Friday, October 29, 2021

Friday Favourites


Another week in the books, another Friday Favourites post. 

The kids get to wear their costumes to school today, we will have one Darth Vader and one Toothless (from How to Train your Dragon).  Tomorrow we will work on our pumpkins and I also found a neat idea to make mummy lanterns on Pinterest and we have lots of glass jars so I think we will try that too!


This week I had an appointment that took me on the subway past my usual stop, meaning I got to cross the Humber River and I snapped these quick pictures.  Always fun to see a new view.



Q made his own breakfast yesterday, and he was happy to do it.  He made a peanut butter and jam sandwich but unfortunately got peanut butter all over his clothes so I made him change before he went to school. 

Lego building going strong over here. 

Political junkie nerd over here! The new Liberal cabinet was named this week with women in many prominent positions (Finance, Defence, and Foreign Affairs to name a few).  I know we aren't all Justin Trudeau fans (although I am), but I'm proud of these appointments and that half the cabinet are women.  A note about the painting in the background below (at Rideau Hall) - it's called Point de Rencontre by Jean Paul Riopelle (1963).  I heard them talking about the painting on the CBC coverage and then my favourite Twitter account @CanadaPaintings shared it.  It's so striking!


Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Monthly Musings


Linking up with Holly and Patty for this month's edition of Monthly Musings - Fall Fun and Traditions.

1. What are your Halloween traditions?
We carve our pumpkins with fun designs. Check out some past years here.  We always have these baked chicken tacos on Halloween night. The kids go trick or treating with Dave and I stay home to give out candy and drink wine. :)

2. Favourite Fall Activities?
Going for hikes and enjoying the changing leaves.  

3. Favourite Fall Recipes?

4. What beverage makes you think of fall?
Red wine

5. Favourite Fall Fashion Staples?
Hunter boots, trench coats, and knit scarves

6.  Do you decorate for fall? Halloween? Both?
We have both types of decorations and they all go out at the same time.

7. Bonfire? Corn maze? or Hay ride?
Bonfire.  We have a fire pit in our yard and I love having a fire in the chilly nights with friends.

8. Apple pie or apple cider?
Apple pie and I'm going to make one this weekend!!

9. Favourite type of apple?
Royal Gala

10. What are your Thanksgiving traditions?
In Canada our Thanksgiving falls on a Monday and that's the day we have as a holiday.  We always eat our turkey dinner on the Sunday so then Monday is left for a hike and leftovers.  Besides the meal itself, a traditional turkey dinner (turkey, bread stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots, turnip, Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, apple pie and pumpkin pie), we go around the table to say what we are thankful for, but that's it. 

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

What's Up Wednesday

 

What we're eating this week...

Sunday - Mac and Cheese (with three cheeses and brussels sprouts)
Monday - Stirfry and Spring Rolls
Tuesday - Lettuce Wraps (which by the way is the easiest recipe, took 15 minutes!)
Wednesday - Turkey Pot Pie
Thursday - Chicken Fingers and Sweet Potato Fries
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Stuffed Peppers (cut like jack o' lanterns)

What I'm reminiscing about...
Robert Munsch, the beloved children's author, did an interview with the CBC a couple of weeks ago.  He has dementia and is gradually forgetting many things, but he said the stories are still with him and "will be the last to go".  I read so many of his books when I was a kid and we continue to read them now.  I was reminded that my aunt used to have the records of him reading stories and when I would go to her house I would sit behind a chair (for some reason, but I guess it was cozy) and listen to them on the record player.  Fortunately you can get some of those recordings on Spotify now and we have listened to them in the car with the kids.  What a storyteller!


What I'm loving...
The kids had their school photos taken last month.  There were no school photos last year so I'm glad they are back.  We ordered E's photos but I think Q needs to go back for retakes, bless his heart.

What we've been up to...
Celebrating birthdays.  Q turned 5 and E turned 10 recently so we had lots of fun events, parties, special meals, and cake.


What I'm dreading...
The City is doing some work on our street and although it looks like they aren't going to be digging up our yard or driveway, they are going to be blocking off the end of the road for several months and causing various disruptions of sorts.  Annoying but it's obviously work that needs to be done, so we'll deal with it. 

What I'm working on...
Planning for our Christmas party.  I'm probably over thinking it but I'm considering what the "rules" should be, if we should invite everyone we usually invite or keep it smaller, if we should have some of it outside (although it will be December), and stuff like that.  I usually send the invitations after Remembrance Day so I have a few more weeks to think it through.  I am excited that we will be able to have it this year, we really missed it last year. 

What I'm excited about...
Hawaii!! Yes, Dave earned his reward trip again so we will be off to Hawaii in January.  We got to travel there in January 2020.  That time we stayed on Maui first and then went to Oahu.  This time the work part of the trip is on Maui so we are going to go to the Big Island first on our own.  We need to book a place to stay and figure out what to do.  For anyone that's been there, do you recommend staying in Kona or Hilo?

Little did we know what was ahead of us as we lounged by the pool that day.

What I'm wearing...

This category is always so boring for me, so that really should be a prompt for me to get some new clothes! I did order some bathing suits and dresses for our Hawaii trip so if they turn out to be keepers, I'll have something to share next time. 

What I'm watching/reading...
We are watching Nine Perfect Strangers, The Morning Show, and the Great British Baking Show. Also Raptors basketball is back on which is always exciting. 

I read two books this month and will write about them on Monday, and now I'm back to Obama's book (whomp whomp).

What I'm listening to...
My current playlists are "Fall morning coffee and drive", "Wild Rivers Radio" (Fun fact, Khalid from Wild Rivers is my cousin!), and "This is Adele". 

What I'm doing this weekend...
All of the Halloween things.  We are going to do pizza night on Friday and I will encourage the kids to put jack o' lantern faces on them, we will carve our pumpkins, watch spooky movies, attend a costume parade at Sunday School, and then go trick or treating on Sunday night.

What I'm looking forward to next month...
A solo work trip to Timmins, fall weather (finally!), and getting ready for Christmas!

What else is new...

E got a new game for his birthday, Sushi Go.  The instructions were impossible to understand but we watched a YouTube video and figured it out.  It is really fun and quick and even Q has it figured out. Highly recommend for family game night!

Linking up with Shay.


Tuesday, October 26, 2021

E's Birthday Recap

E turned 10 last Thursday and we had several days of celebration, proper thing!  We had birthday waffles in the morning and then he opened his gifts.




His big gift was that we let him (finally) get Fortnite and he got these headphones so he could chat with his friends while playing. 

He was also excited to get a Rubik's Cube since many of his friends are pros at solving them so he will learn it too!

We picked up the kids slightly early from school that day and we went downtown to go up the CN Tower.  We have lived here since 2008 and have never done this.


It was a bit cloudy but we could still see lots.


Looking for our house.




Seeing planes land and take off from this level is pretty neat!

We paid the extra to go up to the Skypod.

Then we laid on the glass floor.



Heading back down to Earth

Love this shot!


We had dinner at Beertown and we all enjoyed our meal!  This is a fun new spot at Wellington and University.


The birthday celebrations continued on Friday night when E got to enjoy his birthday sushi. 

And he got a DQ Treatsa Pizza

His birthday party was on Saturday afternoon at The Bubble.  This place has a huge indoor inflatapark, laser tag, and arcade.  The kids got to do it all and we had pizza and cake in there somewhere too.



They got to play on this for an hour and halfway through E was like "how much longer!?" because it's hard work bouncing and climbing.  They all found a second wind and closed out the hour, no problem!



I got to bounce too!


I love a Loblaws/Superstore cake!






10 years old!