Boy has the weather gone downhill here. Cold, blustery and all together blah. I know that that certainly affects my mood and the kids’ as well. So it was a good day to just play around… I had some laminated games, colouring pages and cleared space for toys to be out. Not the most productive day but we worked on learning new things and cementing old and ATTEMPTING cooperation and sharing… mixed results but we keep on working on it. 

We did make time for a dance party in Trinity’s room. Sadly we couldn’t get the iTouch to work on the upstairs laptop as the library of music is already on the downstairs so we used the Leapfrog toy set on the music setting to boogie down. Even Echo got in on the movement. 

Dance party!

The twins worked on their site words with this nifty printable I got from the Moffatgirlssite. I did the pages half page to shrink the size of the circles and save on paper. The boys used their dry erase markers and tried to read what they could on their own. I then had them write out a list of those words and next time we will see if they can do more. 

Sight word practice

The little ones played with their Pumpkin Graphing pages and the dice. These can be found on this site. They played their own rules but were working on making graphs rolling the dice and using the dry erase markers. So much fun!

I took my times of silence and near calm to do up some scrapbooking pages. I am hoping to get through the pile of pictures I printed out months ago finally… use up the paper I have and do my best to be creative with what bits and bobs we have around the house.

Trinity's 3rd Birthday party for Echo

Valentine's Day 2011

Echo on the toy riding car

Echo and our Canada Floor Puzzle

I took another moment alone when the 3 little ones had their afternoon nap and photographed the two newest owls… hanging out with Fat Sheep. She has been rather quiet on blog and Twitter but you can check her out using the link on the side bar.

Fat Sheep and Owls

With our own celebrity

There was a reminder of how many lovely people there are in our lives though in the post of all places (I know I know – the bulk of all mail is NOT happy mail but today I have been blessed with ANOTHER package!). This was a lovely package from a lady who inspires me to be a better homeschooler. What you can’t see is the tea and coffee she sent since she couldn’t send slurpees. My mind is already spinning with ideas for the little shirt and pants set she sent for Echo… maybe some bows at the ankles… but what to do with the front of the shirt???

Thank you!!

The special treat for the day was time with Daddy (TWO sessions!) working on their traditional foam kit Halloween decoration… this year – a “spooky” Haunted House. Even Echo tried to get in on the fun.

Morning start on the house

With Echo helping

Proud completion

Which meant the day was over! What with the playing (cars were brought out and messes made and then cleaned up), the dry erase marker fun, the games with Mommy (Gavin and I played the gobble up game again)… we managed to have a rather good day. AND finish putting together the Stuart Little books!

4 completed books

I am still not sure how tomorrow will play out. We are down to the wire on the Canadian Tire getting us in to repair in time… which tears at my heart. But I would rather be stuck here and safe then on our way an hour and a half out and end up stranded in the fall weather with all 5 kids!  So fingers crossed! Ken IS a miracle worker!  

Flower baby with cookie in hand

Happy Happy Birthday… #32! Yesterday was a terrific day. We started it with sunshine and warmth which had me taking 4 of the kids out to play bubbles while Echo had her morning nap. Ken came home with the big bottle of bubble soap from the old place on Thursday. We have one of those Gazillion bubbles machines (without the applicator bottle, never did find that)… though Trinity was rather sure that they were taking HER bubbles. We sorted that out, brought out some bubble soap containers and then had Kathy show up with a couple more and the kids had a blast. Of course most of the containers ended up empty by the evening.

Bubbles in the backyard

Another bonus of the moving to this particular town… proximity with another favourite aunty – Kathy. She not only brought some bubbles but also a mini trampoline (we now have 2), a lovely pink body pillow, books and a bread box and more. Talk about excitement. Of course, they still remember that she brought them a giant pink bucket of Legos that live in the basement. (we do have an upstairs container and a downstairs as well)

BREAD BOX!!!

Book time with Aunty Kathy

Kathy, Echo and I went to the nearest mall to our house and had snacks and then went to Dollarama which happened to be one of the biggest ones I have ever been to. We picked up a shower curtain (duckies) only to find out at home that we don’t have a decent rod in the main bathroom. Something new to pick up. AND those burner tins to catch drips. A few other choice items made it home, but we examined a bunch of things I figure Kathy or myself would not have minded picking up.

Duckie shower curtain

Then in the evening Kristen and Fydo came over with a lovely handmade card (I do so love receiving things made by the giver). We had nachos for dinner and enjoyed a lively game of Settlers of Catan. Kathy won! Another bonus – boardgames, with a lovely couple AND a friend from college… BONUS.

My card

Slightly fuzzy image but TONS of fun

Another of my birthday requests fulfilled – an ice cream cake!! Total yum and leftovers for later!

Ken "helping" me with the cake

And then the present – I am REALLY excited about this one – IOU for Comic-con in 2012 AND babysitters guaranteed for the boys. And then to open today – one of my favourite chocolate bars, Cookies’n’Cream and a package of beef jerky. AND a card I have NOT gotten before (seriously he has bought me like 4 of the same Valentine’s Day cards over the years).

From Ken

I got a call from my dad last night down in South Carolina AND my mom up here. It was great to have a chance to talk to my dad, I had not heard from him since before my sister’s wedding. It looks like his plans have changed since we last talked and he will not be up until the fall. Which really doesn’t hurt us as we are homeschooling year round as well as staying rather close to home for the rest of the year. I always feel a boost after talking to my dad (I am such a shameless Daddy’s girl).

Since summer is really here (well at least we are TOLD it is) we are hoping to get the kids out more and more. the backyard is starting to shape up into a much more fun place and Kristen has alerted us to some smaller splash parks. I still want to head back and visit my mom so we can go to the splash park there (it is one of the best in the province).We just need Ken to stop needing to head back to the old place! I am REALLY hoping Monday is the end of those trips. (and VERY uneventful) Now if the rain would just stop for a FULL day! PLEASE?

Working on the playset

The more we have people over, do everyday things, put more of our personal possessions out and simply LIVE in this house the more I feel like we are home. I really need to find my picture nails. There was one nail already existing in the stairwell that the owners had simply painted over so I hung up one of my wedding series.

First wall hanging!

Ken moved the last of the stuff from upstairs down to the basement. So much more room in our dining/kitchen area now. All this just in time for a belated birthday visit from Esther resplendent in her new hairdo. Then soon after she got here Karyn gchatted us from New Orleans. We got to see some of the books she has acquired (including a SIGNED Terry Pratchett!) and catch up on her adventures (eating alligator!) and share our own (rain rain and hail… oh and more rain).

Chatting with Karyn

The kids took full advantage of a captive Aunty Esther and had her playing games and puzzles well past bedtime. Talk about convenient, she can come up later in the day and leave by midnight and still get sleep. An hour away only! (Bonus!!) The kids were even more excited when we explained that now that Aunty Esther has also moved to a better place she should be able to take one or two of them for an overnight visit as well.

Playing with the kids

So the past two days have been rather marvellous. Lots of company, yummy food and other positive experiences. Tomorrow we are planning to make a trip to Michaels (there is only one here) and start the hunt for a Canada themed shirt for Echo for Canada Day. This will be Echo’s first after all.

Sippy time

Today marks Zander’s 3 months in glasses and for the first time in a long time – no dilation. The wait was looong… too long according to Zander but there were a few in office emergencies I guess. The doctor is very happy with his progress and will have him back in in January 2012 for dilation. We are still looking at 5-7 years of glasses but with how much Zander loves his glasses that is not a problem. There is the occassional picture where I will see he has one eye slipping and he still does attempt to cheat and look OVER the glasses but we are seeing progress. (And for those less in the know with the twins the glasses HAVE made it MUCH easier to tell them apart… from the FRONT and SIDE… the back you are still on your own.)

Hanging with the big boys

This left me with the other 4 kids for the morning. We took advantage of our potential one on one time with Gavin and we went right to work on his math book… I think we did around 6-8 pages all the way up to dealing with symmetry and further pattern recognition. Then we started a new phonics book to try and reinforce his reading. The new plan is to have the twins watch at least ONE episode of Word World a day to push the phonics understanding. I am finding confusion with some letter sounds – e and i specifically.

Gavin and his workbook

While we workbooked it out we also rocked it out with Adele… Trinity loves the song Rolling in the Deep. So the little ones boogied while we worked. Well, Trinity and Emanuel, Echo spent her time trying to steal Gavin’s book, eraser and pencil box.

Dancing!

After doing so many pages I was more than willing to agree to Gavin’s suggestion he take his siblings outside. Great timing as Echo was running down (she had a rather sleepless night last night) and needed to nurse and get a nap in. Apparently the red and black ball (aka sparkly ball) is a hot number but they managed to share and rotate the toys enough to get a good block of time spent outside.

Out in the sun

Zander and Ken got home in time to make lunch and sit Zander down (be it VERY unwillingly) to do some more of the dreaded subtraction. I am not sure WHY he has taken it in such dislike as when he puts his mind to it he is VERY good at it, but he has. I am determined to break through his stubborn streak and make it fun and interesting. He keeps complaining that Gavin is SO far ahead of him in the book and I keep explaining well if he would take advantage of the one on one time we have together we could get HIM that far ahead too. Funny how so often they don’t care what the other is doing but other times it is CRUCIAL it be the same.

This afternoon the mail brought a happy parcel. Something from a friend in Ontario! She sent us a book for making stuffed critters, some sewing free appliqués, and the cutest little pink backpack for Trinity. I love it when mail comes that is not asked for and is craft related.

Thank You!!

Gavin did his second last page for his story! He is so proud of the work he has put into these. I am searching for a new project like this… semi independent and stretched over a length of time. He does NOT want to make a book again right away and the only idea he could come up with was making Valentine’s Day cards… a little out of season and something I would have to store away when we move and hope it did not get misplaced for next February.

Newest page

We had a bit of rain this evening, first of the season. Since it didn’t look like it was going to pass permanently we decided to hold off on our walk until tomorrow before Ken meets up with the guys for their online gaming meet up. If the boys can listen and behave our plan is to go to the park after supper on Friday. Today I had to confiscate their Gameboy Advance due to sharing issues and then Zander having a meltdown. This is one of the main reasons we have basically kept the kids off of the computers and other electronic gaming items. I would much rather they went out to the backyard and ran wild and free in there.

So the summary for today – good day. While we don’t have our appointments for Echo yet we have a plan for tomorrow to follow up and chase them down, Zander got a good report on his eyes, I got FUN mail, Gavin almost finished his storybook and the kids spent a nice chunk of time outside in the backyard. I am trying to look at things in this way – ok there is stuff to do in regards to Echo but all the tests, and appointments don’t do much more than put a name (or not) on things… the doctor is pleased with her otherwise and said her low weight is NOT hurting her at all. If he is happy to have our next scheduled appointment be August and trusts us to make our testing and dietician as they are scheduled then we are certainly doing well. But then again, anyone who knows us knows that our kids are our life. I think that is true of most parents. At least the ones I know!

While working on Tweets for Fat Sheep I came across a quote I really liked it is as follows: Tension is who you think you should be.  Relaxation is who you are.  ~Chinese Proverb. Isn’t that true???

Our Miss Echo