I remember when I left for Minnesota various people up north worried that with distance they would miss out on the kids… I really hope these photos are helping… and that the rest of the world is not bored out of their minds by the extra entries…
Woah!!
With sheep
Sisters
Holding hands
Pretty bitty baby
Me and my girls
Z-O-M-G JUST me!
Stringing buttons
Building with sticks
Birthday buddies
Fun in the great outdoors
A girl and her dolly
Rainbow letters
What a weekend. We started it of on a great note… first off Ken went and got his hair cut (yay!!). And then was our cousin (maternal) bbq. We had all 3 of my cousins combined with Veronika’s fiancée Adam over. That meant 4 new people to tell all their adventures to. They drug Elizabeth off to the bedrooms for stories and play time.
Chatting in the livingroom... Veronika is in the back, Elizabeth on the couch and you can just see Katie's hair on the rocking chair.
Elizabeth in Emanuel's room
Dinner was a great success. We had beans (the ones I usually make), a Caesar salad thanks to Veronika, stuffed potatoes brought by Elizabeth, banana bread (made that morning) and then cake we didn’t make it to (Katie). The kids ate a ton and we still have left overs.
After dinner was make up time. Veronika is on another course and needs to do a certain number of faces before her test. She had time to do Elizabeth and Katie’s here at our house. Fun! By this time Echo had come to the realization that the cousins really aren’t that bad and was ready to cuddle.
Working on Elizabeth's make-up
Oldest and youngest cousins
We finished our gift for Uncle Wayne on Friday. Each of the kids made pictures to put together into a book. They wanted to give him something special for his birthday that was on Friday. They put effort into it each day this past week with the making of the cover on Friday.
A very simple cover
One of the inside drawings
I made Jimmie’s card this year. Just playing around with paper and stamps and embossing. I am actually starting to feel the crafting urge when it comes to paper craft.
Skinny elephant
Inside
I did have a minor hiccup with my birthday purchases – the sunglasses I picked up had BIFOCALS on them… so unfair. Winners has a 10 day return policy and I am very glad I kept my receipt and tags. Very frustrating.
I have decided, we need to have MORE family visits… it is absolutely amazing to have the ability to build a relationship with my cousins as adults. The age gap ranges from 12 years to 7 years between them and me so this is a whole new thing and a definite blessing.
The landlord came by Friday to spray the yard for weeds, so for 48 hours the grass is a no play zone. Luckily BEFORE that the twins and I went out and attempted to emulate a weed wacker. Ours is still not working. So the end result – we found 2 VERY active ant hills (not red) and the lawn looked much nicer. I couldn’t resist but take some pictures of our own sheep – Petite Sheepette and Bitsy Sheep with their Nanny Sheep. The boys thought it was beyond cute. AND I managed NOT to put them on the ant hills first try!
Out in the green
I snuck out for a walk Friday afternoon with JUST Echo in the single stroller with NO carseat! She is still a bit small to have the straps keep her perfectly in place but she had fun and got compliments. The netting is a great thing I got way back when the twins were born. And the slurpee was lovely and HUGE.
In the stroller like a big girl
"the Tub"
Our Saturday was pretty much epic… first off was getting the whole family ready AND out the door BEFORE 11 am to head over an hour out to my nephew Jimmie’s 6th birthday party. We were supposed to swing by Superstore to get the “prinpress shoes” our Trinity has been patiently asking after, but without the time AND a temper tantrum over the potty it just wasn’t a go. Neither was stopping at Winners to return the blasted sunglasses BUT we did get out earlier than expected. Of course there was at least 2 trips to get everything into the van that we could possibly need – everything from a playpen (in case of nap) to swim suits (in case of rain) and the stroller (which we actually used).
We managed to find my brother’s place without too much trouble and beat mom and Uncle Wayne there by a bit of time. We actually beat the birthday boy there too! He had swimming lessons and then they had to pick up the cake on the way home. So we got some time with just Aunty Holly and her mom up from Texas. They had Trinity’s belated birthday presents. A Hello Kitty dressed in leopard print and a sweet little Hello Kitty coin bank. She was over the moon!
Belated Birthday
Echo and Aunty Holly's Mom
There was bubbles, balls, rackets and even some sort of animal shaped grabbers. At first it wasn’t too hot but the heat came rather quickly. Sadly the shade was ant infested but we lucked out with the lack of mosquitoes… a clear indication that we were NOT in Edmonton. After all right now Edmonton is the mosquito capital of Canada!!!
Playing in the sun
We were out there over 4 hours in the sun with pizza, cake, watermelon and other goodies. The kids ran and ran and ran until the baby was more than done.
Enjoying the sun (note the OTHER Alaska shirt and the OLD sunglasses... they are missing a screw but do in a pinch)
Look at his awesome haircut!
We spent some time in their apartment before heading out. We got to pet one of their cats… not sure where the other was hiding. Echo was enthralled of course. She is a huge animal fan at this point. This gave me enough time to call up Veronika and ensure they were home.
Echo and Eris
I had to lend my face to her course work again. And during that visit the kids watched tv, played the new Xbox Connect, terrorized… I mean played with the pets (Combyne, Holli and Dinah the cat). Dinner was amazing – steaks cooked to perfection, steamed veggies and Caesar salad. Adam is amazing with the BBQ.
Playing Guess Who with Cousin Veronika
Hanging with Combyne
We all walked to the nearby 7-11 with the puppies… the boys took turns walking them. It was nice to get out for a walk in the now cooler evening. Veronika wanted to treat the kids to little slurpees for desert. They are super close to their 7-11, so are James and Holly! Lucky duckies.
Walking the dogs to 7-11
Veronika did MY make-up on Saturday for her schooling. I was already turning red from my burn but she did an AMAZING job. I am so looking forward to her doing our make up in August for the wedding. And can’t wait to brag about her to anyone and everyone to get her more business! Seriously, I love having her do my make up. And I am not a big wearer.
Natural look
It was well past 9pm when we finally got out the door to go home. The drive home was REALLY quiet with the kids nodding off before very long. With the amount of energy they used over Saturday we were NOT surprised. Actually I was amazed at how much energy they had at Cousin Veronika’s.
While today was a super quiet day (I even got in a nap which helped with the sunburn a little) this evening I got out for some girls time with pizza at Lauralee’s (homemade) with Karyn and Echo as well. We had pizza, played with the kitties (Xena and Gabrielle) and just generally hung out. What a great end to a busy weekend.
Echo and I think Gabrielle
OK one hitch in the weekend – well two combined… Ken accidentally locked the keys in the van while it was running before he and Trinity were able to head out to look at the “prinpress shoes” and then once the AMA guy came… and VERY quickly unlocked it were unable to find a pair of shoes at the store that fit. Her feet were too wide. So I am hoping the ones I saw at H&M previously COULD fit her feet better. Ken says she handled the idea of going to another store rather well… after all we have to head to the south end of the city to get my photos AND return my sunglasses… although on Wednesday we have to head back to the city to get to Echo’s cardiologist appointment. I am not sure if we will visit any parks there, the mosquitoes are rather bad. It will be a long morning at the hospital for the appointments anyway.
We had a VERY busy weekend, got in some quality play with their cousin… spent tons of quality time with MY cousins and have seen a lot of sun. I am not sure how much going out we will get this week upcoming. I am a little nervous about the appointments… they WILL be weighing Echo… and still rather burnt to a crisp BUT we have a story to finish, a bunch of cleaning to do and hopefully a chance to put ECHO in the girl pool. Either way this weekend will be a pleasant memory to bring up when the kids get stressed or frustrated. OH and Fat Sheep has done some blogging! Be sure to read all about it HERE!
Mom with ALL her grandkids
Uncle Wayne and his "greats"
James, Holly, Jimmie and Holly's mom
So it is that time again… Father’s Day. With the postal strike we were rather limited by what we could do for Ken but we managed… first off – he slept in (actually so did the twins and Echo!! nice!!) and was woken up to a pancake breakfast with a side of bananas and strawberries (frozen fruit for the win from last year).
Breakfast in the chaos
Then the kids gave him a card coloured by Trinity. And a belt buckle their Great Uncle Wayne found for them. He was suitably impressed.
Gift and card
The rest of the day was computer time, no diaper and no poopy potty trainers! All in all a rather relaxing day for our busy Daddy. Still overcast, sometimes rainy so no picnic for today BUT we had company! First Grandma and Grandpa Mike came by for a visit. They brought little critters – Canadian critters for each of the kids which were of a great source of excitement.
Echo's was the only one without a keychain type piece
Grandma stuck around for most of the afternoon to work on a puzzle with the twins which was great fun for them. They had not seen their Canadian grandparents in 2 weeks as they were on their holiday to Ontario.
Puzzles with the grandparents... which means the homeschool area table is now OFF LIMITS until the boys get tired of their puzzle... or finish it!
During that time Chris and Chris stopped by on their way home from Comic-Con bearing gifts!! Something rather spectacular for Trinity – a poster with ALL the signatures from the actors on the series The Guild. Trinity fell in love with their first music video – Do You Want To Date My Avatar when she was a tiny thing. Even now she enjoys the video. They personalized it for her and everything!
For Ken for Father’s Day – a gift from one of his favourite webcomics – Looking For Group. The statue is of one of the main characters – Richard, a favourite of both Ken AND (she) Chris.
With his bunny...
AND a fireball
And for myself, a birthday/anniversary gift – Volume one and Volume two of one of my favourite webcomics – Girls With Slingshots. Personalize inscription WITH drawings! I so wish I could have gone there and met her myself!
Volumes one and two!
Signed! Seriously I am fangirling here...
And to top it off a bag from ANOTHER of the webcomics I follow!! Least I Could Do! These are images from the Sunday special comics that are put out every week… sort of a Dennis the Menace theme of the main character when he was young.
Another of the comics I read RELIGIOUSLY
Very wonderful and sweet gifts. And a visit as well, definitely a good day. The kids are still rather wound up what with us being home as much as we are. I am hoping to get us all out at least once this week upcoming. Karyn came by in the evening to show us HER stash from the Comic-con including images drawn by artist of Tiny Sheep! You should be able to see them on the Fat Sheep blog by tonight or tomorrow. I am completely sold on going next year… with Ken and the girls in tow. Trinity getting herself drawn would be sooo much fun!
We have a new addition to the Fat Sheep family tree – did you know Petite Sheepette has an identical twin? Ok well not QUITE identical (she is resplendent with a blue collar) I have been told her name is Bitsy Sheep. The kids are VERY impressed by their similarities… We so need a Sheep family portrait!!!
Twins just seem to... fit in in this house
Now I need to get to work and dig out ALL my ribbon supplied, there is a specific plastic bag with the ribbons from the girls’ dresses so I can make them each a headband (Echo) or barrette (Trinity) to match their dresses for Chris and Chris’ wedding. I am also in charge of making bows for the wine glass centrepieces for the tables (once they get me the ribbons). I do love a pretty bow. Back to musical boxes!
Ken and his girls... now go check out those webcomics... although they ALL have mature content!!!