Sunday, July 29, 2012

A lazy Sunday

What constitutes a lazy Sunday in the glue household?
1. Freezies on the front porch

2. Cuddling on the couch

3. Playing princesses

4. Dinner al fresco

5. Chocolate covered ice cream Popsicles with friends






Saturday, July 28, 2012

Shopno puron - Dream come true

Since we moved into our house four years ago, my husband had a recurring dream - one that involved mud. mulch, leaves, bark, twigs and flowers. Every year he would stare at our backyard and speak wistfully of the shade, textures and colours he wanted to bring into the space. He even created a little diagram to explain his dreams.

This year I asked him to elaborate his vision so he used his amazing technical illustrator skills and drew me this.

Guess what?
Over the last five days we made his dreams come true. First we drew the outline of the garden in our yard. I may have had something to do with the change in shape =).

Next we dug up the existing grass and sod. This was the hard part.Then we built up the shape of the garden with dirt.

We started planting - this was the easy part.

We covered the whole thing in mulch...

and voilĂ  - a garden!

It's a little bit addictive, we might be doing the front yard next =).








Friday, July 27, 2012

Early bird

On most days it's a trial getting the kids out of bed and ready for daycare. My son is especially reticent.Waking him up often involves tears and persuasion. There are many mornings that my husband dresses him whilst he is still asleep! Well this morning was a pleasant change. My son woke up smiling. Not only did he dress himself, but he also woke up his sister and got her dressed too. Unfortunately he didn't get her shirt on quite right, (she had  her arms in the but her head was stuck) but he did pick a fetching outfit for her. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, we found him practising the alphabet. This is the first time I have witnessed him writing the whole alphabet on his own! My boy is growing up so fast =)

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Lucky!

My colleague and I went for a run at lunch today. We happened to come upon an elderly lady foraging in the shrubbery. I was observing her from a distance, curious about what she was picking from the vegetation by the side of the path. I don't know if she felt the weight of my stare, but as we got closer she addressed me. "Would you like some?" she asked as she handed me a bunch of leaves.

That's right! She gave me a bunch of four leaves clovers! I feel so blessed and lucky! I am going to dry them and laminate them for my children and husband, so that they can have a little piece of luck with them when they need it.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Tree hugger

While we were waiting for my husband to pick us up, my son suggest we hug a tree. He really loves trees! Maybe he is a future environmentalist?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Chillin

Ever wondered what does a chill summer weekend looks like in the glue household? Well we got a chance to find out this weekend. It was the first free summer weekend we've had since the end of May.
So far we've done some leisurely garden shopping which means next weekend will not be a chill weekend as we will have to plant said garden at that time. =) Here are some of the beauties we bought for our garden.

This is what my monkeys looked like whilst we were checking out of the nursery yesterday.

This is what my daughter looked like on Sunday morning. She was playing dress up in some princess outfits I bought for her from a garage sale.


Best 4 dollars I ever spent!
We finished the weekend of with some splash time in the backyard.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Qualitea time

My husband turned a bland friday evening into an exciting spontaneous moment that I hope to remember for days to come. He suggested we eat sushi for dinner. Our children loved drinking tea at the restaurant. Look how happy they are to sip tea out of little soya sauce dishes.

Then on they way home he turned into the bog and we walked off the sushi rolls we had just inhaled.

It was a beautiful walk and the bog was enchanting.

 I'm so lucky to having such a wonderfully spontaneous husband, who after seven years of marriage can still delight me with these little adventures!



Waves of grey

This morning we got some relief from the *broiling* hot days of summer.

I was so fashionable, my outfit matched the weather.
I love Fridays!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Fodder for Nostalgia

Today we made some amazing memories. The kind of memories that my kids will look back on and think that life was really better in the good old days. We spent the day playing in the waves at Ipperwash beach.

It was a combination of the sun, a light breeze,  warm water and great company that made the experience so perfect. My sister's family joined us for this trip. We planned it a long time ago as her birthday treat since she didn't know about my surprise trip.
Here we are enjoying the shade under the beach umbrellas.

We didn't stay there for long, the water was too tempting.

My sister had this brilliant idea of buying these inflatable tubes and the kids loved them so much that they didn't want to get out of the water.My brother in law coaxed them out of the lake to help him build a little wading pool.

All the building resulted in hungry little tummies, so we fed them junk food, which in this case was a delicious double cheddar pizza and Doritos.

After the meal we were back in the water and the wading pool.

My sister and I got in on the wading pool action. We gave each other exfoilating foot scrubs with the sand.

It wasn't all kiddie time for us, we did get to sneak in some time with our husbands.

Near the end of the day, my son couldn't keep up with the rest of us. He got very grumpy and eventually feel asleep on the beach. I guess he had too much fun!

Despite being exhausted, neither he or my daughter wanted the day to end. They were very upset as we drove away from our lovely day at the beach. Their sadness was compounded by the fact that my sister's family left to go back to their own home in another city.

I couldn't have asked for a better day, a better husband, a better sister or better children (mine and hers). It was truly amazing and I send my heartfelt thanks to god for letting me have this one perfect day.











Thursday, July 12, 2012

Introspection

Learning to be comfortable in your own skin is not something you can google. Is that level of confidence something you are born with? Is it something your parents instill in you? Is it something you can acquire over time? Is it something you struggle with all your life?
I am just beginning to realize as I am trying to teach my children to have a healthy self confidence, that this is something I myself lack. I've known this for a while now but have not been able to acknowledge it because it hurts to examine the root of my confidence issues. Talking to my one of my good friends who is facing this issue herself, has made me feel like I should tackle my own self confidence issues.
The problem is I have no clue how to tackle it. A google search has resulted in suggestions such as writing post it notes with positive messages and sticking them everywhere. I'm not very open to this idea. However i was wondering is there a "low self esteem anonymous" that I can sign up for?

Surprise!

It was my sister's bday yesterday. I decided to take a train down to Mississauga to surprise her. I brought my daughter along for the ride. It was her first real train ride. She behaved so well even though it was a 2 hr journey!

My sister was very surprised. She really had no clue that I was coming. We went out for all you can eat sushi.

It was delicious. Look we dressed our girls up in the same outfit.

I'm not going disclose my sister's age, but I will say she looks at least 10 years younger than she really is.

It was an exhausting day. I think we spent eight hours in transit. Here is my little ball of energy on the way home - she was a little cranky but still full of energy.

In other news, my son painted his first masterpiece today. Now my husband's not the only artist the family!







Sunday, July 8, 2012

Family

We had our family portraits done recently. Here is a shot from the session. I think it's not a bad picture but I don't love it either. The kids look great though and so does my cute hubby. He's been working out and has really nice muscles know! I've been very busy this weekend as my husband's family was visiting. We had a very nice time and I hope they enjoyed the weekend as much as I did!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Happy Canada Day!!!!

We've spent the entire day celebrating Canada's 145th birthday. We went to two different Canada Day celebrations and ended the night watching fireworks.

Birthday treat

We a potluck at work last week and a friend of mine made these amazing chocolate tarts. I liked them so much that I asked her the recipe. She kindly shared it with me and it was so simple that I decided to whip up a batch for my cousin's birthday.

Don't they look delicious and guess what? They are totally healthy because they are made with a secret ingredient that makes them high in protein and low on fat. Can you guess what it is?

TOFU!!!

My cousin had a great third birthday. My sister organized some crafts and then of course there was cake. It was really hard to get my kids to sleep after all chocolate they had.