Currently (Aug-Sept 2019)

Long time no blog, but no energy to do a full recap of August and September 2019. Let's just say that the months absolutely flew by - both of them, and some days were more relaxing than others!! We had an amazing summer and I love this phase of life immensely but I can also see how the pace is going to be picking up over the next few years with two girls in school and extra-curricular activities. Busy times, but beautiful times too. I decided to change my format for my usual "What's New" post with Kristen and do a currently update :) While you're at it, go say hi to her and give her a little virtual hug.

Currently, I'm...

Enjoying fall in Nova Scotia. It really is the best season. This one has been a bit chillier, potentially due to Hurricane Dorian, but not as chilly as other parts of the country. The air is so fresh after the summer's humidity and the trees and leaves are so gorgeous.

Thankful for an incredible night away at White Point with my husband last weekend. We don't do this often, and this night away was a Christmas 2018 gift from my parents. We also rarely spend time in that part of the province and it is breathtakingly beautiful!!!

Thinking ahead to Christmas this year and changing the way I show my love to others at that time of the year.

Inspired by an Instagram discussion on Janssen's page this week about hosting people and not worrying about how perfect your food is or how clean your house is but just seeking out those in-person connections. I can relate to this so much, especially heading into the winter months, and I really want to embrace just having people over to our home to visit even if it isn't perfect.

Reading all the books! Show us Your Books' 5th anniversary is next Tuesday and I can't wait to chat about some of the excellent (and less excellent) books I've read lately.

Anticipating reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (illustrated version!) with Molly in October. It comes out next week! She is a bit more excited than I am, but the 4th book is one of my favourites and I'm dying to see the illustrations.

Also anticipating the new Frozen movie in November. Am I a mom or what? lol. But hello - have you seen the previews? I cried. Haha.

Eating delicious pumpkin soup with sausage in it this week. It is SO good. I will try to share the recipe soon because it was simple and provided us with 3 lunches this week (6 actually, 3 for both of us).

Wearing sweaters as often as possible, but also trying to squeeze in a few more days with my Birkenstocks too. Lucy wore a toque and a t-shirt to school one day this week. haha.

Watching not much - I don't really watch TV anymore, but we had cable at the resort we stayed at last weekend and I watched a bunch of Friends re-runs, Jeopardy, and Cash Cab and I was delighted. :)

Thinking of a few friends going through some tough times right now. I really wish I could be closer to two of them in proximity.

In disbelief that it will be a new decade in less than 90 days. 2020. Wow. 2019 hasn't been perfect for a lot of people, but I'm not opposed to saying that it has been one of the most pleasant and fulfilling years for me as a mother. Maybe not so much at work and in other areas of life, but it has still been a year of tremendous growth.

Missing those carefree summer days but I'm trying to find new ways to embrace those quiet family moments in the other seasons.

What's new with you lately?!

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?!

What's New - June Recap

Happy July, everyone!!! And happy Independence Day to my American friends. We celebrated Canada Day on Monday and it was a great day! Hopefully, it's a great long weekend (or maybe just the one day off?) for all of you :)

Linking up today with Kristen for What's New With You - I'm going to copy her as usual and recap June leading into July 1 :)

I almost lost my mind in June. This was the busiest June we've ever had - both girls finished up at their daycares and they are spending the summer at home with me or with my parents or Brian's parents - which is great, but it was (is!) a big transition with some big goodbyes. We also had a few more birthdays (including my hubby!), our anniversary, Father's Day, spring AND summer sports on the go, recitals, and end of year events. I also saw a grad school friend I hadn't seen in 10 years and attended a memorial for my grad school supervisor who passed away. It was nice to see some of those people I hadn't seen in a long time.

Anyway, even though it was busy, June was a happy month too! The sun finally came out a bit, which was so nice! We had a wonderful anniversary date night on the waterfront. We saw a lot of my family and had a visit from Brian's sister who lives in Ontario. The girls have been playing well together sometimes. We did some gardening, and they did two more races. The girls also both passed their swimming levels and start on the next classes next week. I read a bunch of blah books and a few extremely good books and if you want to know what my favourite has been lately, you'll have to see next Tuesday during SUYB :)

We finished off the school year on Friday June 28 and had a busy weekend at home before going camping with our friends Sunday - Tuesday. Camping was awesome - so glad our tent didn't leak even though it rained a lot the first night. Canada Day unplugged and in nature was something I haven't done in ages and it was lovely. We are beyond grateful for these friends of ours and their girls who are such kindred spirits with my daughters. It was a special time and we can't wait to go again. :) I just need a few weeks to recover from the mosquito bites and sleeping on the ground and then we should be good to go again LOL.

Here are some pictures from June:

(Brian's 3d printed iron man mask and the girls' superhero costumes for their superhero race, Lucy mowing the lawn, anniversary ice cream at Cows downtown)

(Lucy's preschool graduation, designing a bridge with a friend at the park, summer reading calendar coloring, a crobster roll (crab and lobster) for our anniversary dinner out, Halifax from the ferry)

(Camping with friends, blurry step-dancing recital photo, sliding with a helmet ;))

So that's it in a nutshell - busy and all over the place, but SO good too. So excited for the summer and all of my extra time with my kiddos :)

What's new with you??!!!!

What's New - What we did in March 2019

Hi there!!! Linking up with the always amazing Kristen today to do a quick March recap!! Check out her link up here to see what other people have been up to lately!

March was a busy month and it had some blah moments too. We all got a tiny bit sick here and there - nothing too major but enough to add some melancholy to the wintery grey month. I mostly cocooned myself inside and read a lot of books, did a lot of puzzles and games with the kids, and got started on spring cleaning. We did do a few fun things outdoors too and we had March break so I took the kids to a few local events, but all in all, it wasn't the *most* exciting month ever. Oh well!! :) We went to the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, which was great. We also went swimming a few times and my girls are getting so much better at swimming after this last session of lessons. I can tell it'll be a fun summer that way :)

We ended the month celebrating Lucy turning 5 on March 31! She wanted a Frozen party so that's what we did. It was great to have a few of her little friends over to make Olaf snowglobes and have some mac and cheese. I always forget how much work goes into these kinds of home parties though and I think from here on out I will just go ahead and do it somewhere else - much less stress!!!

That's about it - I'll be back tomorrow to share those audiobooks on my TBR and next week to chat about all the books I've read lately (spoiler: it's a LOT!!!). 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?!

January in a Nutshell (What's New Link Up)

January did NOT fly by. In fact, I kept thinking it was almost February and there were still weeks/days left in the month. It wasn't a bad month - it was definitely slower and there was more time at home than other months of the year (as usual), but it just felt SO JANUARY. Haha. Anyway, lots of precious time with the kiddos, a date night, a few fun times with friends, lots of books read, some yoga, some sleep, some tea...it wasn't bad at all. :)

Linking up with my favourite Kristen today to share what's new and do a January recap - spoiler alert, this might be a bit boring!? haha.

Anyway, we were off work til January 3 so I guess some of our Christmas holidays still fall in January - we left the Christmas tree up until January 6 and when we took it down it felt a bit sad but mostly we gained back SO MUCH SPACE :). We spent the holidays doing a bunch of jigsaw puzzles (see below) - Brian did 90% of a 1000 piece Harry Potter puzzle that was given "To Molly and Lucy, from Sirius Black" <--- the kids went nuts over this, lol. Since my hubby did most of the puzzle and then went to bed AND slept in leaving about 50 pieces, I finished it for him one morning and he was noooooot happy. Haha. We also did the cool 3d puzzle you see below and I just took it apart from the coffee table a few days ago...#january

We took the kids skating a few times, we had some play dates, we had a date night out to see The Crimes of Grindelwald (LOVED it, so intrigued about it all and I NEED to re-read Deathly Hallows to figure some stuff out). We are back to low-carb eating and both feeling good about it so far. I will share some fun recipes soon. As far as exercise goes, it's mostly been yoga and stretching but it's all good. I need to get back to running on the treadmill and I am trying to motivate myself to do that - any tips? 

My younger daughter is now 10000% obsessed with her older sister; she misses her like crazy any time they are apart and wants to be right next to her constantly when they are together. It is both adorable and difficult because the older child is an introvert who sometimes just needs a bit of space. Here she is wanting her sister to let her into her room while her sister reads in silence (I'm sharing this because it broke my heart while simultaneously cracking me up): 

I also made it out to Cinderella at Neptune Theatre with my best friend, which was SO awesome - it was completely rewritten to be set in Halifax and it included some local music as well as a ton of pop hits (Firework, Call me Maybe, Alone, One Foot, etc) - so good. :) Also took Molly to a family square dance (Cape Breton style) which was a blast - she loves it and there is another one this weekend. All in all, a lot of fun this month. There were moments of loneliness too - I always feel this way a little bit after Christmas despite being an introvert, but we have a lot of socializing plans for February which is nice.

Also, my favourite brother (and only brother) has a birthday today - yay!! Happy Birthday David :) And also - he got engaged this month!! I'm so excited to celebrate with them next summer in my hometown - it will be an awesome trip for our whole family and so much fun. I keep joking to Brian that I'm not sure if I can sustain my current level of excitement for the next 16-17-18 months but I sure can try!!!! haha

That's about it - I'll be back to share some book reviews next week and tomorrow too actually!! 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?!?

September Recap (What's New Link up!)

A bit late to the link up, but here I am! Sharing a bit of what we did in September for Kristen's What's New With You? link up :)

As with many others, September is a crazy month in our house. Back to school, Molly's birthday, and other random end-of-summer events always keep us busy. It's usually one of the nicest months in Nova Scotia weather-wise too and this year did not disappoint that way!!! 

Both girls went back to school - Molly is in second grade this year with a new teacher to her school (2/3 split) and she is enjoying herself so far. She was happy to see all of her friends again after not seeing many of them over the summer. Her only complaint about the first day of school was that they didn't do any math work. Haha. The child is obsessed with math (she gets it from her father FOR SURE, not her mother, unfortunately ;)). We are nurturing that obsession as much as possible, of course :) Lucy started 3 mornings/week at her same preschool as last year where she is 100% happy. This gives me 4 hrs/ week to myself at home (Monday and Friday mornings) and that has been lovely. Throughout September, I spent most of that time organizing the house and I still have quite a ways to go but it was productive! 

We spent time with lots of family and friends throughout September and lots of time outside. We celebrated our favourite 7 year old with a family party and a beanie boo adoption party with her friends! I will post more about that someday, but it was great!! 

Work for me has been totally insane mostly trying to cram too much work into 3 days/week. I also started French classes back up and yoga started again (no complaints but 2 evenings a week = tied up). Molly started piano lessons and step dancing, which has been fun. Easing back into all these activities has been a bit challenging but we all love them so it'll be good to have a routine. In general, the month just totally flew by and I can't believe we are celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend. The time absolutely flies. 

I've been trying to follow along with Rachel Hollis' #last90days to really focus on how I want to end the year. Some of my goals surely fell right by the wayside this year and I'm not quite where I want to be. Her note about really just letting everything slide for the last three months until January really struck a chord with me because this is the most beautiful (and inspiring!) time of year for me and I want to take advantage of that inspiration to make some self-improvements BEFORE 2019. More about this another time too, I hope. 

I ended the month by going to see Shakespeare in Love (as a play) with one of my best friends - it was incredible and I am now seeking out some modern Shakespeare retellings because I forgot that I am a bit of a fan :) It was sooo good!! 

We have such a fun weekend planned with some special family time and time with friends. I love Thanksgiving and I will be back tomorrow with 14 things I am thankful for this year in honour of this weekend and my gratitude journalling :) 

Phew. What's new with you?!