What's New - July recap

Long time, no post!!! It's been busy! Linking up today with my favourite Kristen to chat about what's new. Go over and check out her blog to see what she and everyone else have been up to lately!!

I am actually sad to see July go - partially because it means that the summer is "half over" here (even though September is usually beautiful and wonderful!!) and because we just packed SO much fun into one month. This year, since I work 3 days a week (Mondays and Fridays off) and get 4 weeks vacation, Brian and I decided (well, mostly I decided) that I would take 90% of my vacation time in the summer and work less so that we could not put the girls into daycare (thus saving us $ 2000 ish). In July, they spent, on average, one day a week with my in-laws, one day a week with my parents, and then the other 4-5 days (Thurs-Monday usually) with me or with Brian. It has been great because we've had amazing weather, but it is flying right by. I can't believe how much we have packed into this summer.

Somehow (and maybe this is true for all of us in the northern hemisphere?!), I really live live live my best life in the summer. My girls are at an incredible age to bring to the beach now, and we can easily spend 5-6 hours of a day there in complete bliss. We live 12 minutes away from a beautiful beach with warm (to us!) water on the Atlantic Ocean. We are blessed to have wonderful friends who often join us there. The weather has been extremely hot here this summer (usually around 30 degrees) so there have been a lot of beach days.

I mean...we really, really love the beach

As I mentioned in my June recap post, we kicked off July and the Canada Day weekend by camping in Keji. We are REALLY trying to get back there in August but nothing has opened up yet for any availability.

Kite festival, deck work!!

Meanwhile, Brian has been rebuilding our back deck! He decided to do it himself with a bit of help from a few professionals and it has been A LOT of work. I have not seen him work this hard maybe ever. It is going to be wonderful when it is finished (he is hoping in time for my birthday so I can have a drink out there and enjoy the view!!) but we'll see - that's only 2 more weeks away and he hasn't taken a lot of time off work to do this.

Molly re-read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in July and then we celebrated Harry Potter's birthday on July 30 (his actual birthday was yesterday - the same day as J.K. Rowling's birthday). I shared a bunch of those pictures on Instagram stories but we basically made a bunch of treats and made some cute t-shirts. :) She is dying to have a Harry Potter birthday party but I have convinced her to wait until she is maybe 10 or 11 so that more of her friends have read the books or know the world.

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

We also celebrated my mom's birthday in July, had a visit from Brian's sister and her husband, helped Brian's friend break in the pool at his new house, rode bikes, got some ice cream here and there, and just tried to cool off and relax. I watched the new season of Veronica Mars and loved it for the most part. I still have some very strong feelings about the ending so if you've watched it, PLEASE tell me so I can talk about it!! :) I read a lot of books but also had some nights that I was too exhausted to even open the pages of a book. LOL. That is what summer with the kiddos means to me :) The girls also did a soccer camp, which they loved, and I did some planning for my time at home in the fall. We went to a kite festival and a few other little activities around the city such as a loose play event in which many materials were available on a field for kids to build anything they wanted. We also went to watch the historic event of the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth leaving the harbour after being in port together in Halifax for the first time. It was incredible to watch although I think I enjoyed it a bit more than my family ;)

Cruise ships in the Halifax Harbour 

That's about it!! I am looking forward to August. I'm working next week and then I have two full weeks off which amounts to 18 days!! We are not going anywhere exciting for vacation this year but we will do a few day-trips around the province and I think Brian is taking off my birthday so we will find something fun to do that day too. I am really just trying my best to soak up these fleeting moments with my beautiful children and just be grateful for where we live and how lovely it is.

Phew. Long story short --what's new with you?!

February Recap (What's New Link Up)

Happy first week of March!! We celebrated here in Nova Scotia by getting approximately 3 1/2 feet of snow over the weekend. Yay!! :) Honestly though, the girls were BEYOND excited to see all the snow and play in it and we were fortunate that it didn't affect our typical routine too much or cause any stress having to get anywhere on time.

Linking up today with Kristen as always to share what's new - I'll do a recap of our February which was SUPER busy (waaay busier than January!!!) but also really fun overall!!

We attended a kid's birthday party (I went to 3 of them) all 4 weekends in February which was nuts - it is also my dad, my sister and my brother's birthdays in February and several friends. NUTS. March isn't much better but a bit slower paced for birthdays. That being said, I love birthdays so we had a lot of fun!!

We also celebrated Valentine's Day a bit - not me and Brian per se, but with the girls. I did a special breakfast and a "love" supper which was only special because we used a table cloth and wine glasses to drink from :) We shared little things we love about each other on pink heart papers and talked about that during supper. My girls went crazy for this so I guess it'll probably be a tradition now ;)

Brian and I had a date night the day after Valentines and met up with my friend and her husband and sister for supper before checking out the board game cafe downtown for the first time in a couple of years. It was a fun night out with some DELICIOUS food and great company :) On that particular weekend actually, we ended up seeing ALMOST everyone we know in Halifax - friends, family, etc. It was crazy and busy but my heart was so full.

Molly also participated in her first Reconciliation at our church which is one of the steps now before she receives first communion at the end of April. She really did well and it was a nice celebration with her class afterwards.

Work has been a bit busy but my evenings and weekends had some slower moments which allowed for a lot of reading, as usual, at this time of year! I made a good dent in some ARCs (but then got a bunch more, isn't that the way?!) and I'm taking a bit of a step back from the library except audiobooks so I can catch up on my own shelf and some ARCs before the spring/summer season. As a family, we also read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (so good) and a funny little book called Toys Go Out as well as 1800 picture books ;) We also watched Crazy Rich Asians and some of the Office (again) this month. I really liked the CRA movie!!!

Aside from the snowbanks everywhere, March is off to a great start - lots to look forward to including Lucy turning 5 on the 31st!! :) She is beyond excited, of course. The girls also have March break from school so I'm taking a couple of extra days off and have some fun plans around the city. Can't wait.

So, what's new with you?!

What's New - November recap

November felt a bit less busy than the rest of the fall. We had a bit more downtime, which I mostly spent reading Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to my family (we are about halfway through POA now). We still did a few fun things too! Linking up with Kristen to chat about what happened in November 2018 :)

Here are a few pics:

We went to the Parade of Lights, the big Christmas parade in Halifax on November 16 (if you think that feels a bit early to be saying Merry Christmas 5 days after Remembrance Day, you'd be right...haha). It was fun and the girls were with their beloved friends and I got to chat my friend's ear off which I love to do...so win win? We'll probably go again, this was our first year taking the girls and the weather was perfect for it but they found it boring at times. 

 At the end of the month last weekend we went to Brian's work Christmas party which was at the Discovery Centre (science centre). It was really nice, there is a super cool Lego tower exhibit there right now and it was incredible to admire those towers (all made out of Lego and HUMONGOUS) without there being tons of kids in the centre throwing Lego everywhere. Kristen, this white tower below is being built in Sydney Australia this year...it's a resort I think?

Our little snuggly kid also got in a lot of cuddles with her daddy.

We took the girls to a Christmas fair at my friend's school, and they had a blast getting their faces painted and playing on the playground with their friends. I had a blast buying a huge bag of used books include OVE and FIKRY for less than $4. :) I also took Molly to her first Cape Breton square dance (step dancing) and it was so fun - she caught on quickly and we will all go as a family in January even though it's later at night. That's her eating a muffin the size of her head, and also dressing like Hermione Granger. :)

December, as always, is totally insane so far...we have been out 3/4 nights this week with everything going on and next week is even busier but it's mostly fun stuff. I am hoping to take it a bit easy this weekend because work is insane (only 2 weeks left for me before the holidays!) and I like rest :)

Anyway - that's it in a nutshell - how was November for everyone else?!?

October 2018 recap!

Happy Thursday and Happy November!! I will fully admit that it's not my favourite month, but I do enjoy the lead-up to Christmas! We don't even have a fun Thanksgiving holiday to anticipate in November since Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, but that's okay! I am looking forward to some cozy nights this month and a bit less of the hectic go-go-go that was September and October. Linking up today with one of my VERY FAVOURITES Kristen for What's New with You?

October was a complete and total whirlwind, as I knew it would be. :) We spent lots of time at playgrounds when it wasn't raining (it rained A LOT this month), we soaked up some Celtic Colours music online, we celebrated Thanksgiving, we went to the zoo and apple picking with some friends, I organized and helped to pull off my daughter's school's Halloween Howl event (so much work but turned out so well), I made Halloween costumes, we got a chance to wear said costumes 6 times....etc etc. Here are a few pictures:

A zonkey at the zoo, Lucy's dragon costume, Molly as Anne of Green Gables, and our jack o lanterns this year!

At the playground, riding a horse at the zoo

My library's return slot this month for Halloween, eating spider donuts after getting the flu shot

Apple picking and the zoo with friends (the white squares are not my children)

Brian and I also made it out on a date night (dinner and then bowling with some friends), I saw Port Cities live with Symphony Nova Scotia, and saw A Star is Born with a friend <--- it was SO good, fyi. The girls did their last race of the season too! We said goodbye to our 2004 Honda Civic and yesterday we completed the paperwork and took home a 2016 Toyota Corolla (exciting but car shopping is sooo stressful and I hate it).

When I wasn't busy doing all of those things, I continued to declutter our home, did some yoga and running, read a lot of fun books, and then I read Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone to my family for the first time! Brian isn't a reader so he has never read the books though he has seen all the movies so he knows the basic storyline. He was hooked on listening to me read them, which was awesome. ;) Molly (age 7) had been begging me to read Harry Potter to her and I originally thought she was a bit too young but we gave the illustrated edition a try and she LOVED it. She was trying to figure out what was going to happen, she laughed at the right parts, she asked important questions, and we read the whole (not short) book in less than a week until my voice was almost hoarse haha. She is 100% obsessed and I love that. The second we finished the book, she said, "can we start the next one right now?!" (we haven't yet, but we will). We then watched the first movie and she loved that too, but she agrees that the book is better #winning. We are also going to start reading the original Nancy Drew books soon and I anticipate that being amazing too.

That's our month in a nutshell - being a PTO mom (volunteering at the school), eating some candy, reading, and seeing friends. Such a great month :) Here's a quick video of the band I saw live - I am loving this song:


I'll be back tomorrow with 14 things I am looking forward to in November! :) What's new with you?!?! Don't forget to hop on over to Kristen's blog for the link up!

What's New (October recap)

October flew by SO quickly. I think it's because there were tons of days that still felt like summer and the girls and I took advantage of being outside as much as we could. We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend (but busy), I am settling into my 3-day work week, and Halloween was so much fun this year!

I am excited for November to be here because I have a few projects I really want to work on, and of course, the excitement of Christmas is in full-force by the end of this month. So much to look forward to near the end of the year here :)

Linking up today with Kristen and Gretch for What's New With You?

Here are a few photos of our October adventures:

We spent Thanksgiving weekend seeing LOTS of my huge extended family. It was great, but also a bit tiring, and we all ended up with a bit of a cold afterwards so that's what happens ;) We also took the girls to the new Ikea store (the first in Halifax in many, many years!) #mindsblown They were super excited. Brian built me a desk that weekend (which is where I am currently typing this!!!) and of course, we managed to find a playground or two to play on.

After that weekend, Brian had to go away for work for a few days so I held down the fort here while simultaneously losing my voice and coughing like crazy...haha. It was then that I discovered that the audio versions of many of our favourite picture books are on YouTube, and some are read by the author! #raisingreaders Lucy ended up listening to a lot of those that week (and is still totally obsessed) because my voice just couldn't read to her.

I went to my first HUGE book sale the following weekend and picked up a few things, while Brian took the girls to the Discovery Centre and I met them there. It was fun!! We also got a chance to go back to the farm where Molly had fallen in love with the baby donkey, and this time they got to go in the pen and pet the animals more, which was a blast. This little llama is sooo fun.

Towards the end of the month, the focus of our time, was, of course, on Halloween. I have a post coming about this tomorrow but our girls have recently developed a huge obsession for owls so I made their costumes this year. I made one for myself too although I prefer to think of myself as more of a Hedwig and the girls are trying to be owls from their favourite chapter book series, Owl Diaries. I absolutely did not expect these costumes to consume as much of my time as they did. Haha. BUT it was worth it because they loved their costumes. They wore them to the Halloween howl at Molly's school, to their last race of their series, and the wore them to school on Halloween and out that night. This was the first year that both of our girls really truly embraced trick-or-treating although they were both pretty tired too. It was a fun night! Friends of ours offered to come over and help pass out candy, so it was great to catch up with them too and to see my niece all dressed up :)

I finished a few awesome books this month that I can't wait to talk about in a few days for SUYB!! I also got some Christmas presents bought, ran a 10k race (the last one for 2017), and met up with a few friends I hadn't seen in awhile. All in a month's work! Anyway, what's new with you? Anyone doing NaNoWriMo? Anyone have anything fun to share?

May Recap - what's new!!!

May fleeeewww right by and now it's time to recap the month & link up with the wonderful Kristen & Gretch for their What's New with You post!! 

I knew May was going to be a busy month; we had Mother's Day, a lot of plans with friends, and my sister-in-law's wedding. It was also a bit of a busier month at work because my (awesome) co-worker reduced her hours, and then finished up and moved on to a new job yesterday (sob!!).

This month, I tried something new in my bullet journal. I wrote a "line a day" every day. Sometimes, it was hard to think of what to write if my day was pretty standard, but I tried to write what book I was reading, whether I exercised, and if anything interesting happened. I'm going to share some of those lines here & also share some photos of our month.

In May, I:

• tried curlformers. I still haven't had great success with them, but I think I need to try them with a bit more product. There is also NO WAY I can ever sleep in those!!
• Fell in love with Beartown (I promise I will stop talking about it soon #sorrynotsorry ;)) Also read Lucy the book Little Red Riding Hood about 50,000 times. 

• Sent in our taxes & got our refund!
• Met our friends' brand new baby daughter on the day she was born (so tiny! so beautiful!) 
• Celebrated mother's day with my lovely children. They showered me with wonderful gifts (thank you, daddy ;)) and I got to sleep in, which was so nice after being up late the night before!! 

• Spent time with some of our good friends who live about an hour away

• Saw Everything Everything in an advanced screening - cute movie but I would have enjoyed it infinitely more as a teenager. For some reason, I don't mind reading YA occasionally, but seeing YA on the big screen feels kind of...embarrassing?! haha. 

• Saw Jenn Grant in concert with my friend - it was SUCH a good show

• Applied for a permanent part-time position doing my current job (the silver lining to my co-worker leaving)
• Celebrated my sister-in-law's bachelorette at which I ate a delicious salad that had deep fried deviled eggs in it (so weird but so good) and came on a slate slab (yes, the dressing went everywhere, it was super weird but the food was delicious)

• Celebrated my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's wedding at Hatfield Farms (more to come on this someday, I hope!) It was a wonderful, beautiful weekend with family and friends and our girls rocked their flower girl roles!!

(as you can see, Brian took advantage of the BYOB situation at the wedding)

• Bought a new tent at Costco

• Said goodbye to my sister-in-law and her new hubby as they flew back to Ontario. 
• Read a lot of amazing books & got in some running and yoga as well as some walks outside!!! 
  

June is another busy month: Brian's birthday, our anniversary (5 years = weekend getaway this year!! :D), two other birthdays, father's day, and my sister, brother in law and niece move closer!!!! We are also going to try to get out camping at least one weekend if it warms up a bit!! The girls start soccer next week so that will keep us busy during the week...they are SO excited. 

So, what's new with you!?!

January Recap

View from our back deck of which I never tire.

January is always a little bit of a blah month, and I definitely felt that way going back to work after 2 lovely weeks at home with my family. BUT, I started trying to get outside more, I started religiously taking vitamins and doing yoga or stretching, and I have to say I mostly kicked the winter blahs away. It helps that we have (so far!) had a relatively mild winter compared to other years!!

I had big ambitions for reading and decluttering this month, and I definitely made some progress, but some nights I just didn't have the attention span to read, or I was too tired, and that's okay. We made our way through Season 3 of Brooklyn-99 and that was enjoyable, and also played some board games, so I considered this a month to really cozy up and spend time with the girls and Brian.

Anyway, here are some fun highlights from January:

The girls singing "happy birthday" to my brother-in-law in French :)













We ate a lot of delicious low-carb suppers:

zoodles with bolognese sauce // my favourite brussel sprout caesar salad (recipe coming!) // brussel sprouts and bacon // fathead nachos (delicious)

We had a date night in January and the girls slept over at my parent's house! We went out for sushi (we had a gift certificate) and then to the board game cafe to try out a few new games. We were both super tired so we came home pretty early, but it was still really fun. Unfortunately, Lucy got sick to her stomach overnight at my parents' house which started a downward spiral of sickness in the whole family over the next week, but that's life. 

Sick munchkin in the car//checking out the trains at the doctor's // Molly a day before getting sick

Brian built the girls a desk for our living room!! // Preppy 2 year old dresses herself // faces for supper!

We had a lot of relaxing days/nights at home relaxing and recovering and we also had a busy weekend when my sister in law and her fiance visited from Ontario for the weekend! We had them for supper, then went out for supper the next night and had a shower for my sis in law on the Sunday. It was lots of fun to see them for the first time in MONTHS and we are so stoked for their wedding (here!) in May. We also had a bit of an upset when Lucy fell down 4-5 stairs at my in-law's house and bumped/bruised her entire body. It was super scary and really upsetting, but she seems fine and had no residual effects besides a couple of bumps. 

Brian drove for date night! (usually I am DD) // Sad tiny toddler // SUSHI yum

Lucy built this herself // Girls playing // bullet journaling // my magnetic block creation (a big pile of nothingness) 

We bought the girls these super-fun magnetic blocks for Christmas and I have to say that I am impressed at how much they have played with them (nearly daily). I also watched a brief webinar from Modern Mrs. Darcy about bullet journaling for book lovers, and I'm trying to keep a bit better track of some of my favourite quotes from books this year. Brian and I have laughed over the magnetic blocks because he is a structural engineer and loves to built amazing and elaborate things, and I like to be a bit more artistic in a modern art kind of way hahaha. 

I also took in some live music, saw a few friends, ran a 5K race in pretty decent time, enjoyed the effects of getting back into yoga, and started on the 52 list project which has been great for self-reflection.

All in all, we had a great month. I read some fantastic books which I can't wait to talk about on SUYB day (February 14!!). I also returned several books unread to the library, but I'll get to those ones someday!! There are some fun ones coming up! :) February is shaping up to be a great month. My brother (who lives in Calgary), sister, and dad all have birthdays, so we usually end up doing quite a bit of celebrating. We're also going to a concert and having another date night this weekend while the girls stay with the other grandparents!! PLUS, Shubenacadie Sam, our provincial groundhog, said that we will have an early spring this morning, so I am excited about that! haha

What's new with you lately?!

Linking up with Kristen, Gretch, and Kristin today.