Are they trying to drive me nuts?

My kids are normally quite good in the mornings.  They get up and get dressed, usually without too much hassle - although munchkin girl is getting a little picky about what she wears - and eat their breakfast before heading out the door.  We went through a phase where they seemed intent on not listening to a thing I said but that appeared to have passed.  Now we've moved into the "how can I bug my sibling" phase.  This morning was exceptional.  Pinching, poking, stealing each others toast...  you get the idea.

By the time I got them on their bikes and heading to school I was ready for a nap.

After dropping both off (quite painless this morning) I headed home, swinging up to the Danforth to get a coffee on the way.  As I walked up my front steps I had a sad realization.  In my happy 'drop the kids off at daycare' state I'd managed to leave my keys in Greer's cubby.  I was locked out again.  (for those not up to speed - I did it last week too)  Rather than climb through the slightly ajar and unlocked window in the living room I decided it made more sense to walk back to school and delay the start of my workday.  

It was a beautiful morning for a walk - but I wish I wasn't doing it to correct an earlier mistake...  

Fun on the Street

When we bought our house we really had no idea about the family makeup on our street.  We knew there were lots of kids in the area as we'd seen them in the local park while we were looking in the area.  But were they on our street?  Close by? No idea.

We lucked out.  

In our little block there are 8 kids who like to play outside every time they can...  and a few more chomping at the bit, they just need to get a little but bigger.  I am so glad that my kids can experience street hockey, hide and go seek, bike rides up and down the block and all those great things that I loved growing up.  I had thought it no longer existed in the big city.  But we found a great street with some great neighbours.  The sad part is that four of the kids are moving in  a couple of weeks.  But I think the rest will rally and keep the street spirit alive.  

What a wonderful world....

What a great way to spend a Saturday...  start by getting some good deals at my favorite mom's consignment sale ever... The Great Kids Stuff Sale.  Then spend the rest of the morning playing with the kids on the street....then walk to the local bike shop, find a bright pink bike for the littlest Kelly and a new helmet for the bigger one... back and lunch at McD's with across the street friends... then off to a birthday party for a friend since 1978.  There are a group of us that went to school together from Grade 7 to 13 and we still see each other and hang out a lot.  All were there with husbands and kids in tow and it was incredible to see them all playing together and having fun...  We were so tired at the end of the day that we crashed as soon as the kids were asleep....  *yawn*

off on another busy day today....

Today I learned something new about my neighbourhood

Today, while reading the monthly newsletter from our community association I learned a little history about our new neighbourhood. It used to be called the Midway Annex and its 99 years old. Pretty cool. It sounds weird but I like knowing that my neighbourhood had a name. It's easier than describing it as "further east than Riverdale, but not as far over, or south, as the Beach". Now if I start calling it the Midway Annex, its not like anyone is going to know what I mean. But hey - I can glow in my newfound knowledge.

Here's the excerpt from the newsletter.

The Midway Annex is just one year shy of its centennial as a part of the city. Midway was the name of an area between the City of Toronto (the eastern boundary was just east of Greenwood) and
the Town of East Toronto (the western boundary crossed Danforth about a half km east of Woodbine). In its entirety, Midway, which was annexed in 1909, almost ran down almost to
Queen.

It was a dusty rural road with small wooden bridges over swamps and creeks until pavement and streetcar tracks arrived in 1913. Its market gardens supplied fresh produce and dairy products to the
nearby city, but gave way to a 1920s building boom that followed the end of WWI and the opening of the Bloor viaduct. The name Midway was largely forgotten as this hybrid streetcar/automobile
suburb developed. Also largely forgotten is that for more than 40 years, people from north and south of Danforth walked to the Midway s Midway stri p -- for streetcars into the core, for employment and for nearly ever kind of shop and service imaginable. There were movie theatres,
bowling alleys, several supermarkets, scores of independent food stores, lots of bank branches and a wide range of clothing and shoe stores.

Things changed rapidly after the subway replaced streetcars in 1966. With transit stops suddenly much farther apart, with traffic speeding up in the absence of streetcars and with major retailers
shifting to larger-scale car-dependent business models, Danforth as a pedestrian-friendly destination went into decline.

Okay - so its been almost a year...

The chaos of buying a house, renovating a kitchen, moving into the house, changing daycares, eldest starting Jr Kindergarten, my new job and life I haven't found time to make note of life here.  However, spring has sprung, the grass is riz, so its time to start again.  

Two important things will happen here... 

1. I am going to try really really hard to keep notes on my fitness activities and lifestyle good/bad choices.

2. I am going to try and keep a running log of what goes on in the daily lives of our crew...

So there - I've said it...

Lets see if I can keep it up.

k

Time Marches On

The end of the school year has made things a little busy and a little over programmed around here. Between starting to get things organized for the move, Declan's birthday party and Ken's end of year commitments its been a little crazy. But things are falling into place and that's a good thing.

Last Friday a woman I have never met made my day, my month, my summer. The Childcare Director for the daycare at Declan's new school called (I've met other staff - just not her) and told me that Declan and Greer have spots in the daycare starting in September. They will both be in the same facility (different classes), and its a three block walk from home. Declan can be walked *across the hall* to Junior Kindergarten. Its all good.

We also bought a dishwasher and found a sale on the appliances that we want. More good.

Ken is finishing up his marking - should be done in the next couple of days. More good.

And Declan had his first birthday party. He and a friend from nursery school have birthdays right next to each other so the mom's decided to have a joint party and invite the whole class. We held it at an indoor playground and served pizza and nut free cake. Everyone had a great time (from what we can tell) and Declan came home with more loot than we stuffed into the loot bags.

Now we just need to finish the school year, take possession of the house and do a complete kitchen reno! Not much.....

Wow - my last post was in April?

Thats a surprise... it doesn't seem like that long since I've written here - but the computer doesn't lie. Unless you tell it to.

Hmm what has happened since then?

• Finalized a kitchen design, at least until we found a new sink we like better... need to do some measurements
• Booked kitchen installation contractor
• Spent a work weekend at my parents cottage - the kids had so much fun raking and hauling leaves - really they did!!
• Started "toilet learning" with our 2 year old - she's doing really really well - but we are doing a bit more laundry than normal
• Attended the Mothers Day Party at my son's pre-school - the kids sang a great son and then served all the mommies snack and juice. I now have a lovely orange lucite-ish necklace that he made for me to wear.
• Mothers Day weekend with the kids - lots of play in the park and picnics and dinner out with Grandma and Grandpa.
• Sleep
• And somewhere in there I did some work and began to plan a business trip to ....wait for it.... Cincinnati! Woo Hoo

I think I'm allowed to rest now right?