Over the week

It is becoming increasingly clear that the trees in Montreal have received the "autumn memo". Suddenly, there is orange, red and yellow everywhere. The days are still pretty darn beautiful but the mornings have a chill that causes me to argue with the boys so that they, at least, put a sweater in their school bags (today I argued with Oliver about the sweater... and then he wanted gloves... ugh!). The sunlight has this special golden colour and it is a total pleasure to be outside. As much as I love autumn, I am well aware of what is looming behind it. For now, I will pretend that winter does not exist and get as much joy out of autumn as I can. This weekend, I am sure, will be as chaotic as the week. Ahhh... family life ;)

Wishing you all a great Friday! Here is a little photo spam from around Montreal xox

What a sky!

Self portrait ;)

No... this is NOT my house ;)

This is so Montreal...

Holding on to summer....

The "autumn memo" has been circulated...

Another self portrait

Wish I could put this on a t-shirt ;)

Random Bart Simpson graffiti..

Orange...

Yellow....

Red....

Happy day to you!

Nicka and his book project

I have probably written about this before but Nicka shares many of my OCD tendencies ;) and while I get frustrated when he is especially particular about something, I know that I do exactly the same thing... see, Andreas, I DO recognize it ;) School projects are one situation where it brings out the "best" in both of us. Actually, school projects are no more frustrating with Nicka than any of the other boys (they are all frustrating) but we become picky about the same exact details... but in very different ways ;) A big "mother challenge" for me is to offer help but not take over. Boy, I am trying hard on this one! Nicka did a good job on his project (maybe I am bias?) and, if his teacher ever reads this, the very little plasticine under my fingernails is proof! ;)

xox to you all!

At the end of the day...

At the end of the day, a good cup of coffee is like crack... at least to me... boy, was it good!!!

Sometimes, it is just the little things that keep me sane ;)

Happy evening to all xox

Spanish homework

I am sitting at the kitchen table with Alexander, helping him with his Spanish homework (helping = keeping him at the table and actually looking at what he needs to study. Whether it enters his thought process is another issue ;) ). Today,  I have learned (re-learned) which countries are in Central and South America, which countries are considered to be Spanish speaking, what the oceans of the world are called in Spanish and the names of capital cities for Spanish speaking/Central and South American countries are (Tegucigalpa is the BEST name). Alexander's favourite part of his Spanish class is finding out that Dabbing is called El Dabbo. Ugh!

Heck, after today, I am pretty sure that I could get a good mark on this test! Hope Alexander does too :P

PS: I NEVER took Spanish... ever! How did I become qualified to answer questions? Guess it is a mother thing ;) I do MUCH better with grade 4 science and grade 1 reading ;)

How the homework started....

How the homework ended :P

In honour of El Dabbo

Happiness is... ;)

Happiness is staying up late to help your son to finish a project... which he thought was due the next day.... which was actually an assignment to finish in class.... and not due for another week.... Hmmm... I think that I need to clean some kid's ears out :P

Wishing you all a happy Wednesday xox

Good thing that I love this kid :P

First soccer game

I am not sure if I already mentioned it here (heck, I cannot remember anything these days... just trying to embrace it ;) ) but Alexander made his high school soccer team. We are excited for him because it is a good way to meet new friends, participate in sports and become an active part of his school community. Since he has both practices and games after school, it is also a good way to keep him from coming home and heading to the video game dungeon (ie: our basement). Another bonus is that, on game days, the boys have to dress up for school. Today, Alexander was so excited to put on his favourite pink shirt and his dress pants (... and his running shoes but we won't get into that) to celebrate his first soccer game with his high school team. The only thing that I am sorry about is that I can't get out of work early enough to see it :( Maybe next time...

Good luck, boys!

Wishing them a great game and the rest of you a good day!

Saturday morning

I honestly have no idea what happened! It was Sunday... and then, suddenly, it was Saturday morning. Actually, it was Friday night but I was so exhausted that any sort of resemblance to a blog post had to wait until this morning ;) It was not that the week was any more chaotic than usual but it was just busy.... always busy.... The high school homework situation definitely contributes to that, however, I am proud of Alexander for doing his best to keep a control of what needs to be done and for when. He also made his high school's soccer team so he is also juggling the practices and games. The younger boys are now in the groove of what they need to do on a weekly basis... whew! Finding the routine is one of the biggest challenges for me/us. September, as much as I love it, is always a challenge. Sometimes, even more than the Christmas season ;)
This weekend Andreas is away for work so, to make up for it, I promised the boys that we would go to a restaurant for dinner. In hindsight, this might have been a big crazy on my part ;) I blame it on the chaos of the week ;) I will be picking some super friendly family restaurant... that serves wine ;)
Today's goal is to start tacking homework projects before they become the-night-before-due-date-nightmares. Another goal is to enjoy a day where there are no running-to activities. Wish me luck!

Happy Saturday xox

The end to the weekend

To mark the end of the weekend, Andreas and I decided to enjoy a cosy moment on our back balcony. We had both played soccer games today and it felt nice to ease the muscle pains with a beer, cheese and chorizo. We had a good weekend and are now looking forward to a "hopefully" calm week...

Wishing you all a good Sunday night and a great week ahead xox

Morning playdate

This morning, I managed to get Nicka and Oliver to school with time to spare. Since Alexander starts earlier now and he is biking in by himself, it is easier to get out of the house at a decent time (I say that now... let's see how long that lasts for ;) ). Nicka, when we arrived, saw his friends and made a beeline to them. Buh-bye, mamma! Oliver's friends had not arrived yet, so we spent a bit of time together in the park until his teachers came out/his friends arrived. It is nice to have a few minutes... with no nagging... enjoying the morning together... until the friends arrive and I am dismissed ;) It makes for a smooth start to the day!

Wishing you all a great one! :)

In the air....

Autumn is definitely in the air. Even though it has still been very warm lately, the air feels different. The sun looks different. The light looks different. The trees are even starting to change colour!

Actually, in a way, I don't mind. Autumn is my favourite season. I love the crisp morning air. I love wearing cosy sweaters. I love the cool evenings. I love the smell of autumn leaves.

I would love autumn much more, if it wasn't followed by winter ;) Now THAT is a whole other story ;)

Tomorrow is Friday.... :)

G'night xox

Eek... leaves turning yellow alert!!;)

I am thankful for....

Sometimes, I find that it is so easy to focus on the negative rather than the positive so, to keep my sanity, I regularly spend my morning walk to work thinking about what I am thankful for. There are the VERY obvious ones (like my sons and my husband... which will be covered in other posts) but there are also some things that become more obvious with reflection. One thing that I thought of today, on my walk to work, IS my walk to work! Every day, I get a just over an hour of walking in one of my most favourite cities in the world- Montreal. I get the chance to people watch, which I love to do. It is good, relaxing exercise and, in a time where time always seems rushed, I am glad to be able to incorporate it into my daily life. I get to window shop (no, Andreas, I am not going inside ;) ) and, on really good days, enjoy a good cup of coffee. It is a good way to prepare mentally for the day, or to unwind at the end of it. It is a bit of time with myself... or colleagues that take the train with me. It saves me stress in traffic, although crowds of tourists on Ste. Catherine are also pretty good at causing traffic jams ;)

Today, I am thankful for my daily walk, to and from work.... and more now because it is warm and there is NO snow on the ground ;)

Hope you enjoy day xox

Here are some pictures from this morning's walk.....

The small stuff.... cosy shoes

Happiness is walking to work on a Tuesday after a Monday off (so it is kind of like a Monday) and wearing a super comfortable pair of new shoes.... ahhhhh! :) Like little pillows on my feet ;) All I was missing was a latte in my hand ;) Sometimes, it is just the little things!

Wishing you all a great week xox

Life ambition for the next generation

Yesterday, Alexander's soccer team lost the last game of the season. I knew that he was disappointed... he really wanted to win the game and the championship. So, after saying goodbye to the boys on the team, I was a bit surprised to see Alexander, excited and jumping around. Nicklas ran up to me and begged me for my phone. After assuring me that he wanted it for a picture and not to play more Pokemon-Go, I gave it to him. He ran off with Alexander (which is a bit suspicious in my books... the boys running off together... and not from each other).

About 10 minutes later, they both ran back. Nicklas exclaimed "Mamma, I just lived my dream". Curious, I asked what the heck just happened. Alexander excitedly responded "We just met Bajan Canadian (click on his name to find out who he is. I had to look it up too)! This is the coolest thing... EVER". They ran back to their soccer friends and basically swarmed this guy that they met at the soccer field.... some guy who was just there to watch his brother play... before it became the Bajan Candian festival ;)

OK... excited about meeting a celebrity is nothing new. The funny thing about this encounter is that Bajan Canadian is a Youtuber... and all these boys knew EXACTLY who he was.... and all the parents had NO idea. I kept thinking that they were just taking picture of some random guy who either was too kind to say no to the pictures or just going along with the gag of having a soccer team of boys (and siblings) who wanted to take photos with him.

Anyway, when I got home, I researched (yes, I do this for a living and it creeps into my non-work life as well) this guy and, lo and behold, it could well be him! Funny, how these kids could notice some Youtuber on a random soccer field, in a random city, in Canada (not exactly known for its Youtube culture). Geez, I could have Ryan Gosling walking in front of me and I would not notice (disclosure: yes, I would notice the man because- heck- he IS good looking but not because he is Ryan Gosling. PS: He IS Canadian too... just sayin'. PPS: He is, though, not as good looking as my husband who, by the way. reads my blog on occasion ;) ). Funny how the definition of fame has changed with these kids. Now, the boys are all trying to figure out how to get 5 million subscribers on Youtube... and I just feel like the totally non-cool mother ;)

Happy weekend to you all! xox

The boys and the Bajan Canadian ;)

Just hanging out....

Today, I spent a part of the day with Alexander. He did not have school today so the morning meant playing soccer with friends. A poutine bribe (if you don't know what a poutine is, read THIS.... and don't report me for child abuse) resulted in a happy Alexander accompanying me to the mall. Yes, happy, Alexander and mall all in one sentence! Anyway, we had a lovely time. It was fun to hang out with him and find out how he felt about high school (still a grunt.... but a longer grunt than usual). That is making progress ;)

Here is hanging out with Alexander.... then and now ;)

xox to you all!