My kid LOVES the Puppet Tamer. She loves puppets, she loves funny, and the Puppet Tamer is both. And so the Puppet Tamer’s appearance is one of the things I will tell her to get her excited about going to Kidsfest this year.

Also Peppa Pig, Junkyard Symphony, Splash ‘N Boots… the list goes on. It won’t take much convincing really.

She loved it last year, she will love it this year (and it gives my husband a great way to spend some fun quality time with her while I study for my exams, which are all packed intp the week following Kidsfest).

Kidsfest is happening this year at the EY Centre (out near the airport) on April 11 and 12.

Just like every year (and this year is the 14th annual) there will be a lot of great exhibitors who will be doing giveaway, hosting activities and providing attendees with great information.

Last year the kid came home very happy with her face painted and a craft she had made. And she met a princess.

You can learn all about Kidsfest here.

You can also buy tickets here. And you can use the discount code Blogger10 to get a family pass for $30 or to save $3 on an adult ticket, or you can comment below to enter a giveaway for a family pass (2 adults and 2 children) that I will be drawing on Monday, April 6 at noon.

And you can get updates about the event by following @capitalparent on Twitter.

Disclosure: I was given passes to this event in exchange for promoting it, but all opinions here are my own. It’s a guaranteed good time. 

We have a 9-year-old schnauzer. A few years ago he had an embolism that left him with some paralysis and while he has mostly recovered it has had some lasting effects. Like sometimes he pees in the house because he doesn’t know how badly he needs to go. Like a toddler. When he does that, it’s often right at the top of the first flight of stairs. So now we have a high traffic area with nasty spots and a smell that’s tough to get rid of. I want to get rid of the stains and the smell.

He’s a good boy, really

All of this means that when I got the opportunity to try OxiClean’s Versatile Stain Remover I jumped at the chance. We’ve tried other stain removers but I can still see the difference between the stained carpet and the rest of the carpet. I was hoping this would be our answer, so I attacked.

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I mixed up the OxiClean powder with the instructed amount of water and soaked the dirtiest part of the carpet and then left it for a few minutes. When I went back and started patting the area with the towel I could tell that it smelled better, but I wasn’t sure if it was cleaning.

And then I noticed how dirty the towel was getting.

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Those are results

OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover is a powder that you can dilute to use on a large variety of surfaces. In fact, when I’m done here I’m going to try it on our shower grout. You can also used it with your regular detergent to give it a little boost. I’m going to do our gym towels I think… This whole house could smell and look better by the end of the week.

You can read more about the stain remover and its many uses here. You can find OxiClean across Canada at Shoppers Drug Mart and Walmart. Check out their Facebook page for more great tips.

This post was brought to you by OxiClean Versatile Stain remover, however the images and opinions are my own. For more information please visit http://oxiclean.ca/.

I am a big fan of the CBC and an even bigger fan of their children’s programming. I have been for a long, long time. My mother has told me that she opted to put me in afternoon kindergarten because it would have been too upsetting for me to miss Mr. Dressup every morning.

And if you don’t know Mr. Dressup stop right now and go and watch him.

There are episodes on YouTube.

We own the DVDs.

I was thrilled when my kid took a shining to Patty and Sid and Mamma Yamma – the Kids CBC team. And then last year a show started that I’m pretty sure I like as much as she does. The show that makes the whole family burst into song: The Adventures of Napkin Man.

Napkin Man is all about teaching kids how to deal with the emotions they have and adjusting the way they respond to situations.

We’ve been watching Napkin Man on TV, playing with him on the CBC website and now there are three ebooks that not only feature the same great stuff from the TV show, but my kid can use them in learning to read.

Reading Say Hello

As soon as we finished the story in Say Hello she wanted to move on to Treasure for All. (We had already read Penguins A Go Go because penguins). I highly recommend Napkin Man in all his formats and I dare you not to break into the theme song once you fall in love with the show.

“If you’re happy, sad, scared or mad, these are all feelings I have had…”

Disclosure: I was compensated for posting about the new Napkin Man ebooks, but my opinions of them are my own. 

It’s been almost three years since Joe and I bought our first home together. It was a huge decision that we made very, very quickly. We went to the open house one Sunday and had signed the mortgage by the next Sunday. It was a big risk, especially since we didn’t have a realtor and neither did the sellers, but we had a good lawyer and a good mortgage broker.

Basically we were kind of stupid and very lucky.

It would have been wonderful to have the chance to chat with experts, which is an opportunity that RBC is giving any of those of you who are looking to buy your first home and be smarter than we were.

You can submit any questions you have on Twitter using the hashtag #RBCFirstHome. The chat takes place Tuesday, January 20 between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. And participating in the chance gets you a chance to win 1 of 5 $100 gift cards.

I’ll be there to offer some of the lessons we learned during our adventure.

Disclosure: Staples Canada provided me with a Chromecast for the purposes of this post. 

I am a movie lover. For a long time settling in with a great movie has been my way to unwind, to stop thinking for a little while and escape into a different world.

There are movies for everything – if you feel like crying, being scared, laughing, being stupid. Everything.

When my daughter was newborn I would take the opportunity to get out of the house every Thursday to go to Stars and Strollers at the local theatre. I saw some movies that I didn’t really want to see, but that was what was playing.

I hoped that this would lead to my daughter loving movies as much as me. In fact, she does like going to the theatre, but mostly because she gets popcorn. She often tells me after the fact that she didn’t like the actual films.

She’s told me… more than once… that she doesn’t like the Muppets.

GASP

I mean, why is she trying to hurt me?

The Muppet Family Christmas is the movie that we watch while we decorate our tree. This is a tradition in our family that started before the kid was born and it certainly isn’t going to stop now no matter what she says.

And so I am on the hunt for great movies that we will both love, which is why I’m thrilled to be a part of the Staples Canada Stream Into 2015 campaign. Staples sent me a Google Chromecast and some movie snacks to share. Now I can stream my Netflix to the TV and show my daughter all the movies I think she should love.

This month we will be settling in, watching movies and trying to bring this kid around to my way of thinking. Netflix has some great ones on offer. I can introduce her to Elf, The Grinch and the classic Frosty the Snowman. I’ve never seen Arthur Christmas, but Hugh Laurie’s voice is in it.

The kid announced when we got out first snow last week that this meant it’s almost Christmas and almost her birthday. And that means I need to grow my list of must watch movies for my 4-year-old.

Popcorn at the ready

We’re all set here, so please leave me comments and tell me about your family classics. In my family White Christmas and Holiday Inn are annual musts, and I love Scrooged, but that might be a little mature for the kid…

If it were just me? The Family Stone is a recent addition to my ‘holiday feelings’ movies, along with Love, Actually and Die Hard. Obviously.

You can see what other people are watching with the #StreamInto2015 hashtag.

What holiday movie were you excited to show your child for the first time?

I was thrilled to get an email from Mattel a couple of weeks ago, telling me about their new campaign: Anytime is Game Time. We are a gaming household. Joe and I have played trivia with a team – though we are missing this year’s World Trivia Night, the first time in years (if you’re interested, it’s a great time and funds go to charity). We have hosted game nights in the past, and attended many as well. We are a kickass Trivial Pursuit team.

We have been trying to get our daughter as much into board games as we are. We started young and we’ve been getting new games as she gets older and more interested. Uno has been a big hit, and, since it was one of my favourites when I was a kid, I’m thrilled.

We got a big box of games on our doorstep and last weekend I took some time out to take those games downstairs and declare it game time.

It came with a big button

Kid loves the big button

We started with a game I had heard about but never played before – Apples to Apples: Big Picture.

This game was good for the kid, she had to try and explain why she chose the pictures she chose to go with the word. It was fun and a bit of an exercise.

But the biggest hit to come out of the box was Bounce Off.

You bounce balls into a game board to try and make patterns. It’s noisy and goofy and I had fun. I know the kid did too because after I went back to working on my essay she played against Daddy and then against her Uncle who came over on Sunday. It’s definitely a hit. Probably because it’s a bit silly.

Getting down on the floor and playing a few games was a great way to get out of my office and spend some time with my kid, laughing. As we enter in to the busiest of seasons it’s something I’ll be doing again and again.

Disclosure: I was sent four games by Mattel to participate in the #GameTimeCAN promotion.