Life is going rather slowly still as I am sure you have all noticed from previous blog entries… Although for Ken it is go go go. I honestly do not know how he does it some days and am so proud of him. On top of the contracts he has he is also bidding on new ones (that is ALWAYS on going), hunting for a van (we were VERY frustrated when last night the one individual neglected to narrow down a time Ken could come test drive and contacted the next two on the list), keeping tabs on our new rental (who in turn contacted us on Monday) and looking at OTHER rental options (we really can’t limbo much longer) all this while being daddy and husband. He really is amazing. 

I have been personally dealing with the medical… Echo’s shots appointment for this month has been cancelled (chicken pox ANYTHING and baby aspirin = BAD) and a notation has been made on her file as to WHY her immunizations are delayed as well as her cardiology appointment confirmed. We have decided to postpone the ever healthy Trinity’s yearly check up until after this lovely patch of upset and all has been and gone. The same for planning Ken’s upcoming vasectomy (seriously we want to even THINK about a voluntary surgery right now? NOT). 

I have done some searching through the items we HAVE brought with us and was pleased to find that I DID bring the sneakers with us, it is about time to pack the boots back up in the bag! Add to the collection the Easter sandals and we are doing rather well. I also brought summer hats and the spring coats so the boys should be just fine at my brother’s.

Spring time

Emanuel's best bubble

Karyn and I had an epic adventure yesterday hunting for beer for Ken on our grocery/shopping for Trinity trip. It took 3 different liquor stores to find the specific brand he wanted IN BOTTLES. This was after we ran into Michaels 15 min before close to get cupcake duct tape AND closed the petfood store in our search for a big enough ball for Prickie Pie the hedgehog to run around in. 

CUPCAKE!

The entire evening was rather epic really… we started off with Walmart to shop for our Trinity (not telling what we got her just yet). They have t-shirts (plain ones) for just 4.00 in her size now! She has just grown out of the 3.00 size! Then it was off to two different locations in town… one for a prize I won on Facebook from RumpArounds… an awesome wet bag!!!

Wet bag!!!

And the other an awesome Freecycle find – some computer games that are educational for the boys… including Oregon Trail (seriously I played this in school… though this is the 5th edition) and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago? (did anyone else watch the tv show??)… YAY.

Then to the mall for supper (McD’s) and Dollarama (chocolate for Ken)…. then to Karyn’s to give the kitty his insulin and print off a few items I needed for Farmer Boy… of course that led to groceries, duct tape and the awesome beer hunt. All in all I had a lot of fun and it was KID FREE fun at that! 

Epic beer

Today was back to kids kids kids… though Trinity’s brothers were nice enough to make her her very own crown! 

What a crown!

Today was the chapter in Farmer Boy where the teacher has to deal with the big boys. I didn’t explain too much about the whipping that ensued but we did talk about WHY they were in trouble and what you should do to NOT be in trouble. I am hoping some of that imprints so that they think twice about the whining and fighting me over lessons. 

I can share the bows I finished earlier this week as well, I cannot wait for my clips and ribbon to get here! 

I do love the silver

This one is a gift

Another simple black

Bitty but pretty

Hopefully this weekend we can focus on some more fun time together. Ken and the kids had a run in at bedtime and that totally soured the evening. They are so frustrated right now, and with good reason… but we need them to continue to respect the adults and follow rules and instructions. 

A girl and her puppy

Hmm the month end teaser that I have been holding up for everyone … well, we are moving. And it has been one heck of a ride. Last month Ken did a check of the rental situation here in the city we live in, seeing how many that would suit our family are available (way more than when we moved here in June of last year. There was ONE we could apply for and we lucked out on that one, so the intent was to move before June to have an easier time of it) and if we could get out of our year lease early.

Remember the leak in the ceiling in the basement? Well it took FIVE DAYS for them to even come see it, they said they couldn’t find a plumber (well we were told by local friends that is ridiculous, that it had to be they couldn’t find a CHEAP ENOUGH plumber). And then when they DID come and see it they cut a hole in our basement ceiling, in the dry wall… without drop cloths or a container to hold the pieces… so you can imagine the mess that was left behind. And the hole in the ceiling that remained! 

Add to that the layout of the place simply not working, the storage being lacking and our need to be in a place with owners who are a little bit more organized and cohesive and we simply needed to hunt down a new place.

So we collected our best references and started the hunt. I think Ken had seen over 2 dozen places by the end of this month, all sorts and all over the city. There WERE a few we had to discount right away, they were in bad condition or smaller than the place we already had. We were on short lists for tons, and had one ask for WAY too much personal information before even deciding on us (that one we had to pass on as it felt a lot like the beginnings of identity theft). What has amazed me is how many places strung us along, not making a decision until the very end of the month… nerve wracking I am telling you!

I am sure over the past few weeks those with eagle eyes have seen the chaos that is moving. That is one of the reasons that going to Cousin Veronika’s was such a godsend. That way Echo had freedom of movement and quiet while healing and I had a much needed break from the mess. It was especially important as by this time I was starting to crack from the stress of the rental hunt.

Had to share one more of Miss Dinah from that visit

Ken was looking at places right up until Friday which was really NOT how we had planned things. I am so thankful for the friends and family who kept me grounded, reminding me that this could have been the same result if we had waited to move until the end of our lease time (actually more likely as there is less available in the summer as everyone wants to move then). It really is just too bad that we cannot afford the “perfect” renting scenario – the ability to cover the new damage deposit, rent at the new place for a month AND rent at the old place for a month all at the same time!

The boy with the missing teeth!

As it got down to the line the kids and myself were simply in the way. Combine that with the death of a family member for Chris and Chris in Saskatchewan and their need for a pet sitter and we were up and out of the house Thursday before noon. I packed clothing, some of the pertinent school stuff, white paper and toiletries and we headed out to sit the pets. 

I bunked the kids down a little creatively. Echo and her playpen ended up in the computer room, Trinity and I sharing the spare and the boys all in the tv room in the basement. They all were a little bored… but that is sort of the theme for most of March with Echo’s surgery and the chaos of packing to move!  

We worked on a special pet sitting project with the twins. We made a mini book for each of them with pictures of the pets, their names, what animal they are and some of the interesting things we learned about them. Gavin’s favourite animal is Duke (the white dog) which happens to be Zander’s as well. He and Trinity ended up in love with each other.

Duke and his girls

There was some excitement meeting the ferrets as well. The kids got to help feed them, give them water and even pet them before Chris and Chris left for the funeral. 

Meeting one of the ferrets up close

We had a few issues with the older cat. She is not friendly and 3 of the kids got scratched, thankfully nothing severe. BUT the other kitty – Tigger, she is a suck! So that more than made up for it. Poor Echo was confused as Dinah at Veronika’s and Echo are the best of friends. So going from that to Dria’s attitude meant she got that one step too close. 

THE Dria

Tigger

Everyone is a little keyed up from the upset, the surgery, the time away from home… and the confusion as to where home will be after the 1st has not helped. I have done my best to make adventures out of ALL the possibilities but having been in charge of Echo solely for a couple weeks has meant long days and short nights. She is a handful when you are the sole boss when she is up which leaves the evening to get things done and then she gets up so early… all in all I am EXHAUSTED!

Sharing her popcorn

The great rental hunt actually went right to the deadline! Poor Ken was checking out places right up to Friday afternoon! The man was a powerhouse, he worked his full time contracting job AND rental hunted. Add to that the surgery (which took one day longer) and my time with Veronika and he was one busy individual. I am glad to say his health has NOT suffered, though the man could use a more intimate relationship with his hairdresser and a good razor. 

The final result is less than optimum. We are the proud renters of a house… on the 15th or so of April. They have a repair to do before we can take possession. Not the best of scenarios but a relief all the same. Now to juggle the time until we get to the new place. That is one of the definite downfalls to having such a LARGE family – we take up A LOT of space! The challenge for us now is to create an adventure for the kids that will make this less than ideal situation into something exciting and new. The pet sitting book was my first go at that. The end result for each of the twins was rather nice actually, though it has reinforced that I need to work even harder on Zander with his writing skills.

Gavin working on his book

We have found yet ANOTHER of Fat Sheep’s relatives… this one lives in Ontario and is on Facebook named Sheba Sheep. Once the Fat Sheep blog is up and running again we will have to do a whole post on her adventures! The family just keeps growing!

There was some sad news to share from Monday – Karyn’s father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a little more than a year ago passed away in his sleep. His funeral was the same day and time as the one Chris and Chris had to go Saskatchewan for – Friday afternoon. She is supposed to get home tomorrow night. I am hoping that we can meet in person before we head to mom’s for a bit of our exile and to celebrate Easter as we always do. Gotta wait on that van repair (of course… seriously while the Quest HAS been good to us for the most part, it has been a whole lot of hurry up and wait on its usefulness outside of city limits). 

Now that some dear and wonderful friends have helped us move OUT of the old rental (thank you Sean, He Chris, Kristen, Fydo and Lauralee we owe you so much!) and it has been cleaned it is time for us to move on. Well try to, Ken went to call the landlord to come and walk-through and he was indisposed so that has been postponed for tomorrow. The kids are asleep, the animals resting and yours truly feeling like the future is a much brighter place. We are going to have an interesting April but it will lead to an AMAZING May! And for now, for now I try and figure out how to make life amazing for the kids with less than their usual school supplies. Wish me luck!

And one more of the cat for good measure

And so like sand through an hourglass…. oh wait… wasn’t that soap cancelled ages ago? Oh dear off topic and the blog entry has barely started!!!

Friday… what is there to say about Friday… well TONS! First off there was the getting up in the morning to small children running wild, Grandma cooking waffles (which were DELICIOUS), little boys cutting strawberries and the knowledge that at this point it would be GO GO GO. After a yummy breaky, dragging Ken out of bed to have a bite or two himself and a good bath in one of my favourite bathtubs it was time to face the reality – there were things to do and I needed to be organized enough to get them done! 

Breakfast at Grandma's

Ready for the day

The kids were content to run wild at Grandma’s and enjoy the sunshine, tv and other things… mom and I had to run to Walmart for various reasons and by the time we got back we had 2 guests… (he) Chris’ dad Dave AND a fellow gamer Jocelyn who is also American! She played on the same textual game (back in the 90’s) that Ken and I originally met on!! Though she hung out with different people. Now trust me – she is a TOTAL gem! Not afraid to step up and pitch in, and full of great ideas.  I don’t know what we would have done without her and a few other special people’s help. 

Friday morning was a lot of hurry up and wait. Chris and Chris were running behind schedule so they had dropped off Dave and Jocelyn before one was at the massage place and the other off to pick up Mae. In the meantime I had Cousin Veronika show up AND Karyn (two more people who went above and beyond to help with this event… I love you 2 so much!!!). Remember, Cousin Veronika was to do our make up – and trust me she is AMAZING!!! 

So we busied ourselves with making coffee and settling in our newcomers. Jocelyn spent the rest of the wedding time sleeping in a tent in the backyard (not the same one as the boys…), Karyn took the twins’ usual room at Grandma’s and Veronika shared with Emanuel (she got the single bed and he bedded down on the floor in the office room… which worked just fine for both of them thank goodness!). Full house with more to come that evening!! 

There was a new list to be made (did I mention Jocelyn likes lists? It IS the MacLean way to do things so Veronika and mom were right on board with that), well multiple really as there was a dinner that night for all involved in the decorating and general wedding chaos and then the last minute decorating needs… so we managed to get that pretty much done before (she) Chris even arrived with Mae.

As soon as (she) Chris and Mae arrived and (he) Chris and Dave were sent off with one list to get food for the evening bbq it was DRESS TIME! This included much groping off boobage to ensure a best fit (the brides boob shapers that were built into the dress needed to be removed), some sleeve discussion (Mae’s were a little too long so mom was there ready with pins, scissors and her machine to make pretty) and of course oohing and ahhing over the actual dresses themselves. There was some minor changes made to the back of the bride’s gown as well which were rather creative – the back is a lace up corset style but was using little metal bra hook style eyes and a thin cord for look which we simply did not trust with the amount of time she was going to be in it. So we took the cord the seamstress used as a tie and mom made that in to the loops and then raided her stash for a thicker but matching cord that even had TASSELS! Of course this meant mom was out of the running for the majority of the decorating and tied to her sewing machine for the afternoon.

Trying on the dress

We left Ken on his computer, mom on her machine and all the kids but Echo playing in the house to head over to the hall at this point – Echo was a lucky tag along. When we go to the hall there was much to do… sadly certain items did NOT make it there at the same time as us (for example my 62 bows were forgotten at mom’s and had to be gone back for) and the tableclothes were MIA until He Chris got there (which seemed  to take a long time but was dealt with in the end). We made a run to mom’s work to rent some lights and use Kristen’s lovely idea – totally try this at home – a string of lights of some sort (we used ones that were like a rope) with TULLE put over top of them – I am totally doing that for Christmas!!!

Once all the bits were collected for the centrepieces and Mae spent a massive amount of time gluing the bows onto the wine glasses and later helped with the filling of them – jelly stuff you get at Michaels with some red and clear gems She Chris got off of eBay and some black heart shaped confetti I found in a box at home (the Legion has a no confetti on the table policy) topped with a tea light I was VERY pleased!!! There were brandy glasses done the same way on the head table along with a lovely burgundy tablecloth and matching napkins to set the table even further apart.

The back of one of the table's centrepieces (taken on the day)

Again taken on the day - one of the brandy glasses

There were bells for ringing for kisses to be placed as well as the chocolates that the bride and groom made (though those were not QUITE completed for Friday… and had to be finished up that night around mom’s table). All in all the tables were lovely, even though the table number cards She Chris bought had two 3’s and no 2! (ACK thank goodness we had markers, masking tape and Mae).

Bell with Karyn's My Little Pony

The balloons we pre-ordered from the local party store were lovely and put to be at the front of the aisle for the ceremony. All the wedding colours were there – the red, black, gold and silver. (white and yellow in balloons) Very pretty!

And then for the stage where the DJ was – Veronika, Karyn and Jocelyn were very crafty and used some left over ribbons and cloth and made beautiful bows and swags. So many talented fingers and minds were involved!

Of course in the middle of all this we had to run off to stores – Walmart for some incidentals of a bridal nature, which meant SNACK TIME for a patient Echo…

FRIES

The dollar store for things for the evening BBQ… and then She Chris and Jocelyn stopped at the florist. We had a minor bridal meltdown when she was told she couldn’t see the flowers yet but that they would be burning the midnight oil to get them done. It took some calming her down but SERIOUSLY this is THE BEST flower place in  town. It is where basically everyone I know locally got their grad flowers (yourself included), my and my mom’s wedding flowers were done there… if they say they will be done and gorgeous – well they will be! At least then it came to light that She Chris thought that SHE would be picking up the flowers the next day — UH NO! So we made note (lists for the win) of where every flower was going and then made that an Usher job (thank you so much Ted and Sean!!!).

OH I forgot to mention that I have one of the best cousins EVER! There was a mix up with a bra pick up in the city that had me scurrying for a replacement and Veronika was the one who saved the day. I swear I got one of the LAST size mediums of my favourite Bravado brand nursing bra that was NOT white/ivory in the province!!! There is one store in the town she lives in that opened up before she was heading to mom’s. They had ONE left and it was a pretty pastel pink and now it is mine!! So if you notice in pictures a lovely pink bra under various shirts… well that is the new lovely Cousin delivered bra! Thank you sooooo much again Veronika!!

It was around 4:30/5 pm when we finally collected all the people (and children) needed for the rehearsal. The JP was not there (she was not paid to be or requested) so we were on our own. Thankfully mom and Veronika kicked everyone into a semblance of order and we were able to give it a good couple run throughs leaving the bride and groom happy with it all. This was my first time seeing He Chris’ brother in over 10 years actually and before that was only in passing anyway! (Sean… confused yet with TWO Seans – we called Sean the Usher OUR Sean for distinction purposes) The kids were rather well behaved though bored out of their minds and more than ready to head out to the promised Splash Park!!

Practice and you can see the balloons here

Sadly yours truly was not able to make it out there with way too much yet to be done at the hall and people to wrangle and a bride to keep relatively calm and in some semblance of organization (have I mentioned the anti list sentiments? Cuz until Friday there was tons but the lists prevailed thanks to myself and the other strong willed women in the group). BUT Ken and mom took the kids and the plural Chris’ dog Duke out to the local splash park (one of the best in the province) where all 5 of my kiddos got a chance to enjoy the water fun!

So glad I left some buckets in the van!

All 4 of the big ones

With Duke

Echo and the water

The hall was pretty much 80% done by the time we left and headed back to the house. At that point the kids were already back from the park and supper was under way (thanks to Ken on the bbq and mom manning the stove). We had more than enough for everyone and were joined by the MC Cam as well as the ushers (Ted and OUR Sean… they drove in after work and crashed in the basement for the night). Fat Sheep was ALSO in attendance… she came with Karyn and brought her party accessory as well – a lovely mob cap made by my mom.

The car was washed and cleaned up (mom’s summer convertible) and ready for decorating so we conscripted Ted, Sean and Jocelyn to finish fluffing the flowers to go on it.

Fluffers

There was a lovely sign mom made up to be tied on the back of the car which Ken took care of. Though I doubt we used up a third of the flowers that were bought. Thank goodness masking tape does not take the paint off cars (Mike contacted the dealership to be absolutely sure – smart man!). Oh and Mike’s bike cleaned to a shine as it was requested that the bride and groom take some pictures with it as well.

Sign on and ready to go

Flowers going on the car

After food was eaten and the table cleared the last push to wrap up the favour chocolates began… thankfully they were done around midnight and those who had to leave for bed went on their way. What a day! But the bride and groom seemed VERY satisfied.

Eating dinner before chocolates

With Jocelyn in the big tent, the twins in the little one, and everyone else bedded down where they either had a bed (Karyn and Veronika) or could find a comfy space (Sean, Ted and Emanuel) it was time to rest up for the busiest day of all.

Fat Sheep in her wedding splendour... early so as to be ready for the next day with minimum fuss