Well Well Well… December… Christmas, New Years, hilariously enough writing this at the end of Karyn’s visit when she ALSO visited here in December last year. TIMELY…. And then I got even further behind when summer kicked my bum… so NOW I will get December up and hang my head in shame.

Of course there are the basic first to think of memories… Christmas, including Christmas pageant at the church…

Trinity as Mary

Gavin the shepherd

Echo the sheep

My 2 Kings

New Years (at home and quiet with Karyn)… Visiting Santa… fun in the snow… homeschooling, of course… but beyond that I really did have to go to the images. Funny how some months you are like YAH I remember that, and others I really do need visual cues to trigger memories.

At Santa

Skype calls with family…

We did not have nearly as much snow as the year previous to the kids’ great disgust. But every time there was any sort of snowfall they were out there mucking around in it. Thank goodness Echo is finally able to maneuver ALONE and UNASSISTED out there.

Now let’s see… we had a SECOND Santa visit at our local YMCA. We love it there (even more so after this summer where we basically spent most of our weekday mornings there). It was great fun to take a pictures as a family this time.

We also went with the Schwartz family down the road to a neigbourhood that enters (and it seems WINS) the Christmas decoration competition every year. This year there was one house where you could walk around back in the their yard and get close up to the display you could only see from the road otherwise. 

We had Christmas with the Schwartz family of course (yearly tradition!).

Not the best picture but it was great fun.

Trinity and I made a Trinity doll for Aunty Karyn to take home, she matched from the top of her head to the tip of her shoes. Not bad? My pattern was an amalgamation of Princess patterns by Kristen’s Kords.

We made pirogi with Nana and Baba. 

Went out for Indian food while Karyn was here.

Shopped at Mall of America (because we girls are gluttons for punishment).

Open presents…

Ate giant Reese peanut butter cups.

We snuck in some learning too… a few workbook completions and reading and the larger unit I linked to the resources for above.

And of course take a surplus of pictures! Enjoy my flash WAAAAAYY back!

6 years old… where has the time gone? My wee bionic baby is now 6 years old!! (for more on the journey that was her heart surgery go HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE) Since she is now a self proclaimed BIG GIRL she was in charge of planning out her wish list for things to do.

First of all, Wednesday before she joined us for shopping at Sam’s Club so she could pick out her very own birthday outfit. She settled on an adorable dress that cost me less than 6.00! Score! Then on Friday we went all the way to Target so she could pick out her own cake, candles, and icing for Daddy to write on the cake with… Pokemon, pink and white and pink.

Sign by Trinity

Her requests were pretty simple… but first she had to FaceTime with Nana and Baba and open her present from them and THEN talk to Grandma on the phone.

Next was the all important task of going to Toys’r’us to get the one thing Echo has been asking for for almost a whole year – her very own 18 inch doll. With 12 options it was a VERY serious decision!

After that was accomplished it was off to McDonald’s. Specifically one with a PLAY AREA. Ken and I had forgotten how loud those places are! She was so pleased. (we made sure to pack socks)

THEN it was off to the pool… which turned out to be closed for filtration issues… so we brainstormed with our homeschool buddies who were joining us and headed over to our favourite beach for presents, playing and general fun stuff.

Our  evening was topped off with a visit from our friend Anthony, Chinese for dinner… CAKE of course…

And a most awesome costume gift!

Batman Girl with BATTLE SWORD

Playing VIDEO GAMES

I think we did good. She snuck into our closet at bedtime with her sword and her doll under the very blanket she was given post surgery. Happy Birthday little darling!

November isn’t nearly so busy up in Canada… this American Thanksgiving thing takes getting used to and we have not gotten there yet. I am not a Black Friday shopping person… that is WAY too close to Christmas for my comfort. BUT we do try to cover something about it each year in our homeschool curriculum.

What is funny is that when I do these blog entries looking back at these months long gone I try to think about the month before I look at the pictures on the camera and our phone… November… well beyond Thanksgiving… well I drew a total blank… November, fall, I am pretty sure Nana and Baba took a trip… maybe… crochet, I know I did a lot of that (but when don’t I?)… we had to have homeschooled… crafted some I am sure… but concrete things… well darn you November, you just didn’t stick on the brain!

These flew off to Canada for a group of little girls to enjoy.

Oh wait! Remembrance Day… I mean Veteran’s Day… Though I wear my poppy and called it the former… don’t forget that. We did a mini unit on it that month. I do love the In Flander’s Fields poem (and not just because a Canadian wrote it).

Let’s see… we played in the snow… at the end of the month.

We did Home Depot.

We were thankful with our gratitude turkey feathers.

Echo got her inner artist going.

Trinity and Emanuel helped me make handmade Christmas cards.

We managed to make it to a craft at the Lakeshore educational store. 

We started our Christmas decorating with a mini tree in the basement. 

And put the large one up in the dining area for a lovely Christmas glow.

We made a trip to the Lego store at Mall of America. The kids love playing with the blocks they have out for use. 

Of course we set up our advent calendars. Echo got her very own paper chain countdown that she helped me put together.

We had company over. Cousin Robbie one night, the Schwartz family another.

We made a visit over to Robbie’s house too where Aunty Judy introduced us to their turtle.

And had a homeschool field trip to a newspaper for the twins! 

Of course we did some shopping and with decorations at Walmart and cute little ones at Sam’s.. I took pictures. I think all in all we did good last November!!