All in a Week

There has been plenty of fun times to be had over the past few days and more to come this weekend.  This time of year is a bit of a rush for me, all the planning and social events and busyness.  I love it!

Here's what we've been up to so far this week:

Twilight Tuesday

This past Tuesday Sydney and I went to the Vancouver Aquarium's semi-annual Twilight Tuesday event.  The aquarium opens up for members only for an evening and has all sorts of special activities for the kids and interactive displays. 

This time the kids got to wear their Halloween costumes, it was super cute seeing all the kids running about all dressed up.

Sydney got her hand painted with none other than Nemo after the sheer thrill of seeing him live in the tank!

We did some crafts, watched a concert and saw all of Syd's favourite exhibits.  It was such a great time!

New Ring

I got a call this week from our jeweller letting me know that the ring that Paul had custom made as my birthday present was ready for pick up.

It is absolutely stunning, a 32 carat blue topaz stone set in a chunky cocktail style ring.  I love it!!

30 Minute Hit

I signed up to start a fitness program at 30 minute hit this week.  This great program is a mix of kick boxing, martial arts and self defense all in a circuit style set up that you can crank out in thirty minutes.  I love it!  I picked up my new boxing gloves this week, Syd was pretty thrilled that they were pink!

Fabulous Find

While I was picking up my new boxing gloves, I walked past a store front with the most fabulous green coat in the window.  I popped in to see about it and was thrilled when it fit me perfectly and was on sale too!  Had to have it, wore it today for the first time and got tons of compliments all day on it!

Halloween Treats

My friend Sally is hosting a Halloween party for the Dunbar kids this weekend and all of us chip in to make really great loot bags for the kids.  This year I decided to make orange and black homemade playdough with a cookie cutter inside so Syd and I spent an afternoon hauled up in the kitchen making it this week.

Lunch with My Bro

Syd and I met up with my brother for a belated birthday lunch this week at one of our favourite Japanese restaurants by his office downtown.  Paul gave me the most thoughtful gift, all things I love, coffee, tea, wine and a Sunday brunch cookbook.  What a lovely surprise mid week!

101

This past Tuesday marked what would have been my Grandma's 101st birthday.  It was a crazy day, I was so hoping to do something special to commemorate the day so I spent a few moments at the end of the day flipping through this precious cookbook entitled "Grandma's Goodies".  It is filled with recipes that my Grandma made all throughout her years and my Mom painstakingly typed them all out after she had gone and made a recipe book for each of her granddaughters.  I love looking back at the recipes and remembering all of the sweet love filled treats that Grandma used to make for us!

Present from Grandma

We opened the mailbox today to find a parcel for Sydney inside.  She was so excited to get some mail and couldn't wait to tear the package open.  Inside was a beautiful card and winter hat from Grandma along with a cheque for Syd's birthday.  We are going to have so much fun hitting up the toy store to spend her long awaited birthday money!

Pumpkin Patch

We met up with our friends Christina and Jack this afternoon at Southlands Farm to enjoy a sunny fall day together and let the kids choose a pumpkin from the patch.

What a perfect day it was, we so enjoyed our time there!

Looking forward to a lot of fun events over the next few days! 

Lately

It feels as though we have been going non-stop for the past few days!  This time of year is always busy and fun and flies by.  Here's what we've been up to the past few days:

Swap Meet

Early Saturday morning Sydney and I headed off to the annual West Point Grey swap meet where my friend Michelle happened to be selling all of her baby gear.  It was so fun seeing her there and watching her table swamped with people!

We can, of course, never leave empty handed, so in addition to a few items that we picked up for Tybie, who is due to have her baby in a couple of weeks, we got ourselves some books, Hot Wheels cars and a Dora and Boots roll away suitcase that Sydney simply could not leave without!

Whistler

Right after the swap meet we jumped in the car to Whistler for the weekend.  It was so gorgeous there, sunny crisp fall days and the leaves changing colour all throughout the village, loved it!

Syd enjoyed riding her bike everywhere we went.

And loved that our hotel room was directly overlooking the fire station:

We met up with our friends Allan and Sally for dinner at the Keg which was so fun.  Always great hanging out with them and Syd enjoyed getting to see her buddy Ollie too.

Later that night Syd and I hauled up in the bathroom at the hotel and painted her fingers and toes for a little spa time together!

Had a lovely play time at the playground in the village too:

Myrtle's Birthday

We left Whistler and drove back to the city in the nick of time to attend Myrtle's 4th birthday party.  The kids had such fun playing in the enormous bouncy castle and with all the toys and Syd especially enjoyed having her arms painted by the very talented face painters.

She left with a butterfly on one arm and a sunshine on the other.

She was thrilled to find a wooden watch bracelet in her loot bag when she left!

Visit with Auntie Janice

My childhood friend Janice and her family are in town visiting for a few days so we left Myrtle's party and drove to our friend Georgina's house to have dinner with them and hang out for the evening.  It was so lovely seeing little Josie, Janice's daughter who has just turned 18 months old!

We had a great visit and lovely dinner, was such a treat to see them!

Metrotown

This afternoon after I finished my last full day working at Paul's office Sydney and I drove out to the Disney store in Metrotown to fetch some things for her upcoming Finding Nemo themed birthday party.

Got these figurines for on top of her birthday cake:

Along with a giant stuffed Nemo which she will get as her gift from Mom and Dad on her actual birthday.

Syd loved roaming Metrotown mall, especially loved the Build a Bear Workshop store.  I promised her that we will go back there to build her own stuffy on a special occasion!

Syd picked out a few articles of clothing for herself too, she really has come into her own as far as choosing her own fashion, it's very cute!

It's been an action packed few days, lots of good memories and fun times had!

Starbucks Moment

This week is flying by at record speed, mostly because I have been spending nearly the entire work day at Paul's office helping out while his assistant is on vacation.  Sydney has been hanging out with us at the office for most of the afternoon while we're working and has been such a good girl while she's been there.

Today we finished up a bit early so I decided to take her out for a special time together.

Our first stop was at Aunt Em's, our favourite kids shoe store in Kitsilano to get her a desperately needed pair of new runners.  She tried on a few different styles and settled on this sweet pair that light up when she walks:

Then we crossed the street to Starbucks to have a special date to use the gift card that my friend Angela sent me for my birthday.  I got my first ever salted caramel mocha and Syd and I shared a giant gingersnap cookie and a pumpkin cream cheese muffin.

It was lovely!  The sun was streaming in the windows on us as we sat and visited and enjoyed our midday treat!

We made one final stop at Dollarama, Sydney's all time favourite store to get a few art supplies, a new canvas, some bingo dabbers, stickers and a few items for her birthday party coming up next weekend.

All in all a perfectly pleasant afternoon!

Pizza Party

Birthday season is heading into full swing around here while we celebrate Sydney and many of her friend's birthdays in the coming weeks.

This afternoon we headed to Rocky Mountain Pizza Co. for a pizza party to celebrate Logan's 4th birthday. 

The kids got to make their own pizzas which they always love doing!

The Moms sat and chatted and had a wonderful visit together while the kids played and enjoyed their pizza.


It was a nice afternoon together!

Syd spent a bit of time this afternoon dismantling the wilted roses from the beautiful bouquet that Paul gave me for my birthday.

She stripped every last petal off and then heaped them on two dinner plates, it was cute!

Am working this week at Paul's office while his assistant is away, it was nice to see some old patients today that I knew from years gone by and meet a few new ones too.


Hope you had a great day back in the saddle after the long weekend!