Daily Photo: April 23 - 29, 2019

April 23, 2019 -- Costumes were handed out this day at dance and Rachel and I had a fun photo shoot in her rainbow ballet costume. Don't tell her teacher we did this :)

April 24, 2019 -- We were ready for the (non)traditional sixth night of Passover seder with Dave's parents.

April 25, 2019 -- I had a caprese-type salad inspired lunch this day. It was delicious!

April 26, 2019 -- I thought I hadn't taken any pictures this day and then I found this one of our Country of the Week meal. We were eating food from Israel-Palestine. Yum!

April 27, 2019 -- We randomly decided to go to a baseball game this day. "Random" as in we bought tickets at 8:30 that morning for a 3pm game. The Jays won and we had a GREAT time!

April 28, 2019 -- Willem came to play with Rachel at the arcade while Dave and I supervised Sam's friends at his birthday party. Rachel had a great time -- I'm not sure Willem had as much fun :)

April 29, 2019 -- Currently in our back yard -- those white flecks would be SNOW. Argh.

The Never Ending Saga Of Sam's 10th Birthday Celebrations

Okay, so Sam's actual tenth birthday was way back on March 30, but we had his first birthday celebration on March 23 and the last one just finished yesterday! It's been a full month of birthday celebrating!

Sam on his actual 10th birthday!

We kicked off the birthday celebrations by celebrating all the January to March birthdays with Tim, Janice, and family. There are six birthday celebrations from January 17 to March 30 and then the last three are between April 21 and June 17. We planned this well :)

That night we went out for dinner with Dave's parents and they took Rachel home with them for a sleepover because...

 

 ...the next day, March 24, we took Sam and Willem to see The Lightning Thief musical in Toronto for their birthdays. This was definitely a rock musical aimed at pre-teens so while it wasn't my and Dave's favourite musical ever, the boys loved it!

On Sam's actual birthday, we went to a Blue Jays game with Tim, Janice, Tessa, Willem, and Livia. We try to get to a ball game together every year and this was the day it worked. It was also a bunnyhug (hoodie) giveaway. As I may have mentioned, we all love our bunnyhugs!

All five kids in matching bunnyhugs :) One size fits all (or not!)

All nine of us celebrating Sam's birthday with the Blue Jays. As Dave commented, "That's a lot of Blue Jays sweaters!" The Jays won this day which made the day even better!

The next week I was gone all day Saturday and we decided it would be too busy to host Sam's school friends so we had a casual party with his church friends instead. This is the point where they were all looking at, and discussing the periodic table. I think it had to do with "the best elements." Hahaha!!! After a pizza lunch, and some playing outside, they came in and we had brigadeiros, a Brazilian dessert.

Sam's school friends party was supposed to be on April 14, but he woke up with a fever that day, so we had to postpone it. Yesterday, it finally happened. We invited his friends to meet us at a local arcade bar. Sam invited nine boys. They played arcade games for an hour and then I took all ten boys on the city bus back to our house. It was about a seven minute bus ride and a ten minute walk.

I made an "arcade themed" Pac Man cake! Sam loved it!

For an hour and fifteen minutes, all we saw was the kids' backs as they were totally into the games. They thought we didn't spend enough time there. They all loved it.

Everyone came back for cake and drinks at our house. Then they all barrelled outside for the last part of the party and played tag. The parents came to pick them up and we had our own gathering on the front lawn while the kids took over the back yard. I served left over cupcakes and we all enjoyed the nice weather.

And now Sam is definitively TEN and we will return to our regularly scheduled, non-birthday program. Until Thursday, that is... :)

What's Up Wednesday: April 2019

It's What's Up Wednesday time again. In some ways, this month has been really slow and in other ways, I can't believe I'm writing another one of these posts already!

image from here

What we're eating this week... As many of you know, my husband Dave is Jewish and I am Christian. This week we've been eating all the holiday foods as Passover and Easter overlapped this past weekend. We had a quiet family seder on Friday night and Dave's parents are joining us for a seder tonight. On Sunday, we celebrated Easter with good friends. So yes, we've been eating all the holiday foods.

I love matzoh ball soup!!!

What I'm reminiscing about... Next month is the main performance for our dance studio so I'm reminiscing about Rachel's first two performances. This year the show is The Wizard of Oz.

Left: Rachel as a sparkly gem in Aladdin (2017); 

Right: Rachel as a lollipop in Mary Poppins (2018)

What I'm loving... Monday might have been one of my favourite days ever this spring. I will have to write a blog post about it because all the stars aligned and it was the perfect day. I got pansies planted and four loads of laundry hung outside, Sam played with friends for almost ten hours straight, and Rachel learned to ride her bike. Plus, I got to read outside for almost an hour and we had pizza for supper. Did I mention "the perfect day"?

  

What we've been up to... Well Sam was diagnosed with fifths disease last week and earned himself a week off school. So I was trying to work while Sam enjoyed an eleven day school break. (PD Days and Easter holidays contributed to all of his time off). And unfortunately, my work has been crazy these past couple of weeks. Then of course we've been celebrating Passover and Easter so it's been busy times around here.

What I'm dreading... I don't know that I'm dreading much of anything right now. There's a lot of good stuff happening these days. There is a Saturday coming up when between Religious School, dance, and baseball, I will be spending about three or four hours ferrying people all around the city so I am kind of dreading that. Yuck. Thankfully it's only one day because I hate that kind of driving.

What I'm working on... With work being crazy, and Sam at home, I haven't been blogging as regularly as I've wanted to. And don't even ask me about my blog reading. So I'm hoping to catch up on some of that eventually, as other things slow down. I have so many things I want to blog about.

Sorry this post is so boring and lacks pictures.

I was looking for a random picture to insert here to make it more interesting,

and I couldn't find one. Boo.

What I'm excited about... My birthday is next week. And then Mother's Day is the following week. I'm looking forward to seeing a musical in Toronto with Dave and Sam is already planning on making me scones for Mother's Day. It's going to be a good couple of weeks :)

What I'm watching/reading... We've been watching a lot of baseball around here. That's what happens when Sam is stuck at home. I've been reading a bunch of non-fiction right now. I want to write a book review of Cork Dork: A wine-fueled adventure among the obsessive sommeliers, big bottle hunters, and rogue scientists who taught me to live for taste by Bianca Bosker because I enjoyed it so much. I'm trying to finish Five Days at Memorial: Life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital by Sheri Fink which is about a hospital stranded without electricity during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It's been a really hard read.

Cork Dork image from here -- Five Days... image from here

What I'm listening to... Since I'm writing this on Tuesday night, I'm listening to the kids' piano lesson right now :) They only have one more lesson left this year. And earlier today, I was listening to the chaos of the dance studio as classes ended today.

What I'm wearing... We went to a Blue Jays game for Sam's birthday and it was a giveaway day. I'm loving my new Blue Jays bunny hug (A "hoodie," if you're not from Saskatchewan!). It's so comfy. What's hilarious is they were one size only and Rachel wears hers like a dress! If you stop by our house, it's very likely that at least one (or more) of us is wearing our new sweatshirt :)

What I'm doing this weekend... Unfortunately, Sam's illness hit the day of his school friends' birthday party so we had to postpone it. We will hold it this weekend and then our six weeks of celebrating Sam's tenth birthday will finally be over. Phew. Then we can move on to celebrating mine. Ha!

What I'm looking forward to next month... My birthday and the kids' dance recital. Rachel is a rainbow (for ballet) and then both kids are winged monkeys (for modern). Yes, Sam took modern this year with Rachel as hanging out waiting for her for a full hour and a half every week got a bit long :)

What else is new... I think that's it for now. We still have two months left of school and winter activities have mostly wound down (aside from the dance performance and Religious and Sunday school).  Spring activities will be starting in a couple of weeks so I'm looking forward to evenings at the soccer fields and baseball diamonds.

Daily Photo: April 16 - 22, 2019

April 16, 2019 -- The Children's Department at our library has been closed for three weeks due to repairs. It's been hard. The library has had a few shelves of children's books in the foyer of the library but this day we discovered "the secret stash." The librarians went into a back room and were able to help us get lots of books. Sam and Rachel immediately sat down to devour a few!

April 17, 2019 -- We were in Japan for our country of the week so we ate sushi with chopsticks!

April 18, 2019 -- Rachel was home sick from school this day, and before we ran a quick work errand, she prepared a "first nutrition break" snack for all of us! (Our kids have two twenty minute nutrition breaks in their school day rather than a longer lunch break.)

April 19, 2019 -- It was the first night of Passover and we celebrated with our own seder.

April 20, 2019 -- I baked buns this day and a fresh bun with (off brand) Nutella, while watching the Blue Jays win was a perfect way to end supper.

April 21, 2019 -- Happy Easter from our family to yours! Hahahahaha!!!

April 22, 2019 -- The backyard looks so much better when the laundry line is full! :)

Daily Photo: April 9 - 15, 2019

April 9, 2019 -- You've already seen a lot of pictures from this day but I saved this picture of my overly dead tulips just for this photo project!

April 10, 2019 -- I thought I hadn't taken any pictures this day but thankfully we cooked a meal for our Country of the Week project and I always make sure I document those. This day it was cabbage rolls from Lithuania.

April 11, 2019 -- After a really busy week all I wanted was to be on vacation. Drinking coffee-hot chocolate out of my Disney Cruise mug reminded me of relaxation.

April 12, 2019 -- The kids had a PD day. After having play dates in the morning, they enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of colouring and reading.

April 13, 2019 -- Rachel and Dave enjoyed some trampoline time. Our glorious spring days are few and far between right now but we wring all the outside joy out of them that we can. I hung out four loads of laundry which was my version of "wringing out the joy." Ha!

April 14, 2019 -- Yellow tulips on a grey rainy day.

April 15, 2019 -- The bench for holding my laundry baskets has been added to the backyard. And I think it's getting greener. Maybe?

Day In The Life: April 9, 2019

After reading Allena's Day In The Life post, I decided it was time for me to write another one. I was planning on doing this a few weeks ago but then I realized my day was going to be fairly similar to the last time I did this in March 2018 (you can read that post here) so I decided to pick a different day of the week.

5:25am and 5:30am -- My alarm went off. I hit snooze until about 6am then browsed things on the iPad -- I usually check Instagram, blogs, and e-mail. I worked seven and a half hours the previous day (my job is supposed to be about ten hours a week!) so I took it a bit easy this morning :)

6:20am -- I went downstairs and made some coffee. As is somewhat normal, I discovered that Sam had woken up before me and was reading. (He usually wakes up shortly after 6). I put the dishes away, with Sam's help. Normally I wouldn't put the dishes away but I couldn't boil water until I'd unearthed the stove!

6:35am -- It was time to tackle laundry. I took down the clean load, I got a fresh load in the washer and I hung the wet load up. We haven't had that many nice outdoor laundry drying days yet so I'm still using my indoor clothesline.

7:05am -- I finally got to drink the first cup of coffee-hot chocolate of the day (which I alternated with water) and I tackled some Bible reading.

7:30am -- I went upstairs, folded and put away a load of laundry and had a shower.

8:10am -- I made a grocery list. To do this, I check what's on our menu plan, I check what I can buy at the grocery store to earn points, and I go through the flyer app to see if there's anything to price match. It's a bit of an involved process.

8:35am -- In an attempt to get more outside time, I walked the kids to school. They walk on their own the majority of the time but every once in awhile, I like to join them.

8:55am -- I got home, ate a breakfast pita, and warmed up my cup of coffee-hot chocolate.

9:15am - 11:30am -- I hosted a meeting with a co-worker. I work in a virtual office so this was a rare occurrence

11:30am -- I ate a quick lunch of cold pizza which I LOVE and caught up on a few other work things. Sorry for the blurry picture :(

12:00pm -- I volunteer for our mid-week church program, which is called SoulFood. I was working on an involved cards project, which the Grades 1 - 3 kids did in their Worship Skills time.

12:15pm -- I walked to the library. I've proclaimed my love for this specific walking path in our city before and I will do it again :) Also, I loved this sign!!!

 

1:05pm -- I got home from the library and fell down the "When did I get Gmail rabbit hole?" thanks to the Google image wishing Gmail a Happy 15th Birthday! I was a very early Google user because a good friend was doing a co-op term at Google when Gmail was rolled out to the public. He sent me an exclusive invitation! At the time those invitations were selling for about $250 on Ebay.

From April 29, 2004, here is the first e-mail I sent from my Gmail account:

So I know that I am an official geeky-type person because this new account makes me really happy :) But don't worry -- it's not going to be my official e-mail address because I can't access it at work. I can only access it at friends' houses. So only send me e-mail here that isn't all that important.
Happy, happy, and sweaty in Waterloo,

Natashajk

ps. the sweaty part is because I just survived my first Ultimate practise. Now it's time for supper and CSI and half a day of work tomorrow!

1:30pm -- I ate a bit more lunch (fake "chicken" salad on rice crackers) and continued sorting pictures for the SoulFood project.

2:15pm -- I spent this time working and drinking tea and had a conversation with one of our pastors about the card project. I spend A LOT of time at my desk most days.

3:10pm -- I almost always pick the kids up from school, walking along the same path. We came home, and got ready to head out for the evening.

4:10pm -- Here we are at dance where Rachel dances for an hour and a half, Sam dances for forty-five minutes and I get stuff done for an hour and a half! This day I worked and figured out more SoulFood card stuff. Then another mom and I talked with the dance studio admin person about dance options for the fall. Yes, we're already looking ahead to fall.

6:05pm -- In an unusual move, we ate supper out at Harvey's. Dave was out for the evening and, on Tuesdays, he usually comes home early from work and cooks a quick supper. However, this day I didn't have time to get home and make supper before piano. Rachel also studied for her science test the next day.

6:35pm -- We went to piano and arrived about twenty minutes early. Sam read and Rachel studied some more. I got some more Bible reading done and dealt with some personal e-mails. While Sam and Rachel spent 45 minutes in their piano lesson, I continued to do the same things. Exciting.

8:00pm -- It was finally time to head home. Yay!

8:15pm -- We got home, and I encouraged the kids to put on pjs and read quietly in bed while I did dishes. I also spent some time helping them understand their new bank statements! They each opened up a savings account a few weeks ago and were excited to see they'd already earned one cent of interest :)

 
left: dirty dishes on one side, right: clean dishes on the other side
 

8:45pm -- The dishes were done and I tucked the kids into bed for the night. Rachel fell asleep around 9:05 and I played games on the iPad in her room to make sure she was actually asleep.

9:20pm -- I checked on Sam, who was asleep and watched all the Instastories I'd missed during the day. I also read a bit.

10:10pm -- Dave came home and I checked in with him on his evening. I was exhausted so I fell asleep around 10:30 which is earlier than normal.

And that was an exciting day in my life in 2019. If I remember, I might try and do another one this summer because summer days are the best :)