Tag Archive | Best Buy

Culture and Children…

For all of our Easter resources please refer to the blog entry titled “Easter Resources“.

March 20-21

CAN mix! It just takes a few extra adults and some strict corralling of the family kittens!! But first… Wednesday..

Easter learning continues with books books and more books… I just love doing a minimum of a book a day… The more I read the more they seem to want to read. Today was Piggy Bunnyby Rachel Vail.

Piggy Bunny

In honour of it being the first day of spring we WANTED to go on a walk looking for signs, but it was rather cold and snowy so instead I drew out a ground and a basic tree with a snow bank and said – MAKE IT SPRING…. did they ever!

Group project

Spring!!!

When finished the Spring poster Emanuel took initiative and drew me his own spring landscape! What they can do with paper and markers makes this Mommy VERY proud!

Emanuel in Spring

We also filled some time with games and cooperative play! I am told that Dora version Candy Land can get positively cut throat!!!

Zander and Emanuel

To round out the creative vibe… clay creations! Note the Triceratops!!

By Emanuel

The twins’ snakes

We actually started our Thursday out in the afternoon. Ken worked into the night on Wednesday to clear up time for us to spend out getting a few errands done the next day. I had coupons… so free undies at Victoria’s Secret. We had to sit and watch the Carousel of course. Which happens to be right near the  ride. It is always fun to watch the horses go around. We even got adventurous and use up AND down escalators to get to the different levels of the mall! A first for Trinity for sure.

Watching the horses (Gavin left)

We had a run into JoAnn’s to grope the yarn… Echo really loves to touch it. And I stopped in Dollar Tree to get Nature Journals (can’t beat a dollar a piece). We are going to use them for nature walks as soon as  the snow melts. Get fit, get fresh air and get to know the nature around us!!

With a stop at a Best Buy to check for a wanted (and saved for) Skylander (no luck) it was time to head to the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. It was the third Thursday of the month so a busy day (oops) and they were opening a new exhibit (we didn’t make it there). So lots going on including a place that was cutting hair for free, a band (we all agreed TOO LOUD) and lots of people.

Yes, there was a harpist in one of the handicap stalls in a bathroom!

These pieces were from Ethiopia

We went with Shandai and Emily who are both quite well versed on the exhibits to see. Ken and I a figure we want to go on a NOT the 3rd Thursday (the only late night opening) and WITHOUT the kids to take in more of the art and less of the highlights. There was so much to see and enjoy though. I have to say, taking pictures without a flash as you should in an art museum without a tripod is trying. So not as sharp as our usual photos but you get the idea and we will go back tripod in hand! And maybe play with our camera settings a little??

Such a variety of pieces, there were even a few hands on tables with interpreters.

A moment with Aunt Shandai

I wish this picture had turned out better.. this was one of the period rooms and it was DARK!!!

…Me

ART

In the end Ken and the kids went to the family room, made friends and built things out off the toys they had there.

Building blocks

So much fun!

We have started our decorations for Easter with a pastel coloured paper chain… yes we do really love our paper chains in this family but it is such an affordable way to decorate AND work on patterns and colours and hand eye coordination.

Such pretty colours

We DID do some school work on Thursday – most notably was Gavin’s first foray into pastels thanks to Art for Kids. I love that now that his reading has improved he can navigate their archive and find the videos to watch and do on his own!

Shading

Though with our half day Friday is going to be busy with reading and drawing and all sorts of fun Easter themed stuff!!

Hard at work

This entry was posted on 23/03/2013, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Duct Tape!!!! Enough Said!

Life goes on and on in the Reinsch-Johnson house and lately at breakneck speed. I would say that is just how we like it, but I would rather have a nice and relaxing week just this once (which begs the question as to why we had 5 kids… not a calm set up at all!). But since that is not happening we are just going with it!

Popcorn baby has recruited siblings!

We started our morning with Stuart Little… apparently he has decided to run away from home and actually knows a dentist who can make model cars that turn invisible! I certainly don’t know the right people! The kids were rather credulous about how REAL something like that would be… 

Stuart and his begginings of a new adventure

I ducked away to have a bath once Echo was asleep and left the kids to finish up their art, work on cutting out some more stuff for their months lapbook and apparently making princess crowns for Trinity!!

One crown

And the other... note the wooden crafts they found when we tidied.

Can you tell I am getting as much use as I can out of the camera before I ship it off? We took a family picture (well kids) in front of our picture tree before we ran errands…

In the front yard

It turns out Best Buy in Canada does NOT ship out objects unless under their warranty so Ken has a few calls to make and if we can’t find a local company that DOES if you are under warranty we mail on Monday… At least the trip was not a total waste – we were at the same end of the city as ValueVillage and bought the items we need for costume creation, a pair of rubberboots (Gavin), new runners (Trinity – 1.99) AND a new bathingsuit for Emanuel (who is overjoyed as there are DINOSAURS on it!) all for 20.00. 

So proud of his new swimshorts!

I ran out to Michaels with Lauralee and Karyn and picked up some more supplies for schooling – not bad and they gave me the teacher discount!!! 

Crafting goodies!

I left the kids well foamed and busy crafting to go out with the ladies… they do love a good gluing, stickering, messy sort of craft!

Craft time

Today was overcast and cold, as seems to be our fall norm. So we scrapped our morning and had a tent! Handy sheet over the diningroom table and there is just enough room for all 5 kids to enjoy the experience. They took the flashlight that doubles as a lantern, some crayons and paper and hung out under the table for much of the morning. 

In the tent

We had some workbook time… the mini offices are coming in handy to give the big boys some space while the littles babble away at their own books and pages.

Now onto the main focus/excitement of the day – DUCK brand DUCT TAPE!! We took full advantage of what I bought yesterday (black and zebra patterned) and got to work. First off… bracelets! You can find the instructions we followed here. One for each of the kids, though the twins did the work.

Bracelets

And then Gavin took his time and made a basic flower that he in turn gave to his sister. Lots of fun, basically the same as the rose I made previous only on a straw and a lot less petals! (out of choice). You can find THOSE instructions here.

Finished flower

It is hard to find actual visual instructions but the kids decided they wanted to make a coin purse. So we followed a YouTube video and voila – working coin purses for their allowance!!!

I had to make the little ones theirs but the big boys did most everything themselves! 

Zander and his change purse

And then since no one would make one WITH me, I made my OWN bookmark and matching hairbow! You can find written instructions for the bookmark here. And of course the bow here.

Bookmark and hair bow

For fun and with Ken’s help I made myself a full out purse! If you want to give it a go hereare the instructions.  I love the zebra print, it was a GREAT choice! Trinity has a little coin purse out of it that I am ever so tempted to grab. 

PURSE!!

Now as much as I am sure there is more to talk about… I am on a roll here and need to dig out the hot glue gun for other projects. Probably NOT to get going on them BUT to have it ready for tomorrow… crafting is an AWESOME way to end a week!

Future crafter!

The Joy of Local Family

So I am pretty sure the weather did NOT get my memo – you know the one: “Stay at home mom staying home with SIX kids all amped up because one of those 6 is a not so often seen cousin… please send plenty of sunshine without heavy heat to allow for outside play.” Apparently what it REALLY meant to the weather was… RAIN oh and invite some brand new mosquitoes to join in on the fun… BAH.

Instead the morning was spent in a play-doh frenzy. I have been told that MOST of what they were making was off the game Minecraft but what I did notice was a lot mixing of colours of play-doh to see what happens which is just fine with me. Emanuel was especially proud of his bird with her eggs in a nest. 

Busy Play Doh artists

Not the best picture but there is a birdy with eggs in there

In the mail today I got a lovely package!! A very sweet lady who was in the hospital today having her 5th little girl sent our Echo some of her handmade hair barrettes. She figured that they would stay nicely in her hair… she was right! And the colours are so lovely. Below is a picture of all the bows – there were 4, AND below that her business card. I am going to link her on the side of this blog under her Facebook company title: Hairbows For Princesses. I am already enamored with her quality, wisdom in her colour choices (I just said Echo is our purple girl), the speed of shipping AND the simple fact that she is a lovely lady! Be sure to click the link and check her out… or contact her with the information on the below business card!!! 

Lovely lovely well made bows

Business card

The larger of the purple bows

There is not much to see on the stocking by the way of progress as I have been working on white bits on white aida cloth so far. BUT I am making progress… Tonight I plan on stitching some of the BLACK so at least there will be something instantly and immediately visible. 

After a lengthy quiet time in the rooms (sadly NO ONE napped)… it was back to go go go here… I found one of the neglected toy buckets with something called Trios in it and set the kids to work. Not to say that is was a harmonious play, because it really wasn’t! But they all seemed to have a pretty good time!

Jimmie and the Trios

Supper was a family favourite… for Ken and the kids anyway. They got to teach Jimmie how to make his very own pita pizza… and as a super special treat – the cheese on top was mozzarella! Usually we just use cheddar or marble but it was on sale! Apparently it went over well, though Jimmie wasn’t overly interested in trying the other family (except Trinity) favourite – baked beans.

Putting the ham on his pizza

Last minute change of plans and my dear, sweet Cousin Elizabeth came over to watch the 5 bigguns and let me, Karyn and Echo fly out on our own. This meant Ken could stay in the basement and work to meet his deadline and EVERYONE was happy. (sorry no pictures of the ensuing fun, but I am told Legos were involved as were Safety City things – where she works etc etc) She is moving to a new place this upcoming weekend and took a break in her packing to spend some time with the kids and get some baby cuddle time. This freed me and Karyn up to do some scouting out of ribbons for the August wedding (I found some white in the bargain box for 1.00 a skein… 2 skeins!). And lunch at the bigger mall… EDO JAPAN!

SUPPER

The amazing Cousin Elizabeth

Safe mess

Since we were there anyway Karyn convinced me to stop in at H&M where she caved and got Trinity a shirt (on sale of course)… and I got Echo part of her birthday present… BOTH on sale in the end and BOTH Hello Kitty themed!

The yellow is brighter than the picture

We both had pictures to pick up – Kodak Gallery of course… hers at Best Buy and mine at FutureShop. I really need to sit down and work on those scrapbooking pages now that I have so many pictures sitting here in the ready. Just not tonight. Tonight I have to go back to the bows and get done at least the cutting of ribbon lengths!

Tomorrow is another 6 child day, but not for the whole day. Jimmie is onto his next adventure – going to Grandma’s house for the rest of the week. I think she will be visiting for a while here as well. We started making Creepy Crawlers today to be finished tomorrow anyway… and there is of course, the need to tidy up post 6 kids adventure. There is so much to do to get ready for our next gathering – this weekend’s LAN party to thank the guys for helping us move! Yikes! OH and be sure to check out Petite Sheepette’s version of our hospital adventure on Fat Sheep’s site.

Echo and her smaller bow

This entry was posted on 26/07/2011, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments