Tag Archive | Ikea

April in a Photo Fillled Overview

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!20180401_090321

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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.20180402_200813

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Plenty of time was spent at the YMCA.IMG_20180419_205310_708

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April was still a snowy time. We took full advantage of the snow whenever we could this year. At least the girls did.IMG_20180417_104322_680

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I kept myself busy crafting as usual.IMG_20180403_220936_496

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Rainbow blanket for me!

Rainbow blanket for me!

Neko-Chan remained heart tuggingly cute.IMG_20180425_090630_335

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We kept our progress going with school, of course.20180426_100035

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Trinity and Emanuel continue to wow us with their growing karate skills.20180412_193449

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.20180413_135435

Enough for snowmen and forts and fun for hours.20180417_110325

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Trinity built her own Great Wall of China, out of rocks.IMG_20180420_161549_075

And we pulled out bikes and scooters.IMG_20180421_183451_648

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Breakfast at IKEA was snuck in, we even came home with a free plant!IMG_20180422_132910_869

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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!20180423_120843

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I even managed a visit to see my niece Maevowyn. I am biased I know, but she is such a cutie.20180429_135736

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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

Embroidery for American Revolutionary War

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Just a little late sharing but… we always make a bit of a fuss. I know that we should show love and affection year round, which we do. But it is nice to reinforce the need to SHOW this emotion with a month of careful labeling of Valentines, discussion of how to show we care and a slough of themed worksheets! Which I will share some links to, of course. 

We have a few traditions we do each year. Pictures in red and white clothes, of course.20170214_122440_HDR

A red and white lunch… this gets tricky as I don’t like to make the same thing every year. This year I splurged on Swedish pancakes, strawberry jam and chocolate from IKEA, heart shaped cakes, strawberries and whipped cream, those awful candies with words on them and pink lemonade. IMG_20170214_130615_849

IMG_20170214_130635_510We spend half the day crafting. This coincided with our once a year (at least) request to decorate t shirts. I don’t force a theme on those but let them go wild. This year I picked a new set of rainbow thinner point markers and Gavin proved that they were a rather smart buy. IMG_20170215_143640_481

IMG_20170215_143548_948IMG_20170215_143509_831IMG_20170215_143404_263IMG_20170215_143439_011With older kids now (oh my the twins are 13!!!) we are able to leave them to their own devices from time to time. So Ken and I made them walking tacos and rented the movie Storks for them, snuck out and went to Khan’s Mongoli Grill for the first time in FOREVER. We ate way too much and had a lovely time. 20170214_192146

IMG_20170214_211646_946IMG_20170214_211738_753When we got home it was time for cake! Yup, full on spoiling of the kids this year. 20170214_205718

20170214_205818Ken and I didn’t really exchange gifts. He says I cheated because I made him this heart.IMG_20170214_214506_906

I had to laugh as earlier in the week he offered me some shopping on Amazon. It just happened to show up on Valentine’s Day. So BAM my present. IMG_20170214_113502_611

The kids got some Valentines in the mail, and exchanged with each other. We put the fairies and Hello Kitty Aunty Holly sent us out for decoration and had to have a fashion show of the new tops from Gammie.20170214_151028

All in all a fun day! I just hope our mailed Valentines make it to everyone. Poor Ken had a few trips to the post office this month!!! Now for the worksheets!

Activity Village has a whole section for Valentines – they have gone to a pay format but it is so worth it HERE

My collection that includes past years choices on Education.com HERE

EnchantedLearning (also pay for) HERE20170214_210130

 

Now November

Hmm let’s see… November… AMERICAN Thanksgiving, a visit from Nana and Baba, full on fall weather, school, the beginning of the Christmas countdown. Because Nana and Baba were there in the right time frame we also saw Santa which you can read about in a previous post.20161123_162137

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Beach towels from their travels

Beach towels from their travels

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Not only did Nana and Baba take over the cooking and make a full on turkey dinner BUT the Novaks also joined us! The kids were beyond excited to have the 4 boys over and we adults had a great visit.img_20161124_231211

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Echo chose our seasonally coloured cake. I baked it.

Echo chose our seasonally coloured cake. I baked it.

And the twins decorated it.

And the twins decorated it.

20161124_173601Ken and I snuck off after Thanksgiving for basically a second honeymoon. For the first time in over 12 years we went out overnight WITHOUT kids. We went to a B and B that Karyn and I had visited previously in Wisconsin (different room). We hung out in our awesome room.

20161125_161515img_20161126_213308img_20161126_004401Went out for a delicious dinner at an old mill.img_20161126_004425

Dressed up for a dinner out.

Dressed up for a dinner out.

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20161125_18300220161125_191718Shopped at an amazing yarn place.img_20161126_134823

AND drove out of our way to an even more amazing wool place.img_20161127_131241

Oh yah I spent a little

Oh yah I spent a little

We even stopped in at a brewery for a tasting for Ken.20161126_144504

20161126_145307And visited the capital building.img_20161126_155637

It was AMAZING.

ALMOST like back home.

ALMOST like back home.

It really was as good as people say!

It really was as good as people say!

Breakfast

Breakfast

Wisconsin = cheese of course

Wisconsin = cheese of course

NAP

NAP

The weather went from sundresses and sunshine to snow and snowboots.20161110_133413_hdr

img_20161103_165205img_20161109_152440img_20161118_202542img_20161123_093838We spent plenty of quality time at the YMCA.img_20161129_001509

img_20161114_185445img_20161116_19221020161112_113929And Ken and I went to an open house at Shandai and Ravyn’s new digs.20161112_155802

We found time for Home Depot.img_20161106_002011

Crocheted in spare moments.

Cat butt coasters!

Cat butt coasters!

Fingerless dragonscale gloves.

Fingerless dragonscale gloves.

Hats for cats!

Hats for cats!

The girls had their nails done by Nana.img_20161129_184624

And the twins pitched in with some baking.img_20161129_123128

We decorated our tree. img_20161130_164329

And watched our local black squirrel run our yard like a boss.img_20161107_180213

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img_20161102_11400320161110_114009Can you believe we even found time for schooling.img_20161104_141811 img_20161108_155520img_20161115_160111

Prepping the Christmas countdown paper chain.

Prepping the Christmas countdown paper chain.

20161130_141557And a visit with the Schwartz family!img_20161118_234013

A trip to IKEA had us well lit and the girls in new beds. img_20161106_001855

img_20161106_231021November went by in a blink of an eye. But it was a fun blink!img_20161111_130831

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Christmas decorations at the YMCA

Christmas decorations at the YMCA

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