The Weekend

We survived the weekend and my first Monday at work since 2009! Yep, I’ve decided to work 5 days/week and use my excess 2010 vacation days in the summer. This winter has been hard and dreaming of warm summer days off work will get me through the rest of it.

Our busy weekend –

On Friday night I took D to see Billy Elliot. It was excellent and the performances (specifically by the children) were incredibly good. It’s crazy to see an 8 year old lead a monologue/singing/dancing number. Talk about a triple threat!

Now, I’m going to be a bit controversial here – maybe others will agree – I’m not a huge fan of non-traditional casting. I think it can be done right with certain shows but I don’t think it worked for Billy Elliot. The show prides itself on their colorblind casting and essentially said that it was talent that counts and nothing else – for Billy. While I agree talent does count, as it should, the only non-Caucasian member of the entire cast (from what I could tell) was Billy (Chinese). This was, perhaps, the whitest Broadway show I have ever seen. I’m not holding it against the kid because I think he deserved the part, he was very talented Billy, I just think that there could have been a bit more diversity for the REST of the company if that is the direction they were taking. KWIM?

D and I really need to see more shows in Toronto because whenever we do we have an amazing time. Also, running down to NY whenever we want is no longer an option now that we have Sadie. I just get agitated spending $200+ on a touring company when you could see the show in NY with proper staging/sets for less. Seriously though, “Back in the Day” the best seat in the house was $90 and finding cheap tickets (under $30) was as easy as a line-up. Now the best seat in the house is $200 and we're sitting in the balcony. Toronto is so expensive!

On Saturday we went to Amy and Melissa’s son Jackson’s 1st Birthday party at an indoor playground in East Toronto. Sadie had a lot of fun and when she saw Jackson she gave him a big goobery hug. Sadie had a blast running on the play structure (I was surprised that she did this), going down the slide, driving her cozy coup car, trying to join Jackson in his cozy coup and/or trying to steal it from him. The cozy coup is clearly a favourite toy and we’re not getting her one. I think it would drive us crazy needing to deal with it everyday!

Cozy Coup for 2

Warning!! Graphic image Below! Booooooooogggggieees!

This is what we've been dealing with for over a week. Sadie is a snot monster!!

Help?

For lunch we had pizza and cupcakes and luckily Sadie didn’t eat her cupcake so I had two (they were from our favourite cupcake shop). It was cute to see Jackson open his presents because the kids all sat and watched intently or helped. Clearly they learn that presents are fun from a very early age!
Another cool thing was seeing the age gap closing a bit between Sadie and Blogger Shannon’s youngest son. They’re both ’09 babies but 4 months different in age and although they’ve met a couple of times already, there wasn’t much there because at the time her son seemed so much older. It’s balancing out a bit.

The ride home from the party took about an hour and Sadie napped the entire way. By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and we knew that bedtime and dinner were going to be an issue if she slept too long. We decided that we’d go out to dinner instead of cooking at home. Sometimes that seems so much easier!

Our first attempt was at Jack Astors but the restaurant was currently showing a YELLOW rating by the health department which means a conditional pass of a restaurant inspection. No thank-you! Sadie was in a bad mood at this point so I sent D walking with her across the street (while I drove) to go to another road house style restaurant called Montana’s Cookhouse. We ordered Chicken Fajitas and split them 3 ways, we also had an appetiser and dessert. D and I have really gotten into sharing meals by either ordering two different or one larger. It’s nice to taste more than one option or have room for appetisers and dessert.

By the time we got home I was absolutely zonked. Sadie and I both went to bed at 7:00 pm and slept for 14 hours! Wow!

Sunday was equally busy with Sadie’s first gymnastics class. I love the Little Gym program because they allow your child to wander around on the equipment and only ask the parent to stay on the main mat and participate in an effort to draw the child back into the warm up and circle time. Both D and I participated which several other couples did as well. It’s nice to have a program where we can both be there at the same time.

After gymnastics we went home to quickly nap Sadie before we had to get ready to go to our friend’s “adoption party”. We also had to buy a present before we left so we ended up being late. Buying for a teenage girl was not easy and all my friend offered was "a gift card to a cool store".. Right, because I know what that means!

The goodbye/adoption party was for my friend's 14 yo foster daughter who had recently been adopted by a new family. It was kind of strange because she’d been with them for several years (7) and had grown up so much in their home. It was sad to see her leave but good at the same time that she has a forever home. I think that my friend was shocked by it all as she had said that the system is trying to adopt out all of the children in care.

My friend's home supports 4 kids but currently all 4 beds are empty which means they have no income! They're struggling a bit because they foster fulltime and have no other income. Fostering pays per kid not a salary and I’ve often wondered how much they get paid. Your mortgage is paid as well as many other expenses but I've always had a hard time believing it was enough to support the size of their family (5 bio kids). One couple we know is doing it so that one of the moms can be SAH. It's an interesting option.

Anyway, by the end of the weekend I was feeling a bit stressed that I hadn't spent much time with Sadie. Even though we're running around with her and doing stuff for her it's nice to just sit on the floor and play. We didn't get much of that at all. Fortunately I get home early enough for some quality time before dinner, bath and bed so I guess that makes up for our hectic weekends!