Open House

I just got home from attending my first open house of many while I am looking at options for schools for Sydney.  The world of private schools is a new one for me.  I grew up in a small town, where there was literally one primary, elementary and high school, and so everyone went to the same school.  There was no choice to be made, it was blessedly straightforward and easy.

While Sydney is not quite yet three years old, I am finding that I will need to get my applications in by the end of this year to secure her a spot for Junior Kindergarten when she's four years old, so that she can have a spot for actual Kindergarten in two years time.  Such is the game with private schools on Vancouver's westside and I have to say that I'm already tired after all of the research and reams of paperwork.  Once I've attended the open houses then the real work begins of admissions, interviews and registration.  Not sure how this all happened so quickly, wasn't it just last week that I was cradling my newborn babe in my arms?

All of that being said, I went to see the York House Little School tonight and it is a precious little school in a heritage home with a fantastic philosophy, great staff and a wonderful space.  The kids even have a beautiful garden in the backyard that they tend to and their days are filled with fun activities and opportunities to learn alike.  While I haven't yet decided that this will be the best place for Sydney to flourish, I'm confident that her experience there would be amazing.  It will be interesting to see how the other schools stack up as I attend their open houses in the weeks to come.

Here's what the past couple of days have looked like for me:

New Floors

Paul and I are determined to update the flooring in our house this winter and so I have been busily running back and forth to showrooms to gather hardwood samples and get estimates over the past few days.  There has been a lot of this around our house lately:

Photo Shoot

Sydney and I took a drive out to Queen's Park in New Westmister on Monday afternoon to meet up with Denise from Tiny Toes Photography to have Sydney's annual birthday photo shoot done.  We lucked out and picked the one dry day that we'd had in over a week and got some gorgeous shots of Sydney in the park with the fall leaves and trees.  Can't wait to see them!

Cranberry Chicken

I have taken a shine to my crockpot lately, have used it three nights in a row now!  I found a new recipe online for Cranberry chicken which used up some fresh cranberries that I had in my fridge.  It was a hit with Paul, nice and tangy from the cranberries, yet sweet and citrusy from the addition of orange juice.  Click here for the recipe if you want to give it a try.

Coffee Time

The past two mornings in a row I have gotten together with friends for coffee while Sydney's been at school.  It's been so fun having a visit and full fledged adult conversation!  My friend Marcy and I hit up the new 49th Parallel coffee shop on Main and 13th Ave. yesterday.  It is a funky space that reminds me of a New York coffee shop and their coffee is so so good!

This morning my friend Katrin and I met at Blenz Coffee for a visit and coffee.  Just as I was about to leave, my car got mobbed by about a thousand people in the middle of a demonstration against the proposed Enbridge Pipeline.   I almost didn't make it to school in time to get Syd because I literally couldn't get my car out of it's parking space as it was surrounded by people!  Just as I was starting to panic, the throngs started moving and I made it to get her by the skin of my teeth!

Passport Photos

Yesterday after school I took Sydney to get an updated passport photo as I need to renew her's before we go on holidays later this year.  She sat like such a good girl for the photos, but had such a hard time not laughing.  In the end, we got a good shot, with her lips closed like they're supposed to be, but she has the funniest smirk on her face, like she's trying so hard not to laugh.  It's awesome!

After the pictures we decided to roam around the mall for a while, stopped for a rainbow ice cream and she gleefully wheeled a baby in a stroller around Zellers for a while.  My girl loves herself a fun afternoon at the mall!

Picture for Mommy

Yesterday when I went to get Syd from school, she handed me this picture that she coloured for me and said: "Mom, I made this for you, it's for Mother's Day!"  So sweet!

Laundry

Sydney absolutely loves folding laundry with me.  Yesterday morning, we had slept in a bit and were rushing around to get out the door to school.  Sydney saw two heaping baskets with clean laundry, that I had carried up from the laundry room while she was sleeping, on the floor of my bedroom and begged me to fold them.  I promised her that we would do it after school and dumped them on my bed and let her jump around in the pile just to soothe her soul while she had to wait!  Well, our afternoon got away on us, and as we were getting ready for bed, we realized that the clothes were still on top of the bed untouched.  Sydney again begged me to fold them, and I conceded.  She was so excited!  She climbed on top of the pile, lifted her arms in the air and yelled:  "Let's do this!"  It was so funny, I'm still laughing thinking about it!

So that's our week so far, hope yours has been good!