Open House

I just got home from attending my first open house of many while I am looking at options for schools for Sydney.  The world of private schools is a new one for me.  I grew up in a small town, where there was literally one primary, elementary and high school, and so everyone went to the same school.  There was no choice to be made, it was blessedly straightforward and easy.

While Sydney is not quite yet three years old, I am finding that I will need to get my applications in by the end of this year to secure her a spot for Junior Kindergarten when she's four years old, so that she can have a spot for actual Kindergarten in two years time.  Such is the game with private schools on Vancouver's westside and I have to say that I'm already tired after all of the research and reams of paperwork.  Once I've attended the open houses then the real work begins of admissions, interviews and registration.  Not sure how this all happened so quickly, wasn't it just last week that I was cradling my newborn babe in my arms?

All of that being said, I went to see the York House Little School tonight and it is a precious little school in a heritage home with a fantastic philosophy, great staff and a wonderful space.  The kids even have a beautiful garden in the backyard that they tend to and their days are filled with fun activities and opportunities to learn alike.  While I haven't yet decided that this will be the best place for Sydney to flourish, I'm confident that her experience there would be amazing.  It will be interesting to see how the other schools stack up as I attend their open houses in the weeks to come.

Here's what the past couple of days have looked like for me:

New Floors

Paul and I are determined to update the flooring in our house this winter and so I have been busily running back and forth to showrooms to gather hardwood samples and get estimates over the past few days.  There has been a lot of this around our house lately:

Photo Shoot

Sydney and I took a drive out to Queen's Park in New Westmister on Monday afternoon to meet up with Denise from Tiny Toes Photography to have Sydney's annual birthday photo shoot done.  We lucked out and picked the one dry day that we'd had in over a week and got some gorgeous shots of Sydney in the park with the fall leaves and trees.  Can't wait to see them!

Cranberry Chicken

I have taken a shine to my crockpot lately, have used it three nights in a row now!  I found a new recipe online for Cranberry chicken which used up some fresh cranberries that I had in my fridge.  It was a hit with Paul, nice and tangy from the cranberries, yet sweet and citrusy from the addition of orange juice.  Click here for the recipe if you want to give it a try.

Coffee Time

The past two mornings in a row I have gotten together with friends for coffee while Sydney's been at school.  It's been so fun having a visit and full fledged adult conversation!  My friend Marcy and I hit up the new 49th Parallel coffee shop on Main and 13th Ave. yesterday.  It is a funky space that reminds me of a New York coffee shop and their coffee is so so good!

This morning my friend Katrin and I met at Blenz Coffee for a visit and coffee.  Just as I was about to leave, my car got mobbed by about a thousand people in the middle of a demonstration against the proposed Enbridge Pipeline.   I almost didn't make it to school in time to get Syd because I literally couldn't get my car out of it's parking space as it was surrounded by people!  Just as I was starting to panic, the throngs started moving and I made it to get her by the skin of my teeth!

Passport Photos

Yesterday after school I took Sydney to get an updated passport photo as I need to renew her's before we go on holidays later this year.  She sat like such a good girl for the photos, but had such a hard time not laughing.  In the end, we got a good shot, with her lips closed like they're supposed to be, but she has the funniest smirk on her face, like she's trying so hard not to laugh.  It's awesome!

After the pictures we decided to roam around the mall for a while, stopped for a rainbow ice cream and she gleefully wheeled a baby in a stroller around Zellers for a while.  My girl loves herself a fun afternoon at the mall!

Picture for Mommy

Yesterday when I went to get Syd from school, she handed me this picture that she coloured for me and said: "Mom, I made this for you, it's for Mother's Day!"  So sweet!

Laundry

Sydney absolutely loves folding laundry with me.  Yesterday morning, we had slept in a bit and were rushing around to get out the door to school.  Sydney saw two heaping baskets with clean laundry, that I had carried up from the laundry room while she was sleeping, on the floor of my bedroom and begged me to fold them.  I promised her that we would do it after school and dumped them on my bed and let her jump around in the pile just to soothe her soul while she had to wait!  Well, our afternoon got away on us, and as we were getting ready for bed, we realized that the clothes were still on top of the bed untouched.  Sydney again begged me to fold them, and I conceded.  She was so excited!  She climbed on top of the pile, lifted her arms in the air and yelled:  "Let's do this!"  It was so funny, I'm still laughing thinking about it!

So that's our week so far, hope yours has been good! 

100 Years

One hundred years ago today, on October 22, 1912, my beloved Grandma was born.  I have written before about how much my Grandma means to me.  She has been gone for thirteen years now, but her life and love continue to inspire me and especially now that I am a Mom, I find myself thinking often about her and her impact on my life.

One of the things that my Grandma and I spent hours doing when I was a child was baking.  I have so many fond memories of baking cookies and pies, cakes and buns in Grandma's little kitchen.  When I had a little girl of my own, I was determined to make some of these great memories for us together and have already spent countless hours in the kitchen with her to this day.

When my Grandma passed away, my Mom lovingly took all of her handwritten recipes and typed them up on the computer and made recipe books for each of her granddaughters so that we could continue to make all of the recipes that we remembered Grandma making over the years. 

I thought that a fitting way to commemorate this day would be to bake something that I remember Grandma making a lot, banana cake with peanut butter frosting.  I can still taste hers if I think about it hard enough!  Her recipe for the peanut butter frosting is taped in my recipe book, written in my Grandma's handwriting, given to me many, many years ago.

Sydney had such fun helping me bake the cake:

And frost it:

And then she insisted upon putting a candle on it as it was, after all, a birthday cake!

She practiced blowing the candle out a few times for her birthday which is coming up in a few short days.

I took one bite of that cake and if I closed my eyes it was as though I was sitting at Grandma's kitchen table with her!  It brought back so many wonderful memories.

So on this day, what would have been my Grandma's 100th birthday, I pay tribute to the woman who had such an amazing, positive impact on my life and who's spirit lives on in both me and my daughter!

Happy Birthday Grandma!  I will always love you and honour you on this special day, a century after you were born!

Raffi Concert

This afternoon Sydney and I had a very special treat.  Sydney's cousin Danny and his wife and kids took us to the Raffi concert downtown at the Ford Centre.  I have been listening to Raffi since I was just a little girl, in fact, I can still see the old school record cover from one of his original records that we used to have!  It was so special to see a performer that I have long loved and share it with Sydney today.

It was amazing how many of the songs that he performed, I knew and even more amazing at how many Sydney knew!  We have one Raffi CD that I often play in the car, and luckily, he sang many of the songs on it today, so Sydney recognized a lot of what he was singing.

She was clapping and jumping and dancing and loved the "Shake My Sillies Out" and "Baby Beluga" numbers that he sang back to back!

I sang along at the top of my lungs to most every song, I think I enjoyed it more than the kids!

It was such a nice afternoon together and I love that Sydney got to go to her first official concert with her cousins and to see such a timeless artist!

Swap Meet & A Birthday

This morning I was up bright and early to go to my first swap meet of the season!  I had been dying to get out to a few swap meets this fall and was so glad that I had a free morning today to make it happen!  Sydney was so insistent that she come with me this morning.  I kept trying to convince her to stay home and play with Daddy, but she would have none of it, so off the two of us went to West Point Grey Community Centre for a morning of shopping.


Sydney was such a good girl at the swap meet.  She stayed close to me like I asked her, and had such fun looking at all of the things and pointing out stuff that she loved.  I had a successful morning of shopping coming home with some great things!

By far the best thing that we got is this fantastic wooden balance bike!  I have long been looking for a bike like this for Syd, but didn't want to pay the outrageous amount that they cost new!  I was thrilled to find today.  It is made by Like a Bike, a German company that makes such an exceptional product.  Sydney could not wait to ride her new bike this afternoon.  She is doing so well on it, I couldn't have bought it at a more perfect time!

We also got a few other great things:

Flower Alphabet Cards

Fun Kids Dishes

Ladybug Backpack

Corolle Soft Doll

Oilily Backpack

Wooden Threading Toy

Cutest Kids Apron Ever!

Shiny Red Oilily Shoes!

This afternoon Sydney and I headed to the Mount Pleasant Community Centre for her friend Kaden's third birthday party.  Kaden's Mom and I met in prenatal fitness class some four years ago when we were pregnant, and although we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like these days, it was so special to celebrate this big event with them today!

Kaden's Grandma made the cutest dinosaur cake and cookies for everyone to take home with them!

The kids thought they'd hit pay dirt when they saw the huge gym filled with dozens of riding toys and a bouncy gym!  Sydney loved bouncing and climbing up and down the gymnastics equipment and riding around on the toys while I had the chance to catch up with some Mom friends I hadn't seen in a while.

We left the party with a loot bag filled with some bracelets, a colouring pack, lava gel and some Halloween stickers, glasses and a stretchy skeleton.  Sydney had great fun playing with all her new treasures when we got home!

Syd and I spent some time up on Dunbar yesterday afternoon.  She collected yet more chestnuts to add her to collection and pushed her little shopping cart around the produce store with glee!

Later in the day we went for a tricycle ride in the neighborhood to enjoy the rain-free day!  Sydney loves going down to a house at the end of our block to see this cat that sits in the window almost every day!

It was brandishing a new tag today, a bright red heart with it's name, "Socs" engraved on it.  Syd was so happy to finally learn it's name as she has developed quite an affection for it!

I'll leave you today with a picture of the most amazing tree that is outside of Sydney's preschool, it is officially my favourite tree this fall!  Everyday when I drop her off, somehow it seems to get more beautiful! 

Birthday Shopping

Every year for my birthday, my parents send me a cheque for a gift.  Over the years, as my birthday draws near,  I have come to look so forward to their card arriving with my 'birthday money' inside.  I always try and find something a little out of the ordinary, or fun, to buy for myself.


This morning I had nothing scheduled while Sydney was at school, so I thought that I would head to Winners/Homesense and take a look around to see if I couldn't blow my birthday money.

I had such fun looking around at everything in the store!  They had great stock and tons of cool things.

In the end I bought myself a few items that I loved.

This gorgeous Italian glass decorative bowl:

A glass serving platter with sectional dishes, will be so great for playdates or serving appies!  In fact, I used it tonight to serve Paul his after-work snack!

Box of Cards...so useful and so pretty!

Cute dip spreaders!  Sydney has claimed all of the ones I currently have as her own, for cutting her playdough and clay with, so I thought I'd get myself some new fun ones!

And some loaf pans...much needed...mine were looking so pitiful!  So lovely to have some fresh, new industrial strength Wolfgang Puck pans!

So great to shop for some fun things for myself!  After I had finished shopping I decided to grab some lunch and sat and enjoyed a lovely Crab and Avocado Benny at Caffe Barney in South Granville.  While I was sitting alone eating, two Moms with babies about 8 or 9 months old came in for lunch.  It was so fun watching them and overhearing their conversation.  It reminded me so much of when Syd was that age and I would get together with Mom friends for coffee and lunch and talk about nothing other than our babies!  It feels like just yesterday and yet a world away, it's a strange feeling!  Ultimately, as Moms, we are all on the same journey, just at different stages.  It was neat to watch from afar!

Sydney and I had such a terrific morning today, running ahead of schedule on our way to school.  It was quite cool outside this morning and Sydney insisted upon wearing her new cupcake toque that I got for her the other day.  I decided that, seeing we were doing so well for time,  I would  stop and get her a little treat on the way to school.  We stopped at Cobs Breads and got a huge, warm, fresh croissant for her to eat in the car on our way.  She was SO happy! 

She had another terrific day at school and came home with yet more art projects to show off.  She's using lots of beautiful fall colours these days!

That was our rainy Thursday.  Can't believe we're almost at the end of another week!