Friday did not end with us coming home. For myself, Trinity and Echo there was a girls only weekend with Cousin Veronika to begin. Ken and I decided it was best for Echo to go to Veronika’s where there is more space and a quieter atmosphere while she got back to 100% again. Yours truly was in GREAT need of a break from the stress that has become our end of the month. Of course I will share THAT adventure after I catch this blog up on our medical saga.

I was home a little over an hour, called my mom, started sorting through a few things to continue on for use during the weekend before Veronika made it to our place.  I had prepacked most of what we needed anyway so it was rather easy to gather everything up and head out… with a stroller and playpen of course. 

Our first stop was the grocery store to pick up Echo’s baby aspirin and run through our instructions with the pharmacist. Apparently the way we are using the aspirin is really the only way you use it now a days.  Then it was on to Veronika’s for supper and hanging out. RELAXATION (once we drug all our stuff in) was just what we all needed… time with Trinity, watching Echo get used to walking around again… sitting around NOT worrying… it was so nice! We really didn’t have much planned for the weekend but lots of fun and time without the stresses that are present in my home right now. 

The only plastic cup in the house!

Stretching those legs!

That night Kathy came to visit with a new old boardgame for us to try. She lives 10 min or so from Veronika’s so the drive was very short for her. We hung out and watched the new Muppets movie with Trinity first and then it was time for games and snacks. Good company, positive company was a balm for the soul really. We stayed up late visiting and hanging out after Kathy left. 

I think it was called Fullhouse. It was made in 1979 and was a hotel based game, great fun and not too hard to learn!

Of course that meant ECHO was up SUPER early… and now that she is completely mobile no sleeping on the floor for Mommy. But that was ok, as we made sure to make time for a nap in the afternoon.  Saturday we went out to the grocery store for free cookies from the bakery and a ride in the car shaped shopping cart (oh and groceries). It was so much fun watching the girls turn the little steering wheels and Echo cover herself in cookie. 

The awesome cart

The amazing cookies

The reason for the outfit change (and this was BEFORE she finished the cookie, it got worse!)

The rest of Saturday was relaxing… of course the nap mentioned above, snacking, bad tv… all the wonderful things in life. Lots of girly time!

Wandering pre grocery trip

Learning the iPad from big sister

Post cookie yoga?

Followed by serious colouring with the favourite cousin

And passing out on the couch late at night

Sunday morning we headed over to Kathy’s to visit with her, her brother and her kitties. Well the kitties were a little nervous but we will win them over. I am supposed to pet sit at her house in June so we are visiting when we can to work on getting to know them better. 

More colouring at Kathy's

As an added bonus Trinity got to make cookies with Veronika, the premade dough in a tube kind. We tried no name brand – total yum!

Baking of the cookies

NOMS

The weather went a little icky Sunday with more snow… so we came back to the house and had naps and tv and and and… repeat process.

Baby in the house

Then onto Monday and a slight change in plans – story time at the Indigo Veronika works at. Well we didn’t make it much through story time but Trinity had fun playing with the toys. We decided to shop the next day as the weather was even worse… snow and rain and in the morning fog. Of course a quick stop off at the grocery for cookies first! 

Screw the books... they had TOYS

And trains

But Dinah was more fun!

We spent another quiet evening in the home. Trinity got spoiled with a chocolate cake in a mug. 

Spoiled little girl!

TUESDAY was shopping day… Trinity opted NOT to go to storytime but we wandered enough that when we came around to the bookstore to shop there was CRAFT time! So of course Trinity sat down and partook. It was a Scardey Squirrel themed event (we have some of those books thanks to Karyn) and we even got a poster to take home!  We had lunch in the foodcourt… Trinity had KFC that she shared with Echo and I went for A&W (I do so love their rootbeer). It was fun to just sit and chat and people watch (one of Echo’s favourite activities). Then back to shopping.

Enjoying the mall

Which had some cool decor

With the best of cousins

Stopping only for lunch

We found a cute dolly for Trinity at the Buck or Two for 3.00, I got a pair of pjs on sale for around 5.00. We checked out the Sanrio store that was Hello Kitty heaven but decided against purchasing. Instead we stopped at a Dollarama where we bought some bits and bobs. It was fun to get out and do a little guilt free shopping, though I wish I had been able to find a book or two! 

With dolly - 3.00!

The plan WAS to head home Tuesday night but after calling Ken and finding out that there really was nothing for me to do back home to help with month end’s drama and the calmness that was right where I was… and a cousin willing to drive me home the next day the plan changed to Wednesday. Sometimes the vacation doesn’t have to end… well for one more night at least. 

Darling Dinah

Wednesday actually showed a slight change in pattern – Echo let us sleep in until 8! Veronika was long gone for work for the day so that left us some time to get working on her laundry and boxing up some items (she is moving by the 15th of April). A last half day or so of relaxation and avoidance before returning to the chaos. 

My yellow girls

And a little more iPad

Trinity (and myself really) did NOT want to go home… she was in tears when we pulled up to the house! BUT once she saw Daddy it was a little better. The rest of the evening she had to tell me how much she missed Veronika. (I think she actually missed her more than the iPad!) It was so surreal to walk back into the chaos and noise after so long away. 

Zander had lots his two front (top) teeth while I was gone! (and Echo grew in her bottom left from center tooth!) They had watched a TON of tv, played games with Daddy (Zander asked the tooth fairy for nothing more than more time with Daddy! He wrote her a letter and everything I am told!) and got utterly spoiled. So we all had a bit of fun that week! 

So very glad she is up and walking again!

I have had some free time… GASP! And that has led my mind down new thought paths… One of the main ones is the question of whether or not I am where I should be right now… Is the life path I have taken the right one? Well, after careful consideration Thursday night (while Echo was loudly proclaiming her dislike of ANY movement Trinity made on the bed by her playpen) I came to the realization that I AM. It is definitely NOT the EASIEST path, rather more the road less traveled… but it is right for us. When I think of all the decisions I made (well Ken AND I made) that seem to go against the norm – having our large family, homeschooling, choosing to stay in Canada and get Ken his status, the list goes on and on… well they are all ones I do NOT regret. Life would be pretty bland without Echo and Trinity, without homeschooling adventures and our travels finding our “forever town”…

Hmm there is also the wonder of leaving 4 boys home ALONE in a house full of things… things they could leave on the floor… toss around and generally NOT clean up… I actually had to call Ken this morning to confirm he was aware of a Kijiji pick up (we really cannot hear our doorbell from the basement – a huge issue at times!) and leave him a list of things I forgot to mention before leaving on MSN. I am so the list maker and Ken is so NOT. 

We had a rather quiet day Friday – up at 6:55am (ouch), we missed Veronika leaving for her shift at Indigo. After copious amounts of cartoons while mommy ATTEMPTED (and I mean ATTEMPTED) to nap on the floor there was breakfast, toys and more cartoons. Finally around 11 am Echo was crashing so I got in a bath that was MOSTLY uninterrupted. After all Trinity is without the bulk of her siblings so more bored than she normally is. Apparently the moment Mommy went into the bath the boredom level skyrocketed! 

Echo LOVED the open main floor... so much to check out - note the door behind her where she would open it and yell down to Dinah the kitty

Trinity is officially a whiz with the iPad… she was teaching Veronika to play her favourites and in turn mastering the ones that were already loaded and running. The Snoopy game had a picture taking option, so of course we had to take one and email it to my computer!

Snoopy Kiss!

Hello Kitty!

We had a rather exciting milestone for our baby girl on Friday… she has mastered the stairs. I love Veronika’s stairs, they are completely carpeted and not too steep. Trinity was right there to cheer her on and I took a little video for Ken to see as well. She is growing up so quickly. 

Taking a water break... I will have to share the video once I get it to Ken

We had Kathy over Saturday night for games. She lives a short drive away in the city so it was an easy trip and she was able to stay SUPER late! Two new games in fact – Puerto Rico (which is very similar to Settlers) and Dragonology(based off the book, which I have at home!). Kathy hadn’t played them in ages so it was like we were all beginners. I think she plans on bringing at least one of them when she visits at our house next.

Puerto Rico Game

Dragonology... complete with bitty dragons!

With all 3 of us sharing a room and Echo playing the light sleeper Trinity got to stay out on the couch until super late... took her a while but she did conk!

Saturday was our shopping day… I had a decent budget for the day (around 50.00 plus a gift certificate) and Trinity had her 4.00 of saved allowance. We started at Indigo where I was NOT able to find the books on my list, but I did find two books. The one on the left was suggested reading by Veronika. 

Two of my new books

It was surprisingly difficult to find something in Trinity’s price range that she wanted, so we compromised. She used ALL her allowance and my snowsuit Kijiji money and got herself a bathtime dolly… shower included! It was on sale for 30% off! 

With a little working shower

I picked up some Christmas themed hand sanitizers at 3 for a dollar! (regularly 2.00 a piece), but the big deal was on my new winter coat… H&M had them marked down from 50 or 60 dollars to…. FIFTEEN!!! It is longer than the one I have, so warm and … NEW! I have not had a new winter coat in over 3 years… so this is a BIG deal to me. That also means that next year all I have to buy is new winter boots (another one I have not replaced in over 3 years). 

So CrossIron Mills outlets was worth it. Veronika works at the Indigo there as well. I think if I had had more cash, more interest and another stroller we may have wandered more but as it was we had fun. It wasn’t too crowded either. 

Trinity and Veronika spent part of their Saturday evening creating lovely bars of sweet smelling soap. She was so excited to pick the colours and scents and be a part of the process. It is an amazingly simple and CLEAN craft to do… as Veronika says, easy to clean up – it cleans itself as it is all just soap. 

Soap making stuff

Working together

Lots of pretty soap... I think Trinity may be gifting some out to special people!

Sunday was lovely and relaxing… we all lay around in the livingroom until almost noon watching cartoons… there was laundry to be done, a cat to visit with and of course the iPad to enjoy. Trinity got to the point where when it was  time to leave… well of course she didn’t want to. To be honest it was VERY tempting to just try and extend our vacation… but there is so much to do here at home AND bloodwork for me to have done on top of that. 

Relaxing kitty

On the way home we stopped off at a Chapters here in town and got two more books (one actually on my original list) and then it was home. Well… home sweet messy home! Apparently the 4 days I was gone was gaming palooza! Thankfully they maintained a level of clean that wasn’t horrible, but a wee bit worse than I left it. The fridge empty, the kids wild on games and Sean and Ted here! So they had company to boot! I didn’t get to see the guys for very long as of course they had the drive back in winter weather for work today but it was great to get the time I DID get with them! 

Monday was back to normal… well as normal as you can with boys wound up from gaming, girls not used to being home and Mommy feeling unprepared. Karyn was over in the evening so we FINALLY ducked out and got the much needed and well lamented poster paper… they were OUT of white! (seriously first time ever) but I was able to get some lovely yellow for our Chinese New Year poster. I love Dollarama. I was also able to get the AAA batteries I need to replace in Emanuel’s SleepyBird AND the reading pens for the kids’ books that Trinity is in love with. Oh and don’t forget some lovely Valentine’s Day themed ribbon… I figure our girls could each use a new hairbow! 

Ribbon

Gavin and I worked on making the Chinese word for prosper according to the education.comsite. The template did not seem to print out and I thought this would be more fun for Gavin – trying to recreate what he sees somewhere else. I think he did a great job! 

Careful copying

End result

I do wish we could have made it to an event but at least we have learned some new things! And I got another book to read them tomorrow… this one is a story more than a factual book but it should be interesting. 

Karyn is entering into a contest to go to a conference for work and part of that is making a video – apparently cuteness is a positive so the kids did a part for her today! I have to admit I was proud of them saying their sentence! I had to take a picture!! And then Trinity wanted one of just her and Echo! 

My Fab 5

Just the girls

Even with the mess and the frustrating children today it IS good to be home… that is not to say I would not have liked to stay longer! Girl time sure feels nice, and Veronika’s home is so bright and cheerful with exquisite company. Trinity has spent most of the day and evening talking about going back and what she wants to do with Veronika. I am so spoiled with such a lovely cousin!! Definitely someone who feels more like a sister! So now it is time to try and clear up a bit, after all we have a poster to make… AND it IS Tuesday tomorrow which means – LIBRARY DAY for the two little ones! First one in over a month!!! YAY!

Baby playing with a baby!