October 5-6

Can you believe it, we got ANOTHER set of instructions to draw!! The kids are so excited every time I start the printer and are starting to expect it to be new instructions almost every day… our newest addition – ZOMBIES!!! Both of the twins were immediately dropping everything to draw their own! The results are terrific as usual!

ZOMBIES!!!

I have to admit, I paid for the extended version of an app as well! We got the full our 80 level Perry the Platypus game for our iPad. It was only 99cents and Gavin especially LOVES it. There is a little more to it than Where’s My Water and of course it has the added bonus of characters and voice overs from Phineas and Ferb the show. (a favourite for our family off Disney Channel) I have become VERY strict on the gaming with the kids and removed the computer time from our daily schedule and put the iPad use down to every other week. I am hoping to put it back into our schedule but it is hard to let them get very much time before they start bickering or making it the be all and end all of everything. Our time without electronics has fostered so much creativity in all of the kids…

We just really try to push those books!!!

We did, however, do one of our all time favourite time consuming craft – paper chain making, in the wonderful Halloween colours of orange and black. All of the bigger kids worked on them but in the end I think Emanuel and Trinity were the proudest! 

Working CAREFULLY with the stapler

So very very proud

Saturday our plans did not go off perfectly. Well half did, half didn’t. Our evening plans with the Schwartz family were cancelled when Christopher had a run in with a power tool. Thankfully nothing was destroyed in his hand but with a trip to emergency and the necessary seeing of a hand surgeon, well that was that on those. It actually turned out for the best as even though the weather warmed up half way through the day, our morning into early afternoon of shopping for winter gear wore EVERYONE out. There was really no energy left TO go out by 2pm and everyone (except myself) went for a nap!!

The result of industrious shopping… thank you so much again Nana and Baba

This left me free to crochet. I am actually getting quite the stack of finished pieces, adding to the two scarves is a hat, fingerless gloves, two dishcloths (Christmas themed) and most recent – a mesh hat. I am very thankful to my friend Caroline who emailed me the hat pattern. I plan on making it again with a larger mesh area, and in a different colour. Though the one I just made matches the Canada mittens I bought LAST winter.

Sorry about the fuzzy pictures… used the iPad

One of the fingerless gloves

Worn more like a snood than a hat really but I love it!!!

Not the most exciting of Saturdays but a good family together time at least and allowed us to rest up for a VERY active Sunday!!

Bedtime popcorn and movie after a busy busy day!

With our move to Minnesota we put a huge amount of distance from our playdates, friends and family… one of the trade offs to saying good bye to all those amazing people has been the opportunity to be a part of the regular life of Andy, Darcy and their 4 boys. After years with our god daughters Isabella and Anna I feel so blessed to have the chance to be close to our god son as well. 

Echo and her Anthony

One of Anthony’s passions has to be soccer and so we have tried to make as many of his games as we could this summer/early fall. He is almost done his season and won’t be back playing until the spring. Ken played soccer in his youth until an injury at the end of high school had him kicking for football to get scholarships so he is really enjoying the chance to be a part of Anthony’s soccer experience. Saturday morning there was a home game and we had a free day so we joined them to watch him play. Of course this time I forgot my camera! Which leaves me feeling absolutely naked, thank goodness Darcy had hers for us to use. 

Go Anthony go!

Throwing in

Sadly they did NOT win though they ran hard and played their best. As usual, the other kids ran to the park that was just across the green and played the whole time. That left the 3 adults (Andy was in Vegas driving truck) and Echo to watch the game. It actually ended up hotter than we thought it would be and I am rather sure that some of the kids and myself got a little too much sun! 

Pretzel Baby

After the game we ran to Goodwill to look around and do a little shopping. The kids were not able to find anything to spend their 2.00 on that we would be sure was in full working order, all parts intact so we still need to head to the Dollar Tree to do some looking for that ever elusive perfect item. BUT I found 3 books to add to our collection, one about dinosaurs, a picture book version of a part of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods, and a Halloween themed book that is a little beyond the boys’ reading ability but will be fun to read for Halloween as a family. at 99 cents a book definitely a good find! I just wish I could hunt down OUR dinosaur book I am rather sure came with us on our big move. 

Echo and Snoopy

After a nice afternoon of visiting and the kids running wild outside dinner became the next concern. Darcy and I went to Target and shopped for the meal. We got a rather special  treat – CAKE! There wasn’t too many options but we picked out a very cute OWL cake. Boy were the kids excited about that! Of course that meant PHOTO OP! Andrew was gone to scout camp so we were actually down to 8 kids instead of the usual 9! 

Kids and cake

Cake eaten, more video games and a semi cranky baby it was time to head home to bed. So while we did NOT get to our pumpkin pie on Saturday… well no one was complaining! And we have tentative plans (IF the day IS a school holiday that is) to get together for Columbus day. Not so much to celebrate but to spend more time socializing the kids and enjoying adult company! 

I had a few completions Saturday with the crochet projects… BOTH of the Christmas dishcloths are done and ready to be used when season dictates. So my first reading of a crochet pattern was a success.  The next was a pattern suggested by a learned Facebook friend as a great and relatively simple hat! You can find the instructions HERE. I am so happy with the way the variegation turned out and how it fits. I want to buy more of the same soft yarn and make more. I will have to take pictures later to share!

Sunday marked the end of our weekend and the return of Nana and Baba from their camping trip. We spent our morning ending our homeschooling project of making pumpkin pie from scratch. Trinity and Emanuel were our chief supervisors charged with being sure Daddy put the lid on the blender BEFORE it went into the oven. All in all a DELICIOUS experiment as usual! Now Monday we start our pumpkin unit. I got an awesome combo of notebooking and lapbooking in the form of a Currclick file – you can find it HERE. 

Supervisors at work

And into the oven, I would have finished pictures but it was eaten up too quickly!!

They brought geodes with them, so we all got to enjoy the experience of cracking them open!

Uncle Joe at work

Some of the results

Later, while Ken was working on the stump removal we came upon ANOTHER toad! The kids thought it was well worth some excitement. 

Toad NOT in a hole

My big goal for the beginning of the week after school work and the same old same old is the completion of our Halloween costume to do list. The twins are so not cemented on what they want to be.

So proud of our godson!