I seem to be reversed in my schedule right now, another night up until past 3 am unable to sleep only to SLEEP IN… Ok so it has not even been 2 weeks but I still feel the urge to get things done only to find I don’t have the energy to follow through. But I did manage to call back Public Health for our 2 week check in, schedule Echo’s 2 month immunizations (not until beginning of November due to October being busy season) and check in with the government to find out I can’t deal with renewing my hold on payments on my student loans until the 1st of September. So something has been accomplished.

Last night Ken and the kids spent much of their evening prettying up our backyard. So today the twins continue the job with bad apple collection and then we refill our pool for one last summer bash. I figure fun in the pool, picnic at the little table and maybe some sprinkler action will make up for my lack of energy. After all the weather is nice for it!

Note the clean cut Kenny cutting grass cleanly

I have managed to get started on my personal project. I don’t have any of the pictures yet but I do have an idea of what I want printed and am able to put the pages together with that in mind. It is fun to do a project from start to finish in one go! Though I am not sure how quickly the pages are going to get done I have to have them done before Karyn gets back so they all have the same look and feel using the Cricut and other methods. The first page I did was based entirely on the new paper pack and came out rather cute I think.

Just waiting on the picture

We went out to the legislature today after our weekly produce run. I am so glad we managed it, though wish we could have gone more often this year! The plan is that if the weather holds for another week we can make another trip out. Parking in the evening is free and the kids had an absolute blast in the fountains. Echo slept through it all but got a little sunlight and some smiles from strangers.

In front of the fountain

Cuties

Tomorrow I am hoping to get in a bit of baking. We have cherries in the fridge and I am thinking cherry muffins may be a nice treat for the family. If they work out I will have to post the recipe. I have been working hard on applesauce and am hoping to find some new recipes for treats for the family. Maybe do up some more apple leather… But first I need to get my sleeping schedule back on track… hopefully!

Sweet pea

I think out of the entire family it is ME whose sleep schedule is out of  whack! Last night I could not fall asleep until past 3am… and was not up until noon… luckily I had things left out for the kids so Ken could manage without me and Echo. In fact the kids were very excited about this one – making bracelets! And Ken of course remembered to take pictures!

Busy Beaders (Gavin green)

Trinity is still very off her schedule and sleeping in in the mornings. So we are slowly working her back to up by 8/9 to nap by 11. The weather has become favourable so I sent the twins out during nap time to collect the “bad apples” off the tree closest to the house. It is sad as it produces TONS but we can’t find any use for them and if they are left they rot so quickly. It has been 3 days+ since they have done this chore so today there was more whining than usual. BUT the good tree has been producing too and I now have BAGS of apples waiting for the slow cooker and applesauce. Definitely one of my summer goals – to refill our freezer with applesauce to hold us  through winter. I am definitely going to miss the tree and the raspberries when we move in the spring.

Apple collecting (Gavin red)

Last night I finished ALL my thank you cards for post baby gifts… now to fill them out and get envelopes ready. But it felt good to finish it all in one go. One less thing on the list and now I can start thinking about the BAPTISM invites. Although we are thinking of having that around early October. My mom is in the middle of making the baptism gown so there is no rush – and Karyn is gone to Scotland until the 10th of September (lucky girl!).

I am actually feeling rather good about Echo’s stocking. I have managed to get a lot of the bits and pieces completed that do not include metallic threads and am hoping to see at least one of the figures done by the weekend. This is my 5th time stitching this particular pattern (and last). Once I get ahead on my projects and wish list I am going to start a stocking for Ken – just not THIS pattern!

Stocking to date

Of course heading out to get thread was the perfect chance to attempt a picture of ALL 5 kids in front of our “picture taking tree.” It is hard to get them all to behave but in my mind a picture with all of them in it smiling or not is a win.

All 5 together (Zander purple)

We are still waiting on our time for Friday’s 2 week appointment. It is hard to get in to see a paediatrician here in the city. Well at least ones we are ok with seeing. The doctor who saw Echo at the hospital was rude and the other doctor who was on call before that was the one that we absolutely HATED when dealing with him and Trinity. He refused to listen and acknowledge that breastfeeding was a good idea or that we had more than just the one child. It is hard to believe we are creeping up on 2 weeks with this sweet little baby in our lives, the time has just flown by.

Sleepy

I have also heard back from my commission that she received her piece and was happy with it! This is not one I will have up for sale or free download but I am definitely proud of it!! We based it on the two badges that they used for the missions and went from there.

NASA commission

We played around with some photo taking tonight… not too much as Echo was resistant to more than a couple poses. I think we have to wait until very late in the evening when she is REALLY relaxed to do our last few ideas for the newborn photos. I am still not sure what I will use as our announcement/wall photo for her…

One of the poses

Life is feeling rather close to home right now. Our days are filled with excited kids who are slowly coming back down from all the crazy that has gone on, and our brand new baby… Ken doing what he can when he can and myself just getting back the energy I had before I got pregnant. It feels… fulfilling!

Busy on his bike

I have come to the realization that no matter what we do the Reinsch-Johnson family does it with the spirit of adventure and chaos… yesterday we started our morning early with Ken continuing his immigration correction… form, faxing, talking… TIME CONSUMING… in the meantime I finished my weekend packing, tidied, kept the kids from killing each other and did the normal Lisa thing – worried (which I can guarantee I will continue doing for the rest of the weekend until the above issue is resolved and life can return to as close to normal as we EVER see). Waiting for Daddy is never a RELAXING thing to do in our home… so lots of arguing and complaining and of course questions which led to – TIME OUTS… but we managed.

Waiting for Daddy

Of course the drive to Grandma’s was “too long” as usual… how quickly they forget the OVER 24 HOUR drive to Nana and Baba’s. But they definitely know the way to her house, even from our city to hers there are landmarks they look for and Trinity recognizes her house as soon as she sees it. Mom wasn’t home when we got there – out at the cabin putting down tile, so we sorted ourselves out… had a snack and then sent the kids off to nap and quiet time. (Grandma has tvs in ALL the bedrooms so quiet time was spent watching Treehouse) This opened me up to a couple hour, much needed nap.

Add to the excitement of Grandma’s house with Chris and Chris stopping by for a visit with He Chris’s new helicopter! All the boys took a go at “catching” it, as well as assisting in the flying. Emanuel AND Gavin managed to get it to bump into their heads but no one really minded. They enjoyed it at least as much as they have the remote control car Ken bought over a year ago (we really need to dig that back out of storage and let the kids play with it some more when the weather cools as they drive it down in the basement instead of outside).

Catching the helicopter (Gavin red)

Trinity was so excited following her brothers around and up and down the stairs… until she had  a tumble down the last few into the basement. Thank goodness not teeth first and only ended up with bruising at her temple and side of face. I took pictures after the fact… she was a brave little soul, cried a bit and then calmed down and wanted to sit and eat carrots (using both sides of her mouth to munch thank goodness).

Poor little face

We brought bits and pieces out of our fridge and freezer with us (what better chance to do a bit of a clean out? and give mom some frozen fruit for her ice cream machine) so mom and I cobbled together dinner out of what was there – rather eclectic – chicken nuggets, some Chinese dumplings (thanks to Ada), carrots and cucumber sliced, corn on the cob, mushrooms and onions and juice. Definitely a kid pleaser.

Supper at the table (Zander green)

Taking full advantage of Grandma being a captive audience Chris and Chris asked her to watch the 4 miscreants while they took Ken and myself out to the local Irish pub for dinner! Talk about feeling spoiled! It is rare that friends are around and BOTH Ken and myself can head out for a bit. Usually said friends are out sitters so WE can run out to do necessary and difficult errands. I don’t have pictures of our food but I do of the newly engaged couple! Note the muscles (which I am told were yummy) and the plate of lemon dry ribs (hiding by He Chris) which we also tried that were absolutely AMAZING.

The engaged couple!

We got back in time to say goodnight to our freshly bathed children and catch a snuggle with Trinity who agreed with me that she DID fall down the stairs but that she WAS ok… I am loving her ability to talk, chatter in fact. Now if we could just get her to say GRANDMA as clearly as she says MIKE or BUG or DADDY.

All this adventure and chaos has of course NOT diminished my capacity to worry about Monday and the fax that needs to get to the government office to continue the process of fixing the immigration issue and moving our family back to normal. I am VERY blessed to have my mom a mere hour away and so many wonderful friends to support us. I am adamant that September is going to be OUR month. After over a year of frustration and then this summer being so…. unpredictable and up and down, I would absolutely love some time to just enjoy my family without concerns that feel MASSIVE and URGENT.

Saturday morning started early with a triple batch of cinnamon applesauce pancakes… then tidying up and getting the adults bathed and dressed to head out to the much requested CABIN. The drive there is not overly long from mom’s but Miss T fell asleep anyway.

Napping with dolly

We spent time there helping tidy, move furniture and oohing and awing over the new tiles in what is to be the room where the kids will have their toys and place to sleep.

Finished tiling

In the new dog run

And what visit to the cabin would be complete without a trip to the lake? Swim shoes are a must at this one since it is a pebble beach and not the nicest water but the kids kept busy throwing in stones, dragging around rocks and watching the dog… fall in the water! Poor Harley misjudged an edge on one of the jetties and fell right in! Not a dog big on swimming she was adamant she was NOT going to get to dry land that way and tugged herself back up onto the wooden jetty.

A determined Harley

Enjoying the beach (Zander left)

Mommy and Trinity

Driving back with 4 rather tired, hungry and CRANKY kids it was not a surprise that Trinity again fell asleep. This time clutching the shoes she had NOT wanted to wear originally (which we fought with her up until she hit the ground and saw a little playpark).

Asleep on the way home (note the monkey shoe in hands)

The park that made the shoes "okay" (Zander)

Back to Grandma’s for a light lunch and then quiet/nap time. And the day is BARELY half over! Whew, and this is me taking it easy? Baby be patient PLEASE.

After naps and outside play we did a bit of schoolwork – well Emanuel did some of his workbook while the other two coloured colouring pages I had made using the Crayola site and some of our pictures. I had the presence of mind to take the calendar we started this month off the wall before heading over here and bringing our stickers so we worked our way up to today figuring out what the date is. Good number practice though we are still working on the idea of 3rd, 6th, etc.

Colouring and learning (Gavin blue)

Supper, baths and bed and the day is over… now to fill my evening with some sewing (personal project), resting and hopefully positive thinking…

38 weeks!