Tag Archive | Isabella

A Very Merry Canadian Christmas

Is  what I am told our loved ones had this year! And I lucked out, friends and family were willing to share their pictures!

My brother, my nephew and my Uncle together after Christmas building toys… thanks Holly!

The Bleau kids ready to open their presents on Christmas Day… So cute, thanks Sharon!

Jeff, Sean, Tedd and Darryl on New Years! Good memories of times like this! Thanks Sharon!

Though not pictured, Karyn sent me this picture from her time in Saskatchewan… this is her mom, her sister inlaw and her nephews!!! Oh and a puppy!

And a close up of the puppy, thanks Karyn

The parents to be Kristen and Fydo! Baby is due imminently

Not a picture but equally cool! Here is the video of Ted’s very own Christmas tree… very cool!

I really missed my time with our oldest god daughter and her family. Emanuel was also rather sad to not get his usual hugs and quality time with his god mommy. But I lucked out, the den Otters have a wonderful picture to share with us here! We miss you all so much!

Alex, Isabella and Izaac, thanks for the amazing picture Xinny!

It was super busy this Christmas for our other god daughter Anna… not only does she have a new baby sister but they also moved over the holiday. So here is the picture Ada was able to find for me. So cute! She is just 2 months older than Echo.

Miss Anna, thanks Ada

And of course we must include some images from the She Chris and He Chris Christmas. With Mae as well! You will remember them especially from their wedding!

Note the owl couple! I gave that to them last year

Miss Mae

The puppy

I want to thank everyone who send in their pictures! I am hoping to do this for other major holidays so PLEASE save those Easter pictures as well! 

Weekending It Up

With our move to Minnesota we put a huge amount of distance from our playdates, friends and family… one of the trade offs to saying good bye to all those amazing people has been the opportunity to be a part of the regular life of Andy, Darcy and their 4 boys. After years with our god daughters Isabella and Anna I feel so blessed to have the chance to be close to our god son as well. 

Echo and her Anthony

One of Anthony’s passions has to be soccer and so we have tried to make as many of his games as we could this summer/early fall. He is almost done his season and won’t be back playing until the spring. Ken played soccer in his youth until an injury at the end of high school had him kicking for football to get scholarships so he is really enjoying the chance to be a part of Anthony’s soccer experience. Saturday morning there was a home game and we had a free day so we joined them to watch him play. Of course this time I forgot my camera! Which leaves me feeling absolutely naked, thank goodness Darcy had hers for us to use. 

Go Anthony go!

Throwing in

Sadly they did NOT win though they ran hard and played their best. As usual, the other kids ran to the park that was just across the green and played the whole time. That left the 3 adults (Andy was in Vegas driving truck) and Echo to watch the game. It actually ended up hotter than we thought it would be and I am rather sure that some of the kids and myself got a little too much sun! 

Pretzel Baby

After the game we ran to Goodwill to look around and do a little shopping. The kids were not able to find anything to spend their 2.00 on that we would be sure was in full working order, all parts intact so we still need to head to the Dollar Tree to do some looking for that ever elusive perfect item. BUT I found 3 books to add to our collection, one about dinosaurs, a picture book version of a part of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods, and a Halloween themed book that is a little beyond the boys’ reading ability but will be fun to read for Halloween as a family. at 99 cents a book definitely a good find! I just wish I could hunt down OUR dinosaur book I am rather sure came with us on our big move. 

Echo and Snoopy

After a nice afternoon of visiting and the kids running wild outside dinner became the next concern. Darcy and I went to Target and shopped for the meal. We got a rather special  treat – CAKE! There wasn’t too many options but we picked out a very cute OWL cake. Boy were the kids excited about that! Of course that meant PHOTO OP! Andrew was gone to scout camp so we were actually down to 8 kids instead of the usual 9! 

Kids and cake

Cake eaten, more video games and a semi cranky baby it was time to head home to bed. So while we did NOT get to our pumpkin pie on Saturday… well no one was complaining! And we have tentative plans (IF the day IS a school holiday that is) to get together for Columbus day. Not so much to celebrate but to spend more time socializing the kids and enjoying adult company! 

I had a few completions Saturday with the crochet projects… BOTH of the Christmas dishcloths are done and ready to be used when season dictates. So my first reading of a crochet pattern was a success.  The next was a pattern suggested by a learned Facebook friend as a great and relatively simple hat! You can find the instructions HERE. I am so happy with the way the variegation turned out and how it fits. I want to buy more of the same soft yarn and make more. I will have to take pictures later to share!

Sunday marked the end of our weekend and the return of Nana and Baba from their camping trip. We spent our morning ending our homeschooling project of making pumpkin pie from scratch. Trinity and Emanuel were our chief supervisors charged with being sure Daddy put the lid on the blender BEFORE it went into the oven. All in all a DELICIOUS experiment as usual! Now Monday we start our pumpkin unit. I got an awesome combo of notebooking and lapbooking in the form of a Currclick file – you can find it HERE

Supervisors at work

And into the oven, I would have finished pictures but it was eaten up too quickly!!

They brought geodes with them, so we all got to enjoy the experience of cracking them open!

Uncle Joe at work

Some of the results

Later, while Ken was working on the stump removal we came upon ANOTHER toad! The kids thought it was well worth some excitement. 

Toad NOT in a hole

My big goal for the beginning of the week after school work and the same old same old is the completion of our Halloween costume to do list. The twins are so not cemented on what they want to be.

So proud of our godson!

A Wednesday Full of Hurry Up and Wait!

And then came Wednesday… at 6am I called (Ken was exhausted from being up late into the night working using the netbook and worried that her surgery would be forced to the following week and we would be WITHOUT sitters) the number Alan left us (I had called the night before and left a message but with something so important we did not want to wait until the 8am time Alan was quoted that she would call back) and confirmed our changes. Thank goodness Thursday WAS an option AND we were scheduled as the FIRST surgery of the day. This meant the chances of being bumped due to ANOTHER emergency was slim to nil (though we in turn had bumped someone else… there were only 2 surgeries scheduled for Thursday). 

So that changed our rules for feeding her. Amazingly enough – still no food past midnight, but now we had to be at the hospital by 6 am for admitting (of course not AT admitting as the main hospital admitting office is not open that early but to the pre-op office we went to on Tuesday) for a 7am surgery. She was allowed breastmilk until 3 am and clear liquid until 4. We were given (on Tuesday) two jars of sugar water to give her as well… of course with our juice free lifestyle for the little one that was a no go! 

This left us with a day with nothing planned… and of course the need to call EVERYONE involved with the kids so that we had everyone in the know about our extra day in the city. Thankfully (she) Chris was able to take the Friday off and Karyn and Lauralee had already taken Emanuel and Trinity to the library program Tuesday night. Karyn was willing to take the twins to her place for a visit as well! They had been asking to see her place for some time now! 

With a day free Ken had to contact his contracts to alert them to the change in his days away from the computer and take advantage of the free time to do some of the work that needs to be done anyway. We had texts to make, a few phone calls and then… well Alan and Xinny were at work, Isabella sick (and sequestered AWAY from Echo) so that left Alexander, Izaac and Xinny’s mom (she is a lovely lady though does not speak much English). A nice and quiet home. 

Sean, who is still off work after breaking his foot (his walking boot is off but it is still not 100%) contacted us and offered to take us out for lunch and some fresh air. That sounded MUCH better than sitting in the house worrying about the surgery the next day! Once Ken finished up a tiny bit of work we packed up, said good bye to Alexander (who was going for his usual half day of school soon) and his grandma and headed out to Denny’s.

At Denny's

After Denny’s we stopped a grocery store and then back to the den Otter’s where Sean hung out for the afternoon as we rested up, napped Echo (and myself) and Ken continued getting work done. Alan had to work late but Xinny came home before supper. She made ribs and Ken made mashed potatoes. Ken also ran out to get Alan when he was finally done so that he would not have to take the lengthy bus ride. 

Cuddle time with Uncle Sean

The evening was also quiet, with Ken and myself both on pins and needles and watching how Echo was coughing and behaving. She nursed at midnight and then that was it (again sugar water NO GO). I actually headed to bed (cell in hand to text with a few friends to calm my nerves) a little early and plugged everything in that needed charging. After all… Thursday was going to be EARLY! We figured I had to be up by 4:30 and Ken by 5 at the latest so we could get out the door by 5:15 and on our way to the hospital with LOTS of time to spare! 

Echo and Izaac