Today was the first day with the “outside craft box”… which basically meant the boys went outside at 12:30 and came back in… eventually… well Zander did his usual revolving door for a while to talk about a bug, bring up something that had nothing to do with anything and of course remind us of something for next year?

Crafting in the shade (Zander left)

This did free up the livingroom for Emanuel and I to get right to work after nap and get him caught up on his 5 senses activites. Oh and let the little ones watch some Handy Manny… not sure how much Spanish they are picking up (Kai Lan is showing much more repetition and results but that may stem from them knowing people fluent in the language while we do NOT know people who speak Spanish). It is very gratifying to see Emanuel EXCITED about getting down to work on his activities. Trinity is right there with him, though often in a relatively disruptive fashion. He likes to tell her all about what he is doing and she likes to attempt to draw on his papers.

Careful scissors

Last night I finished Ada’s gift for her mom… which luckily coincided with Ken’s baking of the banana bread we are sending over as a welcome to Alberta gift. Another thing off the list which seems to always swell by one for every 2 I finish. So at least I am making headway – just too bad  two of the pieces on the list are full sized stockings! Picture to follow tomorrow after delivery!

Today in the mail we received our invitation to my  step-sister’s grad. She went to school in North Carolina so I am sure you can imagine how likely it is for a family of 6 to make the trip from Alberta for a one day event. As it is unless a magical plane ticket appears AND her wedding is NEXT year there will not be a representative from the Reinsch-Johnson family at her upcoming wedding. This is one of those times where the internet does NOT work in our favour. My dad met his wife on the internet, his location Alberta, hers South Carolina. The situation that works best for them is to reside in the states (and far south compared to Minnesota). In fact, they are simply too far for our family to even roadtrip there. So a lot of their events are misses for us and vice versa. Makes things like my pregnancy have a few bitter sweet moments. It is difficult when you can’t share something so special with your dad (especially when you grew up a daddy’s girl). Thankfully my brother who ALSO met his spouse on the internet ended up choosing Alberta as their home over Texas! Though right now 3 hours away is a bit far for either family right now, the possibilities ARE there.

Invites

Tomorrow is the long awaited… ok week long wait… zoo trip. I have found enough tiger and lemur facts and activities (or created some) with Ken’s help to make each boy a pretty decent lapbook. I will post all our links so that maybe OTHER ring-tailed lemur enthusiasts can save some time! I would love to find more but it seems like all my searches end up at the same links. Minor frustration.

A minor trauma in the meal department… out of propane! So our bbq cooked hotdogs and smokies had to be done on the stove (blasphemy) BUT Safeway had a deal on Old Dutch chips (all dressed for the win!) and I managed to grab some 4 bean salad from the deli. Add to that some powdered juice (lemonade) and pretzels for the little lady and the whole family was not only sated but overjoyed with the meal.

A nice spring dinner

As a precursor we went on our sound/hearing walk. More like bike ride for the boys and walking for the rest of us. Emanuel is definitely a leisurely biker while his brothers are little speed demons. In fact, Trinity was walking FASTER than Emanuel biked the whole time! And she stopped at almost every ant to say hello!

Communing with the Ants

Biking like a pro

In some weird twilight zone sort of way Ken forgot today was THURSDAY and so our end of the week schedule went a little up in smoke. Since he was spending his day like it was WEDNESDAY we are now baking our pie TOMORROW, our walk was done with everyone and we ALL went to the grocery store for our dinner purchasing. (I am amazed how many people watch when we walk by – 4 kids is NOT that many!) This also has meant a bit of a scramble on the completion of our lapbooks. Thank goodness there is no deadline to hand in to some unknown teacher! But still had to have a bit of a laugh at Ken – since I had said multiple times today – TOMORROW is the zoo and he KNEW that we were going to the zoo on Friday!

So we got our time in the sun in, as well as tried out our newest craft technique with some success! All in all I feel pretty good about today!

Finished art for their apple lapbooks - apple trees!

So our midweek was not the MOST exciting day of the week but another lovely sunny day! That in and of itself is an amazing thing. Being Wednesday it was of course our day for a produce run. Strawberries were a decent price and bananas on sale… a little watermelon was only a couple dollars and of course Ken got more mushrooms. So we are also a little closer to being ready for Friday’s post zoo picnic.

After the produce store we decided all 4 kids REALLY need a nap (not the usual for the twins but with all the outdoors activity they were burned out and cranky… not to mention up almost 2 hours earlier than the norm this morning). This gave me the time to prep all of what is left for the apple and 5 senses lapbook. Including labelling the parts of an apple. Which means tomorrow we make our apple pie… from scratch! Ack!

Hard at work (Zander left)

One of our biggest battles today is with Miss Trinity. She has a little owie below her mouth that every time it starts to heal she seems to scratch it or break it back open. We tried a band aid but she pulled that right off. This of course did NOT make her think GAVIN should pull his off when he fell (or was shoved, a little unsure on that one) and reopened the wound on HIS knee. I never really appreciated band aids until the twins started walking!

Her poor face

I have started back in on the making of applesauce… we are almost completely out of what I made last summer from our own tree. So this time I used a bag of apples we picked up today for around 3.50. I love how simple it is, cut up and core the apples, add some water and put it on low on the slow cooker. BUT I really need to get us a food press, putting it through our strainer is time consuming!

Most exciting moment of the day for the kids… the lovely weather FINALLY allowed us to put up the UMBRELLA!! And bring back up the toddler slide from its winter home in the basement. Trinity was getting a little too courageous and has started attempting the slide attached to our full playset ON HER OWN… recipe for disaster.

Umbrella! (Gavin left)

With the lovely weather the boys ate dinner outside in the shade of the umbrella, we picked up one of those roasted chickens (7.99), steamed some broccoli, made some gravy and everyone is happy!

Backyard picnic (Gavin left)

Don’t forget the lawn – Ken mowed his first lawn of the season tonight… and to further enjoy the experience the boys took all their bikes to the front yard and practised their steering, peddling and it seems crashing (?) skills. Proper brakes will definitely be the focus of the twins’ new bikes next year! What amazes me is how much more coordinated Emanuel is than his brothers were at that age!

Mowing!!

A pro on the corners already!

With baking to do, a cross stitch to finish and lemur fun to create I really should post this and get on with it!

Jumping to it!

Another lovely day here in somewhat sunny (with one brief sprinkle) Alberta… nice enough for our family to continue with our 5 senses plan and make our special walk to the nearby gas station for the candies required for the tasting portion of the lapbook. Of course no trip to the gas station would be complete without a slurpee and for Trinity her first real taste of it… which of course means TONIGHT Mommy and Daddy will pay for this liberty. (she is not going to have a nice bottom OR a settled stomach but saying no to that sweet little face when EVERYONE ELSE is getting some is so hard!)

Sips!

We have come to an agreement on what our focus will be on Friday’s zoo trip – Gavin wants to look into the Ring-Tailed Lemur and Zander the Siberian Tiger. Amazingly enough the lemur is NOT a popular animal for lapbooking, unlike the tiger which when googled brought up a site that had a full (bigger than we need for a simple version) lapbook with links and everything! I personally think the lemur is a great choice and am planning on creating some of our own sheets – like a word search (Gavin is VERY word and letter interested right now!) or a map with their home location marked. Of course Zander settled on the tiger only AFTER picking at least 3 or 4 animals NOT at our local zoo (zebra, hippopotamus, lion to name a few). For all that this zoo does NOT have every animal possible for the boys’ perusal it is a great deal more affordable than the one local to my brother 3 hours away (you don’t WANT to know how much our family of 6 would cost for normal admission /shudder) but it is also covered under our leisure pass.

Another lovely mail day – I got RAKed (random act of kindness) by a sweet friend who sent me a length of white 14 count aida! I was getting low and can’t afford another large portion until later this year. So very sweet!!

Thank you!!!

I have started the stitching on another gift – this one for Ada’s mom and dad when they get here from New York, so I am hoping to have it done before the weekend when they get up here.

Gift to date

No scrapbooking today – my pictures are ready but NOT in hand. But we HAVE gotten the confirmation that we have our rental for one more year. This is a great relief as I really wanted to have the baby, baptism and register our boys in the local board. Now plans can go on.

So a good day for our family and hopefully a good start to lots of outdoors time as an ENTIRE family. Picnics and backyard fun in the pool is definitely in our future!

Daddy and His Little Lady