What's Up Wednesday: April 2024

Oh April -- you have been a month, and you're not over yet. It's been a full month of dance, school trips, work chaos (some good, some... a little less good), Passover, dance volunteering, and various other things. And I don't think our "spring weather" is helping -- some days are gorgeous and sunny and I want to sit in our back yard with a drink in my hand and other days are cold and rainy and I want to lie under three blankets in bed with a good book. Yay spring?!?!

I love answering the What's Up Wednesday questions every month. I like how they help me reflect on the past month. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... I find spring is one of the hardest times to cook for. We're busy, we are over the heavy and hearty winter meals, we haven't yet had consistently good BBQing weather -- it's just a bit of everything around here. So while we have had our first BBQ of the season (YAY!!!!!), we've also had charcuterie and the kids convinced me to make spaghetti and meatballs.

And then with Passover this week we've had matzoh and Manischewitz too!

What I'm reminiscing about... As often happens this time of year, I'm reminiscing about previous spring performances which Rachel has been involved in. This is her last year of only dancing in two shows but she has four different pieces she is a part of. Will you indulge me as I walk down "dance memory lane" a little?

Rachel in 2017 as a gem in Aladdin * Rachel in 2018 as a peppermint lollipop in Mary Poppins * Rachel (as a rainbow) and Sam as a flying monkey in 2019 in The Wizard Of Oz (Rachel was also a flying monkey and 2019 is the only year Sam took one class of dance.)

Dance 2022 -- ballet, modern, and jazz

Dance 2023 -- Northern Lights (modern), Clock Fairy (Coppelia ballet), and Spy Kid (jazz)

What I'm loving... When we've had beautiful spring like weather, I've been LOVING it!!! I've been loving hanging laundry on the line and I've been loving drinking Coke with ice and a bit of lime juice. And I've been loving my pansies on the outdoor table! 

 

What we've been up to... Rachel has been busy with dance -- she's had a couple of performances and also completed her RAD exam this past weekend. Last night we got to go see some her RAD skills and enjoy an ice cream sundae party!

We can never take photos during the performances so I always get Rachel to model her costumes for me. These were her costumes for her company show and dance with the Chamber orchestra as well as the children's chamber choir. (Did I mention there's been a lot of dance recently?!?!?)

We all got to see the solar eclipse. We "only" had 99% totality so it wasn't completely dark but it definitely got dimmer and cooler outside so that was really cool to experience as well. 

 Sam enjoyed his first school overnight trip for three days.

We went to Toronto and celebrated my aunt's 80th birthday! I was so happy to spend an afternoon with family and enjoyed catching up with some of my cousins and other aunts as well.

What I'm dreading... My spring allergies are just starting and I'm already irritated by them. I only developed allergies about five years ago so I'm not used to having them yet and they completely ruin spring for me. I don't stop spending time outside, I'm just a lot more sneezy and miserable than I'd like to be.

What I'm working on... I'm working on finding a family solution to cleaning our house. With all the comings and goings, our house is a bit of a disaster right now and really, we all need to take responsibility for it. It might be time to implement the "family housecleaning night" we had a few years ago again.

What I'm excited about... I finally got hired as the Permanent Head Secretary at my school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been working there for just over two years now in a Temporary position and the permanent position finally got posted a few weeks ago! I'm so excited to be at this school for as long as I want now, and I'm also so excited to finally be a Permanent Head Secretary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My co-workers have been really excited with me so it's been a fun week!

 

What I'm watching/reading... I've been watching Blue Jays games whenever I can. Other than that, I've been watching Rachel at dance!

As for reading, I've read some really great books over the past couple of weeks -- Family, Family by Laurie Frankel which I thought was phenomenal! I also read Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree which was slightly ridiculous but oh so enjoyable. And then I read Kristin Hannah's The Women and Rebecca Serle's Expiry Dates. Like I said, I've read some really great books lately.

What I'm listening to... Oh, I don't know what I'm listening to lately... Yeah, I really don't know what sounds define this month. It's okay though -- the quiet makes me happy too :)

 

What I'm wearing... I'm trying to move away from the heavy sweaters and cozy clothes of winter but our weather hasn't been consistently warm enough to wear my favourite t-shirts and capris, so I'm kind of in an in between stage. I've been wearing a lot of cardigans and t-shirts because it's often cold in the morning but nice enough to shed my jacket in the afternoons -- when it isn't raining that is. I have definitely ditched my socks though! Whoooo hoooo! My feet are so happy!!!

 

What I'm doing this weekend... We're going to our first Blue Jays game of the season and I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... My birthday is at the beginning of the month, Rachel will be dancing in her spring performance, we're (belatedly) celebrating Sam's birthday, and I'm going to a fun musical with a friend! It's going to be a fun, full, month!

What I bought on Amazon... Dave and I got super excited about disc golf when we played with Willem in Virginia over Easter so we bought ourselves a set of discs! Unfortunately, between the weather and our schedules, we've only been able to play once thus far but I see a lot more disc golf in our future! We bought this set here.

So that's what's up with us this last Wednesday in April. A social media friend refers to May as "May-cemeber" and that's absolutely going to be our May this year so I'm taking a deep breath and trying to enjoy moments of calm before all our May activity hits!

All My March Reads

I realize we're almost at the end of April but I haven't yet posted about my March reads. I can always tell when work is getting stressful, and taking all my brain power, because not only do I sleep a lot more, but I default back to In Death books for the bulk of my reading. So the first half of the month I read some great books and then, the last half of the month, I read a lot of the In Death books.

Once the trilogy of The Inheritance Games reaches its climax, this book tells stories about two of the brothers. I thought this book was good but it didn't feel like a vital part of the story. I really think the trilogy can stand alone without this extra book. 

 

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting (way too late at night when I should have been going to sleep) and I loved it. This book made me cry. It's not very deep, but I recommend it.

This is another book which sucked me in. As with all thrillers these days, there is a twist partway through, which I couldn't have anticipated, but which made the book all that more enjoyable and creepy.

I am doing a reading challenge this year through FOLD (Festival of Literary Diversity) and this was one of the books I read for February (albiet a bit late). I was glad to read this story, although sad that stories like this have to exist. Why are people so cruel?

   

  

Here are all the In Death books I read towards the end of March. I'm not going to write about each one of them but I will say, that as the series continues, I find the building and growth of Eve's community much more interesting to read about than the solving of each book's murders.

So that was all my March reading. While April has continued the In Death trend, I have also read some other excellent books. I will write about them eventually, but it likely won't be for a couple of weeks.

March total: 12

2024, thus far: 48

(For interest's sake, 2023, at this time: 43)

Friday Favourite Moments #16 (On A Monday)

I'm currently enjoying the perfect Sunday. We have very little on the schedule so I am doing a little house cleaning, a little organizing, a little blogging, and a lot of "getting things done" all while I drink tea in my pajamas! Did I mention it's the perfect Sunday?!? Plus, I didn't have to set an alarm this morning which just makes it all better.

Below are my Friday Favourite Moments for last week.

1) Baked good from a co-worker

A few of us had an unofficial bet going about a student at work and I won! Sometimes you have to find the fun in frustrating situations and, in this care, I happened to guess right. So my co-worker baked me cranberry scones which absolutely made my morning. They were soooo good!

 

2) Readathon weekend

It's been awhile since I've done a readathon, and I only found out about this one about four days before it happened, but I read all day last Saturday and it was the best thing I could have done. I read three books, we had charcuterie for supper, and the kids even joined me in a "walking and reading" picture. I will write more about the readathon later, but it was definitely a favourite moment in my week.

3) Sam's school trip

Sam was actually gone for three days last week on a school trip. While I didn't love having to drop him off at school at 7:00am on a Sunday, I loved that he had so much fun! His class went to Point Pelee National Park in southern Ontario and they slept in yurts. It was a geography trip and Sam was in a yurt with three of his closest friends. I'm so glad he had such a good time, even if he did sleep for sixteen hours straight when he got home!

 

Another favourite moment from the week was when Sam came home and I got to hug him again!

 

4) Pansy planters

On Sunday morning I helped hand out pansies for the dance fundraiser. I got a hanging basket and a pot for myself. I am so happy with my pansies!!! And having our pot of pansies on our outdoor table makes it feel like spring is actually here! (Even if I am bringing them in every other night due to the threat of snow. Argh.)

5) Rachel baked biscuits

I made a big pot of soup last Monday and Rachel independently baked biscuits to go with them. She was happy to do this and I was happy to enjoy warm, buttery biscuits with our soup. Win-win!

6) Taxes are finished!!!

   There is no picture to go with this one but Dave and I did our taxes on Thursday night. It always hangs over our head, and then they're usually really easy to do. And we got a refund which is really great!!!

So those were my favourite moments from last week. There's a lot going on this week in blog world so I'll see you back here again tomorrow!

Friday Favourite Moments #15 (A Week Late)

So I took an unintentional blogging break. I didn't mean too but other things kept happening and then, by the time I had time to blog, I was too tired to write anything coherent. Now here we are over a week later, and I'm finally back. And I'm prioritizing blogging over doing my taxes and folding laundry! Hahaha! So this is still going to be a Friday Favourite Moments post, but all these favourites are from last week. Hopefully on Monday, I'll post my Friday Favourite Moments from this past week.

1) Laundry Hanging Season!!!

I know I am likely the only person who gets excited about this (well, probably my mom does too!), but I hung my first load of laundry on the line!!! I love when the weather is nice enough to hang laundry outside!!!

2) Buying pansies

I went to my favourite greenhouse and was able to buy pansies (and some ranunculus too!)!!! I was so happy to pick out my pansies. Now I just need the weather to be consistently nice enough that I can plant them outside.

 

3) Disc Golf with Dave

Dave and I bought discs and played a couple of rounds of disc golf on a nice afternoon! It was fun to play and we can't wait to go again sometime.

 

4) The Eclipse

While we weren't in the path of totality, we did get 99% eclipse. It was so cool to experience as a family -- the sky got noticeably darker and it definitely got cooler outside. It was more like dusk, rather than complete darkness, but I'm so glad we got to experience it.

 

5) First BBQ of the season

We enjoyed our first BBQ of the season -- sausage, potato salad, and chickpea salad! This was so delicious and I could eat this meal again right now! The best part was that we grew our own herbs (chives and mint) for the salad.

Last week was a very "spring oriented" week of favourites! We had gorgeous weather and enjoyed all the outside things. Now I'm going to get some laundry folded, and get our taxes done, and then I'll write a post for next week about this past week. Happy Friday!!!