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!

Thursdays are always a little hectic since Ken has his weekly “game night” with just the guys. This means our evening has to be cut short so that we can squeeze in dinner, baths and the like before everyone gets here. Today is even more rushed as Ken had to run out to Walmart to get some things from the weekly sale that ends tonight. My photos from yesterday’s sale were NOT there… oddly enough no record of them though I have BOTH my emails. Oh well, gives Ken something to do tomorrow.

Homeschooling went relatively well today… we did the letter K which was a huge hit just because it mentioned kangaroos and kittens (starfall had cute bits for each). We used buttons to decorate the capital K’s and glue tails on kites. I really need to get my hands on some kites, I am relatively sure where my little fabric one is stashed and the boys have never flown one, maybe next week we will get some favourable kite flying weather and go find a park and have at it.

Of course there was more painting of puzzle pieces. Emanuel wanted black so of course black paint ended up all over! Brown is officially empty and red looks rather pink to me. We will see how it looks after we put them on the frames tomorrow. All I can say is thank goodness the paint is WATER based. I really need to hunt down MORE things we can make with puzzle pieces as well as some green spray paint and some more brown paint so we can get together our kits to make Christmas trees!

We read one more story today – I skipped up to the number 7 in the series as 6 wanted you to figure out what word endings should be added into the sentences and the boys are simply not ready for that. There still is not a lot of interest in these stories so I am hoping after the weekend to move onto the BOB series or the Hooked on Phonics books we were given and see if we have better results. Trial and error!

I sent the boys out for some bike riding in the morning – well bikes and scooters. First Gavin game in with a skinned knee from falling off his bike – he was peddling too quickly. Small band-aid and he was ok.

Then in came Emanuel in total tears from falling off his scooter – this one I am a little suspicious of. I am thinking maybe someone on a bike “nudged” the slower moving scooter and caused the crash. Either way the back of his leg was rather scuffed though he wanted me to  take a picture of the band-aid to go on the computer – so he could show Grandma Anna (hope she reads this lol). Thankfully that marked lunch time anyway.

Ken and I had a special lunch to celebrate his increased good health (less AND shorter naps no less!) and his enjoyment of the job! Donairs and slurpee talk about yum! And relatively affordable as the place in the nearest mall has their donairs at 5.50 a piece!

I asked for help with my math search on my egroups and have gotten a deluge of info to go through. We did cut up some cardstock and get some math cards made – matching number with number of objects. The stickers were from Nathan and Ada’s wedding – Nathan’s mom sent home the left over craft supplies that the kids had to play with and they were the perfect size!

I plan to spend the weekend going through the free lapbooks and get something together we can start when we get a little further along in the alphabet. My mom says she has file folders and coloured printer paper we can have so that is a load off my mind! Add that to the 5.00 I got from doing a survey in the mail today and I am able to get some more fun stuff for the kids to use while we learn! Sadly Ken was not able to find the game in the series we played last week. I hope to be able to look myself once we get this photo mess cleared up.

The boys and I got in a game of Candyland tonight too, though Trinity was quick to try and steal the pieces and grab the cards. It was fun and we all made it to the Fiesta!

Dora Candyland! (Gavin red)

Stitching wise I have been working on the first of 3 little monsters for the boys for Christmas. I think I would have finished it tonight if not for the counting error I made. It is a UK pattern so the half stitches are not crisp like I would like so I am altering it slightly. I am not sure how I am going to finish these but they suggest putting them on little books. I also have to glue on googly eyes but I don’t want to do that until I am ready to finish them.

I am on the look out for whole wheat recipes now. I have half a barrel of the stuff and Ken is not fond of the taste. The best advice to date is to half it with my oatmeal applesauce cookies. So I am going to try that for the Sunday School batch. Tonight I made apple muffins, tomorrow the cookies and then the weekend off to mom’s. As it is I think we have one batch of applesauce left up the tree, sort of sad since next year we are pretty sure we WON’T be at this rental. So I will have to keep an ear open for people who have apples to get rid of! And watch for sales in stores.

So Ken has put up my donation button to go with the free patterns and possible commissions. Hopefully by tonight my Chemist themed stitch will be up on the site as well! I am getting rather excited about getting all of these patterns up! Feels so accomplished!

So tomorrow we prep to spend Saturday with Grandma… always seems like we need to take a van full for just one day. Changes of clothes, diapers, wipes, snacks for Trinity… the list goes on and on. It will be nice to get out of the city though and spend some time as a family out in the open.