Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day. I have a crown. It says “Irish Princess” on it. I love St Patrick’s Day.

He said

With each of these passing days with more sunlight, it appears – as the temperatures dip ever so slowly upwards – that spring may eventually arrive. Though, when we have the days that the thermometer hits positive double digits, it seems the very next day is a kick in the pants in the exact opposite direction pulling negative temps in the teens. Admittedly there are fewer days where we get well below -15º C, but that they still exist is still making us feel more trapped indoors than there by choice. We’re all collectively looking real forward to the days where we can spend some time outside rather than quickly shuffling between the vehicle and the house!

That said, Friday this week was a beautiful day. When I left work at 6:00pm the sun was still out and the temperature was nice enough that I could drive home with the sunroof open in the car. Danielle who was feeling cabin fever had gotten the best of her with a very long week with the daycare kids equally as squirrelly, wanted out of Dodge the second I got home to run some errands and get some quiet time. With the weather so nice, Emelia and I decided once I had my dinner we’d get outside and go for a walk. It was absolute bliss! The weather alone – especially all the fresh air – was enough to clear out a little bit of the staleness in our lungs from being trapped inside. But the best part of the walk was the hour long conversation and connection I got to have with Emelia. It was great to have this one-on-one time with her, where we could reconnect under the optimism of being somewhere that wasn’t our house.

This week being March Break, we also got to spend some time with my brother David, and his kids Aaron, Amy and Andrew over at Mom & Dad’s earlier in the week. Emelia was over the moon she got to spend time with her cousins—Amy especially. They came down to visit the family on Monday and Tuesday. Being that I was off work on Sunday and Monday, it happened that I got to spend a bit of time with them too, over at Mom & Dad’s Monday afternoon. Then all the family (that were able to) went out for dinner together which was nice as well.

Tuesday, Emelia was right back over at Poppa and Grandma’s to hang out with her cousins. They spent the morning out at Fanshawe Pioneer Village and then after Emelia had went on about how much she loved it, Poppa & Grandma treated David, and all the cousins to see The Lego Movie. Both Emelia and Vaughan had already seen it, but Andrew, Amy and Aaron hadn’t. By all counts they thoroughly enjoyed it. When Emelia and Danielle came to pick me up at work on Tuesday evening after they had their second dinner of the week with the family, we had a hard time convincing Emelia she didn’t need to go back to hangout with her cousins but that she did need to get home to bed. She was worried she was missing out on more fun!

By the end of the week, it was obvious that while March Break was a good time for Danielle and Emelia to connect, she is also well beyond being entertained in daycare any more. I am not sure she knows or understands this right now, but being in school and getting time away from Danielle and I, really is good for her too.

This week we got the awning ordered for the trailer and it looks like everything will be ready and delivered well in advance of our trip to the States. In fact our little trailer lights for the awning have already arrived at the US post box we’re having them delivered to! Wolfie is going to look pretty fantastic come this summer, and will give Danielle and I a nice place to enjoy an evening cocktail (or four) under, while Emelia slumbers away. And pretty soon, we’re going to start counting days to our first outing rather than months and then, weeks.

This week I have to head down to Toronto for a work meeting on Tuesday at the Apple Store at Yorkdale. It’s a pretty exciting trip and an opportunity to be outside our store and see and meet lots of new faces in the Toronto market. It does mean I have to get up and be on the road before 6:00am, but that will also be the second last day of a nine-day stretch at work and come Thursday and Friday I will ready for a couple of days off.

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, and this week we cross officially from Winter into Spring. In honour of both of those occasions, I will celebrate early tonight by flopping myself down on the couch with Danielle, having a couple more Steamwhistles, and daydreaming about the days we can go sit on the porch to end the summer evenings…

She said

As we finish this week we end our so called spring break, not much spring but more winter but it was a nice break in the day to day for Emelia and the school runs. Emelia had lots on the go for the week and at the same time I got some extra time with Emelia. I am trying so hard to enjoy these moments because before we know it Emelia won’t want to be with her parents like she does now and there will be a day I won’t be home as much as I am now and I won’t always be able to be with Emelia on her school breaks. So for now I will cherish each of these breaks.

Well, that was my theory but after a LONG week with less than ideal behaviour from some of the daycare kids and an extra very energetic body in the house I was more than ready for the weekend to come. Emelia also wanted some time with just me. As Friday got closer the more I was looking forward to my evening breaks and evening workouts to take out the days stress.

But this week did go by fast, Monday and Tuesday Emelia had plans out of the house. The first day was with John with her cousins and grandparents. Emelia had a blast with the kids and it was a great time for John to spend with his family. That evening we went out for dinner for all the family that was available and it was great to catch up with everyone. Tuesday John had to return to work but Poppa came shortly after the daycare kids arrived to gather Emelia so she could spend the day with family again. She had a great time, even with changes in plans at the village with some quick thinking the kids and a visit at the village with a private tour by Poppa himself and then they came home and after some time David took the whole crew to The Lego Movie compliments of Grandma.

Wednesday we were back to normal around here, Emelia was back with the daycare kids and the weather turned crap, ANOTHER snowstorm. But we made the most of it, spent the day doing crafts, playing playdoh, dancing to music and generally getting as much of our sillies out as possible. This has been the longest winter I can remember in a long time, we have had more snow before but we have had longer spells of cold days, more ice that made getting out very hard and generally been a year that has tested our cabin fever boundaries.

Thursday came along and Emelia had more plans, one of my close friends Karen whom I have known since Emelia was a newborn happens to be a mom of Emelia’s classmate. As luck would have it Ben who Emelia has known since she was 6 weeks old is in her class. Karen had generously offered to host a big play date with a group of the kids from school. Being housebound Karen offered to come pick up Emelia before lunch and take her for lunch and the afternoon. Emelia had such a great time that they didn’t come home until after 5:30. What this meant is that Emelia got to spend time with her friends but I had something I have rarely gotten in a long time, 45 minutes of the house to myself. Yes, I’m a geek and mom and took the quite to get the house cleaned, supper made and did get to watch a bit of TV but it was a great end of a chaotic day with the daycare kids.

Friday was another doozy, the kids are just sick of being trapped inside and they just want to run and be kids. I set up as many activities as I can to keep the engaged and active but being trapped in the house has its limitations. By the end of Friday the temperatures had risen a fair bit and once the kids were gone and John was home I quickly left to get some things done out of the house and John took Emelia for a nice long walk to let her burn off some energy. I came home decompressed and John and I had a quiet night watching Dallas Buyers Club.

I can easily see why the movie won top honours at the Oscars this year for the acting. The movie that had a VERY small budget for Hollywood standards blew us away. The subject matter of AIDS in the 1980’s, it was hard to watch but it was so brilliantly acted and brought back that time of the early AIDS epidemic and how scary it was.

Saturday and Sunday John had to work and my to do list on Saturday was long and well boring for a 7 year old. So I had asked Helen and Doug if Emelia could spend the afternoon with them while I dealt with a lengthy to do list. A list that included, groceries, business income taxes, house cleaning, and joy oh joy bringing the car in for service. Thankfully she wasn’t with me because 2 hours waiting at the dealership would have been a LONG wait for her. Once I ticked off most of my list I made my way over to Helen and Doug’s close to dinner and received a generous offer to have dinner with them. I was exhausted and was happy to accept the offer. I went to pick up John and we went for dinner as a family.

Today was a lazier day, after dropping John off at work Emelia and I made our way to the gym and I got in a great and long workout in and Emelia had a blast in program. She has thankfully done a full 180 on program, in the past she would cling to my leg and dread the idea of going which made going to the gym while John worked very difficult. She now loves it and is slowing feeling more comfortable playing in the games the staff have organized. She really loves it and it allows her to stay active in these long winter months.

The rest of the day was pretty low key. Emelia was an amazing help getting things done around the house and helping make supper while we waited for John to get off work. The weekend is almost done so I am going to sign off so I get the last of the before work week chores done and we can sit down to watch a movie and relax.

Until next week…