August 18-24

The girls are over the moon with their mini fashion shows. We are so spoiled that Gammie can and does send us so many outfits.

In celebration of Jeff being here AND he and Daddy being busy in the sub basement we had an outside lunch on the front stoop.

Right after that I realized that We had missed a rather special LARGE present that had been mailed previously from Texas. I think she got the most excited opening this one. The way it was rigged up the large caterpillar sort of popped out for her. Instant favourite.

That evening we had special plans. Jeff headed out with Chris for beers and visiting and the rest of us were off to Aunty Judy and Uncle Jim’s for a special family celebration of Echo’s 4th birthday complete with a cake made especially for her by Uncle Jim! He works for the Pilsbury company and makes an AMAZING cake!

I really can’t think of a place the kids get more excited about visiting than “Robbie’s House” and he wasn’t even there that visit!

In the morning the kids pitched in and worked on Echo’s birthday present from Jim and Judy – a Barbie lego set! With a little blue pool.

We continued our learning… mostly shark related…

And then we paid each of the kids and extra dollar of allowance to spend the week pulling weeds! What an efficient crew we had out there from the biggest to the smallest.

And the guys continued their gaming… interspersed with cleaning out of the sub basement. This all went SUPER well until they were at the tail end and found… a leak. Sigh. I am so proud of Ken for jumping in an working so hard to create space and organization in our world. This new and improved healthy Kenny is AMAZING.

We had company on Wednesday, well additional company. Robbie and Alicia came over for dinner and gaming. The kids are in love with these two, rightfully so. And it is doubly amazing that they can enjoy boardgames with us.

I found a spare moment and finished up a special wallet for my Renaissance Festival outfit. It will loop around my handle so that I won’t lose my ID etc. I love it, I altered a basic billfold style wallet pattern to fit what I needed and there you go – no lost nothings when I go out this year!

There was time for playing outside AND checking out the garden with our guests.

All this while Ken and Jeff made us dinner – Curry and a yummy sort of pudding pie. SPOILED US!!!

On the 21st you can check back and see our Treasure Box we got in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Mike HERE. We evened that day out with Munchkin (game) and time outside.

All the weed pulling led us to tweezers and patience as we removed burrs that attacked everyone pretty equally.

The kids have been loving another adult in the house. Especially one that knows all about Canada. Eases the homesickness a little, just like Grandma’s Canadian Treasure Box.

What a week!!!

Really… can we keep Jeff forever? Because Ken has been so positive and the kids and I have enjoyed the company so much! We had all of Saturday and half of Sunday to enjoy with him and some lovely weather.

But then it was time to say good bye! Definitely a hard one… I don’t think anyone who visits us down here really realizes how much their visits and packages mean to us. A taste, touch, sound of home… thank you so much everyone for remembering us!

July 20

How do you spend the first day of a new life in the states? Well, it seems that there is time for some shopping (TARGET!!!) as well as some fun with the kids. Gotta start the day off with a good solid breakfast cooked by Baba… which means yours  truly got poached eggs on toast cooked to perfection!!!!

Cousins together for breakfast

And then the task of getting all 7 kids dressed and motivated for a day of play around the house. After all that driving we figured AT HOME was where the kids would most want to be. So, time for a tea party with REAL tea in the sun room!!!

High Tea

Echo did her own exploring, checking out what doors she COULD open… things she could get into… this is her first time EVER being here. The last time we were in Minnesota was 3 years ago when Trinity was only 1!

Stretching for the doors

The kids busy about the house it was the perfect opportunity for us to sneak out just Ken and myself for two purposes – one my first trip to Target (yay!) and the other, to see about replacing some of our now sold/given away/stored toys… GARAGE SALE! I lucked out on both sides… for the garage sale – a couple Hello Kitty clothing articles for Trinity and some barbies, a baby doll and something called squinkies. A great start and well under 20.00 spent.

A few Barbies etc for Miss T. Though I do need to get her a toy box.

And what Trinity considers the find of a lifetime right now – a purple Hello Kitty dress!

It twirls beautifully!

Target was another success with a relatively fresh soft pretzel and soda to boot (Coke though, grrr this place is VERY Coke heavy…). So why the soda and treat? Well it was quite the wait while we sorted out our CELL PHONE!! YAY!! We are connected. Though only for texting internationally… no calls so I have not been hunting people down to give it out that we normally do not text. My inlaw’s homeline is our main line for calls… so if you need that please send me a message.

Target!!!!

Wish such great successes and a bit of permanency under our belt that was it for the day… well until Cory got here for a visit. He is Gavin’s godfather and a dear friend of Ken’s. He hung out until after the kids finished their movie (How to Train Your Dragon) and caught up as well as reminded Ken of his new weekly event – gaming at Cory’s house every Wednesday evening. Life is surely moving on!!

Movie time

With Cory

The settling in process is going to take a little time but I think we are up to the challenge. We have to slowly start back into our homeschooling, thankfully I was able to bring our review workbooks and of course Farmer Boy… I anticipate complaints but it will all work out eventually!

YOGURT!!!