It's Monday!

Hello lovelies! It's Monday again, already, just like that. I read a book with the girls this weekend about a girl who loved who loved Mondays because they were shiny and sparkly. While she loved all of the days of the week for different reasons, I especially love her take on Mondays. It's like she knows me.

I've still been feeling a bit blue this week, but nevertheless the week was full of some important moments. I had roughly one billion health-related appointments that took up most of my time, but they were important for many reasons and will all help me move forward with my health goals in different ways. Around our house we were busy talking about/playing/watching basketball, as Alyce decided to try out for the basketball team at her school. She had never played before but she tried out with all her might. She didn't even seem to mind when she didn't make the team. I'm so proud of her courage. 

Some things that have cheered me up lately include, though are not limited to: my mother's cooking, the beautiful weather, time with Matty, coffee dates with good friends. This week looks promising, with the exception of the dentist appointment I have today. I have plans to spend time with friends, time set aside for cooking, my mum's birthday to celebrate. The girls' birthday party season begins this upcoming weekend (their social calendar boggles me) and so we will prepare with many homemade cards.  

My list of the week:

• Bake a chocolate birthday cake for my mum and a gluten-free alternative for me. (I'm thinking peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.) The girls are home from school this Friday so I expect that I'll have some help.

• Cook lots and lots of greens! More on that soon.

•  Clean out the girls' room while they're at school, with the goal of donating some of the toys they don't use anymore. This will probably not go over well.

• My mood over the past few weeks has kept me from posting here with any regularity. It's my goal this week to post every day during the week. It's a big project, but I'd really like to try.

• Moving my body in the following ways: three days at the gym and impromptu dance parties in the kitchen.

Alright, let's get to it. This week isn't going to start itself. What's on your list?

Be well!
xo


P.S. Are we friends on Instagram? 

It's Monday!

Happy Monday, lovelies! Did you have the greatest Halloween? We did, most definitely. Alyce and Shira were a vampire and skeleton, respectively, and I think they were just the right amount of scary. We went trick-or-treating in the neighbourhood and it was so good to see familiar faces everywhere we turned. We've lived in this community for three years now and it's really starting to feel like home. Such a nice feeling. Oh, and we forgot to carve our pumpkin, but you can't win them all.

Another week. I'm feeling better, trying hard to be gentle with myself on the one hand, while (gently) pushing myself to move ahead with things that help me to feel like myself. I sat down this morning and wrote my intentions for the week and they include going to they gym five days this week. (In related news: I went to the gym this morning, suited up for my water aerobics class with the seniors, only to find out that my class was cancelled. Sigh. It wasn't a total waste, though, because I took myself out for coffee instead.) 

My reintroduction to exercise has been a bumpy one over the last few weeks--it feels amazing to move my body again, and even to sweat (even though I hate sweating), but my sore feet yell at me throughout my workout, no matter what I do, and I end up icing my feet most nights after working out earlier in the day. I should probably see someone about my feet but I'm so exhausted by the thought of seeing ANOTHER care provider about ANOTHER pain problem. Story of my life these days. End rant.

Last week I wrote about missing school, but I'm also beginning to notice that time is speeding by at an alarming rate. Did anyone notice that it's November already? Good grief.

So here is my list for the week:

• Check-in with my family doctor and my naturopath about my moods and some strategies for dietary changes.

• Get my hair cut!

• Visit with a good friend, who will be helping me to get started on knitting my first sweater. I'll be making this one for Shira in purple.

• Bake some banana bread. I've been making this one for years, though I substitute the vegetable oil with coconut oil and I add chocolate chips. Obviously. This time I'll be using gluten-free flour instead of the whole wheat.

• Soup! Butternut squash and tomato lentil.

My week feels full, but in a good way. What about you? What's on your list this week?


Be well!
xo

P.S. Another Monday post.

It's Monday!

It's Monday! Again! I missed my weekly Monday update last week (it was, deliciously, Thanksgiving here in Canada) and it's busy around here, but I'm back at it now. I think an update is in order. So what's been happening here the past couple of weeks? Evening trips to the ice cream shop (who needs summer anyway) and afternoons spent reading at the park in stunning fall weather.

Oh, and we went for more ice cream because we were celebrating that we bought a new car! We all love it, especially Alyce, who will give tours of the car to an willing passerby. Buying a car felt like a very adult-type thing to do, and it's had Matty and I busy planning our finances over the next few years (when I will graduate!). We are both eager to learn how to best manage our money, something we've always struggled with. It's time for me especially to put on my big girl pants and figure out exactly to pay for the rest of midwifery school. If only following your dreams was less expensive!

Last week, in an historic moment I will remember always, I actually joined a gym and started exercising. Like actual sweaty, uncoordinated exercise in a room with other people. I turn 38 next week and joining the Y was an early birthday present from Matty. It's not the easiest for me to exercise with my chronic pain, but I'm going slowly. Just this morning I took a water aerobics class with thirty 75 year old women! I fit right in.

Everything and everyone keeps reminding me that exercise will help with my fibromyalgia symptoms, so here I am moving forward with another goal. It feels amazing. Also: 2003 called and wants its yoga pants back.

We have been enjoying some beyond beautiful fall weather and the girls and I soaked it all in in a walk along Bloor street last week. We coveted pumpkins and gourds, felt the sun on our faces, and even stocked up on Halloween decorations. We couldn't have been more fall if we tried. I'm in heaven.

Alyce has taken to handstading her way everywhere she goes. She started gymnastics this fall and is over the moon excited about her newfound skills. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that she did 1000 handstands this weekend. Shira has also been busy being a gymnast, though she is self-taught. Her technique is both avant-garde and wildly entertaining for everyone involved. 

This week is about keeping up the momentum

My goals this week aren't big ones, but there is some urgency behind them. Work is picking up again, both my teaching and doula work, and I want to stay ahead of the game as much as possible (something my procrastinating self can often let get out of hand). I'm starting now to finally find a rhythm in my days at home and I would like to keep building in some good work habits amidst all the chaos of staying home with the girlies. And now that I've become a person who exercises, I hope to develop a routine for getting in a workout most days of the week.

My list to-do list this week includes:

• Heading to the gym four days this week. I'm trying out a lot of different things to see what hurts the least and I think the elliptical puts the least amount of pressure on my legs and feet, so I think I'll alternate between that and water aerobics with the seniors. I have been going in the morning after dropping the girlies off at school, which I prefer to going in the evening, when all the tough-guy body builders hog all the weights.

• Planning for my birthday weekend! We are having a dinner party/sleepover at the home of a good friend. It's the best way to spend my birthday. I'm in charge of planning breakfast the next morning and I'm thinking maybe challah french toast, fruit salad, and muffins for the early risers.

•  Calling my Dad on his birthday! I always, always forget. I've got it written down in more than one place, so here's hoping I remember this year.

• Healthy meal prep: I'm inspired by Shutterbean to take one afternoon a week to prep my food for the week ahead. I'm really great at buying great food to fill our fridge, but kind of terrible at the follow-through of actually cooking it. This week I'm going to cook chicken for salads, breakfast apple crisp, make a pot of quinoa to keep in the fridge, and do some serious vegetable roasting.  

What is on your list this week? Share in the comments and let's help each other get things done!

Be well!

xo

P.S. Are we friends on Instagram? We should be.

It's Monday!

It's Monday all over again! How are you? I mean, really, how are you? Was it a good weekend? Or do you wish you had a do-over? If so, think of this week as a new beginning. 

For me the past week has been a little all over the place. First of all, let's take a breath, Healthtober. While I'm always pretty excited to get started, I can sometimes get ahead of myself (the danger of being an eager goal-setter). So things didn't go exactly as planned. On Thursday I felt a soreness in my lower back and by Friday I couldn't move. Fibromyalgia does this to me sometimes and I had no other choice than to be gentle with myself (which was also one of my goals for the month, so look at me!). I was in no place to organize and prepare healthy and gluten-free food and that was okay. Instead I booked an appointment with my chiropractor and massage therapist. And I took a nap. How's that for self-care?

This week, then, is about recharging, slowly and surely. My back is already feeling better and I'm committing myself to some yoga this week to stretch out all these sore muscles. I'm in a baking mood (says the woman who is always in a baking mood) and I'm eager to try out some gluten-free muffins and banana bread. And for dinner tonight I'm making some macaroni and cheese (with rice pasta) and kale salad. I'm winning at this week already. 

My to-do list for the week includes:

• A massage! 

 

• Writing. Lots of writing. I've been really inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's new podcast on creativity and I'm feeling really encouraged to write more.  My goal this week is publish three blog posts before the weekend. 

 

• Have lunch with a great friend.

• Baking a lemon pie for Thanksgiving. I might be the only person on the planet who doesn't like pumpkin pie. But I can't lie, it's just who I am.

• Yoga. My plan is to two different studios this week and see what I like. Try as I might, yoga at home as a solo practice just doesn't work for me. I need the encouragement of a room filled with people all trying to do the same thing. 

 

•  Resting. I'm feeling a bit better physically, but I know myself and if I don't get some extra rest right now, I'll pay for it later.

What can you do for yourself this week? 

Be well!
xo

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has asked about how my presentation went at the midwifery student conference this weekend. I presented on a panel with two fellow students about my experience with depression and anxiety as a student midwife. I think we started a great conversation.

It's Tuesday!

Hello lovelies! I was so busy writing about procrastination yesterday that I forgot to write up my Monday list. How was your weekend? We had a busy one, including me spending all day Saturday at a postpartum doula training (because there is always more to learn). On Sunday I took the girls on a movie date, during which I realized that we pretty much just go to the movies for the candy and popcorn.

Fall is officially here (high fives all around) and I'm already dreaming of all the fall-y things I can do this week. I might break the girlies out of school one day to go apple picking because our weekends are booked solid for the next few weeks, and it would be heartbreaking to miss out on all those apples, wouldn't it? And while I can't stand pumpkin spice lattes, I did pick up some pumpkin for baking something delicious (like this or these).

Here's my list for this week:

• I'm making this for dinner tonight even though I'll be the only one in the house who will eat it.

• I'm still sitting in front of a pile of gluten-free cookbooks, looking for inspiration.

• My days are free this week and I'm enjoying some quiet time at home. I took a very long nap today (hooray for self-care) and I'm hoping to get a lot of writing done. I may or may not also wash the floors. 

• I'm attending a midwifery student conference this weekend and I'm over the moon about it. I've felt so out of touch from school since taking the year off and I'm looking forward to taking part in some conversations about birthy things. I'm also participating on a panel about life as a student with mental health issues, which I think is a great opportunity for all of us to think about how to take care of ourselves as students and as future midwives. Plus I get to see some familiar faces I've missed!

So what about you? What's on your plate this week? Starting any new projects? Let us know in the comments! 

Be well.

xo

It's Monday!

Hello! It's Monday all over again.  Are you ready for me to start mooning about all this amazing fall weather? Consider yourself warned. 

I've officially taken the day off today, though that hasn't really stopped me from working around the house. But the pace has been just perfect, with a little cleaning and then a little resting. More resting than cleaning.

And then I made chocolate chip cookies. Because (ahem) Alyce really wanted them.

How was your week? Around here we've been busy getting back into the routine of school, a routine that has served this family very well. Morning have been smoother, bedtimes easier, and moods generally relaxed. And I forgot to mention that I cut off all my hair, a move inspired by a mess of long tangles that was trying my patience on a daily basis. I'm happy with the change. It always feels so good to do something different (says the woman who changes her furniture around on a monthly basis).

This week is a bit calmer than last and I'm eager to sit and work on some brainstorming projects. I've been reading a ton about different approaches to goal setting and I'm wanting to spend some actual time making up a plan. The other day I saw that someone described themselves as a "goal-setter" (I can't for the life of me remember where I read this) and I loved that title. If I am anything I am a goal-setter. It's more than just making lists, but about seeing my world as a place in which I can accomplish things that make my life better or bigger or even more delightful. This is what's on my brain this week.

Another week, another list:

• I finally received my copy of Gretchen Rubin's book on habits from the library. I can't wait to finish it. My goals for the year are so intertwined with changing my habits. (But I guess aren't all goals about working alongside habits that work and against ones that don't?)

•  I wrote my manifesto on eating, I've been reading my gluten-free cookbooks, and now it's time to think practically. There are recipes to be scribbled out, grocery lists to make, and defences against the lure of crusty bread to be established. It's a big week. I'm hoping to channel both creativity and stamina.

• Not smoke. It's time to try this again. (And again, until it works.) I've been quiet here about my non-smoking success because frankly I haven't had any. I've tried a dozen times and always started smoking again by the end of the day. Aristotle tells us that "we are what we repeatedly do," so even if I haven't mastered this non-smoking business yet, I keep trying because each time I don't smoke it is a commitment to my goal. (I am clearly very committed.)

That's enough for this week. What about you? What is the most important task on your to-do list this week? What will you do to ensure that you complete it?

Be well!

xo

P.S. I'm officially working as a postpartum doula with Toronto Family Doulas! Here is my introduction over on their blog.

It's Monday!

Hello lovelies! It's Monday again and I'm grateful for it. I'm ready to start on some new projects (though not too many because I'm working a lot this week) and I'm looking forward to another week of school for the girlies. Last week was good, but it still felt like an blip in our otherwise all over the place summer. We need another week in to feel like things are really settling in.

The past week has been filled with some great things. I love the daily walks to school and I love the quiet house upon my return. The cats are so pumped that the girlies are gone for six plus hours a day. Just look at Pomegranate. Doesn't he looked pumped?

I also enjoyed some time out in the city running some solo errands. There was a stop for a delightful Americano and the best gluten free muffin I've ever had (at Dark Horse on Queen West near Bathurst). These quiet moments were well-earned after a summer at home with children.

In honour of Rosh Hashanah this week, I baked. (Truth be told I bake in  honour of pretty much anything.) I decided to try two recipes from Joy the Baker, a blog I adore for both its recipes and the sweetness of her writing. I made chocolate pudding for the little ones at our dinner and apple crisp for the grown-ups. Matty had both because he is a kid at heart. The apple crisp was only mostly delicious because I used the wrong apples. I always have the wrong apples in my kitchen.

Here is my to-do list for the week:

• Welcome my students to the new session of my course. Everything is starting back up this week and it's time to send some emails. Speaking of emails, I'm going to try creating an email schedule for my class this year to help keep me from forgetting to write important updates or weekly tips on the course work. I'm all over schedules this year. 

 

•  I want to spend some time with vegetables. I've become such a lazy cook over the past few years and I never eat enough vegetables, which is ridiculous because I love vegetables. So I've armed myself with some new cookbooks from the library and I'm getting cooking. 

•  We are having dinner with friends on the weekend and I am in charge of dessert (again). Any ideas? Something involving chocolate, obviously, and something gluten-free. 

•  Walks! It's going to happen, friends. 

What is on your list for the week? Are you still working on existing projects, or starting something new?

Be well!
xo

It's Monday!

You guys, we made it! Today is the last day of summer vacation. High fives to all of you who have, like me, felt a bit overwhelmed by what felt like the longest summer vacation in the history of summers. I haven't written much about it here because I feel like the girls are getting older now and don't need all of their stories told here by me on the internet, but let's just say that there have been some behavioral issues that have made for some very long days together. The routine of school will be a very good thing!

How did you spend your last week of summer? We ate (more) ice cream, enjoyed a day at the Toronto Islands, and visited with my mum in her very air conditioned house (this heat wave can leave anytime now).

For me this week is about resetting. I can feel my shoulders relaxing and my motivation rising. I'm busy right now, working regularly as a doula and preparing to teach the next session of my university course, but it will become all the more manageable starting tomorrow. I know I've said it before and I know I'll say it again, but as much as I fight it sometimes with my procrastinating habits, I need routine in my life. I'm so excited to develop some new structure in my world again.

My to do list this week:

• It's a tradition in our house to have oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes on the first day of school, so I'll need to make the necessary preparations for those tonight (I use these oatmeal pancakes as inspiration). 

 

• I have a coffee date with some friends IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. (Sorry, I got excited there).

 

• I'm really looking forward to blogging more regularly about all the new goals, practices, and habits I'm working on, and so I'm working this week on some planning and trying to develop an editorial calendar.

 

• Rosh Hashanah is coming up in a week and there is so much to be done in preparation! We will be celebrating with some good friends and I am responsible for challah, salad, and dessert. I'll be making our dessert gluten-free, so I'll be spending some time looking for new recipes. It's traditional to eat apples on Rosh Hashanah and I'm thinking of making an apple crisp instead of the usual apple cake. And since the children don't enjoy apple desserts, there will also be brownies of some description. 

 

• Walking three days this week. In my fancy new shoes. It was my goal to walk always in the morning, because I love starting my day with exercise, but since I'm working a few overnight shifts this week that doesn't work out well. So an afternoon walk it is.

•  Reflecting on how I want to structure my days in such a way that will support some of these habits I'm working on.

 

Do you have any suggestions about how to add structure to your days? What routines do you rely on?  

Be well!

xo

P.S. Happy first day of school to all my student midwife friends starting back tomorrow. I'll miss you all! 

It's Monday!

Hello lovelies. Did you know that tomorrow is September, and that September is the ultimate Monday? January gets all the sparkle and shine of having the first day of the calendar year, but September is the real new year, at least for those of us who have spent years decades in school. September, which already possesses so many other glorious attributes, like the first day of fall and apple picking, is also my favourite time to start fresh. There are new routines, new goals for the year, and best of all, you get to buy school supplies.

 

Oh, September, you're so lovely. But today, while it is still August, I'll continue on pretending that summer is still happening, because I know so many of you love, love, love the summer. We've been doing a lot of summery things in these last few weeks, like today, when we took the ferry to Centre Island and spent the day bouncing around from rides to the beach. We completely exhausted ourselves. 

Yesterday, in preparation for back to school, Alyce finally decided to try riding a two-wheeler. The two of us went shopping for a new bike, and by nightfall she was riding a bike. It was kind of magical. I don't think I've ever seen her so proud of herself and it gave me the shivers to watch her.  I know she desperately wants to ride her bike to school like her friends, because you know, she's in grade three now.

So the summer may be coming to an end, but we don't need to say good-bye to it sitting down. Let's enjoy the warm nights as long as we can, maybe sneak in one more road trip, and eat ice cream for dinner. 

Here's what's on my list for this last week of summer:

• Centre Island
• Visit my grandmother on her birthday
• Convince my children to do a back-to-school cleanse of their toys
• Take a road trip to Ottawa on the long weekend to visit some friends I have not seen in ages
• Make each of the girls a card for the first day of school (a tradition in our house, along with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast)
• Think about September's new possibilities

What's on your list this week? Any last minute summer adventures?

Be well.
xo

It's Tuesday!

Hello lovelies! Did you have the greatest weekend? Our weekend was a bit of a blur, filled with driving the girls back and forth to my mum's for a sleepover, and me doing some overnight doula work. (I'll be working as a doula again this year until I return to midwifery school.) So this week my Monday was spent mostly sleeping. It happens.

Summer home schooling has slowed to a snail's pace around here. Last week I wasn't feeling the greatest and spent a lot of time resting, with zero energy to devote to planning lessons and outings. This week already feels like it's gotten away from me and so far home school has involved me printing out Spongebob colouring pages. I'm okay with that. But the week isn't totally lost! We are heading to the zoo today in honour of animals week, and I think we'll try to squeeze in a research project on an animal of their choosing.

Did I mention yet that it's only two weeks until school starts? Our days have been spent daydreaming about school, all three of us. Yesterday, between naps, I took the girls to buy new shoes, a tradition I've loved since kindergarten. Still left on our back-to-school shopping list: rain boots, umbrellas, and some reusable snack bags for their lunches (I'll be ordering these later today.)

Here's what's on my list for this week:

• lots of doula work, which means not a lot of time for other things
• studying for my newborn resuscitation recertification course this weekend
• cleaning out my fridge and restocking it with the best food possible, including, I hope, some homemade chicken soup I plan on making today (fingers crossed)
• considering a very important change: should I cut my hair off again? Oh, the decisions. 

I hope your week is fabulous.

Be well!
xo

It's Monday!

You guys, there are only three weeks left until the first day of school! I'll be the first to admit that the girlies and I are summered out. Done. Stick a fork in us. Bring on the school year. When I say it's time to do some home school these days, the run, not walk, to the table. Do they want to go to another splash pad? No. Do they want more homemade worksheets? Yes, please. Their backpacks and lunch bags are ready, we bought new water bottles today, and everything that can be labelled has a label on it. They are ready for school with only twenty-one days to go.

Oh, August. It has some things going for it, like ice cream, beautiful evenings, and the seemingly endless supply of pears from our tree in the backyard. It is still packed full of summer but there are hints of fall at every turn, at least if you're looking for them. But even I'm not ready to completely let go of summer. There are still things to do! Like the CNE, a weekend away with old friends, and not making school lunches.

One tradition that has developed this summer, one that I hope continues as long as the daylight permits, is our daily trip to the park after dinner. Most nights it's Matty who takes them because the evening is my time to write and grade essays, but from time to time I join them. Matty brings a book, I bring my knitting, and we let the girlies just play. These nights at the park are summer to me. They are slow and easy and perfect.

So here we are at the start of another week. I wanted to say thank you for all the encouraging comments I have received on my post from the other day. I've been thinking about it all weekend and I'm feeling really good about my decision to prioritize my physical and emotional health this year. Time to get started!

Here's what my week looks like:

• No grading!
• Preparing for the next session of my class.
• Tackling our back to school list, which includes new water bottles and rain boots.
• Our home summer school theme this week is eating! We'll talk all things food and cooking, cook something together each day, and take our field trip to Kensington Market. On Friday my plan is stick close to home all day and bake challah for Shabbat.
• I want to spend some time thinking about a reward/incentive system for the girlies and chores. I've never loved rewards for work done around the house because I think it's important to teach our kids that cleaning up is just part of living in our home (and allowance at our house isn't tied to chores). But I'll be the first to admit that what we've done so far isn't working. I'd love it if you could share some of your ideas!
• Drinking lemonade, eating ice cream.

What does your week look like?

Be well!
xo

It's Monday!

Hello lovelies! It's Monday again, and since I feel like last week never happened, this week seems especially promising. It is also a great time for me and the girls to start our temporary homeschooling adventure. As I mentioned last week we are structuring the last weeks of summer a little differently around our house. 

The first six weeks were filled with fly by the seat of our pants playing and adventuring. We lived at parks and splash pads, played outside our house, visited friends, cottaged, went on a boat, and ate s'mores. Last week the girlies had an amazing time at a nature camp hosted by Matty's university. 

But they are bored. Scratch that, they just miss school, and after the year Alyce had at school, we're grateful she's so excited to go back. They already have their new backpacks packed for the first day, I kid you not. Since I'm almost done teaching (grades are due tomorrow!) I will have more time this month and thought we'd try something new. To be clear: we have no idea what we're doing. I'm not claiming to know anything about homeschooling, but we're doing it in our own style and are quite happy with that.

We're picking a theme each week and this week is the human body. Today we started with drawing our favourite part of our bodies (Alyce picked her kidneys, bless her) and then moved on to colouring pages about internal organs. As they coloured in each organ we talked about its job. Naturally, the kids found it hilarious that kidneys make pee. Then I traced each kid's body on big sheets of paper and I asked them to draw all their organs! All of Shira's organs had smiley faces on them, even the gallbladder. 

It was lovely. So many conversations took off as we were going about our business. Alyce asked a lot of questions about how doctors do surgery, since I had my gallbladder removed last summer. Both of them asked a lot of questions about smoking when we talked about lungs, and we even talked a bit about brain injuries and how to look after people who suffer them. So it was a success in my books! The rest of the week will include some more research on lungs (at Alyce's request) and a trip to the Ontario Science Centre.

(Lest you think everything went smoothly in our idyllic homeschool home, I tried to take them to the park for a break and they complained and whined so much on the way that we actually had to turn around and come home. Because how mean I am to suggest that we go play and make castles in the sandbox.)

I think next week we are going to study food and cooking. I'll arm myself with some cookbooks from the library, we'll head to a kitchen store for a field trip (probably Good Egg in Kensington Market (though not to actually buy something because holy cow is that place expensive), spending some time poking around produce stands to discover some new fruits and vegetables.

But enough about next week. I want to enjoy this week first. Here's what's on my list:

• On Tuesday the girlies and are packing up and heading to Peterborough to visit some dear friends, the kind you only see once a year but it feels like you saw them yesterday. I am super excited for the great conversation I will be having this time tomorrow.
• Deal with some student loan repayment business. Sigh.
• Pack up some lunch and spend Thursday at the park.
• Dig around for some good gluten-free muffin recipes (more on that soon).
• Register the girlies for some activities this fall. We haven't really done extra-curricular activities before since life has just been too busy to shuttle kids back and forth between places after school, but this year, with me at home more, it seems the right time to start.  Alyce would like gymnastics and Shira has her eye on dance.

What's on your list this week? 

Be well!

xo

It's Monday!

Hello again! It's a holiday here in Canada, so this Monday kind of slipped away from me. But then an hour ago reality hit and it was time to make my to do list. But first, how was your weekend? The heat wave broke and we had an evening of glorious thunderstorms with a lightening show that went on for hours. We spent most of the weekend working on projects at home, lazing around watching movies, and then last night I went out for drinks with some fellow midwifery students (it was exactly what I needed). 

I'm really excited about this week. Do you want to know why?

The girlies will be in nature camp all week long.

It's like a vacation! I have four straight days to work, write, nap, and (cross your fingers that I actually do this) start my yoga practice! The summer has been a bit bumpy so far because it turns out I have children who love the structure of school. The splash pads have lost their sparkle, the library makes them yawn, and I can't even get them excited about baking with me anymore. We need a bit of a break and camp is the answer (and thank you universe for having a camp with two open spots for the week, a summer miracle here in Toronto). After their week at camp we are starting "homeschooling" for the rest of the summer, something they are very excited about. They have enjoyed tons of unstructured time already, so the last four weeks will be filled with projects, field trips, and maybe a science experiment or two. I'll have a break from my job for most of August, so while it will be a lot of planning work on my part, I'm hoping I will end up hearing less about how bored my children are. Because if I don't hear that again I'll be a happy woman. 

Here is my list for the week:

• Finish grading my students' papers and calculate their final grades.
• Prep for my class this coming September.
• Work on my blogging course, which means playing around with photo editing and finally writing my About page!
• Planning for homeschooling week one: the theme of this first week will be the human body, because I am an anatomy nerd.
• Start my first week back at yoga, with classes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
• Nap, because I can.

So that's my week. What does yours look like? I hope it's a wonderful one.

Be well.
xo