Despite being very busy, my husband does an amazing job at staying connected our two children. He juggles his schedule each year to help me host our annual pancake breakfast, he tries his best to be at all of our kids sports activities and recitals - he calls and writes emails when he is away on business.

Recently, he was away for an extended business trip. My daughter sent him smileboxes daily and he emailed them kisses and called as he always does. Then one night we put our heads together - his not so technical and mine a bit more technical and decided to download skype and use our built-in computer cameras so he could say hi LIVE!

What an amazing experience it was for the kids. They could talk to daddy, they could see his hotel room and he even showed them some of the treats he had picked up for them. That LIVE time was worth the time it took for us to get our two computers talking.

If you have a husband or wife on the road and don’t already take advantage of the technology the computer offers us - jump in. Skype is easy to use for both voice and video. So if you don’t have a camera you can still talk for free using your computer. Smilebox is another great way to communicate. The kids can send little messages via cards and slideshows - easy to download and fun to use. If you have a scanner, try scanning in a drawing from the day or a returned test from school.

It takes a bit of time but it is soooo worth it!

Smilebox:
http://smilebox.canadianparents.com/

Skype:
http://www.skype.com

Sorry for the long break. I had a week off and spent my time getting my house in order… that and planning my daughter’s 12th birthday party. Emmy was a new baby when I started working with CPO - where does the time go!

OK, so I am a HUGE fan of home birthday parties. Emmy didn’t want to have a big party this year because she wants us to do a bit of a redo of her bedroom - a bit older looking that what she has now. Of course, the mom in me couldn’t let the year go by without a party. So, we did a No gifts, No goodie bags, Just good old fashioned fun party. She had her best friends over for the afternoon and evening and we used her latest favourite movie as our theme… Hairspray!

Emmy loves to be creative, like her mom and her invite was an old album with the label put in the middle. The front was just a fun grab your attention heading. The back had all the details. Some of the girls had record players and played them!

I surprised her with a little hair station and I recreated the label for the hairspray too! The girls had a great time doing their hair. Emmy had fun playing the role of “Tracy” with her flipped up hair-do and too much hairspray!

The girls watched the movie and ate some sixties candies - we even had Pop Shoppe. You know it is a Canadian born pop and is making a bit of a come back! Remember Candy cigarettes and Jiffy Pop Popcorn! We even had Cracker Jacks and Dots!

Who knows what next year will bring. I have a feeling this may have been the last “birthday” party for my little girl. I am sure we will still have many celebrations but the whole party thing, sadly, kids out grow… until they turn 40!