Let’s make our way to the weekend! The weather has been pretty predictable in its sunny wonderful-ness this week. The kids have LOVED it, the dog has LOVED it… I have to admit I have loved it too! We worked it out in advance so that Ken got enough work done to take his morning slow and we (as a family no less!) scratched ANOTHER thing off our list. Visiting Grandma’s work while she is there! And with the lovely weather how better to enjoy the event than to go for a family walk there, once we covered our Trinity’s blisters with bandaids, packed up the baby’s necessities and convinced the boys that walking WAS much better than the van. 

We made good time and brought Grandma a bottle of water, as we all know hydration is VERY important. We met some of her co-workers, played with some toys and made two important purchases. As this is the weekend of Jaywalkers everything was 50% off so I got Echo a booster chair for 1.50 to take to Kathy’s when we pet sit (oh and for her to play with as it is officially her new favourite seat).

Ken picked out a boardgame. The main reason? It is still in the shrink wrap with a copyright date of 1974! So here’s hoping it is an interesting game! At least it is a good conversation piece for a piddly 2.50!

On the way back Trinity’s feet started hurting again so she got a ride from Daddy. She is so nervous about heights that it took a little time to calm down and get comfortable with it. 

That got us home in time for lunch and schooling. Of course we had to do our page for the books… they are getting quite full of all sorts of adventures!

The twins each took some time in the afternoon to help me out with my craft sale items. Each of the boys has made their own duct tape change purse to sell for 4.00 like mine. They picked their own colours and Gavin even took the time with a messed up piece to draw and cut out a duck to embellish his. 

There is a measly 1 week left until the craft sale! I am going to link the event HERE so please, if you are in the area on the 9th, come by, buy something however small and help out a great cause. 10% of ALL my sales for the day go to the charity and I am also donating a doorprize. My  table SHOULD have the sign It’s a Hoot and Friends on it (gotta get that done yet!). I am personally selling owls, bows, duct tape items and some headbands. I will post some teaser images later this week as well as this link again and again! So check back! 

Anyway after Grandma got done work and we had supper there was some kid and Grandma quality time while Ken and I ran out to get groceries. Some alone time for us and some nail polish time with Grandma. Echo’s first time! She got sparkly stuff and Trinity some gold. Zander had his done as well though we removed that Saturday as we have a special Sunday planned. I am just so glad they are getting some fun time with family in. We hadn’t visited in quite some time and we need to take advantage of this and have new memories and adventures made. 

With Grandpa gone to the city for a conference it was bed time and then JAYWALKERS… yup two items in two days! Jaywalkers is an event where the downtown is blocked off from vehicular traffic. Instead booths are put up, carnival games and rides… there was snacks, shopping and even a 4-H booth with some animals! 

We tried to win free passes for the mini golf/petting zoo/corn maze just outside of town. All 4 kids tried and failed to make the shot but she gave us a pass anyway… after all there is still the REST of the family to pay for! The kids had a blast trying though! Each with a different coloured set of balls. 

And then we paid 2.00 for 6 balls to try bowling for 1,000.00. Ken came rather close but we did not win. It was fun though!! Each of the boys took a turn. 

Next came the two things Ken and I absolutely LOVE about Jaywalkers – mini donuts AND lemonade (we tried the cherry version, I still prefer the original). Yummy, though the prices had gone up! Of course it would not be an outing without an injury. On the way back to the van Gavin wasn’t listening and climbed on some cement parking blocks, slipped and biffed it big time! Both knees VERY scratched up. So we cleaned him up as best we could with what we had in the van and after a brief stop off to pick up a medium sized diaper cover (yup I love SPRINKLES). took him home to clean and bandage properly. He did a professional job of scuffing himself up royally! 

With Ken’s help, I spent some time making Echo a miniature version of Trinity’s purse… 4 inches long and with a shorter strap. She is very pleased and I was able to just use bits from all of my remaining rolls!

We had a surprise visit from Tammy and her girls while the kids watched a movie from the Library and I got in some visiting time. She brought some of her older pieces of dressier clothing that she no longer needed/could wear for me to try on later and some company on an afternoon that went from sunny to drizzly rather quickly. 

Supper was homemade hamburger courtesy of Ken and then the kids played  games with mom while I got in some chatty time with Ken. I think we are starting to really feel on the same page on more and more things. I am hoping he can get a few more minutes here and there to homeschool with us in the near future as well. Though I do think we are doing rather well. I would love to do more in-depth things and hope to find some ways to get back into the crafting, math and sciences in a way that actually brings in the boys’ interest willingly. As it is I hope to get started on the United States on Monday. I have a few books from the library to use, and a couple files printed out from my resources. Sunday night I hope to do some more searching. Any suggestions are welcome! We plan to spend the whole month on it! 

It was a great day for together time. And I snuck in another weather page as for the first time in forever the weather changed visibly through out the day. Tomorrow it is the dedication for the costumes mom made the church. I look forward to it, and the last day of Sunday School. I hope to see some local friends, pick up a few items at some stores not available here and maybe stop at a park or two. Gotta keep the adventures going and two more things on our list to cross off! That is without going over the information the Information Center gave me about some local things. There is a great aboriginal event towards the end of the month and I know the library has advertising about a Father’s Day event that includes pictures on a fire truck! 

So my attempt to stay positive and do the day as the day standing alone worked rather well… the evening not so much but you know what? That sometimes gives way to talks that do help… I still have plans to make paper… just need a blender no one cares about, a screen and some paper to shred. Everything is doable if you keep your heart and mind set upon the path. 

The hunt for a van that is AFFORDABLE and RELIABLE is on… as is the countdown to Easter. Race against time as usual! Well I do have a few Easter worksheets to share – all from Education.com… We have an Easter bunny dot-to-dot, a fun spring colouring page, and a decorate your own Easter egg page. They have updated their site and now I am not sure how to add things to my collections right now. 

Poor Echo has some non make-up related eye shadow on one eye but the goose egg is gone. And the baby gate is a royal pain for us all but at least now there is no repeat performance in the wings. On the plus side the bruising is not extreme for the injury so that means the aspirin is not thinning her blood too much. 

I spent some time today working on math with the boys, and we talked about Spring… so of course there is a snow warning for the area – like 15-25 cm tonight! OUCH. But that IS spring in Alberta. We are sort of playing it by ear… we do what we can, work on what we can and keep in mind that once we are settled back down we can REALLY focus on our schooling. No summer vacation here! 

Tonight was a felt night. I did get my ribbon bucket out of the bedroom before Echo went to sleep BUT found a fun new felt hair thing pattern to try out and of course scraps to make more felt bows… white, blue and green tonight. I was spoiled with some lovely peppermint tea to go with my crafting. 

We are working on ideas to keep the kids busy! I have really committed to reading to the kids at bedtime. We are reading a chapter book and then the next day one of the twins is drawing something from the story to make a mini book. I will share pictures of that tomorrow. In the mean time I have some tidying to do… some bows to store and some sleep to have. At least I am feeling momentum in my crafting! It is always a pick me up! 

Serves me right for choosing to make one entry for a very busy weekend. Now I am going to have to write what Ken calls ” my daily novel” just to catch everyone up! Be forewarned!

Saturday started in a rather wonderful way – Trinity and I got to SLEEP IN! Not only that but she slept in her OWN crib! A very unusual occurrence as generally around 6 am she wakes up and cries to get into bed with us, which I don’t mind, but she DOES tend to take up quite a lot of space as she stretches out. She is a pro at taking over the bed.

Ken made all 4 kids a travel breakfast – cereal, bread, apple slices and cheese and juice boxes in baggies and snack cups. Saturday marked another major Big Girl moment for Trinity – Ken finally turned her seat to face forward! So not only did she get her very own travel breakfast but now she can also WATCH THE VIDEOS! Something she did not even know existed! At first she was rather put out about not being able to see the boys – that was until the Word World video started up… then she just started to laugh and point and babble like nothing else! Talk about cute!

Ken splurged a little on himself and I – McDonald’s sausage McMuffins (the egg ones cost at least a dollar more!) and a large soda pop to share! Thanks to those 3 months of difficulties we have become quite the budgeters and both of us cringe at the idea of eating out – 20.00 to feed the whole family ONE meal when our weekly fruit and vegetable bill is 20.00 – blasphemy! So spending 6.00 or so on breakfast is quite the treat. We actually made it out of the house relatively on time to get to my mom’s around 10:45/11am.

Talk about excitement for the boys – they love visiting “Grandma’s city” as they call it. They poured out of the van in one big jumble of excitement and laughter to run into Grandma’s house – which they know by sight so they didn’t even WAIT for me and Ken to get there! One would think we had not seen her and Mike for MONTHS the way they acted instead of just a couple of weeks.

Mike was home for lunch so he got bombarded with happy kids but had to head back to the University to do some work – they are opening the new library this upcoming week so there was plenty to do. And of course Harley was there. That dog is growing faster than Trinity! She is now 60 lbs and losing some of that puppy look around face, though she is still all legs! But what a sweet tempered dog… pretty much calm she only tried to sit on the boys twice this time and gave Trinity a good face lick or two. Harley and Trinity both love each other Trinity just likes to have the upper hand! (well who can blame her when Harley weighs as much as THREE of her?)

Since driving the hour and the early morning took a lot out of Ken he went into one of the spare rooms to have a nap and mom and I took the kids off to hunt for Halloween costumes! Each of the boys this year got to pick their very own costume from the thrift store my mom works at. At 7.00 a piece quite the deal! We managed to find something for each boy – of course there are NO pictures and NO advanced information for you… but I can tell you the boys are happy! We then spent some time at the only children’s thrift store in town and found a lovely green long sleeved onesie (10.00 but still with tags and mom paid half) to go with her strawberry tutu Ken and I will make this week! (HERS I share info about since it is a craft I am making…)

Lunch was rather yummy – Mom used my newest loaf of 50% whole wheat bread to make the boys grilled cheese sandwiches. I am amazed at how much of a difference there is when you add that tablespoon and a half of honey! Add to that the veggies she had in her fridge – at least two of the boys LIKE radishes! and we all had a nice little munch.

Mike managed to get all of his work done in time to join us for the local corn maze. Sadly they are situated at the end of a rather long and dusty gravel road so he had to park the bike and take the truck but getting there was not too long of a drive. On top of that they had admission at a decreased amount – I think that is because the corn had not grown to full height everywhere or something, but that meant that for 12.00 all 6 of us got to enjoy the corn maze, petting zoo and hay maze. (5 and under free!!) 4 feet tall or 8 feet tall we still got lost multiple times! Trinity passed out about 5 min in in the jogging stroller – talk about an amazing stroller (thanks again Uncle Wayne!) it took the bumpy ground so easily!

There were different quiz sheets you could take that at each number would give you a question to answer to determine which way you went next.

We took two that were more general knowledge and quizzy educational stuff. We knew MOST of the answers for sure but with the twists and turns managed to get good and lost a couple of times. It was just great fun! The boys tore around screaming and laughing and going around bends where you could not see them at all… Mike and Ken even had fun chatting and laughing and teasing mom and myself. I think we were in there at least an hour or more.

After the corn maze was a hay maze that Emanuel and mom went through and the twins and Ken climbed on.

And then the petting zoo…. donkeys, calves, chickens, pea cocks and BUNNIES! Oh lord the bunnies! We were doing ok until she brought out the little black baby one… all of a sudden Ken is like “maybe a bunny would not be so bad.” Oh dear!! A little hutch outside, a little bunny… a little HOLD ON ONE MINUTE. I know I fell in love a little too BUT still… We are not to have animals in the house (fish are fine) and I am rather sure a bunny in the backyard would be included, but add to that next year’s move – what sort of a place will we be in then? BUT I am going to say – when we ARE settled and CAN have a pet… I would NOT say no to a bunny. After all who could NOT love this face??

There were feeding buckets for the calves who sucked on my mom’s fingers… So cute but so huge! And one of the donkeys was a sweet baby too.

The peacocks were smart and up in the rafters and they had a bunch of different breeds of chickens. We walked to the other end of the area and checked out the geese as well. The boys were in HEAVEN and in the next month or so they are getting in a mini golf area! So guess where we will probably be going in October? Ken loves mini golf as does my mom apparently!

We got back with very content and worn out kids and dropped the boys off at mom’s. Ken, Trinity and I headed off to Superstore to pick her up a pair of winter boots – 10.00 for a pair that are soft soled. A more traditional big kid pair are 14.00 but we figured this year she would be better off with the baby version. So now our little girl is officially kitted up for winter!

I stopped in at Dollarama and wandered with my 5.00 survey money. I picked up 3 sets of pencil crayons (one of the big requested Christmas presents off my list), some pom poms for Trinity’s costume and 2 packages of make your own candles. I got the red and blue to try which I think have enough wicks between them to make 4 candles. I figure if they go well I can get more (at 1.00 a package) and the boys can add candles to their Christmas gifts. So not bad with my survey cash and a dollar I had in my pocket!

When we got back to mom’s the boys were in the backyard with the dog playing. Grandma got them two skateboards! Gavin and Zander are sharing the big one, Emanuel gets the little one! They have wanted these since our trip to Minnesota and playing with the ones the Novak kids had. Mom is going to keep her eyes peeled for a 3rd one, but they are so happy to just have the two that they do!

Saturday was quite the day for completing projects with my mom. We sat down, figured out and made 2 little pillowcase dresses. For 2.00 worth of pillowcases, some ribbons I had laying around and some elastic my mom had and about 15-20 min we made up two sweet little dresses. My favourite is the pink gingham. I am not sure I can do the ribbons myself but I know that if I sit down with it I could do everything else to make one of these sweet little outfits

Mom had also finished up the two sock monkey kits that I got with the Christmas gift certificate from the Davey family last Christmas. We were actually debating having them set aside until this Christmas but Ken forgot to hide them and Zander found his. So now we are planning on going to Michaels and getting 3 of those little wooden cars and painting them up special for each boy. But the sock monkeys – total cuteness. They are currently eyeless but I have to say I like them that way! Thanks again Amanda and Jeff!

Mom also sat me down and showed me how to properly patch little jeans. The first patches are all pinned in a pair of the twins’ pants, I just have to sit down and stitch them. Not my favourite job but it will extend the life of the pants and save us some cash!

For supper we had bbqed hot dogs and coleslaw (with apples and raisins) and veggies. Desert was a whole other matter. The 3 boys got to each make their very own little mug chocolate cake! What fun though messy! Not exactly the BEST chocolate cake you have ever tasted – my mom equates it to more of a pudding style – like the kind you would pour cream over or something but the boys LOVED it! Of course I have the recipe:

Mug Chocolate Cake

4 tblsp. cake flour

4 tblsp. sugar

2 tblsp. cocoa

1 egg

3 tblsp. milk

3 tblsp. oil

1 mug (LARGE mug, mom used bowls)

Mix in flour, sugar and cocoa. Spoon in 1 egg. Pour in milk and oil and mix well.

Put in microwave for 3 min. Wait until it stops rising and sets in mug.

Tip contents out of mug and onto saucer.

We also had homemade strawberry and saskatoon ice cream (no pictures darn!) – very yummy!

Of course with all the outside play (the boys were out until after 8pm when it started getting dark) and the fun at  the corn maze all 4 kids needed baths. The water after the twins and Emanuel had their clean up was absolutely BROWN! With the big boys done Trinity got stripped down and joined Emanuel in clean water. This of course brought Harley into the bathroom to play nursemaid! For some reason with the dog on the other side of the tub all of a sudden Trinity was IN LOVE.

With all the excitement Ken needed another nap so the boys played in the basement and mom, Trinity and I hung out upstairs with a sleepy puppy. Trinity even caved and pet Harley a few times. We left mom’s around 10pm 4 sleepy kids in tow. Definitely a fun day for everyone involved.

This visit mom also remembered to give me the clothing that my brother’s mother in law brought from Texas! Trinity got a very sweet skirt and shirt combination. 24 month so she will be able to wear it next summer!

Zander and Gavin got a wonderful dress shirt a piece (we can never have too many dress shirts in this family.).

And Emanuel got two cute surf themed summer shirts. I definitely have to get an address and send a thank you card.

When we got home I got a good look at my back and shoulders… apparently we were out there longer than I thought and with the cloud free day I got nice and burnt! Worth it! Totally!

Today was much much MUCH more relaxing. A special day for the big boys though… today they started their second year of Sunday School! They have revamped the classes so that instead of 3-5 it is 3 and 4 yr olds and then K and Gr. 1. Thankfully the same teachers are teaching their older class. We decided to leave Emanuel out of Sunday School this year, his attention span is very short and he absolutely adores his one on one time with me and Ken and Trinity in the preschool play area. I figure next year he can enrol but this year we have the opportunity to have Emanuel time at church. I dropped off 5 dozen of my oatmeal applesauce cookies for the bbq after church but we couldn’t stick around. Trinity was on meltdown mode and I am pretty sure Emanuel was up earlier than we thought he was too.

So after church we headed out to H&W and bought our week’s worth of produce. Watermelon (seedless) was on for 38 cents a lb. and Taber corn was still 3.99 for 12. We were able to get some BC nectarines, bananas, two bags of Granny Smith apples (1.50 for a 3lb bag) as well as some mandarin oranges. I made sure to pick up a head of broccoli and one of cauliflower. Mmm veggies!

As a super special treat for the first day of Sunday School Ken ran into Safeway and got giant cookies and donuts for us. Yum and then I got MY special treat – a nice, long NAP! WOO Of course I woke up to a mess but that is ok I am now officially well rested!

I have plans now – shake in fear everyone! I am going to make my own baked beans (recipe my mom gave me), my cousin has commissioned me to make a baby sampler for her new son (to be completed right after Christmas as I am backlogged right now with her brother’s wedding gift among other things on my list), and I am on the look out for more pillowcases. I have this big dark blue sheet I am trying to come up with a good use for as well. Yup, I have plans!

Ken is doing so much better – granted Saturday there were quite a few naps but he was really checked in! The kids reacted so much better due to his own positive outlook and today I have seen the most improvement. It has been hard to not have the man I love be himself for (now that I look back) 3 months or more, but bit by bit that silly, sarcastic American I fell in love with 10 yrs ago is coming back to me.

OH Mom has also saved me the headache of finding a Christmas dress for Trinity. I am planning on wearing my asian outfit I got waaaay back for our first anniversary (it JUST fits again!), it is white… so Trinity needed something “not white.” Well mom had this gorgeous, still with tags little purple dress come in sized 12-18 months. This is one of those sweet little fluffy dresses you see at Zellars for so much! 4.00 and we have our Christmas picture dress! What sold me on it was the little pantaloons. TOO CUTE!

I am just so glad we got up and out and about this weekend. My mom had some clothes that no longer fit her so I ended up with a whole stack of jeans (talk about saving money!), the kids had a blast and even Ken enjoyed himself! Sewing wise I have not gotten too much done, but I have another design in the works. Once I stitch it up and give it away I will post the pattern on the site. Ken should be posting a few patterns up here this week actually! Be sure to give feedback on the patterns!