Two Things

 I started writing this as a Three Things post but got stuck on a third one for all of us, so instead here are two things going on with each of us at the moment:

Q

1) Q has been biking to school and then gets to hang out with his friends after school, sometimes bringing a few of them home with him to play in the backyard. He's in Grade 4 so he doesn't have a phone, but we can track his location with an AirTag and get in touch with other nearby parents if we really need to.

2) Baseball season has begun. Q is on a house league team but will also be trying out for a rep team. 

E

1) E got his mid-semester marks back and is doing very well. We spoke with his teachers and they all had nice things to say about him. I can't believe he is nearing the end of his first year of high school already!

2) We rearranged some of our kitchen drawers and E has been tasked with designing and 3D printing the dividers for our new cutlery drawer.  When it's all done, I'll share photos.  I don't like change, so I wasn't totally on board with this initiative, but it looks great so far and will definitely be an upgrade.

Dave

1) Dave picked up some new skis for next season to try out a new hobby - ski touring. This is when you walk up the hill on skis and then ski down when you get to the top. There are a group of dads that have started doing this at our ski hill just to have something else to do in the afternoons. 

2) His work recently moved offices, and they have a gym in the building. Dave has started the good habit of getting downtown early to use the gym before work.  He likes that they have heavier weights than we do at home and treadmills. 

Me

1) Not to bury the lede, but the biggest news here is that I have a new job. I start on May 4 and I am excited for this new opportunity. I am still in the mining industry and based in Toronto. 

2) I have signed up for Year 2 of the Learn to Golf program at the golf club this year. I am looking forward to participating in ladies' night, new member nights, and golfing with my family :)

 

Weekend Recap

We kicked off our weekend with a little visit with Dave's cousin Adam who was in town for work. We were able to meet him before lunch before he was heading back to the airport. And in true fashion, I neglected to take a photo!! Great to see him though.

Q had his first baseball practice on Friday night.  It was nice to meet the coach and the rest of the team. Q has one buddy from his rep team last year, and one friend from school.

Dave was up early the next day to go to Home Depot. We are getting a new BBQ and he is building a space for it. The boys were happy to help out with this project. 

This is the work site.

Meanwhile I did a bunch of things in the house - vacuumed and dusted behind dressers, put the screens back on the windows, cleaned my hairbrush, and put away the Easter decorations. 

The boys made cookies in the afternoon.

I made stew for dinner, which was great for the cold rainy weather that came along. Dave did manage to finish the portion of the project he wanted to do that day, working in between rainfall. 

I went to church on Sunday morning and then E and I went shopping for a few things. Dave and Q had baseball practice and came home cold and tired. Q set up on the couch for the rest of the day. 

We ordered burgers for dinner instead of going out, which was our plan. I cleaned the boys' shoes, folded my clothes, and got to bed at a good time.

It was nice not having too many plans in the calendar so I could putter around at home. This time between skiing and baseball/golf is always a good break.

Why I Like Singing in the Choir

A number of years ago I wrote a post about why I go to church and I'm updating that today as I joined the church choir a couple of years ago. 

The music at our church is one of the draws for people and I love being about to contribute to that. 

And that goes for me too. I am not someone who reads the Bible all the time, although I am familiar with much of it and even took a class in university called "The Making of the English Bible", but it is mostly the hymns that I connect with. The music contributes to the message and can be very moving.

I love that we are singing songs that people have sung for years.  Sometimes we have new hymns and anthems, or old hymns with new words, but occasionally we will do one of the old ones and I feel connected to choirs and congregations of years past that gathered to sing those same words. 

And in particular, my own family would have sung those words. My grandfather and mother both sang in church choirs and would have sung their parts to those hymns. When I hear the lower parts of the song it's like my Papa Doug is there with me. 

I like being able to read music and hit the right notes. Many of our anthems are new to me and take some practice, but it is satisfying to perform it and get it right (or most of it right anyway!).

It's nice to have my own hobby, not that skiing and golf (and watching baseball) aren't great ways to spend my time, but going to choir is something I do for myself and that's a good thing. 

Friday Favourites

 

Happy Friday! 

We had a rainy week, April showers bring May flowers, right? Our May is set to be blooming then!

I met a friend for Happy Hour drinks at The Frederick. I really should do this more often. 

E likes to take photos of me while I'm unaware, but at least he's in the photo too, so I'll take it :)

I do not typically meal prep anything, but I had bought a large package of ground beef so I made it all into meatballs. I used some for our dinner one night but still have a good size bag in in the freezer. 

The Blue Jays have been hard to watch lately with many players on the Injury List and just not being able to put many wins together.  I'm glad it's the beginning of the season so people have time to get healthy and come back strong in the next few weeks. But we love this team no matter what. 

But speaking of Toronto teams (not talking to you Maple Leafs), our beloved Raptors are in the playoffs this year starting Saturday. We didn't get to go to any games this year but we will be watching them take on Cleveland. Good group of guys on this team and will be exciting to watch. 

Hope you have a good weekend!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Weekend Recap

Q had biked to school on Friday so he brought some friends home with him and they played around in the backyard (and then inevitably came inside to play on the PS5), but then he biked his friends home when it was time to go so lots of outdoor time was still achieved. 

(You can see where we have cleaned half of the back steps with the new power washer. We will do the rest but wanted to see the difference first.)

I walked up the street at the end of the day to get a few things for dinner - roast beef sandwiches on ciabatta buns with some new mustard, some produce, wine, and new library books.  Meanwhile we were also watching the Masters.

On Saturday morning we drove downtown to meet Dave’s aunt for lunch. We passed the Art Gallery of Ontario, this statue is made out of leather couches apparently. 

Found a cool playground.

And this steeple.

We went to Fox On John. 

Nice to see Aunt Isabel. 

In the afternoon I decided to empty out Q’s closet and bookshelf and sort through everything.  It took longer than I wanted, but I was successful. I kept a bunch of good picture books even though we aren’t reading those often anymore, and then put the books that Q reads on his own on the shelves, instead of where they were, stacked up in big piles on the top. 

I went to church that morning and then we went downtown for the Blue Jays game with Q’s rep team from last year. It was fun to hang out with the kids and parents (because the game wasn’t great for the Jays). 

I chose this beer because I love marketing. 

E and V have been playing together for 3 years, but will be on different house league teams this year. Hoping to get on the rep team so we get to keep hanging out at the ball field. 

It was Jr. Jays Sunday so we stayed for the kids to run the bases. The cut off is 14 years so this was probably E’s last time. 

We got home to watch Rory’s second nine at the Masters (recorded) and loved seeing him win. 

Sharing Our Lives - Cleaning Products

 

Happy Monday! I am linking up with the Sharing Our Lives crew for April's topic - favourite cleaning supplies.

Lysol Wipes - when I don’t have the time or energy for a deep clean, a Lysol wipe comes in handy for a quick wipe down of a bathroom sink, frequently touched surfaces like doors and light switches, toilets (and the floor around them #boymom), and countertops. They also work to clean up a dirty shoe in a pinch.

Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Wand - I have never liked a permanent toilet brush because I don’t want to store it anywhere and it always seems to just be there hosting germs. The scrubbing bubbles toilet wand works well because you can flush the cleaning pads when you’re done and the wand itself is easily rinsed off and small to store with the other cleaning supplies. I sometimes have issues finding them in our local grocery store so I’ve turned to Amazon (I’m late to the Amazon party, wait…they have everything?!). 

Dyson Stick Vacuum - I have extolled the virtues of a Dyson vacuum for years and believe it is the superior product, then we bought their stick vacuum version and love it even more. It's cordless, easy to change attachments, and has different settings. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a new vacuum. 

Scrub Daddy Sponge - Not only is this sponge tough for pots and pans but I also love that it doesn't soak up too much soap. I know that's a strange requirement for a sponge, but I was using a different one this week and I didn't like it. 

Powdered Tide - You should follow @GoCleanCo on Instagram if you aren't already.  Sarah is from Calgary and owns a cleaning company and it really took off during the pandemic. She got me into using powdered Tide for my laundry, but also for cleaning shoes, walls, and other surfaces with it. 

Linking up with  Adrienne, Dara, Jen, and Joanne.  

Friday Favourites

It is sort of like a short week since the kids didn't have school on Monday. I posted about our Easter weekend here.

At the end of the day on Tuesday I laid on the couch for a few minutes and enjoyed the sunlight. 

I accomplished a few things this week, and although were not captured by photos, deserve mention:

- Cut Q's hair - I'm not a barber but at least he can see now :)

- Submitted our taxes - Also not an accountant, but our taxes are pretty simple, now just need to wait for our refund. 

- Got Q started on his online reading program - one day at a time, getting his reading minutes in.

It's Masters weekend! We enjoy watching golf but there is something extra sentimental about the Masters. Good to see Rory on top after the first round. 

Good to see the Blue Jays win a game and stop their losing streak. It's been a tough start for them with so many injuries. We are going to the game on Sunday so I hope it's a good one.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.