What a weekend. We started it of on a great note… first off Ken went and got his hair cut (yay!!). And then was our cousin (maternal) bbq. We had all 3 of my cousins combined with Veronika’s fiancée Adam over. That meant 4 new people to tell all their adventures to. They drug Elizabeth off to the bedrooms for stories and play time.

Dinner was a great success. We had beans (the ones I usually make), a Caesar salad thanks to Veronika, stuffed potatoes brought by Elizabeth, banana bread (made that morning) and then cake we didn’t make it to (Katie). The kids ate a ton and we still have left overs. 

After dinner was make up time. Veronika is on another course and needs  to do a certain number of faces before her test. She had time to do Elizabeth and Katie’s here at our house. Fun! By this time Echo had come to the realization that the cousins really aren’t that bad and was ready to cuddle. 

We finished our gift for Uncle Wayne on Friday. Each of the kids made pictures to put together into a book. They wanted to give him something special for his birthday that was on Friday. They put effort into it each day this past week with the making of the cover on Friday.

I made Jimmie’s card this year. Just playing around with paper and stamps and embossing. I am actually starting to feel the crafting urge when it comes to paper craft.

I did have a minor hiccup with my birthday purchases – the sunglasses I picked up had BIFOCALS on them… so unfair. Winners has a 10 day return policy and I am very glad I kept my receipt and tags. Very frustrating. 

I have decided, we need to have MORE family visits… it is absolutely amazing to have the ability to build a relationship with my cousins as adults. The age gap ranges from 12 years to 7 years between them and me so this is a whole new thing and a definite blessing.

The landlord came by Friday to spray the yard for weeds, so for 48 hours the grass is a no play zone. Luckily BEFORE that the twins and I went out and attempted to emulate a weed wacker. Ours is still not working. So the end result – we found 2 VERY active ant hills (not red) and the lawn looked much nicer. I couldn’t resist but take some pictures of our own sheep – Petite Sheepette and Bitsy Sheep with their Nanny Sheep. The boys thought it was beyond cute. AND I managed NOT to put them on the ant hills first try!

I snuck out for a walk Friday afternoon with JUST Echo in the single stroller with NO carseat! She is still a bit small to have the straps keep her perfectly in place but she had fun and got compliments. The netting is a great thing I got way back when the twins were born. And the slurpee was lovely and HUGE.

Our Saturday was pretty much epic… first off was getting the whole family ready AND out the door BEFORE 11 am to head over an hour out to my nephew Jimmie’s 6th birthday party. We were supposed to swing by Superstore to get the “prinpress shoes” our Trinity has been patiently asking after, but without the time AND a temper tantrum over the potty it just wasn’t a go. Neither was stopping at Winners to return the blasted sunglasses BUT we did get out earlier than expected. Of course there was at least 2 trips to get everything into the van that we could possibly need – everything from a playpen (in case of nap) to swim suits (in case of rain) and the stroller (which we actually used).

We managed to find my brother’s place without too much trouble and beat mom and Uncle Wayne there by a bit of time. We actually beat the birthday boy there too! He had swimming lessons and then they had to pick up the cake on the way home. So we got some time with just Aunty Holly and her mom up from Texas. They had Trinity’s belated birthday presents. A Hello Kitty dressed in leopard print and a sweet little Hello Kitty coin bank. She was over the moon!

There was bubbles, balls, rackets and even some sort of animal shaped grabbers. At first it wasn’t too hot but the heat came rather quickly. Sadly the shade was ant infested but we lucked out with the lack of mosquitoes… a clear indication that we were NOT in Edmonton. After all right now Edmonton is the mosquito capital of Canada!!!

We were out there over 4 hours in the sun with pizza, cake, watermelon and other goodies. The kids ran and ran and ran until the baby was more than done.

We spent some time in their apartment before heading out. We got to pet one of their cats… not sure where the other was hiding. Echo was enthralled of course. She is a huge animal fan at this point. This gave me enough time to call up Veronika and ensure they were home.

I had to lend my face to her course work again. And during that visit the kids watched tv, played the new Xbox Connect, terrorized… I mean played with the pets (Combyne, Holli and Dinah the cat). Dinner was amazing – steaks cooked to perfection, steamed veggies and Caesar salad. Adam is amazing with the BBQ.

We all walked to the nearby 7-11 with the puppies… the boys took turns walking them. It was nice to get out for a walk in the now cooler evening. Veronika wanted to treat the kids to little slurpees for desert. They are super close to their 7-11, so are James and Holly! Lucky duckies.

Veronika did MY make-up on Saturday for her schooling. I was already turning red from my burn but she did an AMAZING job. I am so looking forward to her doing our make up in August for the wedding. And can’t wait to brag about her to anyone and everyone to get her more business! Seriously, I love having her do my make up. And I am not a big wearer.

It was well past 9pm when we finally got out the door to go home. The drive home was REALLY quiet with the kids nodding off before very long. With the amount of energy they used over Saturday we were NOT surprised. Actually I was amazed at how much energy they had at Cousin Veronika’s.

While today was a super quiet day (I even got in a nap which helped with the sunburn a little) this evening I got out for some girls time with pizza at Lauralee’s (homemade) with Karyn and Echo as well. We had pizza, played with the kitties (Xena and Gabrielle) and just generally hung out. What a great end to a busy weekend.

OK one hitch in the weekend – well two combined… Ken accidentally locked the keys in the van while it was running before he and Trinity were able to head out to look at the “prinpress shoes” and then once the AMA guy came… and VERY quickly unlocked it were unable to find a pair of shoes at the store that fit. Her feet were too wide. So I am hoping the ones I saw at H&M previously COULD fit her feet better. Ken says she handled the idea of going to another store rather well… after all we have to head to the south end of the city to get my photos AND return my sunglasses… although on Wednesday we have to head back to the city to get to Echo’s cardiologist appointment. I am not sure if we will visit any parks there, the mosquitoes are rather bad. It will be a long morning at the hospital for the appointments anyway.

We had a VERY busy weekend, got in some quality play with their cousin… spent tons of quality time with MY cousins and have seen a lot of sun. I am not sure how much going out we will get this week upcoming. I am a little nervous about the appointments… they WILL be weighing Echo… and still rather burnt to a crisp BUT we have a story to finish, a bunch of cleaning to do and hopefully a chance to put ECHO in the girl pool. Either way this weekend will be a pleasant memory to bring up when the kids get stressed or frustrated. OH and Fat Sheep has done some blogging! Be sure to read all about it HERE!