Cannot Keep Up! (Horseback Riding/Fall/Pumpkin Patch/Illness/Surprise Party/Thanksgiving)

I truly do not know how 3 weeks goes by between blogs. It happens very, very quickly. I'm afraid for how the next 18 years is going to go! Too fast!

We're in a pretty good rhythm these days with school, work, social life, etc. I'm sure I'll forget many things in this post as I frequently forget to take photos, but... here's what the last 3-ish weeks looked like!

We got new fencing in our complex! Vinyl so it won't rot and will be much easier to clean. Very exciting stuff. Dave is also working on his Halloween prep and has been letting the kids "help" outside sometimes. They love it and I appreciate it too! Haha

This year is one of the more colourful falls of the last few. I remember last year being disappointing because it was so hot and dry!

On September 30th, Ash successfully threw a surprise birthday party for Scott's 30th birthday! The theme was "plaid on plaid" because of this classic photo from Ashleigh's 16th(?) birthday party where Scott showed up in just that. It was also an "anything but a cup" party because that's fun! 

It was a lot of fun. Maybe too much fun... Around 1030 Ashleigh's sister brought out jello shots and said people needed to do them because she had too many. I had had just enough to drink to want to be a hero and help her out. REGRETS!!! I haven't been in that rough of shape since my early 20's. Or ever. NotWorthIt.com

There were lots of photos hanging up that people had sent in. I didn't send this one in, but it did get included haha! From a drag show we went to a year and a half ago!

Dave: kid's play tea kettle

Me: Barbie bathtub

Wren & Eva carting the big kids around in the wagon

Our whole family was invited to Sophie's birthday party at Go Bananas on Oct 2. The kids had such a blast! 

Dom's card for Sophie <3

On Oct 3 Emilia had her first official 1 hour horseback riding lesson in the Junior class. I didn't realize there would be other people in the class as the previous lesson was a private one. She went in with an unfamiliar horse and the other two riders were teenagers. Poor Emilia felt so nervous and discouraged and alone. She told me afterwards that she is done with horseback riding. I cried most of that evening just feeling for her because we were up in the viewing area watching and I couldn't be there to encourage her. 

We had another lesson this week which went much better, but I'll share more about that later on.

Aunty Lasagna came too so we had some paparazzi :)

This was Emilia's horse, Jewel <3
Jewel reminds me a lot of our dog Jewel growing up. Stubborn, aloof, will bulldoze you to get to the food haha.

Some random moments throughout the week

Me: Eva, who's this?

Eva: Umm... Lando Norris

(Lando Norris is a Formula 1 Maclaren driver haha)

I now understand when people say they feel like all they do is do and fold and put away laundry. Oh my gosh. So much laundry!

Dom learning important life skills.

On Saturday October 7 we were watching the F1 Sprint and Eva was getting very cuddly. We noticed she was warm, and she fell asleep with me for an hour and a half. She was then up for 45 minutes and back to bed for nearly 3 hours. Ruh roh! She had a mild fever and was very cranky all day (and all night). We had a few very rough nights the weekend of Thanksgiving there. 

Dave was out at a Lifestyle Session for KI.StoryStudios and I didn't have a lot of bandwidth, so the kids and I had nachos for dinner.

The subjects of his shoot! He gets all the fun of actually reconnecting with my old higschool classmates!

We have cherished every dry day we've had!

October 8 was Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' place. Eva was still feverish that day, so Dave stayed home with her. I went to Jeff & Marta's early to help make dinner and honestly it was such a fun, relaxing day. Dom & Emilia were excellent, the cooking all went smoothly, everyone contributed, the food was DELICIOUS(!!), and Dave picked up the kids so I got to stay late to hang out with J&M and took an Uber home.

We did... Beef Tenderloin, beer can chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, reduction from the beef, air-fried brussels sprouts, roasted carrots, and stuffing. Oh man.

Oh hello, perfection!

At least Dave got a doggy bag

Missed Scott & Ash & Phoebe due to illness too :(

At least medicated Eva had fun!

The next day it was my turn. I woke up with a sore throat and was fevered and gross feeling the whole day. I slept for a couple hours, and Eva and I had to miss out on the Kimber Thanksgiving Dinner. We haven't seen Gramma and Grandpa since before school started because they were in Europe! 

Clearly feeling like a 0/10 haha

Just Emilia being cute :)

Despite me feeling very unwell and having a very sore throat, the following two days were very full work days for me as we had our annual audit at work. By the end of day two I was barely alive at my desk, feeling tempted to slink underneath for a nap haha. 
I wore a mask the whole time and had to miss the lunch on the first day because nobody wants these germs. They did bring me back some sushi though!

Marta gave me a huge bag of clothes to go through that she was planning to donate. This is my absolute favorite way to shop! I kept a lot of it, and purged my own closet while I was at it. So fun to have a little refresh!

Eva was adamant we keep this dress haha.

Amazon is genius with its mailed catalogues. My kids are obsessed with going through them! Also, what the heck is this? The kids called it "Mega Hedwig" haha

Last Friday I was feeling quite a bit better. My throat was still a bit sore, but very manageable. However, I woke up and was losing my voice! 

Emilia's class was doing their pumpkin patch field trip to Laity Pumpkin Patch, and mom offered to watch Eva so I could go and focus on Emilia.

I gotta say, not having a voice is very very less than ideal when you're trying to meet and introduce yourself to other parents!

Waiting for Oma to arrive

The pumpkin patch itself was awesome. So much for the kids to do, and the weather was absolutely perfect! I loved watching Emilia play and interact with her friends. Especially Elissa's daughter, Makenna. Too Too cute!

Why? The pig says, "Please help me curl my tail." And then look at the tail!! 
*insert look of horror face*

and the pig's face?!! Haha. Definitely something wrong with this picture.

These little hand holders! <3 <3

Three years ago!

After the pumpkin patch, Emilia had her Kindergarten vaccinations. She was so brave! Such a champ.

The weather is starting to become more Fallish, and we've been getting lots of rainbows.

The girls poking some worms

On Saturday we (finally) got rid of our air conditioners and brought them to Mom & Dad's crawlspace :). We also stayed for dinner which was much appreciated after the long week we've had. Emilia was feeling a little off, but we quickly realized it was an expected reaction to her vaccinations she had the day before (phew!) We were worried she was getting what I had. 

Dom proceeded to whoop my butt at Supertock. We should borrow this game. It's fun because he actually gets the strategy!

Our small group is going through "What is the Bible" by Rob Bell. This made me smile.

Sunday I still had no voice (like literally embarrassing), but I took the kids to church in the morning for Cornerstone still. Scott & Ash came over for dinner with Phoebe still! We had Cauliflower mac & cheese with sausages. Always a hit. 

Eva helping me out with picking up the kids Monday afternoon.

Yesterday I STILL didn't have a voice, but I was asked to work at the primary campus for a couple hours mid-day. It worked out well for me and I got to make a couple calls and pick up the kids from there. 

The new library! 

There was an early hockey game, so we got together with Jeff & Owen for dinner. Emilia and I went from there to horseback riding. She was feeling very nervous though. All the last two weeks she's been so anxious because she felt so discouraged after her last lesson. We did a few things to help her feel better. 

Emilia and I got to the barn early and watched a group of older kids doing jumps with their horses. It was encouraging for her to see some horses being stinkers and not doing what the rider was asking. 

I also spoke with the director of the centre and we came up with a plan that allowed me to be in the barn to watch that class. She also spoke with the instructors to let them know Emilia's concerns and what I thought she might need in order to be successful and feel confident!

I prepped Emilia and we talked a lot about animals having minds of their own, we talked about how she's doing so great and she's so brave. We talked about her options. We talked about how to ask for help. 

In the end she sat tall, she was confident, she listened to instruction, she asked for help when she needed it, and she hardly looked at me at all. She came out beaming, and with a very different attitude towards horseback riding going forward! Yay!!

Look at this girl!! <3