Our Summer Update

Well August is coming to an end very quickly.  We have enjoyed every moment of our month together.  I am so fortunate to be able to stay home with the girls over the summer.  We had many play dates with friends, walks/runs to the different parks in our neighbourhood, bike rides, ice cream trips to Crampton's or Eva's Gelato, stays at the McMurtry cabin, Farmers Market visits and bonfires with marshmellow roasting.

We started our August long weekend by heading out to Kyle's parents cabin for two nights.   We did lots of fun things out there.  We visited the Arnes' Farmers Market, fishing on the beach, walks along the beach and day trip to Gimli for Icelandic Festival.  Ate lunch from the food trucks there!  In the evening we had a relaxing bonfire with roasted marshmallows and my new favourite banana boats!!!

Rock Art at the Lake

They loved sharing a bed together 

Didn't catch anything!

When getting back home after the weekend we started seriously potty training Abby.  She is doing so well.  She wears underwear all the time and wears pull ups for bed and naps.  She likes to go on the big toilet now instead of the little potty.  She gets so excited when she does something on the potty, lifts her eyebrows and goes "AHH".  We were giving her a couple chocolate chips if she went on the potty but now that she goes all the time no need anymore.  She hasn't had an accident in quite awhile. She is really good at holding it and getting to the potty in time. We are so proud of her and her progress this month and so glad there is no more diapers to change.  It will save us lots of time and money.  It's great she's potty trained in time for school too!!!

August 5th Kyle and I went to the Tragically Hip concert together.  Kyle's brother Scott and Susie and their friends Todd and Brooke joined us as well.  Kyle was able to get seats in his company's box so we could enjoy the concert from there.  Before the concert we dropped the girls off with my sister and Derrick to have a sleepover and headed to The Keg downtown for dinner.  The concert was amazing and also so sad to know it would be our last Hip concert together, lots of memories with Gord Downie. 

Grabbed coffee before the show at Fools and Horses on Broadway!

Night Swim after the concert!

August 6th we were invited to our friends place for her daughters second birthday party!  The girls love going to their house to play and especially when Erica makes her delicious food.  She served yummy waffles with all the fixes and ordered a gorgeous birthday cake from Jenna Rae's cake.  I loved all her decorations of Peppa the Pig!  So cute!  

August 7th Claire started her Ballet Dance Camp at Shelley Shearer Dance Academy.  She was so excited to get back into dance since being away from it since the end of June.  She was nervous at first about meeting some new friends but warmed up right away when she saw her teacher from last year, Ms. Liza.  It started at 10 am and finished at 12 noon.  Abby and I had a chance to spend some one on one time together while Claire was at camp for the week.  They would dance for a little while, then have a snack and do a cute craft.  She made a bird house and painted it, a pot of flowers, a noise maker and a glittery ballerina doll.  

On Friday, August 12th I met up with my girlfriends for a girls night out.  We booked a couple tables at different restaurants, what we like to keep our options open!  We ended up at Cibo a new restaurant on the river side a little ways down from the ball park.  I had never been there before so I was excited to try some new food.  It didn't disappoint.  I spoiled myself that night and ordered a steak, cheesy pasta and grilled tomato.  After we went to a dessert place I had heard was good called Choco Berry.  Erica and I shared a cookies sundae and Angela enjoyed a green tea.  It was a wonderful night to catch up and chat without little ones running around and calling for us every couple minutes. 

Sunday, August 14th Kyle was in Toronto for the weekend so I decided to invite my two girlfriends over with their husbands and kiddos.  It was going to be a hot and sunny day so I thought why not have everyone over to enjoy the pool together.  I went ahead of time to Cramptons to pick up cinnamon buns and cut up fruit to serve for breakfast snacks while they were here.  I also made healthy GF chocolate chip cookies and GF Banana Bread.  The food and pool were a big hit and everyone had a blast!!  Kyle was sad he missed it but there are hopefully more pool days ahead of us still.  

On Wednesday, August 17th  Kyle and I had the chance to go out for dinner to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary to 529.  Our anniversary is July 26th but because both our parents go out to the cabin pretty much all summer and my sister is pregnant right now it's hard to get a babysitter.  Luckily Kyle's parents were so nice to take the girls for two nights to the lake so I could go into school and get my classroom ready and we could go out for dinner just the two of us.  We sat out on their beautiful patio and it was a perfect evening enjoying sangria and a cocktail.  We shared a steak, chef potatoes, salad and tuna tartar.  Everything was delicious!  

Wore my pink dress for the first time from Mad about Style

Perfect Hydrangeas plus they were in my wedding bouquets 

Through out the week we rode our bikes and walked to different parks in our neighbourhood.  We also went for ice cream many many times to our favourite place, Crampton's right by our house.  It's a  15 minute bike ride or 30 minute walk.  

We have been slowly getting our butts in gear for back to school.  Man it's tough!  I know, I know, I have no reason to complain I have had the whole summer off.  So I went into my classroom for a few days to get things ready for my students starting on Sept 7th, you know me I like everything organized.  I was able to get to some things I just shoved in cupboards or drawers in the last month of school hoping they would magically fix themselves so I took sometime doing that.  I made some different seating areas in my room for student to use.  I didn't take a photo of them unfortunately, but I sure love it!  My dad was awesome last year and stripped 3 wooden stumps I found on a boulevard to use in my classroom, I'm hoping he can find me 3 more this year, the students love sitting on them instead of chairs.  I bought another lamp to create a soft feel and more cushions and changed most of my baskets from plastic to wicker.  My Visa was on fire!  Thank goodness I get to hand in my reciepts soon. Phew!  We also went out and bought the girls runners for school and found the cutest Nikes at Sportcheck.   The girls and I have also been baking here and there and freezing muffins and cut up banana bread for their breakfasts and lunches.  

Don't mind the mess I am slowly getting my S#*^ together!

On Saturday, August 20th we headed to another cuties birthday party for a friends little girl who was turning 4 years old.   She had rented a bouncy castle for the kids to use. Her theme was Pink and Gold Minnie Mouse.  She made a delicious dinner, stuffed burgers with cheese and bacon, hotdogs, salad and slow cooker bbq rice.  Everything was amazing and so was their backyard, lots of places to chill out and lounge.  The girls LOVED the little playhouse.  It's WAY better than ours, full kitchen with all the appliances, a little carpet, stool and gardening tools.  So cute!  What a great night!