these days

Winslow's favourite. Lamb and couscous.

party crashers

These days things seem a little bit hard. We've had the stomach flu twice in the last week (groan), sleep isn't happening as much as it should, and in general I'm feeling like Dada and I both need a little bit of a break from parenting responsibilities. I mean that in the most light hearted way. It's just when the days feel really long and there is no one to jump in and lend a hand, that's when I am reminded that we are so far away from family. Wouldn't it be nice to have a lending hand from time to time? Yes. Oh well.
A little recap of this past weekend....
Saturday night was date night and it went very well despite being interrupted by les enfants multiple times. We managed to have a dinner on our own, well actually Katia was sitting at her high chair, but we just pretended that we were at a restaurant and that she was a person at a different table. Then Noah joined us for dessert. And then we got both kids off to bed before our movie.
One of my New Years goals was to put more effort into doing special things for our marriage. I've seen it happen around me, marriages that don't work out, and I know that it takes work to keep a relationship happy and healthy. So I've been trying hard recently to think of little ways that I can be a better partner to my husband and for ways that we can strengthen our relationship, and that's where date nights fall in.
We can't get a babysitter just yet for Katia, because she is still too young to be left with someone. And money isn't exactly a flowin' if you know what I mean, so that means date nights happen at home, and that's okay. Our date night included a little creativity, some special menu planning,  a movie that we rented on Apple TV, surprise flowers from hubby.....all in all, despite a few interruptions, date night was successful.
Some other exciting news. I have decided to start up a toddler art group that will be held at my house once a week for the month of August. This has been something that I have wanted to do for a very long time and upon realizing that there weren't many organized toddler activities happening in our town over the summer, I decided that I would start one up myself.
I'm very excited for this little group to take place. As some of you may or may not know, my background is in visual arts and education, and although I have decided not to go back to teaching (in the public school system at least), I still do enjoying teaching art a great deal.
 For me, being creative is such an important part of who I am. It helps me express myself, it allows me to go into a place of peace, in a way it is a form of meditation. So it would just give me so much joy to be able to provide children with the opportunity to explore and experience art. I am super stoked about this and will definitely write more about it as it approaches.
And that is all for today my friends. I am going to sign off now and maybe attempt to put away some laundry. Or maybe on second thought,  I'll just sit here for a bit longer, drinking my David's Tea and relax a bit.
xox