I had a dance recital for my school dance group The Ryerson Grooves this week and Mommy got to see me! I also had my very first Art Class on Tuesday night after school! I think Daddy was as excited as I was.

He said

The big part of the news this week is we’re sorta officially done painting the trim! Danielle managed to wrap it up early in the week. And when that was done, there was no stopping her. She had closed the daycare Tuesday so she could attend a dance recital Emelia was in for school at the board office. But, that was only a couple of hours. With the rest of the day to herself, she painted out the entire kitchen and dining room without even batting an eyelash. In fact, by the time, I got home from work she was twitching to move on to the front room and the hallway.

But that will have to wait until we have Vince over to do the patchwork in that room, the hallway and upstairs in my office. The second that is done, I assure you, Danielle will be there with the paint cans ready to start cutting in—probably before Vince gets out of the driveway!

I am so happy with the results so far. Both Danielle and I for so many years resisted the notion of painting the hardwood and doing anything to the walls that wasn’t a bold or darker statement-type colour. But with the crisp white trim and the lighter colour in the dining room and kitchen, it looks so much brighter. Both of us would love to wave a wand and be to the point all the painting is done, and we’re just enjoying. Though, there won’t be much time after that, because next on the agenda is the front steps, replacing the mulch in the side yard with grass. And sanding and re-varnishing the front porch hardwood… it never ends, it seems!

Part of my work week was spent making trips to the Apple Store in Waterloo at Conestoga Mall. The experience was great! I was down there with one of the Geniuses from our store learning the in’s and out’s of the Genius Admin role which this Genius has taken on. I was there to take in a bit of that experience as well as connect with my counterpart, the Lead Genius from that store. The two days were loaded with perspective and lots of learns. Getting out of our store and into others to see how they do things is something that is encouraged and I greatly appreciate as part of our development. And they have an amazing team there, that were really great to see in action.

With me being out of town on Tuesday, that did mean I missed Emelia’s dance recital, but thankfully Danielle was there and the three of us sat down when I got back home and with the help of the AppleTV were able to AirPlay Danielle’s iPhone videos to the big screen. It was a delight to see her so focused and intent on getting it right. Also interesting to have her talk about it while we watched what was going on her mind.

Tuesday evening, as if there wasn’t already enough going on, Emelia had her very first Art Class. It’s an external program put on by the city that just so happens to run out of her school. It’s an hour and a half long and she came home beaming about all that she had learned. She fanned through four or five pages in her brand new sketchbook telling me all about chalk pastels and the colour wheels. You can imagine my delight in seeing the sparkle in her eye over art.

The other fun thing this week was our long-awaited new-ish (used) espresso maker arrived. I don’t want to say I spend a lot of money at Starbucks, but I spend a lot of money at Starbucks. We’ve had the gamut of cheaper or reasonably cheap coffee makers but after much research and encouragement from our coffee snob friends (cough Jim cough Greg) we (with Jim’s help) found a used (but virtually new) Saeco Aroma espresso maker that came highly recommended (by Jim). The machine arrived Monday but I didn’t get much time to play with it until this weekend. And it is worth every dollar we spent! (and will save from Starbucks). We’ve bought some Pilot Big Bro Espresso that we’ve become quite enamoured with at Locomotive Espresso near our house, and tomorrow we’ll give it a whirl in our new best friend in the morning.

We’ve had some beautiful weather to end out the week, and much of the latter part of the week our windows have been open and the fresh air has been pouring in. We’re supposed to have a couple days of much cooler temps and then the weather gets right back where it needs to be (which is Spring!). With it being such a busy but rewarding week, I am going to go squeeze the last few hours of this Sunday up, before we dive head long into a new week!

She said

What a jam packed week! I can happily say the white trim is finally done on the main level. There is some quarter round that we need to install to finish everything off but I can say happily until we need to touch up the bedroom level we are done with white paint for quite a while. With the white trim done it really made me want to get the rest of the walls done. I would like to say it was all done by this point but with some repair to be done we are not there.

Emelia had a performance at the board of education on Tuesday and I closed the daycare for the first time in 6 years for a personal day and enjoyed seeing Emelia perform. Emelia really loved for the first time to have me 100% to herself. The daycare being here day to day is really trying on her at times so having me to herself was something she just adored. We took the morning at a slower pace and enjoyed having breakfast together, snuggled on the couch watching a bit of TV and I got to walk her to school without any real rush. Once I dropped her off I went across the street and met with my friend Susan and her family so we could get a ride to the performance. Susan, the mom of Emelia’s best friends Anna and Grace had offered to bring me as John had to be in Waterloo for work both Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I know he hated to miss it but I was able to get video of her performing and he could see how happy and proud she was performing.

She told me she was nervous about performing with her dance group with all the people watching but once she and her friends started dancing stage fright must have gone away because she was just dancing up a storm. She was smiling from ear to ear and loving every moment. And so was I. There have been so many advantages to running the daycare and being home with Emelia but there are moments like this when I realize how little of just me she really gets. With the families of 5 children relying on me to always be there Emelia really has to go to the back burner at times. Now she certainly gets to see me much more than other children see their parents but it is with the split attention of mine between her and 5 very small children who obviously need a lot of my attention. She was over the moon when she realized I could come to see her perform and that I was there just me to see just her. It was a perfect morning.

Once the performance was over I was back home and quickly deep into painting. I had 3 hours to myself and I was determined to make the most of that time. I knew with no distractions I could certainly make my way through the dining room and kitchen. I had spent Monday night cutting in and by the time I picked up Emelia at school on Tuesday I was done. The paint was on the walls and what a difference. We had already had a grey in the rooms before but it was a dark slate colour. We loved it, and still do love the colour but by going a few shades lighter it made a huge difference in the room. By Tuesday evening the family pictures were back on the wall and we had another item checked off our to-do list.

So now I am really at a standstill inside, until Vince comes to do the repairs I cannot proceed. Hopefully that can be done in the next few weeks and I can finally say we are done painting inside for a while. Then I can move to the outside. The next big project is returning the side yard to grass over the mulch as well as some outside painting. Seriously I don’t think we will ever be done.

With no painting to do this weekend it freed me up a bit. The first on the agenda for Saturday was Emelia’s weekly swim class. This week was report card week, and our little fish has passed her level 4 and next we move on to longer classes and level 5. Her progression in the last month or so has been nothing short of amazing. A little girl who in September was very reluctant to go in the deep end of the big pool is now swimming the length at a faster speed than I am sure I could. We are so proud of our little fish.

After swim we brought John to work and then Emelia and I were off to get groceries and then a play date with our friends Leanne and Hannah. Emelia and Hannah although almost 2 years apart in age get along amazing. Hannah is very patient to wait for Emelia to come around each visit. She lovingly cares for Emelia until my shy girl is ready to let go of my leg. But once they start playing they play for hours together without a single disagreement. Emelia just loves paying with Hannah. Although very sad to leave we left about 2.5 hours later. We weren’t home even an hour and Emelia had two other friends over to our place for a play date. Sisters who Emelia has been friends with since before she started school. In that time I was able to put a dent in the seasonal clothing change over. With spring finally arriving (at least for the weekend as next week we are calling for very cold temps) I could move some of her winter clothes out and make room for some spring clothes. We are willing spring and summer in even if it is just with spring clothes and lots of layers over to keep warm.

Today we took the morning at a slower pace as John had the day off. We finally got our butts in gear so Emelia could have a visit with Poppa and Grandma so that John and I could have a movie date this afternoon to see The Grand Budapest Hotel. Another amazing movie by Wes Anderson and a great break for John and I to be husband and wife not always mommy and daddy.

The weekend is almost over so once again I will wrap up so we can enjoy the rest of our Sunday together.

Until next week…