May Recap – what’s new!!!

May fleeeewww right by and now it’s time to recap the month & link up with the wonderful Kristen & Gretch for their What’s New with You post!!

I knew May was going to be a busy month; we had Mother’s Day, a lot of plans with friends, and my sister-in-law’s wedding. It was also a bit of a busier month at work because my (awesome) co-worker reduced her hours, and then finished up and moved on to a new job yesterday (sob!!).

This month, I tried something new in my bullet journal. I wrote a “line a day” every day. Sometimes, it was hard to think of what to write if my day was pretty standard, but I tried to write what book I was reading, whether I exercised, and if anything interesting happened. I’m going to share some of those lines here & also share some photos of our month.

In May, I:

tried curlformers. I still haven’t had great success with them, but I think I need to try them with a bit more product. There is also NO WAY I can ever sleep in those!!
Fell in love with Beartown (I promise I will stop talking about it soon #sorrynotsorry ;)) Also read Lucy the book Little Red Riding Hood about 50,000 times.

Sent in our taxes & got our refund!
Met our friends’ brand new baby daughter on the day she was born (so tiny! so beautiful!)
Celebrated mother’s day with my lovely children. They showered me with wonderful gifts (thank you, daddy ;)) and I got to sleep in, which was so nice after being up late the night before!!

Spent time with some of our good friends who live about an hour away

Saw Everything Everything in an advanced screening – cute movie but I would have enjoyed it infinitely more as a teenager. For some reason, I don’t mind reading YA occasionally, but seeing YA on the big screen feels kind of…embarrassing?! haha.

Saw Jenn Grant in concert with my friend – it was SUCH a good show

Applied for a permanent part-time position doing my current job (the silver lining to my co-worker leaving)
Celebrated my sister-in-law’s bachelorette at which I ate a delicious salad that had deep fried deviled eggs in it (so weird but so good) and came on a slate slab (yes, the dressing went everywhere, it was super weird but the food was delicious)

Celebrated my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s wedding at Hatfield Farms (more to come on this someday, I hope!) It was a wonderful, beautiful weekend with family and friends and our girls rocked their flower girl roles!!

(as you can see, Brian took advantage of the BYOB situation at the wedding)

Bought a new tent at Costco

Said goodbye to my sister-in-law and her new hubby as they flew back to Ontario.
Read a lot of amazing books & got in some running and yoga as well as some walks outside!!!

June is another busy month: Brian’s birthday, our anniversary (5 years = weekend getaway this year!! :D), two other birthdays, father’s day, and my sister, brother in law and niece move closer!!!! We are also going to try to get out camping at least one weekend if it warms up a bit!! The girls start soccer next week so that will keep us busy during the week…they are SO excited.

So, what’s new with you!?!

Some recommendations

I’ve enjoyed reading posts from Lauren & Bre’s Add it to my List link up and gotten some great ideas from the posts too, so today I’m sharing a few of my own recommendations. There is really no rhyme or reason to these, but give some of them a try if you’re feeling inclined 🙂

To read:

I’ve already spewed about my love for Beartown exhaustively (but seriously, read it, I’m not alone in my love for it!!) but a book I just started and I’m loving so far: He Said/She Said. WOW what a thriller so far.

To read with children:

Snappsy the Alligator – this book is hilarious. I love books that talk about the narrator. To be fair, I think I enjoyed this more than my kids, but they might have been just a bit too young to “get” it, and they still liked it, but my husband and I laughed out loud.

To Watch:

Life in Pieces on Netflix. A bit like Modern Family. I like it. Also on my list of shows to try is Master of None – anyone like it?!

To Eat:

Enchilada Chicken Roll Ups via SkinnyTaste – I love this website and this recipe was SO good.

Also: kale caesar salad. Recipe coming soon. We eat this almost daily in the summer and it is SO, SO, SO good.

To Drink:

Bulletproof Coffee – I am enjoying this lately minus the butter because I can’t find the organic kind I want. I just use coconut oil and it makes it very creamy and delicious-tasting.

To Wear:

I have pretty much exclusively switched to wearing dresses with dressy leggings or tights to work. I just got this one last week and I’m loving it with tights 🙂

To Entertain Your Children:

My go-to for this is a cardboard box. Seriously, if I bring home two cardboard boxes full of food from Costco, my kids will happily colour/create/play with those boxes for a week. A close second is to blow up some air mattresses in the basement (we were testing them out for camping) and let them play on those for hours. Done.

To Do:

If you live in Nova Scotia, today is election day. We voted ahead of time on Saturday, but seriously, this is important and it only takes a few minutes. We need to see some change somehow in this province.

To Put Things in Perspective:

This post about being enough.

What’s on your list these days?!

February Recap

February was a bit of a weird month in some ways, but it was really good too! We had a series of crazy snow storms, so I got to spend a lot of unexpected time at home with my little family. We also had a little bit more illness than I would have hoped for, but I think we are all on the mend now.

Linking up with the wonderful Kristen and Gretch today to share what’s new with me 🙂

Here are some of the things that happened in February:

We had a date night while the girls slept over at my in-law’s house. We went for all-you-can-eat sushi (and managed to not eat TOO much), browsed a bit at Chapters (book store), and watched Inferno. We also slept in a bit the next day. It was lovely. 🙂 When we picked the girls up the next day, they had made these fun k-cup flower bouquets with my very crafty mother-in-law:

We also took the kids to an indoor playground, or, rather, Brian took them to the indoor playground and I went to Costco and Walmart. When I went back to the indoor play place, there were millions (ok, at most 100) of kids running around and screaming and I questioned my anxiety levels. We left pretty quickly after that. haha. I am way too used to my quiet children.

After that, we had a sick toddler on our hands (SEE ABOVE) and then we also got the MASSIVE snow storms I mentioned. On one day, the entire city was basically shut down and it was suggested that nobody should be on the roads at all unless it was a complete and utter emergency. We all stayed home, built forts, read books, and ate comfort food. haha. In the midst of that, we celebrated Valentine’s Day.

Brian had gone into work on Valentine’s Day, but our daycares were still closed from the snow so I stayed home. It was a lovely day overall. I also made us some DELICIOUS steaks for supper. Brian brought home flowers that night – one dozen for me and a half dozen each for Molly and Lucy. They were SO excited and surprised and it was super sweet of him.

We made it out (thankfully!) the night after that to see the Arkells in concert. They are one of our favourite bands, and this is our third time seeing them live. They did not disappoint. It was a great show and I can’t wait to see them again sometime soon. The girls slept over at my in-law’s house again that night (a weeknight!) and we actually were unable to pick them up until 3pm the next day due to MORE snow. It was quite a relaxing snow day at home without the girls, I must say.

I met up with some girlfriends for a delicious supper on Friday of that week and it was amazing to have some girl time together. I really cherish that time with friends that I don’t see as often as I’d like to. We also did some sledding out at my parent’s house that weekend, which was SO fun, and I made it out for another run while the kids were entertained there. That night, we had some friends over for board games. We went out to a pub the next evening to hear my cousin play some fiddle tunes – the girls loved it. We don’t get to bring them out to hear live music as much as I’d like to because it is often so late at night.

We had some good friends over for brunch the next day, including some toddlers and a baby. It was fun to cuddle with a baby again ;). We also went over to another friend’s house for supper. The long weekend was basically the busiest weekend of my introverted life in recent past because I had spent SO much time cooped up at home during the snowstorms and we just really wanted to get on the go!

At the end of the month, we celebrated my dad’s birthday (yay!), got new kitchen appliances delivered (finally! I love them!!!)

Now that I see all this written out, it’s pretty clear why I didn’t get in as much reading time as usual. That AND the fact that I did get through about 6 more hours of The Count of Monte Cristo in audiobook format but I still have 30 hours to go…hahaha. I’m also really enjoying Life in Pieces on Netflix and we watched a few other movies: Girl on the Train, Arrival, and Fences.

Plus, there’s this:

Anyone else checking on April at least a couple times a day? I signed up to get e-mailed when she is in active labour. I know it’s ridiculous but the internet has just gone and sucked me right into that no problem.

March is off to a great start! It’s a fun month with March break for the kids (but I’m working), St. Patrick’s Day & BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Daylight savings time + first day of Spring, and Lucy’s 3rd birthday!!

What’s new with you??!?!?!

December/Christmas Recap (What’s New link up!)

Linking up with Kristen & Gretch today for their What’s New With You? link up.

I think I’ve always taken time off at Christmas while working, and I really enjoy the break at the end of the year. It’s a great chance to regroup, spend tons of time with family, and enjoy our children. Last year, we were SO sick all throughout Christmas and although we had a few little health blips this year over the holidays too, it was so nice to be happy, healthy, and together for almost 2 weeks straight at home.

BUT, for the purposes of a monthly recap, let’s start back at the beginning of December 🙂 On December 3, we left the kids with my in-laws and went to Brian’s work Christmas party at a hotel downtown. It’s always a fun event, and this year it was fantastic except that I had laryngitis and could NOT talk. I like to talk, so that was tough 🙂 By the next day, my voice was so strained that I couldn’t even get out a sound and it didn’t come back fully for about a week. Anyway, we really enjoyed the party and the date night out regardless of all of that.

I had a little day date with my favourite 5 year old on a day when she got out of school early. We did some Christmas shopping and got a treat. She was in heaven. haha. We also bought our tree!!! The girls were super excited 🙂

On December 6th, St. Nicholas visited the girls overnight and brought them some new books which they enjoyed throughout the holidays. This was a tradition for my family growing up, and I love the idea of it so we have continued it with our girls too 🙂

The following weekend, we took the girls to see Santa and went to my niece’s first birthday party.

I made this delicious giraffe cupcake cake for her party, which was a bit giraffe-themed:

My sister and her husband rented out their local community hall for the party and it was so nice – lots of space, a ball pit (belonging to them), Christmas decorations, and we put on Christmas/kids music too. It was a fun day and a nice chance to see some of their friends and family on my brother in law’s side. My niece enjoyed herself too! We had a bit of a super-cold snap around this time too, but it has mostly passed (for now) and all of the snow melted before Christmas.

In the middle of December, I went to a concert with my parents and aunt and uncle which featured the group Coig. They play Celtic music and they are SO upbeat and talented. They mostly played Christmas music from their album Carols, which I loved. It was a fun night out but I was sooo tired afterwards (didn’t get home until midnight – haha).

The following weekend, we gathered at my aunt’s house to see one of my cousins who went home to New Zealand for Christmas. Then we had a few more days of work/school and I was off from Dec 21-Jan 3. It was a nice break! We were able to see a lot of our family and friends. It was REALLY busy though. Busier than I expected. The girls were really overtired by the end of it, and I was sort of ready to come back to work too.

Magnetic blocks – a big hit!

Our house at 7 am on Christmas morning #bookworms

Christmas morning in our house was a big hit – Santa came 🙂 I also gave myself a second degree burn on my hand while flipping bacon & trying to do too many things at once. (It still hasn’t completely healed, but I think it will be OK according to my doctor sister). We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve at my in-law’s house and Christmas Day dinner at my parents’ house. We were able to skype with my sister in law and her fiance and my brother. We had hoped to squeeze in another date night while on vacation but instead we are doing it this weekend (thank you Mom & Dad!)

Christmas tree pancakes 🙂

We had 3 friends over for a low-key New Year’s Eve of board games and they ended up staying until 2:30 AM which was brutal when Molly woke up at 6 am on New Year’s Day. Oops #badparenting. It took me 2 days to recover from that. We had a great time though #yolo and enjoyed fireworks from our deck (mostly people setting them off on the beach and the horizon – it was sooo cool).

Bring on January though! I’m sharing some of my goals and aspirations for the year tomorrow.

November Recap (What’s New link up!)

November was a pretty low-key month overall, and that was just what we needed in our family. I didn’t even take very many pictures so this post will be a bit boring but I like the idea of looking back on each month and I can’t NOT link up with Kristen and Gretch for What’s New With You?

I only worked the first Friday in November and had the next 3 off for various reasons (Remembrance Day, sick, vacation day). It was nice to have 3 long weekends in a row and I could get used to that!! We went to visit my sister, brother in law and niece on the first long weekend and hung around their house/playground and did some shopping. The girls loved it, and Lucy loved playing a different piano:

It is always so fun to see my niece (almost 1 year old!) and spend some time with family. The girls did great on the drive too (one hour each way).

We spent the next “long weekend” overnight at a friend’s house for their son’s 8th birthday. It was a great night with some adult beverages and board games after the kids went to sleep. BOY was I ever tired the next day though.

I also got the majority of our Christmas shopping done (mostly online) because we have an Amazon Prime trial right now…so awesome. It is such a relief to be in a good position with regards to shopping and I also know it was smart to spread it out over a few paycheques.

On the last weekend in November, Brian and I went to Fantastic Beasts (I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to see it but I’m SO glad we did because I loved it!) I spent the next night binge-watching Gilmore Girls with one of my best friends and that was fun too. Look at our awesome Luke’s Diner mugs!! I am totally up for talking about the new episodes if anyone wants to e-mail me!!!!

This month, Molly got her first report card from school and she is doing incredibly well, which we knew but it was such a relief to talk to her teacher and hear positive feedback about our child and parenting. I am so happy with our decision to put her into French Immersion this year and she absolutely loves school which makes our lives as parents much easier.

November went by quickly, but it was a good month. It was nice to have some downtime on the weekends and we definitely made some progress on house-cleaning, house-sorting, and preparations for December. Tomorrow we’re getting our Christmas tree and decorating this weekend (the girls are BEYOND excited!) We have all been a touch under the weather off and on this month, so the downtime was really something we needed.

My reading was allllll over the place this month, and we also started watching Season 5 of Suits so that is taking up some evening time 🙂 can’t complain though!!

On to December – one of the most festive and fun months of the year! Our girls are so excited for Christmas this year and I can’t wait to celebrate with them.

I have a few fun posts planned for December including a day in the life, some book round up favourites posts, goals for 2017, reflections about 2016 etc. etc.!! Let’s hope they all come to fruition! haha.

What’s new with you lately?? Anyone want to chat about Gilmore Girls?!

What’s New and Exciting

I feel like I say this every month, but October was a busy month. BUT it was so good, too!! There was a lot of fun things on the go. I’m going to recap them all in this post & link up with Kristen & Gretch for their monthly What’s New with you link up 🙂 Kristen has some really exciting news this month – I can’t believe how quickly her house sold!!!

I started October off with a bang and went to a concert with one of my favourite Celtic groups, The Barra MacNeils, that we grew up listening to – my whole family (parents, sister, aunts, uncles, grandma + me) went to the concert and it was amazing. The Barra MacNeils performed with Symphony Nova Scotia and it was incredible because the symphony really added a lot to the performance. I will for sure be attending this concert again; I think they do it almost every year but that was my first time there.

We took the kids to a few indoor playgrounds this month because there were some really rainy days & they are at a great age to enjoy this type of thing right now:

I also got a chance to catch up with my old roommate from St. FX and her boyfriend – what a great night. I hadn’t seen her in 2 years so it was great to chat. Ran into another old friend from university the same night out and that was fun too.

Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, and it was a busy weekend for our family. We spent the entire day Sunday with our extended family – at my cousin’s baby’s baptism and with all of my aunts and uncles, and then we had Thanksgiving dinner at my parent’s house which included 39 PEOPLE (Molly made a list of everyone). There were 2 turkeys and a ham, about 15 vegetable dishes, and pie. It was great. Brian took the girls home early & I stayed overnight at my parent’s so I could chat more with my cousins (I always feel sad when I have to leave just as the party is getting started). My niece was also the life of the party 😉

We did some shopping with the kids and I got a start on Christmas shopping, too. Here are some new friends they made at Costco:

I also took my first trip “home” to Calgary since 2013. For those who don’t know, I grew up in Calgary (nestled nearby the Rocky Mountains in western Canada ;)) and lived there until I went to university. With my parents moving out east, we haven’t really had as much motivation to go out to visit with the kids, even though my brother and dad’s family all still live there. When one of my closest cousins got engaged, I decided to head out to Calgary for a visit and to attend the wedding – by myself! Brian stayed with the kids here. This was kind of a big deal for us because I haven’t been away from the kids for that long before (5 days!) and I am more of the primary household-runner in our house, so there was a bit of anxiety leading up the trip, but I’m SO GLAD I went and it was a much-needed break. I’m very grateful too that my in-laws live close by to help Brian out 🙂

The Rocky Mountains near Calgary

Flying out of Halifax

Flying back into Halifax at 6pm

I read about 4 books on the trip (yay long flights!) and spent some quality time with my brother, my dad’s family, and some close family friends. It was wonderful. I was pretty off when I came back (very jetlagged and tired), but we seem to be back in the swing of things now. Molly also seemed to regress a bit while I was gone and has gone back to some crazy tired tantrums, but we’re working on that. She gets so overtired with school and daycare that it can be really hard to get through to her sometimes but it’s coming along slowly.

The wedding, of course, was beautiful too. It was so nice to be there & to see a few of my first cousins I hadn’t seen in about 10 years. Everyone from my family except my sister & her family and Brian and the kids was able to be there, so that was really special. We had a wonderful time dancing and chatting.

Since being back from Calgary, I’ve been doing some more decluttering in our house while listening to audiobooks, and just getting ahead on some things that need to be done before winter comes. We also had a great Halloween. Molly had a Halloween howl night at school which was fun (but so chaotic) – she dressed up in her Belle costume for that, and then the girls went out trick-or-treating as bumblebees. And now I have two huge boxes of candy & chips sitting in the front hall closet and two girls asking for a treat every 5 seconds (don’t worry, I’m going to move the box ASAP). #tempting.

Brian carving his pumpkin with a dremel drill & knife attachment

I’m really looking forward to November, because I love the holiday season and it’s coming up so soon! Our girls are going to be so fun at Christmas this year. I’m going to share some other things I’m looking forward to tomorrow 🙂 I’ll also share what I’ve been reading next week!!!

What’s new with you lately?!?!

What’s New and Exciting over here

Linking up with Kristen and Gretch today for their monthly “What’s new with you” link up. Since I missed the link up in September, I was determined to get a post up for this month!

If anyone who saw me this week asked me, “what’s new”, I would first tell them this ridiculous story. I left the house on Tuesday morning with the kids at 7 am and Brian left at 10 am to go to the airport. He was going out of town for work for one night. Typically, I am not an overly anxious person, but I do sometimes feel a bit of anxiety being in the house overnight with the kids on my own. However, I wasn’t feeling that way this day. I came home from work with the kids at 4:30 pm and when we pulled into the driveway, Molly said “hey, why is the front door open?” and I looked up to see that our front door was, in fact, WIDE OPEN. Cue panic. I called Brian right away and asked him if there was any possibility he could have left the door open (not unlocked, OPEN), and he said “well, yeah, maybe.” SERIOUSLY?! I was fuming and freaked out. I left the kids in the car and went through the house and everything seemed fine but I was still pretty freaked out. Move on to the rest of the evening and I am finally coping with the fact that our house was in fact safe all day long despite the front door being open for 6 hours and living on a bus route street up from a high school. Then I call my parents and tell them about it, and my dad says “I hope there aren’t any mice or rats in the house” and there comes another panic attack. #thanksdad I made Brian go on a pretty big hunt just in case any got in while he was gone. I am beyond grateful that we have a guardian angel somewhere keeping watch over our home because holy smokes would my husband have been in trouble if our house had been ransacked…haha.

Anyway…September was an absolute whirlwind, as I knew it would be. Molly starting school also meant a change in daycare for Molly (before & after school care), which was a whole transition in and of itself (and remains to be). As expected, our little scholar absolutely (seemingly) LOVES school. She is loving French immersion, she seems to really enjoy her teacher and has made some friends. She is happy to report on all parts of her day at suppertime each night, which I love. It has been wonderful watching her flourish in this new daily routine. She originally (and still) isn’t the hugest fan of the new daycare, but I think it’s growing on her. September also means that Brian is busy for 3 weekends straight with extracurricular activities, but I think that will be changing next year because it was insane this year.

Here’s a bit of a recap in photos:

Molly started school and a new daycare

Molly turned 5 🙂

We went to see Beauty and the Beast at Neptune Theatre

We went apple picking near my sister’s house in the Valley (1 hour away)

I ran my final 5k of the year (I am missing one in October to go to Calgary) and it was a fantastic race. Cool weather and finished it in 30 mins. Brian brought the girls out to the finish line and surprised me there, which was sweet.

Other than that, I also signed about a thousand papers for Molly’s school (I did NOT realize how many handouts she would be taking home), we revamped our closet to accommodate organizing all of the new paperwork, we went to a parade and saw a truck convoy (200 trucks!), we spent a couple of hours at the beach (loved it) one afternoon, and had a few movie nights at home. I also got my hair cut, which I am looooving. Here it is, straight, but I usually wear it wavy ish 🙂

I also flew through a ton of “fluffy” books in an effort to escape the stress of everyday life AND because I had a cold for a week. It was wonderful and I’ll be talking about all the books I’ve read lately on Tuesday for Show us Your Books.

July Talk (link up!)

July was a busy, busy month in our house…and August is shaping up to be busy too! That’s what happens in the summer around here. It has been wonderful too though – I am loving catching up with so many wonderful friends and family members. Our girls are at a great age to be “on the go” and that allows us a lot more flexibility this summer to skip naps, have sleepovers, and travel around the province a bit.

It seems like lately all I’ve had the time (or energy) to write blog posts about include this what’s new link up with Kristen and Gretch and the Show us your Books link up. Honestly, I think I’m just saving people time…I consolidate all of my life into two posts a month. hahaha. I’m actually hoping to start writing a bit more, but due to the busy-ness of life, it just hasn’t happened yet. And I’m okay with that. I just like these monthly link ups so that I can look back someday and see what happened 🙂

Linking up with Kristen and Gretch to share some of what we did this month:

Lucy got her first haircut (and Molly got an unpictured one too :))

We celebrated my mom’s birthday with my sister & her family (how adorable is my baby niece?!)

I stalked social media while Sidney Crosby (who grew up in the neighbourhood we live in) came home with the Stanley Cup, but we skipped the parade because it was SO HOT OUT and my kids are too little to care, unfortunately.

(source)

Ate a lot of kale caesar salad (the healthy version – I hope to share this recipe soon!) from our garden

Saw Love and Friendship with a good friend – the movie was super enjoyable!!

Went to a lot of Molly’s soccer practices 🙂

Took the kids to the beach by myself, which was fun but also a bit nerve-wracking. Lucy is absolutely fearless and does not understand that waves are a BIT scary for Mommy. haha.

Spent last weekend visiting good friends in New Brunswick which included Brian and his 2 best friends taking the kids out on their boat on a lake while I went to the mall with the women (what a nice break!)…also included a stop at a wonderful splash pad on the way home, which was SO fun for the kids.

excuse the random stranger (that’s not Brian)

Read a lot of great books which I’ll be chatting about next Tuesday including HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD ❤ which I obviously adored.

And that’s about it. I also read Molly about 10 Magic Treehouse books, watched a bit of TV with Brian, went for a couple of runs, went to a few bootcamp classes & spin classes, socialized with girlfriends, enjoyed time on the deck, nearly melted in the 100% humidity, made some plans for the fall, and deep-cleaned parts of the house (still more to go, though!). What a great month. August looks like it will be even better because it’s my BIRTHDAY MONTH 🙂 So…what’s new with you?!

Life lately (Link up!)

(Linking up belatedly with Kristen & Gretch to recap the last month!)

June was a busy month for our family, and I think it will be from now until our kids finish school. The beautiful weather gets us outside and socializing more. Summer sports and activities begin, and school finishes with all of the excitement that comes with that. This year, our babysitter was on vacation for the last two weeks of June and so we had some grandparents help with childcare & took time off ourselves too. It was wonderful because the weather was pleasant and the kids were happy. It also eased my transition back into full-time work from my previous 6 months of part-time, although I am finding that I do miss the extra time with the kids already.

Here are some highlights from the last month-ish:

Celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by going out for supper & going to a board game cafe (what an AMAZING date night). We tried 4 new games and had a wonderful time. The kids had a great sleepover with my parents 🙂

Ran a 10K race in EXTREME heat/humidity after slacking on a few weeks of training. Not my best time, but was happy to finish it nonetheless and proud of pushing myself. Next race probably in August 🙂

Finished my third 12 week yoga session with my amazing teacher. She takes the summer off teaching near me, but I will probably take a few of her classes downtown because I know I’ll miss it. Back at it in September because it has changed my life!!

Read a few good books but not as many as I’d hoped…and also started a big Harry Potter re-read 🙂 Come back tomorrow to see my reviews for Show us your Books!

Went to our first of several 2016 weddings, Brian’s cousin Laura and her new husband. This was the first wedding I’d been to which included a POEM that the groom wrote for his bride AKA I could not hold back the tears. It was a gorgeous event.

Celebrated Canada Day with friends and had a wonderful time! Went to the playground and had a picnic, swam in an outdoor pool, drank some adult beverages 🙂

Got a new cell phone (LG G4) after dropping mine and shattering the screen – loving the new one so far & our contract was up so it was free (aka the best time possible to break my other one :P)

Spent some time with friends and family including an awesome outdoor birthday party with a beach volleyball court AKA a “huge sandbox” for my kids

Took in some awesome music with a wonderful friend at a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity called Raise a little Hellp. Really, really enjoyed this night out.

Watched our older daughter “graduate” from preschool and tried not to cry 🙂 She is going to love school in the fall – she will be in French Immersion and we are all quite excited to see her grow!

Took a week off with Brian and the kids leading up to Canada Day and went to Upper Clements Park amusement park (2 1/2 hour drive away)…the kids LOVED it.

And a couple more pics from the last month ish:

Sorry to be late to the link up; it’s been a busy few days!!! I have a few fun posts in the works for later this week and next week after taking a bit of a blogging break (I’ve probably averaged 2-3 posts a month lately…oops!!!)

What’s new with you lately?!?

Show us Your Books – June 2016

Today I’m linking up with Steph and Jana for Show us Your Books!! I’m looking forward to reading what others have been reading lately over here at the link up.

My reading life is all over the place this year. This past month included a few more “lighter reads” than the past 4 months in that I read a lot less books about WWII or historical fiction and some more contemporary adult fiction. I think I’ve also decided that 2016 is my year to read all of Louise Penny’s books and all of Kate Morton’s books, so you will probably see some redundancy in my Show Us Your Books posts for the rest of the year (#sorrynotsorry #beyou) as well as some more variety when this summer reading challenge recaps come up in July and August. I read a lot of really enjoyable books this month. Some of them I listed as 3/5 and for me that rating means that I still really enjoyed the time I spent on them and would recommend them but I might not re-read them or purchase them myself.

Dead Cold by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am officially incredibly hooked on Louise Penny’s writing and her wonderful characters. Her writing is beautiful, captivating, and I love the Canadian-ness of it all. I had some hunches about the way this book would pan out, but there were still some twists I didn’t see coming. The hints at what is to come in the series have intrigued me a lot and I will be picking up the third book as soon as I can. I highly, highly recommend this series. It’s not very often that I read books in this genre that are so incredibly well written. Her words are lyrical, and I really enjoy the snippets of poetry and art that are scattered throughout the books (especially this one).

The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another fantastic Louise Penny book (Book 3 in the series). In this book, the main murder mystery didn’t seem quite as shocking to me but the story line about the Arnot case and Gamache’s career was captivating, and I look forward to more of that in the future (undoubtedly). I really think that this book shed some light on a few important characters from previous books too, and I enjoyed learning more about Gamache’s family.

Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I soaked this book right up and finished it basically in one night. I’d highly recommend it if you like regency era novels such as Edenbrooke, although it is a bit different from that one too (and slightly different time frame). The characters were witty and fun. One thing I always find funny about books from this (general) time period is how they keep themselves entertained – not that they don’t do anything, but in this book, a typical “indoor” activity is making a house from playing cards. There is some dancing etc. too 🙂 The love story was cute albeit predictable – but that’s what I usually expect out of a book like this, so I was happy with it. I will definitely be seeking out other titles from this author because I didn’t realize this one was a prequel to her much more famous Bridgertons series.

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I COULD NOT put this book down. The character development was fantastic. I didn’t necessarily relate to any of the characters 100% but I did really enjoy reading about their lives. I found myself thinking of some other books about the power of family, and this one (to me) resolved really well at the end. It’s not a completely happy ending (arguably), but it was satisfying. I’m not exactly sure what it was about this book that was so captivating to me, but I would highly recommend it and I think it makes for a perfect summer read (but it’s not too fluffy in my mind either). I don’t know if I’d consider it to be a re-read, but it was very entertaining and really enjoyable and dare I say unique?! I can see absolutely see why this book has received so much hype this summer.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my second Kate Morton book, and I have no doubt that I will read them all before the end of the year. Although I’ve heard that her books follow a bit of a formula, and I can definitely agree after reading 2 of her books, I still find the plots to be abundantly interesting. I am recently really enjoying books that go back and forth between time periods (if it’s done well). This book kept me guessing until the end, and I did not see the twist coming AT ALL. I loved this book. If you haven’t read it yet, you absolutely should.

The Crown by Kiera Cass
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I had been awaiting this book since I realized near the end of The Heir that it wasn’t the end of the series (how I missed that before, I’m not too sure). This was a satisfying conclusion to the series and I really enjoyed Eadlyn’s character. It was a very quick read for me, and I don’t think I felt quite as deeply for these characters as I did for the characters in the original 3 books, but I still embraced the ending and the resolution of the series. These books still remind me so much of what The Bachelor (Bachelorette) would be like in a royal setting, but they are pretty entertaining nonetheless and a lot more innocent. These books aren’t for everyone, and they aren’t fantastic literature, but they pass the time quite nicely.

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although I did enjoy this book, and I am a fan of other Nora Roberts books, I probably won’t seek out the rest of the (very long!) series immediately. However, I will seek out the series when I am in the mood for this type of book. The mystery was interesting, and I liked the futuristic but very believable and not too “out there” setting. I really liked Eve Dallas & Roarke. It was a pretty good (and pretty quick) read that I’d recommend.

Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a pleasant read which had some really enjoyable characters and a cute love story. Sometimes it’s nice to just escape in a book like this. It reminded me a bit of Nora Robert’s bride quartet, which I enjoyed a few years ago. Although the story as a bit predictable, it still passed the time nicely and sometimes it’s nice to just read a book with a happy ending. I can definitely see where this series is going too, and it will be fun to follow along with it. This one really falls in the contemporary romance category so if that isn’t something you enjoy, then this book is not for you…but if you like a cute story, I liked this one. I read this one for the #SCSBC16.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQN for providing me with an advanced review copy of this book.

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More like 3.5. I enjoyed this book but the pace didn’t pick up enough for me right away. It reminded me a bit of Big Little Lies in the sense that you get the primary event right at the beginning and then go back to piece together what happened. As a mother of two (much younger) girls, this book made me feel a bit queasy with its possibilities although I feel like the communal garden part is a bit unrealistic in today’s society. The clique and mean girls is definitely a part of life now though, unfortunately. The characters in this book were well developed and I must admit that I really had no idea how it was going to end until it got there.
Thanks to Atria and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced review copy of this book.

A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this audiobook, and the narrator was quite good. I will likely make my way through the rest of this series bit by bit, because Kincaid is an interesting character and I like the British setting. I have to admit that I “figured out” the mystery before the end but I was definitely guessing for quite awhile. I am interested to read about Kincaid in his more usual jurisdiction.
This cast of characters was quite diverse and entertaining and I can see these books being a nice diversion. This was my first time listening to this genre of book on audio (normally I’d plow through it in a paperback in a day or two), and it was great.

The Secrets of Castle Du Rêve by Hannah Emery
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book had some suspenseful and interesting parts, and it was a pretty quick read. I was intrigued to find out how all of the characters were linked. I definitely felt like something MUCH worse was going to happen to one of the characters because I kept thinking of Tom from The Girl on the Train for some reason, but I was pleasantly surprised that that storyline wasn’t what I expected. This wasn’t my favourite book of the year, but it was an okay read. The changing perspectives felt a bit confusing at times.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Impulse for providing me with an advanced review copy of this book.

And a DNF from this month, which is rare for me…

Exposure to a Billionaire by Ann Menke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book had an interesting premise and I was so fortunate to the author for sending out an advanced copy but it really fell short with me. I think people who have similar lifestyles might find it more interesting. For me, try as I may, I just couldn’t get into the book or the writing style but I’m sure there are others who would enjoy the story more. I have more thoughts about this book but this is the gist of it for this review. Thank you to Ann Menke for sending me this ebook to try out.

I am currently reading (and REALLY enjoying) The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I am also re-reading Harry Potter in anticipation of the upcoming release in July. I am listening on audiobook (Stephen Fry version) for this first time and LOVING it. It feels kind of like watching the movies in more detail.

I’m still trying to read my own books in June but I’m also working on some categories from the SCSBC 🙂