We met up with our friends Brandie and her little man, Jackson, and Silke and her little lady, Ainsley. We walked around the Public Market, grabbed some lunch, and ate outside with the pigeons.

Gracen doesn’t get these very often, but she sure loves it when she does. Today she polished off a full ‘just apples’ one after eating a big plate of dinner. :)

Today Gracen and I headed down to West Broadway just for fun. We cruised in and out of shops, Gracen people watched, and I got a latte from Caffe Artigiano (amazing!). The whole way, Gracen had her baby by the arm. Poor baby. We need to get something to cover that bare little bum. :)

Today we went searching for a tiny little outfit for Gracen’s baby (aka “bubba”) who has been naked for the last 30 years… We came across a tiny little newborn onesie and hat that Grae wore when she was first born. We put the outfit on the baby, but the hat didn’t stay on her head for long with our hat fiend nearby. Guess who wore it around the house instead…

Gracen’s is such a good sport about running errands all day long. Thank goodness, because there’s been a lot to do lately.

I blew them and Grae popped them as quickly as she could.

Living across the street from a school means that we visit the park A LOT. Gracen likes to swing, but her favourite thing to do is to climb. Give her a slide and she can climb it – doesn’t matter how steep it is.

Today we were running some errands at Oakridge Mall and passed by the kids’ play area. Gracen was so excited that we couldn’t just pass by.

This morning Gracen decided that she wanted to feed herself her yogurt.

We are very lucky to live across the street from a school that has a very decent playground. Gracen and I were even luckier when Bradley said that he’d clean up from breakfast and do the dishes while we played outside at the park. :)

Turns out, we didn’t get everything we needed from IKEA in the first go… Now if you know IKEA midday on a Saturday, you know that you best be prepared when visiting with a baby. Today’s distractions – a crunchy piece of pumpkin seed cheddar flatbread and a giant apple.

Today Gracen had pizza. I had made it for dinner last night and was having some for lunch when she made it very clear that she would prefer my lunch to hers. She chucked her food on the floor and proceeded to pant and beg for mine with her arms outstretched. I gave her a little bit, and boy oh boy, did she ever love it. But who doesn’t love a wholewheat crust topped with sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta, and chicken ?

Although our yard is crying out for some love and attention, we’re very lucky to have a plum tree, an apple-pear tree, a fig tree, some fresh mint, and a few strawberry plants happily growing on their own. This morning Gracen and I had gone for an early morning walk and decided to take a look at our strawberry plants on the way in. Sure enough, there were a bunch of red little berries just waiting to be picked.

I’m not sure what it is about this photo, but I absolutely love it.

Our poor child. We’ve taken the baby in a box thing to a whole new level… We started painting Gracen’s room today, and since her crib doesn’t fit through the door (there’s only so many times you can take apart and rebuild those things), we took her mattress and put it in a box in our room. Our goal is to have the ceiling and walls painted and the room fully aired out so that she can sleep in it on Friday night.

On a side note, I remember when Korbin was a baby and Roz and Gar would come to visit, they would put him to sleep in a suitcase (maybe even a dresser drawer too)… Either way, we’ve got you guys beat, Gar and Rozi. Straight up ghetto in here.