Last night was a crafting night… a late night as well but that is ok. When one gets in the crafting zone sometimes time just slips away. On the HUGE plus side, Echo’s birthday outfit – well the special one I have made (not sure how long it will remain on her on her big day as it is more of a photo op dress than anything) is completed with the final touches to her special hair thing. I am looking forward to making more of these adorable little puffs for the girls. Maybe add them to the Christmas craft list for the little ones? I can hear Ken groaning from here about the tulle… he is the best in the house at cutting tulle after all.

All ready to go

Then there was the requested hairthing for Trinity. I had picked up 3 skeins of 5/8th ribbon at a garage sale ages ago so I let her choose the one she wanted and made one right up for her for tomorrow. It was crucial as she is very upset with me for NOT making her an “ice cream dress” like Echo has. I wonder if you remember, way back at Easter, the Kijiji dress I altered for Echo? Well I brought it out of the closet with the thought of putting it on Echo and then the opportunity passed due to nasty rainy weather. My mom has saved some pillowcases to make new dresses for the girls so I am going to send over the spare skein of ribbon I bought that matches this dress. (thank goodness I did! I already have a stacked bow barrette done so after the dress is made Miss T is all set!)

Finished as requested

And she loved it

I also got another of my Christmas bows made… and after talking online with Cousin Veronika, am thoroughly convinced that Trinity needs something called a Bow Board for her room… Echo too, for that matter! It looks deliciously easy to make and the only thing I was sure I didn’t have on hand or couldn’t get from my mom’s craft stash was the canvases.

We had a bit of a meltdown this morning in the form of a child being TOO helpful. We were tidying the upstairs and Emanuel got over zealous and tidied up Zander’s puzzle project. It took hugs from Mommy AND Daddy to make it all better. Zander was not devastated as they weren’t too far along but it was a bit of an OOPS moment. 

Making up for lost time once Cousin Veronika got there!

We continued our puzzle time and Emanuel’s dinosaur pictures but that was about it in regards to schooling today… WAY too excited about Nana and Baba getting here. And of course the weather worked AGAINST me with more rain and lots of mosquitoes.

Dinosaurs

BUT come lunchtime and Cousin Veronika was here! We had enough time before we had to get down to business to run out and do a few errands. First was Staples to purchase some of their under 1.00 items (and a 1.99 glue stick)… all this for 5.55!

Staples haul

…and then Michaels where there just happened to be an AMAZING ribbon sale… some of their more expensive spring themed stock on for 1.00 a skein! Talk about a deal! As much as I hate to say it… stacked bows were considered…

Ribbons!

With a final stop off at the mall and Cinzero where Veronika picked up some cinnamon buns and we each got a slush puppy. Which made Ken, who had to stay home with the kids and later keep an eye on them while mine were closed, much happier!

Cinzeo

And now for the fun part. Earlier this week Veronika was doing a course on lash extensions and has to do 10 free ones before she can get through her course. Guess who got to be #1? Yours truly!! First was the waiver etc etc (US version so super wordy), then the taping under the eyes to ensure the bottom lashes do not stick to the top ones (VERY important) and then the fun part… over 2 hours of laying back with my EYES CLOSED and resting while someone else does all the work… and Trinity hopped in and out of the room and on and off of the couch and was generally an adorable little pogo ball. 

At work

With an audience

Since my lashes are rather long already the effect was subtle but lovely… and should still look nice for a while, though I doubt I will do the fills… too expensive. I have to say it was so much fun! AND I got an afternoon and right on into the evening of visiting with a dear cousin. 

Karyn came over right after work and after we had supper (spaghetti noms) and sent the kids to watch tv it was her turn to get her extensions done. So much fun!!! 

Karyn's turn

We visited as late as we could and still have Veronika head home at a decent time (over an hour away) and Karyn head to bed (work tomorrow). This allowed me my walk for a slurpee and now it is time to get back to tidying, finishing of craft projects and hopefully, a full night’s sleep… that is the plan at least! 

All done

And Echo for good measure

Today I drug out the “environmentally friendly lawn mower” (you know, what used to be called a push mower) and mowed the front lawn. Love the mower but if you have long stalks of vegetation it won’t cut some of them. So that led me over to our weed whacker which I plugged in and… nothing. So the lawn IS mowed but it still looks rough… and my good intentions were for not.

To make it somewhat better I packed up the 4 bigger kids while Echo was sleeping and left Ken in charge of the house. It is a super short walk to the convenience store and a 2L of A&W rootbeer. Which, while it did not SOLVE anything certainly was a pick me up for the whole family.

Sunny day, GREAT for a walk to get pop!

Our schooling today was more of the same… math, sight words, and of course our chapter book. What I am trying to do is give them a set goal for the amount of everything the HAVE TO do in a given day and then allow the boys to decide when and for how long in a sitting they go at it. There are some definite differences, Zander likes to plow through and be done. Gavin, on the other hand, likes to divvy it up with some artistic personal endeavors mixed in. Both styles seem to work well. 

Zander and his sight word work

Gavin supervising Emanuel and his letter work

Another chapter!

We went out AFTER lunch and naptime to work on the backyard. Everything IS still rather damp so the poor mower couldn’t go through the whole thing in one go but we did a good chunk. I put Echo out on a blanket with the umbrella propped up for shade and her siblings standing watch.

Baby in the shade

After supper we made an evening run out to Walmart for a VERY, ok TWO very special purchases – one – the much lamented after PINK potty seat. This one is not collapsible and the right colour so I am HOPING this will speed along our training. She already sat on it twice before bed!

Prin-press seat

Now for the other purchase … THE shoes for the wedding in August! And for only 15.00! They are labelled “pewter” in colour and are not really copper or silver or brass… a lovely flat sandal that I could even see wearing another time. Now to hunt down the 3 pairs of black pants and we are all pretty much clothed and ready to go (if you ignore the make up issue).

Shoes

I finished a few bows last night. One a pretty blue with the last of my blue and brown flowered ribbon and a little selection of button flowers. I am actually running out of 3/8 ribbon of differing patterns. There may be a ribbon hunt in my future (and I certainly am NOT complaining).

Blue stacked

Bright buttons

With another day of schooling done and gone and a family trip to the store not overly painful I think it has been a good day! We need more of these to be sure!!! Oh and more ribbon…

Gotta love the shorts

Back to weekdays once again. Last night I took some me time and did that crafting I was craving. Of course Ken needed a late night nap after gaming as he had to rush back to the city one last time. So while he did that I completed my projects… A couple different techniques – for Echo’s headband – button flowers (also used on the 4 individual hair clips all on alligator clips), and then the ice cream piece – a stacked bow; and finally the butterfly themed one, a new technique – perky butterfly bow loops. I am of two minds with the last one, I think I may need to try it with a wider ribbon – it calls for 1.5 inches and this is 1 inch wide. I find crafting soothing so this was a lovely way to end my weekend and welcome the weekdays (be it WAY too late honestly).

Button flower headband

4 button flowers of varying colours

Ice cream stacked bow

The new butterfly loops

In use

So the book we are reading in our study of Canada is a free resource called All Across Canada by Ken Yoffe and Edith Weisburg. It is a cute story that has you going all through the provinces and  territories. A little bit beyond the boys’ understanding but we are enjoying the reading of it anyway. I am actually going to spend some time looking through the site I found this link on and see how useful it is. Sometimes it can be VERY difficult to find CANADIAN resources. If I can find some uses for it I will definitely add it to my list here on the site.

I met our mail carrier today, she was going around checking on homes the census had not been recorded for (we filled ours out electronically back at the old place). She said she gets in to the centre tomorrow and hopes to be out by 10:30 but is expecting a gong show. She says that by Friday forwarded stuff should be coming to places too and is going to keep an eye out. VERY nice.

That is something that has surprised me – we all talk about how we DON’T need or use the mail all that much. This strike and lockout have certainly proven otherwise. Ken is a contract worker and so receives cheques… in the mail. Bills are generally sent through the mail. The rates on alternative ways to mail things like cards (Father’s Day) or packages (a random gift) are just not reasonable. Try and shop overseas with eBay (especially on the beloved Hello Kitty) and it is shipped via the post. The list goes on and on. That is not to say there has not been ample reason to be frustrated with the Canadian post – lost letters, delayed packages; I currently have a package we sent months ago that was misplaced and damaged and was SUPPOSED to be coming back to me when the strike occurred.

We took advantage of the lovely SUMMER weather today. I made them up a strawberry drink made out of a powder packet we had bought ages ago, strawberries out of the freezer, ice and milk. We turned on the sprinkler AND the bubble machine and cleaned the bugs out of the little pool.

Sipping away

We even dressed Echo up to enjoy a little sun, not much as the water was WAY too cold for her and the bugs all over the place but she did join in. She looked so cute in Trinity’s old bathing suit.

An actually SUNNY day

Watching her brothers run by

It was a pretty long day without Ken. The kids and I honestly like it best when he is here. I feel better when he is at least in the same city (he was over an hour away today). We are rather spoiled! I am feeling the continuing urge to craft so more bows tonight, and some research on one of my favourite anime voice actors. I am amazed how he has done voice acting in many of my favourites!

Reading until she passes out!