Well Friday was a whirlwind sort of day. I sent the boys off with their swimsuits, towels and sunscreen (all labelled accordingly) to their last session of VBS. Ken had to go back 15 min earlier than usual to see their final celebration and hear all about what they had learned. I opted to keep the girls at home to simplify things AND give me a bit more time to clean up before they came home with the groceries we needed for the evening’s bridal shower at my mom’s.
In our new church
With their freezies
Because the boys had a special event on their schedule (with treats and everything) Trinity and I had a special event all our own. We waited until Echo went for an early nap and (leaving Ken in charge of the house and baby) set out for a walk to the convenience store. We of course stopped at the tree out front for a picture first.
In front of the the tree --- she had pockets you know?
We totally lucked out with a sale on the individual bags of potato chips. 2 for 2.00. So Trinity and I each picked a bag and then Trinity picked the size of the slurpee… and the flavour. She was SURE we didn’t want the smallest one and that it had to be BROWN (Pepsi). She was adventurous to even shyly wave goodbye to the attendant. That called for pictures again on the bus stop bench that is on corner in front of the station. Echo woke up before the boys came home so it was more fun in the sun in Trinity’s room.
Stopping for a sip
Together with our booty
As last minute as usual Ken and I had a few party preparations to accomplish before heading the almost 30 min away to Karyn’s work and dropping off Trinity, Echo and myself. Ken had cookies to make (which morphed into a chocolate cake thing instead due to time constraints) and I had veggies to cut. I am actually rather proud of myself, with the melting chocolate Chris and Chris had forgotten here and all the stuff I HAD TO take to the party the only thing I forgot was the dip for the veggies (a 3 cheese ranch salad dressing). Turned out that was fine as there was tons of food anyway and of course, Trinity could easily graze at the veggies without the messy dip.
We had to be out the door before 3 to meet Karyn by 3:30. We did a switch over and Karyn and I took the girls and Ken and the boys headed off to the town’s splash park which is about a block from Karyn’s work. Apparently A LOT of fun was had by the males in the family while they enjoyed the water.
Water...
...water...
...and more water
We drove down to my mom’s around an hour and a half away with a stop off first at the local baby store to pick up another Sprinkles sized small diaper cover (she really is firmly out of the newborn size and that has been causing problems when we haven’t been right on top of the laundry) and some more flushable liners (FINALLY! They make poopy diapers so much easier!).
In Aunty Karyn's car
Finally onto Grandma’s house and the party. Mom had everything set up in her basement so it was simple enough to go in the side gate and into the backdoor. Trinity was so excited. Not only did she recognize Grandma’s house right away but she also go the whole place to herself and a playmate to boot. A neighbour from mom’s previous house has a sweetheart of a daughter named Kristie who gave up her evening to come play with our little ones (she is going into grade 7 in the fall! AND has just added me as a friend to Facebook… she is so sweet!). I am so thankful she was there to help out with the girls or I would have been way more distracted and not able to join in on the conversations. I am still in a little shock though that she is old enough to be in grade 7, I think when I met her she was in like grade 2 or so! Where does the time go?
Kristie and Echo
The Bride
While we were at (she) Chris’ bridal shower Ken and the boys were home with my cousin Elizabeth getting the boys’ haircut. Of course Ken got pictures of the boys and the hair… but sadly none of the cutting OR my cousin! BUT I am told they had a blast with her and desperately want her back for a visit or MORE haircutting. Emanuel is already asking when his next haircut will be!
The hair...
...and the cut! Thanks Cousin Elizabeth!!!
Part of the bridal shower was a face, hand and foot spa. It was interesting and luckily not more than a mild irritation with the stuff I put on my arms… it was a brown sugar scrub I think. BUT the face stuff did not cause me any issue, she used the sensitive line. (she) Chris had won the event at a bridal show. The brand is called BeautiControl. If you are in the Edmonton area I have the consultant’s information if you would like to order or have a party. She was very nice (and homeschooled for 10 yrs… she said she would do it all over again in a minute!). It was fun. Even Fat Sheep got in on the fun!
Fat Sheep in on the fun
Oh and I have a tutorial on the gift Karyn, Trinity, Echo and I gave (she) Chris… it is a different take on hanging pictures in a frame, we are calling it a Frame Picture Hanger. An idea Karyn got from a gift she got from someone else… First off you need a frame (empty no glass), some florist’s wire, tiny clothespins (Karyn thinks she got hers from either Michaels or the Dollarama) and some screw eyelets.
The supplies
First you are going to want to figure out how your wires are going to go… since we had a relatively small frame to work with we decided on the one vertical with multiple horizontals. And then with a pencil you mark where you are going to screw in the eyelets.
Make sure you measure the inside of the frame...
All of the eyelets in and ready to go.
Start with the vertical eyelets and string your wire from one to the other, making sure it is taut. Next start with the horizontals… tying the end of the wire to one eyelet string on a clothespin by going through the hole in the spring.
Sorry the image is an odd colour... but you can see how the clothespin is put in
pull the wire taut and twist around the vertical wire to make sure it is sturdy, then add another clothespin and tie off at the corresponding eyelet. Continue for the rest of the wires…
You can just see how we twisted it around the vertical. It should be nice and taut so that when you place the pictures it doesn't sag
And there you have it… a fun and different way to display your smaller pictures! We cut down pieces of cardstock to 4X6 and wrote a little note to the bride before we put it in our gift bag!
So cute!
Today has been much more low key. I have spent a portion of the day going through the boxes Ken brought back on his final trip from the old place… some interesting finds… quite a few of the crystal pieces we received for our wedding were in one box. Also 3 tea cups from my PARENT’S wedding set that I apparently wrapped up in 2003!
3 cups
Seriously 2003!
I found the little china teaset I got as a little girl with ALL of the pieces, although a few are chipped (I did use them a lot).
A special find
And for some odd reason the top tier of our wedding cake – it was foam decorated in icing with the roses and everything. As lovely as it was (and to a certain extent still IS), the colours are dull now and we have to let it go. The woman who did our cake did an amazing job with the decorations… and it was neat to show the boys it. They recognized that it was for a wedding and I had to explain how old it was and they were a little put out with me that I was tossing it.
Top tier
I had a couple items to put onto Kijiji as well, a dress and some knitting supplies (I simply have too many crafts on the go to concentrate on learning how to knit right now). I am hoping to continue with some downsizing and sell some of these items but it really is an exercise in patience!
Karyn had a run in with her cat and a very lovely orange leather purse… pee was involved as was a very upset Kitty Owner. So since we had some great cleaning solution we could lend to the cause and of course soft shoulders to cry on she came over in the afternoon. She was in need of a feel better poutine and Ken was not in any rush to run out and do my minimum errands so I was the lucky person who got to run out with her. I got an amazing deal at Walmart due to someone messing with the pricing on the school supplies area… 2 boxes of 64 crayons (Crayola brand and all) for 1.00 a piece (supposed to be 3.00 each!). And then 4 of the lined paper scribblers at 15 cents each. We are at the end of quite a few of our books after the mass amount of creativity shown during Jimmie’s visit with lined drawings.
All for LESS than the price of one of the boxes of crayons was supposed to be!
And then there is the ribbon from Michaels that is normally 1.00 that I got with my 40% off coupon. I am debating using it to add a sash to the back of one of Trinity’s old party dresses. It simply will never be tight enough on Echo for her to wear without it… but it will depend on how it looks… I may need to go back to Walmart and go hunting for a good satin ribbon.
So pretty
I picked up some poster paper from Dollarama (best price I have found yet – 2 for 1.00) so that we can finish our VBS time with a lovely poster with the pandas and such the kids have been making at home – after all the theme this year was Pandamonium. For some reason the poster pages I did have went missing somewhere in our move.
We have been attempting to decrease all boxes in the house today as well.. more books on the big bookshelf downstairs resulted in another empty tub… things sorted into smaller piles, and more room in our room. There are still a few more boxes and buckets in there to be moved but we have some rearranging to be done first. I really am going to have to break down and post my boys’ clothing from newborn to current for sale… they take up so much room.
We had another issue with the neighbour boy trying to come in without telling or asking me first. He was pulling on the gate to squeak in by pulling the gate and the bungee cord until there was enough space to slip in. I told him the kids couldn’t play – we were supposed to be going out soon as a family after all. He wanted to know when they were coming back to play and I told him we didn’t know and then ZANDER told him to come over tomorrow… again without asking me. Today’s conversation has been a lot longer and more intense than the last. I want him to have to talk to ME about playing not my children and the kids to stop him from coming in period without my knowledge. We are also going to change the latch system (from the bungee) so that it is harder for the kids to access it. I won’t stop them entirely from playing with him but it has to be on MY terms.
Don’t forget about the boys’ final VBS drawings! I made sure those were done today too.
...and Day 5
Tomorrow I am to go to Lauralee’s with Echo and have brunch and then out with at least the girls to check out the city hall gardens downtown. I plan on dressing Trinity up of course… and maybe Echo as well. Of course Fat Sheep will be there to enjoy the greenery. It should be fun and potentially (but very importantly) relaxing which will be nice before I have to truly focus on finishing up the cleaning!
A close up of Miss T
Echo in her funky flower headband... Thanks to Hooked On You .... the link is on the right side of my page!!
