Well the end of the week is here and the end of the month in sight. Once again it is a strange feeling, the fact that summer has shot by (stress induced or not) and now the kids are working on their next school level. Where did the time go? Even with all the government issues, the frustration with money, Ken’s stressed out attitude and the fact that 90% of my summer plans (out of necessity) went up in smoke it was a rather good summer. We managed to go to the Little House Museum, the conservatory, a zoo, ride a city bus, a food festival, go to the park, the splash park, picnics… and oh so much more. We found a place to get fresh produce and I have become much more creative with my cooking. I actually would like to think that this summer we have set a better example for our kids. We didn’t eat out, we found affordable family activities and taught the boys how to have fun without having to buy things or spend massive amounts of money. All these things are valuable on many levels and have reminded ME that I need to slow down and assess what I do and what I spend BEFORE I do it.
I crammed an awful lot into our morning in hind sight. I had each of the boys make up a picture for my Grandma for her birthday that was this month. Zander drew a spider with its web and a heart, Gavin a purple tractor and Emanuel some cars! These were glued into a folded blue page with love for Grandma and our names. And Ta-Da instant reason to go for a nice walk!
Happy Belated Birthday Great Grandma R
We moved onto the letter C. Emanuel was still a little hung up on perfecting his car – apperently he is just not happy with the way it is coming out lately. So I helped him make the capital C on his page into a car! What a terrific coincidence that he was drawing cars on our C day!
The only real confusion what with the C is for Christ as they learned in Sunday School Jesus only. But they had a great time doing the little 4 piece puzzle and each one drawing their own picture. Gavin drew a cow, Zander a caterpillar and Emanuel a cat. Then we decorated the capital letter in there with coloured googly eyes.
Letter C
Our walk down to the post box was extended on to the gas station again. On the walk we saw quite a few things of interest. This time it was pink and white flowers that drew the attention! A nice little round garden of them.
Pink and White Flowerbed
The boys were aghast at this house with its apples ON THE GROUND! They were sure we should pick them up and take them home to make applesauce out of. Gavin specifically wanted to know if “those boys” (aka the people who lived there) made applesauce out of those apples. I had to tell him that I wasn’t sure but that I hoped so. Gavin is my apple hunter, he is very clear on what a “good apple” in the yard looks like and brings them in any time he comes across them.
Wasted Apples According to Gavin
There was a lovely more diverse garden at another house that was “oohed” over.
Summer Flowers
We walked by a large vegetable garden which had SQUASH… somehow I think we may not get any actual squash off of our plants in their tiny pots too long but being able to show them one while there was an identical flower on that plant was a great way to illustrate the plant’s whole cycle. And now this has caused an interest in us growing our own veggies next year. I figure pots and small plants so the boys can really have their own garden regardless of where we are living. It is this spontaneous interest that excites me. I love it when it is THEIR choice to do something new. It really does make me more motivated to make it happen!
Acorn Squash?
Our trip to the gas station meant goodies again – we got two kinds of chips, twizzlers and this time ORANGE slurpee (definitely NOT my first choice but they loved it). Trinity could not make it home awake though, even with her brothers stealing her binky from time to time!
Fast Asleep
Our afternoon craft was Zander’s choice this time. Styrofoam snowmen. I got out all the supplies, preglued the two pieces together and then had the boys come up one at a time and do their own thing. We ended up with 3 delightfully different snowmen. I have enough supplies to make 3 more bodies so maybe in a week or so we will do up 3 more. I am not sure how I want to have these ones hang up but I am sure whoever receives them will enjoy them! I hope.
Snowman Supplies
Completed Snowmen (Zander, Emanuel, Gavin)
Poor Trinity had an accident in Emanuel’s room and slipped on his wool rug. Smack right on the forehead! A nice little goose egg and some big tears later and she is ok. Emanuel gave her a kiss better and she had a little sit with Gavin. Amazing how time with her brothers can be so positive when they spent almost ALL of today fighting.
Hoping the Bump is Better Tomorrow 🙁
Today I made my mom’s favourite cookie recipe – Sugar Cookies. The recipe SAYS you should get 5 dozen 2 inch cookies but we used a wine glass for our cookie cutter which was bigger than the 2 inches and got a little over 2 dozen. I froze 12 for later and have the rest for snacking. It is a great recipe:
Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk slightly beaten
3 tblsp. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 375 F
Combine dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream butter, gradually add sugar beating between additions. Add egg yolk; mix well. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk; add vanilla.
Chill dough until firm. Roll very cold dough to 1/4″ thickness on lightly floured board. Cut with fancy cookie cutters (I used a round wine glass).
Back for 8-10 min on greased cookie sheets. Cool on racks and if desired frost and decorate cookies.
Yield: 5 dozen 2″ cookies
Mmm Sugar Cookies!
I also made another dozen apple muffins – couldn’t resist! Tomorrow I plan on making more apple leather, this time to freeze as defrosting enough applesauce to make it later would be time consuming. My focus now has moved from stuff to try now to stuff to freeze for later.
Before bed we managed the time to do our “o” sound – the second book in the phonics set and then the little song off the website I linked yesterday. Not as catchy a tune as the “a” one but the kids had fun with fox and box. Emanuel and Trinity are totally hooked on the “a” song… over and over and over again today! I swear last night I DREAMED about it!
Upon Request - Song Repeated
I have to say I absolutely love my time online lately chatting – Ada is a great conversationalist and has a terrific sense of humour. She filled me in on her saga with visas and such to get here. Ada is a GREAT story teller. I have been working on her Christmas gift today during my down time so it was great to work on it while chatting with her. I just hope she loves it as much as I like making it. I actually took this piece from a much larger Teresa Wentzler piece and changed the colours – 793 and 792 which are both blues to 3607 and 915 both shades of pink (all DMC). You may recognize it (once it is further along) from my dragon piece. It is really nice to have a reason to do part of that piece again!
Actually Loving the Colours!
Chris and Chris came over for D&D tonight. Weekly gaming at the end of a hard week sure is a nice pick me up. Especially with these two. They are so much fun and great to talk to! I sent them home with a batch of applesauce so I now have my large pot empty for tomorrow’s applesauce (the batch with the bought apples as well). Tonight Ken was a little too tired to play for too long but we managed an encounter.
Tomorrow is a bit of a nervous day for us – Emanuel finally gets into the heart murmur clinic for the little guys. Once a month they have the clinic so there is no rescheduling. This is to take a peek at the murmur with an eeg and then a talk with the specialist. Apparently the appointment can take 1-3 hours and they could just decide to close the file. Ken has to remember to bring up the accelerated heart rate but in all honesty it is going to take an awful lot to convince us he needs some sort of treatement. He is the healthiest of the bunch. The specialist he shares with the twins was surprise the murmur even existed as he is such a healthy child – and so big… he is about the size of a 4 yr old. So please keep a positive thought and say a prayer for the best outcome.
My afternoon should be fun. Karyn is coming into the city and Ken squirreled away enough for me to go with her to the da Vinci exhibit at the Science Center. I have wanted to go since it got here 3 months ago and it is leaving on the 7th. There is a 3D exhibit on the Mona Lisa which I have wanted to see among other things. I am not sure if I will be able to take any pictures, but I am hoping so! It has been a while since we have seen Karyn so the boys are going to be in heaven regardless!
I am hoping to hunt down some more free events to sign the boys up for as the library doesn’t have nearly as much going on over the school year (the local branch is not overly homeschool oriented). The monthly gym day we went to in the past is back up so I am hoping we can make that a regular occurance – 2.00 per kid is really reasonable. With the corn maze on the 12th and plans for continuing the park dates as well as with our signing up officially with HLSA checking out what they offer I am sure I can figure something out. Or at the very least do my best!
The silver lining is still there – just mildly tarnished and battered but I refuse to cave. I will have my cry later but for now Ken and I are working toward the future and keeping true to our children and our relationship and that is what is important.
Sharing the Love
