one year would make and I asked the minions a bunch of questions about Chris and see what they had to say. This is what Molly and Jack, age five and a half thought about their dad.  Some of their insight is spot on. I highly encourage parents everywhere to ask these questions to their kids and record them, because it's pretty amazing.

Chillin with a chicken at High Park Zoo

1. What makes dad happy?

Molly: Me and Jackie and momma.

Jack: Planting the garden.

2. How does your dad make you laugh?

Molly: When he pretends to try and eat me.

Jack: He's so funny, He makes me funny Plasticine men like lizard man.

3. What does your dad do when you’re not around?

Molly: Wait for me to come back, play with Jackie.

Jack: Waits for me.

4. What is your dad really good at?

Molly: Playing Daddy Monster and drinking beer.

Jack: Building Lego.

5. What is your dad not very good at?

Molly: Drawing.

Jack: Drawing.

6. What does your dad do for a job?

Molly: That's a hard question.  I don't know.

Jack: Sing.

7. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?

Molly: Robin from Teen Titans because they're both funny and that they both want to be the boss but aren't.

Jack: Scorpion, because Scorpion is cool and a bad guy, just like daddy.

8. How are you and your dad the same?

Molly: We both like our car, going to garage sales, and eating cornflakes.

Jack: Because we both like to work on invisible computers together and we both love Lego.

9. How are you and your dad different?

Molly: I don't like Lego that much, and when daddy was a kid he loved Lego, he still loves it.

Jack: I am a lot like the Human Torch, but daddy isn't.

10. How do you know your dad loves you?

Molly: I can feel it in his heart.

Jack: Because I just know he does.

11. What does your dad like most about me (mom)?

Molly: That he loves her and you love him.

Jack: That mommy does the planning.

To read Molly & Jack's answers from last year click hereTo read my Father's Day Honest "dad" survey post from 2014 click here.
To read my Father's Day dad survey post from 2013 click here.

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Blue Dress - A Punishment Complete

Last week we busted Molly in a bold faced lie.  Yesterday she completed her punishment with minimal fuss and muss.  When I made her swear on "all of her pretty dresses" that she was telling the truth, and then later had to remove them from her closet because she had in fact been lying I thought that I'd orchestrated a pretty random and silly punishment. (read the post on her lying here).

As an adult if someone told me I couldn't wear a dress for a week it wouldn't impact my life that much.  But when you're a five and a half year old girl, whose life revolves around dress-up as a part of your play, it's a very big deal.

Molly dressed for success circa summer 2013

Each night when Molly picked out her clothes for the next day there was significantly less choice for her. Then on Friday we went to visit her cousins who began playing dress up with her.  When offered a lovely red dress Molly forgot and pranced upstairs to show us how cute she looked in her red dress.  We reminded her of her punishment, and she had to take it off while her cousins continued to run around in princess attire. To rub salt into the wound, her older cousin passed along a beautiful purple princess dress to Molly that she wouldn't be able to wear until Wednesday (I couldn't have planned it better).

On Sunday she had a birthday party - normally the perfect occasion to wear a dress. She was forced to wear leggings and a t-shirt.  Then at a play date later that day, when a friend presented her with a tickle trunk filled with princess dresses for the pair to wear, Molly had to explain why she was not permitted to join in on the princess party.

At her after school program, two of her dress wearing companions noticed Molly's wardrobe change and asked her about it.  So she had to explain, yet again about what had happened and why there was a week long ban on dresses.

We can wear a dress even at the beach

I am proud of Molly.  I wish we had never faced the situation where she lied, but I think she gets the importance of us being able to trust her and believe her.  She has a better understanding of the power of her words, and the importance of doing what's right, no matter how hard.

This morning she was able to get up and put on a lovely yellow spring dress, having completed her punishment with the grace of a pretty pretty princess, dress or no dress.

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Why I Lie

Being an authority figure is weird, which is one of the reasons why parenting is so strange.  Yesterday we found ourselves in new territory, laying down one of the biggest punishments to date.  I am confident that we did the right thing (this article in the Huffington Post has tips that are useful for age appropriate ways to cope with kids lying), but that doesn't make it any less bizarre.

Molly borrowed Jack's emoji earmuffs named Romeo (because they have giant hearts for eyes) to wear to school.  Yes everyone is aware it's June, but that's not the point.  Since Molly is the most prone to lose things of my kids, we reminded her that she needed to take really good care of them.

After school Molly regretfully told us that Jack's earmuffs had been snapped in half at school.  We were treated to a detailed story about two of her friends playing a game with her, while she was riding a bike around the school yard.  At that time the earmuffs fell off of her, were picked up by a boy from another class who she didn't really know.  This boy snapped the earmuffs in half and then placed them back on Molly's head.  We were told not to worry, Molly had already notified the teacher on yard duty.

Something about her story seemed off.  Chris and I assumed that Molly was covering for a friend who had mistakenly broken the earmuffs.  I asked her to tell me right away if she was telling the truth and that this was her chance to come clean without additional consequences.  She insisted that she was.  I asked her to swear on all of her pretty dresses that she wasn't lying and she did.  I have no idea why I asked her to swear on all of her dresses, I just did.

We dropped it.  We told Jack we'd get him new earmuffs in the fall.  But something didn't feel right to me, so a little while later when Molly and I were hanging out I started to ask her a series of questions about the story to see if she'd falter.  That's right HIMYM fans, I lawyered her.  All of a sudden she knew the name of the boy who broke the earmuffs: Fred, from her class.  Spoiler alert, there is no one in her class named Fred. BUSTED!

Image via Giphy

It turns out I am still smarter than a five and a half year old.  She burst into tears and told me how she had broken them.  I made her tell her brother and her dad that she had lied, I pulled all of her pretty dresses out of her closet and told her she couldn't wear them for a week.  Jack was a really good sport about all of it...meanwhile Chris and I couldn't make eye contact with each other because we found this more amusing than parents are supposed to and our poker faces are terrible.

We told her she'd be skipping her allowance for two weeks to pay for new earmuffs.  We explained to her that had she told her the truth the only thing that would have likely happened was the payment and an apology, but because she'd lied things were worse.  She cried in her room for half an hour.  We reminded her that we loved her no matter what, and that she needed to tell us the truth in order for us to trust her. We also asked her to pick one more punishment - She's lost her "picks" for TV for a week, which means there's going to be a lot of Nexo Knights and super hero programming in our house courtesy of Jack.

Will she lie to us again?  Totally!  But hopefully this slows things down, or at the very least she'll become a better liar.  I can't get over how many bases she had covered in her web of lies.  As one of my BFF's said when I told her, "The teenage years are going to be fun".  Sigh.


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Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie A Movie Review

Jack discovered Captain Underpants in the books at his after-school program.  Immediately he fell in love with the tighty-whitie clad hero who looks like a giant baby, and bathroom humour to boot!  He also fell in love with story time, books, and comics thanks to the brilliance of Dav Pilkey.  We're currently at number 10 in the Captain Underpants series, and have also become big fans of the Dog Man series thanks to Jack and his infectious giggles.

Image Courtesy of Teaser Trailer

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

What's in it for the Kids?
Friendship, fart jokes, and the comforts of a story that many, many kids know well and are growing up with.  The story runs pretty close to the first and fourth book in the series and leaves room for many sequels should this flick bring in the numbers they're looking for at the box office.

What's in it for the Adults?
If your kids love Captain Underpants as much as mine do, odds are you'll know the story quite well. We were all pleasantly surprised to see that the voice interpretations Chris has been practicing for the past several months for Captain Underpants/Principal Krupp, and Melvin Sneedly were spot on.  This is a kids movie, geared directly at kids, with a lot of bathroom jokes in it, so there isn't a lot in there for parents (unless potty humour is your jam), but you can enjoy the voice talents of Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Kristen Schaal, Nick Kroll, and Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley).

Image Courtesy of YouTube

Best Parts of the Movie
This is the next generation of Superfudge (man I feel old saying that) but brought to the big screen with celebrity voice actors, CG animation, and even a movie style Flip-O-Rama in a real ode to the Dav Pilkey books in all of its movie glory. While there is no real moral to the story, and you may need to have a couple of conversations with your kids about toning down the toilet humour, the friendship in this movie between George and Harold is as special in the movie as it is in the book.


Worst Parts of the Movie
I found myself wanting more humour, more wit, and more potty jokes than what was provided here. Other adults with me agreed.  In the last 20 minutes of the film I found my dedication to the little plot present lagging, but was re-interested each time I heard the little giggle of Jack from a few seats over.


Overall Rating
I would rate this movie 3/5, because I just wanted more but Molly and Jack would give it a solid 4. Sometimes a movie comes out at the perfect time for the perfect person to enjoy it: Jack is that person right now and both kids loved the film. Jack who usually has so many questions during a film that we have to limit the number of times he's permitted to talk sat there in jaw dropped silence that was only broken by his belly laughs.  We will own this movie, and we will see all of the sequels, but not because of our insistence.  It's not the type of movie that you're going to hate your child watching, but you won't be compelled to sit down and join them.  If your kids love Captain Underpants in all of his "Tra La La" glory, go and see this with them.

To read my review of Boss Baby click here

To read my review of the Lego Batman movie click here

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