Toronto SAM

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

What's Up Wednesday

What we’re eating this week…

Sunday - The Rec Room for Q’s birthday party

Monday - Out again for Q’s family birthday dinner

Tuesday - Mexican casserole

Wednesday - Sausage Pasta

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Baked Beans on Toast and Hot Dogs

Saturday - Golf course for me

What I’m reminiscing about…

With Q’s 10th birthday Yesterday so I am remembering when he was born of course.

What I’m loving…

Our new lawn. We put in some artificial turf and it has been a great addition. The kids can just go up there and play and no one looks like Pig Pen when they come back down.

What I’m dreading…

It’s not “dreading” in the traditional meaning, but something that is really irking me is that every commercial seems to be sports betting or for GLP-1s. Since we watch a lot of sports we are bombarded by these ads. I guess I should be glad they aren’t allowed to advertise vapes.

What we’ve been up to…

Enjoying a busy fall. September started out with school and baseball playoffs, then it was Q’s birthday. Work also picked up with more people back from holidays and I’ve been going into the office more often. October is equally busy for us and then (dare I mention it?) Christmas prep starts in earnest after Halloween.

What I’m working on…

I’m a little slow on doing this but I wanted to reach out to Q’s teacher sooner than later about getting some sort of homework system set up. They don’t like to give homework but we think it would benefit Q to have some scholastic activity everyday. Dave and I have tried doing this ourselves but we really need the support of the teacher to assign something and keep us all accountable.

What I’m excited about…

My trip to London and Edinburgh in November. I’m going with the friends that I travel with. We have our hotels and flights booked. Our plans are to go to the Christmas markets, catch a ~~soccer~~ football game, shop, and eat :)

What I’m watching/reading…

I’m still rewatching The Summer I Turned Pretty. Dave and I are watching The Gentlemen.

I will do my book review for my recent reads tomorrow. Nothing on the go right now, I need to get to the library this week.

What I’m listening to…

My Fall Playlist. I made it a few years ago and have added a few more songs this year: Welcome Home Son by Radical Face, and Out of the Woods by Taylor Swift. They have a fall feel too.

What I’m wearing…

My Toronto Maple Leafs sweatshirt! We love the Blue Jays but with their season over we are switching gears to hockey (and later Raptors basketball).

What I’m doing this weekend…

Golfing in the Ladies Closing and hosting Q’s rep baseball team for our end of year party.

What I’m looking forward to next month…

A work trip to BC, Thanksgiving, E’s birthday, Halloween, and the leaves changing colour

What else is new…

I can't think of anything that wasn't covered above!

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Weekend Recap

I've got two posts for you today. A Birthday post for Q and this weekend recap. The weekend was spent celebrating Q, starting with a Blue Jays game on Friday night.

We got there early to get in line for the Delgado windbreaker giveaway.

Windbreaker looks great!

Corndog!

Watching Soriano and Kirk warm up in the bullpen.

Trying to get on the big screen between innings. He was unsuccessful.

But the usher in our section took pity on him and gave him of the warm up balls that Lukes had thrown up into the stands earlier.

And check out the new hat, Dave found this in the end of season "garage sale" happening at the Dome, along with an all white one.

The Blue Jays pulled out a win with some runs in the 7th and we got to see Louie Varland come out to finish off the 9th.

On Saturday morning I was up early to go for a run, we watched the F1 race, and then Dave headed out to golf in the men's closing day tournament. I tackled Q's birthday cupcakes. Not bad!

We tided up the house, and Q went out to practice for his cross country race. Then I found him like this late in the afternoon.

I got dressed up, had some people over for a drink, Dave came home from golf, and we all headed up to the cocktail party at our neighbourhood social club. We had a good time but I will say that it wasn't as good as last year, the DJ didn't really seem interested in playing the songs we wanted to hear and he kept cutting them off halfway through. We also forgot to get a good photo of us dressed up.

On Sunday we had Q's birthday party. His friends were dropped off at our house.

Then we got on the subway and the UP train go downtown.

We had the party at the Roundhouse Rec Room. The kids get credits for the arcade and a meal.

Then the reverse journey back home.

The kids played around in the backyard and then we had cupcakes and Q opened his gifts.

It was a busy and fun day! You can probably guess that we were all ready for bed early on Sunday night.

Happy 10th Birthday Q!

Our little Quinny is a big 10 years old today! Q is just a great kid. Something I have really noticed this past year is how hard he works at things, even when they are hard. He wants to do well and he puts in the time and effort to get better. For things like baseball, this was his first year hitting a live pitch, pitching, stealing bases, learning signs, etc. and he thrived. He's into every play, puts in the reps at practice, and is never dragging his feet to get out on the field. Even striking out or getting thrown out stealing, he maturely moves on doesn't let it upset him for too long.

For things like reading and school work, his teachers tell us how hard he works, those things come more slowly than baseball, but he stays with and sees the progress. We are proud of him. Even when he doesn't want to go to piano lessons (because he would rather keep playing with his friends), he keeps at it, and has been doing a good job of practicing at home over the past month (with prompting of course).

He has a great time with his friends and is always ready to join in the fun. He loves bright colours, all of the sports and TV that we like, singing along to songs in the car, and doing things together as a family.

A few photos of Q from the past year show his various interests and a peek at his personality. And the annual birthday quiz is at the bottom. And you can see how we spent the weekend celebrating him in my Weekend Recap