Saturdays don’t come better than this.
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Category Archives: in photos
Grae-nado.
Unfortunately, we have not quite recovered from when we veered off the path of consistent naps yet… Gracen is such a routine little thing, that sometimes it’s difficult to get back on track after falling off. As of now, she goes down for a nap after lunch as usual, she lays in the dark singing and chatting to herself for a good long while, and when she doesn’t fall asleep, I part her curtains just a little to let in some light, and she has some quiet play time alone in her barely-lit room. Down time we both need.
Besides the fact that she truly does still need her nap and our afternoon is tough without out it, the following morning we are guaranteed to have an extra early wake up (we’re talking somewhere in the 5 a.m. range). This kid is proof to the fact that good day time sleep equals good nighttime sleep, let me tell you. Then of course, she’s tired the next morning, nap time is extra tough that day, and the cycle continues. Viciously. Ugh.
Oh, and on top of that? Quiet play time equals this:
A Grae-nado as we call it.
Here’s hoping for a return of naps, ASAP.
♥
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Vigid Flies
Vigid, more formally known as Vigid Milkman, is Gracen’s beloved butterfly kite she received in her Easter basket last month. I have no idea where Vigid (pronounced vee-gid) came from, but Milkman is after Melky Cabrera, a Toronto Bluejays player Miss G and her Papa watch together. Crazy name aside, Grae is absolutely smitten with Vigid Milkman. She watches out our big front window, and the moment she sees the slightest rustle of the tree leaves across the street, she asks if there is enough wind for Vigid to fly. Much to her happiness, today was an oddly windy day (our yard is littered with trash to prove it) and the moment her Papa returned from home from work, he asked if she’d like to fly Vigid. Did she ever!
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Little Singer
This girl can turn almost anything into a microphone. Recently, our front porch bannister has become one. Naturally this means at least a song or two sung on the way out of the house, and another on the way back in.Miss G {in Manual}
Today I was lucky enough to spend the morning with some blogger friends soaking up the photography wisdom of Justine from B Life Photography and Amy of The Connection We Share. They took us through the basics of using our cameras on the manual setting and helped us learn the balance between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Being the slightly stubborn person I am (though I prefer the term ‘determined’ ☺) , from here on out, my camera will remain on manual, despite it being freakin’ hard (so much to think about, and so little time while chasing a busy toddler).
It’s far from a perfect photo, but here’s my very first manually-shot picture of my little love.
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We ♥ Vancouver
This photo reminds me of so many of the things we adore about Vancouver. The outdoors, art, blossoms, mountains, Queen E Park… It’s a lovely combination.Saturday Morning in Stanley Park
A perfect way to start the weekend… A Stanley Park play date with some girlfriends. ☺
Saucer sharing.
The magic of bubbles.
A giant microphone for a little performer.
“Hello Goose! How you doing today? You wanna see my flower???”
♥
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The Hat & a Bad Dream
This morning at 4 a.m. I awoke abruptly to hysterical cries coming from Gracen’s room. Though it happens rarely, if I do hear her during the night, I give her a bit of time to resettle and she does, but this was a different sort of cry. It was panicked. I scrambled out of bed to see what was wrong, and as soon as I neared her bed, she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulled me close, and said “Mama!” in a tone that was both desperate and relieved. I cuddled in beside her and asked her what she was sad about…
Gracen: I’m sad about my pink hat.
Mama: Your pink hat? Which one?
Gracen: Ya. The stripy one.
Mama: (not knowing which hat she was talking about) Why are you sad about your pink hat, love?
Gracen: Because it got flushed down the toilet! (hysterical crying ensued)
After she’d calmed a little, I explained that no hats had been flushed down the toilet and that I thought she had been dreaming. A brief explanation of dreaming later, my little lady, satisfied with my explanation, snuggled into me, her little feet curled up in the palm of my hand, and we both fell back asleep.
The look on her face was priceless a few hours later when she found me sleeping next to her in her bed, but no questions were asked as to why I was there. We got up, started our day as we always do, and about an hour or so later, in the middle of a story book, she turned to me and very seriously said, “I have to check something.” She disappeared into the hallway and returned wearing the hat in the photos above. “It’s still here!” she said. “It no get flushed down the toilet! Yaaaaaaaay!” She had remembered.
And for the rest of the day, she wore her pink “stripy” hat…
♥
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A Beach Morning
This morning, on the final day of Grandma Charlotte’s visit, we headed down to Stanley Park to soak in the sunshine and crisp ocean air… The photos say it themselves, but it was lovely.
File all of these lovely things – cool sunshiny mornings, layers and boots, days with grandmas – under things we’ll miss once back in Kuwait.
♥
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The Barefoot Gardener
Though our little miss is normally a rockstar sleeper, Grandma Charlotte is staying with us right now and sleep is difficult when excitement levels are running this high. After a tough time getting to sleep last night, today’s nap didn’t happen. And a skipped nap in this house is not just an ‘oh well’… This little lady needs her naps. Desperately. Our coping mechanism to get through the afternoon as gracefully as possible? Getting outside and soaking in some fresh air and sunshine. It just so happens that today it was in the {yet to be planted} garden in pajamas. White ones.
A filthy toddler and dirt-stained jammies? Totally worth a happy afternoon. Because in the words of Miss G, “It’s okay to dirty.”
♥
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My Favourite Kind of Morning
This morning was my favourite kind. Gracen woke up just past 7, we snuggled in bed until we were good and ready to start the day, and we made our way to the kitchen. She sat on her toddler bench gobbling up wholewheat pancakes with peanut butter, and I threw a mix of green veggies and frozen fruit into the blender with a splash of cold water. After breakfast, we gathered a blanket, a book, our smoothies and headed off for an adventure in the wagon. I snuck in some exercise by choosing the hilliest routes and made sure to pass by a park so Grae could have a good long play. Afterwards we made our way to a local coffee shop where Grae slurped up a warm milk and I enjoyed my first iced coffee of the year. Before heading home, I pulled the wagon {and my little love} through our local market and we filled it up with fresh fruits and veggies. She helped herself to bananas and clementines on the way home, and I enjoyed the sunshine, cool wind, and cherry blossoms overhead. It was a good day.
♥
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Serious Singer Girl {& A Favourite New Etsy Shop}
Oh. my. goodness. Does our little lady ever love to sing! For the last few weeks, she’s been grabbing wooden blocks, carrots, and whatever else she can find to use as stand-in microphones for performances of ‘We Are Young’, ‘This Girl is on Fire’, ‘Trouble’, and other favourites. The thing is, she’s very serious about it all. She has to be in a certain spot, she has to have a microphone of some sort, and it has to be a song she knows well. Her vocals are accompanied by emotion, hand gestures, and dance moves that prove she’s been studying the artists closely while watching their music videos.
In light of her new love for singing, I decided to get her a microphone and knew Etsy would be the place to go. Sure enough, after a quick search, I found the perfect one… Handcrafted and made of wood, finished with natural oils only, simplistic, and requiring zero batteries. My kind of toy. I put the order through, received a shipping notification within 2 days, and it arrived quickly. Plus it’s absolutely beautiful… Doesn’t get much better than that. I’d highly recommend checking out the shop it came from (Wee Woodworks) online. Their animal-shaped percussion instruments are ridiculously cute too.
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I Spy…
One of Miss G’s favourite things ever is visiting Papa at school. We went to pick him up from work tonight, and after playing in the woods for a while, Grae and Bradley took ‘the secret way’ out. Up on the regular path, I spied this.
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Saturday Snippets
While our morning consisting of a drizzly visit to Granville Island, our afternoon was all about enjoying a little bit of sunshine and soaking in the sights of spring scattered about our yard…
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A Floor Bed for Miss G
Though Gracen’s crib could have been converted to a toddler bed, we opted to rearrange her room a little and make space for a large floor bed. Not only does it give her lots space to spread out while sleeping {and minimizes falls out of the bed}, but it also allows for family snuggles, awesome story reading sessions, and provides a new play space too. Tea anyone?
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