I managed to finally finish all the bonus levels on my game Liong: The Dragon Dance from BigFish – a Mah-jong game. One of the bonuses of having the hubby home. He DID make it home late last night – yet another chapter in the saga of the Reinsch-Johnson family. Ken left for home right after his last meeting (not thinking to call since all the people he saw have their phone lines through Shaw so – FREE LONG DISTANCE IN CANADA…..anyway) only to end up in an accident. Luckily no one was hurt and the van has no visible damage. And even better – NOT Ken’s fault. A woman sped her car through an intersection forcing Ken and a truck to slam on their brakes. The police came and she gave everyone her insurance info so here’s hoping we don’t have to use it! So even though he got a decent headstart the accident slowed him down… a little over 3 1/2 hours after the time consumed by the accident and report he got home – cranky but in one piece. The drive home was stressful leaving him with nothing but the accident and our lack of follow through on a promise by the government… speaking of which:

So when the government fails to fulfil a monetary promise for the 3rd time in 2 weeks for a process that has taken 2 months to do a 2 week wait period are you allowed to become an independant country unto yourself and declare war? Now I know that is foolish (after all where would I get the army…. although 4 kids…) but it is the feeling behind the situation to a “T”. Thurday apparently came and went and NOTHING… Ken called and the form we did when we had the first big delay was no reconciled or something. I do realize that it is not the entire body of the government letting us down (and from what I hear we are not the only ones with the same issues with this division) but it sure feels like it. After all if I were to offer someone 100.00 on an exact date I would hand it over. You don’t dangle cash in front of a family of 6 that is needed and then go – oops I mean NEXT week. So we are REALLY down to the line and I am hoping that Tuesday will be THE day (please keep a positive thought, prayer for us) and then I can work on NOT hating the system… so much.

I have to admit I got spoiled this morning – after breastfeeding Trinity I got to go back to bed and SLEEP IN! Until 11:30 in fact! And then a nice long bath. So it was not until noon that I got anything done which, big surprise, was starting yet another batch of applesauce and a tray of apple leather. The boys still cleaned up all the icky apples and then played outside. What a restful morning.

Sean joined  us for the afternoon. The guys are watching a new series Ken downloaded – Legen of the Seeker based on some books Ken had read. Trinity has finally forgiven Sean for not seeing her the month and a half we were in Minnesota so they have been having a great time hanging out together again. She is in a much better mood today –  I wonder if that is because Ken is home now or that I sent her to bed early last night.

New Game - Toss the Cheerios!

Today was another warm day so the boys were VERY happy to play outside in sand and pool. Neither Ken nor myself was very interested in venturing far from the house so no trip to the park. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice and sunny and we can head off to the park or just on a walk. Summer is quickly coming to a close and it feels like there is still so much to do! I would love to do so many things but I have such a list for next year.

Splashing in the Pool

I am a little overwhelmed with the bounty that is what Ken came home with from our friend Kathy’s. As she does not currently have time to bake and such she sent home the majority of her supplies and their containers. Things like flour (white AND whole wheat), sugar and a vast variety of spices. This is going to stretch our budget even further as now I have more than enough things to make the desert items we love. I hunted down a recipe online for oatmeal applesauce cookies (I know again with the applesauce – but we have it so lets use it!). I figure I need to find my sugar cookie recipe and maybe splurge on some more icing sugar and use the sprinkles that she sent as well! My plan is to make vegetable soup on Monday that will see us through quite a few meals using up the celery I can’t get the kids to eat (carrots and potatoes are on sale at H&W this week). Of course with some noodles. While cleaning up the apples that fell off the trees in the storm last night I have more than enough for two more batches and Ken picked some off the other tree to try. (they bruise horribly when they hit the ground and I am too short to pick them so the past week I have been unable to get nice enough apples to cook).

Proof Ken is Home - and That I Put Him to Work!

All of this of course happening when the weather has WARMED UP again! What is this? We are in CANADA… summer is supposed to be short and all that and all of a sudden we are nearing the end of August and the weather is nice? I am not complaining but what a surprise. So I am going to take full advantage and pitch the kids into the backyard while I make as many different foods as possible with what is in the house. Maybe for one of their homeschool activities we will make something together. Now I just need to find recipes  that call for whole wheat flour.

I am hoping on a nice sleep tonight and then a relatively simple and worry free Sunday – or at least that is what I am shooting for. At least Ken is home safe and sound!

Emanuel and Dog! Creativity at its Best 🙂

For a pretty decent, though hectic and tiring week last night absolutely sucked. Oh, not the visit by Chris and Chris – that was terrific  but after I went to bed. Doing all my little prebed chores and tidying and readying myself for bed saw me get my head on my pillow a little after 12:30. Luckily I went right to sleep, but that is when the problems started. First off at 3:30 Trinity woke up in her crib (which is in our room) demanding to get into my bed (not an unusual occurance as she was co-bedded and at times still is). Sadly, I couldn’t find her soother so I had to take her out of the room into the kitchen to find the one I cleaned, then go to the washroom and THEN head back to bed. This had her awake enough that she chattered and rolled around for at least 30 min. Once she was asleep I finally was able to fall asleep myself. 5:30 rolls around and the twins are up and complaining about their window – it was open and the wind had picked up. This made the blinds move against the window loud enough to wake the boys up to complain to me. So I had to close up the window and then convince them to go to sleep again… another 15 or more min. Back to bed (thank goodness Trinity stayed asleep). 7:30 rolls around and it is a mixed blessing – Emanuel woke up, used the potty and POOPED! Which is great BUT that meant he needed his bum wiped and mommy was groggy. So I do that and let him go into the livingroom only to find Trinity AWAKE. END OF SLEEP.

Normally all this up and down and dealing with the ridiculous would have been nothing but with all the past 3 months’ stress I am ill equipped to laugh at things first thing in the morning. Which of course the kids picked up on (naughtiness abounded this morning). Thankfully I DID get in a bath, though I had to send Emanuel to his room for a  time out THREE TIMES (unheard of with that child) for taking toys from his sister. All I can say is that the creator of Legos deserves a medal. After I got out of the tub all 3 boys were sent to the basement to create and play (and fight a little to be honest).Well really to make a nice big, fun mess!

Blast Radius of Boys + Lego

Creations (Gavin left)

Miss Trinity actually managed to keep herself occupied with our box of Little People. So I cobbled together a lunch of sorts out of the leftovers and allowed myself some computer time to check my email and read fanfictions (aka pout while still accomplishing something).

Fun With Little People

All of the awfulness of the night was compounded by 3 not so nice phone calls (the earliest at 8:05 even though I had dealt with THEM on Wednesday and she knew it) and the fact that I had not talked to Ken since Wednesday evening (thank goodness Kathy had messaged me during the day yesterday to let me know she had gotten home and he was taking a nap in their spare room). I love the man dearly but I worry (I think it is the Mommy in me) and sometimes the inevitable us being apart fight is worth it if I just get to talk to him when he is away (I have never missed his cell phone more!). Somehow I think that is a girl thing, although if it were ME who was away Ken would expect me to check in to make him feel better about my being safe… MEN.

I had the boys try some apple leather today with great success. The pieces I managed to pry off the metal pan are almost gone (although that may be mainly my fault). Definitely not the most economical way to use my apples but with so much extra sauce it is yummy enough to be worth it.

I did manage to turn my afternoon around – not that I didn’t mope a bit and play some mahjong. But once the Legos were played with an liquorice was eaten (we finished the package) all 4 kids and myself headed outside to the pool! Trinity was desperate to get in so I obliged. For once even with the water being cold she was determined to stay in. Falls onto her face, splashing, dumping water on herself – it was ALL good. The boys were so impressed that their little sister was actually willing to play in the pool with them. The placement of the pool was also perfect, we move it every week to ensure the grass is not completely squashed (or weeds depending on the location) and before Ken left for his meetings I had it moved next to the good apple tree. Our timing today was such that the pool was in the shade which was terrific with how warm this afternoon has gotten. I actually had to drag her out of the pool when everyone else was done, but 3 cupcakes for the boys and half a banana for Trinity seemed to make amends. (though you wouldn’t think so for Zander’s whining about wanting something to eat even though it was time for me to start supper AND he had had a popsicle on top of that cupcake)

Wet Little Girl

Gotta Love the Bigger Pool! (Zander red)

Post pool cartoons are always fun. Trinity has taken to making the rounds sitting in her brothers’ laps – even Emanuel’s! Although her favourite brother to sit with is always Gavin.

My Two Babies

Sitting With Gavin

Of course the naughties came back by supper time (3 days without Daddy can do that to the crowd), but at least everyone was fed. I managed to bust out my brother’s cross stitch today as well so I can cross his name off the list and go back to the stocking. I am hoping this weekend Ken can design a few more for me so I can get these all behind me to the point where we are just on the hunt for frames. I want to get creative with those so a trip to a thrift store or two may be in order.

I snuck in our number 9 print out with the boys so not a complete wash in the organized learning. Saturday is actually planless at this point so I am hoping to do something with the boys – maybe practice Johnson again or something. OR I could sleep the day away… please? Naw, probably not. When I called my mom today she said to remember things always get worse before they get better… so maybe this is the worse and now the better can commence a little more quickly? Oh well all this struggle and such IS making me stronger and wiser and that definitely accounts for something! And even better – early to bed for all 4 kids AND the original Ghostbusters movie is on tv. Mommy time!

Who Can Be Too Sad With a Sweety Like This? 🙂

There is definitely one benefit to being stuck home alone for an extended period of time – cleaning that I have ignored has been started, worked on, AND completed! Granted the clutter is a losing battle (this house has one closet upstairs that is not a bedroom one and it is tiny – linen) but things are starting to look up. A counter in my kitchen is cleaned off completely, the one that CAN be cleaned off… I am working on wiping down the fridge, the kids have all their clothes put away and Emanuel’s linen basket for his bed is tidy. I caved minorly on the applesauce but just ONE batch today. Sadly my shorter stature is getting in the way of reaching the apples now that I have cleaned the bottom most branches.

It is funny, but I am relatively motivated today for how tired I am. Maybe it is the lack of another adult in the house or the fact that it is too warm outside to be doing much of anything out there in the afternoons but I find myself looking for things  to clean. Which of course leads to moaning about the lack of bookshelves and shelving in general. Oh for a totally organized school area!

In fact, with how absolutely lovely it was this morning I totally skipped our organized crafts and schooling in favour of a walk. We took the double stroller for Trinity and Emanuel and started off to the nearest post box (which is quite a walk in and of itself) and from there it was just another block or two to get to the nearest gas station – which the boys wanted their picture taken in front of. With the 5.00 I earned doing a survey or two we went in and got a nice amount of junk food. Small chip bags were on for 2 for 2.00 and the slurpees down to 99 cents. Add in some twizzlers (strawberry of course) and our 5.00 was spent. I made sure I brought a cupcake for each boy and water and bread pieces for Trinity. We were out around an hour and the last block was a little tough, Gavin especially was done at that point.

Ready For Our Walk (Gavin left)

There was quite a few things of note on our walk. One of the houses in the neighborhood had a brand new fountain in their front yard that totally wowed the boys. I thought it was quite amazing myself.

Water Feature

One house had a very pretty little flowerbed in their front yard with purple and white flowers that Gavin was sure we needed a picture of.

Flowers

And a crane! Gotta love construction and boys.

Crane

We mailed the first of the boys’ mail order Bible lessons from UB David and I’ll B Johnathon. This is the same company that I remember doing Bibles lessons from growing up. I figure they might get something out of it! It is very simple stuff at their age – a story, a colouring page and then a couple questions to circle and off they go. I signed myself up for the adult version but have not have the time to myself to sit down and focus on it. The also learned a verse which was actually fun to do. So who knows, they really could get something out of it. I would totally recommend them though they start at age 5.

I have come to the realization I have passed my addiction on to my sons… slurpees  and not only that but the PEPSI ones! They spied out the machines almost before I did and were quite adament we had to have the “brown one.” I blame my mom – she gave me my first slurpee before I was even a year old and never looked back. All our friends know to bribe me with a 7-11 Pepsi slurpee whenever they want to play Magic with Ken. Which reminds me – Husky just does not do Pepsi as well as 7-11 does. But it was passable.

At the Husky (Zander left)

I managed to grab just enough time between putting the boys into quiet/nap time and Trinity waking up (as usual) to cutthe fabric for my brother’s stitch. I actually used the silver I had to frog out of my nephews for the ship. Not a huge design but I am already liking how it is looking.

Enterprise!

I let Trinity and Emanuel have their bath together for the first time. They had an absolute blast in there and Trinity balled her eyes out when she had to get out to make room for the next kid. Just these little moments that remind me that she is no longer a baby. The fun they had made up for that though!

Emanuel and Trinity

I may be without Ken but I have been spoiled with visits from Chris and Chris. Last night they came over with a card game – Chez Geek – funny and a little lewd. And took my slurpee cup out to 7-11 for a fill.

Chez Geek

Today they came again slurpee in hand (talk about YUM) and a new board game (well new to me) Talisman… roleplaying style thing a lot of fun! I managed to get one set of thes apple leather finished and out of the pan to send home with them (note to self oiling a metal pan DOESN’T work). I peeled the parts I could get out of the metal pan – tastes rather good actually! So two nights in a row adult comapny. YAY

Chris and Chris and Talisman

All in all a productive day, tomorrow we are staying close to home… the pool is here and the day is supposed tobe hot. Here’s hoping for relaxation and time to do my Bible lesson, or at the very least time to read one of my library books! Ken gets home tomorrow night as well – YAY!

Little Cutie