April

At the beginning of this month I looked at my daytimer and had a feeling somewhat akin to what I feel when I look at the schedule for the month of December.  There are more social activities, a major holiday or two, a trip away and outings than I can shake a stick at!  I truly do love it but alas, it leaves little time for blogging on a daily basis.

Here's our week in a nutshell:

Riding Lesson

Sydney's love of horses and riding is growing week over week.  It is such a joy to watch her learn a new skill and how much happiness she derives from it.

This week we got to ride Sprite again, went for another long road walk down the 'secret trail' as Syd calls it.

Sydney's buddy Emma has also started taking lessons right after Syd so we can hang out for a while together at the farm after both girls have had their lesson.

Blooming

Every year when the Camelia bush blooms in our front yard Paul picks me a single bloom.  They are so gorgeous and last for such a short time but I was thrilled to get this one perfectly at it's prime.

The cherry blossoms are still out in full force, Syd was so thrilled to see the cherry trees blooming in front of her school when we jumped out of the car the other day.

Bellingham

My sister and I have been talking about doing a day trip into the states to shop together for months and I was so thrilled when it finally became a reality this week!  We spent the entire day on Friday in Burlington and Bellingham shopping, finding some great deals, having lunch and enjoying each other's company.

My sister is an avid reader and was thrilled to see a free library set up in somebody's front lawn.  We just had to stop to take a look and grab a book to enjoy!

Pedicure

Sydney and I enjoyed a little girl time together this morning as we went for side by side pedicures.  This is fast becoming a wonderful ritual that we share together and I love the memories that we area building in so doing.

Swap Meet

We also hit up a swap meet this morning at the Marpole Oakridge Community Centre.  It was a small one with a ton of wee baby stuff but we still managed to come home with a few things that Sydney will enjoy.

Happy Birthday Lori

By far the highlight of my week was celebrating my friend Lori's birthday together with my precious Dunbar Mommas at a wine and painting night at 4 Cats Art Studio.

We each brought an appy and bottle of wine to share and had a great visit over treats before we snuggled up with our canvases and tried our hand at painting Monet's Bridge.

What a blast we had!  Such lovely conversation and laughter and poking fun at our artistic talent.

Michelle decided to make an abstract, I loved it!

We enjoyed ice cream cake together,

Before heading to the back room to make a splatter painting together that Lori will get to frame and keep as a souvenir of our evening together.

There are many things that I love about Lori, she is a strong, loyal, determined, incredibly capable woman and friend.  She is an outstanding Mom to her two kids and she and I have had many great memories together over the past several years since meeting when our kids were babies.  It was so special to take some time out to celebrate Lori and all that she means to us.

If the first week of April is any indication of what the rest of the month is going to look like we are in for a whole lotta fun!  Can't wait!