And what a Mother’s Day I have had! We started off with an early morning getting everyone into their church clothes for Sunday School at our church. There was some grumbling and my first thing in the morning picture was a flop as Trinity was rather sure we would never get to what SHE wanted to do – get a princess skipping rope. But we all cleaned up nice. 

We actually misjudged how long it takes to get to the city from Chris and Chris’. So we were a little early… that meant we had time for a Tim Hortons stop off… special coffee for Mommy and Daddy. And then onto the church. Trinity was a little reticent about going to class but in the end they all went. The church is VERY excited about the 3rd of June when they plan to present all the costumes mom has made for them. Actually… there are TWO more bags waiting at mom’s as well! I will have to bring those the Sunday before as we are planning an extended visit at mom’s anyway to watch the house and dog. 

Just the girls! Echo's dress was a recent gift from my mom, Trinity's a gift from my step mom and sister back when she was baptized as a baby!

Anyway, after Sunday School we took ANOTHER set of pictures on the lawn as best we could and then it was time to coordinate with Karyn. Ken’s sneakers have been on the way out for ages now so we added in a visit to the mall for some shoe shopping. The kids were bored out of their minds and of course I had to nag a little to make sure it was like ALL our shopping trips when Ken is involved (he is VERY picky and a VERY slow shopper) but I think it was fun! We ended up finding a lovely pair ON SALE so it was all good. 

The best one of ALL my kids together

Just the big ones

A cute one of Echo (I made her the headband for another dress)

Karyn took Zander and we split up at that point. The rest of us changed out of our church clothes (except Ken who apparently missed that memo) and headed to the grocery store to get our picnic. A pre-cooked whole chicken to start, Emanuel picked out orange no name pop (actually REALLY good), some random unusual chips, water and some lemongrass pepper seasoning. With Karyn’s chocolate cupcakes we had a fine meal. 

Echo and the water cup she dumped all over herself

Gavin and Zander

After meal it was playground time. Zander informed me that he made some great friends and everyone had fun. 

Gavin on a slide

We let Echo down for a little bit but she had thrown off her sandals in the van and the ground was getting hot! 

At ground level

This was a good indication that it was time to leave for Karyn’s house. Ken needed to check email (viewings got postponed to tomorrow due to wives saying uhhhh do you KNOW what day it is today???) and have a nap (poor man got too much sun in his Sunday best). In the mean time Echo tore apart some paper (nothing super important), some bubbles were blown and the Wii was played! A good break in a cool apartment. 

Wii

After that break it was time to head back to Chris and Chris’… I think we did an admirable job of tiring out the children! Baths and bed after a light supper worked out just fine. Oh, I forgot to mention, yesterday we moved Trinity into the booster seat and Echo into Trinity’s BIG GIRL seat! Talk about exciting! 

Big girl!!

End the night with a fire out back for the adults and it has been a grand Mother’s Day.

Fire

And tomorrow I get my haircut AND get to go iPad cover shopping (my gift from my family). YAY! 

I still have a bit of a shock at times when I realize I am the mother of 5! How blessed am I???

In order to keep the blog size down I figured I would do a sort of overflow blog entry. So… here are some MORE pictures to enjoy of what we saw and did at Comic con! 

Let’s start with some of the costumes that were at the con… 

The woman on the left was a volunteer... steampunk style popped up all over the place! And on the right of course a stormtrooper.

This girl was an artist at one of the booths. She was so lovely and VERY willing to pose for Trinity. Trinity actually asked for a few "princesses" to have a picture taken. She did not want to be in the pictures but wanted pictures of them all the same. This girl said she was so amazed by Trinity, if it was HER she would have been crying lol

A princess for Trinity! She was nice enough to stop and let us take a photo!

This girl is in high school and made her entire costume herself! She has won contests with it. I could not resist asking to take a picture.

Lwaxana Troi!!! She made her own costume and was in character. LOVELY!

Now don’t forget that there was the main cast of Star Trek the Next Generation at the convention for autographs and all. While I did not go and see them we did run into this lovely lady. She was portraying Lwaxana Troi in a recreation of THIS dress I think. 

Now this was one of Ken's - Jay and Silent Bob!

Do you recognize them? They were spot on! Jay and Silent Bob. 

I cannot believe how many amazing costumes there was. I didn’t get a picture of the old school He-Man with REAL muscles under his spray on tan. Will, Kathy’s brother saw what he described as a 10th Doctor look alike with his very own Tardis walking around (I am not happy I missed that one!). 

One last picture to share and this is my most touristy one … the largest building in the city, though it is still under construction! 

Gorgeous

Z-O-M-G Another post already! Well it is Sunday which even though we are NOT out and about tons does make for a more relaxing day. We started our day with ALL of us going to Sunday School. We found out when we got there it was our turn to help in the little guys class (both Trinity and Emanuel are in it). So Ken took Echo and I took the opportunity to help out for the very first time. It made me feel so useful and I had the opportunity to talk to 3 other people in the congregation about things that were bothering me AND see the special closet they purchased for all the costumes mom made. I have found some peace this morning though it was fleeting. We got home and everyone was right back at each other’s throats. 

The purple poof

Life is far from tranquil in the Reinsch-Johnson home lately and I KNOW I am contributing to that with my anxiety and my worry and my tears… I have pledged to myself (and my family) that after this month I am going to go out of my way to chat more with people in our church who have counselling experience. I want to find better ways to deal with things when they all pile up as with 5 kids and the darling husband I have (seriously the man’s luck is CRAP)… well let’s just say adventures are going to happen. 

We squeezed in some school time today on top of it all! I found this neat St. Patrick’s Day themed religious craft for the kids to all do. You can find it HERE. We printed them on various shades of green paper and used markers to go wild. Quite a lot of fun and nice and simple!

Rather spiffy

We also read a Celtic Fairy Tale and drew pictures and wrote about our favourite parts. Some of the ones in our books are relatively short and with what is going on this week I am planning on doing a few more. That way we are not just sitting on our hands, though while She Chris is here schooling will be on holiday! Special Aunty Time! Our Ireland/St. Patrick’s Day binder is quickly becoming a full and interesting book! I have found some more worksheets you could print out if you are interested, or save the link for next year. Check them out HERE. A lovely bonus of homeschooling… I can spend a little longer on something AND take a random holiday for the kids, after all (if you know us rather well) we DO school year round! 

There is still quite a bit to do before we leave for the city… packing is almost done, the kids have been walked through how they need to behave and a basic idea of what is going on… I have a list of numbers to write out and a few minor instructions but I am sure everyone here will be fine, not so sure about the carload heading to the hospital! I know that I will be a bit… ok shh so I tell a fib… a TOTAL basket case!

Very true on the shirt huh?

We have renewed our txting on our pay for cell phone and are deciding how to get us calling ability for the 3 days… I have number after number added of people who want to be in the know, a suitcase basically packed… but I don’t feel overly prepared. I don’t know that I ever would! And on that mellow note I should end my entry before I dip into boo hoos and sobs! Here’s for a great Monday! 

The reason for the drama.... isn't she precious?