Jill Amery, Author at Urban Mommies

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Jill Amery

Jill Amery is a mom of 2 small boys and the Publisher of UrbanMommies, a stylish digital lifestyle magazine filled with fitness, style, health, recipes and savvy mom advice to help you through pregnancy, birth, and raising your kids.

A Family Battling Lyme Disease

EAVESDROP, FAM, health, Overheard By Jill Amery August 9, 2016 No Comments

Imagine never feeling well and having doctors diagnose you with a different illness each time you sought help. Imagine health providers blaming your mental state for a disease that you would later discover had been the cause of your suffering all along. And then imagine realizing that your infection had been passed to your kids, and this particular disease is so not funded in Canada, making accurate diagnosis and treatment extremely limited. Such was the case with Tanis Michelsen, who has since become an advocate for the recognition and treatment of lyme disease.

Power Up the Imagination

GEAR, tech, toys By Jill Amery August 9, 2016 74 Comments

We’re in the home-stretch of summer and my kids are getting fidgety. I don’t want them constantly watching TV or allowing them to morph into screen zombies, and yet their creativity is waning. Sending them outside on bug hunts, creating forts and harvesting their gardens has come and gone. We all know how crucial toys, games and play are for a child’s development, but sometimes we all run out of ideas. Thankfully we found a way to power up the imagination!

Summer Boredom Busters

charity, FAM, kids, Uncategorized By Jill Amery August 2, 2016 1 Comment

Aaah, August – the month where summer excitement turns to ‘I’m BORED!’. CTV asked me to come up with a few summer boredom busters, and the whole family had a blast creating these experiences that not only teach life skills but create heirlooms to pass along through the generations.

Grill Like a Boss

EAT, eat, LIVE, Mommy Mixology By Jill Amery July 27, 2016 2 Comments

I have vibrant BBQ and grill memories. When my husband and I returned to Hamburg, Germany where I lived as a teenage exchange student, my host family became so excited that Canadians were coming that they went and purchased a BBQ and assembled it in front of us! On another occasion in Martha’s Vineyard, a beautiful charcoal BBQ evening resulted in breaking an original rifle last fired on the Mason-Dixon line (I was at the home of a Dixon). Whoops. My first experience barbequing by myself was on the roof of my Annex condo in Toronto, when I lit it closed and just about annihilated my lashes and eyebrows upon later opening the lid.

Indulgent Key Lime Cheesecake Parfait

EAT, snacks By Jill Amery July 27, 2016 1 Comment

This post brought to you by Fibre 1. The content and opinions expressed below are that of UrbanMommies.

Summer should be laissez-faire, easy and fun. Unfortunately, work, kids and life still must go on so finding ease where we can is crucial. My kids have been yelling at me daily for enrolling them in summer school (I told them it was ‘education camp’ but they saw through the ruse quickly). We have had visitors, raced in weekend sailing regattas, gardened, camped and canned blueberries. Canadian summers seem so very short when there is so much to enjoy! The ‘easy’ and ‘fun’ bits need to be strengthened when there are so many activities going on. My motto, despite the packed calendar, has been to make snacks as easy as possible. As well, desserts need to be delicious and easy to prepare for when friends drop by for an impromptu BBQ.

No Summer Vexation Here

GEAR, tech, toys By Jill Amery July 19, 2016 No Comments

The summer boredom had set in, and the kids were driving me batty. “Can we have screens? Mama, can you take us to X,Y, or Z? Can I do something dangerous?” And then the Vex arrived. Hexbugs have always been a hit in our house, and now the company has innovated for older kids (and parents!). Exclusively from HEXBUG comes the VEX Robotic Arm – a completely functional construction kit inspired by real industrial robot arms.

Star Wars on Netflix – More Options than EVER

EAT, LIVE, play, snacks By Jill Amery July 18, 2016 No Comments

Attention padawan learners and Rey fans everywhere! Fancy seeing more Star Wars on Netflix? Members in Canada are now able to stream Star Wars: The Force Awakens along with the last days of the Galactic Republic with the entire Clone Wars series and feature film. Because it is summer vacation, after all, and there are many, many lessons in Star Wars. (You may want to watch it a few times…).

Disney Planes Lifts off on Netflix

grow, LIVE, nourish By Jill Amery July 8, 2016 1 Comment

We had a ‘family movie night’ today. It’s really an excuse to eat while watching a film, snuggle together on the sofa and glance at each other over jokes and sad bits. Some of the closest moments I have exchanged with the kids were during these fun nights, and as we flicked through the offerings today – Disney Planes on Netflix was a unanimous YES!!

Planes centres on Dusty the crop duster, who dreams of flying in a race around the world. But in order to qualify, he has to overcome his fear of heights.

The Laundress: Removing Messy Stains

EAVESDROP, LIVE, Seen, wash By Jill Amery June 30, 2016 1 Comment

Yes, I swear by Tide. And it’s even better now with a cool new cap and extra tough cleaning power for getting the stains really gone. This whole video is a summary of our fun Tide Stain Challenge about how to remove messy stains. We also have a general stain guide for you too.

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