High Tea

This afternoon I met up with my faithful group of Dunbar Moms for a special time together.  We went to High Tea at the Shangri-La hotel downtown to celebrate our friend Liz's birthday which happened around Christmas time!

We were so happy to finally be all together again as we hadn't had the chance to see each other since our Christmas party at the beginning of December.

The Shangri-La never disappoints.  The tea and food was fantastic and we so enjoyed the live pianist who played lovely background music the entire time that we were there!

It was such a pleasant way to spend an afternoon!  I could have stayed forever happily sipping tea and eating wee sandwiches and visiting with the Moms.  Both Liz and our friend Erin are expecting their second babies in a couple of short months so it was especially meaningful to be together before the busyness of newborns sets in!

We treated Liz to a gift certificate to the spa to have a prenatal massage and some Thomas Haas chocolates and olive oil and balsamic vinegar from the Vancouver Olive Oil Company.  We've decided that for our next get together we should all meet at the spa and get some pampering!

I always come away from days like today feeling so grateful to have found a group of Moms who I love so much and have become such dear friends and to have them all within a stone's throw of my front door is even more amazing!  I am blessed!

Baking Hamantashen

Weekends take on a whole new rhythm these days with Sydney in school all week.  The busyness of Monday to Friday catches up with us in a way that is hard to believe sometimes and it is no more evident than when waking up early on a Saturday morning.

I often feel a bit disoriented waking up on Saturdays, not sure what day of the week it is for the first few seconds and thinking that we've slept in and are running behind.  And then there's that euphoric feeling when you realize that you don't in fact have to rush around and can snuggle up in bed for a few more minutes before your day of catch-up begins.  Lovely...

This morning started off with a new painting from my little artist.  You always know it's going to be a good day when it starts this way.

Sydney has been so into rainbows lately, paints and colours them at any opportunity.  Yesterday at school she made this one:

We walked up to piano lessons this morning in the bright and beautiful sunshine.  The weather has warmed up considerably this past week and the days are getting longer all the time!  It feels as though the worst of winter is behind us.

In fact, we even stopped to take pictures of some flowers that had started to bloom today while walking home.  A sure sign that spring is right around the corner!

This afternoon Sydney and I decided to bake a batch of Hamantashen for Purim which is coming up this week.  We made cherry ones again this year, they were delicious!  The dough was perfect and cookie-like and the filling was just sweet enough.  What a lovely treat!

Sydney loved rolling the dough out and cutting out the circles and passing them to me to fill.  We work really well together as a team!

After all that baking Syd decided to chill on the couch for a while and watch some Sesame Street and have a bowl of popcorn.

Then, of course, we decided to fold the mountain of laundry that had been sitting in baskets on my bedroom floor for about a week.  Syd loves to fold laundry, check out this shot of her happily jumping on the bed while I'm trying to fold!

Decided to try a new recipe for dinner tonight, made a delicious chicken lettuce wrap and served it with spring rolls.  It was light and savoury, a great change from the hearty dinners of late!

Hope your Saturday was good to you!

Valentine's Day

This morning started out on a very special note.  I surprised Sydney by setting the table for a very special breakfast to wish her a Happy Valentine's Day.

I pulled out the hand painted tablecloth that I bought at the Circle Craft market this past December and laid out the new plates, cup and cutlery that I got Sydney for today.

I also set out a few treats for her.  She had been begging me for a watch for the longest time, so I found this very fun one with the word "love" on the face, it seemed fitting for today.

I also set out a couple other treats, some stickers and a magnetic doll craft kit.  She was so excited to see it all set out this morning when she came downstairs!  What a wonderful way to start the day!

We made heart shaped pancakes and tinted the batter red, it was fantastic!

We left a few surprises out for Daddy too, homemade cards and a brand new fluffy white terrycloth bathrobe!

On our way to school this morning we stopped by a few friends houses and delivered our Valentine's bags.

Today was indeed a special day as I got to the spend the entire day volunteering in Sydney's classroom.  It was so fun seeing the kids go about their day.  They are learning about the Jewish holiday of Purim right now and so the kids are really into dressing up as princes and princesses.

When we arrived home later this afternoon we found a couple of treats on our front porch.  Sydney's buddy Jack left her a box of princess chocolates:

And Weston gave her a very cool calendar along with a bunch of other treats!

I love how having kids makes holidays all the sweeter!  It was a very special day with my girl today celebrating love and friendship!

Homemade Chocolates

This morning I spent a good hour wandering through the aisles of Michael's craft store.  I went in for one simple item, some red and pink dipping chocolate so that Sydney and I could make some homemade chocolates today.  Somehow I found myself wandering helplessly through the aisles of jewellery making supplies, scrapbooking kits, baking tools...I almost signed up for the Fondant and Gum Paste course.  What is it about this place that almost casts a spell on me?

I ended up coming away with little more than I came for, thankfully! 

Sydney and I spent a fun afternoon making homemade cupids and hearts to add to our Valentine's bags that we will deliver tomorrow.  We ate about as much chocolate as we used!

Sydney came home with another Valentine from her friend Delara.  She is loving her little collection of Valentine's cards!

I also did a little shopping today, got Sydney a couple of super cute spring dresses from Costco!

My cousin Melanie stopped by for a quick visit today too to deliver a little gift for Sydney, a pair of bright red canvas Toms!  Love them!

We are looking forward to celebrating all the things we love about love tomorrow! 

Valentine's Crafts

Sydney and I spent a lovely couple of hours together this afternoon working on a couple of Valentine's crafts.


We made another batch of heart shaped crayons using a giant bag of crayons that my friend Christina gave us.  They turned out so well, super colourful!

We packaged them up in little baggies and added them to the felt Valentine's bags that we have ready to deliver over the next couple of days to our friends!

Then I pulled out the Valentine's cards that I got for Sydney to give her friends and did my girl ever fly into action.  She was determined that she was going to forget no one and we spent the better part of an hour addressing, labelling and choosing stickers for each special Valentine!

Later this afternoon we had music class.  Sydney's friend Emma brought her a very special Valentine's present, a handmade necklace with beads on it that spelled out Sydney's name!  Love it!

I love when I can build crafts around a theme or a holiday and Valentine's Day is no exception.  Love is the best theme I can think of and we have had such a good time getting a few things together to delight and surprise Sydney's friends.

A Wedding, a Birthday and Family Day

The past two days have been filled with fun celebrations as we've shared a wedding, birthday and BC's first Family Day together!

I am so grateful to be feeling better and able to enjoy all of the festivities!  Yesterday our friends Jonathan and Lauren got married.  Their wedding took place at the UBC Boathouse, a lovely venue in Richmond that is built right out on the water and has the most beautiful views!

The ceremony was beautiful and so meaningful.  Jewish weddings are always filled with so much symbolism, celebration and love, they truly are a pleasure to attend!

I love this picture of the bride and groom hoisted up on chairs as we danced the hora after the ceremony!

We had the most amazing meal and a good visit with family and friends.  What a lovely day!

While we were at the wedding, my friend's nanny, Amy came over to watch Sydney.  In anticipation of their time together, I hit up Dollarama and got a bunch of craft supplies for them to work on together.

One of the things they did was paint this wooden jewellery box.

And this canvas:

Before the wedding yesterday we managed to squeeze in a little time together at Granville Island enjoying the sunshine!

Syd got a real kick out of this guy who was walking his pet pigeon on a leash!

Today was Family Day, which meant that Paul's office was closed and we got to spend a bonus day together.  It was so nice to have a day off in February!  I always thought that we could use a stat holiday sometime between Christmas and Easter!

We spent the morning with our friends Sally and Allan having a lovely lunch and visit with them and their friend Allison.  It was such a fun way to spend a day off!

This evening we headed out to Zachary's house for a party to celebrate his 27th birthday.  We had a lovely dinner and such a great time sharing the evening with everyone there!

Am a bit behind with the photos of the day!  Yesterday's was "3 O'Clock":

At 3:00 yesterday I was getting dressed into this beautiful red dress that my friend Sarah graciously loaned me to wear to the wedding!

Today's is "Entrance".  Here is the entrance to our home:

Hope that you had a wonderful long weekend wherever you are!