Thankful Thursday - 230 & Lately

This week I am thankful for...

1. Spontaneous Quaran-Team double date! Scott and Ash were spending their anniversary weekend downtown, and I had the idea to see if they were interested in going out for dinner one evening together. We very very rarely actually go out and do things with the 4 of us, we're always just at our place playing games and hanging out. Mom and Dad took the kids for dinner and put them down for bed at their house. We went to Vancouver and had dinner at Via Tevere, followed by ice cream from Earnest, a walk around False Creek, and then a visit in their hotel for a bit before it was time to go home. Poor Dom had just fallen asleep when we went to get him up from Opa & Oma's. I was nervous they'd treat it as a nap because it was still light out, but they both didn't make a peep when they went back to bed at home. Whew! Worth it!

Back when COVID started and we agreed to continue to see each other through the lockdowns, I cleverly renamed our WhatsApp chat "Quaran-Team". So now that's what we are.

Waiting in line for our Earnest ice cream. Scott said once he came by on a rainy, cold winter evening and there was a 40 minute lineup outside of people trying to get into Earnest... to get ice cream... IN THE WINTER! Must be some darn good ice cream! (Spoiler alert. I do not regret waiting in line for our ice cream one bit).

Man, Vancouver is so beautiful

View from their hotel room - 22nd floor

2. Firm Boundaries. Dom and Emilia sharing a room has been awesome, except when he wakes her up at 530 or 6 to talk. One morning at 545 I went to get him knowing he had to pee, and told him he had to go back to bed. He started having a meltdown so I said, "Okay Dom, it's not time to get up yet, so you can either go be quiet in your room, or go be quiet in Emilia's crib." Well... he opted to say, "Nothing." so he was put in Emilia's crib. He was not too pleased, but it was fine. Now this week he tried to pull the same thing at 6am, so I went in there and said he had to be quiet because Emilia is still sleeping. He fought me initially, and then I gave him the same choices. He quieted right down and stayed quiet in bed until 7am. Winning!!

Emilia's crib is technically a mini-crib, which makes this actually quite comical. There is more space above (below?) his head, but it's still a tighter fit.

3. Locking doors and windows. Every year we have this spider that lived in the top corner outside our office door. This year though, it's about twice the size of other years. It has eaten an average size wolf spider (or whatever it is), and you can see the size comparison between the dead one and this behemoth. I had a nightmare about it where it was chasing me the other night. As long as it stays in that corner I'll survive... hopefully...

*SHUDDER SHUDDER*

4. Slow days at home. Now that I'm busier with work and stuff, I'm relishing in my quiet days where my to do list is small! Lots of playing outside, getting some chores done (I know that's a to do list thing, but whatever), reading books, and playing with my speedy-growing children. Time seems extra fast/slow/weird during these COVID months. 

Nice walk with Sherlock on Sunday and we met this horse. Sherlock and the horse were nose to nose at one point, but I missed the photo op :)

Spot the quiet-time Dom

Blackberries right by our house. The kids were devouring them so I thought I'd give one a try. Oh my goodness. They are so sour. Why do they like these?!

Making post-bathtime, pre-bedtime memories reading by flashlight in Emilia's bed

Different day than the above horse/Sherlock photo, but he got nose-to-nose on camera with this pony!

I took Dom on my walk with the dog yesterday and he actually did so well! We visited the horses, which reminds me of my childhood. We grew up with this horse field very close to our house and we'd walk up there to feed and pet the horses all the time. Dixie and Omar :)

5. The collapsing economy. Just kidding, but we did just renew our mortgage and got a 4-year fixed rate of 1.99%!! Five years ago when we bought our house we got a "record low" rate of 2.59% for 5 years. Glad I held out when they were trying to get me to renew a month ago at 2.59% again! 

6. Flyers! We very rarely eat red meat at home, but the top sirloin was on sale at Independent so I ordered two huge steaks and they came in at less than $10! WINNING! Dave cooked them to perfection and we had such a yummy dinner. It doesn't happen often that I/we cook like this just for ourselves, but it was really nice. 

Mmmmmmm I'm that guy! Taking pictures of my meals :)

I boiled the potatoes, cooked the bacon, blanched the beans, and sauteed the onions/mushrooms earlier in the day so that at dinner all we would have to do is cook the steak and warm things up. That's the way to do it!

7. Another Chickaletta play date. I miss our weekly play dates! We still try, but the weather has been hit or miss the last few weeks. Luckily today was a beautiful, though a bit chilly at times, morning.