And… we jump forward a month! But I figured I really needed to first of all congratulate our friends Cory and Karen on their BEAUTIFUL wedding on June 14th. I have a few pictures to share.

My hair was done at the Regency school for hair etc… I LOVE IT!

The back with the addition of my own black rose hairclip.

Ken was a groomsman so… TUX!

I hope I held up my end of the stylish bargain. Gotta look good with my man in a tux and NO KIDS

Two groomsmen (Chris and Ken) and an Usher (Matt)… and PAD??

Gorgeous Maid (Matron?) of Honour… Renee!

Still waiting around

One of 2 ring bearers… Evan! ADORABLE

Resting before the ceremony (you can just see the groom at the end) with Usher Anthony (standing)

I have a few from the ceremony but the camera did not like the ambiance and I really had a bad angle. Everyone looked amazing! (I will of course share any official photos I get my hands on eventually!)

Sitting during the ceremony… gorgeous bride !!!

I only knew the bride and the MOA so I really did lean towards pictures of my boys!

Saying their vows

We lucked out and though it was a rainy dad we had the sun peek through during pictures at the farm! And a special thank you to Darcy and Andy for watching our 5 kids to simplify our time out at this special event!!!

Moving the trailer (for pictures) all dressed to the 9’s awsome

Anthony on the tractor

It was a little chilly when the sun came and went BUT the menfolk were sure it was too warm!

Anthony, Ken and Matt resting at the bride’s folks’ house between pictures

Gorgeous

Total gentleman shared his coat between pictures

There were lots of creative shots but I was too busy giggling at the menfolk and their jokes or helping where I could to take pictures

Ken took this one for me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress.. the era… it was so fun!

The reception was a blast. I ended up with the adorable ring bearers (Evan and Nathan) and their baby brother (Jeffrey) and their grandparents with Ken at the head table. There was gaming buddies to finally meet with wives, fiances and children. So much fun! Also a photo booth (Ken and I took some pictures together which I have but yet to scan and Renee and I had a go too). I have to admit to cutting loose and drinking for the first  time in a decade or more! So not too many pictures, just lots of memories. 

Thanks Renee for this picture!

Though Father’s Day was a rather sedate one (as Ken requested) I want to thank all the special men in our lives here who have willingly taken on the responsibility of  being a part of our children’s (and our) lives. There is no way we could have as rich and amazing a life without all of you there to share it! So a special thank you to Baba, Grandpa Reinsch, Grandpa Mike… and our God Daddies – Andy, Cory, Alan, Nathan and Scott. Thank you so much!!!

And for the 16th of June – a date special specifically to Ken and myself – we happily celebrated 13 amazing years of marriage. It may not have all been roses and sunshine but with a man like Ken to love and hold onto it has been a ride to remember. I cannot wait to experience all the many decades we have to look forward to. I love you dear!!!! A special  thank you to Cousin Robbie and the lovely Alicia who watched the fab 5 so we could get out without minions in tow!

Indian food on recommendation of Shandai… AMAZING

Of course these are just the photos off our camera (and a couple thanks to Renee)… I have one or two on the camera… but I will share those later. Sorry about the massive amount but I had to share!

And of course, it would not be an event if Ken did not take ONE of these!

July 2-3

With only 2 days between Canada Day and Independence Day it was go go go to get our lapbook work done. But first… we had a CANADIAN lapbook to complete. We found our printable for the national anthem HERE thanks to Kidzone. Most of our printables came from Actvity Village HERE.

Very basic but we all had a hand in it

We also built our large Canadian puzzle. Sadly we are missing some pieces but nothing massive.

With the knowledge of papermaking firmly under our belts we took ANOTHER go at it. I am not sure how consistent we are getting but I do know that we are having HUGE amounts of fun doing it!

We have a rather amazing neighbourhood here. On Father’s Day we had a large ball pop after rolling into the road, well on the 2nd the man who was driving the truck came over, apologized and brought the kids ANOTHER ball!!! All I could say was, this was NOT necessary and THANK YOU for confirming that our babies did the RIGHT thing. There was NO running into the road, NO chasing the ball and LOTS of paying attention. I am one proud Momma!! And my babies are happy with TWO large balls (we had gone out and bought another the next day ourselves.).

Sean and Ken also moved the playset as it is to the backyard. There has been some great progress on it!

Echo has been working on what she calls “e”s.

The day before Independence Day was a great day for random crafts with the kids doing their paper craft creating while I was in the tub. I got out to some lovely themed items!

And then…. SURPRISE a visitor… well TWO! Bree and Lily! They had an errand near us and the yen for fancy coffee. So we ran the errand, got the coffee and then visited at the house while Bree made some necessary calls.

PHOTO OP!!!

No, seriously, LOTS so enjoy!

I love how they were yelling at each other

Yup, with Sean already here we had ourselves some new visitors… I got a relatively kid free outing and some awesome coffee… and the kids got their American info rolling. Not bad not bad.

June 19-20

Father’s Day is over, so now it is time for our move into Independence Day studies. The kids really did not know much about… of course me either. We had Sean asleep on the couch in the basement and Nana and Baba doing their thing in the kitchen as they are suddenly close to their next Mexico vacation (2 weeks). So our location of choice for our half day of learning – the sunroom. Luckily if you go in in the morning the room is not too warm, we opened the windows and turned on the ceiling fan and enjoyed the morning sun.

Gavin and his cursive

Zander and his calligraphy

We have a few books to read, some handouts and all. The twins are each doing their own little lapbook and then Emanuel and Trinity are combining all of their as well as  the joint stuff from the twins in a third. This is our first with any sort of individual books in a while.

In the meantime Echo ran rings around us in her party dress of the day.

Juice break

Which was also the party dress for the next day!

With schooling in the same place.

The boys took a break and watched Animal Planet with Uncle Sean…

And then the main event… babysitting Lily Bean for a few hours that afternoon! Sick kid at the sitters so we lucked out with our own bonus baby.

Tummy time (we try to be conscientious sitters!)

Echo was rather put out that she woke up to ONLY baby and not Aunty Bree. It did  take me a bit to realize that the main reason Lily didn’t want to settle and eat was that the house is rather chilly with the A/C on… easy solution… go to the sunroom!

And then naps until Aunty Bree came to pick up Lily!

With my best helper ever

Trinity was over the moon with the entire situation, except the bottle feeding which required a special nipple to mimic breastfeeding and demanded a specific angle to latch.

And then before they left… we attempted the ROLL! ATTEMPTED.

Pesky arm in the way, maybe next time?

Babies make every day BETTER! Especially our bonus borrowed gem Lily Bean! Thanks again Scott and Bree!

Kisses

And a smile to end on