Dreary

The weather here is hit or miss -- sometimes it's super sunny and other days it's cloudy and windy as hell.

I can't complain though, at least it isn't -20 and snowing (i.e. Winnipeg :P)

Getting into the swing of things

I've been in Mississauga for 4 days now, and things seem to be going pretty well (for the most part).  On my second day here, I went grocery shopping and grabbed a bunch of healthy food to stock the fridge with.  I chose to eff off on my diet during my last week in Winnipeg and it really affected me -- I felt guilty for eating such crap, and my body was making me pay for it.  So eating healthy again, was my first priority once I got settled here.

Spending Halloween here was a little different -- I'm used to really cold Halloween's back in Winnipeg, so when I saw that the forecast was supposed to be 7 degrees with light showers, I was stoked that we wouldn't have to trick-or-treat in the SNOW!

During the day, my sis baked some cookies and we (err.. I mean, the KIDS) decorated them with coloured icing and candies..

Once it started to get dark, we got the kids dressed and ready to go door to door, asking for pure sugar candy.  This was Xander's first 'real' Halloween, so it was pretty fun

Woody, from Toy Story

Waiting nicely for his turn

It's sad that Xierra was in Winnipeg, we were in Mississauga and Brian was in Milwaukee this Halloween :(  I liked getting dressed up as a family -- we did it last year and I can't wait to do it again!

Schmid Family 2011

I'm happy to report that I was able to hit up the gym here at my sister's condo!  I love the accessibility to it -- I'm hoping to go at least 3-4 times a week.

Yesterday, for the first time, I attempted taking the stairs both down to the gym and up from the gym -- I must add that my sister lives on the 35th floor of a high rise condo [It's actually a TRUE 30 floor condo, as it doesn't have any floors containing the #4, nor does it have a 13th floor].

I'll admit that I almost died coming up -- but I made it!  My legs were sore all day today, but it felt reeeeally good.

Not sure what the next few days have in store, but hopefully something somewhat productive. 

I'm going to try to venture out to downtown Toronto next week with just Xander and I (via public transporation) -- I'll be sure to blog about the experience.

welcome fall

Nothing is better than a Chai Tea Latte, The Forks and Fall.

Since it's snowing today in Winnipeg, I figured that I should post this photo of Xander -- maybe it'll bring the nice weather back :)

the half-naked mom

Our summer, so far, has been super enjoyable.  Mother nature has been good to us Winnipegers, and my family and I have done our best to take full advantage of the warm hot weather.

With Xierra out of school, she's spending her weekdays over at her dad's / grandma's house(s) -- so when we get her on the weekend, we've been trying our best to spend some quality family time together, doing FUN things.

This particular day, we spent soaking up the rays in the backyard - pool, sprinkler, lawn chairs, beach towels and all.

Add a pitcher or sangria to the mix, and call it perfect:

I am in love with reading this book -- I don't want it to end.  If I were 2000x sexier and a 10 years older, I would think that I wrote the book myself!

Hope everyone is getting out there and enjoying time with their families.  It won't be long till it's -40C, so let's all take in the heat while we've got it!

CHEERS!

Playing catch-up

Wow, what a crazy month it's been.  I've been on blogging-hiatus for the past month -- I went back to work after a year long maternity leave, and have come to realize that there isn't a whole lot of time to do much of anything anymore.  The transition back to work was fairly smooth.  Everyone was so welcoming and patient with me, and now that I've been back for a little less than a month, I feel like I never left.  


So much has happened since my last post -- visits from out-of-towners, my dad celebrated his 65th birthday and retirement, we celebrated Brian's 2nd official father's day, Xierra finished up her year at H.S. Paul school, Xander started daycare full time, and I started back at work.  Oh and of course, summer is in full swing and the weather is nothing short of gorgeous.


I'll try to follow this post with some detailed posts, but for now, here are some photos and short blurbs on what the last month of my life has looked like:




It's always tough when Grandma Jan and Grandpa Larry leave Winnipeg to go back home to Wheeling, IL -- their visit was short but sweet but they got to spend some quality time with the kids and were able to celebrate Xander's first birthday -- best present this little guy could ask for!

l-r: Brian, Xander and Grandpa Larry

l-r: Grandma Jan, Xierra, Me



We had the pleasure of visiting the newly renovated Manitoba Children's Museum before G'ma and G'pa headed back home.  What a great time!

How lucky am I to have a dad with an awesome sense of humour!  I made these centre pieces for his 65th birthday party that me and my siblings held for him at Marigold restaurant.  He was so amused by them and was letting everyone take pics of him posing with them.  Happy 65th dad!

It's rare to have all of us siblings together, considering one sister lives out in Mississauga and another sister lives out in Vancouver.  It was great to hang out with them and with the rest of the Cuevas family. 

Here's a pic of the little ones:

I love that Xierra's probably the only one that's going to remember taking this pic.  The rest of them are gonna see it 10 years from now and be like "who ARE these people?!"

This was breakfast for Brian on Father's Day.  I'll post more about this delicious recipe later:

Xierra had her last day at her school.  To ensure that she can keep in touch with all of her awesome friends, I sent her to school with these little 'cards'.  They were supposed to mimic little books:

"Xierra's New Chapter"

Library cards on the inside, with hand written notes by Xierra

As a little 'good-bye' and 'thank you' gift, I made this Candy Cake for her class on the last day of school:

Packaged and ready to go!

This was just a random day that we decided to take Xander to the nature park at Assiniboine Park.  Happened to be the same day as the 'paws in motion' walk -- bonus!  We got to play AND see doggies!

This was the day that Xander's fever started....it would be one week later that we would discover that he had a case of BABY MEASLES! :(

Our Canada Day weekend was pretty awesome.  We watched the Forks fireworks from Brian's office building with the kids.  That weekend, we made our first trip out to Grand Beach with my cousin and her family.  What a beautiful day to spend bumming around on the sand!

The next day, we enjoyed lunch at Kum Koon with the family for my little cousin's 7th birthday. 

 

Here's a photo of daddy and baby Beckam...I mean, Xander.

Well that was just a quick rundown of what's been going on around here in the last month.

I'll be sure to add details on some of the projects above, for anyone that might be interested.

Have a great weekend!

My green thumb.

Just a quick post about some productiveness I had last weekend.  We finally got nice-enough weather for me to go out and buy some flowers and plant them!

I'm very excited to have some colour along my front walk :D

 BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I even bought an herb planter, with parsley, chives, oregano, thyme and rosemary! Three cheers for fresh herbs!

 Okay, so I'm a little excited.  Shoot me.