Hi! Did you miss me? I want to first start off by saying thank you so much to my Sis for writing a hilarious 2-part recap of her cross country camping trip with her Hubby, her 4-year-old and her 7-month-old 😂😂. Sounds like they had a fabulous time… Or at least a learning experience 😉.
Next I want to clear somethings up. Over the summer I spoke to many people that kept on saying the same bloody thing, “but in your blog…”. I want to let all my readers in on a few little secrets.
1. We do not eat like that every day. We try to eat healthy and homemade for at least 5 of the days of the week but sometimes, we have McDonald’s. Sometimes, my recipes don’t work and we eat a really yucky dinner 😂. Sometimes I talk about it and sometimes I don’t. This is because I only get to share 4 recipes a month with you and I want to share good ones.
2. I don’t have a perfect life. My kids are certainly by no means perfect and Ninja and I, although we are best friends, sometimes we don’t always see eye to eye. Perhaps I should write about that more? Again, I only write 4 posts a month and I like to remain positive and upbeat. Sometimes, I rant and cry and write down everything that is going wrong but then I think, this is not what I like to read. So, I look for the positive things, the funny things, the things I would want to read if I were reading this particular blog. I am not trying to portray a perfect life I’m only writing about the things that are interesting to read about.
3. We don’t do something fun every day. It may seem like it but for the most part we are homebodies. I don’t write about that because… that’s boring. Nobody wants to read about me cleaning the house, the kids watching Full House, work talk, and what TV shows I watch every evening. I take the few funny things that happened each week and that’s what I write about. But, please be assured, I have a very boring life, I am no different than anyone else 😂.
4. Now… This is a very big secret. Sometimes, my stories didn’t even happen that week 🙊. Sometimes I have such a great story but I have a post planned already, like 2 weeks of guest blog posts from my Sis! I still wrote the funny things down so I can tell them to you later. This can be tricky. So, when I say the other day… That could’ve been the other day last month LOL. Come on… My kids don’t do funny things, or have meltdowns, or say asinine things every day. Well, actually they do 😂 but I don’t have time to tell you everything 😉.
5. I have talked to both of the Girls. I always try to keep their privacy in mind when I am telling you about our lives. However, I am not as private as most. I love blogs that I read and that I can relate to. I want to be a Blogger that you can relate to. Both the Girls feel like celebrities not like children that I am exploiting 😂. HBear even reads some of my posts! As they get older I will certainly keep in mind their opinions and wishes and I always speak with Ninja about what I’m posting and we do not feel I have ever crossed a line. Some kids might be embarrassed to have stories about their shitting habits posted all over the web but I am raising kids that are confident and able to be real with themselves, us, and others (I hope 😂).
I appreciate everybody’s feedback so much! It blew my mind when we went to Winnipeg and so many people told me that they keep up to date with our lives through this very blog! It was humbling and exciting all at once! Thank you so much for reading and please keep the comments, sharing, and feedback coming! If you try a recipe, let me know! If you have found a better way to do something, tell me about it! If you would like to guest write for my blog, I would be more than willing to give you or anybody this forum to post what they would like to say… Don’t knock it till you try it 😂 it is very liberating 😉.
All right then, on with the show!
Speaking of shows… Ninja and I totally tricked Sis and BIL into coming on our Podcast! Check out the AWESOME episode HERE!
Ninja and I also put out an episode last week and things got a little heated LOL! Check it out HERE!
This week, the Girls started school! Both of them! Can you hear that? That is the silence that will be filling my house over the next 10 months!
Seriously though, it was touch and go there for a while. As I mentioned before we do not live in the catchment area of HBear’s school. Therefore, due to the fact that the Ministry of Education had to go back to the 2008 wording of the class size and composition, we did not get an immediate transfer for SBean. That means SBean did not get into HBear’s school. All summer I had to sit back and wait. Not my strong point 😂. But, wait I did. Ninja assured me everything would work out. 2 weeks ago I received a phone call from our catchment school. The secretary said, “hello. I know you’re upset. I know this is not what you want. We are hoping that everything works out for you but if it doesn’t we would like to invite you and your kindergartener to an interview with the kindergarten teacher.” So… I set up an appointment. After months of living in denial I realized that this might be our new reality and we needed to embrace it. Children feed off of us or at least mine do and if they saw me upset with the outcome, they would be too. So, I put on my happy face.
We walked to her new school and met with her new teacher. She was absolutely lovely! The fact that the kids wouldn’t be in the same Christmas concert together, cheer each other on at the talent show, and have a different bell schedule didn’t seem so bad after our meeting. She asked SBean to point out all of her letters uppercase and lowercase, do pattern work, add another colour to the pattern, write all of her numbers to 10, count to 50, and sound out her phonetics. I was cringing because as the second child she of course did not get the same time undivided attention as HBear did. She got EVERYTHING right! She blew me away! I had no idea she knew all that stuff 😂.
As we were walking home I let our new reality set in. All I could think about was pancake breakfast. It’s my favourite mornings of the year. It is the last day of school before Christmas holidays and the PAC serves all the children pancakes. All the children but my youngest because she was going to be a different school 💔.
As we walked I heard SBean talking and I responded appropriately but all I kept thinking was, “this is not what I planned.”
But then again I never planned a 30 hour labour with HBear that led to a c-section. I never planned for it to rain on my wedding day… In the desert. I didn’t plan for SBean to go to a different Preschool either but look at the friends and memories that we made!
I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.
Ring Ring.
And then my phone rang. “Hello. This is so-and-so from the school board. I’m just calling to inform you that your request for transfer has been approved.”
🎉😊🍾
So there you have it! Both kids in 1 school… At least for the next 2 years. I feel so relieved and SBean started her orientation program into kindergarten the very next day!
The next few weeks are going to be strange as we settle into our new routine. I’m very excited for the future holds and I feel very positive that this year is going to be one of the best ones yet!
Adapted from Carlsbad Cravings
4 cups pasta (I used shells)
2 tablespoons oil
1 rotisserie chicken, taken off bones and cut up
2 bell peppers, chopped
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 small onion, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1/2 cup salsa
1 10 oz. can enchilada sauce
3 cups milk
1 cup Mexican cheese blend
1/3 cup sour cream (I use light)
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a soup pot. Add chicken and onions and sauté for 3 minutes.
Add bell peppers, garlic, and all seasonings/spices. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
Stir in black beans, corn, salsa, enchilada sauce, milk and pasta.
Turn off heat and stir in cheese until melted followed by sour cream.
Garnish with cilantro.
HBear went golfing with Grandma and Grandpa and also spent her very own money making her first BIG purchase. She counted out all her Loonies and Toonies in her spend jar and bought herself a new swim FitBit! So proud of her! She has also been helping me more and more in the kitchen. It’s like she grew up over night! I don’t know if I should cry or pat myself on the back?
For the Long Weekend, Ninja and I purged the crawlspace while the Girls did pottery. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking there🤔😂!!
This week dance started again! We are registered for 6 classes this year!! HBear is in Jazz, Musical Theatre, and Acro while SBean is in Acro and Musical Theatre and I am in Jazz. Yup I said that. I figure if the Girls really love dance I need to figure out how to be more involved. I’m not a great dance Mom so I thought I should try harder. It’s hard alrighty!!! LOL
Swimming lessons started… which meant running started again too.
To end the week, Ninja and I recorded a new episode of How Was Your Week, Honey? Look for it and a week full of healthy dinners next week on HoneyBears & SydneyBeans!
