What a rainy, miserable day it has been – at least OUTSIDE the house. Rain all day long so no playing out in the backyard for the kids which in turn had me a little grumpy having to deal with them in the house all day. With the storm last night there were apples from the “yucky” tree all over so I didn’t want them mucking around in them outside.

This meant more time to keep busy so we moved right into our letter G. We drew well, Gavin, a gecko and glasses. The capital letters were coloured with crayons. Nice and simple and relatively mess free which was important as not only did I have two batches of applesauce to make today from all the apples that fell off in the storm (I think we are coming to the end of them!) but we had a rather messy craft to do today.

Another Christmas ornament this one utilizes puzzles that are missing pieces. You take any pieces you like – except side ones (you want the bumpy shapes) and paint the backs of them green – we found this took two coats.

Painting the Pieces (Zander left)

After that you glue them together into a wreath shape, stacking some pieces higher to give definition and then I took two routes to glitter them up – one way was to paint on green glitter glue (Zander and Gavin’s), the other was to take more white glue and then use just the generic glitter (Emanuel’s). This is then left to dry.

After that you take buttons and ribbon bows and glue them on (I used hot glue for the bows and white glue for the buttons). The finished product is really pretty and a terrific way to use up those incomplete puzzles.

To deal with the kids being bored I also brought out a game I had bought at Walmart before we left for Minnesota. I have seen it at Toys R Us as well but for 20.00 or more instead of 5.00 like I got at Walmart (not sure if it is still priced at that). It is called Learning about Manners Picnic Basket Game and it is made by Playskool. The series is called Noodleboro and it also comes with a cd (we have not listened to yet) and a story… We played the game and then read the story, since the boys didn’t want the story first lol. We also have the Learn to Listen Pizza Palace game… there is a sharing game but I have not picked that one up yet. I am hoping the price will still be low and I can get it for Christmas :). The whole point was that you had to ask to PLEASE have a token out of the basket and then say thank you – if you don’t you have to put the token back. We didn’t play for a winner just for the sheer enjoyment and man did they ever!

I finished the BigFish game I spent one of my tokens on! It was great fun! Princess Isabella: A Witch’s Curse. It took me about 3 or 4 days to finish  but I really enjoyed it. There was the usual hidden object with some other puzzles included. I still have one more token to spend and then as I am part of the club I get another after the 9th. So I am hoping to find a new game to play over the long weekend. I would totally recommend joining BigFish – they have a great variety of games and all except the large file have a one hour trial and sometimes you can find trials elsewhere for the large file. I also check reviews on GameZebo. They have yet to steer me wrong!

So the long weekend is here and our plans are a little sketchy – we SHOULD be heading over to Alan and Xinny’s on Sunday afternoon (Xinny and kids leave for China on the 15th), Saturday we are on our way to Value Village on the hunt for pillowcases. Monday I am hoping to get to spend time with Nathan and Ada. But final plans have not been made – oh and there is the possibility of D&D Saturday night with Chris and Chris.

Ken managed to get to the thread store to pick up the silver I need to finish my nephew’s gift, as well as the last two skeins I need for this year’s Birthday Floss Club. I am looking forward to finishing that gift so I can finally corner Ken on posting the pattern. In fact, I have been asked to post my “nerdy” patterns on a site that caters to those and things like anime and manga. Which is very exciting for me! Hopefully with the time we have in the long weekend we can actually get the patterns up here as well and maybe even my donation thing for paypal for requests!

For supper tonight I steamed the Alberta grown cauliflower and local beans – they turned out totally delicious. The cauliflower was almost sweet. I am definitely going to try and get more as all 4 kids agreed with me that it was amazing. I am not sure if it was because it was local or really just a terrific head of cauliflower but mmm. Ken is so not a fan.

Hopefully the weather improves. The kids are DONE with being inside so rain or shine tomorrow we go out… this street is horrible for puddles – the water just runs away but I am sure if we wear boots and start walking we will find some satisfactory splashes somewhere. That is something we will have to buy next year – rain boots for Trinity… actually I need to find WINTER boots for her for this year as well! On a budget of course – and a snowsuit… perhaps eBay?

A few months back when all the mess began I did some hunting for freebies and finally received the two cookbooks I found. Gooseberry Patch puts them out (I get emails from them now as well – www.gooseberrypatch.com) with Sun-Maid – the raisin people. Quite a nice variety of recipes, I will have to wait until the budget allows for raisins or dried fruit but I am looking forward to using them. I totally recommend hunting around for savings online… as well as coupons (save.ca is a goldmine for grocery shopping coupons). I may just have to hunt down all my links and post them one day.

Trinity has a new favourite game – peeping around corners and saying hi and then giggling. Actually pretty much every activity she partakes of includes giggling. Having someone so happy around has definitely rubbed off on me. Today Emanuel came up to me multiple times to tell me she had come to give him hugs… the biggest smile on his face! I wish I could have gotten a picture!

I caught a tiny bit of the 2004 movie A Wrinkle in Time. I really have to see if Ken can find it and download it for me. The part I saw was very true to the book (I would love to recommend the series… though the first book is by far the best – they are by Madeleine L’Engle and I love a re-read now and then). I want to sit down and figure out what all the old books are that I enjoyed as a child or youth and start collecting. Over Sea, Under Stone comes to mind as well… suggestions are welcome!

I have started the Christmas list – the one of the people we are gifting this year. It is always hard to be all inclusive but budget wise I am hoping I am pretty near. This is going to be a crafty/baking Christmas… so hopefully the gifts will suit the people we give them to and bring as much joy as we are having making them. So I have purpose and now I should have a nice long soak… so off I go.

Counting Down the Days to the Next Event 🙂