What's Up Wednesday: May 2026

It's been a full month of working on projects, starting to transition to focusing on the yard as the weather gets warmer, and having some fun in the midst of all of that! Welcome to May's What's Up Wednesday.

Answering these questions monthly helps me reflect on the past month and I really appreciate having a record of what we've been up to. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... This month has been an interesting month of eating. We're eating as many meals as we can outside, but it hasn't been as much as I'd like, since our spring has been cool. Sam baked scones as a Mother's Day treat for me and they were delicious! And our fruit box had a bunch of oranges, and then Dave accidentally bought more, so I've been eating an orange almost every work day. Rachel used some of the oranges to make orange chocolate chip muffins so I've eaten a bunch of those too. Can you tell we're in the transition space of eating? We're not into hearty winter meals anymore but the weather isn't cooperating with full BBQ and salads season yet.

What I'm reminiscing about... I read a really engaging book about the Olympics so I've been reminiscing about when we got to see the Olympic torch relay.

This was in January 2010 in Edmonton and it was so cold!!!

Sam has been practising driving a lot so I've also been reminiscing about Sam's previous driving experiences!

My dad first taught Sam to drive (on their yard) the summer Sam turned 10. He also practiced with Rachel on Tow Mater back in 2012, when he was three! It's hard to believe he'll soon be driving away for real!!! 

What I'm loving... I've had the chance to enjoy some amazing flowers this month. I got Dave to buy me the roses at Rachel's dance performance, which was on my birthday. One of the advantages of our cool spring has been that my ranunculus are looking AMAZING this year! I almost didn't do a ranunculus planter this year but I'm so glad I did.

 

What we've been up to... May started with Rachel's dance performance and my birthday. We spent a lot of time taking the LRT to and from the University, where her performance was held.

We attended the In Bloom festival as part of my birthday experience. It was so lovely!

On Mother's Day we went and played mini golf and then out to my favourite pizza place for supper. 

  

That week we headed out to a Blue Jays' game. It was a Loonie Dogs night so we ate a lot of hot dogs and I got to meet the Loonie Dogs Kings! It was a really fun game and we're hoping to get to another Loonie Dogs night this season. 

  

I helped Janice host, and then we all attended, a French themed party to celebrate Tessa's graduation from teacher's college with her French specialization.

And we've been doing some house projects. We set up our guest room and sanded and painted the laundry line poles.

What I'm dreading... I'm both excited for, and dreading, the last month of school/work for me. There's always so much work to do this month as a secretary, but the staff and students are in "party mode" so it's extra crazy. We have four weeks and one day until the last day of school for students and then I'll still have a few days to go until I'm on summer break.

What I'm working on... I've been doing the "walk every day in May" challenge with Shay at Mix and Match Mama. I even went for walks both days this past weekend when it was raining. On the plus side, this has been really good for my virtual walking challenge! I'm making so much progress on it this month!

On Sunday we finally got to my favourite greenhouse so now I need to get working on planting all these plants! I've planted about 14 of them but I still have about 50 to go!!!

What I'm excited about... Laundry hanging!!! We finally got the clothesline hung last night and now we're having a few days of good weather. I'm sooooo excited!!! In fact, I may hang the first load of laundry on the line this morning before I go to work! Hahaha!!!

 

What I'm watching/reading... I wrote most of this post as I watched the Blue Jays try to win their 5th game in a row on Sunday. It feels like they've had a rough spring but the announcers pointed out today that they have the exact same record they had at this time last year. And we all remember how last year ended for the Blue Jays, right?! :)

 

As for reading, I read Patriot Hearts: Inside the Olympics That Changed a Country by John Furlong on Monday night. I didn't mead to read it all in one night but it sucked me in! It was so good and I've already recommended it to a couple of people.

What I'm listening to... We've been sleeping with the windows open lately and every morning, shortly before 5am, I hear the birds singing loudly. They are a very pleasant alarm clock!

What I'm wearing... I bought a new sweater, on impulse, at Costco early this month. It's a nice weight for our cool spring and I've really enjoyed wearing it.

 

What I'm doing this weekend... I don't think we have any big plans. If the weather is good, we'll probably focus on outside tasks for a bit. We have a lot of weeding to do, and, as you can see above, I have a lot of planting to do. We should also probably clean some rooms. I've been enjoying our quieter weekends recently. I also may have mentioned to Dave last night that we might need to go back to the greenhouse for more flowers! Hahaha!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... June is always full with Rachel's birthday, Father's Day, and our anniversary. Plus, it's the end of school and Dave has a work trip. June is going to keep us on our toes this year. (As it does every year, let's be honest!).

So that's what's up with us this last Wednesday in May. We're slowly starting to get some nicer spring weather and we're enjoying the longer evenings and having a little more space in our schedule. What's been your favourite thing about May?

Friday Favourite Moments #20 2026 (On A Monday)

It's a rainy Saturday and I am writing this post while waiting for tuna melts to be ready for lunch. We have no specific plans this weekend and I am looking forward to getting a lot of little things done. And maybe watching a baseball game, having a nap, and reading a book. Here are my favourite moments from last week.

1) Tessa's Graduation Party

Tessa finished her French teaching degree this past spring so I helped Janice host a French themed graduation party for her. It was so much fun!!! Last weekend, I helped Janice prepare, picked up a few things, and helped get food ready the day of. It was a really fun celebration and I'm so glad we could be a part of it!

2) Self-Care Week

It was a week of self-care as three of us got haircuts and I had a massage. After a full spring, it was nice to get some of these things taken care of.

 

3) Completed guestroom (mostly)

I love that we finally got the former living room turned into the new guestroom this past week!!! It's also going to be my laundry staging area when guests aren't using it. We just need to find (or buy) pillows for the bed (and a duvet) and it's good to go. Rachel slept here twice this past week because ants took over her room over the weekend and then there was a thunderstorm.

4) Yummy supper on the deck

I won't post about every time we eat supper on the deck but this was only our third meal out there this year. It's been a cool spring and so I'm still excited about enjoying it!

 

5) Clothesline refresh

 

Remember how I mentioned in my May Currently post that we were starting a back yard project? (Read about it here.) Well, I figured since our clotheslines had to come off for the renovation anyways, we might as well repaint the poles. We started by hand sanding the old paint off but that was taking a long time so Dave borrowed our neighbour's electric sander and that went a lot faster. Then I (with a little help from Rachel) painted the poles a dark brown. They blend in with our backyard a lot better now. Hopefully we'll be able to string the clothesline early this week and I can finally hang out my first load of laundry for this year! I can't wait!!! (And yes, I know -- only I am excited about this. And possibly, my mom!). 

So those were some of my favourite moments from last week. It was a fun week of celebrating with friends and getting things done!

Friday Favourite Moments #19 2026

These are actually my favourite moments from last week and then hopefully, on Monday you'll get my favourites from this week and then I'll be all caught up. (Can you tell I live in hope?!?!?!?)

Last week was the week when we celebrated ME all week long -- from my belated birthday celebrations to some fun Mother's Day adventures, last week was all about me! Hahaha!

1) Neighbourhood Amazing Race

Our neighbourhood association hosted an Amazing Race type event and Dave and I signed up. Over 60 people participated in teams of six. We had to visit various stores in our uptown and solve the clues. It was super fun and we all ended up at a local bar afterwards. Our team came in third and Dave and I had a great time.

2) In Bloom Festival

You know I love a good, unique experience and so when the In Bloom Festival popped up on my Instagram feed, I was hooked. It took place in a town about two hours away from here (to be fair, I did think the town was a little closer than that) and there were a ton of outdoor floral installations. I told the kids this was part of my birthday experience, so they brought their good attitudes, and it was so fun!

I enjoyed the signature drink of the festival which had gin, tea, and some other things I can't remember. And I made the kids take a nice picture with me at one of the installations.

3) Sam's surprise

When we got home from the scavenger hunt, Sam wouldn't let me in the kitchen as he was making a "surprise" (at 9:45pm, by the way!?!?). When I woke up the next morning, there was an entire container of strawberry scones he had baked! Yum yum yum!!! I enjoyed one with whipped cream and jam. 

 

4) Mother's Day fun

For Mother's Day, we went and played mini golf at a fun new place in our downtown, ate some really good local pizza, and stopped at my favourite ice cream place. We walked to all these places, the kids cooperated (for the second day in a row), and it was so great!

 

5) Loonie Dogs night at the Jays' game

My last birthday experience, or Mother's Day experience, was to attend a Loonie Dogs night at a Jays' game. Loonie Dogs nights are only on Tuesdays and you can get a hot dog for a loonie (which is $1). Our family ate 17 total (most of those were Sam!!!) and we had a ton of fun watching the Loonie Dogs counter go up. There were over 97,000 hot dogs sold the night we attended. And I got to meet the Loonie Dog Kings which was also exciting! These are two guys who have become famous for dressing up as hot dogs and eating a lot of hot dogs on Loonie Dogs nights.

 

6) Jr Youth Thursdays

Last week also held our last Jr Youth Thursday of the spring. Every Thursday night, we've gotten together with the Jr Youth. We've played Spoons, eaten pizza and cookies, heard about each other's weeks, and played games. It's been a lot of work but so much fun and such a bonus to see the great relationships which have been built. Some weeks these nights have been the absolute highlight of my week! 

So those were the highlights of last week. It was a great week of fun adventures, all of which were fun for me!!! Hahaha!!! This was also why I didn't blog; I was too busy having fun! Plus working and sleeping... you know, the unimportant things :)

Friday Favourite Moments #17 & #18 2026 On A (Very Late) Tuesday

It's been awhile since I've written a Friday Favourite Moments post but I have still been gathering my favourite moments each week. So even though it's well past time for last week's moments, I wanted to share the moments from the two weeks before that. The moments I am writing about happened between April 24 and May 8. I will try and post about last week's favourite moments tomorrow.

I thought this entire post would be about dance but I did have some non-dance related favourites in these weeks. (I did start trying to write this post on my phone while watching a dance rehearsal but I wasn't very successful.)

1) Visiting Tessa and Andrew’s goats

You all know I’m not an animal person so I was shocked how much I enjoyed playing with the goats. I even let Scout sniff my face and Tip jump off my back!!!

2) Games at church

We attended a church games night (mostly at the kids' impetus since Dave and I were tired) and there was ice cream, there were good friends, there were games -- it was actually a lot of fun!

3) Setting up the deck

We got furniture on the deck, we got more pots of flowers, we cleaned. Now we just need good weather to enjoy it. We did manage to have our first supper on the deck a few weeks ago and it was so great!

4) Starbucks and errands

We walked a few errands and stopped for Starbucks and it was really fun! I love living close enough to walk everywhere.

 

5) Work treats

 

You know it will be a favourite every time a co-worker brings work treats. A few weeks ago two co-workers brought treats and it was excellent!

6) Dance, dance, and more dance

 

Getting to watch most of Rachel's rehearsals, and volunteer at her shows, was a definite highlight of my weeks. I'm so thankful she still lets me take pictures of all her costumes! Performance weeks are crazy but so much fun!

Seeing Rachel dance on pointe for the first time was also a definite favourite moment! I may have cried :)

7) Birthday treats

 

My birthday was overshadowed by dance but Rachel did buy me the Starbucks that morning (on the way to the shows) and I got Dave to buy me those gorgeous roses that night. And as you will see in a future blog post, my birthday celebrations were merely postponed a little :)

 

8) Reading on the deck!!! 

The week after the dance show I mostly caught up on sleep but one afternoon it was warm enough for me to live the "reading on the deck with a drink" dream. It was glorious and I can't wait for more warm afternoons. 

So there are two, rather belated, weeks of favourites. I'll try to have this week's post for you tomorrow but we shall see as Sam and I both have hair cuts and I might be too tired after to write anything.