December 1-2

December began on a busy note. Our morning marked the first day of our Advent experience with Activity Village. I love this yearly event. Every day there is a print out to colour and cut and then a video to watch that is Christmas related. This is Echo’s first year doing it as well.

Colouring the Advent pictures

It was also the December Saturday for the boys’ to go back to Home Depot to do their craft. They got to make picture frames with Daddy and Baba! They came back so happy!!

Completed frames

After that there was time to get everyone tidy, pack up the bag of things that Ken and I would need and then pack the kids into the van to go to the drop off point to drop off Zander and Gavin with Joe and Faith for their first cousin overnighter. I would have sent Emanuel but he and Trinity were both still coughing and runny nosed.

TWO ponies

Instead post drop off we headed right off to IKEA. The only one in the state, for meatballs and some shopping. We decided to join the (free) family membership and take advantage of the children’s section sale item to get Echo a wonderful Christmas gift. We of course had to have supper, I do not know why I don’t pack along a ziploc bag, we always seem to over estimate how many we will eat. But I managed.

Out front of Ikea with Snoopy

Shopping went well and after paying we had our 25 days schoolwork accomplished ice cream cones! Super yum!

YUM

That night the littles had popcorn and tv AND started the countdown on our Advent calendar.

Counting down

Sunday we had the boys come home, and me go into a panic over a missing birth certificate (mine)… lots of fun was had by them, and I have a plan of action for Monday.

Nails with Nana

With Daddy sharing

Now while the weekend goes half busy half not we are definitely making progress with our gift making, learning and fun time! 

Sisters

NOTE… A gaming friend of Ken’s from his EVE game died in a terrorist attack on an embassy overseas on September 11th, 2012. We want to extend our prayers and love to his family who were kind enough to alert the guys of this horrible news. It is hard to understand WHY this happened or to really grasp the horror of it all. This is one of multiple attacks at various embassies on the 11th… he will be fondly remembered by his friends on EVE Online!

September 9-10

Ending the weekend and starting the week is always a bit awkward. Especially after an action packed Saturday. Add to that a last minute email from the company that Ken had his interview/code/tour at stating that they wanted him to revamp his code so that he could be considered for ALL of the positions he applied for (an oops on their part for not noticing the multiple applications in their system as altering code is harder than writing it that way from scratch). This did mean we couldn’t go out to meet up with the Novaks for church and then a play date. 

Yet another stick creation

Playing with Daddy

Future programmer or future soccer player?

I have started Ken’s scarf and then some but first Sunday night I FINALLY finished Trinity and Echo’s dolly blanket. Not perfect but a first double stitch piece and the recipients were very happy!!! 

Dolly blanket completed

Apparently Sunday night the neighbour across the street had their truck keyed! The police were by to see if we had noticed anything. Sadly since we spend our time in the evening in the basement where our computers, tv and comfortable chairs are so we didn’t notice anything. And, of course, Zander acted up in front of the police officer before I could even get out to answer the door. The boys were playing outside, thankfully in the front and no where near the road. Thus ends, for a few days at least, their time playing outside without one of us outside with them or at least sitting in the front room watching them play. I am curious as to why the vehicle was keyed as we cannot put all the vehicles here in the garage. 

Monday was a nice day… weather wise. I had Ken (who actually had spare time!!) take ALL the kids out on a nature walk to collect leaves and such to include in their art project for the day. After the walk they all played outside together. I think they have missed having this precious time with Ken as this job hunt has (rightfully so) taken up the bulk of his time and focus.

Walking with Daddy

My babies

Our art project was to take the found items and the bucket of newly purchased and collected items and create something. Even Echo got in on the fun, lots of glue, leaves, bits and pieces and everyone ended up with something pretty to go on display! I absolutely love having back our IKEA table and having FIVE chairs for it! 

Crafting together

Up on display

Mail today brought my Amazon order – three new books to read and review! 

THREE new books

We are super proud of Trinity today – I found her another number worksheet to practice her 2’s and after telling me she couldn’t she sat down and did row after row of 2’s. Some were a little off but WOW what an accomplishment for my often reticent learner. This one went right onto the fridge downstairs where we have dedicated the space to homeschooling bragging. I have also printed out the 3 for tomorrow. 

Working on her numbers

Our herbs are growing along… well for the most part. 2 out of 3! And since Monday marks one week of growth the twins drew pictures in their observation journals of the seedlings. If only the Parsley would start growing! 

2/3 going strong

I tried the new Halloween themed creme egg – SCREME egg… it was sweet! I find that one of those is more than enough but I swear they have gotten smaller over the years!

Cute

Green !

With Ken’s scarf on the go and the kids’ schooling to plan, I feel rather occupied and I like it! 

I am in love with the colour combinations and the 20 stitches across has worked really well with this particular yarn!

Now to continue the momentum and get the boys’ paperwork out… I will feel much better with that out and on its way!  

Trinity and I

I love a good weekend and this weekend was a GOOD weekend. Although not the conventional way to celebrate a VERY special day… as of Satutrday June 16th Ken and I have been married for 11 years! Good and bad, thick and thin we have been together and I am so glad that we have decades more to look forward to! With my pet sitting vacation set up to start on the 16th we decided to celebrate more properly AFTER I get back. Instead, we simplified each of our lives by dividing up the child care. Trinity and Echo headed into the big city with Kathy and myself around lunch time and Ken and the boys remained at Grandma’s with plans of their own. 

We had a car full of stuff to bring with us including a playpen, stroller and the necessary carseats. I am always amazed at how much I need to take when visiting people who are not accustomed to babies and small children. Thank goodness for the 1.50 booster I picked up during JayWalkers at mom’s store. 

Boosted baby

Of course we had a few stops along the way… Mac’s on the way out of town (of course… company loyalty and all that for Kathy), and then a bathroom stop at the next city. THEN lunch! A late lunch but a YUMMY one! With all the Gasoline Alley had to offer we chose a family favourite – KFC! We had popcorn chicken and fries and gravy… and another potty break.

Lunch

After that it was on to Kathy’s and the kitties… settling in took little or no time, once we got everything out of the car and in the door. Mom’s playpen is smaller than ours so takes up less room in the spare room which is awesome. Thankfully Echo is tiny so really does not need much space to begin with. Once everything was safely stowed and kids refreshed it was grocery store time. Not the best trip as both girls were cranky but necessary. We picked up all sorts of fun foods all given the Trinity stamp of approval. This week is going to be a Trinity friendly meal week. She has not been eating much lately and I am thinking that is partially due to the creative meals mom has been making us. She is just in need of old familiars. So we are definitely obliging. 

Thus she was eating Kraft Dinner at like 9pm that night but she was EATING! 

Sunday morning Echo once again reminded me of how much she LOVES early mornings… 4:30, 5:30 AND finally 6:30 when we got up. Thank goodness we had no concrete plans… Ken and the boys on the other hand had FOUR viewings to go to back where we used to live and all this on… FATHER’S DAY! I did my part by having Trinity send her Daddy flowers online (yay app), messaging my dad through my stepmom on Facebook (I do not have US long distance available right now sadly), and making sure that the Father’s Day books the kids made at the library were given to Mike and Ken. 

After breakfast, kitty time, washing laundry, changing Echo MULTIPLE times and sorting through what we wanted to do for the day (not much thank you)… it was time to head to IKEA! Ohhh it has been an age since we have been! But first Trinity and Kathy decided to take advantage of the lovely morning weather (good plan as it did NOT last the whole day) and go out front and plant some flowers. 

Out in the sunshine

This coincided nicely with a bath for me and a nap for the early bird… then after we got motivated and into the car it was time to head to IKEA. Kathy needed plastic dishes and stools for Trinity. I love love love IKEA stools. They are the perfect bathroom height. And of course to check out the food section. 

Then it was time for Sobeys and picking up the groceries we missed on our tired walk through Superstore the night before. Trinity got her own tiny cart of which she was VERY proud! 

A Trinity sized cart

After cookie club and check out it was a mad dash out to the car as the weather decidedly turned against us. So of course, a drive through Starbucks was required and Trinity got her first fancy drink from there! Strawberries and cream milkshake thing… was she ever proud! And for supper we HAD TO introduce Kathy to the world of pita pizzas… she is another convert! We even had PINEAPPLE! What is there to do after supper but a bath for Trinity and some medication (she has a nasty bug bite under her chin I noticed on Saturday and it is taking FOREVER even with the Benedryl to go down) and then bed for her with Echo following around an hour later. 

The first I noticed it... it is smaller now and not as red

That left two adults up with free time… what better to do with it than play a Wii boardgame style game?? Seriously! Add in more cherry pie (we had that the night before), white chocolate Magnum bars and Pepsi and we had a blast. The kitties supervised of course. 

Neko

Ghostly Ozo

This is actually pie from Saturday with white chocolate ice cream but you get the idea

I have to admit, not having all the boys to chase and the house to tidy and the extra people in general to deal with was marvelous. I spent some time searching the elusive rental, enjoying time with a good friend, playing with my girls and generally being more… ME! A much needed respite even though I am missing Ken a lot… I am sure he is finding life a little more relaxing without his womenfolks! 

Girls together

Ozo looking gorgeous