Checking Items off My List

I have been a busy girl these past couple of days checking items off of my "40 Things" list!

One of the things I have always wanted to try is hot yoga so yesterday I took a class at the new amazing studio at Hot Box Yoga at UBC.  Their space is so lovely, clean and modern with beautiful lighting.  The studio is heated to 32 degrees, warm but not unbearable.  It was a fun class and I will definitely try it again!

I even got a new yoga mat to mark the start of what will hopefully become somewhat of a regular practice.


I took some time this afternoon to visit the MAC counter for an in depth lesson on eye makeup application too, something that I have long been meaning to do.  Leigh, a talented makeup artist walked me through eye makeup looks from day to evening which I loved.  I left with a little bag filled with some new makeup to try out!

I also headed to David's Tea this afternoon to pick up my tins of tea I've never tried before.  I had such fun smelling and sampling different teas before deciding on a few tins that I wanted to take home to try.  The first of many I'm sure!  Can't wait to try them out.

Today at school Sydney was the class VIP which meant that she got many special jobs and responsibilities in class but could also bring in one special item to share in a show and tell time with her classmates. 

She made this beautiful sunshine with cardstock and mosaic tiles to share with the girls.

She came home with a sweet note that she had typed for me too, so precious!

It was a productive couple of days, felt great to get a few more things off of my bucket list!

My Little Photographer

Since starting this blog way back in 2011 I have definitely taken a more noted interest in photography as I try to capture our life on film as best as I can.  Sydney has often been my model during these photo sessions but over time something amazing happened and she ended up on the other end of the camera.

I eventually gave her an old digital point and shoot camera of mine which she has proudly claimed as her own and she now absolutely loves taking pictures of her own! 

We recently did a massive upload of all of her photos to our home computer and I absolutely loved looking through them to see all of the shots that she had taken.  It was so neat to see the chronological order of the photos starting way back in September with Rosh Hashanah, through the fall with Halloween and her birthday, into Hanukkah and our Hawaiian vacation and then on into the new year and Valentine's Day.

I love seeing the simple things that are so meaningful to her:

Her Elsa Shoes

Her Playmobil Ambulance

She loves receiving and giving cards

Her Hello Kitty thermos

Hanukkah decorations

One of her favourite stuffies

I was totally amazed at a few of the shots that Sydney got that were absolutely incredible photographically, great lighting, composition and angles all at the hands of a five year old!

Some photos are just downright funny

Oh the selfies....

Brussell Sprouts in a bowl!

Her dangling feet off the stroller on a walk in Hawaii

Mommy's glass of wine

She loves seeing her name out in the world

Sydney has always loved nature as evidenced by these great shots of hers too:

Enjoying my little photographer these days!

100 Days

Today is Sydney's 100th day of Kindergarten.  It seems hard to believe that I have driven her to and from our house to school a total of one hundred times since September.  From that first nervous morning to today where she merrily bounded out the door to school, we've come a long way!

Sydney's class had some special celebrations today to mark the 100th day.  Each of the girls in the class brought in a project which consisted of 100 items compiled into groups of 10.  Sydney decided that she wanted to collect 100 pennies and display them on a poster board, which was no easy task given there are no more pennies in circulation in Canada!

It was a fun project and a neat way to welcome in her 100th day of school!

We have had celebrations galore going on around here this month!  Last Thursday marked the start of the Lunar New Year, 2015 is the year of the ram.

In keeping with our tradition started last year, I made a Chinese dinner for us to enjoy, General Tso's Chicken and Green Beans in spicy black bean sauce.  It was delicious!

Sydney class had an entire day of celebrations on Friday for the Lunar New Year.  All of the girls got to show up to school wearing red or traditional Asian outfits.  The girls made crafts and learned how to make some Chinese dishes.  I volunteered to help the girls cook chow mein, it was super fun and the girls absolutely loved it!

Sydney came home with some red envelopes from her classmates along with some pretty amazing crafts.

The very next day we celebrated Bea's 5th birthday together with our friends at St. Helen's church hall. 

I just love this card that Sydney and I made for her, especially that huge, long message that Sydney wrote to her!

Bea's birthday kicks off the first of many birthdays happening over the next few months in our little Dunbar family, it's going to be one party after another around here, I love it!

Sydney had a riding lesson under a beautiful, sunny blue sky on Saturday.  She rode Taffy for the first time in a long time and enjoyed the bird's eye view from WAY up top of that saddle, he's a big horse!

Even with all the celebrating this weekend Sydney still found time to enjoy some morning painting.

And to build some pretty cool structures with her blocks.

And to snap some photos with Momma of the beautiful blooms on our block. 

It was a good weekend!