Weekends with friends are always so wonderful! And Saturday was a pattern card of perfection! Not only did I have time with great friends, crafts and yummy food but as an added bonus – COUSIN TIME! Veronika was able to make it in for the day as well and was the first one here. She had a final project to finish for her course and I was part of it… I won’t share the pictures but let’s just say – I looked GHASTLY! But it was for a good cause of course and THEN she gave me a pretty face in return! Gotta love family.

Taken well past midnight but you get the idea!

We made a run to the south end and checked out Michaels (packed) and the Halloween store (so much fun!) then to the mall for lunch (YUM and so nice of Cousin V)… Then back to the house to really get ready for our crafting fun. With Veronika ALSO came the second set of Bob Books (as per the twins’ request) AND a brand new used desk for Emanuel (HIS one request for the schooling year). I am not sure if that makes me super mom or Veronika the world’s best cousin… but I figure we can both hold titles together.

Desk!

Kristen and Fydo were the next to arrive, Kristen to craft and Fydo to go downstairs and work on a game design with Ken (didn’t that work well!). We had to move the extra table upstairs for supplies and then bring up the crafting things with a Halloween theme. Kristen and Fydo brought chili and cake pops! Talk about yummy! Went well with the baked beans and fresh loaf of bread I made!

Veronika with one of the cake pops

Then came Karyn, Xinny, Alan and not so little Izaac! He and Echo spent the day reconnecting. She loves him and he seems to be in love with her. One of these days I need to set them up and take some really nice pictures of the two of them together! He is around 8 months old now!

Babies together

Sadly Lauralee and Kathy both had to take a miss as they were both feeling ill but I have high hopes for November and our Christmas themed crafting time.

Some of the crafters

Two of Kristen's cards

Veronika's

Xinny's scrapbook pages

Trinity with one of hers, this was a work in progress at the time. She gave them Candy Corn food

The cards I made

We crafted until evening and then Victoria, Karyn and Veronika and I visited into Sunday when we wished Ken a happy birthday and  had him open his present from yours truly! Bought with Veronika’s assistance! Gotta love having family working at a bookstore again! You definitely get into the know! He seemed rather pleased with it!

Ken's present from me and from Zander (on left)

Today was our day for helping in Sunday School but I woke up with a head ache and Echo with a very cranky attitude so I made breakfast for the kiddos, got them dressed and then Ken woke up and took the 4 big ones on his own. I am told he did a great job on cookie and juice duty. And Trinity had a blast at her second Sunday School session! We of course took a Daddy Birthday group picture!

All 5 kids

With the birthday boy

Lunch was bacon, pancakes and banana bread. They all seemed to enjoy it! And then I took a nap. Ken worked on his programming and the boys got spoiled with tv and Minecraft. A rather good day! AND I finished Trinity’s Hello Kitty ears and bow thanks to the talented hands of Victoria. She MADE those ears herself! NO pattern! What I did was put  them on a headband I wrapped with white ribbon, used a bow from the wedding stuff and there you go! Then we took white pants, a white shirt and one of her Kitties and matched it as close as we could with her own plaid dress (something Karyn brought back from Scotland). Trinity was VERY happy!!! Very one of a kind too!! And if it is cold out mom found us a polar bear suit that has a removable head so all we have to do is find a shirt that would match a kitty and go with it!!

Hello Kitty! We are waiting on her mittens and a friend suggested eye liner for whiskers!

Ken and Gavin took some time and got started on the ring tailed lemur tail! Tomorrow should show some great progress with that!!

Bent to shape according to Gavin

I am working tonight to get sorted for tomorrow, get some projects done AND get tidy… it has been a weekend to be proud of and I plan on continuing that through the week… after all we still have a lemur to create!!!

One more of the babies !

Fall is here to stay! Though Wednesday topped off at 16 Celsius or so today was a traditional rainy, overcast and chilly fall day. Of course, that did NOT stop my boys from heading back out to their sandbox. Ken let me sleep in in the morning as the night before I seemed to have a rather frustrating and minor stomach bug. While I was sleeping they… well they must have done SOMETHING as everyone seemed in relatively good spirits but for once – no massive mess for Mommy! AND Ken cleaned out the dishwasher!!! Don’t get too excited though everyone – he didn’t start the refilling process but emptying – breakthrough! 

Thursday marked the end of our chapter by chapter read of Stuart Little. Each of the boys did a last chapter sentences and illustration and a favourite thing out of the story page. Now all that is left is the title page for their mini book! Very exciting, this will  be Emanuel’s first mini book. 

Final chapter

Their favourite thing in the story

To celebrate they took a nice big bowl of popcorn downstairs and watched the movie “adaptation”… well the twins did, the younger two got bored and came up here to hang out with me, play Play Doh and work on workbooks while I slowly replaced the Velcro on diaper #2. Have I mentioned recently how much I HATE hand sewing on Velcro? Cuz I do! 

Popcorn and a movie

Another diaper done

We played a new game in the afternoon that I found on Education.com. A little TOO easy for the twins but they enjoyed it anyway. And of course, I enjoyed the dice assembly. I think it will be mainly a Trinity and Emanuel thing but the boys are always up to try something new. I clicked on the link on their site to follow them on Facebook and got to download free activities (Halloween) in book form. Always a bonus! Seriously if you have NOT checked them out do! I am finding them a great resource along with EnchantedLearning(you need a membership for them though) and our UK site! 

Dice game

Trinity and I got in some mommy/daughter crafting time and we made her an 8X10 scrapbook page. I just need to get my hands on a frame to put it up on the wall! I picked the pictures, she picked the paper and the ribbon and I found a metallic paper die cut I had lying around. She helped pick out lay out, drew a picture and was so excited the whole way through! Each of the 4 kids has pictures to do the same way. 2 each, though we couldn’t get the lay out to work with both of Trinity’s! I think it turned out rather cute really. 

Trinity and her page

Ken got his first birthday present Wednesday night! It was rather spectacular really – a LARGE rice maker! Oh is he ever in heaven… and guess what we had for dinner tonight? No leftovers BUT we all ate at once, instead of the kids and then steaming more rice. He is so happy!

Almost birthday boy

I ended Thursday with a visit at Karyn’s to do some crafting. I didn’t finish the project, but I will try to on Saturday when I have friends over to do a nice big craft session. I am really looking forward to it. We made it to Dollarama where I got most of what was on my list… and another pair of socks! Addicted I know. I am now on the look out for GREEN socks… on request of my nephew. 

Oh, since I have not hunted down my 2 foot tree, and I am rather sure I have NOT shared the last of my Halloween decorations… here is our Halloween WREATH… basically all of it is done in Perler beads except the little bear that we picked up at the Dollarama one day. The kids loved the idea and I can take it apart and use it for other holidays. I am already thinking of having the kids make ornaments specifically FOR the wreath for Christmas. Though I already have to find room for the two trees we have for this year… I am thinking of having our usual big one upstairs and the small white one my mom got for the kids in the basement. 

Wreath

Today was a bit of a rough day though we tried to keep everyone as active as possible. Fall weather made the kids shudder but the twins made a great attempt to stay out as long as possible. It was a Halloween themed work day otherwise. The big visible completion was Trinity colouring her own Happy Halloween banner to hang for display. 

With banner

I filled their folders with Halloween worksheets, colouring pages, etc mainly from Education.com but you can find the colour by numbers on the UK site here. The goal was to have them work at their own speed doing their own time as long as they completed basically everything before bed. We did pretty well with only one or two fits and some great leaps in comprehension. Above all we were creative and tried to have as much fun as possible! 

Of course there was the added bonus of a COMPLETED COSTUME! Today it was Emanuel’s turn to show off his outfit… I have promised Zander he can go on Sunday… and then by middle of next week it will be group photo time… so what do you think? Did I do a good job???

PENGUIN

With tail

Trinity decided to wear her new shirt from Aunty Karyn. This was an amazing Winners find that absolutely makes her look grown up! She is so close to being a full big girl with very few accidents and all! 

Purty shirt

Our gifted Play Doh has renewed the interest in playing with it for the whole family. Even Echo is interested in it right now! 

Playing with brother

Tomorrow is going to be busy and fun with a bunch of friends coming over to craft. Company is always a blessing and this time we are themed for Halloween. 

That just leaves cleaning, crafting (well finishing of some projects) and laundry for yours truly, oh and trying to bring some Kijiji ads to sale. There are at least 3 or 4 people who have contacted me this week but have not confirmed a pick up or said they don’t want and with company coming it makes for an interesting set up… here’s hoping I can get everything figured out BEFORE we are tucked into the mess that is my kitchen on a crafting day! 

Popcorn baby in her new togs

One of the added bonuses to have a weekly library trip – our morning after reading time! All new books, one per child read in Emanuel’s room on our reading spot – after all a mattress on the floor is about all that we have in the house that will fit us all. Today we had a rather eclectic combination of stories… the typical Hello Kitty, another about a little boy who pushes buttons, then one based on the poem Pussycat Pussycat Where Have You Been, ending with an African folktale retold to explain how the shell on a turtle got to look the way it does. 

Reading time

Since we were the very thankful recipients of PLAY DOH this weekend what better to work on this morning than Halloween themed (by colour) creations. Trinity was very upset that she had to take her princesses and mash them back into the container. Gavin went all out on his flat creation, Zander combined two castles to make a lovely thicker one… Emanuel was in total pumpkin mode. 

Zander's castle

Trinity and her princesses

Emanuel's pumpkin

Gavin's witch and jack-o-lantern

We had more Halloween print outs to conquer… again Education.com and the Uk site have come in handy! Seriously check them out, they are bookmarked on the links bar on the right of my site. 

Halloween worksheets

Zander had a big exciting completion today – his Grade 1 Math book! It was a bit of a battle and he still does NOT like subtracting but we did it together! He is very proud!

Completion!!!

The weather this afternoon was rather nice so the boys spent the majority of it back in the sandbox. I am so glad they are enjoying the weather NOW before it gets cold and bitter out. So the day was eaten up rather quickly. Tomorrow the hope is to keep our rate of completing sheets, crafting, costume work and of course workbook time. Now if I could just hear back from the interested parties on Kijiji and see if I am going to solidify some sales. Oh well, you can’t rush anything! 

Sharing her sister's cuppy