Well July was certainly a month of company. Not only did Karyn come for a visit (HERE), but so did Jeff and Shawna! We had so much fun. This was our first time meeting Shauna in person (well, everyone except Ken) which was so exciting.

First off… Shawna’s a wizard at doing hair… and Trinity loved it, Echo also got her hair done. 

We had a few planned outings. First off… the long delayed trip to Fort Snelling. So much to see on a beautiful day. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The other big trip was all the way to Wisconsin and Ren in the Glen. It was the kids’ first renaissance festival. Much more affordable than the bigger on Ken and I go to yearly, but just as much fun. Shawna did Trinity’s hair for her and I lent her one of my sari skirts.

Echo pulled out all the stops with her fairy wings.

We had a blast.

Grandpa Mike sent each of the kids some money to spend. Trust me those purchases were VERY carefully considered! I do believe we will try and go again!

Unicorn fairy!

The rest of our visit was spent just enjoying everyone’s company. We ate out, ate in, drank a little, went all out with a late night booze fest. It was amazing. I cannot wait until they visit again. Shawna even came to a R.I.P.P.E.D class with me!!! Talk about adventurous! Who knows, maybe before too long we can return the favour and visit them back home? Fingers crossed!

BW3!

Yup, still back tracking and going. But as the temperatures decrease enjoy my review on the days warming up. Hopefully NEXT year I will stay on track… maybe?

April was Easter of course, we did our usual church and such but the day was mostly spent with the Novak’s. You can see Easter HERE. It was a rather busy day but so much fun!

April turned out to be the month when we got gifts from Canada. Grandpa Mike sent us 5 matching beach towels! With how much swimming we do, this is one of the best gifts ever! And matching means I know exactly which towels are ours.

Plenty of time was spent at the YMCA.

April was still a snowy time. We took full advantage of the snow whenever we could this year. At least the girls did.

I kept myself busy crafting as usual.

Rainbow blanket for me!

Neko-Chan remained heart tuggingly cute.

We kept our progress going with school, of course.

Trinity and Emanuel continue to wow us with their growing karate skills.

And when it rained we brought out the umbrellas and got out groove on that way. It was rather funny, it snowed, then melted and rained and then dumped a whole bunch of snow on us again.

Enough for snowmen and forts and fun for hours.

Trinity built her own Great Wall of China, out of rocks.

And we pulled out bikes and scooters.

Breakfast at IKEA was snuck in, we even came home with a free plant!

We did fun science experiments with eggs, did you know that if you leave one in vinegar for long enough it becomes bouncy! Until you drop it from too high a height!

I even managed a visit to see my niece Maevowyn. I am biased I know, but she is such a cutie.

April always seems to be a little more crafty and a lot of fun for us. Don’t forget to check out Trinity’s birthday HERE (Which I managed to also forget to post), and that was April!

Embroidery for American Revolutionary War

So we have placed our feet firmly into 2017. January has come and gone (and at this point February is quickly going the same way). But what, exactly, did we do in January? Chinese New Year fell on January 28th this year. You can take a peek at our celebrating of the start of the Year of the Rooster HERE. We had a wee bit of snow, but nothing exciting…

The only snow structure we managed to make!

OH! We helped Darcy celebrate her birthday with dinner out and cake.

This meant we also got to see our godson Anthony play indoor soccer (they won, as usual).

I spent A LOT of time at the YMCA.

This in turn meant the kids spent A LOT of time at Cluby.

Slightly out of season but someone donated house kits for the kids at club.

Waiting for swimming lessons.

We took our Christmas money from Grandma and Grandpa Mike and spent it on some new clothes.

Even luckier than the clothing sale… a pretzel sale!

Did lots and lots of learning. Mostly in the sunshine on the floor.

Completion!

Cousin Robbie came for an overnight visit.

And I crocheted up a storm.

Yarn was purchased and a hat requested… not half bad!

Snuck some cross stitch in here too.

Ken, Renee, Chris and myself all went out to Matt’s Bar for Juicy Lucy’s.

We also visited a rather amazing display of quilts… I wish this one had photographed better. It was amazing.

Flat Stanley came to visit as well.

It was a rather social month, but it was also a very education heavy with as much time spent outside as possible. Even from simply looking back at the images I have collected, I feel we started the year off positively. Smiles, friendship, knowledge and fun. What more could I ask for?

Church down the road.

Emanuel is growing his hair out to donate!