Today was officially a baking day for me. 2 dozen apple muffins, a batch of oatmeal applesauce cookies, a loaf of bread or two (in the breadmaker) and a double batch of sugar cookies. Thank goodness the weather was A LOT more baking friendly! Oh, and don’t forget the pie!

I tried a new recipe today – Jell-o Fruity Strawberry Pie off the kraftcanada.com site.

1 1/4 cups graham crumbs

1/4 cup butter

2/3 cup boiling water

1 pkg (85 g) strawberry jell-o powder

ice cubes

1 1/2 cups thawed cool whip whipped topping

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries (I ended up using more than that on top)

Mix crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom and up the side of a 9-inch pie plate

Stir bowling water into dry jelly powder in large bowl at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to cold water to measure 1 cup. Add to jelly; stir until slightly thickened. Remove any unmelted ice.

Add whipped topping; stir with a whisk until well blended. Stir in chopped strawberries. Refrigerate 20-30 min. or until mixture is very thick and will mound. Spoon into crust.

Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight until firm. Top with sliced strawberries. Store in refrigerator.

PIE

Our morning of schooling consisted of the letter T and colouring rainbows for our lapbooks. We have a rainbow up on the wall from when we did weather last year so the boys were quick to draw the connection and work out the colour order. (Though I did have to do Emanuel’s for him) Now that we managed to get some larger brads today I am hoping to start the putting together of the lapbooks early next week. Though we do need a few more activities to put in first!

Letter T

For a baby who slept in until 9:30 this morning Trinity was a VERY angry baby… I think she is mad that we don’t have any 50% whole wheat bread made (we are out of honey). She would go over to where we have the bread on the board and make gestures for some and then throw it on the floor when she saw what it was!!! Well that got her sent to naptime and QUICK! She has made my spot in the livingroom hers now – crumbs and all… we are in a bit of a tug of war over my seat and my sewing things. She takes great joy in tugging down all my patterns onto the floor and examining my floss.

Into EVERYTHING... But With a Smile!

Ken had a banner day today – haircut (talk about yummy!)… and believe me it was BEYOND time for that, and then meeting his very first GP in Canada. The only times he has needed a doctor since moving here from Minnesota was in Emergency (there was the time he broke his toe on the twins’ cribs!) but the specialists he sees now wanted him to have a GP here in case of need. He had a very long wait in the waiting room but found that his experience with the doctor was a positive thing. Even though the doctor was super behind he took the time to talk to Ken and read through the faxes they sent with his information. He goes back in 4 weeks for another appointment.

Looking More and More Like MY Kenny Every Day!

Today was another stocking stitching day (when Trinity wasn’t grabbing things and running off), but Ken is well on his way to getting another pattern up for me to work on. I think it will be Tux (Linux) BEFORE the art by our boys, but I am excited. I am finding I have more and more ideas as to things I would like to do! I have this idea about a hangman piece (like the game)… hopefully eventually I will see other people’s work on my patterns!!

Our plans have been… altered for tomorrow… we are staying home. The meetings Ken was supposed to go to are… cancelled. I am a bit sad about this as we were supposed to head over to my brother’s and see our nephew… I know that he was excited about this, but no meetings = no gas money and it is a 3 1/2 hour drive. I am hoping to talk to my mom and see if we can get a day when she can go with us and share the cost of gas. So quite the downer – especially when you add all the baking I did today FOR tomorrow on top of it. Told my mom on Saturday she and Mike will take home baking.

I had a very special evening tonight. I had been saving 20.00 with my surveys and the like and today decided to spend it. So the whole family packed up in the van and headed over the THE Mall. I actually went into Sephora with the intent to buy! For 20.00 I got a nice little sampling of eyeshadow (and joined the free point club – spend 100.00 and get a free gift – going to take a while!).

I Love Fancy Bags Too!

I turned it over and SURPRISE there was also a little bit of blush and lip gloss! Bonus! So now I can play around with it and the next time I have some cash to spend on myself maybe get something more adventurous! (Karyn is rubbing off one me!)

Surprise!

Ken also surprised me with another of my favourites – the newest Gintama manga! I do so love this series… it is the only one out of the 3 or 4 I like to collect that I am actually still attempting to stay current with. So tomorrow morning I am going to take a little time and do a little reading in the tub!

WOOT

So with our changed plans I am going to take tomorrow to get caught up… Ken is going to focus on doing some of the schooling with the boys on his own and I am going to attempt to sort out the weekend and house. I may have sold my two Kijiji adds to a lady as well! Not bad and definitely an incentive to post more! Just have to sort through our stuff and look for more hidden gems. Wish me luck!!!

I seriously feel like I could melt into a puddle of Lisa coloured goo. It is just TOO HOT for the end of September! I think we hit around 34 cel today and the house still feels hot tonight. Which means all 3 boys are camped in the basement… Emanuel’s potty seat and a stool in the bathroom down there – fingers crossed he remembers, though he IS wearing a pull up.

Our morning was a little same old same old… letter S today… snake, skateboard, snow.

Zander's Puzzle Was Upside Down "but it is ok Mommy"

This led to the boys bringing out the 2 skateboards my mom got them (which eventually meant Gavin banged his mouth making it bleed a little – I swear he is going to knock out a tooth eventually!). The twins share the large one and Emanuel gets the little one. The backyard wasn’t too bad this morning really.

S is for Skateboards! (Gavin middle)

I had a nice start to our next lapbook (still no cover on numbers but I am hoping really soon). 3 different projects this time. The boys each coloured a sheet of shapes which were then turned into a train and a stop sign (I wrote the letters and they told me what they were). I printed out a mini book of colour combinations that has most of the colours (no black and white) and with extra sheets had the boys tell me their favourite colour and we cut out the corresponding crayons and pasted them on a page that said “Emanuel’s Favourite Crayons”… copying the idea of one of the pages printed that had someone else’s name. Then we made a cover as well with the twins printing out their names. The third project was another print out… this one of pockets and fruit and veggies where you sort to colour. I will try and link everything when we are done.

Colour and Shape Projects

I am hoping to add in a rainbow tomorrow as well as print out images from today’s science experiment. Another one I found online… you take 1 cup of milk, and red, blue and yellow food colouring and some dish detergent.

Supplies Gathered

Put the milk in a shallow bowl.

Milk Ready (Note Emanuel in the chair and Gavin to right)

Add a couple of drops of each colour to form the 3 points of a triangle.

Dyes Added

Add in some dish detergent and watch the results.

With Dishsoap

Mixing

Mixed

The boys had a blast watching the colours though we had to have a redo right off the bat when as soon as Ken added the detergent Emanuel bumped the table (thus the reason why he is in the seat – be sure he is still). I plan on having Ken edit them into the same size circles which we will then print out and put together with a brad and put in the lapbook with a list of the colours they told me they saw. Simple but brings home the idea of what colours combine as. Another project we plan on doing is paint mixing but with us being gone Friday it may be pushed to Monday.

Playing a Bit (Gavin in red)

This afternoon was a special one for the kids and Ken… they had a 4 pm playdate in the backyard. Daddy refilled the pool with fresh water (too cold for Trinity’s tastes but she was willing to be on the slide instead). They played in the pool and laughed and splashed while she practised climbing up the slide… the wrong way round!

Putting Air in the Pool

Just a Little Too Cold!

Slide Fun Instead!

Pool Fun in the Hot Sun! (Zander in blue)

And what was I doing during this  time? Completely going through Trinity’s ENTIRE wardrobe including the one small bucket of stuff for her to grow into! Another grow spurt has me filling my bucket in the livingroom that is going to have to be temporarily put into a garbage bag until I can budget in more rubbermaid tubs. Tomorrow I sort through my own clothes a little and then next week Emanuel’s (I give some of his out grows to our friends Alan and Xinny for their son). I also managed to catch Xinny online (she is in China ) to amend my list for the stuff I need her to buy with the money I sent. Thank goodness China has not outlawed MSN like they have Facebook! I really feel like I got something done. I also grabbed out the clothes we will take for Trinity on Friday, so at least in part she is ready to go.

Cooking today has been limited in the heat… of course I did some applesauce – this time entirely from store bought – we got two bags of Granny Smith at 1.50 for a 3lb. bag. I also made up 3 small trays of apple leather since my brother wants some and I plan on taking some for snacking at the zoo on Sunday (man I hope Ada and Nathan are feeling better – Nathan came home today after a half day at work sick). The plan is to do the sugar cookies later tonight when it cools down and then muffins in the morning. Ken picked up everything I need for my strawberry pie too… so I will hopefully post the recipe tomorrow!

Sewing wise I finished late last night, the cross stitch I am now thinking of giving as her birthday present! Can you tell her profession? I am very happy with this one – not a single alteration from Ken’s original pattern!

Nice and Quick!

So tomorrow will be a bit of a crunch just with the heat holding me back in the cooking. I am not sure what Ken wants to take to the company picnic yet, though we have basically decided the kids and I won’t go… they are still too boogie nosed and whiny. BUT we will have a good visit with my brother’s family, and my mom and Mike are talking about coming with us to pick potatoes. Thank goodness – then my mom can watch Trinity while the rest of us dig potatoes.

Just Keep an Eye Peeled for US!

Right off the bat – Tuesday MUCH better than Monday! Though last night was a bit of a pain – I went to bed around midnight only to have a coughing fit which woke up the baby… this moved her into our bed where she rolled around a cried for nearly 30 min until the Motrin kicked in (on the up side the second molar cut finally this morning!) – so I lay there and played Puzzle Quest on my DS until she passed out. Then Ken had his alarm in the livingroom set to wake him up at 3am but of course did not hear it so it went off twice so *I* had to go and wake him up which again woke up Trinity who rolled around for another 10-15 min. Thankfully I was able to sleep in until 9:30. (Ken has to be at his desk from 10-2 the other 4 hours he can make up any time that day depending on the deadlines etc.)

We started our morning with the letter R… roses and rocks and rainbows. Things went rather smoothly though Trinity did distract Emanuel a couple of times. Amazingly enough the boys remembered that REINSCH starts with R. So we had to look up on the wall at the names and talk about who all had R in their name (Reinsch, Trinity and Zander).

R is for Rhino!!

The big extra project today was just for Zander and Gavin – they each drew their very own picture that Ken is going to scan and put to chart so I can stitch it for their godparents. I also had them write their name at the bottom. Gavin seems to wish to be the death of me – I can see spots where French knots may be needed! ACK. I am hoping we can easily transpose to the chart and then I can stitch and see how it goes. Maybe other people would like the same thing done to some of their children’s artwork? I plan on starting on those once I get this mini project done and then a couple days on the stocking.

Nathan and Ada dropped by today – apparently we infected them with our cold! So I sent home the last of my batch of sugar cookies which had the happy added benefit of pushing me to make up my next batch of cookie dough. (double batch) I had a request come from my brother’s family for some. I am still hoping they will be healthy enough to join us at the zoo on Sunday – it is the free city attractions day!!!! Lots going on and Ada has never been, for Nathan it has been ages. We went to this zoo last December and had a blast and that was freezing in the snow… this week has been back to summer (30 cel today) so it should be fun!

This evening was a super special treat for the family. Currently Ikea has a special deal on their plates of 15 meatballs and potatoes – 2.99 instead of the usual 5.99 – until some time in December… but only on Monday and Tuesday after 5pm. So we picked up Ted and headed to the south end. Total yum! And so not busy! Even Trinity had her first taste and loved it.

Mmm So Sunny Though!

Uncle Ted!

After eating we did a tiny bit of shopping. Trinity got a little white mouse stuffy for 75 cents, I got myself a tiny pocket panda for about the same (I plan on putting it in my purse for emergency play) and then there was the special small lightbulbs for the nightlights and double A batteries (they have the best price). We also picked up 3 plain wooden frames for 1.99 that I can decorate later – there is this idea in a library book I got that talks about taking apart a silk flower and hot gluing it on. We totally lucked out – they are changing the colour on a table set for little guys… so all the old coloured ones are marked down to half the price! So we checked and they only had 5 left – we got it! So now for the joint present all we need is 3 chairs or stools! BONUS! Now I just watch for sales. I am feeling rather proud of myself… I am falling upon deals now and can walk past deals that are not that important to me as well!

Playing in the Display (Gavin)

We also stopped at Michaels so I could run in with my 40% coupon and grab some brown paint. Definitely crucial if we are going to go onto our next ornament challenge – Christmas trees out of puzzle pieces – large and decorated for the wall and small and able to hang on the tree. I am actually rather excited about it. I think that my ideas may turn out to be quite cute!!!

Ken had to run into Staples and get a new black toner. The printer came with some that are not as full as the ones you buy and we finally ran through the black. 104.00 before tax! But so worth it! Without a curriculum being able to photocopy, scan and print is such a lifesaver!

Toner

So all in all our evening out was really good! The kids had fun, we had a nice dinner and we managed to spend as little as possible. I am debating though, I got another 5.00 in the mail for surveys yesterday so I am thinking I will take the 20.00 I have been holding onto and head out to the mall and get some special eyeshadow. Something a little decadent maybe?

Tonight I am hoping to get our newest batch of rock candy up and going – this time on the skewers… I have to do the 2nd and in some cases 3rd coats of paint on the boys’ puzzle pieces (green, blue and yellow this time). There is still the letter S to cut out and a loaf of bread to get started… oh the list goes on and on and on.

Tomorrow is supposed to be hot hot hot so I am planning on lots of outside in the morning and in the afternoon some shapes and colours activities for the newest lapbook. Not sure if we will make it out to the pool – I am rather sure there are leaves and the like in it right now. I still need to figure out the outside on the number books… I figure that is something really good to focus on tomorrow when I get tired of sewing, especially since the bulk of my cooking has to be done tomorrow night or Thursday.

Ken tried out hot cocoa mix this afternoon – he figures it needs more icing sugar… so when he picks some more up tomorrow I am going to get right on that (we are also out of honey which I need for the 50% whole wheat loaf). I feel like I am still playing catch up but at least not from as far behind!!

Baby in Pink and Blue?