Another Month Gone!

I cannot keep up. Are my blogging days over?! Life is so busy. Maybe it will just have to be surfacy and monthly instead of weekly for a little while. I still hope to get back into it when I find/make the time. Unfortunately I don't see my life getting any less crazy haha. 

I am looking forward to Spring Break though! 

I actually typed the first 2/3 of this two weeks ago and just forgot to publish it haha. Now we just add :)

A couple Fridays ago, Dom was in need of an Introvert day. He wasn't sick, but was very lethargic and "off". He spent the day cuddling, watching a movie, and running to the window excitedly when he heard the garbage truck.

Watching the garbage truck. This brought me back to little Dom back in the toddler and preschool days. <3

We added his name and the number 20 to his First Shift Jersey

A playdate at the park with a friend of Dom's from school. The girls played in the leaves... clearly. 

Wren came to play too!

Emilia practicing her writing. She did 6 of these and insisted I send each one to her teacher. :)

The Labyrinth at church

Rae begging for communion treats

Trying to slow down and enjoy the quieter days and be cozy for Family Day. Our lives are already becoming quite busy with school, work, swimming lessons, hockey, horseback riding, etc. etc. etc. I am starting to really feel the need for a quiet Sunday.

Sweet fort courtesy of Dave. Cubby concept requested by the kids thanks to Bluey :)

Family Day brunch at Jeff & Marta's

This is hilarious and very "them".

Phoebe directing Eva to do something.

Eva deciding to definitely not do it.

Uncle Jeff put the kids to work in the yard!

Emilia took that time to collect sticks, leaves and dead flowers to create a bouquet she was incredibly proud of. She worked very hard.

<3

I'm so glad these two have each other

Eva woke up crying and clearly feeling unwell last Tuesday. She threw up a couple times in the morning and then was totally fine. It didn't spread to anyone else, so I have no idea what was going on. Thank goodness!

Emilia had her first successful dentist appointment! Dom went too, but that's old hat for him haha. Neither of them have any cavities (yay!), but we do have a referral to a specialist as one of Dom's adult teeth is growing in funny and will need to be corrected asap (boo!).

Mom offered to take the kids last Friday overnight and gave me the best advice as Dave and I went into our 20 hours without kids. Her advice: Don't be practical.

That may sound very silly to some, but to me it was a constant reminder in my brain. Don't think about what makes sense, just go! Drive wherever we want. Eat what/wherever we want, don't use this time to tackle a big house project, sleep in.

First stop, Social Tavern, right by Mom & Dad's and where we've been wanting to go for months! I asked for a recommended happy hour bite from them and they both said "Get the Philly Cheese Steak." 

I can now say, if you ask me for a recommendation of what to eat there... Get the Philly Cheese Steak. Next level amazing! The onion rings too. I have never had such good onion rings and I'm not usually a huge fan. 

After a quick stop at Morgan Crossing and Everything Wine, we decided to zip down to the beach. We got there and took pictures, hung around, and watched the sunset. We thought about eating there too, but then decided the restaurants were too busy.  

Most of my time there was spent watching Dave go into his Enneagram 4 artsy self appreciating and capturing the beauty of the sunset. 

It's worth it though, because then he gets amazing shots like...

After sunset I remembered I had some coupons in my purse. I pulled them out and found one for Mainland Whisky, a distillery in Langley. It's not really my thing, but Dave loves Whisky. I appreciate a good Old Fashioned, so we went there for a little drinky and a game of crib.

His first whisky flight!

Apple Pie Old Fashioned :)

We came home and started the new season of Drive to Survive! The F1 season starts this weekend! Can't wait!

We had a nice slow start to the next morning. We watched some TV shows that we'd been wanting to catch up on and dropped in at the Social Tavern again for brunch to try their Chicken & Waffles. Amazing. Aaaamazing! The chicken reminded me of the Buttermilk Fried Chicken at Nightingale.

On Sunday we all went out to Agassiz for a family brunch. Gramma & Grandpa have taken in a Japanese exchange student for a month so we wanted to meet her! She's absolutely lovely. She doesn't have much English, but she tried, she learned to play the games, and she taught us all some origami. 

Showing off our paper cranes

This lady started swimming lessons (parent participation) on Mondays and Wednesdays. Right at dinner time. We got in at the last minute and she is having SO much fun. She loves the water, loves the slide, and I have to drag her out every single time.

Scott & I went to visit Opa & Oma G. for a coffee after dropping off the kids at school on Tuesday. This definitely has to happen more often. It was nice for the girls to have each other. Eva was quiet, but they had fun!

Eva has been enjoying Cosmic Kids Yoga lately. Look at her go :)

Eva has been working on our 100 piece farm puzzle. I help her pick out the pieces for certain areas and then she quite successfully! 

Last week Saturday I did our taxes which is always a huge chore. Afterwards, we all took a spontaneous trip to the museum and library. 

The museum has a Lego exhibit right now which is super fun and incredibly detailed.

Big kids. It's a different world than toddlers at the library I tell ya! <3

We were going to get pizza after and called Mom & Dad to see if they wanted to meet up with us. They were watching Phoebe, so we went over there and ordered pizza together! 

I forgot to take proper pictures, but last Sunday we cleaned the whole house (you'd never know by this picture haha), and we had Scott, Ash and Phoebe over for tortellini soup for dinner. Here Emilia is doing Eva's makeup with her little makeup kit.

What I came out to after I showered post swimming lessons last Monday. 

Last Tuesday Aunty Lasagna came over to hang out with Eva. I got lots of work done, did my yoga, Dave and I went for a walk at Tynehead together, they did art, they went swimming, and then we had dinner together. Aunty Sonya came to watch Emilia's horseback riding which has evolved so much! They're doing group trots now so she gets wayyy more riding time.

Dom was doing a school project on Coyotes, so we got this shot of Sherlock for him :). 
It was so nice to go for a walk together. It was a beautiful day, and I think I talked Dave's ear off haha. We don't get a lot of chances to talk uninterrupted. 

"Birds on a wire" by Eva & Aunty Sonya

Last Thursday we had the opportunity to see Dom & Emilia's hard work at school at the Celebration of Learning. I'd compare it to student-led conferences. We love their school so so much. They are both doing amazing and we're very proud :)

I had made dinner at Opa & Oma's for Oma's birthday, so they came with!

Proud little sweetness!

We did a "write the room" in Emilia's class

Eva picked up some pencil crayons and practiced her drawing with Opa

Then we made our way to the music room! 

Eva is SO ready for preschool. We popped in to show her the preschool room and her eyes lit up. She is very excited to start in September.

Dom didn't want me to take a picture of him in the chair, so this is what we get. He had his first orthodontic consultation. His adult tooth is growing in sideways, so once the one beside it has come in, he will probably have to have a couple braces to fix it. Poor guy. We'll be back in 4 months to see if his mouth is ready.

The kids and I developed a secret language. Dom and I pass each other notes now :)

Mom's birthday was last Thursday, and on Friday the original 6 of us all went out for dinner together in Vancouver and then went to the Pacific Theatre to watch a play called "Childish". Everything about the evening was absolutely top notch! The company, the food, the drinks, the play, the chauffeur (Scott took us in their new minivan).

We couldn't remember the last time we'd been out for dinner with just the 6 of us. Very special! We went to Impostori Trattoria on 15th & Granville. We did the Family Style menu which is my favorite way to dine!

Beef carpaccio with pickles, caesar salad and an anchovy

Endive salad with gorgonzola/panacotta in the middle. That cheese was to die for.

We forgot to take pictures of the second course. They brought a huge bowl of spaghetti as well as a mushroom risotto. I would eat that every day. I cannot explain. It was soooo delicious!

Beef cheek on a bed of polenta. So savory and fall-apart-in-your-mouth goodness. 
This was served with a plate of vegetables as well. Beans, roasted tomatoes and spinach.

Two plates of these desserts came as well. Everything was just so yummy!

No boyfriends for Oma

Off to Pacific Theatre to see CHILD-ish. Now that Mom is 57 we had a chuckle at this.

Aunty Sonya joined us for the show. It's over now, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. We laughed, we cried... It's an amazing concept for a play where it was essentially written by kids, but performed by adults. It's hard to explain. 

From their website: Adults speak children’s exact words about love, life and the big questions in this fresh world premiere. Drawn from interviews with over 40 kids, Child-ish offers insights on everything from the climate crisis to what should really go into a dating profile. These unflinching conversations provide a grown-up audience with surprising insights into the world and our place in it. In collaboration with youth from the Eastside Story Guild.

“Usually adults make theatre for children. With CHILD-ish I’m excited to flip that script and have children participate in making theatre for adult audiences. During the script development process, our creative team was truly intergenerational: aged 6 to 77!” – Playwright Sunny Drake

We all went to Dom's hockey yesterday. Eva was very excited to see the Canucks mascot Fin on the ice!

There goes Dom!

We just found out about a second round of lessons they're offering and signed him up. It will be a smaller group and will have more focus on skating skills. I'm so excited for him to continue with this and develop further. 

Last year Dom would get too frustrated and crumple up his "Art for Kids Hub" haunted houses. Yesterday he decided to try again and had amazing success! I think he appreciates being able to see his progress. He did a first and second draft to give himself some grace. 

This week we get to celebrate Dave's 33rd birthday and start Spring Break!