.Monkeys.

They can both drive me crazy at times but man can they ever be cute sometimes!

Monkey see, Monkey do.

.Cuba.

At the end of January we took a spur of the moment trip to Cuba with friends. It was really nice to take a break from the cold winter weather and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and warmer temperatures. Jay and I both love travelling with friends and this was a really nice opportunity to catch up with some old ones and make some new ones!

We stayed in Cayo Santa Maria, Cuba which is an area developed just for tourism. Not necessarily my first pick of places to stay in Cuba but if you are looking for a relaxing resort beach vacay, this was perfect. The beach was by far probably one of the most beautiful I have ever seen (and Ive seen a lot of beaches:). The water was the SO blue and the sand was so soft! None of my pictures have been edited or have any filters added. It really was like a scene off a postcard. We lucked out and every day was beautiful! 

Of course, Nyah was in all her glory on the beach. Im pretty sure this girl is just like her momma in the sense that her heart is the most happy and her soul at its calmest while at the beach. 

The only disapointment was the food and to be fair we were warned before we left. I guess I just didnt think it could be that bad. I pretty much survived on pizza, buns, crepes and ice cream. Nyah's diet consisted of ice cream and cereal bars that I brought from home. Jay was a little more brave in his selections... But only because he was starving. He did end up paying the price for his food adventures on the last night. I felt really bad for him but luckly once it was "out" he felt much better.

It was really nice to just relax and visit with friends. We dont get to see Shawn, Jenn and Brian often because they live in Kelowna. Shawns friends, Gevan and Garry joined us as well. They were a super sweet couple and I really enjoyed getting to know them and hearing about their beautiful daughter! 

There were lots of drinks and a lot of laughs. This makes for a lot of good times! 

 

.forever.

These are the moments that I hope will last forever.

.jet setting.

Cuba, Cuba, Cuba! Here we come! We are meeting friends in Cayo Santa Maria soon for a last minute holiday! I'm so looking forward to the sun and surf! Lots of pictures to come I'm sure. And I swear one of these days I'll get around to posting about the Christmas holidays and Nyah's cake smash photo shoot!

.little sprouts.

Today was a big day for us. We finally made the decision on a preschool for Nyah. This decision had been stressing me out for a while now. Some people say preschool is just for fun and some say it sets the foundation for learning. Either way it was important to us to find a preschool that would be a good match for our girl. Knowing that Nyah is very cautious and shy, I wanted an environment that wouldn't be too overwhelming and where she would feel safe. I had visited a lot of preschool website and there were 2 in our neighborhood that I thought would be so convenient.

The first one I visited was Creative Kids Preschool. It had a lot of positives and a few negatives. A big draw back for me was that it had no real outdoor space to play in. Some of my greatest memories as a kid are from the playground! I left there feeling like it was ok and I really didn't want just ok. I wanted "Wow!".

The second one we visited was Little Sprouts Preschool. This program is located inside Rosemary Heights School which would be Nyah's elementary school. It's set inside a very small classroom which at first glance I thought wasn't very impressive. But as I talked to the teacher, it all came together. There philosophy and low teacher to child ratio (10 kids max to 2 teachers) didn't need a large overwhelming environment to succeed. The more I thought about it, the more I realized this is the type of environment that Nyah would thrive in. There were so many little details that I loved about this program.... the family wall with photos, the workbook for each student put together with the teacher, the baking, the teaching of 10-15 French words a month and did I mention they go outside almost everyday!!! Love it! They also had access to the school's facilities like the library, gym and kitchen. What a great opportunity to also get her comfortable with her school before  full days of Kindergarten! (Oh my god... I can't believe I just typed the word Kindergarten.... Ahhhh.... I'm freaking out... before I know it she's gonna be graduating and I'm gonna be really old!) 

The teacher was so sweet and soft spoken with Nyah. It wasn't long until Nyah was interacting with her and my heart felt at ease. One of the highlights of our visit was when a little student came over to the teacher I was speaking with just to check in with her and give her a hug! So sweet! You could tell they genuinely cared for the kids and in return the kids loved them.

One of the defining moments for me was when we were speaking about separate anxiety and how they would handle it. She explained to me that because of the low kid to teacher ratio it gives them the opportunity to have a teacher step away and give some individual time to a student if they are feeling upset and needing some special cuddles or some redirection to a fun activity to get their mind off the separation. She said that once the child was settled and comfortable that they would give the parent a quick call to let them know things were fine! This was exactly what I needed to hear. Not only did they have a great strategy with dealing with a child's separation anxiety but they took care of a momma's anxiety too! The teacher also said we were welcome to come drop in for visits leading up to September to help get her comfortable with the environment. Isn't that amazing and so kind!

I left the preschool knowing in my heart this was the one. There were only 2 spots available and I knew there were 3 families visiting today so as soon as I got in the car before I even talked to Jay I called the program director to let her know we loved it. And just like that... we were in for September! Every Monday and Wednesday!

My big girl is going to Little Sprouts Preschool.

.sticker love.

Nyah LOVES stickers. She loves to peel them off the paper and stick them one by one where ever her heart desires... Which is usually up my arm or on the back of my shirt.  She's not fussy when it comes to stickers... She loves them all... Kitty ones, seasame street ones or even Telus animal ones that daddy brings home from work. I often find stickers through out the house in random spots.... On the leg of the table... In the cover of the fireplace. So you would think that armed with this knowledge of how much she loves her stickers it would have been obivious when this happened....

This came out of Nyah's nose when she sneezed... At first glance I thought "Holy crap! That's a yogurt covered raisin! Gross!". But upon further dissection...

Its a Telus bobcat sticker! This probably too much information... But it smelled so bad! My guess is that it was up there a while. The night before it came out, Nyah had a really rough night which was very sleepless and with lots of crying. I image this bad boy was the culprit! 

Girlfriend this takes sticker love to a whole new level! Let's try and keep them on areas outside of the body from now on! 

.full.

Have you ever had that feeling of being so full? Not just your belly but your heart too?

Tonight, we spent the evening with friends and their sweet girls. And as I type this Im overcome with the feeling of being SO full. Yes, my belly is full of bevies, pizza and cupcakes. But my heart is also so full. Full of gratitude for these friends. Full of joy for the friendships our daughters have made. Full of excitement for the experiences they have yet to share. Full of love. 

Thank you Tricia for the super cute photos!