What a weekend. We started it of on a great note… first off Ken went and got his hair cut (yay!!). And then was our cousin (maternal) bbq. We had all 3 of my cousins combined with Veronika’s fiancée Adam over. That meant 4 new people to tell all their adventures to. They drug Elizabeth off to the bedrooms for stories and play time.

Chatting in the livingroom... Veronika is in the back, Elizabeth on the couch and you can just see Katie's hair on the rocking chair.

Elizabeth in Emanuel's room

Dinner was a great success. We had beans (the ones I usually make), a Caesar salad thanks to Veronika, stuffed potatoes brought by Elizabeth, banana bread (made that morning) and then cake we didn’t make it to (Katie). The kids ate a ton and we still have left overs. 

After dinner was make up time. Veronika is on another course and needs  to do a certain number of faces before her test. She had time to do Elizabeth and Katie’s here at our house. Fun! By this time Echo had come to the realization that the cousins really aren’t that bad and was ready to cuddle. 

Working on Elizabeth's make-up

Oldest and youngest cousins

We finished our gift for Uncle Wayne on Friday. Each of the kids made pictures to put together into a book. They wanted to give him something special for his birthday that was on Friday. They put effort into it each day this past week with the making of the cover on Friday.

A very simple cover

One of the inside drawings

I made Jimmie’s card this year. Just playing around with paper and stamps and embossing. I am actually starting to feel the crafting urge when it comes to paper craft.

Skinny elephant

Inside

I did have a minor hiccup with my birthday purchases – the sunglasses I picked up had BIFOCALS on them… so unfair. Winners has a 10 day return policy and I am very glad I kept my receipt and tags. Very frustrating. 

I have decided, we need to have MORE family visits… it is absolutely amazing to have the ability to build a relationship with my cousins as adults. The age gap ranges from 12 years to 7 years between them and me so this is a whole new thing and a definite blessing.

The landlord came by Friday to spray the yard for weeds, so for 48 hours the grass is a no play zone. Luckily BEFORE that the twins and I went out and attempted to emulate a weed wacker. Ours is still not working. So the end result – we found 2 VERY active ant hills (not red) and the lawn looked much nicer. I couldn’t resist but take some pictures of our own sheep – Petite Sheepette and Bitsy Sheep with their Nanny Sheep. The boys thought it was beyond cute. AND I managed NOT to put them on the ant hills first try!

Out in the green

I snuck out for a walk Friday afternoon with JUST Echo in the single stroller with NO carseat! She is still a bit small to have the straps keep her perfectly in place but she had fun and got compliments. The netting is a great thing I got way back when the twins were born. And the slurpee was lovely and HUGE.

In the stroller like a big girl

"the Tub"

Our Saturday was pretty much epic… first off was getting the whole family ready AND out the door BEFORE 11 am to head over an hour out to my nephew Jimmie’s 6th birthday party. We were supposed to swing by Superstore to get the “prinpress shoes” our Trinity has been patiently asking after, but without the time AND a temper tantrum over the potty it just wasn’t a go. Neither was stopping at Winners to return the blasted sunglasses BUT we did get out earlier than expected. Of course there was at least 2 trips to get everything into the van that we could possibly need – everything from a playpen (in case of nap) to swim suits (in case of rain) and the stroller (which we actually used).

We managed to find my brother’s place without too much trouble and beat mom and Uncle Wayne there by a bit of time. We actually beat the birthday boy there too! He had swimming lessons and then they had to pick up the cake on the way home. So we got some time with just Aunty Holly and her mom up from Texas. They had Trinity’s belated birthday presents. A Hello Kitty dressed in leopard print and a sweet little Hello Kitty coin bank. She was over the moon!

Belated Birthday

Echo and Aunty Holly's Mom

There was bubbles, balls, rackets and even some sort of animal shaped grabbers. At first it wasn’t too hot but the heat came rather quickly. Sadly the shade was ant infested but we lucked out with the lack of mosquitoes… a clear indication that we were NOT in Edmonton. After all right now Edmonton is the mosquito capital of Canada!!!

Playing in the sun

We were out there over 4 hours in the sun with pizza, cake, watermelon and other goodies. The kids ran and ran and ran until the baby was more than done.

Enjoying the sun (note the OTHER Alaska shirt and the OLD sunglasses... they are missing a screw but do in a pinch)

Look at his awesome haircut!

We spent some time in their apartment before heading out. We got to pet one of their cats… not sure where the other was hiding. Echo was enthralled of course. She is a huge animal fan at this point. This gave me enough time to call up Veronika and ensure they were home.

Echo and Eris

I had to lend my face to her course work again. And during that visit the kids watched tv, played the new Xbox Connect, terrorized… I mean played with the pets (Combyne, Holli and Dinah the cat). Dinner was amazing – steaks cooked to perfection, steamed veggies and Caesar salad. Adam is amazing with the BBQ.

Playing Guess Who with Cousin Veronika

Hanging with Combyne

We all walked to the nearby 7-11 with the puppies… the boys took turns walking them. It was nice to get out for a walk in the now cooler evening. Veronika wanted to treat the kids to little slurpees for desert. They are super close to their 7-11, so are James and Holly! Lucky duckies.

Walking the dogs to 7-11

Veronika did MY make-up on Saturday for her schooling. I was already turning red from my burn but she did an AMAZING job. I am so looking forward to her doing our make up in August for the wedding. And can’t wait to brag about her to anyone and everyone to get her more business! Seriously, I love having her do my make up. And I am not a big wearer.

Natural look

It was well past 9pm when we finally got out the door to go home. The drive home was REALLY quiet with the kids nodding off before very long. With the amount of energy they used over Saturday we were NOT surprised. Actually I was amazed at how much energy they had at Cousin Veronika’s.

While today was a super quiet day (I even got in a nap which helped with the sunburn a little) this evening I got out for some girls time with pizza at Lauralee’s (homemade) with Karyn and Echo as well. We had pizza, played with the kitties (Xena and Gabrielle) and just generally hung out. What a great end to a busy weekend.

Echo and I think Gabrielle

OK one hitch in the weekend – well two combined… Ken accidentally locked the keys in the van while it was running before he and Trinity were able to head out to look at the “prinpress shoes” and then once the AMA guy came… and VERY quickly unlocked it were unable to find a pair of shoes at the store that fit. Her feet were too wide. So I am hoping the ones I saw at H&M previously COULD fit her feet better. Ken says she handled the idea of going to another store rather well… after all we have to head to the south end of the city to get my photos AND return my sunglasses… although on Wednesday we have to head back to the city to get to Echo’s cardiologist appointment. I am not sure if we will visit any parks there, the mosquitoes are rather bad. It will be a long morning at the hospital for the appointments anyway.

We had a VERY busy weekend, got in some quality play with their cousin… spent tons of quality time with MY cousins and have seen a lot of sun. I am not sure how much going out we will get this week upcoming. I am a little nervous about the appointments… they WILL be weighing Echo… and still rather burnt to a crisp BUT we have a story to finish, a bunch of cleaning to do and hopefully a chance to put ECHO in the girl pool. Either way this weekend will be a pleasant memory to bring up when the kids get stressed or frustrated. OH and Fat Sheep has done some blogging! Be sure to read all about it HERE!

Mom with ALL her grandkids

Uncle Wayne and his "greats"

James, Holly, Jimmie and Holly's mom

Ok, so time to start with the prezzies… First off Trinity – well she got a sweet Alaska t-shirt in the always a hit pink (apparently Hello Kitty does not venture so far north on THIS continent).

Miss T

Emanuel was over the moon with his new hat – from when Karyn and her folks were on a train (I got to see a few of the pictures taken from the train ride – amazing). Emanuel does love a good hat.

Hats rock

The twins each got a sticker (more a decal) and either a pin or zipper pull. We are going to put those on their fall coats. They were very pleased as well.

Train themed and all

Echo got spoiled with a PINK mini sock monkey (instant hit with its yarn hair, a real giggle inducer) and a sweet little outfit (note the slogan!).

A PINK sock monkey

Here's hoping she can become a lovely Social Butterfly

Ken got a shot glass and some bbq sauce – yup that IS a beer bottle it is in and with good reason.

Shot glass

Totally bbq sauce

I am only going to share ONE of my gifts today (the other will have to wait until Saturday), a t-shirt. A great gift for me, I am finally done going through my clothes and sifting through them. I have had to downsize by a whole garbage bag for various reasons. Always a little sad to have to give some favourite pieces up.

Isn't it cute?

So we got spoiled, sadly I do NOT have a picture of Lauralee’s new llama. Just trust me, it is ADORABLE! And most likely WILL appear on Fat Sheep’s site eventually. In fact, very shortly Fat Sheep’s blog should become VERY busy. There is lots to share from Fat Sheep AND her extended family.

I have been thinking lately (as Ken starts running for the hills), I find it rather incredible how different it feels here in our new home. And I don’t think it is just that we have walls a colour I enjoy or a basement we can utilize in its entirety. We haven’t entirely put down homeschooling roots but I have made the first steps. My interest in crafting has been renewed starting with making some cards (I will share those AFTER they are given). The kids are becoming more and more excited about things… even stuff like learning their words are more exciting and sought after. I wonder why exactly this is. I know that a lot of our big worries and concerns (financial, health or otherwise) still exist and are NOT being ignored but it feels more… conquerable.

I can honestly say I don’t feel as stressed as I did. I have tossed out things we kept for years for some unknown reason as well as found items I had been hunting for as long. We have started at our new place with homeschooling in mind. Educational objects all over the place at KID level. I feel more in control of their schooling when I can say – go on pick something out of the game box and let them at it instead of having to stop everything and dig things out. While I can’t say we are in our forever home we ARE happy here and that is amazing!

So today was a reading day with another chapter of our novel done and some more sight word work. But we were relatively lazy. I loaded up Starfall and had them rotate turns while one of the non players sat with Echo which freed me up for a little doze on the couch. This cold just won’t let go of me, today it was sinus combined with a sore jaw (I think I was clenching it last night for some unknown reason!).

Another chapter

I ducked out with Kristen, Fydo and Karyn and went to a craft garage sale. There was tons to be tempted by but I narrowed it down to 3 spools of ribbon and some Christmas themed fabric (I couldn’t turn it down for only 1.50).

My garage sale haul

After that success Karyn and I ran out to take advantage of my birthday money. First to Winners for sunglasses and a shirt and then across the parking lot to Old Navy for two skirts. Pretty much everything was on sale. I always have the best luck shopping with Karyn. She even found a few cute pieces at Old Navy for herself. They had some sort of spin to win thing and we each got buy one, get one half off. Which included our sale items. BONUS! I am so thankful to Ken’s parents for their sweet gift! Though I have to admit I always find it hard to spend it just on myself… I did creep over the kids’ sections at each store but I managed to NOT buy anything.

So a great ending to the day. Although the rain did not help. Time just zips by so quickly no matter what I do, and I have so many things I want to do. I think next week I will have to make a little bit of crafting my focus. I have pictures waiting for me at Best Buy… which means time to focus on scrapbooking once again! YAY!

Echo's other headband... totally click my Hooked on You link on the right!!!

Ken has finally succumbed to the family cold. Today was not his finest day health wise and it certainly did NOT help that he was up late the night before. We had a minor mix up on Karyn’s flight times (and location) and could not agree if it was an am or pm flight. So Ken stayed up in case it WAS an am flight (and kept me up with him, so you can imagine how tired I was as well today) and kept the phone by. Of course it turned out we were basically totally WRONG on our info and she came in this afternoon with Ken there waiting but still… totally the Reinsch-Johnson way of doing things – err on the side of caution but make sure you do it in a crazy way. Not that I was complaining much… I am coming to the end of the current anime series obsession – Mushi-shi. Which I officially want to collect in manga form as well. To make Ken’s life easier I am compiling a list of the mangas I want and which I don’t have. Should be an interesting list. I actually have been collecting a few over the years but VERY slowly and am very much behind.

I have started a project to make something for Petite Sheepette to wear at the August wedding. I am trying to make two little behind the ear clips of matching ribbon to Echo’s headband. Either that or a decorated choker… I am still in the planning stages. It can be super frustrating to try and make two identical (ok nearly) bows!

Working on bows

Today we focused on yesterday’s ignored math. Gavin is in the final two page testing series in his. I am finding out through these short tests (which we just do as worksheets) what things we need to go back to once we are done. So far the big one is the months and time… we seem to have the concept of a calendar figured out and are well on our way with the days of the week… it is just the bigger concepts we need to do work on.

We also did a chapter in our story. I think we are getting into the final stretch here.

Two more illustrations

Tonight we welcomed back Karyn from her Alaska trip. I will share pictures of the gifts tomorrow due to laziness tonight. BUT we went out for dinner – Karyn, Lauralee, Echo and myself… to the Wok box. Echo spent most of her time in the highchair… though it was a little too big for her. The food was great and even with Echo’s later moving around we were able to sit around and visit.

Quick snapped picture

Ok so the highchair is still a little bit big

The evening ended in rain again! Always! Seriously I am starting to wonder if the sun is scared to come out at this point. So very very wet. I would absolutely love a week of sunshine. Fingers are definitely crossed that Saturday turns out to be a sunny day. Friday we can BBQ and eat indoors but with the weather all nasty on Saturday we may end up a bit cramped in my brother’s place.

Our big excitement (beyond Karyn coming back and Lauralee visiting)… the neighbours cat felt the need to rest on our fence! They actually have 3 as far as I can tell, the other two long haired orange tabbies.

Kitty

So today was not heavy on the work but a good day. We accomplished things, we spent some time together and the kids watched quite a few episodes of Curious George on the Netflix. It is the best way to deal with a house full of people getting over being sick and rainy weather. I just hope that the rest of our week can be nice and relaxing. Or at the very least, that we have fun while we do things around the house. Check out Hooked on You… Seriously!

Echo in one of her lovely headbands. I think she looks marvellous!

Modelling with Petite Sheepette