Candice Nadine

March 20, 2015

our house

This post is heavy with pictures mainly of the work we've done on our home

since moving here last summer.

Here's a shot from the front yard from our first viewing of the property.

We have just under 8 acres of land

Mom and Allan live at the front of the property and then waaaaay up the driveway

at the very back is our home sweet home.

Over the summer I focused my energy upstairs on getting our bedrooms and bathroom done.

This was my bedroom before

And here it is after

I'm not going to go into any detail of what I did

colours I used

or any of that jazz

as this isn't a blog about decorating.

We picked colours we liked

did as much of the work ourselves as we could

and hired some burly men when it all got to be too much

and mama just needed to be able to take her shoes off

and not worry about getting a nail in the foot or a random fungus from the skunky carpet.

I digress...

The bathroom before

(thumbs up for the Smurf blue counter!)

Bathroom after

Zenya's room before

(if you could call it a room. There was no closet

and these weird kitchen cabinet/counters all around the perimeter)

Zenya's very PINK room after

My goal was to get all of that done over the summer.

Realistically it took until December.

Two days after Christmas I took down the tree and started the living room.

Here's the living room before:

This picture was taken during a showing, so obviously none of the furniture is mine

(Just in case you were all

"Hey Candice next time I'm over will you play me a song on your African drum?")

That stove and the hideous tile behind it!

Gah!!!

The living room after

So that basically brings you up to speed.

At the moment I'm almost done transforming the laundry room

and Lacey helped me build the most beautiful mantel while she was in town last week.

It feels so nice to look around and see what's been accomplished.

Sometimes it feels like I'm moving along at a snail's pace

but you can only do what you can do

and somewhere in there amidst the paint cans and mitre saw

there needs to be a little time to hang with my girl.

March 08, 2015

1:9

This is what love looks like

after twenty-one months of hugs and kisses and snuggles and 'you're wonderfuls'

Weight: 36 lbs

Future career aspiration: a bunny catcher

favourite phrase she says: "your pleasure mama"

Growing: her two bottom front teeth

Favourite fruit: apples

Least favourite food: mushroom stroganoff

February 27, 2015

telling stories

Bedtime stories have always been big around here.

You may recall this little video from when Zenya first came home and read to me one evening.

Oh her little voice!

She has really started to express an interest in letters, their sounds

and how to make words

in the last couple of months.

Last night she read to me and was so proud of herself that she had read me a bedtime story.

My smart little cookie!

February 19, 2015

I'm back!

Where to start?

This blog has been sadly neglected since we moved.

Life has just been so busy that most evenings I barely have the energy

to put a creative thought together.

a quick recap of the last few months goes something like this:

renovations

starting kindergarten

new job

more renovations

Highlights of November included a lantern walk at Z's school

and the Santa parade through downtown Courtenay that both of us participated in with the studio

as well as the completion of our upstairs bathroom and staircase

meaning the entire upstairs is complete!

We celebrated our first Christmas in our new home

and what a different experience the holiday was this year compared to last!

Zenya was a full fledged believer this year, no questions asked

and asked Santa for a new bike because her old one was getting a bit small.

He delivered!

She needs to push off from the stairs to get it going as its a little tall for her,

but once she's up and peddling she speeds up and down our driveway

back and forth from our house to Baba and Babu's

with the dogs by her side.

(Living in the country is AMAZING!)

The rain was definitely depressing throughout January.

A couple of trips back to Vancouver for work

homemade soup and hunkering down for damp overcast days.

Yuck!

Thankfully the weather took a turn for the better this month and we've taken the work party outside.

Chicken coop

fencing

clearing brome

the list goes on.

I need to post some pictures of the work we've done inside the house

but I'll save that for another day

because I know that the majority of people reading this just want to know about Zenya.

She's doing great!

Moving was a big adjustment for her

she still talks about our house in Vancouver and how she misses it

however she is now quick to point out all the things that we can do here

that we couldn't do in the city.

She started kindergarten in September at a fabulous little Montessori school in Fanny Bay.

In a word it is idyllic

they have done so much to gently nurture her along

and help her feel comfortable being away from me while she is learning.

The students go outside every day to study nature

taking walks into the surrounding woods or down to the beach

drawing seashells

collecting leaves to study back in the classroom.

They have a virtue of the week that the children all practice

kindness

patience

love

I am seeing huge leaps in all areas of her learning

her penmanship is excellent

she is grasping the concepts of addition and subtraction

and is starting to spell some basic words.

Most importantly I am seeing a big change in her social skills and how she interacts with other kids.

Its great!

So here's to more frequent posts in the future.

September 08, 2014

15 months

Height: 41"

Weight: 32 lbs

Latest accomplishment: Sudoku

Officially sleeping in her own bed!!

September 01, 2014

August 2014

1. first set of swimming lessons

2. trampoline

3. peach crumble

4. afternoon naps

5. photo shoot at the dance studio

6. lego creation

7. gettting crafty with paint sticks

8. beach day with friends

August 10, 2014

Zenya sits down at the breakfast table singing "Who make me eat healthy food and is the boss of the house? It mama mama. She is the boss. She make me eat strawberries and eggs. They are so good for meeee."

I come home with a box of chocolates from a student. Zenya oohs and aahs over the box and asks if we can open it up to look at them. Upon seeing the chocolates she says, "Wow. Really stylish. They look delicious."

I suggest that Zenya go outside and run off some of her energy. She looks crestfallen, throws her hands in the air and exclaims, "Mama. I want to be inside with you. Not be outside. I'm not a dog."

Zenya discovers a sliver in between her baby toe and asks me to take it out.
Me "Ouch! That looks like it hurts."
Z "No. It no hurt."
M "How did you find it then?"
Z "Oh. I was looking for toe jam and I seed it, that sliver, and I brush it off but it no come out so I screamed for you."

In the yard with Baba and Zenya drives the wheelbarrow into the back of Baba's leg.
B: Ow!!
Z: Oh sorry Bab.
B: Ouch. That really hurt.
Z: You'll probably be ok.

Zenya offers me a bite of her peanut butter cup and I accept but am in the middle of something. A couple of minutes later a very exasperated little voice calls out "Mama!!! You didn't take your bite so I had to eat the whole thing!"

On the verge of falling asleep Zenya suddenly bolts up and says, "Tomorrow Zenya need to look at pictures of skeletons. I need to see what's inside the body, and dogs, ok? Zenya sleep now. Goodnight mama."

At the beach Baba hurts her toe.
Z: You hurt your toe Baba? Which one? Your little pinkie toe or your thumb toe?

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