Menchies

Today after school a few of the Moms and I decided that we would take our kids to Menchie's as a special treat seeing the weather has been so amazing this week!

Syd and I have never been to Menchie's before, it is the most amazing frozen yogurt place ever!

The entire back of the store is covered in soft serve yogurt machines filled with frozen yogurt of all flavours.  You grab your bowl, or waffle bowl if you'd like and fill it up with whatever you'd like and then the fun part....

There are literally fifty kinds of candy and toppings that you can put on the yogurt along with different sauces and syrups.

Wow did the kids have fun choosing their toppings and making their sundaes.

They even had a giant circle chalkboard that the kids could draw on.

The whole space is just so bright and cheerful, you can't help but be happy while you're there, plus the ice cream helps too.

What a fun treat it was on a beautiful, sunny day!

Herb Garden

Sometimes I make really smart decisions.  Other times I spend hours on end kicking myself for doing something utterly stupid.  There's really no telling when either will happen, but my decision to get Chinese take out last night certainly falls in the 'something so stupid' category.  I was up literally half the night with the worst indigestion I have ever had in my life.  It was so uncomfortable and I was frustrated beyond belief.  Sometime in the middle of the night I sneaked downstairs and got myself a gingerale and a handful of Tums before crawling back into bed.  Misery!

So needless to say, this morning I skipped out on my exercise class and decided to have a chill time shopping while Syd was at school.  I have been so diligent about exercising these past few weeks that I felt more than a little disappointed in myself at missing my time at the gym today.

But I had a really awesome morning.  I strolled leisurely up and down the aisles at Superstore and happily scratched items off my list that had been there for far too long.  I ran into two other Moms from preschool and we chatted and made plans to take the kids for frozen yogurt after school tomorrow.  It was time well spent.

I decided that I would check out their garden center and bought a few pots of herbs so that Sydney and I could plant her herb garden together this afternoon.  I love how it turned out.  We planted English Lavender, Sage, Lemon Mint and Oregano.

Syd really loves the idea of growing her own strawberries.  She loves eating them so much and so I couldn't resist buying her a strawberry plant today too.  Will be so sweet to see her harvest her very own home grown berries!

My friend Gretchen took Sydney to her house for a playdate with her daughter Noa this afternoon so I had an extra long time to myself today.  It was so nice.  I spent a ton of time in the backyard getting things organized.

Filled up Sydney's sand table for the season:

And finally got around to getting a big utility bucket to hold all of her outdoor toys, my garage is looking cleaner by the second:

And pulled out some more fun summer things for the backyard, our patio umbrella, Sydney's tent, the zero gravity chair.....it's all slowly coming together and feeling more and more like summer in our back yard.

I love that Sydney made a fort in the backyard with her tent today complete with blankets, her own box of Kleenex, bowls and her purse stuffed with all sorts of interesting things.  I swear she would have slept out there tonight if I'd let her!

I tried my hand at making baked kale chips today with a bunch of kale that I had in the fridge.  They are ridiculously easy to make and super delicious!  Click here for the recipe that I used.

Got Syd a new fun toy for the backyard today too, a super cute little ladybug that rolls along spitting bubbles out of it's bottom.  She loved it!

Got a lovely Mother's Day card in the mail today from my Mom with a gift card for the spa and some stickers for Syd.  What a lovely treat and surprise in the mail today!

I barbecued steak for dinner tonight and we hung out in the backyard until Sydney was so tired she could barely see straight.  She has been spending so much time outdoors these days.  On beautiful sunny days, her preschool teachers set up the entire classroom outdoors in their play area.  It's awesome, there's easels and chalkboards and stations set up all throughout the playground and the kids spend almost their entire day outside.  It means lots of fresh air for Syd and she drops like a rock into bed at night!

The weather is looking as though it is going to hold out all week, will be enjoying our backyard as we put the finishing touches on it for the season.

Hot, Hot Weekend!

What an amazing weekend it was!  The temperatures were in the mid twenties both Saturday and Sunday, the days were warm and long and we had two whole days to enjoy it all together!  Bliss!

Here's what we got up to:

Planting

Syd and I decided to transplant the sunflower seedlings that we had germinated indoors this weekend so we added them, along with some Italian Parsley that we had growing already, to a container.  Sydney is so excited to grow a sunflower.  Fingers crossed...

Syd is loving the backyard these days, the hose, her swimming pool, the patio table, her sand table and bouncy castle.  All of the summer pleasures that have been tucked away in the garage for the past several months are slowly making their way into the backyard for a summer of fun!

Dinner

On Saturday night our friends Sally, Allan and Ollie came over for dinner.  I made a Salmon Wellington and Fettucini Alfredo, pretty tasty!

I am loving using my new slate cheeseboard for appys.  Syd was so thrilled that I labelled all of the cheese with a giant piece of pink sidewalk chalk on the board!

I have been using my martini glasses a fair amount to hold fun appys too, like this one filled with olives.

Sally brought a very special dessert, a pavlova which she covered in whipped cream and fresh raspberries.  It was heavenly!

Syd loved the dessert so much, three of her favourite things all together, meringue, whipped cream and raspberries!

I stole a few of the leftover raspberries to top French Toast for us for breakfast this morning, delicious!

Sally and Allan brought us a beautiful bottle of sparkling Rose, can't wait to try it!

Blooming

This tree in our backyard is just starting to bloom, a good month ahead of schedule!  It looks so gorgeous!

We enjoyed a lovely afternoon together in the sun in the backyard today.  I was feeling so relaxed and at ease that I couldn't even muster up the energy to make dinner so we hopped in the car to head downtown to eat out.

Poor Syd was so pooped from all that fresh air and sunshine that she fell asleep in the car on the way downtown so we decided to head to Hon's Wonton House for Chinese takeout and ate it in the sun in the backyard while she slept in the car.

It was a fitting end to a great weekend!

An Evening with Jack

We have had the most amazing stretch of weather this week.  It has completely felt like summer with temperatures pushing 20 degrees!  It has been such a welcome change in weather.  We pulled out our patio table and chairs this evening and have been sleeping with the window wide open in our bedroom for nights on end.  Feels like July, not May!  Loving it!

Paul picked me my first lilac bouquet of the season today.  They are a week or two early this year!  I can't get enough of that amazing fragrance.  The bouquet literally fills my entire kitchen with it's scent.  Fantastic!

Tonight Sydney's buddy Jack came over for dinner and a playdate while his parents went out for a date night of their own.

The kids decided to dine al fresco in the beautiful evening sun!

We fired up the bouncy castle and let them loose....this could go down in history as the best toy I have ever bought, the kids are enjoying it so so much!

Syd has been enjoying the loot that the firemen gave her yesterday at the field trip to the fire hall.

Today at school Sydney's class led Shabbat.  Each of the children had a special song that they sang for the crowd.  It was so precious to see them actually take the mike and sing all by themselves.  We have come a long way from the days where most of them didn't even want to get up and share anything!

I love sharing this special time with the children and it's so meaningful to Sydney that I'm there too.  Last night she woke up briefly in the middle of the night, rolled over and said: "Mom, can you join me for Shabbat tomorrow?"  It was clearly on her mind and heart that I be there.

The weekend is shaping up to be a record breaker weather wise.  We are looking forward to lots of time outdoors and soaking up the sun!

Field Trip

Today was a very special day at preschool for Sydney and her classmates.  They went on their long anticipated field trip to the fire hall!  Since the beginning of the school year the teachers have noticed that the kids have all loved role playing fire fighters so much and fire has been an on going theme theme in the class for the longest time.

It was so fun to finally be able to take the whole class there this morning!

The kids were so excited to be able to take the bus there.  Sydney loves riding the bus so much.  I've promised her that this summer she and I will ride the bus and skytrain a bunch.

It was a beautiful day so the firemen pulled the trucks out of the fire hall and let the kids sit inside and see all of the tools and equipment on board.

They even brought out the jaws of life for the kids to see, it was so cool!

Sydney brought her own little camera with her and captured some great shots of the day too!

Carmen, one of the preschool teachers, got to dress up in full gear like a real firefighter would!  The kids loved it!

One of the firemen slid down the pole at the station for us too, it was a great way to end the visit.

Just as we were getting all of the kids settled to take a picture in front of the firetrucks outside, the firemen got called away on an emergency call.  What a treat for the kids to see them in action getting dressed and driving out of the station with their sirens blaring.

We settled on a picture in front of the fire hall, I think it still turned out so well!

The firemen send all of the kids home with some great loot, their own fire chief hat, stickers, tattoos and colouring books.

What a fun morning with the class and a day to remember for sure!