THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life ~ June Edition

OMG, this week has been complete madness and I feel like I haven't had a spare moment to myself. (Do I say this every time?) And somehow it's June now?! What is even happening??? The pandemic continues to be "over." The hospitalization numbers continue to drop. In all of Alberta there are only 29 people in the ICU with Covid... Out of 4.4 million people. So I'd say that's pretty good. I haven't worn a mask in ages and don't even carry one on me anymore. I go to parties and concerts, Tim went to a hockey game, we hug everyone, and everything feels wonderful. It's really surreal to think that it wasn't too long ago that we weren't allowed to do anything. MAY! Somehow this month flew by and I don't even know what happened!

Remember when I said that I would be one of the first ten people through the door at the Royal Bison? Well I was! And I got my swag bag!

Mother's Day was really, really amazing. First Archie's preschool threw a "Muffins with Mom" event where I got to attend a party at the preschool with all of the other moms. We ate muffins, the kids sang us a song, and they gave us gifts. It was adorable.

Then on actual Mother's Day we got dressed up and went for a fancy afternoon tea at Brew + Bloom. It was the perfect celebration and I felt very loved by my family.

I celebrated the four year anniversary of my food blog! It's such a huge part of my life and I'm so proud that I've been able to work at it and hone my craft and passion for so long. I'm gonna keep eating everything!

Tim went in to the office for the first time in two years and two months!! The last time that he "went to work" was when we lived in Toronto, so this was his first time entering his Edmonton office and sitting at his actual desk. So far, he has only gone that one time and has continued to work from home for the most part. It sounds like BioWare is planning to keep a hybrid home/office policy forever. Which we love! In other exciting work news for Tim, he got a raise and a rather large bonus this month, which was wonderful. I'm very proud of how indispensable he has become at BioWare.

I also started going to concerts again this month, for the first time since the pandemic began! Being back in a crowd felt completely surreal yet entirely normal. Again, I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that there were moments when things like this seemed like they would never happen again. It was emotional. Find me in the front row where I belong!

You may have heard that the Edmonton Oilers are now in the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We're the only Canadian team left. You also probably know that I generally do not care about sports. However, when the city that I live in is winning a big match, I do find it a lot of fun. It's fun to be a part of it. I like FUN. This happened once before in 2006 when the Oilers made it right to the very end (and then lost). I even made this top out of a flag so that I could be a part of it. The craftsmanship!

Circa 2006

So I was pretty happy to pull that thing out of a bin so that we could do it again!

And yes, Tim and Archie now have their very own jerseys... Because we are very Edmontonian now.

Moreover, Tim won playoff hockey tickets from work to attend one of the Edmonton VS Calgary games. (As you can imagine, Edmonton playing Calgary was VERY exciting and we were sure that someone was going to get murdered. It was the Battle of Alberta!) My brother is a huge Calgary Flames fan so we invited him to attend the game with Tim. He came from Regina and it was actually his first visit to see us in Edmonton since we moved back! Tim and Jamie had a total blast at the hockey game and we were happy that Edmonton won! (My brother was not, ha ha.)

So yes! Jamie stayed with us for two nights and it was really nice to show him where we live now and to get up to a few fun activities. Archie LOVES his uncle SO MUCH and they have a really adorable relationship together.

We didn't really do that much for Victoria Day long weekend and mostly just spent time with Mary and Jonny and their kids before they moved away. We helped them with some babysitting, had them over for brunch, and attended their farewell party. We're going to miss those guys. They became really great friends both on a parents/kids level and on an adult level. (Tim even helped to convince Jonny to get a vasectomy at Mary's request - and he did it! HA HA!) They are now back in England.

Next, we surprised Nicole with an elaborate 40th birthday party!! I planned the party with two of her other friends, Christina and Karen. The three of us live only a few blocks away from each other so we used all three of our houses as locations. First Nicole went to Christina's house for a tea party and was shocked to find her parents and brother there (who live in Grande Prairie, 4.5 hours away). Then they all came over to my house where we surprised Nicole with the Core Four and some of her cousins (one of which also lives in Grande Prairie) and we had a BBQ dinner. Then we all went over to Karen's house where the rest of Nicole's friends were waiting and we had a bohemian tent campfire party into the night! So yes, we surprised Nicole three whole times and it was amazing. LOVE YOU GIRL!!! <3

I even got to see Jaelyn when she dropped off her daughter to babysit Archie! <3

Notice how her shirt has a heart on it and my shirt says the word "heart!"

It was a busy month full of friends and activities and house guests! We've never felt more grateful to be exactly where we are! Edmonton is in bloom with spring flowers at the moment, the days are sunny, warm and long, and the world feels fresh and new. I truly feel that we are emerging from a cocoon right now. Life with Archie: As always, Archie has been busy and happy. He enjoyed spending a lot of quality time with Jonah before he moved away. Archie is nine months older than Jonah and they were the best little buddies. Now that he's gone, Archie doesn't seem too upset about it, but he does still talk about Jonah. It's not the worst timing because they would have ended up going to different schools for kindergarten anyway.

I love this boy!!!

Archie completed his Little Beats music class at Backbeat and they had their final rock show! It was SO CUTE! The kids named their band the Chimichanga Railway Cars and they put on a little show that we got to come and watch. Then they had an autograph session and signed their band photo. It was such a great program and a great introduction to different instruments!!

Archie also completed his Preschool 4 swimming lessons and gets to move on to the next level. It is truly incredible to see how Archie's comfort and capability around water has changed. I can't wait to take him to lakes in the summer!

Archie is still absolutely loving going to preschool and I can't believe that there is only one month left!! The time has flown by!! The past two years that Archie has spent at Green Circle have been the most valuable part of his life. When the whole world was out of control, he got to go there and feel pretty normal. I wouldn't change this experience for anything.

They also had BROWN DAY, which was the last colour day. These snacks have been SUCH a project, ha ha!

And they also released the butterflies that they had grown from caterpillar, to chrysalids, to butterfly!

And finally, they had preschool graduation photos done! It really does feel like a graduation. Two years at the same school with the same teacher... And now he's going to kindergarten and to a new school in the fall! It feels like the end of a really special chapter.

Additionally, Archie begs us to ride the High Level Bridge Streetcar all the time, so we took him to do that. I think that we made some kind of crazy deal with him that we'd take him to ride it once a month this summer.

And, of course, we still had plenty of great food adventures, as per usual.

I'm honestly a little shocked that it's June. I probably say this every year. It just feels like it's suddenly summer and I didn't see it coming. WE ARE ROLLING INTO SUMMER, PEOPLE!!! First things first, my parents are coming to visit. They arrive tomorrow. They're also going to Jasper during their visit, so they'll be here, then in Jasper, and then back here again. We will be celebrating Father's Day by having brunch at Chartier (along with my parents) and I'm really looking forward to that. Lacey and Dallas are coming to visit (and stay with us) near the end of the month and we can't wait to eat fancy food with them!! Archie's last day of preschool (ever!) is on June 27th. They're having a whole year end graduation party. There's going to be an actual graduation ceremony. Then at the very end of the month is me and Tim's anniversary and I am SO EXCITED about our celebration plans! First we're going out for a fancy dinner at SABOR, a very good Spanish restaurant. And then we have tickets to see Hamilton!! I am so, so excited. You might remember that I saw Hamilton (by myself) in Toronto the day before it got shut down because of the pandemic. Since then, I've only gotten more into it and Tim likes it too. It will be so much fun for us to get to see it together! Plus, my seat in Toronto was very bad. THIS TIME our seats are very good, right in the center in the 8th row. Very excited. Cannot wait. And this is just the beginning of summer. There is SO MUCH MORE to come! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!:

June 14th is Amy Bull's 14th wedding anniversary!

14th on the 14th!! 14 years, 2 kids, same husband. I'm pretty sure that's a feat in itself! ;) I hope that you and Ray have a chance to celebrate! June 20th is Laura Young's 7th wedding anniversary!

7 years, 2 kids, same husband. I'm pretty sure that's a feat in itself! ;) I hope that you and Matt have a chance to celebrate! June 24th is Sarah Turnbull’s 40th birthday!

Welcome to the milestone birthday club, lady!!! I hope that you know how special you are to me and how proud I am of the entire life that you have built and re-built for yourself. You're a warrior, you don't take "no" for an answer, and I have always admired these things about you. I cannot wait to truly celebrate the shit out of these birthdays on the beach in Mexico! You are my chosen sister and I love you. <3 June 30th is my 9th wedding anniversary!

I can't believe that we are closing in on a decade!!! Life is full of challenges and arguments and mundane nonsense... But I am often struck by how damn grateful I am for Tim to be my husband and how much I love him right down to my bones. Till this day, when I'm away from him, I can't wait to be back with him. He is absolutely my person. <3 AND! Here's some year-in-advance warning! For our 10 year anniversary next year we are planning to do a vow renewal and party in Jasper. You will all be invited! Our anniversary lands on a Friday and it will be on that day. It'll be fairly casual and of course your whole families are welcome! There will be more info to come.