Punishment is a complicated thing in a house with 7 distinct personalities (well more like 6 but I will explain that later). Start with Echo, rather SKIP Echo, she is still our little baby and not an issue insofar as punishing purposefully naughty behaviour. That leads us to Miss Trinity. She is certainly a girl with a temper and had been known to scream, cry, pout, and when it comes to Ken (and only Ken!!) lash out! But when in meltdown mode will take HERSELF off to her room to cry, calm down and come out to apologize! So if you can withstand the initial storm and stay strong (we have friends who just can’t in regards to her! Seriously, a 2 year old can total break grown men in this house at times!) you are pretty much home free with her.

Emanuel as the next oldest and middle child can be a bit more of a challenge. He is stuck in a rut right now of everything he DOESN’T want to do being “too hard” or will “take FOREVER.” Disciplining him is still a relatively simple matter (though I have to admit that he DOES go out of his way to start things when he is tired or has missed a nap), put him in his room on a time out and he does have a fit, but he comes out apologizing and NOT repeating the mistake that got him into trouble in the first place. Still it is hard to believe he is FIVE…

Now the twins, well here is where the difficulties begin! Gavin is a VERY sensitive boy, errors in his schoolwork, being told something is not done right put him to tears. He is always shooting for a level of perfection, which is something we are constantly trying to combat. Not that I DON’T want him to do his BEST, but I do want him to realize that perfection is not the level we shoot for. Putting Gavin into time out means he is completely mortified, he spends that time generally quiet and has long ago realized that a silent boy in time out gets to come right on out when it is over. I do worry about how sensitive he is, not that he should NOT be, but that the world is going to be a difficult place for a boy so concerned about everything and everyone! (he takes after his Mommy with her tears and wishes to please everyone)

Ok so back to the SIX personalities in the house – consider Zander or as I like to call him when he is in a nasty mood – the Ken clone. The look on his face, the attitude, the stubborn need to BE RIGHT and GET HIS POINT OUT… it is so Ken. I think that is why Ken has the most trouble dealing with Zander. The two of them go at it full on the same way which means they simply bump heads. Zander at the age of 7 still seems to have missed the point of time out – he will go in wailing or simply talk and talk adding minutes to his time. Gavin has even tried explaining time out to him to try and help him out but our stubborn Zander refuses. Though I must say this stubborn and strong attitude is great in other places. He is wonderful with his siblings (when in a good mood) and can be very direct when you need him to be. BUT disciplining him is never simple and never easy. Yesterday he got sent to his room for the afternoon after refusing to listen and follow instructions and then picking fights with everyone he could. First he spent about 30 min trying to scream the house down and then after Ken went down and talked to him spent time in his room calming down and reading books. That evening he came out much more responsive and willing to TALK about his behaviour and how he should deal with things.

In the wake of the Zander grounding I sent the other 3 mobile kids to the blue table to use glitter glue, Valentine foam hearts and Valentine foam stickers to make whatever they wanted. We did pretty well on the mess control until they got into the loose glitter. Even then we were able to clean up relatively quickly and I am pretty sure Trinity is glitter free today!

Glitter and stickers

Gavin and I worked together on a pretty major dot-to-dot… this one went from 1-105! And then we coloured it together. You can print your own copy here.

Fancy dot-to-dot

Yesterday morning we packed everyone up and headed to the Michaels free activity – making paperbag puppets (supposedly Valentines Day themed but we let the kids make whatever they wanted). It was an odd time to have scheduled a craft activity in the winter. In the middle of the week and in the morning. Even the girl in charge of the session was confused. But it was nice, the store wasn’t crowded so we were able to sit right down and get crafting and then afterwards give Trinity (who is always first done) some freedom to wander around with Daddy.

Trinity's puppet

As usual Gavin took the longest and it shows! Can you guess what his is?

Gavin's masterpiece

Zander and Emanuel had fun making theirs as well. Emanuel went all out with markers to make his “snowman” and Zander’s had a portrait of yours truly on his!

Emanuel

Zander

Last night I spent the evening quite industriously. I FINALLY managed to put aside time AND have Ken help cut the pieces of tulle (he is amazing at cutting the strips neatly and quickly) and finished the tutu for our god-daughter Anna. I am VERY happy with how it turned out. Hopefully I can get a picture of her in it or at least take one myself.

Tutu!

We finished our last Chinese New Year craft today! The rocking rabbit. I figure we will leave out display out until the week after Valentines Day as we have combined the two holidays on our holiday wall. It feels good to complete all these projects ON TIME. Though we have decided to postpone our zoo trip to see the frogs until the following weekend. We have way too much to do with our frog lapbook and I don’t want to rush it! Today’s story was The Frog Prince. I printed out a version of the story from the UK site. Though I am still out of colour toner so the picture was in black and white. We will include it in our lapbook so we can come back and read it again later!

Rocking rabbits (Zander left)

We got the call from the glasses place today, tomorrow Ken and Zander will run in and get the glasses adjusted and hopefully brought home! It is going to be an adjustment, I am not sure how flexible they will be and I know he is going to be frustrated at first.

It is frustrating at times, this point in our lives. Not the kids or the schooling really, just the getting back on our feet (still) since Ken was sick. Nothing is instantaneous and of course starting to work for yourself is rarely quick and easy. Like I mentioned earlier he is SWAMPED these past few days BUT we won’t see any of the extra money until the month before we have to move. Now don’t get me wrong, money then will be needed and helpful but right now it would be useful too. Ken keeps reminding me that we are doing well, and each month is getting pretty consistently better. At least there are the positives to reflect on at the end of the day – we ARE doing better (WAY BETTER) than this time last year, the boys are learning new things every day and bringing their siblings along with them, I am still married to the love of my life, I have 5 children… FIVE! and best of all – I have the family I always dreamed of, even with all the frustrations and silly arguments. So you know what? Life actually is pretty darn good!

Toy in hand

Happy Birthday Zander and Gavin! February rivals December for this family in degree of busy. And now we have added Chinese New Year into the celebration mix. It is still VERY difficult to grasp that the boys are actually SEVEN!

Gavin and Zander age 7

To add to the excitement today we went to the city centre mall and saw the Chinese New Year festival. It was very busy and crowded but we had fun. We watched some kids drumming.

Drumming

Caught a little bit of the girls with the fans (very pretty).

So graceful

And then let the kids do a craft if they wanted to. Gavin and Emanuel each wanted to do a craft so for 50 cents a piece they got to make a bunny. Emanuel’s was an origami piece and Gavin’s a paper plate bunny.

Origami bunny

Bunny plate

Zander wanted to do a game so the kids did the sure thing – spin a wheel for 50 cents a spin. Zander got a lollipop, Emanuel a bookmark and Gavin 3 tickets that he traded in for a bouncy ball. Trinity kept busy pushing her baby around (this is, right now, her favourite dolly.)

Walking baby

Echo spent the time in the carseat as she really didn’t fuss and slept through half of it!

Playing with her toys

Then after the festival we ran by the eye-care place to get Zander’s glasses ordered. Definitely more pricey than Walmart but the eye-doctor was very exact and careful to figure out exactly where the bifocal line needs to be on his glasses. After the coverage we have (thank goodness we have some) we have to pay 80.00 out of pocket. Not as bad as it could be as the entire cost is closer to 300! He is VERY excited about the glasses, though I am not sure how excited he will be when he HAS TO wear them. They should be ready sometime next week. So I am postponing his and Gavin’s yearly picture until AFTER we have them. I did do up Emanuel’s this evening. I will share some of them tomorrow to get general opinion of the best to post on the wall!

We got some not so great news in regards to the boys’ birthday party today. Ken’s dad is in the hospital right now with a blood clot in his leg and apparently a few other places. He is going to be in for a few days and then they will put him on blood thinners. If those don’t work it is surgery to remove the clots. So definitely not a good situation to be flying in! We would love to have them here but of course it is best if they remain in the states where he is being observed and taken care of. So hopefully we will get good news in regards to his health in the next couple days.

We had TWO special meals for the boys today. As the twins have to share their day we let them choose lunch (Gavin) and supper (Zander). Gavin wanted pizza so we stopped off at Little Caesar’s for pizza, and Zander wanted dumplings so he picked some up at the grocery store. I tried my best to hint around at lasagne but apparently that is only MOMMY’S favourite meal.

Pizza for lunch

Dumplings for dinner

While the little ones napped we brought out our new projector and the twins made themselves a giant frog. They traced it together (a definite lesson in taking turns as they kept blocking out the projector with their heads) and then chose the colours together. I figure we will put either pictures from their trip to the zoo to see the frogs or have them write things about frogs on the top part of the paper. Zander did our first day of frog observations and of course we had some hopping in the livingroom.

Frog

We even squeezed in a Valentine’s themed craft… called a Sweetheart Collage. I explained how to do it to Gavin and Zander and then they taught and helped the younger two.

Finished hearts (Gavin right)

Now with a house to clean, and winter clothes to collect for the boys (they are going sledding right after church with Daddy tomorrow) we are definitely going to keep busy tonight. And Ken still has to run out to Toys’R’US to get Emanuel’s birthday present! Where did the day go?

Our version of the red envelope money - chocolate loonies and toonies!

I know I am. Something that has become more and more apparent to me after Ken got sick back in 2009 and as the children have grown. Now while I am mentally aware of this increasingly obvious character trait and how it can be detrimental, emotionally I simply cannot avoid it.

This has worked in my favour, I am a pro at being sure Ken is still on the road to better health now, I have caught little issues with the kids before they become huge, and I am able to manage the busy life of a house with 7 people in it. But… and this is a BIG but… I can be utterly useless at times as well.

When it comes to money worries I… well… worry. Which is less than helpful as I am not the one making the money in this family. A worry will catch me unawares and niggle on into my brain and stay. I find that my first response is the same as my response to good-byes, amazing news and sad movies… to cry. That over and done with I drive Ken MAD with questions and plans and hopes and the little bitty worries connected to the original worries. Following me? And yes this is where we feel bad for Ken. Cuz while I mean well he goes nuts!

This also occurs with issues with the kids; Echo’s weight, Emanuel’s heart murmur before we sorted it out, the twins’ speech or the original lack thereof until they were pushing 3. And while I come up with great plans it tends to weigh heavy.

So I have come up with a personal goal. I want to work on having my cry, making my plan and then trusting on the solution and the work we will pit behind it!! After all, Echo is now gaining weight, Emanuel is far from dying, the twins won’t STOP talking and Ken is working super hard to pay of debts AND balance that with remaining healthy. Sometimes I need to have faith in more than just my religion and relationship with the amazing man I call husband. Worry has it’s place, I just want to enjoy life while I worry like any loving mother does. Now do you think that balance is possible? I would love to hear other’s experiences and opinions on this!! If nothing else so I don’t feel so alone.

Beyond the worries I think we are doing rather well. I am still keeping any shopping to a minimum. No buy date on my Cricut yet. We are finding numerous free activities or activities that utilize the Leisure Pass we have until end of April fir the kids. I have come up with more design ideas for sewing and made gifts for friends and family I am proud to give. Who knows, maybe this time next year we will be amazing in all facets of our lives! Now there is a goal… To do like Dr. Who told Rose (wow how geeky of me) – have a fabulous life. How can you go wrong doing that?

It looks like we have one more bitingly cold day before we see some more kid friendly weather. Our new old van really does NOT like warming up in the winter so we bundled up for our trip to Grandma’s. That is the main reason we stayed the night. Ken did not want to drive home with the kids on one of the coldest nights of the year. It gave the kids more time with their Grandpa Mike anyway.

Playing Legos (Gavin red)

Ken and I got out without the kids to do some pre gift searching for the boys. I want to spend as little as possible as usual but still get them what I want to get them. It is almost a game, can I do it so far UNDER budget that I have money to contribute back to out debts. So far their beds were nicely under the 200.00 each I had set for myself (we have waited beyond when we should have really to get them their own beds due to all the arguing at bedtime).

Gavin and Zander and Echo

This has put me back a bit on the Chinese New Year book the boys were making. I had planned on spending today putting together what we already had done. Ken finished our firecrackers Sunday night (or was it first thing Monday morning?) and I hung up the numbers 0-9 on our Chinese New Year/Valentines wall. Nothing fancy this year, I am hoping from now on we can build our decorations stash.

Firecrackers

In the batch of items my mom sent home with us we lucked out with a Grade 1 Reading workbook based on Mr. Dressup (if you are unaware of him you are most likely NOT Canadian! Anyone else remember The Friendly Giant or The Polka Dot Door?). With Zander needing to take some time once he has his glasses (something we are hopefully ordering tomorrow) and has to catch up with his Math comprehension still I think I may hand this book over to Gavin. Or at the very least photocopy and share. Most of the English workbooks we have straddle 2 or 3 years which makes it hard on Gavin who wants to just keep going and gets VERY frustrated when the book goes to a point he simply can’t yet understand.

New workbook

We have a new toy to try out as well. Mom came across this at work – a Projecta Scope. If it works as it says it should I am sure we can find a multitude of uses. I know the boys would find it fun to trace out something bigger on their own!

New toy

I had the kids start their wood/marker craft I bought at Michaels. There are 4 ornaments for them to colour and then glitter glue. I limited them to two each (out today so as to have something more to do later. I do believe Gavin wants to give one to his Godmommy (my friend Christine). He is VERY interested in his Godparents and asks about them and makes them things quite faithfully (that reminds me I have to put together a belated Christmas envelope (etc) for him shortly. I think he recognizes how special it is to have two people who are HIS and not have to share them in the same capacity as he does all the other people in his lives.

Finished pieces

We start our frog unit tomorrow. I have a whole selection of links to share and plan on doing that tomorrow. We are doing a single lapbook as a family to cut down on printing and to work on working TOGETHER on things.

So tonight I tidy, work on cleaning up my laptop and hopefully take a break from worrying! Again any suggestions or stories from your own experiences would be TERRIFIC sweet readers!! Hugs to you all.

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