What's Up Wednesday

 

What we’re eating this week…

Sunday - out for pizza

Monday - Shepherd’s Pie

Tuesday - Roasted Beets, Brussels, Sweet Potato, Chicken Meatballs and Orzo

Wednesday - Sausages

Thursday - Mummy Hot Dogs and Brains

Friday - Quesadillas

Saturday - Baked Chicken Tacos

What I’m reminiscing about…

I don’t know when we used to have so much time to watch movies, but I feel like we used to be able to get through lots of Halloween movies and this year we haven’t watched any. I guess it is a combination of being busy, the kids having homework, and watching other things. I may also be reminiscing the pandemic years when we really didn’t have anything to do but watch movies. 

What I’m loving…

Our fall weather has been lovely and the colours are pretty nice. I kind of take for granted how pretty it is here, I realize not everyone gets the colours that we do. 

What I’m dreading…

I am not ready for Christmas and although I don’t begrudge those who want to dive in, but I’m not ready to see the Christmas displays in store and hear the carols yet.

What we’ve been up to…

Celebrating birthdays - first Q in September and E last week. Each kid had a friend party, a family activity, dinner out, a homemade cupcakes/ice cream cake, and the right amount of presents.

What I’m working on…

Trying to figure out where to go on March Break. I am finagling for somewhere warm, since we have done skiing for the last few years.

What I’m excited about…

My office is getting reconfigured and I will finally have my own dedicated office (up to now I’ve just being using someone’s office who was never there). I will be able to “move in”, which really just means I can leave my shoes there! There will also be more people coming into the Toronto office on a regular basis to that will be nice too.

What I’m watching/reading…

We are watching Below on Netflix. I am watching Heated Rivalry on Crave. And we are watching all of the sports - Raptors, Maple Leafs (when it’s not on Sportsnet+!!), and the World Series. 

I just finished The Thoroughbreds, by Elin Hilderbrand (and her daughter), the follow up to The Academy. It was a good “fall” book even though it took place all through the school year.

What I’m listening to…

This week it’s Noah Wyle on Good Hang.

What I’m wearing…

Not yet, but I ordered a pair of the mesh Mary Jane flats. Just on Amazon so I’m not sure what the quality will be like but I liked the trend.

What I’m doing this weekend…

Halloween! Q has got some plans to trick or treat with friends. E isn’t sure what he’s going to do, but I will be giving out the candy. We might have a bonfire on Sunday night if the weather is nice.

What I’m looking forward to next month…

A little slower month in terms of special events (no birthdays, no holidays), but then I’ve got a trip planned to the UK at the end of the month so I am very much looking forward to that!

What else is new…

We had municipal elections earlier this week. I voted and then got my poppy so I was very civically minded that day!

Weekend Recap

 
This weekend recap is all about E as we continued to celebrate his birthday.

On Friday night I went over to a friend's house. She used to live in our neighbourhood but moved last year, it was nice to see her new house. Our sons are friends and E had left a hat there many months ago but then we forgot about it. I was finally able to get it on Friday!

Friday also consisted of me driving to Mono Cliffs (north of Orangeville) to pick up Q early from his school field trip so he could be on time for baseball training. It was a lot of driving, but I did get to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage out in the country. 

Q had a birthday party to attend on Saturday morning and I went to a funeral at our church to sing in the choir. After I got home I suggested E and I walk up the street which he was eager to do since it meant going to the new McDonalds :)

Then I finished getting his birthday cake ready. He wanted an ice cream cake with mint chocolate. I decided to try making it myself - a big ice cream cookie sandwich. I made two big chocolate chip cookies and put the ice cream in the middle and froze it. More pictures below. It turned out well.

I always see people stopped in front of our house and then a lady took a photo, I can't imagine why they took a photo but it could be the pretty mums we have. I took my own photo to see.  Yes, it looks pretty good for fall.

E's friends came over and we took the subway to The Keg Mansion. (For those of you who aren't familiar, The Keg is a Canadian chain restaurant known for steak, the Mansion is in a historic mansion on Jarvis. The lore is that it is haunted. It is a beautiful building and in my opinion a bit more special than a normal Keg.) 

We sat together and let the big boys have their own table.

Then home for cake. The boys stayed until midnight, playing games in the basement, and I guess Q made everyone a rainbow loom bracelet with their names. I didn't do treat bags this year but they got a treat to take home. 

The cookie was soft enough to bite and I just picked it up to eat rather than trying to use a fork. Will definiately do this again!

This moment was halfway through our busy day when we just sat and watched Pirates of the Caribbean. I said it was a Halloween movie because "they wear costumes", which really makes no sense because every movie has "costumes" but then realized it's Halloween because there are skeleton ghosts. So I was right in the end, haha.

After the movie the boys did some tree trimming while I went to the store, and then when I got home I cut up all the branches and put them in bags.

And we all went out for dinner at a new pizza place near our house. It was busy and very good, so we were pleased. We put on the second Pirates movie for a bit and then went to bed. 

Friday Favourites

Happy Friday! We had some beautiful fall weather this week. I walked home from the store on Monday and snapped a quick photo of these hydrangeas that are "antiquing". 

Call me Paddington Bear. I grabbed a piece of toast with marmalade on my way out the door on Wednesday morning. Yum!

It was E's 15th birthday on Wednesday. We did the usual birthday waffles for breakfast with whipped cream and sprinkles. After work and school we went to Activiate. This is a place with a bunch of interactive game rooms, I can't even really describe it. It was really fun!

Then we went out for E's favourite meal, sushi.

And he opened his gifts.

And we had a couple of cupcakes (I am making his actual birthday cake for his friend party on the weekend).

We finished off our night watching the recorded Raptors home opener, nice to see a commanding win.  A great birthday night for our big kid.

Happy 15th Birthday E!

E is 15 today! Happy Birthday to him. He is such a great kid, I know that everyone probably says that about their child, but he really is, and other people tell us that too.  He is just so easy going, happy to do whatever needs to be done, and gets along with everyone.  As I was looking back over the year to pick up some photos of him to share here, I was reminded of how he quietly succeeds at different things. He had a great first year of high school, finding new friends and maintaining connections to his old friends, doing pretty well at his classes (can always do better in my opinion!), completed his Bronze Cross course, won Most Improved of his ski team, developed a pretty good golf swing, volunteered at the food bank a few times, helped out with the junior golf camps, helped Q's baseball team with pre-game practices and keeping the little siblings entertained, and worked on his guitar. I can ask him to empty the dishwasher, grab something from the store on his way home, help Quinn with something, or put his laundry in, and he does it without complaining.

We are so proud of how responsible he is (most of the time, there is the occasional lost airbud, iykyk), how much fun he has with his little brother, how smart and clever he is, and how he makes good decisions. In a world where there seems to be overwhelming pressure to have it all figured out right now, this kid is going to be alright.