Another two day entry. It is not that Sunday was hugely busy, I was just a little less organized, distracted and somewhat lazy. On the plus side, I spent time with the kids, got an outing with Karyn AND packed some of the stuff in the upstairs. Don’t get me wrong there is much more to do but it is a good start. What quickly became a necessity is the downsizing of Trinity’s toys in her room. She is determined to drag out as much as she can each day which seems to find its way into corners, chairs and other unexpected places. VERY counter intuitive to getting packed to move in a timely and orderly manner.

Miss T

With our van still limping we were unable to drive to the area in the city where our church is, so instead we packed up the family and headed to the nearby McDonald’s. Only to find out that the ice cream machine was NOT working! The kids were VERY unimpressed but all but Trinity were won over with the cinnamon bun like treats. To make it up to them Ken ran over to the wholesale place across the street and while getting the needed pull ups and baby cookies grabbed some ice cream for supper.

Playing at McDonald's

I mentioned going out with Karyn, well we ran to Dollarama and the grocery store and then KFC and right at the entrance was one of those toy vending machines… for a toonie there was a little Hello Kitty tin… I couldn’t resist, and with the luck Karyn brings go Miss Trinity a PINK tiny heart shaped tin! I know I am spoiling her but it was soooo cute!

Hello Kitty

I have packed some more bits and bobs up… we have narrowed down the month of May to specific homeschooling activities and goals making it easier for me to pack up the smaller items. This week I am hoping Zander will finish his story, Gavin is starting his diorama and we are finishing our spring/Easter stuff up. The next week will be lots of crafting, making sure everything is done and of course workbook fun… that leaves us a little over TWO weeks to sit down and go through a novel. The book of choice – The Trumpet of the Swans. It is a loaner from Karyn and the plan is to alternate illustrating and writing about the story, maybe coming up with creative ways to discuss, act out or connect to other things in our lives. June is going to be exciting with Canada as our focus leading to CANADA DAY… sadly Karyn will be on the plane home to Alberta so we will have to celebrate with her after the fact but the plan is to find out what there is to do in our new city!

I picked up a new pair of girl’s tights at Dollarama this weekend, black to match Echo’s dress for Chris and Chris’ wedding. We have come to the realization that she is NOT going to have enough hair for a lovely ribbon clip so instead I am making a headband to match. I just have to get cemented in my mind which of the ribbons my mom gave me go with HER dress and which go with TRINITY’s.

Soon to be made into 2 headbands

I am starting to feel the genuine excitement connected to a new adventure… Zander, on the other hand, is becoming more and more surly. He is VERY unimpressed with the idea of leaving our church and Sunday School and in turn is starting to act out a bit. For the longest time he has asked to be moved back upstairs to sleep. Now that we have moved them back up he has had a couple fits and wanted to be back downstairs. I was really getting frustrated and confused with all this backwards behaviour until I realized that this is probably all a result of his upset about moving. I am trying to get the boys involved in the packing and find ways to make our days a little out of the ordinary. I am hoping that our new church with have VBS which will definitely soften the leaving blow and open the boys up to meeting the kids sooner than we would waiting for the new school year.

Gavin has started his own shoebox diorama today with the decision of making it an indoor scene. He chose his two paint colours – purple for the walls and ceiling and yellow for the carpet and did up some tiny window and picture scenes to glue on later. We have not yet faced the issue of actually making the furniture and other objects in the room. I think we may have to ask Daddy for help!

Pictures and windows

Painted box

Zander did another page for his story and sadly had to remake the title page after a marker accident (I think he put the paper on top of an open marker and it soaked through). I am hoping we can finish the story by Friday.

Newest page

Lately I have felt no small measure of frustration connected to the prior 2 yrs of difficulty we dealt with with the economy and Ken’s illness. There are days when I wish we had a magic wand that could just poof everything back to where we want. I am very proud of Ken though, he has worked hard on both himself and our family to ensure that we do improve and move forward. Every day I am reminded of all the wonderful qualities I first saw in him when we met. Even through the worst he has been there to pick me up and dust us off and keep going. The inner strength I see in Ken every day is comforting, the fact we can work together and face the future uplifting. I am just hoping that we can find something to boost our speed of recovery for the second half of 2011… well it WOULD be nice!

To combat frustration and no small amount of exhaustion I have taken to taking some ME time… sadly most of my crafting supplies (mainly the scrapbooking) are now in boxes out of necessity. That leaves me cross stitching and the frustrating long term ongoing project and playing on the computer. So I have taken some from both categories and tried to remind myself that there is more to me than being MOMMY and all of the wonderful AND frustrating things that come with that.

We did get a call from the office in charge of doing Echo’s genetic testing. Apparently what they do is call us like they did today to confirm our mailing address so that they can send us the questionnaire to fill out about family history. We then send that back in to them (and I can only imagine how time consuming it is going to be to fill out! Good thing I have a lot of information about our history due to the twin pregnancy), once they receive the forms THEN they work out an appointment date. So the process has started. I am really looking forward to getting the paperwork, I really want to get the ball rolling. The hope was that we could have the test done BEFORE we move over an hour away but that is not looking like it will be happening. As it is when I called the boys’ specialist to make all 3 of their yearly appointments the only date I could get was the same week as Echo’s at her paediatrician. Two trips into the city in one week… OUCH but in August so maybe we will have something else to do or see by then? It does feel good to have the appointments booked, written into the agenda and ready to go.

Our little miracle

Beyond the one big phone call and a lot of work on unfinished worksheets… well the kids played soccer with Ken before bed… and I wrote this blog… I think I accomplished a decent amount but at the same time am wrestling with a lot of other issues both minor and major that are taking time and concentration away. The goal for tonight – to work on design of a cross stitch, spend some quality time with Ken and of course keep in mind that ALL of this (aka  the negatives), they too shall pass!

Playing soccer