it's my girls' world

 Okay so for Show & Tell Tuesday with Andrea this was an easy one.... as apparent I  have 'just a few' guilty pleasures...

Chocolate... especially if it's in the brownie format-- a dense rich chocolate cake might be my very favourite thing of all time.

 

Yeah... I've cut back-- but I adore a good sale. Online shopping has not been good to my bank account. 

I don't drink during the week unless it's a special occasion but come weekends, I usually have a glass of wine or three. 

These days there are some later nights here as I'm getting my summer reading on... not to be confused with constructive reading by any means whatsoever.  And I adore reading other blogs!

And then when I read, I sleep in just a bit. I will be very sad when I have to wake up earlier come September. 

I have a love/hate relationship with The Bachelor. I mean I love it but I hate myself for loving it!

Yeah and my phone! 

Good morning, lovelies! This week will be a busy one, preparing for our family coming and getting ready for our little vacay but we did not let it stop us from have a fun-filled busy, weekend.

We:

- Hosted our neighbourhood happy hour on Friday. Every couple weeks someone takes a turn hosting happy hour in the summer. The guests bring their drink and an appetizer. It's a great way to end the busy week but it's definitely more than one hour-- some guests left here close to 11!

- made zucchini bread (a and me) and went for a bike ride (D & C)

- visited my high school friend, Sonya and her family for sushi, a walk through the Harbourfront, a quick view of the West African festival, the most beautiful sushi, gelato and great conversation. 

- slept in on Sunday--- actually we slept in on Saturday too.

- the girls had swimming lessons

- went to Cavalia-- a horse and acrobatic show touted 'Best Show Ever'. There's a reason for that. I cannot say enough good things about the show!

- dined at a restaurant where they took 45 minutes to bring our meal and then they didn't even bring my main. A said that the waiter said sorry and made a mistake though so I should forgive him. #doingsomethingright

- went for ice cream since I just had a soggy Ceasar salad for my main. 

And just like that, it's Monday again!!

 This kid dominates sashimi

Linking up with the lovely Biana for weekending

Days before our long weekend last weekend, D contacted his very distant but very close cousin growing up, from Cleveland to find out if they were free for a little visit from our little crew. They were so off we went on our totally unexpected road trip this summer... so unexpected, we planned it and then realised that C's new passport was being processed and we had to place a rush order! It was an amazing trip with some fantastic company and definitely one of our favourite weekends this summer...

These are just some pictures from a couple hours we spent in downtown Cleveland and the Great Lakes Science Center.

An outdoor concert at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

 Our awesome hostess and her beautiful boys. Her husband had some stuff to do so we joined him later on.

 #legogoals

Yes and yes! 

Happy Weekending, friends!

Linking up with
Andrea, Erika and Narci for Favourites on Friday

Yeah, hello lovelies! I've been a stranger here. Two kids at home equals lots of busy! We're loving the warm weather, the lack of schedules and the lots of outdoor time but I've missed my little space and you guys.

Anyways, although school is 3 long short weeks away, I thought I'd check in to share back to school essentials for Working it Wednesday with Shay and Erica as well as 10 things with Erin (a day early).

Our Canadian schools provide the basic school supplies for our kids like pencils, paper and stationary so that's a huge help. I do try however to get some good supplies for home here for when we do work at home or if C wants to take a few to school.

I love a good first day of school sign and I got this one a couple years back!

I can't seem to find mine but this one is similar.

Curriculum books and Brain Quest books are awesome for work at home after school or taking to an extra curricular activity for the unoccupied kid.

PBK back packs are our very favourites. C is onto her third year with hers and A on her 2nd. They're  still going strong. I just throw them in the wash a couple times a year and they are as good as new!

These bento box containers are awesome for the bigger kids and these for the smaller ones. I got a couple each. I've started packing my kids' lunches the day before when I'm doing dinner prep #lifechanging.

This year, I splurged and bought these insulated water bottles as well from PBK as let's face it, the ones from Costco are cheaper.The kids love the spout. Sidenote, I wait for a sale and free shipping with the PBK stuff to order it.

I really need an electric sharpener for the pencils. It's insane how the regular sharpeners have been eating our pencils!!

These cheap,  fun binders available everywhere, are wonderful for keeping loose papers at bay and C's planner undamaged.

A cute pencil case is always a good idea to keep a few cute supplies for the little ones.

And clothes-- too much to mention but around this time I start looking for fall clothes for the girls. I wait for a huge sale from Gap and Old Navy and get a bunch of tops, dresses and some light fall outer wear for the little ones.

What's on your must have list for school? Did I miss anything?