I do dislike a massive change in plans… it seems to sap my motivation and put us in a minor tailspin. Of course I am not yet at the point where I have preplanned days for homeschooling though that is my newest goal in regards to the boys. I have been told about workboxes and the like and really think it is a grand idea. Though I figure I need to find shoeboxes or something either super cheap or free. At the K level my goal is to get each of the boys a couple boxes… one for each lapbook or major project we are working on. Then when we do what we can on that project we can box it back up instead of leaving them on the table or our rather limited counter space. Thank goodness we have this year to play around some more and figure out what will work best with our little crew.

Today was a non-letter day since I did not have the pieces prepped. This had the boys outside in the morning instead of schoolwork – NOT my favourite option. They headed out in bathingsuits and played in and around the pool. It is a little cooler today so they were not out too long.

This afternoon we worked on a couple of things. The first is a craft I was hoping to work out… mini Christmas trees out of puzzle pieces. We glued them to our paper model which turned out pretty nice, now I just have to decide if I want to flip them and paste puzzles to the OTHER side or attempt to hunt down the felt I am rather sure is SOMEWHERE in the house from a project last Christmas and do that. Either way they are already looking cute.

School wise we did some stamping and the twins cut out their rainbows. We made up some colour wheels that will go on top of the now decorated cardstock in the middle of their lapbooks.

We are going to print out the images of the bowl from our science experiment and put those along with the list of colours we saw on as well. Now I just need to find some more shapes activities… I did find a really cute song that goes to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell. I figure we will sing that and then paste it in as well.

Shape Song

(to the tune of: “The Farmer in the Dell”)

A circle’s like a ball,

A circle’s like a ball,

Round and round

It never stops.

A circle’s like a ball!

A square is like a box,

A square is like a box,

It has four sides,

They are the same.

A square is like a box!

A triangle has 3 sides,

A triangle has 3 sides,

Up the mountain,

Down, and back.

A triangle has 3 sides!

A rectangle has 4 sides,

A rectangle has 4 sides,

Two are long, and

Two are short.

A rectangle has 4 sides!

I dug out the pair of shoes I won for Trinity from an online contest for a store in the same city my brother lives in. They have squeakers in them but I had to remove them as as soon as she made them squeak… she cried!! But they are ADORABLE… size 3… regularly almost 30.00! ACK!

Speaking of money… we are back into tight times once more. At least this time Ken is in a better state health wise and is already making greater lengths to deal with it in a positive manner. Today is the start of a new start – at least that is the way I am planning on dealing with it. In reaction to this I decided to dig through the bag of out grown baby clothes downstairs and pull out some of the items the kids wore sparingly or really not at all (at least one was worn only for a picture session) and post them up on Kijiji… there the adds are free and you can just leave them up. So who knows, I sold two of my older adds today to the same woman and made myself 20.00 which is so going to come in handy now! The question is – school supplies or Christmas supplies?? Thank goodness we did get some Christmas shopping done on the cheap in the past month… hopefully I will be able to deal with the rest in the near future!

I am just thankful that the skills I learned in the past 3 months I did not give up when things improved… really there is no change to every day life here… just some of our more hopeful plans postponed. I think the biggest issues for me is the exhaustion I feel in regards to having to deal with the scenario all over again. Ken is much better don’t get me wrong, but myself, well I am worn out! Thankfully with his improved health comes a deeper involvement with the family and him simply being more checked in. So I don’t feel as isolated and alone as I did last time, but it is certainly NOT a good feeling.

I actually am glad I did all that baking yesterday… it has made today a lot less work. Though I need to sit down and see what exactly I have in the cupboards again… I am sure I have packets or boxes of this or that I should see how I can implement in a meal. It is hard to keep track when the majority of our dry and canned goods are in the cabinets under the island. I would so LOVE a true pantry! But if we are going to get 50lbs of potatoes tomorrow I need to be on the ball! I have been checking into how to make your own french fries to freeze and possibly doing the same with mashed potatoes – you just can’t keep them in the freezer past 2 months. Potato Soup on  the other hand…. mmm I am so looking forward to Ken’s Ukrainian potato soup and dumplings mmm mmm mmm.

Tomorrow after we go get our free potatoes at a nearby farm that is doing a special give away to promote farming and the like, we are making our weekly pilgrimage to H&W. I got the flyer for Giant Tiger as well and they have Ragu (spaghetti sauce) for 4 for 5.00 as well as onesies – long sleeved ones for 2.93 a piece. That is something I had to virtually take ALL out of Trinity’s dressers for being too small. So important during the long and cold Alberta winters! I have a small roast to throw in the slow cooker as well!

The boys are in love with a new educational show – Cyberchase… it is a math show and the math is a bit advanced but they are enjoying it a lot. I figure it gets them interested and thinking maybe the concepts will sink in a little? Or at least foster some further interest in math and the like. I know for myself I am HORRIBLE at any of the more advanced maths. I would love for them to have a better start than I did! Here is the official site: http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/though we have not checked into it ourselves. A great one to combine with Word World and Pocoyo for this crew on a sick day!

I finally got a spare moment tonight and sat down and did up a page I printed pictures out for AGES ago! This one is more of an outfit page then and actual event. Way back when Trinity was tiny I got my hands on a precious Gagou Tagou outfit on super sale (their posher line that did not last long!). The day she wore it at church I took numerous pictures so I figured why not. I managed to come across a sweet scrapbook page at a dollarstore and there you go – perfect!! The next big one I need to do is her birthday party – I have the pictures and am more than sure the paper is there for the page… the only worry is adhesive, I KNOW I am getting down there! You almost feel like there should be big flashing red lights and warning sirens it is so dire! Well to a scrapbooker at least!

I am also starting to work out a plan for our Christmas cards. We are getting our portraits taken by a homeschooling family mid October but to cut costs I want to print out wallets at Walmart (4 on a page for like 40 cents or less!) and then use cardstock and emboss with Christmas stamps I have on extended loan from a friend now living in California. I have black and white and I figure silver and red (tinsel) powder… maybe save my pennies for green or try using some of the odd inks I have on hand with a diamond powder… either way I need to think about it NOW and not later! Not sure how the posting of the cards will go this year, may be a bit delayed but I am DETERMINED!

Tomorrow I will get a start on my newest pattern. The stocking is close but I need the break BADLY! So potatoes and Tux tomorrow… with Grandma and Mike added in!

Making the Best of Every Moment