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

It's getting chilly outside!! We've already gotten some snow in Edmonton (although it has now melted) and I really feel like I'm switching into cozy mode. I'm ready for cuddling under blankets and drinking warm beverages. See you in six months. The month started out with really beautiful and warm fall weather. We were truly spoiled with a gorgeous fall season this year! Outdoor walks were magically colourful.

We celebrated a super nice Thanksgiving and Tim made our usual delicious feast!

We pretty much celebrated Tim's 40th birthday all month long. There were many parts to it! The first thing is that I threw Tim an actual birthday party and invited all of his friends. I loved my outfit for this party very much!!

We held the party at Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse, which was where Tim wanted to go. It was really fun! My parents came back to Edmonton especially for the party and Dustin even came all the way from Vancouver! I know that Tim felt really special and that he enjoyed himself.

We spent the night at our favourite hotel, the JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District (and took advantage of the free grandparent babysitting!) which was really great. It was nice to have a romantic night away. I hadn't bought new lingerie in probably over ten years so I paid Victoria's Secret a visit and pulled out all the stops!

We also had a little family party at home where we ate cake and sang 'Happy Birthday' and gave Tim presents.

THEN two weeks later Tim and I went out for dinner for his birthday, just the two of us. He wanted to go to La Petite Iza, which is a French restaurant and a favourite of ours. We also saw a movie after that. It was a really wonderful date night! Tim has been sufficiently celebrated for his 40th!!!

We have had solar panels installed onto our roof and garage! This is the last of our home improvement projects for the year. We got 18 panels and it is estimated that this should reduce our power bill by 70%. We are really excited to power our home with green energy and to continue to move away from using oil and gas.

We headed into Halloween time next and made our annual fun visit to the pumpkin patch! There were kittens!

We picked out and carved our pumpkins and I think that our jack-o'-lanterns turned out great!

Halloween was a very fun day! Archie enjoys it so much and the whole day was full of spooky fun!

Another thing that happened this month is that I had to go for a special ultrasound called ABUS. This is now a part of my annual Mammogram. It was determined that I have dense breast tissue which means that the Mammogram alone isn't enough - I have to do the ABUS as well. So I went for my first one! From now on I'll always have to do both. I also got my annual flu shot and the latest and greatest Covid vaccine (Tim and Archie did too). I have now had FIVE Covid vaccines!! Honestly, it does feel a bit pointless to keep getting them because I already had Covid and it wasn't a big deal. I wouldn't care too much if I caught it again. But whatever, just trying to do all of the responsible things. Now that it's November I can already feel my brain mobilizing for Christmas. SO MUCH TO DO!!

Life with Archie:

Archie had his Grade 1 school photo done and it turned out really cute! It's wild that we can choose from like 100 backgrounds. When we were kids it was lasers, books, or "blue." Ha ha!

Archie opened his first bank account! It's an RBC Leo's Young Savers Account and they started him off with $25. We began giving him an allowance and there was money all over the place. So we decided it would be easier if he just had his own bank card. Now he can save his own money and buy things with his own money.

Our nature adventures tend to feature a hint of danger?

Archie had Lendrum Colours Day at school where he had to dress in the school's colours. Of course there was a matching lunch/snack!

Did you know that Home Depot offers a monthly Kids Workshop? It's free and kids get to go and build something each month. Archie LOVES this. They give them their own kid-sized apron to keep and they receive a pin for each build that they attend.

We had a Parent-Teacher Conference with Archie's teacher to hear about how he's doing so far. She seems really happy with him and said that he is already showing improvement since the beginning of the school year. She also said that Archie is very popular and funny and that all of the kids like talking to him. <3 Archie also had his annual Optometrist appointment and he has 20/20 vision! There was a Beavers Fall Camp where Archie went to an indoor camp for two nights and got up to all sorts of silly mayhem. (Tim also went with him and this is how Tim actually spent his 40th birthday.) Archie and his friend Everett had a great time together at camp!

KITTENS!

There were birthday parties! Archie attended his friend Graham and his friend Noelle's birthday parties! He had a blast at both! It's crazy to me that these kids (from his class) are only just turning six now. Like, they were FIVE! It feels like Archie is about to turn seven pretty soon. He's the oldest kid in his class. (I always was too!)

And of course Archie LOVED Halloween! He was very excited about his Creeper costume (it's a thing from the game Minecraft) and he had a really fun day. We made him an on-theme lunch/snack for school. His classmate Cohen (who he recently has announced is his best friend) was also dressed as a Creeper (unplanned) so he loved that. And of course Archie had an amazing time Trick or Treating! We went out with his friend Brendan for part of it and were on the streets for about an hour and a half. He definitely got a decent haul of candy!! (Which we will be eating for like a year.)

What do we have on for November? Well like I said, it's gonna get real Christmassy in here real quick. The start of the month is pretty quiet and we'll have Remembrance Day long weekend. Actually, Archie has a six day fall break and I need to figure out what to do with that guy. As usual, we will put up our Christmas tree and decorate the house sometime in the middle of the month. It's a day that I really love that is full of traditions. The Christmas events will start happening! Like the holiday edition of the Royal Bison Art & Craft Fair, Winter Whyte Light Up, and probably the BioWare kids Christmas party?? (We don't know when it is yet.) It's such a fun and exciting season. I can't wait. THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: November 9th is Erin Anderson’s 36th birthday!

It has been WAY too long and I would love for us to get to reconnect sometime soon! I still can't believe that Young Craig is your BFF and that you guys hang out all the time. How funny! I wish you the absolute best and for a huge celebration where you get to be fully spoiled. I know that you usually go pretty big and I'm sure that this year will be no different! Love you! <3 November 20th is Carrie Schill’s 35th birthday!

It actually caught me off guard that you're turning 35. When did we become "adults?" We're not? Will you be in Australia for your birthday?? Because if so, AMAZING. I love our friendship SO MUCH. I love being Carrots and Rocks with you and giving Dustbin a hard time. I love all of the adventures that we've shared and how I can always count on you to be there when it matters. You mean so much to me and I hope that this birthday is wonderful. Love you always! <3