I have slipped horribly in my goal to keep a consistent blog running this month! But I promise to be back to my much more consistent and predictable self in February. Hmm how did our week start off? Well, relatively shaky kid wise. Tuesday the trend continued somewhat with a bit of resistance BUT we got a start on our Chinese New Year poster. We had to make little pockets for some of our mini books and the 12 animals of the zodiak cards. 

Poster in pieces

Both the twins have been hard at work on their math books. I think Gavin will finish his review book soon. I was a little concerned about how silly they were being about adding and subtracting, ignoring, skipping parts… but with this review book it seems much more cemented. We did realize that part of the problem is that everything up until now has been START ON THE LEFT. As soon as  you do equations stacked you have to start on the RIGHT… ACK. 

Emanuel and Trinity are still rather intermittent at their sit down and work work BUT we are making progress. Trinity is totally into making capital E’s now and Emanuel is working on all sorts of wonderful practicing of letters and numbers. We have been including them in all of the big boys’ larger projects so they have enjoyed the space videos and the stories about Chinese New Year. I did pick up a special book for Emanuel and Ken to read together from the library! 

Fun story

Tuesdays are back to library days for Trinity and Emanuel! The last week was actually the first after Christmas but it was WAY too cold to go out. So Karyn and I packed them up and took them this week. We were early and had to deal with Emanuel wanting to go into the men’s washroom and then needing me to go in and reach the toilet paper for him (seriously, thank goodness no one else was in there). The theme was mice and there was lots of fun songs and stories and of course the craft. I love how involved they get in the gluing and colouring. So much fun!

Craft time

Trinity's mouse

Today started with an early morning wake up for all of us… well except Echo who was up even earlier. I had a 9:05 blood work appointment downtown and of course with my lack of driving and no knowledge of the busing here (or cash to spare for that this week) it was the whole family or nothing. Thankfully they were right on time and very efficient. Less than 10 min later, baby not even out of her seat and we were headed back home! 

For some reason heading out in the mornings always throws us off… so instead of forcing the issue we watched a Magic Schoolbus dvd about space (Zander opted to go downstairs and do his math, apparently the twins had watched it once already while we were at the library and he didn’t feel it needed a redo). they traveled all the planets. 

We continued work on our Chinese New Year poster… the boys are not the most efficient at finishing posters so I have decided to take the week and have them do a bit at a time so we are tidy and organized instead of them tossing pieces on to get done. So many brightly coloured dragons! 

Zander was nice enough to spend some of his afternoon teaching Trinity to play UNO. I just wish I could have him and Gavin play a round and it NOT be a huge deal to see who wins. 

Teaching UNO

There was a brief and I mean BRIEF foray outside. The weather is nicer but wet snow is awful for mittens leading to cold fingers. I do love how excited they get to see things like ice formed on one of the bikes left under a drip (really MUST move that) or footprints left by the neighbour’s cats. 

Trinity and the ice... who was then told to get back inside for mittens and to put her hood up!

Gavin felt the creative urge… he made Lego Chinese Dragons. So of course we had to take pictures! There is talk of some Chinese style houses too but he got distracted before they became a reality… maybe tomorrow? 

Kid is AMAZING with Legos!

We are certainly NOT a morning family… everyone was cranky and worn out today… Ken took a nap (his doctor says he must if he feels the need just to ensure he gets the rest when he needs it and not mess with his meds) and I TRIED to… interrupted by an annoying doorbell and non issue at the door… Echo is warm and fussy, Gavin warm… oh the trauma of the beginnings of colds in the house! 

So with all the grumpy kids, off starts to the day and upheaval it has NOT been the most productive 2 days… but we have continued on. I think that by the end of the week we will be further schooled regarding space and of course have our poster done and on the wall. Things are still tough here as they have been the past 3 years BUT I am starting to see the positives MUCH more clearly now. January may not have been the smooth and dreamy month I was hoping for, BUT it is ending better than it started and we intend to continue the trend! Faith without action is nothing remember! 

It gives me such a giggle that Echo is the right size for a play sippy cup to seem proportional