It's all a walk in the park

Yeap. Just a walk in the park! Some days!!
We've had a lot going on the last couple of weeks. Shamus is in full swing at school, Breagha started daycare, I started French class, Breagha started highland dancing, Shamus starting karate...and Darryl works. :) A lot.

But, it's all a walk in the park!

We've been doing pretty well with the busy schedule. Shamus is enjoying school a lot and even went to his first birthday party last weekend. It was a pool party at the YMCA so he had a blast. I guess since we've had a lot on our plates, I've been forgetting about the blog. Literally forgetting that we even have a blog! So, I'm struggling with keeping up with it. I'm trying though!

Shamus' first day taking the bus. sniff sniff. He really is a big kid now. Crazy.

With our busy schedule, I take Breagha to daycare first, then drop Shamus off at school, then to my class, then back to meet Shamus at the bus stop (he still gets to take the bus once a day so he is happy with this arrangement :), then to pick Breagha up at daycare, then back home. We get it done!

Breagha heading out the door for her first day of daycare.

Oh, she looks happy here. And she was. That was on the first day. BUT, then she realized that daycare was 5 days a week and the weekend was only 2 days a week. Hmmm, she was liking the time at home with Mom so daycare isn't so great anymore. She gets very upset at drop off. But, I'm sure she will get used to it....again!

Even with all the running around, Darryl and I mentioned to go out together on Saturday night! It was very exciting. The kids had their first sleepover at Joe and Preetha's and Darryl and I headed downtown for Jeff's birthday celebration. We had such a great time and hope to get out more often together! :) Right baby! It was so nice to see everyone...saw some Aussie friends and Montreal friends...very nice. Jeff's sister was also in town so he had family to celebrate with him too!

Not sure why but Jeff ended up cooking his own birthday dinner! Of course everyone was glad because he is the best cook! Thank you Jeff!
Karine did a wonderful job of the desert though!!

Dinner and drinks at Jeff's and then we headed out to a bar close to his apartment. Some of Jeff's other friends and coworkers met him at the bar...it was kind of funny to see some of the people there because they were people we met in Brisbane (Darryl's old coworkers). They all seem to be adjusting to life in Montreal quite well. We had a super time.

Breagha is loving her dance class and Shamus is loving his karate class. (Pics soon!) I hope to get them back into swimming too but one thing at a time.

I'm not sure what I'll do about my French classes. I'm taking one class in the morning and one in the afternoon. But, the afternoon class is super beginner. Reaaaaalllly beginner. So, I need to figure out what other options I may have/need to find! Hopefully everything will work out.

Darryl is almost at his deadline for his project so hopefully he's crazy hours will come to an end soon. We miss him at home!!!

...one last note...today was International Peace Day... PEACE.

Just a quick update for now!

• Shamus is taking the bus each day to school and it makes me sad every time I drop him off! He just seems too little for the bus. :( But, he LOVES it and is really loving school. He is singing songs in French already (short songs!) and is coming home with new words. He'll be teaching Darryl and I before we know it! So, we are very, very happy to see him enjoying school.
• Shamus went to watch/participate in a karate class last week. All went well and I'm hoping to get him registered within the next week. If I get time!!
• Breagha is not impressed that we have picked a daycare for her. Nope! She wants to stay home with me. We have been lucky and have been able to get her in 3 daycares and they are all $7.00/day. They all seem great so it was tough to decide. But, everything will be official tomorrow. Done deal!
• Breagha went to a highland dancing class today...to see what we think. She wouldn't join the class and stuck to me like glue. Quite disappointing as she loves highland dancing but she was intimidated that the other girls "could dance" but she couldn't. Not sure if I'll push it or not. We didn't register her, only went to check it out. But, she has to pick one activity to join and now she has changed it to skating! So, we'll see.
• Darryl is still super busy at work. Very long days and the commute just makes it that much longer. We realllllly have to think about where we want to live before we buy. We haven't figured that one out yet but we're not in a big hurry.
• I have been really struggling the last 7-10 days on whether to be looking for work or take some French courses. I have hardly applied for any jobs (slacker, I know!!) but there isn't any positions that will take an English speaking girl! I have looked and looked and things are not looking great for me. Soooo, I have been thinking that this is probably the best time for me to take some courses. Daycare is cheap and Shamus is in school. I can take the class during the day. We'll be poor for a while but we'll manage! So, I plan to register for a class tomorrow and we'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll learn lots! Wish me luck cause I'll need it! :)
• Since Darryl is so busy at work during the week, the weekends are all about the 4 of us spending time together. Which has been really nice. We did a quick trip to Ottawa last weekend and have been catching up with old Montreal friends. We also have friends from Brisbane, Mike and Mireille, that just moved about 2 minutes away from us!! So, catching up with them too!! The days are flying by with all that is going on but hopefully things will slow down soon.
• Sorry but I'm terribly behind with emails. Months behind! But, next week that will change!!!

That's it. Time to head to bed! Weekend starts tomorrow!! Wheeee-hooo!

First Day of School Pics

Shamus' first day of school went very well. It was from 9am-12pm and I was there until 1030am getting LOADS of information from the teacher. When 1030 rolled around, Breagha and I said bye to Shamus and left. And he was totally fine. Most of the kids did really well.

Today he was there from 9am-12pm again and had a great day. They already had gym class so he was quite pleased. He is very excited for tomorrow because he's taking the bus!! Yeap. He didn't even want me to take him on his first day. He wanted to go on the bus! So, we agreed that I would take him the first 2 days and tomorrow he can start on the bus. I'm sad that he doesn't want me to drop him off and pick him up but it is nice to see his independence. And once I start working he will have to do before school care/after school care and won't get to take the bus anymore. So, we figured that we'll let him do it while he has the chance. Should be cute.

We decided to take the scooters yesterday for the first day. Not sure if it was the best idea because it's been super hot lately and I almost melted walking back home. :)

Almost there!!

Apparently we are about 0.8km from the school because we just make the cut for getting to ride the bus. :)

Waiting for the teacher to meet us outside. Shamus was not shy about trying out the playground equipment. And neither was Miss Breagha.

K, time to go inside and check it out!

The teacher, Madame Constantin seems great. She will start off speaking English and French but after the first month it will be more and more French. Shamus is very keen about learning French so hopefully he'll stay that way!

And they're all done!

Tomorrow is the long day so we'll see how it goes. Gym and Music class tomorrow so should be good. I'm sure we'll hear all about it!!

...one final note...we may have found a daycare for Breagha. I went to see it today and really liked it. And it's $7.00/day. Very nice. And includes all meals. And it has a pool...which I have not seen at a daycare yet. Everything about it/everything I've heard seems great. But, the location is not ideal. :( I was hoping that our old daycare would somehow find us a spot but no word yet. So, we may go with the one I saw today. We have to decide by tomorrow so not much time to think about it. It's tough because I have NO IDEA where I'll be working! If it's downtown than dropping off/picking up Breagha will take longer. If it's in the general area of our apartment than no big deal.

(Shamus took this pic of Breagha and I. I really liked it.)

I'll think we'll go for it!!