Do you remember the Winnie the Pooh story where it is a blustery day? That is what today brought to mind for me. I love that series of stories! Based on a Canadian bear that found itself in the UK no less.

So our day was a cool on – 9 cel – typical fall weather for this area except for the fact that less than a week ago we were faced with the heat of summer so we are rather un-used to it. But today was the free City owned attractions day so we bundled up for the weather (jeans, sweaters and a blanket for the baby) and off we went. Due to the fact that Nathan and Ada were still feeling under the weather we chose to head over to the pioneer museum – John Walter Museum. Sean met us there.

We managed to get there right at 10 when they were starting up, so we got to see preparations as well as the actual activities. We started off with a lovely lady in period clothing who had a bunch of traditional games for the kids to try – lawn snakes and ladders, bean bag toss… wooden blocks and a ring and stick toy among other things.

Trinity gave a wooden car a try from the safety and warmth of the stroller while her brothers tried out the wooden dominoes.

After a while the adults at least, started to feel a chill so we herded the boys over to one of the 3 houses. We actually started in the most recent of the 3 – John Walter and family’s final house build when he was at the height of his fortune (not too long after there was a major flood in the valley that wiped him out financially and he never truly recouped before his death 5 yrs later. Though his family lives on and does quite well!).

This house was gorgeous and had been restored (out of necessity multiple times as years back vandals through burning logs through the back half and destroyed a large portion of the house and some of the artefacts there in!), though the upper floor was not done up in period as it is used for events. Apparently towards the end of her lift Mrs. Walters had her bedroom in the downstairs level.

The stairs leading to the upper floor were narrow but gorgeous… the entire home had lovely wood borders and doorways! A definite favourite for Ken.

The wood burning stove in this house was also the fanciest of the 3 and put off a marvellous amount of heat. And the smell… mmm I love the smell of a wood burning stove!

The pantry was lovely – I so wish I had something like that here in my own home, a whole room off the kitchen and the sitting room – I LOVE the couch!

Our next stop was the middle house… built when John Walter got married and began his family (he had  2 sons). This house had a VERY low ceiling to its stairway! Apparently Mr. and Mrs. Walter were not tall in stature and he had built his house himself to suit! One of the guides there told us that he so loved the spot his original house was in that when he married and needed more room for the family he simply MOVED the other house over to build this one! What an endeavour! Of course build with his own lumber and the likes which is how he made a lot of his fortune!

In this second house the upstairs was made up in the original rooms. Small but quite a few!

And in the lower level in the kitchen was another guide baking COOKIES! We got there in time to watch her set up and get started on her first batch of oatmeal raison that she of course asked the boys to help with! First was measuring the things you could easily do with a spoon.

Then mixing….

Dealing with the butter…

Mashing…

And then washing hand in the freshly pumped water! Brrrr!

Then handfuls of raisons into the mix…

And the best part – forming the cookies by hand!And then into the oven they went and on we went to the final house to check it out.

Of course Sean and I tried the tea with fresh mint in it! The 3rd house was John Walter’s first… hand cut logs and all… and with the least fancy of the stoves.

Here we learned about wool and how to dye it and make it into a thread!

The boys were VERY intrigued when she explained that it was vegetables that made the colours! (even the big boys!) Beets for purple, onion skins for red(!), carrots for the orange and spinach for the yellowy green.

Apparently boiling the wool in vinegar for an hour before putting it into the colours made the process faster and more durable!

You couldn’t go upstairs in this house since it was a simple ladder but it was amazing to see where he started out when he moved out of the fort.

After we finished at the 3rd house we went across the wooden sidewalk to the carpentry display. There a lovely older gentleman taught the boys how to make their own shingles!!! We got to bring them home which made the boys’ day!

Then the got to try out drilling a hole the sloooow way.

And tried a yoke on for size. Gavin refused and we would have DEFINITELY had to shorten the ropes for Emanuel!

Sean tried his hand at plaining.

And we discussed carpentry methods and the relaxation potential with the gentleman before the boys remembered about the cookies and dashed off to ask the lady if they were done.

Talk about yum! I tried a piece myself – much sweeter than my own oatmeal applesauce but delish.

After cookies and Ken warming himself by the fire we headed over to the open fire pit where another guide had split pea coffee and bannock bread. While we did not try the bannock bed Sean and Ken tried the coffee – apparently even with sugar Folgers is MUCH better.

This of course had the boys back with the first lady and the toys! So Trinity and the menfolk and I sat around the fire and enjoyed ourselves while the boys did the same in their own way.

Before we left the grounds there was a craft table set up to try out. Here they had paper and chalk to draw a picture and then glue and seeds to pretty it up! Emanuel and Gavin went relatively simple – Zander on the other hand, decided to go with a sun! I think all 3 were happy with the results.

While this was going on a fiddler came over and played a happy song just for Trinity who was enthralled! Her first experience with a fiddler close up and she LOVED it! Though at this point we were all feeling the chill and about ready to go home for the day. Trinity passed out before Ken got out of the parking lot and all 3 boys were yawning!

Our afternoon was much less exciting. I took a nice long nap, as did Trinity and Emanuel, but AFTER my nap I finished TUX! Talk about cute! I am more than pleased at how it worked out. I am thinking I will offer a stitched version on 6×8 inch pieces of white 14 count aida cloth for 20.00 plus shipping costs. Though I am not for sure on the cost… it does take at least 2 days of sewing to make one on top of the cost of materials though. What do people think?

I am trying something new with our homeschooling schedule… last night I sat down and made a day by day list of the things I want to accomplish with the boys for the week. I think I have a nice amount for each day but this will definitely be our experimental week to see how it works out.

Monday

letter “U”, colour experiment printed out and discussed, shape song, start insect lapbook, nature walk with Ken, write a story about Sunday and illustrate

Tuesday

letter “V”, shapes and the words for them, continue insects, finish cover on numbers lapbook and add flap to extend to #20, glue painted puzzle pieces, review last year’s poems

Wednesday

letter “W”, start sorting out the colour and shapes lapbook, continue insects, review last year’s songs, learn a new song or poem, make either a new ornament or gift

Thursday

letter “X”, start sorting insects lapbook, continue finished shapes and colours and add projects etc if there is room, review numbers 1-10 and continue on, stamp an insect page for lapbook

Friday

letter “Y”, put together insects lapbook, finish cover on colour and shapes, start fall lapbook, fall themed craft (maybe leaf rubbing?), discuss more gift/craft ideas and maybe make Grandma’s gift

I am also planning a trip to the library for insect and fall books either Monday or Tuesday depending on time and starting work on the preK workbooks with Emanuel that Grandma and Mike brought him. With at least one trip to the park and if the the weather warms up using our free family pass to the Fort! Flexibility is still key after all!!

So a terrific day! I was able to leave my worries and concerns here at home and truly immerse myself in time with my family with is certainly my goal and a gift in an of itself!

This seems to be our weekend for changing plans basically last minute. Though today was not nearly as upsetting. We managed to have my mom and Mike head up to meet with us, Ken then went to get my Cousin David who also lives in the city as a University Student getting his Masters in Chemistry right now (he is the baby cousin on my dad’s side). We then met up with Nathan (who is repairing from the cold) and Ada (who seems to be a bit worse) and headed out to the farm that had advertised the 100,000 lbs of free potatoes.

We got there around 10:45/11 to find a massive line up of vehicles waiting… and people parking to make the km long walk to the farm. Definitely a deterrent when you have 4 small children and a double stroller with small wheels. This was definitely enough to turn us away – and away we went to H&W. This was a first visit for everyone but us and deals were to be had!

In fact, my mom and Mike surprised us and picked up the tab on our fruits and veggies – a great gift for our always hungry family! Included in the veg and fruit… 20 lbs of potatoes for around 6.00. Less than the cost of the gas we would have spent to idle waiting to get into the farm. Actually, after 4 hours or so they had to shut down anyway – all out! Thank you so much you two!

At  this point they and Nathan and Ada headed out to their respective errands and home and we brought Cousin David over for an extended visit. It has been AGES since I have spent time with my cousin and he is a blast to be around. Ken and him have a ton in common and he loves playing games with the kids and with our friends. Even Trinity who had not seen him in almost forever for her (like 5 months or more!) warmed right back up to him. Family right?

Supper was rather yummy tonight. We took the rest of a large chunk of beef we buy at the Real Canadian Wholesale place (really affordable you just have to cut it yourself – we slice steaks and save the ends for roast) and threw in seasoning, onions, carrots and potatoes into the slow cooker…. MMM no meat left but lots of veg and since we used beef stew seasoning I figure I will save all of that and throw in noodles tomorrow for THAT supper! YUM!

Trinity has been playing cute all day… with Cousin David, time with Mike (he and mom brought some surprises – more books for the kids, some clothes and dish towels.)… she has been in a rather great mood today!

There was another surprise in the front yard – the bunnies are back! While that does not excite Ken or myself the kids were enthralled!

Can You See??? (Zander left)

With severe wind warnings and the cooler weather today was a bit of a struggle to keep the kids occupied… we are still not out of the summer outside freedom mode yet. So today we brought out the playdoh and let them at it! Emanuel is getting much better at keeping it ON the table though we did have some of each of the boys’ colours to sweep up.

We had Sean, Ted and Alan over tonight as well for some games. The guys all played Settlers (a family favourite).

Myself, I continued work on my Tux. It is coming on splendidly. I also received my very first donation on the site from a good friend off Facebook who we did a conversion from an image to a pattern for her to stitch! (I am going to post that pattern once she stitches it out) What an amazing confidence boost  that someone appreciates not only myself and my family that much but my stitching and design… wow! Totally revitalises me to get a move on revamping my pattern page to be JUST a pattern page. I plan on moving my personal stitching to another section and focus on that one just being the free, donation and the advertising of commissions… and once all of that is done I will have my little brother spread the word a little (he and his wife have their own web comic!).

So though we did not go out and pick our own potatoes we had a good day… the boys were sad Grandma and Mike could not stick around but totally enjoyed their time with Cousin David. Tomorrow is the free city owned attractions day – the plan is the zoo if Nathan and Ada are able, if not, a pioneer museum. So we shall see!

Cuz Family ROCKS!

I do dislike a massive change in plans… it seems to sap my motivation and put us in a minor tailspin. Of course I am not yet at the point where I have preplanned days for homeschooling though that is my newest goal in regards to the boys. I have been told about workboxes and the like and really think it is a grand idea. Though I figure I need to find shoeboxes or something either super cheap or free. At the K level my goal is to get each of the boys a couple boxes… one for each lapbook or major project we are working on. Then when we do what we can on that project we can box it back up instead of leaving them on the table or our rather limited counter space. Thank goodness we have this year to play around some more and figure out what will work best with our little crew.

Today was a non-letter day since I did not have the pieces prepped. This had the boys outside in the morning instead of schoolwork – NOT my favourite option. They headed out in bathingsuits and played in and around the pool. It is a little cooler today so they were not out too long.

This afternoon we worked on a couple of things. The first is a craft I was hoping to work out… mini Christmas trees out of puzzle pieces. We glued them to our paper model which turned out pretty nice, now I just have to decide if I want to flip them and paste puzzles to the OTHER side or attempt to hunt down the felt I am rather sure is SOMEWHERE in the house from a project last Christmas and do that. Either way they are already looking cute.

School wise we did some stamping and the twins cut out their rainbows. We made up some colour wheels that will go on top of the now decorated cardstock in the middle of their lapbooks.

We are going to print out the images of the bowl from our science experiment and put those along with the list of colours we saw on as well. Now I just need to find some more shapes activities… I did find a really cute song that goes to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell. I figure we will sing that and then paste it in as well.

Shape Song

(to the tune of: “The Farmer in the Dell”)

A circle’s like a ball,

A circle’s like a ball,

Round and round

It never stops.

A circle’s like a ball!

A square is like a box,

A square is like a box,

It has four sides,

They are the same.

A square is like a box!

A triangle has 3 sides,

A triangle has 3 sides,

Up the mountain,

Down, and back.

A triangle has 3 sides!

A rectangle has 4 sides,

A rectangle has 4 sides,

Two are long, and

Two are short.

A rectangle has 4 sides!

I dug out the pair of shoes I won for Trinity from an online contest for a store in the same city my brother lives in. They have squeakers in them but I had to remove them as as soon as she made them squeak… she cried!! But they are ADORABLE… size 3… regularly almost 30.00! ACK!

Speaking of money… we are back into tight times once more. At least this time Ken is in a better state health wise and is already making greater lengths to deal with it in a positive manner. Today is the start of a new start – at least that is the way I am planning on dealing with it. In reaction to this I decided to dig through the bag of out grown baby clothes downstairs and pull out some of the items the kids wore sparingly or really not at all (at least one was worn only for a picture session) and post them up on Kijiji… there the adds are free and you can just leave them up. So who knows, I sold two of my older adds today to the same woman and made myself 20.00 which is so going to come in handy now! The question is – school supplies or Christmas supplies?? Thank goodness we did get some Christmas shopping done on the cheap in the past month… hopefully I will be able to deal with the rest in the near future!

I am just thankful that the skills I learned in the past 3 months I did not give up when things improved… really there is no change to every day life here… just some of our more hopeful plans postponed. I think the biggest issues for me is the exhaustion I feel in regards to having to deal with the scenario all over again. Ken is much better don’t get me wrong, but myself, well I am worn out! Thankfully with his improved health comes a deeper involvement with the family and him simply being more checked in. So I don’t feel as isolated and alone as I did last time, but it is certainly NOT a good feeling.

I actually am glad I did all that baking yesterday… it has made today a lot less work. Though I need to sit down and see what exactly I have in the cupboards again… I am sure I have packets or boxes of this or that I should see how I can implement in a meal. It is hard to keep track when the majority of our dry and canned goods are in the cabinets under the island. I would so LOVE a true pantry! But if we are going to get 50lbs of potatoes tomorrow I need to be on the ball! I have been checking into how to make your own french fries to freeze and possibly doing the same with mashed potatoes – you just can’t keep them in the freezer past 2 months. Potato Soup on  the other hand…. mmm I am so looking forward to Ken’s Ukrainian potato soup and dumplings mmm mmm mmm.

Tomorrow after we go get our free potatoes at a nearby farm that is doing a special give away to promote farming and the like, we are making our weekly pilgrimage to H&W. I got the flyer for Giant Tiger as well and they have Ragu (spaghetti sauce) for 4 for 5.00 as well as onesies – long sleeved ones for 2.93 a piece. That is something I had to virtually take ALL out of Trinity’s dressers for being too small. So important during the long and cold Alberta winters! I have a small roast to throw in the slow cooker as well!

The boys are in love with a new educational show – Cyberchase… it is a math show and the math is a bit advanced but they are enjoying it a lot. I figure it gets them interested and thinking maybe the concepts will sink in a little? Or at least foster some further interest in math and the like. I know for myself I am HORRIBLE at any of the more advanced maths. I would love for them to have a better start than I did! Here is the official site: http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/though we have not checked into it ourselves. A great one to combine with Word World and Pocoyo for this crew on a sick day!

I finally got a spare moment tonight and sat down and did up a page I printed pictures out for AGES ago! This one is more of an outfit page then and actual event. Way back when Trinity was tiny I got my hands on a precious Gagou Tagou outfit on super sale (their posher line that did not last long!). The day she wore it at church I took numerous pictures so I figured why not. I managed to come across a sweet scrapbook page at a dollarstore and there you go – perfect!! The next big one I need to do is her birthday party – I have the pictures and am more than sure the paper is there for the page… the only worry is adhesive, I KNOW I am getting down there! You almost feel like there should be big flashing red lights and warning sirens it is so dire! Well to a scrapbooker at least!

I am also starting to work out a plan for our Christmas cards. We are getting our portraits taken by a homeschooling family mid October but to cut costs I want to print out wallets at Walmart (4 on a page for like 40 cents or less!) and then use cardstock and emboss with Christmas stamps I have on extended loan from a friend now living in California. I have black and white and I figure silver and red (tinsel) powder… maybe save my pennies for green or try using some of the odd inks I have on hand with a diamond powder… either way I need to think about it NOW and not later! Not sure how the posting of the cards will go this year, may be a bit delayed but I am DETERMINED!

Tomorrow I will get a start on my newest pattern. The stocking is close but I need the break BADLY! So potatoes and Tux tomorrow… with Grandma and Mike added in!

Making the Best of Every Moment