The high of my week was mailing away our Christmas cards, receiving the most hilarious Christmas card EVER from one of my dearest friends, having a sushi lunch date with my dad, and having a kid-free evening tonight with Kyle. We also gave Isla her chocolate advent calendar, and she was super excited for it! (Obviously, what kid isn’t excited for chocolate?) Oh, and we finalized the sale of our townhouse! Whew!

The low of my week was waking up Wednesday morning and learning that one of our local RCMP officers had been shot during a traffic stop. He was critically injured (now in stable condition at the hospital after having surgery), but when I had heard the report that he was married with two young children I started panicking a little because my neighbour is an officer and has two young boys. Thankfully, I saw him leave his house in the afternoon, and even more thankfully, the Emergency Response Team arrested the suspect late yesterday afternoon.

A blog post I loved was actually posted a couple of weeks ago, but I really enjoyed this post by Amber about putting on your perspectacles and taking a step back to look at what you have to be grateful for, especially during the holiday season when the focus is often shifted to giving and receiving. It really made me think about everything I have to be grateful for as well.

The best money I spent was $6 on a new pair of mittens from Walmart, although there were techy mittens I saw at Target for only $3.50 that I liked better, so I may have to buy those as well.

My favourite Isla moment was her waltzing into the kitchen with her footie pajamas unzipped with her feet out but her arms still in, with no undies (because she deemed them not necessary), and announcing that she is “SUPER ISLA!” and took off running through the house. It was priceless and hilarious and a little bizarre.

The song that has been stuck in my head is nothing! I haven’t been listening to a lot of music lately, except for The Voice, but nothing has been stuck in my head. I do, however, really want to start playing Christmas music, and that may just happen this weekend when I decorate the house.

My favourite meal of the week was most definitely the sushi lunch I had yesterday! I’ve had a craving for miso soup and sushi for a while now, and I finally went. Isla and I ended up meeting my dad and his girlfriend for lunch, so it was nice to catch up with them at the same time. I ordered a Bento box, and it came with all my favourite things: miso soup, California roll, sunomono, gyoza, tempura, and chicken teriyaki. Isla loved the miso soup and the California roll, and even stole an extra piece of sushi off my plate. She also liked the yam tempura and gyoza, but spit the sunomono out, haha. Of course, I forgot to take a picture, so I’ll show you my second favourite meal of the week: the bacon macaroni and cheese that I had on Wednesday.

My plans for the weekend are decorating the house for Christmas, a date night with Kyle, finding a Christmas tree (a real one, from the store), taking Isla to the kid’s Christmas party hosted by Kyle’s work, and decorating the Christmas tree. Also in the mix are the usual things, like grocery shopping and Isla’s LAST swimming lesson! (Thank goodness, I’m so over getting up early on Sunday!)

What are YOUR weekend plans? Have you decorated for the holidays yet?

Eating a cookie, being adorable as usual.

The high of my week was getting all my Christmas shopping DONE! (With the exception of a few little stocking stuffers for Isla, of course.) I believe this is the earliest I’ve ever finished shopping for Christmas, and I must say, it’s a strange feeling. I also finished writing out all of my Christmas cards and plan to pop them in the mail the first week of December.

The low of my week was no lows this week, really. I’ve been feeling a little under the weather, but I think it’s just the change in weather.

A blog post I loved was this cake recipe shared by Colleen at Lemon Thistle! Seriously – does it not sound delicious?! I’d probably definitely cut back on the garnish, because OMG THE SUGAR, but it sounds like such a fun and yummy cake! (Now, someone needs to have a birthday so I have an excuse to make it. While cake for no reason is always great, cake for a party is much more justified!)

The best money I spent was $7 on a Paw Patrol toy for Isla’s stocking. I’m not even kidding. She looooooves this show and absolutely lost her mind when she saw the big poster for it hanging in Target. We hunted the toys down to “have a look” and while she was playing with one, I snuck another into the cart. She was NOT impressed when I took the one away, but she’ll be pretty happy to see that Santa brought her one!

My favourite Isla moment was not really a favourite, but a pretty big milestone – she can now turn light switches on AND open doors. Now in the mornings she’s been beating me out of bed (at 6:30 a.m., no less) and coming into my room to wish me “Good Morning!” So far I’ve been able to convince her the past three mornings to lay in bed with me until it’s a reasonable time to emerge from the covers, which is nice.

The song that has been stuck in my head is “Cool Kids” by Echosmith. It’s been stuck in my head since Taylor Phelan performed it a couple weeks ago on The Voice and I can’t get it out!

My favourite meal of the week was actually last Friday, but Kyle and I went out for dinner at The Keg to celebrate selling our townhouse, our dating anniversary (a dozen years on November 18th!), and life being awesome in general. We had a gift card, so that made the meal even better! I ordered 1lb of king crab legs and that maaaaay have been a little overkill. My stomach hurt for days afterwards. Oops.

My plans for the weekend are relaxing on Saturday – maybe a Disney movie marathon with Isla? And then Sunday consists of our usual swimming lessons in the morning, followed by putting up our Christmas lights while we still have this “warmer” weather. (It’s currently 0°C and I call that a win!)

What are your plans for the weekend?
Have you been watching The Voice? Who’s your favourite so far this year? (I really like Taylor John Williams on Team Gwen and Luke Wade on Team Pharrell!)

The high of my week was taking Isla’s Christmas photos, putting together our Christmas cards, and ordering said cards! While Christmas may seem like it’s pretty far away still, I always try to get Isla’s Christmas photos done right after Halloween to account for any kind of shipping delays. I ordered the cards yesterday and they should be here in about 2 weeks! I’m super happy with the way the photos turned out too, considering that I’m no professional photographer and I just used a little bit of “Pin-spiration” for the theme. Here’s a sneak peak of one of the photos:

The low of my week was learning that my uncle has lost his battle with cancer. I had received the news on Friday last week and so today I’m actually travelling down to Victoria for his memorial service. He battled colon cancer for three years and took every day from his diagnosis to his passing with the bravest and most positive face. The world is a less positive place without him, for sure.

A blog post I loved was this one on post-baby body image. I’m a firm believer that there is WAY too much pressure on women to look their best right after having a baby, and this post really hit the nail on the head.

The best money I spent was $25 on a pair of jeans for Kyle. My husband is horrible at buying himself new clothes, so when I found these Tommy Hilfiger jeans at Costco for only $25 I figured I’d buy them for him and make him try them on. If he didn’t like them, it’s Costco and I can take them back no problem! Lucky for me, he liked the fit, so I feel like I hit the lottery, lol. (Side note: I keep his pant and shirt sizes noted in my phone in case I see something he might like when I’m shopping.)

My favourite Isla moment was listening to some of the phrases she’s been coming up with. One in particular is when I ask her to do something and she responds with, “I can’t, Mommy. I’m too crazy!” I don’t even know where she gets this stuff from. Another one is when I ask her if she’s hungry (or any question that begins with, “Are you … ?”) and she’ll tell me, “No, Mommy. I’m not hungry, I’m Isla!” Sorry, kiddo, my mistake!

The song that has been stuck in my head is the intro song to one of Isla’s favourite cartoons, Paw Patrol. Mom life, I tell yah ;)

My favourite meal of the week was this beef stroganoff that I made last night for dinner. I’ve been craving it for a loooong time now and finally remembered to find an easy recipe to try out. A bonus is that Kyle really liked it too, so it’s definitely a repeat recipe!

My plans for the weekend are travelling to Vancouver Island today for my uncle’s memorial service. While it will be nice to see family, it’s unfortunate that we’re getting together under these circumstances.

I’ll leave you with a photo of Kyle and I being super cool ;)

What are you plans for the weekend?