My birthday weekend (slightly overdue post...)!

What a fantastic 35th birthday celebration I had!!!  It started off with this: 

Beautiful view from our room at the Ritz

Champagne and strawberries!  Yum! 

What a beautiful pool area the Ritz has

Richard and I decided to take advantage of a residents rate that the Ritz has so we booked ourselves into the hotel over the November long weekend.  We had a great weekend of good eats, good drinks and lots of relaxation.  Once we checked out (which I didn't really want to do!), Richard played a game of golf and I hit up the Westin spa with some girlfriends.  It was great to be pampered and to get caught up with them - life has been so busy for all of us and it was so nice to connect.  I enjoyed a lot of birthday emails and phone calls too - I am very spoiled.  After working the day on my actual birthday, Mike and Julie had us over for supper.  Yum.  Roast chicken, all the fixings and CAKE!  Julie makes the best cakes ever. 

A couple of days later, AK was able to join the celebrations.  She sent a really sweet voice note singing "Happy Birthday" to me, I tried to figure out how to upload it to share with you but I have no idea...  anyone have any ideas on how to work with an .amr file?  Didn't think so... 

AK set the table ALL BY HERSELF!  AK is in her pyjamas as we had a pyjama popcorn princess party :)

The sparkler goes right there!

Sparkly!

Look at this beautiful card AK made for me! 

Such a gorgeous girl

As I mourned the loss of my youth (ha), I stopped to reflect on where I was a year ago.  How quickly life changes...  a year ago on my birthday, I had been in Honduras with a new group of people, new friends, and I faced some challenging adventures.  It was an amazing weekend that really opened my heart up to new possibilities...  and here I am, a year later, having just celebrated one year of dating with Richard :)  AK and I really love having him as part of our family and I am SO excited to see what the next year will bring the three of us! 

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2 - Decorating!

Yesterday, we put up this Christmas tree that seems to be on its last legs, strung it up with not quite enough lights, and then placed Christmas ornaments in a very unbalanced way...  this somehow gives us one absolutely perfect tree!!!  I didn't take any pictures of the decorating process but I got AK to pose in front of the tree today for me.  Doesn't take much convincing to get this diva to strike a pose!

AK had a blast with the decorating...  she was in the thick of it all, from trying to get the tree together, to checking out the lights...  and she very carefully placed nearly every single ornament on the tree (hence the concentration of decorations near the bottom!).  She absolutely delighted in every single ornament...  we Skyped with Richard's parents as we decorated, and she very proudly showed off many of her favorite ornaments.  When we Skyped with my folks later, she was pulling over her very favorites to tell Grandma and Grandpa about them.  I really enjoyed her reactions as I myself love looking at the ornaments and reminiscing about them - perhaps where they came from, or who gave them to me.  It's a special process and I feel like AK is embracing that as well! 

We played some Christmas tunes and Richard and I enjoyed some "special" coffee in our Christmas mugs...  we got all the decorations sorted out and there is definitely a Christmas feel about our house!  I have to admit that I am struggling a wee bit with AK's propensity towards "undecorating", if she likes a decoration enough, she will take it down to play with but of course she's not quite grasped the concept of putting it back when she's done.  This just adds a whole 'nother element to cleaning up every day...  redecorating...  Christmas Cheer will come in handy during my cleaning stints ;)

Who put that cheeseball under the tree??? 

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1 - Parade of Lights

Waiting, waiting, waiting!

 I decided to do 12 Days of Christmas with AK...  starting on Saturday, we have done something special related to Christmas celebrations or festivities.  We kicked off with the Parade of Lights - a parade of boats decorated with Christmas lights.  Could have chosen something better...  the Parade was lovely but slow, AK was happy to see the boats but was only interested in a glance at them before wanting the next one to come along!  We did kill some time by taking some family portraits...  now to figure out which one goes on the Christmas card :) ha!  Once the Parade was over, the long-awaited and amazing fireworks finally started!  That was definitely the hightlight of the evening for all of us. 

Despite the lengthy delays waiting for the Parade and then the fireworks, we made a lovely evening out of it.  We got to Camana Bay early and got ourselves a picnic supper from Black Trumpet, then found a nice spot to eat it and wait.  AK amused herself by running around and making friends with kids around her.  She is such a social butterfly and it really warms my heart to see her talking with new people.  We may need to revisit the concept of Stranger Danger though!  A lady gave AK the glow stick that you see her with above, and she thanked her with a wee kiss on the cheek!  So sweet...  AK revels in the comfort of being within close range of me and knows that she is safe. 

We were happy to get home and AK enjoyed opening the first box on her Advent Calendar.  I found a really cool one shaped like a Christmas tree that has re-usable boxes on it, so I put some M&Ms and a small Christmas ornament in each box.  Every night, AK gets a little treat and puts the ornament on the little tree in her room.

I mentioned to her the other day, when she was misbehaving, that Santa was watching her and didn't like it when she is naughty...  hoping to get some better behavior...  well the thought of Santa not bringing her gifts brought her to tears.  Oops.  I don't think that's going to be an effective way to keep AK in line! 

Funny family!

Silly girl!

The family that sticks their tongues out together...  well...  sticks their tongues out together!  :)

We look alright once in a while!!!

Thanksgiving at School

Wee Care held a Thanksgiving Day today.  The students were encouraged to dress up in a way that depicted an aspect of their cultural heritage.  AK proudly wore her vinok with a beautiful dress.  She was pleased as punch to get all dressed up. 

We have had so much fun lately.  Last weekend was busy but loads of good times.  Friday night, we attended a Thanksgiving dinner put on by the school.  While Richard ran AK's bags out to the car, she showed me how she likes to play hopscotch.  She fell backwards on her bum and popped right up and said that she was fine.  At that point, her classmate David ran up and gave AK a big hug, which made AK giggle.  She then told David that she'd "hurt my bum bum!".  Hilarity...  thank goodness she didn't ask David to kiss her bum-bum better... 

On Saturday we had a lovely visit with Sue and Kylie.  The girls are at a perfect age where they can play together and have a great time - which they did for about three hours!  It was nice for Sue and I to be able to visit and not have to mediate fights or tussles!  Saturday night we headed downtown to watch the closing fireworks of Pirates Week.  This was the first time that AK enjoyed the fireworks and didn't flinch from or complain about the sound.  It was a beautiful colorful display and I'm so glad we were able to watch from the balcony at work.

On Sunday we headed over to Dart Park to a classmate's birthday party.  AK played hard and came home as dirty as I've ever seen her!  We have another birthday this coming weekend so I'm sure that'll be a great time too.

All dressed up

At Camana Bay with Matthew McQueen, Hunter the Pilot and Gracie the strawberry <3 br="br">

Beautiful Sleeping Beauty xo

I wasn't able to go trick or treating with AK this year but some very thoughtful friends shared the photos above with me.  Sounds like AK had a great Halloween!!!  

ps - sorry about the sideways photo...  I've rotated it several times and it keeps loading up sideways for some reason.  Ah well!

Special Education Service

First Baptist held a special education service about a month ago (a little behind, am I?) and she and I attended.  AK and her class performed a couple of songs near the beginning of the service, and they did really well!  AK had no fears or nerves about being in front of such a big audience.  Such a brave girl!  Click here for the video... 

About 5 of the girls in AK's class sat together during the rest of the service, about an hour and a half!  They behaved tremendously well and were excited just to be together for a while.  They all sat in a row along the pew, and talked and giggled (mostly quietly).  When one had to go to the washroom, they all got up and went.  So cute how young they are, yet they're already going to the washroom together!

Pumpkin guts!

Ewww pumpkin guts!!!

Not sure Richard likes the guts anymore than AK does!

 

Glamour shot!

Thick as thieves, these two are! 

Voila - Jack the Pumpkin!

AK and I introduced Richard to yet another tradition this year - pumpkin carving!!!  We had a blast...  the pumpkin was reasonably thin and soft and so was very easy to carve.  Still didn't keep me from worrying that someone was going to carve a thumb right off!

I saved the pumpkin seeds to roast but I guess there was a bit of water in the bowl and they sprouted instead...  had I realized, I would have eaten them right away as apparently they are quite good about 12 hours after they've sprouted.  Any longer, and they get bitter.  That I know...

We gutted the other pumpkin and I roasted them both.  This one above got made into pumpkin soup and the other one was just roasted and frozen for future baking.  I meant to do make some pumpkin bread / muffins with AK tonight but she is off to her daddy's tomorrow and Richard and I aren't around this weekend, so I decided to wait until next week and then AK and I 'll make an evening of it!  I managed to dry some of the seeds from the other pumpkin as AK needed some to take into school for planting so I'm glad I was able to get that done properly!