Time flies...

Molly's birthday. Her 17th. How did this happen? It feels like just yesterday that Pidge and I were touring a brewery in Germany on Molly's first birthday (isn't that what every one year old MOST wants to do?). 

There is no more lovely 17 year old anywhere, I promise. She is the best. Quantifiably so.  

On her birthday morning, she played hooky and Lukey (who had a pro-d day) and I went down to Granville Island for some breakfast and chai lattes. 

We also peppered Moll with gifts throughout the day. One of her very first was the exercise ball chair that we found on our way home from dropping her off at school. Lukey and I were driving home and spotted it outside on the curb with a "free" sign. Awesome!! He snagged it and we wiped it off at home and put it in her room to surprise her.

Her very own street ball seat. She loved it...until she found out it was abandoned on the road. I am not sure it was her very favourite gift. It certainly made us laugh.

These were the pictures Finny picked to celebrate her sister's birthday on Instagram:

Meanwhile, it was onwards with Thanksgiving weekend. Saturday Lukey umped his very first game from the plate. He came back with $30 and the new knowledge that umping isn't as easy as he thought. And a little scarier...he trusts his own glove as a catcher a little bit more than he does some kid he's never laid eyes on before.

So, we will see if it makes him any more patient a batter...no more ump hate?

Does it get any cuter than this...?

Falling

It's baseball playoffs. Last year, Lukey and my mum had a running bet that involved an exchange of apple picking (if Lukey lost) and fun-making (if Lukey won). They have reprised the wager this year. And since Lukey knows he doesn't have to fight anyone with a remote to be able to watch baseball (we only have one tv), he heads over to mum's because baseball is always on there. Mum makes awesome (and endless) snacks. He might move in.

Lukey's office for playoffs

Nice days are few and far between, so when the sun was shining on Saturday, we decided to make use of our family Van Dusen pass and go for a walk. Lukey elected to go to Gram's and walk baseball. Shocking!

It was a gorgeous day. Armed with Chai Tea Lattes, we ran races (don't talk about it...it was contentious and Finny for sure would rather we either rematch or shut up about it) and timed maze escapes. Eric killed us...but Molly was second.

That's a good Saturday. Sunday Molly and Finny went to swim in the wave pool with Omi and Lukey and Eric had BCCBA games. I stayed home, worked, cooked, grocery shopped and cleaned up a bit. Also sort of peaceful and lovely.

And, now back to the weekly routine :)

Fritter Friday

Mmmmm, everyone loved Fritter Friday. Except we made them on a Monday. Fritter Monday sounds lame. 

The new kitchen is inspiring. I am baking. And cooking. Even making little sour cream fritters!

Saturday morning bright and early was drop off time for Lukey to head to over on a day trip to Shawnigan Lake for rugby. He was the very last to arrive (ran into the group shot below about 0.03 seconds before it was taken). He was maybe a bit nervous (Shawnigan was inaccurately rumoured to be really strong) but game to go. A long day, but a lot of boys on ferries and buses...what's better than that?

Meanwhile, since I was taking Finny out to Coquitlam for a volleyball tournament (9:00 am start), Molly and Eric were left to themselves (Emma had stayed overnight after meeting Molly at the climate march downtown, but she headed back to the Northshore really early). 

So what would Molly and Eric get up to...? Finny and I predicted Eric on his computer and Molly lounging around drawing and watching movies. We were totally wrong. 

They headed out to Van Dusen garden, had avocado toast and bubble tea (?!) and bought three month yoga passes for themselves!! Um, what? 

So while those two had the most hipster Saturday ever, Finny and I embraced suburban life. In between games in Coquitlam we hit the two most popular Coquitlam attractions: strip malls and the regular mall. We hit Chapters and Gap Factory before heading to Coquitlam Centre. Not exactly avocado toast and yoga...

But it was all worth it. The Jr. YHS Tigers took the win for the tournament over a tough Pinetree team in the final. Finny played great and was a true Gr 10 anchor (there are only two of them) for her team.

Who loves to warm up??? Not Finny. Fully posed photo. Fake news.

Man, I need a camera...

Or maybe I just need to remember to take pictures. Better ones than screenshots of basketball stuff and things I want to text Molly (ie. cute animals or cool art projects). That doesn't make for good blogging. 

Poor Finny was home sick again this morning, Lukey forgot it was a late morning for him and Molly was early for school, which was a small miracle. The bonus was getting to shop at Stongs with Lukey to kill time. That's pathetic. I felt it as I typed it. Younger Lesley rabbit punches older Lesley in the face for the ridiculous sentiment of bonus grocery shopping. What's wrong with me (but it was sort of nice, younger Lesley...he's good company and lifts the bags up AND wheels the cart around!)?

There was a bunch of work in the middle and then a volleyball game for Finny at Crofton. And in the middle of the day, a phone call from Molly panicking that she didn't have enough Grade 11 courses to get into university. GRADE 11 courses. Her two years look like this:

If they are going to punish you for taking 10 Grade 12 courses, then university can just shove it.

I made a good dinner and my kitchen is still making me really happy.

This girl

Grad pictures...how did this happen? How did we end up here, with a kid on the brink of heading out into the world? With a girl who looks mature, beautiful and world-ready (ish, world-ready-ish)?

I imagine her the first day of school. The start of gradual entry of afternoon kindergarten...the gentlest of school beginnings. A churning tummy full of blueberry yoghurt that overflowed in nerves. All over her (and me) in the bathroom at False Creek. A quick 12 years later (that sounds sarcastic, but it isn't) and she is looking glorious and oh-so herself in a black dress with Converse. 

She isn't mature, not yet. She still cuddles her hamster at night and laughs when I do voices pretending to be the interior monologue of squirrels we see on lawns. But, hey...I'd do those things, too. Ernie is cute and those voices are hilarious. 

But man, she looks amazing. And she IS amazing. So that's just...well, amazing to me. 

Sunday Sunday

Molly trying on grad photo clothes...and testing out her best facial angles!

Lukey and Molly playing catch outside in the pouring rain for AGES!!!

Ping Pong night at Back and Forth in Gastown and the revelation that Adriano is a table tennis freak!

Watching in awe...

New new Kitchen :)

Molly and I practicing crochet

Molly’s last high school parent walkabout

I have done my time. I’m sprung!

Day 16

The highlight of today (although not a bad day, all in all :) was crocheting with my Moo from 7-9 today at Three Bags Full. Mum got this as a gift for us. We got to leave behind the rest of the family in their own flurry of dinner and mayhem. We hopped in the car and entered the tranquility of wool lined walls and the most mellow playlist available on Spotify. 

It is was pouring rain on Main Street outside, so it felt like a warm little oasis. Even the crochet came pretty easily (for both of us!) and it was really nice after very full days of using my brain to challenge it to do something totally different. 

Here's my first attempt. I felt pretty good about it.

Molly and I weren't too sure about the crochet crowd, but we will reserve judgement (or at least, I will...Molly is pretty judgy). Now I get to look forward to three more Tuesdays with my Molly. And that's a treat.

Day 15

Well, I missed a day. It was going to happen. I didn't skip it because I didn't feel like it...I just forgot. And, I am not going to let it throw me off...I am back on the wagon!

Things have smoothed out a little bit. Molly's timetable is sorted out (all for the best, I think) and we are relaxing into a bit more of a routine for the rest of us. We have a kitchen and a table and couches. It's nice. Odd aside...? All of our spoons seem to be gone. It's like they saw the renovation as an opportunity to make the great escape.

There is so much work to get done right now. It is non-stop. Luckily, I have my trusty (and somewhat glare-y) buddy to help me FOR HOURS with inputting Cobra schedules. She was the best. We listened to good music, had good snacks and got tons done. And cash went into Molly's pocket! She was really good at helping and made a few big catches. Best work friend EVER.

She managed to make some art on her iPad on her breaks:

And today, we missed rugby practice (Lukey) and the parent meeting (me), so we can be kept humble that we don't have things too sorted. But I did make a great hamburger soup in time for Lukey to eat before hockey and Finny before basketball. Just so darn grateful to have appliances :)

Not too sure what's up with the batting gloves...?

Day 13

Real grown ups don’t sleep in. For real. Every morning that we don’t have to get up, Eric and I stir and usually ask, “Are you awake?” And it is like, 7:00. What the heck? I’m tired. I go to bed late (like right now). It just doesn’t work anymore.

It was a treat to come downstairs today and make coffee in THE KITCHEN. Because kitchen coffee is more appealing than bathroom coffee.

We took Lukey to practice and then Molly, Finny and I went to Staples for yet another round of school supplies.

Lucky Lukey had Noah’s bar mitzvah tonight. Saturday evening at the Fairmont. As you do. He got a Stroman jersey and a Champions visor. And lots and lots of candy. While he was dancing and shouting at his friends over music, Eric and I were meeting with Kevin over beer at Cactus. The standard Saturday 10:30 pm priorities meeting.

So if one of your son’s good friends is officially A MAN, should some of that manliness apply to our kid? Maybe we will wake up in the morning and find that he has made us a frittata and espresso.

Day 12

Day 12 wall. It is almost 1:00 am. I am up sending emails. But I will stick to my word and get a quick blog done.

I popped into the Saints Grade 8 parent coffee this morning after dropping off a cheque at WPGA and delivering Molly to school. There were lots of people I like there, but I did endure a few painful conversations of "my son is better than you son" oneupmanship. Some seriously passive aggressive flexing on genetics there.

Then I put in a full day with my dad looking at company finances. Productive and so helpful. Dads are the best. It's not every small company that has that much accounting muscle at its fingertips. We are so lucky to have the help.

Lukey and Finny got home from camp very wet, very tired and very happy to be home. Lukey was flexing on how miserable his camp experience was...until he heard hers. She won. She had the win with the mouse peeing all over her sweatshirt the first afternoon. And I believe it went downhill from there.

It was awesome to have all of us under one roof again. I actually made dinner (appliances applied!!) and we played some One Night Werewolf (man, Finny and Lukey are GOOD. Molly and I are sitting ducks. Literally useless. We can't lie, we can't bluff, we can't hide anything. I don't think either of us won in about ten games).

Then back to the computer to work for a couple of hours. Ahhh, the weekend...haha!!

Day 11

I am really happy to be blogging again, but I have set myself a trigger to remember to do it each night. I've told myself I am not allowed to pick up my phone in bed and mindlessly flip through stupid stuff until I have blogged. Funny thing, though. At the end of the day when I am tired and ready to call it a night...I want to pick up my phone and mindlessly flip through stupid stuff. So it can feel a little disappointing to put the stupid stuff aside and pick up the computer instead.

Until I remember why I am doing this. It is its own reward (said in a super cheezy way...I wish I could insert the audio on how this sounds in my head).

Update on the campers...I have no idea how they are doing, but I can tell you that there must have been eight hours straight of bucketing rain today. For Lukey's group, I can honestly say I am feeling more sorry for the adults that are stuck with 100+ Grade 8 boys with cabin fever. I am sure they kids are having a blast. For Finny though, that is some relentless cold and wet on a remote mountaintop. Yuck. It will be one of those trips that is memorable and funny...in hindsight.

As for our only child, she has been living it up with the other away. We didn't do anything special today, but she does seem to be enjoying the life of the singleton.

We did facemasks

 She is just straight up good company. Is it weird to feel like the company of another person is almost like being alone (because you feel so comfortable and familiar), but also super enjoyable at the same time?

It was a good day for another reason...our appliances arrived!

They aren't hooked up, but they are in the building!

And we end each night lately with a midnight visit from Ernie. Here is your dose of cuteness (if Molly and I in mud masks wasn't enough for you)...Ernie crawling through a roll of toilet paper.

He's pretty darn cute...and when he is out of the cage, he smells okay, too!