What a weekend! And I seem to remember saying this weekend would be a QUIET one, NOT!

So Friday night was not bad, Saturday morning we took the whole family out to the free craft session at Michaels. They used a new Crayola product – a sort of clay type thing called Model Magic. They simply softened it up and then pressed their hands in to make a handprint. I loved the way they turned out and am planning on picking up a container of the stuff to use to make prints of Echo to give to a few people for Christmas. Lightweight and nice and durable I definitely think it will make a nice treasure.

Crafting (Gavin blue)

After our craft we ran out and about shopping… Dollarama, Bulk Barn. Which I must say is THE PLACE for spices! Add to that a 3.00 off if you spend 10.00 coupon and we were sitting pretty with treats to boot. I think we will head back soon enough to get more. They have cake and cookie and brownie mixes that I have Christmas present plans for… potentially!

After a nice nap (for Echo and myself and I think Emanuel and Trinity) the big excitement arrived – after over a year AUNTY ESTHER was on our doorstep, as fabulous as ever!

Fabulous Aunty Esther

She was in Grenada for a year to get her masters and we missed her dearly. The boys remembered her and Trinity warmed to her before too long, but it was Miss Echo who stole her heart this visit with her willingness to snuggle in for a nice cuddle and her tiny little frame. Ken and I were just so glad to see her in the flesh and have the chance to really catch up. She stayed the night and left late this afternoon so all in all it was a terrific visit.

All 5 Kids (Gavin left)

We sit and wait now – to see if she gets a job here in the city we live in or elsewhere. No matter what, having her back in Alberta means we are able to see her much more often. Something all 7 of us (I am sure) are VERY thankful for. Emanuel was quite sure Aunty Esther didn’t NEED to leave… after all how could she WANT to?

While Esther was still here we had Yoyo, Jon and Yoyo’s mom come by for a visit to meet baby Echo. Then Yoyo’s mom and Jon took the boys (all 3 of them!) out to the grocery store to get snacks! So kind of her. Which let me get in a little bit quieter visit with Yoyo. Apparently her mom is staying longer than originally planned – until October, so I am sure we will get in a couple more visits! The kids do love it when people come by.

Yoyo's Mom

Yoyo and Jon and Echo

As Esther was preparing to leave Nathan and Ada arrived with Baby Anna. So we got in a nice long visit with them too. Anna is almost 3 months old now! And certainly makes Echo look tiny! We are still keeping fingers crossed that the weather will warm up one last time so we can go out for a picnic with them. Last year the weather held into September, but this year… who knows!

GodMommy Ada and Echo

So TONS of visitors this weekend, and activity… this upcoming week looks much less hectic so far. We are still trying to get in that first paediatrician appointment for Echo, and Ken has a laundry list of beginning of the week calls to make (nothing new there). I am still rather surprised that the end of the month is here! Where did the time go? Ken and I are working on making up the basic bodies of some felt puppets for the kids to decorate tomorrow using a template, and I have the last of our gardening stuff to wrap up and the lapbooks to assemble… the forms are basically ready for faxing for our board registration tomorrow and life is certainly moving on at a fair clip! I am hoping I can sneak in some time to bring up my pre pregnancy clothes, sort through the baby girl box for anything newborn (still too big for Echo) AND get a bit of the downstairs cleaned… my brother and his family are supposed to be coming by beginning of September for a visit after all.

And don’t forget photos of baby… definitely want to take more of those! Oh for more hours in a day!

Two of my girls 🙂