Happy Birthday Lorisia!

So my oldest daughter turns 23 today, which is crazy as I'm pretty sure she's still that adorable little kid I remember from when I was 23, only with a boyfriend, a job, and a University degree...

ANYWAY, although she still may be very tiny in my mind, it's a pretty exciting day, tasty food and my first piece of anything sugary for SIX WEEKS! (Pictured below).

An amazing day for an amazing girl.

23-Skidoo!

Things I've Noticed: It's my Birthday today

Today I celebrate my 37th birthday, and also my (roughly) fourth year of doing this blog.

I've had a pretty great day; my family has done some very nice things for me, we went out to see a movie (more on that on Wednesday), and I got to have my various birthday treats.

Also, I finished Infamous 2, which wasn't planned, but is quite nice, and I found the most adorable monkey-themed birthday picture I've ever seen (pictured right).

In a few weeks I'm back to school for the last year of my graduate degree, and honestly, I think I'm doing a pretty good job of living in my late-mid-30s (next year I have to start saying late-30s, so let me hang onto this for the year!).

For all my various followers, readers, and people who just stop by to see if I've found anymore cute monkey pictures, thanks!

Things I've Noticed: My Oldest Child is no longer a teen

So I spent the day with my oldest daughter today, as tomorrow she turns twenty.  This was basically my last chance to hang out with her as a teen so we hit the mall, had some coffee and spent the day shopping.

It was awesome.

It's kind of funny, as tomorrow I will both have a twenty-year-old daughter and will be old enough to have a twenty-year-old daughter.

Which is both scary and pretty awesome.

Happy 20th Birthday (tomorrow) Lori,

Your daddykins (Bookmonkey).

Happy Birthday Kaia

Today in Canada we get a day off work to celebrate Victoria Day (the last Monday in May before the 25th) to celebrate Queen Victoria's (1819 - 1901) birthday, as well as the date our nation celebrates our current reigning monarch's birthday.


Around my house, we tend to use this day to celebrate my youngest daughter Kaia's birthday, and today she is fifteen-years-old, so we showered her with presents of books, vampire movies and more (although I  kind of wish there was more to the swimsuit her older sister gave her), and as we are spending the day focusing on her, that's about all I've got.


She's a pretty awesome girl, and I can't believe that my tiniest baby is going to be starting high school in a few short months.


Happy Birthday Kaia.

Things I've Noticed: It's My Daughter's Birthday tomorrow!

...and for me that means getting to take the day off today.

Here's how it goes - just before my oldest daughter (currently in Nova Scotia learning French the Immersion way), turned ten I decided I wanted to spend a day with my daughter while she was still nine. So on the Day before her birthday we went to West Edmonton Mall (as a local Edmontonian I tend to visit The Mall just this side of never - it's a tourist place) and hung out at the water-park. This went over so well, it became a tradition.

So today I'm taking my youngest daughter out for the last day of her thirteenth year - we'll eat tasty, yet terrible food, hit a couple book stores, a chocolate shop, maybe take in a movie, and I won't be messing up her actual birthday plans with friends.

Anyway, this entirely new tradition (not that new actually as I've been doing it for a decade now) is one of the highlights of my year - I'm out of work - she gets pulled out of school and we just have a pretty awesome day.

Happy Day before your birthday Kaia!