A New Classroom

This morning we woke up to a torrential downpour.  It was literally raining sheets and water was gushing down the streets in front of our house.  This weather was ill-timed in that I had planned to take Sydney to the PNE today but after some thought decided that we might try going on Saturday instead.

So we snuggled up at home, called the housekeeper over to clean and got ourselves organized around here.  After an entire summer without her playroom while we've been doing construction in the basement, Syd was thrilled to spend a few hours putting it all back together today!

Syd has been begging me for some time to make her a batch of Flubber, a gooey playdough like substance made from glue, water, food colouring and Borax.

So we whipped up a bright blue batch and she and I had the best time playing together with it!

Here's the recipe if you want to make yourself a batch!


Yesterday I spent the day with my sister setting up her new classroom for the start of the school year next week.  After years of working as a teacher on call she finally has a space to call her own in the sweetest school tucked away in the mountains in Port Moody, I loved it!

We had a great time together and I helped paper and decorate some walls and a bulletin board to welcome all her students.

Hard to believe that September is a breath away!

Girls Shopping Trip

One of the things I love the most about having a daughter is sharing times together doing things that we both love doing.  Sydney and I love to bake together, do crafts, go for lunch, visit friends and, above all, shop!

Today I booked off the entire day for a special shopping trip in Bellingham for Sydney and I.  We woke up late, lazed around the house for a while and got on the road way later than I was planning.  I wasn't feeling too hopeful that we would accomplish too terribly much shopping but boy did Sydney prove me wrong!

I was determined that this time I was going to buy a few things for myself as I typically end up buying so much for Sydney and the household.  I decided that our first stop would be Ross Dress for Less, a store that I loved shopping at much in the past and haven't been to in years since Sydney's been born.

It did not disappoint!  I came away with four pairs of shoes, including some amazing Coach wedges and a gorgeous Ralph Lauren little black dress along with a new pair of designer sunglasses.

Sydney had a blast bombing throughout the store and decided to pick out some new rainbow coloured hairbands and elastics for herself!

After all those great finds we headed to Olive Garden for lunch.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together and rested up for the second half of our day!

After lunch we were off to Target which is literally Sydney's favourite store in the entire world.  She talks about it all the time and asks me to go at least once a week!

We picked up some pretty cute Minnie Mouse shoes for Syd there along with heaps of cheap back to school supplies for our craft cupboard.

We spent a fair amount of time wandering through Bellis Fair mall where I picked up yet another two pairs of shoes to make my total count for the day an even half dozen.

We ended our day off with a trip to Trader Joe's to stock up on all our faves there and then headed to Panda Express for dinner before heading home late in the day.

Syd was a rock star all day long!  She was so well behaved and happy and had such fun shopping with me, it really was such a special day together.  As she dozed off in the backseat on the way home I looked at her little face in the rear view mirror and thought about how lucky I am to have her as my best friend and daughter and to share such wonderful, special times together with her!

Last Week of Summer

There's a distinct nip in the air these days, I can feel it, fall is coming fast!  I always feel a little wistful saying goodbye to summer but autumn is my favourite season ever, I love the leaves changing colours, bundling up in sweaters and boots and all the newness that September brings.

We have slowed down the past few days as we enjoy our last few days of August together.  Here's what we've been up to for the past few days.

Playtime

Sydney and I met up with Emma and Sarah at Kits beach playground to play.  I love that Syd insisted upon wearing her bathing suit to the playground!  She loved digging around in the sand pit, I swear she thought she was on the beaches of Maui!

Ice Cream Time

Syd has such a sweet tooth, she absolutely adores anything sweet and sugary and especially anything chocolate.  I don't often stock sugary sweets in the house but I do keep a tub of Chapman's frozen dutch chocolate yogurt in the freezer at all times because it's Paul's favourite, so it often ends up being a treat for Syd.  The other day I opened the freezer and saw this:

Syd thought it was so funny that Daddy had left her a note on his ice cream!

Aquarium Time

We met up with our friends Amanda, Addi and Sienna at the aquarium late last week.  The girls had such a great time watching the dolphin show, checking out their favourite fish there and taking in the Jelly Invasion exhibits.

Amanda and Sienna even played "Jelly Factor", a game show like Jeopardy, aquarium style!

Pottery Camp

Syd finished up her pottery camp last week.  Alexa took her to her final class where they got to bring home all of the artwork that they did after they had finished making their projects for the day!

Ladner Farmers Market

Yesterday, Paul, Syd and I headed out to the Ladner Farmers Market for the afternoon after I did a lovely hour and a half bike ride through the endowment lands with my friends Liz and Sally.  We so enjoyed looking at all of the lovely produce, handmade goods and baking that they had!

Sunflowers

This afternoon while I was out I couldn't resit buying myself some beautiful orange sunflowers.  I have wanted a bouquet of them all summer long, they are gorgeous!

Dinner with Zach


Had a great dinner and visit with Zach tonight when he came over to spend the evening with us.  Syd was so excited to see him she literally shrieked at the door when she saw him!

Parcels Galore

Syd and I drove down to Point Roberts this morning to fetch some parcels waiting there for us.  Exciting stuff, Syd's Abby Caddaby Halloween costume, a box full of birthday party supplies and her new Hello Kitty backpack for school.

When we got home we found another parcel on the front porch, a pile of back to school clothes from Old Navy.  Syd was delighted to unpack each item one by one!

Glass Beads


Syd and Alexa had the best time playing with a bucket of glass beads that I had lying around.  I walked in to my office this afternoon to find this.

They had made a giant person with the beads, it was so cute!


Dinner with the Dunbar Families

Christina invited all of the Dunbar families over yesterday night for a play and dinner, we ordered Chinese takeout and so enjoyed it and had a great time together there and playing in the park next door.

Hoping to squeeze in a few more summer memories this week while we can!

A Fairy Princess Picnic

Yesterday afternoon Sydney and I met up with our friends Liz, Kaitlyn and Luke, Erin, Bea and Henry for a very sweet fairy princess picnic.

Liz had a wonderful idea of getting the girls together to have a very special picnic girly style, complete with fancy dishes, sparkling lemonade and cute finger food.

The girls were so excited and Liz went to such work making the most amazing food for us!

Check out these 'top hats' made with marshmallows, chocolate and Smarties:

And the Babybel cheese and crackers topped with blueberries and cherry tomatoes both made into ladybugs that she made especially for Sydney:

Loved these apple "teeth" too!

We had a great visit, the girls played in the playground and enjoyed a very special cupcake treat for dessert.

On our way home Liz gave each of the girls a pinwheel and a special treat from Kidsbooks, some fairy stencils which Syd absolutely loved!

What a very special picnic it was for the girls!

We had another very special lunch today with our friends Saskia and Myrtle, Tracy, Alexis and Avery and Andrea, Aaro and Hattan.

Saskia made a beautiful baked salmon lunch for us and served us mimosas and cupcakes, it was heavenly!  Midway through lunch her daughter Myrtle announced that it was Saskia's birthday today, unbeknownst to any of us!  What a wonderful way to spend your birthday surrounded by girlfriends over a beautiful lunch!


We've been so lucky to have had some wonderful visits with friends over the past few days.

Syd has been enjoying pottery camp this week, today we made a mug and a wall hanging vase imprinted with leaves that the kids collected from the park.

Such fun!