September 19-22

Half a week in and my family showed their love by coercing me to sleep in until NOON! Ken took a partial day off and we were able to go out and have a lovely Family Day. Just us 7 out and about running errands… getting free cookies at Cub… enjoying time together.

It was coupon week at JoAnn’s so I was able to buy quite a few skeins of yarn and save almost as much as I spent!! Way to make Christmas affordable! Though I do have some colours yet to pick up. It is fun to go and just look  through yarn and feel it, see the colours… so many possibilities!

And still Miss Echo loves her hat… in fact, the girls BOTH uses their Grandma change to get special gifts for themselves at Walmart.

We are still holding in on the braids but their time has come to an end. I really need to learn how to do more than the simple stuff I am able to do.

and removed

We worked on some lovely poems using the letters of the twins’ names on Friday.

While Miss Echo went back to rocking her curls.

Trinity likes to re tell her stories using our books, her memory and a nice dose of imagination!

We had a crafty duo make paper tissue baskets (Zander).

And on Saturday the kids worked on getting dirty… enjoying the sunshine…

And attacking Daddy…

Equal opportunity…

On Sunday we had our second session of Sunday School! happy kids!

And then… thanks to a sale on apples at Cub… we made PIE!!!

How better to end the weekend (and the week for that matter!) than to have a run outside. With Daddy’s remote control car as well! Yay!

November 17-18

We actually MISSED recording our thankful thoughts Saturday!!! But with good reason – we had a HUGE reason to be thankful that we shared – we got to go visit family for a birthday celebration!

Visiting

I really didn’t take too many pictures but we had a ton of fun

So we had family, pie, good food, puppies and plenty of hugs all to be thankful for! And a lovely reminder as to WHY this move south was really a good reason. For the first time ever we are close enough to enjoy a more casual celebration with members of Ken’s family. It was two of his cousin’s birthdays this month – Robbie and Jessica so we were over at his Aunty Judy and Uncle Jim’s to celebrate. Ken’s other Uncle Greg and Debbie were there too so we had a large portion of the Johnson clan to enjoy time with as well as the relative puppies, fish, and a frog to see! It was a terrific afternoon/evening!

Bossing around Uncle Greg

In the morning Ken and the boys got their hair cut AND Ken SHAVED! So not only did we party but we partied with style! I am one happy (and proud) Momma and wife! On Sunday we DID remember to think of our thankful things!

Trinity: kitties

Emanuel: Thomas the train

Gavin: having a turkey on Thanksgiving

Zander: having a mom and dad

Sunday was a busy but quiet day. We had a slow morning with our new colouring book stack for the kids in the morning. It seems to be working as long as the kids don’t get too excited! And then it was time to rally the troops and run errands.

Of course we had to spend some time on the Nat Geo magazine Gammie got for the kids.

While I do not have the safety buttons I need to finish the penguin for my nephew yet I DO have stuffing… that means the teapot CAN be finished… which would complete everything but Trinity’s wand for her Christmas presents! That feels GREAT! Now to find a special box to put the set in as every little girl wants a nice box for her teaset.

We treated our pretty well behaved kids with ice cream cones from McDonalds on the way home (and a plain burger for Miss Echo). Thankfully we got a good deal on the necessary turkey the day before on the way home from our party so it was minor groceries and stuffing. I love that the nearby center has quite a few of the stores we like (Cub, Michaels, Bath and Body Works, Walmart) all in the same area so we could park and go to a couple and then head to the other side and walk the rest.

When we got home it was MY turn to put a feather on our Gratitude Turkey (sorry about the hair, I was in a rush to get things done).

Turkey

We also made a Thankful family poster. We all took turns drawing little pictures of things we are thankful for. The end result was rather nice, I thought AND it had us ALL talking about and thinking about things in our lives. What made my heart happy was the lack of THINGS, toys, possessions and instead so many things like the sun, friends, family… dinosaurs (guess who said THAT one?). The race is on to get toner so that we can get our centerpiece done for the Thanksgiving table in time.

Our family page

The emails have been checked and it is certain – Tuesday night (after 10) Nana and Baba return so the race is on to try and get all the little things we wanted to get done before they get home done. We have rebuilt the cabinet we brought down with us which of course was missing the rod for the coats that we need a home for (of course a dowel works so we may need to go and get a new one) but we have been working on clearing spaces here and there. The kids are VERY excited that they will be back soon!

Some evening block building (Gavin)

With yours truly getting over a cold… well for the most part, I am still hacking away… and the motivation level low for a Sunday we really had a do nothing sort of day. My latest garage sale finds filled a definite need for the kids and they were more than content to play with the new toys (army themed… I know I cringe, so very against what I usually look for but… they are happy and no one is getting hurt). That freed Ken up to hang with Echo and me to sleep in a little longer (much needed).

Ok, totally the night before but that is the toy car we got with the dolly, she almost fit loll.

Baby brown eyes

But, once we got our lunch started (steamer and rice of course) it was time to make a run out to Target (some school supplies) and Cub (for Pepsi). I was in need of glue and this time a proper duotang with the prongs for the paper’s holes, not just a folder. I am trying to piece together what we need immediately as the plans to send Ken and his dad up for the rest of our things are not concrete. I miss my workbooks and fun games and items that we have collected over time. BUT we will find ways around the gaps and create something out of next to nothing, I have done it before… 

On the way back we stopped at another park… this is one we visited 3 years ago with Steven and Quinn. It was a lot of fun, there was a pair of girls there already (that looked to be twins) to play with a little and the day was nice and not too hot. 

Echo put got that far and realized the bar was ROUNDED and that was that

Emanuel on his own!

Zander showing off

Then it was back to the house for lunch and naps. And by the time we woke up from our naps (those that did) Nana and Baba with Joe’ family in tow were back from camping. Joe and Faith stopped in for a bit and then left Gabriella and Zachary here for an overnighter. So of course the kids had to take advantage of the time spent cleaning out the tent trailer to have a go at playing in it. 

Babies

Sitting around hanging out

My girls

So a slight alteration in our homeschooling plans for Monday morning. Concentration is always compromised when there are extra kids in the house, especially ones who do NOT homeschool. We DID try to mail our letters on Saturday BUT the post office nearest to the house is only open until noon and we got there 45 min too late. 

Oh and don’t forget the two HUGE garbage bags of outgrown boys’ clothing Darcy sent home with us after the baseball game. It is the reverse of how things were in Canada and a big change… to not have to worry about clothing for the boys! YAY! Thank goodness in storage there is a stockpile of gifted items for Trinity to grow into! We just need to get them down here… Logistics and time! 

Ducks in a line