July 4th and 5th

When one is within visiting distance of a god-parent/great friend what can one do but… VISIT. It just so happened that on Wednesday we had the time and she had the day off so what did we do? Pack everyone up and head to a different part of town to visit Gavin’s godmother Christine. We so rarely see her with how busy she is with her job as a pharmacist and our not living in the same town. BUT we lucked out with her days off and our spare time though the weather was not nearly as nice as the company.

Gavin and his Godmummy

No kids to play with but TWO dogs and THREE cats, though the cats went out of site quite quickly one by one (with one not making an appearance from the start). Echo was quite intrigued by all the fluffy critters. 

PUPPY

There was a bucket of toys and some snacks and some good company and the time apart just sort of melted away. I have to say, I love visiting with Christine and miss her so much. It is so wonderful that when we DO get together it is like the time has not passed. Gavin was over the moon with his chance to spend time with HIS god-mother. 

The Lego structures he created for her

Chatting

Thursday was a day of kids time INSIDE with a weird continuation of crap weather. Thankfully having kids to play with made the weather bearable.

They got in a brief amount of time outside before the weather truly turned

Giggles at the table

Logan and Echo

We adults dealt with the doom and gloom weather with homemade hamburgers on the grill… note the lovely apron!

Isn’t he cute?

And that was that, sometimes you just need some slow down sorts of days! Which brings us to the end of the week and FRIDAY… which began a much more exciting weekend so… more on that later! 

Ominous weather

Sunday, what sort of adventures did we have on Sunday… well quite a few actually! First off the whole family had to be up and out the door by 8am… this is actually a bit of a struggle when you add in IN THEIR CHURCH CLOTHES to the equation, but we managed. Thankfully I had everything we could need or think we needed in bags and ready to go. We left Sean sleeping downstairs, the dog outside to play with her across the alley friend and packed up and headed out. Straight on to the church and Sunday School in our Sunday best. 

We managed to dress Echo perfectly in red for the Pentecost Sunday and met up with the NEW minister… he is freshly ordained and VERY nice. We had a chance to speak to him, get some spiritual support and find out that he lit a candle for our family in prayer at the Synod convention this past week. I felt so blessed. AND he says that once we are back in town there is no issue with me lining up some time to come to the church and talk to him. I just want someone other than Ken to share my thoughts with who can be a support system. 

The right colour for the Sunday

Playing in the cry room

After chasing Echo in the cry room and saying hello to people, dropping off the costumes that mom made to finish off the series with the man in charge of them and helping practice next week’s costume dedication songs it was time for church. Now, with 5 kids and the service starting around Echo’s nap time (at 10:30) we usually do NOT stay…  but… this Sunday we were part of the service as it was finally the dedication and welcome of the new members. I am so glad we ran into the minister BEFORE service as that allowed us to sneak out after that point and head on our way to the next adventure on our adventurous Sunday. 

My family

So with church thoroughly enjoyed (the twins even got to draw chalk drawings outside)… and the family back in the van it was time to find an internet connection… thank you Starbucks parking lot… change everyone OUT of their Sunday finery and check the emails to make sure nothing new had come up that we could accomplish in the city… Well there was an errand to run but nothing else… 

With everyone in spring casual again it was time to head out of town, this time to Chris and Chris’ to pick up the all important Chinese New Year poster and some mail I had sent to their place. This was a solo endeavor by Ken. The kids were cranky and time ticking to make plans to meet up with friends. As well, She Chris has been under the weather since the day we left for mom’s so less was best. 

From there it was to the No-Frills which had an awesome 1.00 sale going on. We are very careful when it comes to eating out on day outings like this… with 7 people to feed cheaper is better and going to a grocery store for sandwich fixings, water (great sale I am telling you) than eating out. This No-Frills is actually attached to our clinic where our family doctor is! 

One more internet connection to be found to check email and then on to the MAG to see the new displays. We met up with THREE people this time – Karyn, Victoria and her friend Fatima. So we made a new friend while we learned about proper food preparation and Chinese immigrants who came during the gold rush etc etc. Ken had to dart out for the errand which left me in charge of all 5 with the ladies for help… so we multi tasked as well! I am so helping that those keeping an eye peeled for us can find us the coupons (when they come out) for the free family pass for a year again! We love the MAG. 

Running before we get educational

Then the fish in the entrance

Me and my baby

Zander in one of the Chinese outfits they had to play dress up in

How much cycling does it take to burn off a chip? (Gavin)

A bit of history

One more stop before we said good bye to the city and headed back to Grandma’s – this time a combo. Ken dropped me and the kids off at Dollarama and then went across the parking lot to empty out the old van (bye bye Quest). We shopped all over the place, everyone got a treat and I picked up some things for my craft table. I am almost ready I think, I have some bright containers, baggies for bows to ensure bought bows do not get dirty when taken home, and black Velcro. YAY! It was actually a rather fun walk through. 

A surprise find! RC Cola!

When all was said and done it was around 3:30 when we went through McDonald’s to get apple slices for the kids and head back to home (well where home is for now). We even stopped off at the pharmacy on the way back into town and Gavin got to see his god mommy Christine and give her a specially coloured picture! A fulfilling and FUN day. We ran, we played, we learned and we celebrated… all necessary Sunday activities don’t you think? And we came home to a rather rested puppy who had an afternoon playdate with her bestfriend (thanks again Ashley). 

Worn out kiddos

We also had a Sean to visit with before he had to head home to get ready for school in the morning. I am sure you can imagine how excited ECHO was! And that was how our weekend played out… 

Back in the backyard before bed

We have continued our trend of creative outside the dwelling outings. Thursday was overcast and cool (some snow even!) for the bulk of the day with a good stiff wind. So that threw our plan of walking to the the Mac’s store for slurpees out the window. Instead we DROVE to the store and picked out slurpees and then drove to a park where Echo and Mommy were able to sit inside the van in comfort and the kids run and play and yet have a nice place to go when they got cold or thirsty.

Swinging

The boys shared a slurpee – very creative, they each got to pick a flavour… rootbeer, cherry lime and watermelon with a little blue raspberry on top! Trinity saved enough of her allowance for her own little bitty one – pink of course! And I got some time to work on another feltie penguin. I do love crafting in the van now, there is this little table like thing between my and Ken’s seat which is so useful for placing objects within reach! 

Zander and the Technicolor slurpee

Trinity in the warm

We managed to get right back on track with Farmer Boy where Almanzo made his own whip… and managed some math work as well. So we are continuing our trek through learning at some semblance of a pace! I am on the look out for some more field trips and ideas of outdoor learning for us though for the rest of the month of May. 

Our evening was also special – we headed to the same town Karyn works in to meet up with Victoria at the public library there. She activated my TAL card so we can take books out from that branch and the one here by Chris and Chris. The building the library is in there is absolutely gorgeous! And the library is HUGE for the size of the town. So of course I had to take a picture! 

Train table

Well 4 out of 5 looking this way

We have made tentative plans to see her on my special out and about Mother’s Day Sunday! We have missed people. With the van being an issue for the longest time and then this stalled move… well normal life has definitely been a thing of the past. So I am determined to get a little back. AND to take advantage of ANY warm days! 

Friday was a prime example of taking advantage of weather. It was a bit chilly but nothing pants and sweaters couldn’t combat. So out we went with out blanket in hand. This time with all the items we needed to work on the newest chapter of Farmer Boy (they made maple syrup) and the nature books. No apples so we had to settle for a bottle of Pepsi to share and soda crackers… maybe not the most balanced of snacks but everyone enjoyed it. 

Working on the printing

Trinity and her nature book

After some school work was completed we continued our walk to the park now dubbed “the one we get splinters at”… for those interested this trip resulted in one and it was tiny (Trinity). Shoes off… go go go until I noticed we had been gone for around 2 hours and I was STARVING. Even with the promise of lunch I had to push to get us back to the house. They really do love a good park! 

Gotta run!

With Mother’s Day this upcoming weekend we of course had to sit down and make cards for the various God Mommies. Trinity has the most work with her TWO and Zander’s will be the latest delivered as it has to go all the way to Minnesota. 

Emanuel and his card

Trinity and one of hers

We had a minor mishap with Zander’s glasses so pictures may be a bit confusing for a while if we cannot repair. The leg came loose and came off of what looks like a peg that it is glued to and attaches to the rest of the frame. That reminded me that we need to get Zander’s follow up rescheduled. I don’t know if everyone remembers, but he had one in the first half of the year that was cancelled due to over booking at eye place back in the city (an hour + away). So we were hunting for a local doctor. Sadly Echo’s surgery totally blew that out of our heads so I had to call the local Public Health to get suggestions. Luckily the nurse I got had a doctor she could personally recommend… not so lucky, I called after the office was closed for the weekend and the phone there cannot take messages. So add to the list on Monday!!

I am hoping the trend of completions (van, surgery, etc) will continue on with our income tax… we have been dealing with an audit forever. Mainly because it was NOT us who were the focus of the audit, rather two bigger companies Ken did contracts for. Not fun and definitely annoying as it has held up our tax related benefits… but we have held strong and are coming to the end of it. That means it will be simpler SOON to replace the glasses! YAY! 

Anyway… in order to keep the income going for our one income family we are trying to compress the bulk of our viewings into this weekend (as it is not late in the month landlords aren’t exactly rushing to set them up anyway). Which makes me more anxious but glad that there ARE some options out there. Again, I will keep everyone posted and all I ask is that you all keep a positive thought or a prayer out for us! 

And now it is time to continue the crafting. The craft sale is on the 9th and I have a table to fill… and some simple business cards to print out… I still need to figure out some sort of a sign for the table as well… oh and the pricing. Lately it has been felt that has held my attention. I am not sure how many I can make in time but I am hoping for enough to put in a basket. I am at a loss as to what to price my stuff. The larger of my owls I figure I will leave at 10.00, the smaller maybe down to 7.00 as it has been pointed out to me that people SEEING two sized owls would not want to spend the same amount… my felt bows maybe at 2 for 1.00… the duct tape ones at a buck or two? But those stacked bows… and the fancy ribbon ones… HELP!!! Suggestions????

Some of today's completions

The race is on to make whatever I can… the sale is set for 6 hours and I must admit a little worry about whether or not I will have enough stuff  to fill the table!! This delayed move has messed me up for supplies so I have had to drop the idea of having a tutu or two or any wands to sell. BUT I have a lovely selection of owls and bows… and time to make more! 

Hard to believe that Mother’s Day is this weekend! Be sure to hug your mom’s and tell them how much you love them!!

Baby on the go... with curls