"A Stitch in Time"

Well the mail is still not working in my favour – 3 things sent right before Christmas and 3 still not there AND still waiting on something from our board. UGH I am re-sending my Canadian envelope on Monday… WITH a tracking number! I am debating changing my shipping amounts based on this experience. I need to see how much more it is with a number and then I think I may just require it! Though after posting on Facebook about my frustrations at least 3 other people shared their stories. Apparently 10 weeks is normal at times sending to the states!!! OUCH We sent something out about 7 weeks ago still not there. The tracking number is somewhere in the house but Ken was able to call with the info and find it in CUSTOMS… that just kills me, lots of handmade stuff in there. 

The last two days have been a bit trying… being a woman SUCKS sometimes (ok monthly) but being one with a minor cold is worse. Echo followed suit with a runny nose and a cranky disposition. This did not stop us from a few exciting completions!! First off, Gavin finished his Grade 1-2 Addition and Subtraction review book! I am so proud of him, he got all the way up to adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers. And when we went back to the original workbook he has today he blew threw the pages!

Then there was our Chinese New Year poster… talk about dragons!!! We had to overlap and wiggle around to fit everything but it was worth it! So many bright colours and beautiful pieces of art! Everyone had a hand in the creation of it. Litterally… all 4 kids had hand dragons put on it!!

Then we moved onto fun with our Valentines supplies… of course the Legos were out at the same time so Gavin skipped right over that to making Lego hearts! Very sweet… Emanuel made one too.

Don’t forget the cactus and orange, also courtesy of Gavin.

He did do some Valentines decorations – two lovely paper chains, one with foam hearts added to each of the white chains. 

We had a frustrating evening with Ken swamped with work, phone calls… cranky kids… but we survived. Sometimes Ken’s working from home can cause minor upsets when we need to do things like buy groceries or do something family related. This is compounded by my inability to drive… but we make do! Of course it is this same choice that gives us the bulk of our flexibility. I am amazed at how supported I feel when I am stressed with homeschooling or the kids when they want to show daddy something. Instant gratification. He has chosen an hard path, working as an independent contractor but he is GOOD at it! 

I found a great Canadian movie on Netflix to wind down with tonight: At Home By Myself… With You. Romantic comedy for the win. Thank you Netflix. 

The left over frustration is really centered on the van… it was to go in tonight but that certainly did NOT happen. It goes in TOMORROW afternoon… keep your fingers crossed that FOURTH time is the charm! Oh and that it IS just the coolant system once again. I am going to create a calmer February if I have to drag the kids kicking and screaming. 

I have slipped horribly in my goal to keep a consistent blog running this month! But I promise to be back to my much more consistent and predictable self in February. Hmm how did our week start off? Well, relatively shaky kid wise. Tuesday the trend continued somewhat with a bit of resistance BUT we got a start on our Chinese New Year poster. We had to make little pockets for some of our mini books and the 12 animals of the zodiak cards. 

Both the twins have been hard at work on their math books. I think Gavin will finish his review book soon. I was a little concerned about how silly they were being about adding and subtracting, ignoring, skipping parts… but with this review book it seems much more cemented. We did realize that part of the problem is that everything up until now has been START ON THE LEFT. As soon as  you do equations stacked you have to start on the RIGHT… ACK. 

Emanuel and Trinity are still rather intermittent at their sit down and work work BUT we are making progress. Trinity is totally into making capital E’s now and Emanuel is working on all sorts of wonderful practicing of letters and numbers. We have been including them in all of the big boys’ larger projects so they have enjoyed the space videos and the stories about Chinese New Year. I did pick up a special book for Emanuel and Ken to read together from the library! 

Tuesdays are back to library days for Trinity and Emanuel! The last week was actually the first after Christmas but it was WAY too cold to go out. So Karyn and I packed them up and took them this week. We were early and had to deal with Emanuel wanting to go into the men’s washroom and then needing me to go in and reach the toilet paper for him (seriously, thank goodness no one else was in there). The theme was mice and there was lots of fun songs and stories and of course the craft. I love how involved they get in the gluing and colouring. So much fun!

Today started with an early morning wake up for all of us… well except Echo who was up even earlier. I had a 9:05 blood work appointment downtown and of course with my lack of driving and no knowledge of the busing here (or cash to spare for that this week) it was the whole family or nothing. Thankfully they were right on time and very efficient. Less than 10 min later, baby not even out of her seat and we were headed back home! 

For some reason heading out in the mornings always throws us off… so instead of forcing the issue we watched a Magic Schoolbus dvd about space (Zander opted to go downstairs and do his math, apparently the twins had watched it once already while we were at the library and he didn’t feel it needed a redo). they traveled all the planets. 

We continued work on our Chinese New Year poster… the boys are not the most efficient at finishing posters so I have decided to take the week and have them do a bit at a time so we are tidy and organized instead of them tossing pieces on to get done. So many brightly coloured dragons! 

Zander was nice enough to spend some of his afternoon teaching Trinity to play UNO. I just wish I could have him and Gavin play a round and it NOT be a huge deal to see who wins. 

There was a brief and I mean BRIEF foray outside. The weather is nicer but wet snow is awful for mittens leading to cold fingers. I do love how excited they get to see things like ice formed on one of the bikes left under a drip (really MUST move that) or footprints left by the neighbour’s cats. 

Gavin felt the creative urge… he made Lego Chinese Dragons. So of course we had to take pictures! There is talk of some Chinese style houses too but he got distracted before they became a reality… maybe tomorrow? 

We are certainly NOT a morning family… everyone was cranky and worn out today… Ken took a nap (his doctor says he must if he feels the need just to ensure he gets the rest when he needs it and not mess with his meds) and I TRIED to… interrupted by an annoying doorbell and non issue at the door… Echo is warm and fussy, Gavin warm… oh the trauma of the beginnings of colds in the house! 

So with all the grumpy kids, off starts to the day and upheaval it has NOT been the most productive 2 days… but we have continued on. I think that by the end of the week we will be further schooled regarding space and of course have our poster done and on the wall. Things are still tough here as they have been the past 3 years BUT I am starting to see the positives MUCH more clearly now. January may not have been the smooth and dreamy month I was hoping for, BUT it is ending better than it started and we intend to continue the trend! Faith without action is nothing remember! 

 

I have had some free time… GASP! And that has led my mind down new thought paths… One of the main ones is the question of whether or not I am where I should be right now… Is the life path I have taken the right one? Well, after careful consideration Thursday night (while Echo was loudly proclaiming her dislike of ANY movement Trinity made on the bed by her playpen) I came to the realization that I AM. It is definitely NOT the EASIEST path, rather more the road less traveled… but it is right for us. When I think of all the decisions I made (well Ken AND I made) that seem to go against the norm – having our large family, homeschooling, choosing to stay in Canada and get Ken his status, the list goes on and on… well they are all ones I do NOT regret. Life would be pretty bland without Echo and Trinity, without homeschooling adventures and our travels finding our “forever town”…

Hmm there is also the wonder of leaving 4 boys home ALONE in a house full of things… things they could leave on the floor… toss around and generally NOT clean up… I actually had to call Ken this morning to confirm he was aware of a Kijiji pick up (we really cannot hear our doorbell from the basement – a huge issue at times!) and leave him a list of things I forgot to mention before leaving on MSN. I am so the list maker and Ken is so NOT. 

We had a rather quiet day Friday – up at 6:55am (ouch), we missed Veronika leaving for her shift at Indigo. After copious amounts of cartoons while mommy ATTEMPTED (and I mean ATTEMPTED) to nap on the floor there was breakfast, toys and more cartoons. Finally around 11 am Echo was crashing so I got in a bath that was MOSTLY uninterrupted. After all Trinity is without the bulk of her siblings so more bored than she normally is. Apparently the moment Mommy went into the bath the boredom level skyrocketed! 

Trinity is officially a whiz with the iPad… she was teaching Veronika to play her favourites and in turn mastering the ones that were already loaded and running. The Snoopy game had a picture taking option, so of course we had to take one and email it to my computer!

We had a rather exciting milestone for our baby girl on Friday… she has mastered the stairs. I love Veronika’s stairs, they are completely carpeted and not too steep. Trinity was right there to cheer her on and I took a little video for Ken to see as well. She is growing up so quickly. 

We had Kathy over Saturday night for games. She lives a short drive away in the city so it was an easy trip and she was able to stay SUPER late! Two new games in fact – Puerto Rico (which is very similar to Settlers) and Dragonology(based off the book, which I have at home!). Kathy hadn’t played them in ages so it was like we were all beginners. I think she plans on bringing at least one of them when she visits at our house next.

Saturday was our shopping day… I had a decent budget for the day (around 50.00 plus a gift certificate) and Trinity had her 4.00 of saved allowance. We started at Indigo where I was NOT able to find the books on my list, but I did find two books. The one on the left was suggested reading by Veronika. 

It was surprisingly difficult to find something in Trinity’s price range that she wanted, so we compromised. She used ALL her allowance and my snowsuit Kijiji money and got herself a bathtime dolly… shower included! It was on sale for 30% off! 

I picked up some Christmas themed hand sanitizers at 3 for a dollar! (regularly 2.00 a piece), but the big deal was on my new winter coat… H&M had them marked down from 50 or 60 dollars to…. FIFTEEN!!! It is longer than the one I have, so warm and … NEW! I have not had a new winter coat in over 3 years… so this is a BIG deal to me. That also means that next year all I have to buy is new winter boots (another one I have not replaced in over 3 years). 

So CrossIron Mills outlets was worth it. Veronika works at the Indigo there as well. I think if I had had more cash, more interest and another stroller we may have wandered more but as it was we had fun. It wasn’t too crowded either. 

Trinity and Veronika spent part of their Saturday evening creating lovely bars of sweet smelling soap. She was so excited to pick the colours and scents and be a part of the process. It is an amazingly simple and CLEAN craft to do… as Veronika says, easy to clean up – it cleans itself as it is all just soap. 

Sunday was lovely and relaxing… we all lay around in the livingroom until almost noon watching cartoons… there was laundry to be done, a cat to visit with and of course the iPad to enjoy. Trinity got to the point where when it was  time to leave… well of course she didn’t want to. To be honest it was VERY tempting to just try and extend our vacation… but there is so much to do here at home AND bloodwork for me to have done on top of that. 

On the way home we stopped off at a Chapters here in town and got two more books (one actually on my original list) and then it was home. Well… home sweet messy home! Apparently the 4 days I was gone was gaming palooza! Thankfully they maintained a level of clean that wasn’t horrible, but a wee bit worse than I left it. The fridge empty, the kids wild on games and Sean and Ted here! So they had company to boot! I didn’t get to see the guys for very long as of course they had the drive back in winter weather for work today but it was great to get the time I DID get with them! 

Monday was back to normal… well as normal as you can with boys wound up from gaming, girls not used to being home and Mommy feeling unprepared. Karyn was over in the evening so we FINALLY ducked out and got the much needed and well lamented poster paper… they were OUT of white! (seriously first time ever) but I was able to get some lovely yellow for our Chinese New Year poster. I love Dollarama. I was also able to get the AAA batteries I need to replace in Emanuel’s SleepyBird AND the reading pens for the kids’ books that Trinity is in love with. Oh and don’t forget some lovely Valentine’s Day themed ribbon… I figure our girls could each use a new hairbow! 

Gavin and I worked on making the Chinese word for prosper according to the education.comsite. The template did not seem to print out and I thought this would be more fun for Gavin – trying to recreate what he sees somewhere else. I think he did a great job! 

I do wish we could have made it to an event but at least we have learned some new things! And I got another book to read them tomorrow… this one is a story more than a factual book but it should be interesting. 

Karyn is entering into a contest to go to a conference for work and part of that is making a video – apparently cuteness is a positive so the kids did a part for her today! I have to admit I was proud of them saying their sentence! I had to take a picture!! And then Trinity wanted one of just her and Echo! 

Even with the mess and the frustrating children today it IS good to be home… that is not to say I would not have liked to stay longer! Girl time sure feels nice, and Veronika’s home is so bright and cheerful with exquisite company. Trinity has spent most of the day and evening talking about going back and what she wants to do with Veronika. I am so spoiled with such a lovely cousin!! Definitely someone who feels more like a sister! So now it is time to try and clear up a bit, after all we have a poster to make… AND it IS Tuesday tomorrow which means – LIBRARY DAY for the two little ones! First one in over a month!!! YAY!