Day 311 - Halloween!

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.
~Author Unknown

We had a wonderful Halloween evening. The little Diva collected candy in her bucket and was super happy with it! I don't think she even realizes that everything is edible - but she knows there are smarties in there, and she knows that those are yummy! She grabbed them herself from our candy bowl before heading out :)

I'm exhausted though and way too full so I'll wish you sweet dreams and hope that your Halloween was equally fun! 

Day 310 - We didn't blow away!!

So I was all set last night for the "Frankenstorm" that the news anchors were telling us about! There was a lot of wind - but for some reason I was envisioning being woken up by loud cracks of thunder and lightening - that didn't happen. I was up at 4am though and it was incredibly windy - our door must have some kind of wind leak happening cause it HOWLS like it's no one business. Very fitting for Halloween week though!

That being said - I am glad we didn't blow away or lose power and I hope that those in worst hit areas get the help they need.

I do need to go watch Sons of Anarchy so I bid you an awesome night - Happy Wednesday everyone!!!

Day 309 - Windy and MORE windy!

Whew - it sounds like our house is going to blow away! Apparently we have hurricane Sandy to thank for this crazy wind. I'm wondering if the little Diva will sleep through the worst of it which is supposed to hit between midnight and 4am. There was a storm probably more than a year ago and the little Diva came to sleep in our bed when the thunder got too loud. I am hoping though that it doesn't get too crazy. I'm also keeping my fingers tightly crossed that we don't end up with a power outage - sounds like MANY of the surrounding areas are already without power.

On that note though I think I want to go fill up a water bottle and make some tea while we still have power.

Keep warm and safe everyone - Happy Tuesday!

Day 308 - My little Ponies

The little Diva loves to watch videos on the iPad. The only complaint I have is that she loves to restart videos and by "restart"- I mean she doesn't let it run all the way to the end. She gets to a point where she figures, "hey why don't we see the beginning again?" There is this one particular episode of My Little Ponies that is haunting me - I have seen the start of this thing a billion times and actually think I HAVE to grab the iPad and WATCH it when the Little Diva is napping! It's driving me nuts that I don't know how it ends!!

On that note I trust that everyone had an AMAZING weekend. If you haven't already bought your Halloween candy - you are running out of day to go grab some and rumour has it things are going to be wet and rainy!!

Sweet dreams to all! Happy Monday :)

Day 306 & 307 - Sleep...

is very definitely NOT overrated! There was a time not too too long ago where I was convinced that sleep was overrated and that it wasn't really something I needed to be too concerned about. I may have been a student and I may too have been ingesting COPIOUS amounts of coffee.. so perhaps therein lies my problem.... apparently my coffee meter is running on empty? Oh well - too much makes me jittery and anxious anyway :P

So I was all set to blog last night - I fired up the laptop and the poor thing was unable to connect to our wifi network. I could have marched downstairs and reset the router but instead I decided to take it as a sign that I was being given permission to sleep and that is just what I did. So I do apologize!

We had family over today for a little Halloween gathering. I made a slow cooker stew and bat cupcakes! They weren't perfect but I had fun making them and really that was the point! My mom bought delicious garlic bread and my sis-in-law bought the yummiest ketchup chips I have ever eaten - there was a second flavour but I will ignore it because these were just so awesome!

On that note I think I need to scoot here too - the hubby needs help folding the mountain of laundry that is gracing our bed.

Sweet dreams all, happy Sunday!!

Day 305 - So tired!

There seems to be some weird weather/night time issue happening in my neck of the woods. No one seems to be getting a good night of sleep. Perhaps out subconscious-es have figured out that winter and darker days are coming and they are trying to make us enjoy the last few warms days while we still can by keeping us up?

Yeah I doubt that is it either. Whatever is is thought it's making for whiny toddlers, grouchy parents and zombie-fied people in general. That being said though - I do hope that tonight finds us all enjoying a lovely night of sleep so that we can wake refreshed and ready to kick Friday's ass!

Oh and just before I go - we had a wonderful Thursday, the Little Diva and I went to her play group. The activity today was a nature walk! The kiddies were armed with a brown paper bag to collect fall leaves. The little Diva had a blast - she held my hand for practically the entire walk and commented on all the things she saw along the way. She is such a fun little person to chat with. It was priceless. She stopped every now and then to pick up a leaf amidst telling me repeatedly that the walk was "So FUN!! So FUN!!".

Sweet dreams to all and Happy FRIDAY!!

Day 304 - Reading!

I received the first four "Game of Thrones" books as a Birthday gift last year and it ABSOLUTELY pains me that I have yet to make it through the first book. I am close though. It's not that I'm not enjoying the book - heck I am loving it. I just cant find/make the time to read and that is scary! I used to devour books in a day. I guess when you get all older and mature and responsible and stuff - things have to fall by the wayside. Here's to squeezing in time to relax.

I had a lovely morning; my sis-in-law and one of her kiddies, B, came to visit. We had a great time chatting and the kids played really well together. It was so nice to see the little Diva sharing her toys. It seems that the bigger the group is, the more likely we are to have little squabbles etc.

I am looking forward to having the family over again on Saturday for Halloween - I'm planning to make Bat cupcakes so stay tuned for photo's of those if they turn out well :)

Until tomorrow - night night all. Happy Thursday!

Day 303 - Exhausted!

YAWNERS and YAWNERS again. I am WIPED! It seems the little Diva didn't sleep at all last night. Ok, she must have done some sleeping, but from about 4am I was pretty darn wide awake. She kept whimpering in her sleep and either the hubby or I would get up to tuck her back in. I don't think that she was cold, she was wearing socks and her room wasn't chilly. I even went so far as to feed her a drinkable yogurt at around 5:30 in hopes that she was just hungry and it would settle her. I think it might have helped a weee little bit but the hubby still got up 2 or 3 more times before the little snuggle monster came running into our room to hop in bed with us and give mommy a snuggle at around 7:45am.

As can be imagined, hubby and I were not exactly bouncing out of bed with grins on our faces after the sleepless morning and the little goober was SUPER whiny! It made for a pretty bleary, eyed, bleak looking, grumpy, whiny collection of family members at breakfast time. The little Diva has dark circles under her eyes and I'm hoping they're better by tomorrow - after she has a fitful night of sleep of course!

I did take her to play at the center today and she had a blast. The sandbox was filled with a bale of hay, spiders, bats and orange coloured gems for Halloween and the Little Diva and her friend E had a BLAST! At one point the little Diva discovered a basket and collected 4 little pumpkins. One of the other bigger boys bought her a fifth one. She took it with a huge grin and said "Thank you, thank you thank you MUCH!! It was priceless to see this boys WHOLE face light up with his smile. He was so happy that he'd made the little goober happy!

The kids also played in the gym and had fun running around, climbing through a tunnel, rolling, kicking and dunking balls. It was great to watch the kids being kids! It really does make my heart burst with love and happiness to see my little girl happy and having fun.

Then it was time to head back home. Uncle M visited and bought my cookies from my mommy which made me super happy too they are SUPER yummy, and yes I managed not to eat them all in one sitting!! Thank you for not eating them boet!!

I am going to scoot here though so I can go watch a couple of my shows - Tuesday is a busy PVR night; Sons of Anarchy, Raising Hope and New Girl!

Day 302 - Christmas is in the air?

Am I the only one who gets a little traumatized when witnessing Christmas decorations EVERYWHERE before Halloween has even come and gone? I could be, I mean I'm pretty easy to traumatize... well ok not really but silly things can and do irk me to proportions quite easily approaching traumatize-ation!

It just seems that as soon as September hits there's this mad dash to wind up the rest of the year.. Let's cram in Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, and round it all off with New Years Eve. Whew - I'm exhausted just thinking about the next couple of months. I know it will be a blast, it always is - I just sometimes wish it didn't have to feel so crazy. I guess that is what happens when you trade in your "child-like wonder" for "adult responsibilities" - for some reason the world hits fast-forward and you better hang on for dear life. My birthday fits in there amongst the insanity of the year end, as does my dad's and I would like to slow down and enjoy both of those too!!

My goal (wish me luck) for the next couple of months is to take things a little easier - you know - not sweating the small stuff, or the big stuff. Life is going to unwind as it will and what's the point in worrying about things before they happen or just overreacting in general. It seems that people who are less highly strung have an easier time of it but here's to working and improving on an area I know I don't exactly earn gold in. Wish me luck and relaxation!

Happy relaxing people and happy Tuesday!!

Day 301 - Fall :)

“But then fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.”
 - Stephen King, Salem's Lot 

Fall is definitely my favourite time of year. The leaves are gorgeous, the days are still pretty decent, not too hot but not too cold either. I haven't baked an apple pie or a pumpkin pie yet and I think I REALLY need to before the pre-Christmas celebrations take off in earnest.

I hope that everyone has a super duper week! Happy Monday folks :)

Day 300 - Weekends are the best!

We had a good day today. The hubby got a tonne of cleaning done while the little Diva and I snuggled and watched TV. The main floor looks AWESOME! We got tonnes of laundry folded and our house is looking all kinds of tidy - well the main level at least! Upstairs is still pretty messy but I guess that is tomorrow's quest.

NaNoWriMo starts on November first and I am seriously contemplating a re-write and completion of the novel I started last November. I've said it before and I will say it again - I have a book inside me - harassing me to get written. It will GET DONE. I just need to make the time. So the plan is to finish the other things I need to get done before November starts. I have a couple of days so here's hoping!

Anywho back to enjoying the weekend - Happy Sunday people!

Day 299 - unwind and relax!

Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.
- Bill Watterson.



And there is your challenge for this weekend! Kick up your heels, relax, and spend some quality time wasting time.... or you know, relaxing - that will work too!


I'm using my Friday to unwind so until tomorrow - Happy Saturday!

Day 298 - Baby-Marrow (AKA Zucchini) Stew!

My mom mentioned to me that they made baby-marrow stew over the weekend and I have been CRAVING it since then. I remember as a kid being SUPER excited when Mom bought baby-marrows (zucchinis) and sandwich ham home. Excited, because it generally meant dad would cook up a big pot of the stew. We would literally finish it between our 5 family members and I do remember there were always complaints that there weren't leftovers so that we could have seconds! The stew was/is THAT good!

So yes I cooked up a pot. I used chicken sandwich meat though as our home is a no-pig zone. The recipe I have is handwritten and a result of my taking notes as my dad cooked. The instructions include such fun measurements as a "lekker handful" of cheese. I am no longer quite so clear on just how much cheese that entails so I will need to hang out with dad for a refresher course.

The stew still turned out yummy but it wasn't quite as awesome as dads! It is chock full of zucchini, chicken and cheese with some milk, corn starch, salt, pepper and mustard powder. It is AMAZINGLY delicious. Even the little Diva seemed to enjoy it!

Until tomorrow - Happy FRIDAY FOLKS!!!

Day 297 - tired of my whining yet?

yep I'm feeling more human today. I'm thinking that when my doctor tries to coerce me into getting the flu shot I'll just tell her, "no thanks had it already" - you know, as in the flu. In all seriousness thought this is probably just a head cold but it has knocked me on my ass. Stay tuned for my miraculous recovery!

Yesterday the little Diva went shopping with Daddy and came home with a big bag of marshmallows that she had picked out herself. She walked around the grocery store with an empty basket in one hand and her "Mashamash" in the other. She forgot all about her purchase until she'd already gone to bed.

We heard a forlorn little voice over the monitor asking for them. When daddy had to go tell her that bags of marshmallows weren't for snuggling she did sob. The poor little goober though soon realized she would have to stick with her regular snuggle toy and was fast asleep soon after.

This morning though she remembered about them right away and it took some convincing to have her eat breakfast first. As soon as she was done she asked for them again and while I enjoyed my morning coffee she watched cartoons and stuffed her cheeks with candy. It was super cute :)

Night night all - happy Thursday all!

Day 296 - Snot/coughing/not feeling great

So I had another day of feeling not so great. I'm feeling a little better and I'm hoping that a good night of sleep will see me feeling more normal in the morning. The little Diva was thankfully very patient with her mommy. We spent lots of time watching tv, reading books and building lego towers. Hopefully tomorrow will be more inspiring!

Until then - good night everyone. Happy Wednesday!

Day 295 - Lazy Day!

I had a lovely lazy day today. Dadoos came over and entertained the Little Diva. It was so much fun to watch them sitting on the couch playing on the iPad. Dadoos taught the little Diva how to play "Angry Birds" and "Paper Toss". It was hysterical because the Little Diva kept shooting the angry birds the wrong way and then laughing hysterically. I was giggling just watching the two of them giggling.

"Paper Toss" was just as entertaining. The Little Diva kept telling Dadoos, "Throw a tissue in garbage!!" and when it went it there was applause and cheers of "Good Girl!!!" It was way too cute. In the beginning Dadoos wasn't allowed to play - she just had to watch. When she started chatting to me instead the Little Diva was NOT happy with the drop in her attention and suddenly Dadoos was being given turns again. When she got one of the paper balls in the garbage she also got clapping and cheering from the Diva. It was adorable!

I'm off to sleep - feeling better today but still a tad snotty!

Take care all - happy Tuesday!

Day 294 - colds SUCK!

I have the sniffles, throat owies and all out sinus stuffiness. I am not a happy camper in the snot-free-sinus department. I'm going to pour myself some more pineapple juice and slink off to bed. I apologize for the lack of typing lately but here's hoping things pick up sooner than later!

Sweet dreams all and Happy Monday!

Day 293 - WAY too late to type!

Yawners, so we had a long day and it's super late. I'm trying to put more effort into my book - this thing is seriously HAUNTING me.... so here's a little writing quote I thought was amusing and I hope to get more time to blog tomorrow :)

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”
- Dorothy Parker

Day 292 - Inspiring quote

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

― Mother Theresa

Day 291 - Brrrrr!

It is chilly out there. I just took about 5 minutes to locate the weather app on my phone (yes it confirmed my diagnosis of chilliness!). The little Diva placed the app in a folder called "Weather" along with the Google app. Apparently those two have something in common? I seriously wish there was a way to lock my phone so that she can't actually make any changes. I have it locked up so that she can't delete apps, but she's quite capable of moving them around and she often changes settings too. She is getting WAY too smart :D Makes this momma proud even if it means I really need to use the search option to find my apps.

Anyway, yes it is chilly. The little Diva is napping and I honestly have no idea what we will do for the rest of the day. I'm thinking lunch and then hiding in here where it is warm.... or maybe we can got for a walk at the mall, but lets just wait and see what the afternoon brings. She's still a wee bit snotty but I think the humidifier in her room is making sure that it doesn't develop into anything worse!

I should probably get some laundry on before she wakes up though and maybe get the dishwasher unpacked, totally not in the mood but at least if I do it now I won't have to worry about it later :) I hope everyone is having a smashing good Thursday and that Friday brings only good things your way!

Until tomorrow - stay happy folks :)

Day 290 - Super sleepy

No one slept well last night. Well, perhaps the cat did - he hasn't complained yet. The little Diva was up a lot last night and daddy was up with her. I didn't sleep well. We all seem to have runny noses this morning. I guess it is that time of year when doctors start trying to convince you to get the flu shot. We all look a little like zombies today, well not the little Diva. Aside from the boogers and slightly crankier personality she is bouncing off the walls as per usual :)

Ugh... anyway the little Diva and I stayed home for the most part today. She had boogers dripping out of her nose and I didn't want to get dirty looks from the other mom's at the play group for bringing a sick kid. We did make a quick trip to the grocery store though because I needed a calling card, and also the little Diva had been asking me for cookies for days. We got several varieties of cookies so our pantry is well stocked again.

We then came home and had a blast eating cookies and also playing in the little Diva's kitchen. It is really WAY too much fun to just sit and watch her :) Little kids have the best imaginations!

Until tomorrow, I need to drag my bum to bed, sweet dreams! Happy Thursday everyone :)

Day 289 - Curb - 1, me - 0

So we had a pretty fun day today... and by fun I mean somewhat frustrating. I clipped a curb in the parking lot where I take the little Diva to her play group. The freaking tire popped. It wasn't as if I drove over a sharp pointy curb - I just clipped a rounded one and apparently that was enough to completely annihilate the tire.

My friend C was really helpful watching the little Diva while I dealt with roadside assistance and we were soon relaxing and having fun with the play group. We made a sticky mess with glue and glitter and the little Diva painted a picture. We were there until they closed. The roadside assistance guy got their within the 1 and a half time frame they gave me and we were soon on our way home. The afternoon was filled with a visit to the car dealership for a new tire. Thankfully the rim wasn't too badly damaged so that didn't need to be replaced.

Anyway it's been a long day and I'm off to unwind! Night, night all - Happy Wednesday ya'all!

Day 288 - Thankful for burnt beans.

I'm thankful for burnt beans because they give me the excuse to try the recipe again and this time use the SLOW COOKER overnight! Yup I can't believe I actually burnt the freaking things but there were still a few not entire soft beans in the mix so I added more water and set the pot to boil again. I was standing there listening to it start to warm up, waiting to stir it when I smelt burning. There was a tad too many black flake of burnt beans rolling around in the pot when I stirred it to think that it could possibly be saved.

Oh well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Granny and Grandpa's today. We had tonnes of yummy food. Garlic bread, soup, chicken, beef roast, rice, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, rice and dessert with custard. Mmmm Great food, wonderful company and a reminder to be thankful every single day! The little Diva was obviously impressed with the spread because she started looking for a birthday cake!! hehe it was super cute.

Anywho I hope that you all got to spend time with loved ones this weekend and took the time to think of those things you're grateful for. Try to remember this feeling of gratitude each and every day!

Until tomorrow, Happy Tuesday folks!

Day 287 - Too tired to post!

But I'll make it quick none-the-less!

Today FLEW by. I put on a pot of baked beans - which to my horror are still not soft (and yes I did soak the beans overnight)... they are slowly simmering away and will be turned off when I go to bed. They will still be warm in the am and if not 100% soft the pot will go on again. I really should just have made them in the slow cooker. Ah well I know for next time.

I also made some babotie (delicious South African meat dish - I will share the recipe at some point) as well as an upside-down fruit cake of sorts (also a South African recipe). The dessert is for thanksgiving tomorrow with my side of the family.

We had a lovely dinner this evening with Dadoos, Mandada, one of my hubby's uncles and his grandfather. We had a blast. Delicious food and fabulous company.

This is turning into quite the awesome Thanksgiving weekend!

Stay tuned for Thankfulness tomorrow (well technically today, just a few hours later). Sweet dreams all, Happy Thanksgiving Monday!!!

Day 286 - All hail the KALE!

Right so you may be wondering about my slightly ridiculous title today. Well, I am proud to say that I have FINALLY cooked with kale! Yup, it's taken a while but I spotted a recipe in Today's Parent magazine and figured, "Hmmm that sounds yummy and also isn't kale some kind of super-food or something?" and so I cooked it! Yay vitamins and fibre and all that jazz.

The recipe was for a lentil and kale soup. We didn't have too much going on today so after we did a wee bit of cleaning we took a family trip to the grocery store. I had fun hanging out with my hubby and kiddo. We also finally replaced the shower caddy thing that has been sitting in our shower quietly rusting away. Ugh, gross... so yes the replacement is supposedly stainless steel and rustproof - so it better live up to it's promises!

Anywho so yes - the recipe worked out well and I'm happy to report that I will cook with it again! I was surprised that it didn't get all soft and squishy like spinach - it stayed a little chewy and was actually pretty yummy. 

I have plans to make babotie and baked beans from scratch tomorrow - so wish me luck. AND that reminds me I need to go add water to the navy beans so that they can soak over night.

Until tomorrow - Happy Sunday folks!

Day 285 - Turkey Weekend has BEGUN!

Whoooeee, so today went by in a blur. We didn't do too much but there was a stint at the mall where I got a super yummy green tea latte and the little Diva got a cookie so we were all happy! Daddy and the little Diva also did some shopping at Toys R Us and came home armed with a couple of trains and a new track. They played with it for HOURS. The Diva had a blast although she was not a fan of the musical coach daddy picked out. At one point it sounded and she proceeded to try remedy the situation by beating it with one of the wooden tracks while yelling "STOP!!" It was about the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Mr. Kitty most certainly has a cold of some sort and is sneezing all over the place. He spent most of the day hiding/sleeping in the basement so I'm pretty certain he's not feeling his best either. I booked an appointment at the vet for him tomorrow so hopefully we will fix the snotty cat sooner than later. Cat boogers are pretty gross.

Anywho I need to get me to bed. Until tomorrow, Happy Saturday folks!

Day 284 - Slowly cleaning...

Our house looks like a disaster zone; and not after relief workers have come in and secured the area. Nope, it is raw and messy. I have our bags on the floor near the front door. I am confident that all of the clothes are out of them and either already washed and put away or lined up to jump in the washer. There are a few things left in them to sort out - shoes and such things. I spent a chunk of time today doing laundry and getting some order back to the kitchen/living room area.

It is slowly starting to look less scary. I'm hoping that by the end of tomorrow our house will be almost back to "accepting visitors without lengthy apologies and begging for understanding" status.

We picked up our cat, Mr. Kitty, today and after waltzing around the place sounding like a foghorn he seems to have settled back down. For some odd reason he has grown a couple more freckles on his nose. It makes him look cuter and Google suggests that it is a common occurrence amongst Tabby cats. Me thinks perhaps he had his nose glued to the window in his suit!

Here's to a relaxing but productive Friday and an AWESOME start to the Thanksgiving weekend! Happy Turkey Days folks :)

Day 283 - Caught up - sort of...

Whew, I am caught up with my blog and I apologize for taking so long. I decided to cut myself some slack while on holiday. It was just too difficult to try keep up while not at home. I figured my family deserved all of my time while I was there! It was great. We had fun in both Dallas and Calgary but are definitely happy to be home. We have the next couple of days to try get things back to normal before the hubby has to go back to work.

It can be done! Wish me luck and stick around - the posts should get more regular soon.

Health and happiness to everyone - Happy Thursday!

Day 282 - So, So tired.

We were up at 4:30am this morning and out of the house by 5am. It was WAY too early. We got to the airport with Granny and Grandpa and met up with my brother and his family there. I think it is a fair statement to say that NO ONE looked ready to be up yet.

We grabbed breakfast at Tim Horton's and then bid farewell to My brother and family and the grandparentals. 15 minutes later we were on our way to board as well. People on the 7am flight are not so great smelling - just saying...

The little Diva slept for several hours on the flight and I wouldn't have minded doing the same.

Today was pretty much a write-off. We are all super happy to be home though. SUPER happy but SUPER tired. The Diva was asleep by 7pm tonight.

Day 281 - L's BIRTHDAY!

Today went by in a blur. We started the day by taking L a cake in her bed and singing "Happy Birthday". Unfortunately she had been up for some time and the only reason she was still in bed was because I told her she was not allowed to get up! hehe It's hard to get everyone in the same place at the same time when you have a big family!! :D So much fun though.

We were going to go for a walk in Fish Creek but the clouds started looked a tad ominious and so we decided that an ice-cream outing made way more sense. Granny, Grandpa, cousin L, my hubby and the Little Diva all set of for Marble Slab to destroy our diets in one foul "scoop". The ice-cream was AMAZING and I think half the fun was decided what to put into it.

The hubby was super entertained when L and I started pulling the chocolate chips out of our ice-creams. They were really good but they just took away from the chocolate ice-cream at some point.

The little Diva was not impressed with Daddy's ice-cream and situated herself on Granny's lap and proceeded to help herself! Luckily Granny didn't mind sharing.

Granny and Grandpa took ice cream and cones back to the house so that the little Diva's cousins E and B could have some too. Of course the Diva needed some more and I got the cutest photo's of them making Aunty S's house nice and sticky. At one point the little Diva had two cones, I guess B had had enough and she figured she hadn't...hehe

Supper was in honour of L's birthday and was the yummiest spaghetti bolognese and gem squash followed by creme brullee. It was so, so good. The little Diva ate a HUGE plate of bolognese mixed with squash and decided to have ginger cookies in place of the brulle! Funny Kid :P

Day 280 - Recovery and More great food and company!

The house still woke up early today - I don't know how everyone did it! By 6am I was hearing footsteps upstairs and the very definite grinding of coffee beans. Our little family was pooped after Saturday and we didn't even stay out as late as some others did. We, the little Diva and I, wandered upstairs and hung out with an equally sleepy Granny and Grandpa. The little Diva was definitely the one with the most energy.

We had a yummy big breakfast and I was super distraught that I missed out on the tomato sauce today (A big pot of cooked up tomatoes, salt and pepper that is AWESOME with eggs and toast). The tomatoes all came from my Granny's garden and the flavour was AMAZING!

We had a tea party for my cousin L's 20th birthday this afternoon. Her real birthday is on Monday but several family members had to leave today because they had work tomorrow.

This evening we set out to go see my friend R and her hubby B! R and I were roommates while we were students and have some pretty entertaining stories to tell. They are expecting their first little one in December and so really enjoyed having a "test-toddler" hanging out. It was pretty entertaining. Of course the little Diva would chose this evening to run into the corner of their dinner table. She cried and our poor friends started not liking their table so much. A few well placed corner protectors with rectify the situation!

B cooked an amazing meal and if I wasn't scared of becoming a sumo-wrestler I probably could have helped R eat the entire giant Costco pumpkin pie they got for dessert!!

DAy 279 - Wedding!

My cousin got married today! He and his wife both looked gorgeous. I managed to do my reading on time without falling up or down the stairs. We then went to Wendy's for a snack while we waited for the reception. The venue was amazing, the decor gorgeous, and the little Diva stayed up late enough to party! She did have an hour long nap while we ate dinner though so she missed out on her giant plate of fries and chicken fingers!! Then it got later and it was time to head back to our temporary home at my aunts to get some well needed rest after starting the day around 4:30am this morning!

Day 278 (Friday) - Library time and Dinner with Friends!

We had a pretty early start to the day. The Little diva and I wandered upstairs to find Granny while daddy got ready - The little Diva was SUPER thrilled to find Granny and Grandpa upstairs! She was still not ready to be friends with her Great Grandpa and Grandma though! WE had breakfast, spent some time with family and then the three of us set off for the library where I used to work.

It was GREAT to see my old campus again and even more amazing to see my coworkers! It's a weird sense to feel as if time stopped in an area while you moved on. Yes the building was more filled with books and yes there were some unfamiliar faces, but on a whole it was as if time had stopped a little in my absence.

We had lunch at Tim Horton's, stopped at Aldo where I found an awesome pair of boots and then we went back to my aunts house for a few hours. Before we knew it we were getting ready to go to the Wedding Rehearsal. It went well and I was pretty confident I knew when to stand up for my reading.

After this we set of for my friends N and B for dinner. N was a coworker of mine at the library and another friends and coworker C joined us as well. It was a lovely evening: great food, great company and a lovely quieter setting! Not that we weren't enjoying all of the family chaos at my aunty, it was just a nice break - I think we were also still de-compressing from the Dallas vacation as well!

Day 277 - Thursday

What a day. Traveling takes a lot out of you. We were up nice and early to pack up our last minute things. The little Diva was still asleep so we let her sleep while we ran around the house like crazy people. I ate breakfast and then when we were basically ready to leave it was time to get her up. I played the little Diva's music and opened her curtains. She got up on her knees, frowned at me, lifted her blanket in the air and lay down and pulled it back up around her shoulders and promptly went back to sleep.

It doesn't get more clear than that eh. "Mom I'm not getting up!"

I figured I'd try a different approach and put on the TV in our room while I went to clean my teeth. Two minutes later the little gumdrop wobbled into our room with her blanket and snuggle buddy. We quickly fed her breakfast, got her dressed and packed all three of us into the car and set off for the airport.

We had a good flight. The little Diva got stinky half way to Calgary so we had some airplane diaper change shenanigans on the way. We discovered that she is a fan of Crispers! Gotta love the fact that Westjet still gives you "free" snacks :D

We got to Calgary happy but sleepy. It was quite strange to be back there - things looked familiar but also not. It's hard to explain but I found a lot of things were the same but different (paint colour changed etc) and some places were completely changed.

It was amazing to get to see a whole bunch of my cousins and aunts and uncles. My grandparents arrived late this evening and it was so good to see them again. It had been WAY too long!