What a full, happy week.
The biggest Happy Thing is the news our family now consists exclusively of people with two digits in their age category. Indy is TEN!!! I’ll dedicate a whole post next week to discussing all the details of his party which was probably my favourite kid party ever. (If nothing else, it was significantly better than his 8th birthday when he ended up hiding in his closet while his friends were at the table eating cake and telling me it was, and I quote: “The worst birthday party EVER.” Which is obviously what every exhausted mother wants to hear after hosting and feeding a gaggle of rambunctious children for an entire afternoon.)
This party was delightful. Indy is delightful. His pint-sized friends are delightful. I not only survived an afternoon with six extra boys in the house (plus a friend for Belle, strategically invited to avoid even a whiff of sibling angst), I actually had honest-to-goodness fun. Kid parties are not my thing, but this time it was heart-eye emojis for everything. And the cherry Smarties on top of the proverbial cake? Indy is currently hosting his first ever birthday sleepover. As I’m writing this, it’s 10:37 pm on Thursday evening and I may have just walked out – it was suspiciously quiet and I had hoped that meant they were sleeping peacefully – to discover they had raided Indy’s Halloween candy stash. Nothing epitomizes a kid sleepover better than a Twix at 10:30, I suppose…
Aside from birthday celebrations, there were lots of other Happy Things.
SPORTS
Indy had a basketball game last Saturday morning – his first ever. Last year he just had scrimmages, so it was very exciting to watch him play his first inter-league game. Because of how his birthdate falls, he is the second youngest player on this team.
Given the age (and height!) differential and the fact it was his first time playing in this new age category, I was a bit nervous about how he would fare. My concerns were silly. He was the most dominant player on his team – he showed great skill, tremendous confidence, tons of enthusiasm (he was the first kid down the court for defence, and the first kid up the court for offence), and perhaps most wonderfully – he was amazing at passing! Oh, and he was the number one cheerleader when he was on the bench, clapping and congratulating like nobody’s business.
I was never, ever athletic, so I am definitely living vicariously through my kids. It is so much fun to clap and cheer…and to watch your child ridiculously happy.
Belle had her final volleyball competitions of the school season. Things ended on a bit of a low note since they didn’t win enough games to make it to the next round, but she put in a very solid effort and is definitely a much better volleyball player than her mother!
CLEAN ROOMS
One day I had a bit of extra time and did a deep clean of our bedroom and ensuite. I ran our robo-vac, mopped floors, and dusted. It didn’t take a long time, but it made everything feel so much lighter and cleaner.
Last weekend we sent the kids to their rooms for some quiet time (doesn’t happen much anymore!) while I took a nap. By the time I got up, Belle had completely rearranged her room. It looks fabulous. It’s more streamlined and she also cleaned out some excess stuff. It was like walking into a breath of fresh air and it was extra nice because I didn’t have any hand in it.
THRIFTED FOOTWEAR
Belle is keen to receive some fashionable shoes this Christmas. Her mother is less enthused about the price tag. Unfortunately, these aren’t the sort of things I’m likely to happen across at a thrift store. So I called a local consignment shop and they said they had a pair of UGG slippers ($26) in her size. We stopped by on our way home from school one day…but when we got there, they were black (Disquette) and not quite right. Imagine our delight when we found like-new Sketchers at the same shop! FOR TWELVE DOLLARS.
Do they look exactly like the UGG version?
No. But is $12 a lot more palatable than $155 (what they cost new)? YES!
These will be under the tree on Christmas morning!
THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER
We tend to be too frugal for regular trips to the movies, which has the wonderful upside that whenever we go it feels like an EVENT. And this week the event was more exciting than usual because we bought snacks. We never (well, almost never) buy popcorn. In fact, the kids claimed this was the first time they had ever had movie-theatre popcorn which may just be the truth. It won’t be happening again any time soon – first because of the outrageous expense of movie treats, but also because neither of the kids ate my delicious potato and beef stew supper when we got home because they were full – but it was…so fun.
Also, both kids claim I never read them the picture book version of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I most certainly did, but I’ll let bygones be bygones.
Everyone laughed a lot, and I thought it was a beautiful re-telling of the Christmas story. Highly recommend, especially if you’re already a fan of the book.
BONUS THINGS
- Coffee/tea with Jan. Always a delight to spend time together, and she gifted me some of her wonderful homemade greeting cards!
- Beef stew and baked potatoes (mentioned above). And here’s a bonus Happy Thing: I set it to cook using the automatic timer which I almost never use. It worked like a charm and we arrived home from our movie (also see above) to supper ready to come out of the oven piping hot and delicious. And the house smelled amazing.
- When Indy stayed home sick one day last week, he started to organize the remainder of his Halloween candy and ended up taking much of it out to give to people. Does so and so like such and such? he’d ask me. And then he’d package it up and set it aside for them. *Heart bursting*
- The Great British Baking Show. Over and over this is a Happy Thing for me.
- I went to visit my Soup & Sandwich Friend [for new readers, Soup & Sandwich Friend is a woman in her 80s who calls me the daughter she never had; she usually makes soup and a sandwich for me when I come to visit] while Belle attended a birthday party on Saturday night that was conveniently located 3 minutes from Soup & Sandwich Friend’s house. When I arrived she had a little TV table all set up with a Christmas placement, napkin, and mug for my hot tea. And, as usual, she had the lighthouse guest towel in the bathroom just for me.
- Belle had a birthday party on Saturday (which included time at a rec facility with a pool), had friends over Wednesday and Thursday, has a birthday party today and just got invited to visit some friends in a neighbouring town to bake Christmas cookies tomorrow. My extroverted girl is really getting to exercise those extrovert muscles.
- Coffee with Silk Half-and-Half in my absolute favourite mug.
- Indy’s birthday gift from us – a fish tank. (Bought at a discount price. Of course.) He loves fish, fishing, and anything tangential to the topic. He was so surprised. John captured the big reveal on camera and it was everything we hoped it would be and more. After he got over his shock he came over and gave us each the biggest hug. Tomorrow will involve going to the pet store and picking out his very first pet fish and a castle!
- Choir practice. Pure joy.
- The fact the choir director knew it was Indy’s birthday, had the choir sing Happy Birthday to him, AND brought in mini cupcakes.
- Bedtime.
- Freshly washed PJs.
- The surprise of walking outside and discovering it was warmer than I expected…
- At-home date nights with John.
- Twinkle lights and candles. Yes, I will list these weekly until it is no longer a black abyss outside my windows by 4:30 in the afternoon.
- My parents arrive at their winter rental (a ten-minute walk from our house) IN THREE DAYS.
And that’s a wrap. I feel like I could go on and on listing Happy Things (which is great considering last Friday I wasn’t feeling…so great), but it’s late, I’m exhausted, and tomorrow morning there will be a sleepover breakfast to prepare.
Happy Weekending and see you tomorrow with the results of this week’s giveaway + a fresh giveaway – unfortunately, there is still no movement on the Canada Post strike).
Your turn. Do you have mugs for every season? Do you always get snacks when you go to the movies? Did you enjoy playing sports as a kid; if so, which sport was your favourite? Best birthday party memory ever?
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Coree
Gosh, what a full and lovely week.
Happy Birthday, Indy. Mentally, I thought he and T were closer in age! So exciting about your parents! We’ve not done a ton of cinema trips, I’m not a huge fan. There’s a cheap community centre cinema so tend to go there (£5 tickets) but I keep threatening to bring my own cushion because the seats are so hard. And T went to see wild robot with my dad. But the How to Train Your Dragon live action movie is coming out in June, and we thought we’d splurge and go to the Everyman, which has comfy seats and fancy snacks. I might make a voucher for this and give it as a Christmas present, with a countdown calendar.
It’s gotten very cold here, but no rain, so we’ve had some lovely clear crisp days, and gorgeous star filled nights. I was walking home from the bus the other day with such a clear view of Jupiter. Supposed to be snowing / sleeting tomorrow which might put the kibosh on T’s cyclocross training.
T has a nightmare at 4, and I went in and cuddled him back to sleep (he needs a bigger bed, it’s a squeeze with both of us and the full menagerie of animals), and when I got up to leave, he said “thank you mummy, cuddles make everything better”.
My mum is coming for a few days next week and I’m really excited. We’ve been running on empty and she is such a help. We are going to do a little thanksgiving celebration, and it’s her 66th birthday so we’ll go to our favourite occasion lunch – it doesn’t sound like much, it’s repurposed shipping containers on the cliff (stylish shopping containers, but still…), but it’s got gorgeous views and amazing food.