Holly, Jolly December '15

I can't believe December is coming to a close, let alone 2015!
In December...

• We went to the O's Christmas party and hosted one here as well. 
• Dan and I had a date night to see the play Aladdin. 
• Nick went on a field trip to see Aladdin and my class went on a field trip to Benjamin Tree Farm.
• I went to my staff party and out with my soccer team to celebrate the season.  
• I went for my annual dinner to Ennio's with M and K. 
• Nathan had his 18 month shots.
• Swimming wrapped up for Nick.
• We traveled to Kingston for an amazing Christmas!  
• We saw Star Wars!
• I had a coffee date with my friend E.
• The B's are coming for New Years Eve tonight!

Wishing everyone an amazing 2016! I'm going to continue reducing carbs (my vice) and I'm determined to read more for fun.

Xo,
Meg,       

Ribbon Christmas Trees

It's been a while since I shared a craft or teaching activity so here is a super easy craft to wrap up the Christmas season. Pun intended! 

You will need:

• A variety of ribbon (greens/reds/whites) cut a variety of lengths
• Scissors 
• Thick twigs
• Twine/string
• Glue gun

All you do is tie the strings around the twig and leave spaces in between. Make sure the shortest ones are at the top and then they get longer as they go down. You can trim with scissors afterwards. Then glue on the string/twine with hot glue. This would make a great home made gift! I may keep this in mind for next year! 

Xo,
Meg

November Time!

Seriously, where is the time going?!

In November...

• We had a date night at Sole with the Matthews.
• We had the G's over for a visit and dinner. It had been a while!
• I went for a girl's lunch with A and a few others. 
• I went for Nick's JK observation. So proud of him! 
• E and I had a few glasses of wine with H to toast her new house! 
• We went to the Santa parade. Brr!
• We had the E's over for dinner. They brought the chili, we did the trimmings. Yum!

Xo,
Meg

Blue eyes, Blue snowsuits, First snowfall

Here's a cute Nick and Nathan comparison that will brighten any day. These were both taken after the first snow fall about 3 years apart. Can you guess who is who? 

Xo,
Meg

Gretzky and Wine?!

Christmas parties are coming! I love the season that is upon us. Here is my new favourite white wine that would be a great addition to any party. It's not too sweet and not too dry. And it has Gretzky in the name? Sold! ($14.95 @ the LCBO)

 

Xo,

Meg 

October '15

October was a little bit quieter (at home anyways)...

• I sold pink ribbons with E to support The Canadian Cancer Society at Zehrs. 
• I went to a girl's night at Beertown.
• We had Thanksgiving at home for the first time ever! Tina and my inlaws came up for the weekend. I attempted my first pumpkin pie! Yum! We also went to the Naumann's pumpkin farm that weekend.
• Indoor soccer started up for me!
• Dan split his eyebrow open playing soccer. He needed 7 stitches! 
• We went to Cooper's 4th birthday.
• Halloween happened! School fun, PTC for candy, and Nick went around the neighbourhood. He made it far this year!

 

Xo,
Meg

Book Time

From 2 months old to 4 years old...same book, same little boy. 

Aww! 

His attention span for the science book was about the same lol!

Xo,
Meg

 

Leaf Men

I read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert to my kindies today. Then we went on a walk to collect leaves and made our own creations. So cute!

Xo,
Meg

Stop and smell the roses...

A good reminder as life gets busy...(and yes I know they are not actually roses!)

2 years old 

4 years old

Xo,
Meg

September- fun and tiring!

September...

• Big changes this month! I'm back to work full time, Nicholas is off to JK and Nathan started at Owl in the toddler room.
• We went to the PTC family fun day.
• We had a fun Labour Day Playdate with the G's! Splash pad, park and BBQ lunch. 
• I celebrated my birthday!
• I went to a Tupperware party at E's and a Thirty One party at A's.
• I went to the Grand River Soccer banquet at Golf's with some team mates. So fun!
• The C's came for dinner. It finally worked out!
• Swimming started up for Nicholas. 

Xo,
Meg

Tomato, to-mah-to

They are similar in their looks, and in their appreciation of tomatoes out of the garden!

Nick- 14 months

 

Nathan-15.5 months

Xo,
Meg

Beautiful August

In August,

• We travelled to Kingston for the long weekend. We went to the family reunion, swam lots, had brunch with the V's and went to Wonderland. 
• I went to the Brantford Zoo with Nick's Preschool class.
• We had 2 play dates with Nick's friend Rachel and a few visits/play dates with others. 
• My inlaws came up and the main floor bathroom got renovated. Great time visiting for the week!
• We celebrated Nicholas turning 4! And Dan turning 34!
• Nick and I went with our neighbours to Doon Heritage Village. I had never been!
• We spent another afternoon at the beach. This time at Shade's Mill. Nice and close!
• Nathan and I visited daycare as he will be starting in Sept. Eek!
• Nathan participated in another UW study.
• We went to Aviation fun Day at the airport and then checked our Riverside Park in Guelph.
• The Ganders came over for a BBQ.
• I had dinner with my friend and co-worker E! 
• Swimming wrapped up for both boys. Nick will be continuing in late September. Soccer also finished for Nick. 
• We bought a Santa Fe!
• We had the E's over for a visit. It took us all summer to finally make this happen!

Xo,
Meg

Frozen Drawing Contest

Nicholas received a Frozen magazine for his birthday. There was a drawing contest inside asking children to draw their favourite character. Nick decided to draw Elsa of course with ice coming out of her hands. 

I am beyond proud of him! As any Kindergarten teacher would know, boys do not always like to draw. For those that do, a typical picture of a person would have arms and legs coming out of the head in JK. Nick attempted to add sparkles to her dress and drew ice coming out of her hands. He used white on white so of course you can't see it but I was amazed at his attention to detail. She even has shoes and eyebrows!

This is going to be a good lesson for him as we talked about how there are going to be lots of pictures sent in so he may not (likely won't) win. 

This activity showed me how ready for school he is and how much he has grown. 

Xo,
Meg

Cuties in Green chairs

Flash back time!

Here's Nick at almost 1:

Here's Nathan at 14 months:
 

Both of them just loved these little adirondack chairs!

Xo,
Meg

Fun times in July!

In July...

• We went to the fireworks on Canada Day!
• We had a few bbqs with friends.
• We went out for dinner for our 6th anniversary.
• We had a beach day at the Pinery.
• I went to see the new Magic Mike movie.
• I had coffee with M before she went back to work.
• Soccer started for Nicholas and swimming started for both boys. 
• Nathan participated in 2 more UW studies.
• I had lunch with my friend Michelle. 
• We went to several parks- the ones around the neighbourhood, the one in Elmira, Victoria Park etc.  
• We took the boys on the Waterloo Cental Railway to St. Jacobs. So fun!
• I had coffee with my friend E. So nice to catch up and talk a little shop. 
• We went to the Serbian Food Festival.
• We went swimming at Kiwanis Park. So nice!
• I went on a trail walk with my friend A. 
• We went to St. Jacob's market with our neighbours.
• We had a play date and lunch with the V's.

Xo,
Meg

More Stripes!

So I have mentioned before that I may need a stripe intervention...

Well it has gone from clothes for our boys to a shower curtain for their bathroom. Now that this is the bathroom that guests will use, I thought I better spruce it up a bit!

Xo,
Meg

First Words

Both of our boys said "Da da" first. I have come to grips with this. Nicholas keeps saying that Nathan is saying my name but really he is just saying " mmm mmm" after a yummy food. 

I came across this adorable book- love Jimmy Fallon. It's about various animal dads trying very hard to get their babies to say their name. Replace it with "Mama" and that's me!

Xo,
Meg

Art Line

Nick makes a lot of "works of heart" and I never know what to do with them all. So today I hung a small clothesline in his room. 

Xo,
Meg

Red House

Yesterday we celebrated our 6th anniversary! We continued our tradition of trying out a new restaurant by going to Red House in Uptown Waterloo. Nicholas wanted a picture of the building so here it is:

It was a very cute restaurant with red umbrellas, red lights, red shelves behind the bar and even red meat knives.

I also loved the wine menu made out of cork:

Dan and I shared pon con tomate for an appetizer. It was delicious. Then we shared a spinach and strawberry salad. Also very good. Dan ordered "Angry birds" for dinner (hen and bacon wrapped quail) and I ordered the lamb spaghetti. Everything was very good. I recommend going there!

Since it was our anniversary they gave us dessert on the house:

It's panna cotta with oreo cookie crumbs and raspberry sauce. Yummy!

After dinner we went for a walk in Uptown. Did you know yarn bombing was such a thing? I didn't!

What a great anniversary! Can't wait until next year!

Xo,
Meg

June already?

In June...

• We went to the Welcome to Kindergarten Open House with Nicholas. I am still in disbelief that it's time for JK!
• I went to a girls night. Long over due!
• We went to Nick's daycare Spring concert. 
• I went to my year end staff party and a retirement party for a colleague.
• We went to Toronto for Joe and Christina's wedding. It was beautiful!
• We had a lovely afternoon at Waterloo Park on Father's Day.
• School wrapped up for the year! Kindergarten celebration, Lip Sync Show, Movie day were a few fun activities to finish off the year. 
• We said good-bye to Nonna Circelli. RIP Lucia.

Xo,
Meg

Watermelon!

He still loves watermelon and still makes a HUGE mess!

Almost 4 years old

Almost 2 years old

Xo,
Meg

Good-bye Floral Tile

Saying good-bye to this "super ugly has bugged me for years" tile in our main floor bathroom...

This is the bathroom that had a mini reno done a few years ago (new mirrow, new counter, new sink, new faucet and paint). Now it is becoming a laundry room/bathroom so that I don't have to have my laundry in the basement! Yay!

Xo,
Meg

For the golf Dads...

Here's the card we are working on at school...

Xo,
Meg

May came quick!

The first half of the month I was still on mat leave and the 2nd half I was back at work.

• I went out for breakfast with E and our little boys. So yummy!
• We went to Ripley's aquarium as a family. So much fun to share this with the boys.
• I had coffee with my old co-worker H and met her little man. So tiny! 
• I went to Books and Babies and then to Famoso with M and M.
• We celebrated W turning 1. Fun party!
• I had a lovely, flower filled Mother's Day.
• I treated A to lunch at Jack's. I am so appreciative of all the hand me downs for the boys!
• I went into work to observe for a day before starting back.
• I went for a trail run!
• Both our van and our car got professionally cleaned.
• We had a BBQ here on Victoria Day weekend.
• We had parent night at St. Matthew's. Eek!
• Our little Nathan turned 1! We had a nice party with family and his god parents.
• Dad and Marg came up for a week to help with the boys. Thank you so much!
• Nathan had his 12 month needles. 
• I went on a field trip with my class to the Butterfly conservatory!  
• I went to see Pitch Perfect 2 with a few soccer friends.
• We went to a Touch the Truck event in Stratford. Nick LOVED it!

Xo,
Meg

Butterfly Life Cycles

Look what we made with our buddies yesterday:

So easy and cute. Risotto for the egg, rotini for the caterpillar, large shells for the chrysalis and bowties for the butterfly. 

Xo,
Meg

Yogurt Face!

Messy and yummy!

Nick- 10 months

Nathan-12 months

XO,
Meg

Spiders are Gross

I despise spiders. I know, I know they eat harmful insects and don't actually want to hurt me. But they are gross and sneaky. I was doing some school organizing and look what appeared in my file bin after I moved some stuff around:

I wouldn't be surpised if people heard me screaming from miles away. Gross.

Xo,
Meg

Brothers or what?

Both of these photos were taken with me sitting in the desk chair and Nick and Nathan about to attack me! Both boys were between 11-12 months old.

So Nicholas clearly had more hair. Nathan moves too much to get a clear shot. Both boys clearly bang their heads and faces off stuff!

Xo,
Meg

April!

April brought play dates- and a lot more outside time! Other happenings-

• We hosted Easter here. Dan's family came and it was a lovely visit!
• Nathan and I went to Books and Babies with M and M and then to Kelsey's for lunch.
• We hosted the H's here and babysat the boys a bit. So nice to spend time with them.
• I had lunch with my friend S. Pad thai, yum!
• Nick had 2 birthday parties to attend!
• The E's came over for a board game night. So funny! 
• I took the boys to the indoor playground at Creekside Church a few times. What a clean and nice facility. And it's free!
• I went out for a girl's night to Beertown. 
• I went to E's for an "end of mat leave" (well almost) lunch. It was so nice to hang out. 
• Both boys participated in UW studies.

Xo,
Meg 

Ps: I'm back to work next month after the long weekend! This year has been amazing but quick!

Hooked

Our front foyer is sporting some new child hooks. Organization and independence! Love it!

Xo,
Meg

Happy Finds Part 1

Why not share happy finds that I encounter?

Dan's espresso this morning was super pretty: 

I also love this rainbow of Kitchen Aid stand mixers that greeted me at Canadian Tire:

Xo,
Meg

This is my grocery store sweater

Apparently this is the sweater my boys wear grocery shopping!

Xo,
Meg