I started October off with a bang and went to a concert with one of my favourite Celtic groups, The Barra MacNeils, that we grew up listening to - my whole family (parents, sister, aunts, uncles, grandma + me) went to the concert and it was amazing. The Barra MacNeils performed with Symphony Nova Scotia and it was incredible because the symphony really added a lot to the performance. I will for sure be attending this concert again; I think they do it almost every year but that was my first time there.
We took the kids to a few indoor playgrounds this month because there were some really rainy days & they are at a great age to enjoy this type of thing right now:
I also got a chance to catch up with my old roommate from St. FX and her boyfriend - what a great night. I hadn't seen her in 2 years so it was great to chat. Ran into another old friend from university the same night out and that was fun too.
Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, and it was a busy weekend for our family. We spent the entire day Sunday with our extended family - at my cousin's baby's baptism and with all of my aunts and uncles, and then we had Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house which included 39 PEOPLE (Molly made a list of everyone). There were 2 turkeys and a ham, about 15 vegetable dishes, and pie. It was great. Brian took the girls home early & I stayed overnight at my parent's so I could chat more with my cousins (I always feel sad when I have to leave just as the party is getting started). My niece was also the life of the party ;)
We did some shopping with the kids and I got a start on Christmas shopping, too. Here are some new friends they made at Costco:
I also took my first trip "home" to Calgary since 2013. For those who don't know, I grew up in Calgary (nestled nearby the Rocky Mountains in western Canada ;)) and lived there until I went to university. With my parents moving out east, we haven't really had as much motivation to go out to visit with the kids, even though my brother and dad's family all still live there. When one of my closest cousins got engaged, I decided to head out to Calgary for a visit and to attend the wedding - by myself! Brian stayed with the kids here. This was kind of a big deal for us because I haven't been away from the kids for that long before (5 days!) and I am more of the primary household-runner in our house, so there was a bit of anxiety leading up the trip, but I'm SO GLAD I went and it was a much-needed break. I'm very grateful too that my in-laws live close by to help Brian out :) |
| The Rocky Mountains near Calgary |
 |
| Flying out of Halifax |
 |
| Flying back into Halifax at 6pm |
I read about 4 books on the trip (yay long flights!) and spent some quality time with my brother, my dad's family, and some close family friends. It was wonderful. I was pretty off when I came back (very jetlagged and tired), but we seem to be back in the swing of things now. Molly also seemed to regress a bit while I was gone and has gone back to some crazy tired tantrums, but we're working on that. She gets so overtired with school and daycare that it can be really hard to get through to her sometimes but it's coming along slowly.
The wedding, of course, was beautiful too. It was so nice to be there & to see a few of my first cousins I hadn't seen in about 10 years. Everyone from my family except my sister & her family and Brian and the kids was able to be there, so that was really special. We had a wonderful time dancing and chatting.
Since being back from Calgary, I've been doing some more decluttering in our house while listening to audiobooks, and just getting ahead on some things that need to be done before winter comes. We also had a great Halloween. Molly had a Halloween howl night at school which was fun (but so chaotic) - she dressed up in her Belle costume for that, and then the girls went out trick-or-treating as bumblebees. And now I have two huge boxes of candy & chips sitting in the front hall closet and two girls asking for a treat every 5 seconds (don't worry, I'm going to move the box ASAP). #tempting.
 |
| Brian carving his pumpkin with a dremel drill & knife attachment |
I'm really looking forward to November, because I love the holiday season and it's coming up so soon! Our girls are going to be so fun at Christmas this year. I'm going to share some other things I'm looking forward to tomorrow :) I'll also share what I've been reading next week!!!
What's new with you lately?!?!
39 people, wow! but i love big, family parties, that's for sure, esp around the holidays. i've been thinking of hosting something like that at my house but then i think of all the clean up....and well, that idea never goes anywhere LOL
ReplyDeleteaw shucks thanks girl! you are the sweetest. i am super pumped about our exciting news!
ReplyDelete39 people! wow! i love big families, though i wouldn't want to be the one cooking and cleaning after all those people hahaha. glad you got to spend extra time with your family though :) i am also so glad you got to go on that trip by yourself! that does sound like a huge deal.
the girls in their bumblebee costumes are so freaking cute, i can't handle it. that seems like a very smart warm costume haha! my mother in law bought SO much candy to hand out and then we had like 10 kids come by so i made her take it to work lol. day 3 no candy (i had like 10-20 pieces of candy every.single.day. in october, i kid you not) and i feel like an addict going through withdrawals lol.
Oh my goodness! That's a HUGE thanksgiving. How wonderful! :) I am looking forward to our American one this year. I am bummed that it's near Gilmore Girls release though... because I don't want any spoilers... which may mean little sleep that weekend for me! haha Glad you enjoyed the wedding! I (as you know) would love to go to Calgary. :) Catching up with family and plane reading are two of my favorites...! Loved the girls's costumes, and how fancy to carve a pumpkin with a drill! hehe I also really like Celtic music. I love Celtic Woman (even though it's a more popular type of Celtic music). I've seen them maybe 6 times now. I'm glad they are coming close next year. Might even make it to the xmas tour if we are lucky. hehe :) So excited for the holidays!!! :) XO - Alexandra
ReplyDeleteSimply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
Talk about a busy busy month! I think that you managed to cram as much as possible into last month, but it looks like it was totally worth it! I can't believe that y'all had that many people over for Thanksgiving! Talk about a ton of food, but I bet that there wasn't many leftovers! Your daughters look so pretty dressed up for Halloween, and I love that Molly dressed up as my favorite Disney princess!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed your trip out West! :) Reading while flying is one of my favourite times to read, but those days are pretty much gone now that we have a kid lol. Isn't traveling/flying on your own so much easier though?! Where abouts in the city does your family live (I can't remember if we've talked about this before).
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of the Barra MacNeils, but I do love celtic music. I've only taken Sully to an indoor playground once (with his cousin) and I ended up having to "play" in it with him the entire time! He was too scared of all the other children running all over lol. I'm hoping he can learn to enjoy them as he gets older though because they are a great cold weather idea!
That was a super busy month! Hopefully November will be a little more calm and you can enjoy the holiday spirit :) Thanks for sharing and joining the linkup today!
ReplyDeleteAww, your girls make such cute bumble bees!
ReplyDeleteThose bears are huge... almost terrifyingly so!
Those bee costumes are everything!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you were able to go to the wedding in Calgary. Maybe because I've never had babies of my own, but I look at moms in awe of all they do and think "they need a break!"