Fall is here to stay! Though Wednesday topped off at 16 Celsius or so today was a traditional rainy, overcast and chilly fall day. Of course, that did NOT stop my boys from heading back out to their sandbox. Ken let me sleep in in the morning as the night before I seemed to have a rather frustrating and minor stomach bug. While I was sleeping they… well they must have done SOMETHING as everyone seemed in relatively good spirits but for once – no massive mess for Mommy! AND Ken cleaned out the dishwasher!!! Don’t get too excited though everyone – he didn’t start the refilling process but emptying – breakthrough! 

Thursday marked the end of our chapter by chapter read of Stuart Little. Each of the boys did a last chapter sentences and illustration and a favourite thing out of the story page. Now all that is left is the title page for their mini book! Very exciting, this will  be Emanuel’s first mini book. 

To celebrate they took a nice big bowl of popcorn downstairs and watched the movie “adaptation”… well the twins did, the younger two got bored and came up here to hang out with me, play Play Doh and work on workbooks while I slowly replaced the Velcro on diaper #2. Have I mentioned recently how much I HATE hand sewing on Velcro? Cuz I do! 

We played a new game in the afternoon that I found on Education.com. A little TOO easy for the twins but they enjoyed it anyway. And of course, I enjoyed the dice assembly. I think it will be mainly a Trinity and Emanuel thing but the boys are always up to try something new. I clicked on the link on their site to follow them on Facebook and got to download free activities (Halloween) in book form. Always a bonus! Seriously if you have NOT checked them out do! I am finding them a great resource along with EnchantedLearning(you need a membership for them though) and our UK site! 

Trinity and I got in some mommy/daughter crafting time and we made her an 8X10 scrapbook page. I just need to get my hands on a frame to put it up on the wall! I picked the pictures, she picked the paper and the ribbon and I found a metallic paper die cut I had lying around. She helped pick out lay out, drew a picture and was so excited the whole way through! Each of the 4 kids has pictures to do the same way. 2 each, though we couldn’t get the lay out to work with both of Trinity’s! I think it turned out rather cute really. 

Ken got his first birthday present Wednesday night! It was rather spectacular really – a LARGE rice maker! Oh is he ever in heaven… and guess what we had for dinner tonight? No leftovers BUT we all ate at once, instead of the kids and then steaming more rice. He is so happy!

I ended Thursday with a visit at Karyn’s to do some crafting. I didn’t finish the project, but I will try to on Saturday when I have friends over to do a nice big craft session. I am really looking forward to it. We made it to Dollarama where I got most of what was on my list… and another pair of socks! Addicted I know. I am now on the look out for GREEN socks… on request of my nephew. 

Oh, since I have not hunted down my 2 foot tree, and I am rather sure I have NOT shared the last of my Halloween decorations… here is our Halloween WREATH… basically all of it is done in Perler beads except the little bear that we picked up at the Dollarama one day. The kids loved the idea and I can take it apart and use it for other holidays. I am already thinking of having the kids make ornaments specifically FOR the wreath for Christmas. Though I already have to find room for the two trees we have for this year… I am thinking of having our usual big one upstairs and the small white one my mom got for the kids in the basement. 

Today was a bit of a rough day though we tried to keep everyone as active as possible. Fall weather made the kids shudder but the twins made a great attempt to stay out as long as possible. It was a Halloween themed work day otherwise. The big visible completion was Trinity colouring her own Happy Halloween banner to hang for display. 

I filled their folders with Halloween worksheets, colouring pages, etc mainly from Education.com but you can find the colour by numbers on the UK site here. The goal was to have them work at their own speed doing their own time as long as they completed basically everything before bed. We did pretty well with only one or two fits and some great leaps in comprehension. Above all we were creative and tried to have as much fun as possible! 

Of course there was the added bonus of a COMPLETED COSTUME! Today it was Emanuel’s turn to show off his outfit… I have promised Zander he can go on Sunday… and then by middle of next week it will be group photo time… so what do you think? Did I do a good job???

Trinity decided to wear her new shirt from Aunty Karyn. This was an amazing Winners find that absolutely makes her look grown up! She is so close to being a full big girl with very few accidents and all! 

Our gifted Play Doh has renewed the interest in playing with it for the whole family. Even Echo is interested in it right now! 

Tomorrow is going to be busy and fun with a bunch of friends coming over to craft. Company is always a blessing and this time we are themed for Halloween. 

That just leaves cleaning, crafting (well finishing of some projects) and laundry for yours truly, oh and trying to bring some Kijiji ads to sale. There are at least 3 or 4 people who have contacted me this week but have not confirmed a pick up or said they don’t want and with company coming it makes for an interesting set up… here’s hoping I can get everything figured out BEFORE we are tucked into the mess that is my kitchen on a crafting day!