This Week

I have to admit that I've been in a bit of a funk for the past while.  It's been a hard past week between saying goodbye to our beloved preschool families and teachers and with my friend Louise passing on Sunday.  I've been trying my best to look for things to lift my spirits but to be honest, things don't really seem to be going all that well lately.  It's been one struggle after another.  

I recognize this as a time of transition in many ways and know that if I ride it out things will equalize one again but in the mean time as I've been searching for joy, here's a few things that are making me happy these days:


Slower Days


The first week of summer holidays always takes a bit of time to get used to.  Settling into a new and slower pace isn't always easy but I'm happy to report that we are well on our way.  Sydney is loving spending mornings in the kitchen in her PJ's helping me bake and cook things.

 

Bouquets


I promised Sydney that I would get her a bouquet of flowers as a way of saying congratulations for her preschool graduation.  The day after her grad ceremony I took her to my favourite flower shop in Kitsilano to choose a beautiful bouquet.  She looked at all of the amazing pre-arranged bouquets and then loudly announced "No, this isn't what I wanted at all!!  I want to pick every flower that goes in my bouquet!"  Luckily we were en route to Granville Island anyways so I let her choose, stem by stem, her very own bouquet.  She was thrilled.

 

She's been picking me some beauties with wild flowers in the neighborhood too.

 

And we've so been enjoying the blooming flowers in our backyard as well, simple pleasures.

 

We even dug out our solar print kit that has been tucked away all winter long and collected some things from our garden to make a very special solar print!

 

We had our friends Sarah and Emma over for a playdate early this week and Sarah brought me the most beautiful bouquet of white hydrangeas.

 

We are enjoying the summer blooms!


Greek Days


Last Sunday we headed down to West Broadway to take in the annual Greek Days street festival.  What a fun and crazy busy time it was!  Even ran into Zach while we were there!

Fun Times


Summer always means more time to just kick back and do whatever we please.  The change in pace has been nice! 


Sydney has been doing a lot of painting these days.

 

I collected some huge rocks the other day and Sydney, Paul and I each painted our own in the back yard and placed the final result in our garden nestled under our walnut tree.  What a fun memory painting together!

 

Syd asked me if she and I could go on a 'date' together the other day.  It was after dinner and there wasn't much time to do anything together before bed time but I obliged and we zipped off to Chapters for an hour of fun in their kids section.

 

Syd loves the giant tea cup there where she can sit and read a book or two!


We also popped into Bellingham for the day to shop this week, had fun getting a car load of great deals in the states.

 

And took a little time to play at the brand new play structure in Bellis Fair!


Sydney came home with her very own set of Sharpies, she was thrilled!  She and Alexa used them to make some fun foam crafts this week while Mommy was working at Dad's office.

 

We've had some nice leisurely walks in the neighborhood too, often accompanied by Syd's baby stroller loaded down with her baby Mikaela.

 

New Friends

Earlier this week Sydney and I went for tea at Gretchen and Noa's house to meet a friend of theirs who will be joining Sydney in Kindergarten this fall.

Grace and her Mom Anna were very sweet and it was so nice to meet another family that we'll be seeing on a daily basis very shortly!



Cirque du Soliel


The highlight of our week was indeed taking Sydney to see Cirque du Soleil for the very first time.  Their show, Totem is playing under the Grand Chapiteau in Vancouver this summer and Sydney could not have loved it more!

 

What a terrific show, absolutely amazing feats, costumes and music.  Sydney sat for the entire two hour show and raved about it for days afterwards!


She had fun trying on some fun masks from the show during the intermission!

 

Goodbye Louise


This morning was a particularly sad time as I said goodbye to my friend Louise at her memorial service. 


The service was lovely, she was deeply loved by many, many people and the standing room only service spoke for itself about how many lives she impacted.


Louise loved fun more than almost anyone I know so there were many whimsical moments during the ceremony.  There was a giant basket of colourful feather boas for the women to wear when we arrived, Louise would have loved it!

 

We each left with a beautiful ornament with the word 'joy' embroidered on it to remind us of how much joy Louise brought to our lives.  I will proudly hang it and remember her for the rest of my days.  I was blessed to know her and so grateful that our paths crossed during the most magical time of our lives as we were becoming moms.


Happy Birthday Emma


This afternoon we celebrated together with Sydney's buddy Emma her 5th birthday at Westside Family Place.  The party was a Little Mermaid theme and the kids had such fun playing outside and with the giant pinata!

 

Emma even dressed up as Ariel midway through the party, it was priceless!

 

So that was our week, we made it through and are looking happily ahead to next week and the new adventures that it will bring.