A Long Weekend

 
This morning I woke up with the wonderful feeling of an entire long weekend stretched out before us and not one, single thing planned.  It was heavenly!  June has been such an incredibly busy month, I feel as though I have hardly had time to come up for air!  Three whole days at home together quietly relaxing, is the best thing I could have thought of at this moment in time!  This weekend is going to be about resting, relaxing, getting organized, catching my breath, reconnecting with Paul and Syd and regrouping for the month ahead!

My Mom flew home yesterday afternoon after spending a week looking after Sydney while I was helping out at Paul's office.  I can tell that Sydney misses her already, she asked me first thing this morning where Grandma was.  I love how she got so used to her presence while she was here.  Her visits are always too short!

Yesterday afternoon, after Mom flew home, I spent a few hours getting things organized at home.  One of the things about being so busy, is that I didn't have a lot of time to get things in order around here, so it felt fantastic to sort through stuff, reorganize, clean out the fridge, do ten loads of laundry, clean the bathrooms and feel in control once again.  It's a nice way to start a new month!

My friend Lori brought over a special gift for me yesterday, a bottle of wine that they had discovered on a recent trip to the Napa Valley.  With the gift, she had enclosed the sweetest thank you card, thanking me for the baby shower that I threw for her sweet Gwendolyn.  I look forward to a special evening of cracking this bottle open and toasting sweet Gwendolyn!

We decided to head downtown this morning to do a little long overdue shopping for Paul's wardrobe.  We had a successful shopping trip and came home with stacks of clothes for Paul.  It felt great to get that done at long last!

I got Syd a couple of pairs of summer slip on shoes this week, super cute!

Syd and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen baking banana bread.  She loves baking so much, had great fun smashing all the bananas up and mixing things for me!

She also spent some time doing her most favourite art activity, painting.  Here is today's masterpiece, I like to call it 'Big Yellow Sun.

Sydney is so into her baby dolls right now.  At almost any given time during the day she can be found packing a doll around, rocking it, shushing it, nursing it, putting it to bed....today she dragged all of her bedding downstairs and made a makeshift bed for her doll in the family room so that she could be close to it while it slept!  So, so cute!  My girl is going to be a great Momma one day!

Looking forward to two more days together this long weekend!

Work Week

 
I have a new found respect for working Moms!  This week has been hectic!  I have been working part days at Paul's office, covering for his receptionist while she's away on vacation.  My Mom flew down to watch Syd for the week.  They have been having an amazing time, painting, playing in the backyard, making cookies, swimming in Syd's little pool, painting her fingernails, planting flowers.  All those great things that make memories of great Grandma time!

It has been a strange week for me.  I have loved being back at work, to be honest, and have felt a good measure of guilt about how much I am enjoying going to an office everyday and being productive.  There is a part of me that really loves that I don't have to work, that the pressure and stress of an outside job are distant memories and that my life revolves around building memories with Syd, but there is another part of me that feels so alive and useful when I am working in the world. 

While Syd has had such great, concentrated time with Grandma this week, I feel as though I haven't had enough time to visit and chat and go for walks with my Mom.  I'm not ready for her to go home tomorrow!  I am so grateful for the time she spent here with Syd, I knew that I wouldn't have to worry for a moment with Syd in her charge.  She is a great Mom and a great Grandma, hands down!

We did manage to squeeze in a couple of dinners out this week, went to the Richmond Country Club for a super delicious dinner last night and met up with my brother and his girlfriend for dinner tonight at the Thai House.  Sydney has been amazing with the change of schedule, being at home all day and some later nights out for dinner with no afternoon naps. 

We also spent an afternoon at Granville Island enjoying the sun and some time together!

This past Tuesday was a very special evening, a girls night out to bid my friend Sarah well as she and her babe's Daddy get married next weekend in Ontario.  We met at Il Bibo restaurant in Kits, had an amazing meal, delicious wine and pizzas and treated Sarah to a very sexy new chemise from Diane's Lingerie made by Christine.  We also ordered a cake from Sweet Obsessions for her, chocolate through and through, her favourite!  It was a fantastic evening and such a great way to send her off!

Sydney and Mom made a batch of Double Chocolate Cookies together today.  Syd had so much fun baking with Grandma!  I love that my Mom has made so many great memories together with Syd this week. 

I think that this week has somehow made me appreciate the time that I have with Syd all the more, somehow it just seems a bit sweeter!  Looking forward to spending some great time with my girl over the next few days and rekindling.

A Day With Grandma

 
Today was my first official day back working at Paul's office for the week while his receptionist is on vacation.  I am trying to only go in for a few hours each day so that I am not away from Syd for a full eight hour day.  She is used to being with me 24/7 and I didn't want to make it too hard on her or my Mom!

I spent a few hours this morning hanging out with Syd and Grandma.  We got up early, had breakfast and then headed to the park so that Syd could have a little outing before I had to go in to the office.  I can't get over how brave Sydney is getting at doing the 'big kids' slide at Dunbar park!  She can climb to the very top and slide down the twisty slide completely unassisted now!

I had a great day at Paul's office.  It actually felt really nice to get out and work for a few hours and work a different part of my brain!  It was fun seeing some patients that I knew from years ago when I worked in his practice full time and catching up on what they've been up to!  I had a productive day and everything that needed to get done, got done!

Sydney and Grandma had a great day together too!  They transplanted all of the seeds that we had started growing inside and planted them in one giant terracotta pot outside.  Sydney now has her own personal little garden to tend to!  She loved digging in the dirt, filling the pot and watering the plants with Grandma.  It was a fun project!

Grandma also painted her toenails today...a special treat!  She proudly showed them off to me when I came home! 

It is such precious time for Grandma and Syd to have together, I am grateful for the chance to help out at Paul's office and for Syd to get some great Grandma time! 

Grandma, Greek Days & A Birthday

 

 

What a full and fun Sunday we had today!  We decided to take a little walk to a neighborhood joint this morning for brunch, the Crepe Cafe.  This cute little French restaurant has been a few blocks away from home for years and I had heard great things about it, but had never tried it!  So off we went and had the most delicious savoury crepes and coffee!

After brunch we headed down to Broadway for the annual Greek Days festival.  What a fun time we had!  There were so many people there, it was amazing!  Broadway from Macdonald to Blenheim was closed off to traffic and in it's place was tons of amazing Greek food, dancing, singing, face painting and vendors.  Sydney loved roaming around through the crowds and getting a nice collection of helium balloons!  The weather held out for the festival and everyone had a great time!

This afternoon we went to Westside Family Place for Sydney's best friend Emma's 3rd birthday party.  It was a Mickey Mouse theme, very cute!  Emma invited tons of her friends and the kids had a blast playing in the playhouses, playground and sandbox. 

 

Emma's Mom, Sarah, came out with a huge platter of mini cupcakes for the kids to have.  It was hillarious watching them all swarm her!

We left the party with a sweet Mickey Mouse loot bag with a sheet of stickers which Syd quickly ripped apart in the car and stuck to her face, and a Mickey Rubix Cube, very fun!

The day ended off with my Mom arriving for a week to watch Sydney while I help Paul out at the office while his receptionist is on holidays.  It should be an interesting week being back at work and so nice for Syd to have some concentrated time with Grandma!  

Family Dinner

 
Tonight we headed out to my sister's house for a belated birthday celebration for my nephew Zach, who turned 14 at the end of May.  I simply cannot believe that he is 14 years old already!  I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday and also remember being a 14 year old myself, vividly!  It doesn't seem like that long ago!  Time is funny that way, my memories are not stored in my heart chronologically.

My sister made a fabulous dinner!  Grilled steaks with prawn skewers, steamed asparagus, fried mushrooms and stuffed baked potatoes.  What a lovely treat!  It literally was raining cats and dogs this evening while we were there, wasn't exactly the backyard barbecue that we were all hoping for!  We had a great time snuggled around the dining room table though!

Liane got Zach a super yummy mango mousse birthday cake for Zach.  Syd loved eating the chocolate sticks on top!

Syd happily played with the Thomas trains that my sister had saved from when my nephew Kenan was just a toddler.   It was so sweet to see her playing with them and remember Kenan doing exactly the same when he was just a wee one!  She loves my sister's cat too, was so sweet patting it while it slept on her bed!

It was a lovely time together visiting as a family!

Earlier today, while we were running our Saturday morning errands we stopped by the art studio to pick up Sydney's last art project that was still wet at the end of class on Wednesday.  She painted a vase on a table and made a clay flower to go inside.  I love the colours!

Hope your Saturday was good to you!

Preschool Picnic

This morning Sydney's preschool hosted a picnic with all of the kids from the Aleph program as one last chance to get together and say goodbye before the summer.

We were greeted with this sign as we came in:

It was a very fun time of connecting with the parents from our class and other classes and finding out which kids will be joining Syd next year in Bet Preschool.

There were craft tables set up all over the classroom, Sydney made this very special crown today:

It was so nice to have one last chance to say goodbye to the teachers, kids and parents.  I think I'm really going to enjoy Sydney's school years going forward.  I love that the classroom of kids fast becomes a family of sorts, it feels like community and makes living in a big city seem a little more like the small town that I'm used to!

After the picnic we headed to my friend Christina's house for brunch with the Dunbar Moms and babes.  Christina is always such a warm and gracious host and made the most amazing corn muffins, banana muffins, granola and yogurt and savoury asparagus bread pudding.  It was delicious!

It's always so fun to see the Moms and get our babes together.  I am so grateful that I took the time to connect with my newborn group at my local community centre, some of my best friends have emerged from this group and I love it!

Sydney and Cousin Mel had a fun time together last night while Paul and I were out at the Night at the Aquarium.  Mel brought Syd some no-spill paint containers, a perfect gift for my little artist!

Sydney has been sleeping up a storm these days, doing epic long naps and going to bed early to boot!  I have the feeling that she is going through a growth spurt right now!  This could mean more shopping for some new and ever bigger clothes for her....;)

Happy Friday Everyone!

Last Day of Preschool & A Night Out

Today was Sydney's last day of preschool for the year.  Her teachers made today extra special by having a 'pancake and pajama' day.  All of the kids wore their pajamas and they made a big batch of pancakes for the kids and parents to share.  It was such a special time and such a nice treat this morning!

It was so cute watching all the kids come to class in their PJ's!  Ariella's Mom brought in some special cupcakes today to celebrate her birthday that is happening this summer.  Lots of reasons to celebrate today!

The kids had the chance to play for one last time in the beautiful, new playground that was just built this year.

At the very end of class all the kids gathered around for a "Goodbye Circle."  Sydney's teachers, Helen and Rania, brought back characters that they had used throughout the year to say goodbye to the kids.  They ended by singing a special goodbye song to the kids which they choked out through tears.  Every Mom had tears streaming down their faces as we thought about our little babies and how much bigger they were now and how sad it was that they weren't going to be in class together any more!

Sydney gave Helen and Rania each a hand painted card and chocolate apple lollipop today to thank them for such a fantastic school year! 

Helen and Rania gave each child a special gift, a laminated picture of the kids in the class with a little caption about each child and what they loved doing in class.  It is so special and is something that we will treasure forever!

Tonight my cousin Mel drown down from Squamish to babysit for us, and Paul and I headed the Night at the Aquarium.  This annual event is a charity fund raiser for the Vancouver aquarium, which Sydney and I love so much!  Our friends Sarah and Mike invited us to join them and we had such a great time eating amazing food provided by some of the city's best restaurants, enjoying the live and silent auctions and a wealth of entertainment, including some incredibly dressed ladies serving food!  It was such an enjoyable evening and so nice to spend a bit of time on my own with Paul!

It was a big day!  Lots going on, but so much fun!