The weekend is half over and life certainly doesn’t stand still… Friday was actually a lot of fun. Start off our adventure with a run to Public Health to way Echo who once again did us all proud. She gained another 13 3/4 oz in 2 weeks. Definitely on track and 100% breastfed! I was a little worried since both she and I had that little tummy bug and she was spitting up so much, but apparently I didn’t need to worry.

After the weigh in we headed off to the local conservatory to enjoy the plants and flowers. It is really too bad the weather has gone so cool so quickly, the external gardens looked amazing – the sunflowers MASSIVELY tall, but it was a little too cool to wander around. That didn’t stop us from taking a peek at the gazebo, and spend some time on the little bridge. If the weather improves we plan on heading back and just wandering around outside. I just can’t get over how quickly the weather has changed!

Bookends (Gavin left)

When we got into the conservatory one of the guides took a few minutes to show us some bugs and flowers that they had in jars. Things like a black widow spider and the seeds off of one of the trees in the pyramids that actually loses its needles in the winter. The kids were VERY interested and though shy, each took looks at everything and even sniffed the vanilla bean.

Checking out the bugs and plants (Gavin blue)

The feature pyramid was the same as last time but the kids didn’t mind. We counted the fish that were hanging from the ceiling, checked out the octopus statue and of course – drew flower pictures.

All 5 kids (Zander left)

My baby girl

Daddy and Echo

Emanuel’s picture this time was his best yet!

Little Artist

Finished piece of art

After enjoying the flowers, changing the girls into less dressy clothes and packing everyone back up into the van we headed to the south end to do a little shopping. Walmart for diapers etc and Marshall’s Discount Fabric for the dark green my mom needs for Echo’s Halloween costume. We didn’t make it to the hospital gift shop but HOPEFULLY this upcoming week…

We had Ted over in the evening which meant MORE Dr. Who and the start of season 4 of IT Crowd. A late night but with good tv and company – worth it.

Hanging out with Uncle Ted

Today was an at home day… the twins did their apple pick up and further work on their colour by numbers. While the younger two had a loooong nap.

I think I have hunted down the last box and bag of outgrown clothing in the basement which has certainly made a dent in the quiet room’s clutter. Our goal is to get the room sorted out so there is enough room in there for Chris and Chris to crash if there is bad weather or they are worn out after work and school. Oh and get rid of things we don’t need before the big move in the spring.

We had to wash Gavin’s hair today… Ken volunteered for that more delicate duty. He seems to be healing, the glue is still there and we put fresh tape on it after 5 days. I am very thankful it is up near the hair line. Less noticeable and he has not been bothered by it too much. I am not sure how long it is going to take to heal up but it already seems like forever to me.

The rest of our evening is set aside for cleaning and organizing, the toner situation (I have been educated – we are out of TONER not INK) has not been remedied so I am stuck so far as school prep is concerned. We are supposed to head to visit mom on Monday anyway so I don’t need much, just enough for the boys to have something to do when they request it tomorrow after church. I have to say it definitely feels like a success to me when the twins are REQUESTING they do their school work. Hopefully we can continue the trend!

Karyn is officially home from Scotland. Apparently after 22 hours of being awake so I have not talked to her beyond her “I’m Home” text and companion email. This means before too long we will reunite with Aunty Karyn and get to see her photos and souvenirs. It is hard to believe she has been gone over 2 weeks and in turn that on Monday Echo will be ONE MONTH OLD! Where has the time gone?

Feeling good about how things are going for the most part!