Tag Archive | Amazon

Happy 8th Birthday Miss Echo

Hard to believe she is 8 already! August 13 th marked our Echo turning 8. We had to split up her birthday celebration to include Aunty Karyn who drove down from Canada for her visit the week before.

Saying goodbye on the 11th

Saying goodbye on the 11th

So on the Friday (a day before Karyn had to drive back) we had an Echo day. We took her to the Como zoo (a zoo run on donations only) and she got a $30.00 limit in the main gift shop.20180810_102654

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Butterfly!

Butterfly!

She HUGELY lucked out. They were having a sale on a series of large stuffed animals that had her buying 2 for pretty much exactly $30.00. After much agonizing we purchased a red panda (my favourite animal) and an elephant. Talk about a happy little girl!

With her new Stitch teddy from Aunty Karyn

With her new Stitch teddy from Aunty Karyn

After the zoo we had to drive back home and clean up for Echo’s first dance recital at the YMCA! There was 2 recitals planned due to summer scheduling conflicts with parents. For this recital not only was  Aunty Karyn and Trinity there with Mom and Dad but she was the only one in her class that made it!

Dancing solo with Miss Grace

Dancing solo with Miss Grace

 

She did an amazing job dancing with her teacher Grace, and looked absolutely adorable in her little pink outfit. We were so proud.20180810_171809

After recital it was home for a cupcake cake! Since she is currently obsessed with Stitch I went on Amazon and found some little Lilo and Stitch statues to put on top of the cake. Success!20180810_173547_HDR

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Monday marked her actual birth date so we had presents from us and Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie. I went all out with the Stitch stuff and Aunty Holly totally hit the mark with her Lego set.20180813_150029

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Thank you Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie!

Thank you Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie!

We also spent time at our favourite park.IMG_20180813_154447_908

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A day or two later Echo got a parcel from Gammie. A brand new instant camera with film. Included was a lovely card from Aunty Heather and Hudson.20180813_145126

Add in birthday phone calls from Grandma and Nana and Baba and dinner out solo at McDonalds.20180813_171835

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The topper on the day was swimming with Daddy while Mom worked out in her class upstairs.

Echo told me it was the best birthday ever. High praise indeed! Happy Birthday Echo!!!20180810_083543

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Kitty school

Kitty school

This entry was posted on 09/09/2018, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Happy Halloween 2017

Well October rushed by and it was Halloween in what felt like was the blink of an eye. This was not the year for the new handmade costume for the family. Rather a couple repeats, and some purchased pieces worked out to a rather nice looking group.IMG_20171031_215034_744

Echo was enamored with the movie My Neighbour Totoro, and since we could not find a chinchilla costume (her first choice), Totoro was a VERY close second. I ordered this one off Amazon. Ken whipped up an acorn bag and for the photos I lent her one of my handmade Totoros.IMG_20171031_220718_155

Trinity chose to be a princess this year. Again a dress off Amazon, and after 2 attempts, a tiara to match.IMG_20171031_220755_177

Emanuel is still a Minecraft fanatic. This year we went with an Enderman. Black sweats, black sweater and a mask/box I bought off Amazon.IMG_20171031_220830_455

The twins went for a repeat of wizards. Ken had made the capes and staffs and the hats were crocheted by me.IMG_20171031_220909_803

This is our second year trick or treating with our homeschool friends. Echo was over the moon to run the neighbourhood with Nate.20171031_181326

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Nate the Power Ranger

Nate the Power Ranger

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They didn’t do half bad on candy, which I sorted and bagged up. We will be eating these with some restraint. Stomach aches are not worth the gorging.20171031_203332

Of course Neko-chan had to get in on the fun. Though when we tried to actually WEAR her costume she balked and attempted to eat it. But still – adorable. I bought a dog costume hat, it worked!IMG_20171027_203930_229

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I had less of a costume and more of a comfortable slightly on theme outfit. (not the highly indulgent Irish sweater… I plan to live in it)20171031_141133

Of course the girls had to do a little photo session with last year’s mini witch’s hats… I love that Echo wore skeleton jammies under her Totoro costume.20171031_114157

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That week we did some fun Halloween themed crafts as well.

It was supposed to be thumbprints but with kids who hate getting hands dirty we used the eraser end of pencils.

It was supposed to be thumbprints but with kids who hate getting hands dirty we used the eraser end of pencils.

pastels

pastels

Meet Jerry

Meet Jerry

We also had a lovely special lunch on Halloween. We did good!20171031_115613

This entry was posted on 02/11/2017, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Week 3 of Honest Photo Month

Welcome to week 3 of this lovely experiment. I hope it has been enjoyable to watch.

Day 15IMG_20170915_183456_147

Remember day 4 and the day glow look? Well all that hard work is visual for me every Friday night. I do R.I.P.P.E.D. class and then it is date night. It took 13 years before we could afford and coordinate a weekly date. This has been amazing for our marriage and been fun to go from sweaty to this…

Photo credit to Ken.

BONUS PICTURESIMG_20170915_183456_149

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Day 16IMG_20170916_200508_124

My family is far from us and Ken’s immediate are in Florida but we have created a family besides. One of our favourite things to do is to take our god son out for dinner. Today his parents and youngest sibling joined us. We are blessed to have so much love around us.

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God Son!

Day 17IMG_20170917_165154_873

I am sure there is some deep metaphor about my life in this one… but really this is just how progress looks in our house. We have been planning shelving for months. Today Ken and the kids took the plunge and while I napped they stripped out our mismatched shelves and Ken got busy. Reorganizing books is educational right? Cuz guess what we are doing tomorrow! Bam! 5 kids, 5 somewhat willing workers.

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Zander says we have too many books it is like a library… LIKE??? I may be a wee bit offended.

Day 18IMG_20170918_162909_320

It may have been overly ambitious, my idea of 5 sets of semi willing hands… but here is my Monday. Surrounded by literature, dust, school items, and whiny children.

Echo had the audacity to suggest we have too many books!!! I call alien abduction cuz… no such thing!

Photo credit to Ken who bravely worked from home today. And only came up to periodically laugh at me.

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And honestly… many days of my life are honestly boring… or at least the re telling of it is. And then cutest lunch bag I splashed out $12.00 on appears and becomes the newest yarn project bag cuz TOTORO!!!! So… I admit it… love anime… love yarn… love a deal… love you all!

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I may have bought Echo a “gift” of a small size rake so that she could “play” with the leaves… in a fashion that ends with cranky 13 year olds filling leaf bags… maybe…

Day 20IMG_20170920_182649_011

The honest truth is I am trying to instill healthy patterns in all my children. So when the little kids have choir and confirmation isn’t on yet I drag the twins to the YMCA.

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And this is what they were really doing… trotting along while they game against each other… so we both win? Or did I lose?

Day 21IMG_20170921_174017_379

Sometimes we just… sit. With the weather yo-yoing cold and hot we are really not hugely motivated. But story time is always welcome!

And there you have it, my messy life… Check out weeks ONE and TWO.

This entry was posted on 21/09/2017, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments