Friday, June 29, 2018

Friday Favourites




I bought some new gym clothes at Nordstrom on the weekend.  These pants and this top.  I couldn't find a link to the top, but this is what it looks like.

I have been looking at new sneakers for awhile so I finally did some browsing on the Nike site and bought these online.  I decided on the bold navy colour.

We loved The Incredibles 2!  I love the movies now have jokes for the parents too.  The short movie beforehand was also so well done, and I loved that it was set in Toronto.

We are at the campground this weekend.  Even with all of the work to get ready for it, it is always worth it.  You can read about our past camping trips here.

I love this messy face but I made sure he finished up this frozen treat before we got in the car!


It was the last day of school yesterday!!  Here is our big kid ready for Grade 2. 




Linking up with AndreaErika, and Narci for Friday Favourites
and The Blended Blog for Friday Loves. 




Thursday, June 28, 2018

Canada Day Treats

It's Canada Day this weekend!!  Our country is pretty great, and although not perfect, has some good things going for it.  Soak it all in this weekend.  Here are some random things to help you celebrate.

We love this books.  Although the text is very simple, the drawings have so much detail of each province and you get a sense of all of the special things they have to offer.

Bake Sale is selling these cookies this weekend.  Or I guess you could trying making something similar yourself!  


Overall we are pretty inclusive as nation (even if some ugliness pops up from time to time).  This shirt is a good message for anyone, not just kids.







Wednesday, June 27, 2018

What's Up Wednesday


What we're eating this week...
Sunday - Pasta with grilled chicken and roasted vegetables
Monday - Enchiladas
Tuesday - Avocado chicken lettuce wraps
Wednesday - Something vegetarian (we are on chicken overload)
Thursday - Greek Chicken Bowls
Friday - Turkey Burgers
Saturday - Tacos

What I'm reminiscing about...
I moved to Toronto 10 years ago this month.  I loved it immediately with its hot humid days, 4:00 pm thunderstorms, and so many activities to take in.  I remember learning how to get around with my little paper map and loving that everything was on a grid.   
At our apartment in Rexdale (!)


What I'm loving...
I watched Season 2 of Queen Eye and loved it.  I know follow all of the Fab Five on Twitter and Instagram. I know you shouldn't pick a favourite, but mine is definitely Jonathan, hunny!

What we've been up to...
June was a busy month, soccer and t-ball were in full swing, I went to Chicago, it was my birthday and then Father's Day, my mom came to visit, and Dave went away to golf for a weekend.  The weather has been fantastic so we are trying to fit in as much as possible.


What I'm dreading...
Summer is going to go too fast.  I was flipping through the weeks on my calendar and I just know September will be here before we know it.  I like September too, but I will be mindful of our summertime activities as we go from day to day and try not to miss an opportunity to enjoy myself!

What I'm working on...
I'd like to sort through the toys and weed out some of the older baby ones or old broken ones.  I also need to go through Q's clothes and get rid of the ones that are too small.  

What I'm excited about...
The end of school.  E had a great year but it is always fun to be finished with school for the year.  He's still going to camp each day and we still need to pack a lunch and bag, but it's a little more relaxed.

What I'm watching/reading...
We are watching The Handmaid's Tale, Anthony Bourdain shows on Netflix, and the World Cup. 


I am reading Exit West.  It's a novel about refugees fleeing a civil war.  I thought it was timely when I first heard about when Syria was all over the news, and sadly the refugee story is still very relevant. 


What I'm listening to...
I thought I'd better see what all of the fuss was about, so I'm checking out The Carters new album.  I do really enjoy both Beyonce and Jay-Z so I appreciate the collab.


What I'm wearing...
My hair up.  Although I will flat iron it in the morning, it usually ends up in a pony tail or messy bun, especially if I'm wearing a hat or going for a bike ride, I want it out of the way!

What I'm doing this weekend...
Camping at Sandbanks Provincial Park.


What I'm looking forward to next month...
Summer days, beach day, yummy food, E's various day camps, camping at Algonquin Park, and our trip to Halifax.

What else is new...
Not much else, just hanging out with these cuties. 


Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Weekend Recap

On Friday night I left work a little early so I could go to Costco. My mom was in town so she came with me and we got mostly snack foods for the kids and some lemons, peppers, and avocados.  Then we picked up the kids and came home to eat. 
Since we had rice and salmon, it was all over the floor and table.  I snapped this after the kids left the table so you could appreciate some of the mess.

Silliness before bed.

This is when I lay on the couch and get jumped on.



On Saturday morning I got up early and went to Pilates, such a great way to start the morning.  We had thought about going downtown but since it was raining and I wasn't sure what would be closed for Pride weekend, we decided to go to Sherway Gardens instead.  I had something to return at Nordstrom and a gift card to Indigo.  

Free balloons from Nordstrom Kids!

They tied a little plastic thing on the end so they wouldn't fly away.

We stopped in for a little snack at the Danish Pastry House.  Q insisted on eating his out of the bag.


Before we left we picked up some McDonalds for the boys (with another gift card) and brought it home with us.

The rain stopped in the afternoon and we went to High Park for E's t-ball game. 


Drinking water though the fence is much more fun than drinking out of your own water bottle.



It did rain for a short while, but it didn't last for too long.


We had some turkey burgers for supper and rum cake for dessert.  Mom brought me a few more birthday gifts so I opened these on Saturday evening. 
This one has Q looking at the camera.

And E is looking here.




On Sunday morning it was raining again, but this yummy breakfast brightened my day.

It was the last day of Children's Church for the school year.   The junior choir sang and the children did a presentation of what they learned and sang a few songs of their own.


Cake and cookies after the service, of course.


We got ready to go to E's t-ball game in the afternoon but it was cancelled just as we were leaving. So instead we went to see Incredibles 2.  It was a great movie and a bonus, E got to sit with one of his friends who was also there.  I love our community theatre!

We had some chicken pasta for supper, did baths, and bedtime.  Dave got home from his golf trip in Moncton after 10:00, and we were all tired after a full weekend all around. 

Monday, June 25, 2018

School Days - Grade 1 Edition

I cannot believe the last day of school is this week!!

We were wondering how E would do in Grade 1 since he had a few challenges with reading and writing in SK.  We knew the class would be more structured than he was used to and we didn't know if that would be a good thing or not.  I would say he had a successful year.

E participated in whatever activity he could.  He volunteered as an Enviro Rep for his class, he ran in the cross country race, and he participated in the lunch time chess class for one session.   He is very comfortable at school, has lots of friends, knows the teachers, and has a lot of fun. 

His teacher was great, she has been a teacher for many years and you can tell she enjoys working with the younger grades.  She had lots of patience for E.  We met with her within the first couple weeks of school, and then a few other times when he got his report cards.  Her comments were that he was coming along with his work and is a pleasure to have in class.  She said there would be the odd time that he is overly excited and could be rolling around on the floor or something, but was never mean or rude, just silly.  He is also very quick to help out his friends, she said almost to a fault because he tends to dive right in and start doing the task for someone rather than asking if they would like some help.  

His class did dictation tests every Thursday in the second term and E surprised me with how well he did.  We helped him practice his words and although there was the occasional struggle, he was mostly very diligent with writing them out, and if we asked him one in the car, he was able to spell it out loud.  We reinforced that it was a good feeling to get a good mark on the test, and one time when he got 5 out of 9 (a week when we didn't practice as much), he realized that he didn't like not doing well.  He wasn't upset but he put in the work for the last few tests and got good marks on those.  I enjoyed seeing the work he brought home and the increased detail and colour in his drawings.  

We still need to work on helping him with his school work.  Although he did a lot more written work in class, he is still behind on reading (in both English and French), makes some lazy silly mistakes with forming his letters and numbers, and tends to doodle in the white space of the work sheets.  This summer we will hopefully have some more time in the evenings to work on his reading and writing.  He got a curriculum book for Christmas and we worked on it for a few months but then got out of the habit.  I think if we keep using his reading app and doing the book on a regular basis, we can help him get ready for Grade 2.  I don't know who the teachers are for next year but we will hope for a good one!


Overall he is a really good and happy kid and although he could still work on his listening, paying attention to instructions, and then focusing on the task at hand, I can see a big improvement year after year, and I know he will continue to grow and get better at these things.  He's figuring what he needs to do and when he puts his mind to something he is usually pretty successful.  Bring on Grade 2!!


I wrote about Senior Kindergarten here and Junior Kindergarten here.