Tag Archive | Jamie

Ending the Week, Thank Goodness!

Short update on my dad – they are keeping him in hospital one more day. They are waiting on the second operation to ensure that the artery they dealt with now is working fine. Everything is being dealt with in a timely manner and apparently dad is back to his usual humorous and loving self. My stepmom was sweet enough to send me a picture of him in his hospital bed with a smile on his face and the phone to his ear!

I love listening in on my kids… at naptime Trinity and Emanuel had to go potty… Emanuel wanted the fan on but NOT the light – to save electricipy… and Trinity was sure you can’t pee in the dark. So he explained to her how important it was to NOT turn it on and that he was fine in the dark (with the door open of course!). And it is an added bonus to realize that he actually UNDERSTANDS  that we need to conserve things like energy (do need to work on his pronunciation for electricity though!).

Emanuel gifted me with a rainbow on a rather cloudy day

Some time spent on workbooks and the concentration for schoolwork was out the window. I think starting with a clear and fresh week on Monday will make things much easier. I will have to buckle down and get my research done. I have fallen in love with my tiny wolf in red ridinghood’s hood… he has a tiny banquette and cherry pie in his basket.

Hard at work, and willingly for the most part

Which had me moving right onto my Samurai Cat… I haven’t determined a favourite Feltie yet… and after these still have a few more to go. I either have to buckle down and do some colour changes on two of them or get shopping. I am thinking once I finish one of each I may just start making some to gift away!

...and done!

I finished up a scrapbook page today as well – this was just a put the pictures on a pre done (by me) page… for Emanuel’s book.

Going to the Fort

I have continued my downsizing of the no longer useful and or necessary. One of those was a bit of a twinge to put up on Kijiji – the classic Winnie the Pooh wallpaper border I had bought for Emanuel’s corner of our room. It just never got put up or used in a craft project and with Echo being… well Echo… they just aren’t her. I figured 10.00 for 15 feet worth was a good price and maybe some other baby could enjoy the classic images. I got it from Target of all places!

I have yet to face the mountain of boy clothes I have to sift through to donate, Kijiji, Freecycle or toss… I did creep into the utility room where they are to sort out a bit when I was making room for the connecting up of our internet and phone… there are more containers than I remembered! I know I need to keep any little sweater vests for my cousin Veronika (in case she has a boy someday)… she is quite the fan.

My evening has been spent mainly working on Samurai Cat and the last of my fuzzy sock owls. I actually did a re-do on the cat’s head I was that unimpressed with my first attempt. I am down to the last few, really I am but then comes the fun part – making them for OTHERS … and photographing the ones I have.

A wolf in disguise

We think we may have an idea as to what is wrong with our printer – it MAY be as simple as the toner in the black being about out and just not registering as such. We DO have a spare cartridge so it is not the end of the world. I did manage to get some things printed with a decent quality.
But my day has been quiet and now I need to end the evening the same way. I hope to Skype with dad tomorrow and the kids are clamouring to do some more crafts… Maybe Gavin is ready for another stitch?

Taking the little ones on a walk

What a goof!

Deep Thoughts on a Warm Day

The countdown has truly begun down in South Carolina… That is where my stepsister is preparing for her upcoming wedding. Yesterday Ken sent off her gift from the siblings up here, I will post pictures AFTER the wedding of it (I am REALLY hoping it makes it in time…). I know I really would have loved to go down to be a witness to the events but they announced their engagement when I was either pregnant with Echo or had just had her and we were quite aware of the financial impossibility of my flying down there with not only Echo but Trinity to boot (there was talk of her being a flowergirl). That and the issues connected with travel on multiple flights alone with two kids… the 3 of us needing some place to sleep, transportation AND help with the kids. All things that would have been greatly complicated with the festivities. I am still hoping to have the whole family packed up in an RV and driven down there sometime in the next few years. We could go from here to Saskatchewan (my grandma and her family), to Minnesota (Ken’s family) and then down to South Carolina (my dad and his family). Of course that is a dream for when we are settled in our new place and have had the time to save up money for things like gas, RV rental and of course food. It would definitely be an adventure. I have been promised photos though!

I have been dealing with a lot of confusing feelings in regard to life in general, plans of the future and decisions from the past lately. But Ken put it all in perspective for me recently. I was talking to him about someone else buying a house… and how we have no plans to do so in the foreseeable future… he reminded me about how we had “planned out” our lives, how our plans for the future did not start and end with home ownership. In fact, most of our plans would be hindered with owning a home. When we married we made our decisions with eyes wide open. We wanted our babies before too long as we wanted a large family and the youth to enjoy it… after all our plan was to be done having babies before Ken was 35.

We have a definite wish to travel. There is the BIG dream – 2 yrs in Europe that is not yet attainable, the want to be able to visit all those family members I mentioned above. Add to that Ken’s personal dream of working for himself and having a corporation with close friends (a goal he is actively working towards daily). We have wanted to homeschool since before we even started trying to have children. With all the ups and downs our goals are not impossible and are exciting and personal. I look at homeschooling as my first attainable success. While the kids have their days of utter stubborn refusal to do as I please, we ARE succeeding. We are succeeding at OUR life and OUR goals and that is what is important.

Comparing lifestyles, goals, possessions, even children seems to be a common occurrence and one I really want to avoid. Take Echo for example, she is our pixie… while we want to be sure there is no underlying (and changeable) reason for her low weight we love her as she is. Her sweet little smiles, her miniature stature when she sits tall on her own… all the bits of personality we are seeing more of every day. But so many people are quick to say — compared to so and so she is SO TINY, or when is she going to look like that baby over there. If we take what the doctor says (she is fine just doesn’t gain quickly so lets test and see but otherwise NOT worry) and love her for who she is isn’t that better than sitting her down next to the other babies and trying to make her fit the mold? I in now way want to avoid the knowledge of something potentially wrong and maybe treatable but as her mother I am also fully prepared to continue as we have been and just love her dearly.

Hello Kitty!

We are now midway through the first week of May… I swear the days have just zipped by. Today all 4 kids worked on pictures and cards for their god-mommies and grandmas… the lucky things have THREE grandmas to love, and Trinity has TWO god-mommies… as does Echo… who is NOT working on anything right now but will send out BELATED photos 🙂 I just need the time and the ability to get to Superstore to develop them. I tend to go to the FisherPrice site to get our cards to colour and this time found this neat “Make Your Own Mom” set up. Very cute!

Colouring for God Mommies

Zander did another page for his Fat Sheep and Mommy story. We have mapped out the rest of the story so that he now has 3 more pages to  do by Friday night to get it completed on time.

Zander's newest page

Gavin finished a paint by numbers he got for Christmas. His paints that it came with were dried out so he made do with what we have here… and made a bit of a mess on himself, the table and somehow his sister’s hair! Go figure… I swear Trinity is a magnet for mess.

Paint by numbers

We made our cookies though I am not sure if I miss counted my flour measurement (I was on the phone with She Chris AND the kids were saying random numbers AND I had a half cup measure instead of the full cup) but we had to add a few tablespoons of milk to the batter to make it… well batter. BUT I had the shortening to use and I didn’t have the butter. So it was a nice recipe to try out. And of course, the kids aren’t complaining. It was just the twins and I who made them this time. I figured doing it during naptime would speed the process and give Trinity and Emanuel something to wake up to. I got lazy towards the end and made a HUGE cookie.

I had the boys circle words they could sound out on their own off of the recipe

Giant cookie

With lovely weather they have spent a nice amount of time in the backyard running out all of that excessive energy. The boys are slowly sorting through all their toys back there to get rid of any broken ones. I thought it would be a one time quick thing but apparently it is not. Oh well, as long as we are tossing things and packing others it is all good.

Playing in the backyard

We decided to jump right in and give Echo a piece of crust. She seemed to enjoy it, well playing with it more than anything, but I am trying to expand her diet and put in some more fat content objects. She absolutely LOVES the Arrowroot cookies, but really, she can’t have too many of those. I think one of the other kids slipped her an extra one yesterday because today has been a nasty poopy baby diaper day.

Bread crust... yum

Today was the first dinner outside for the boys, something they have been dying to do since the first signs of spring. Actually, last year they ate MOST of their meals outside whenever possible. Definitely not something to complain about. I would LOVE to have a full set of patio furniture to do the same. Maybe next year.

Supper outside

I have started the pre cleaning for moving now as well… specifically the stove, deep cleaning the burners (and probably lining them all with foil), cleaning cupboards I have now emptied… that sort of thing. I do love it when there is a visible result to hard work!

Now to get in the groove with the backstitching I have to do on the ongoing, pack another box, and hopefully get 5 mins of quiet, idle time. I can dream right?

Kitty for the win!

Hello Kitty!

With the improving weather we were VERY excited to see sunlight. I did up Trinitiy’s hair and put in one of my new stacked bows and took some pictures in one of the front windows. We did still get MORE snow last night and it is not exactly warm at -19 (Celsius) but better.

Trinity with bow

Ken made the executive decision this morning to call Public Health and reschedule our 6 month shots for Echo. Even with the warmer weather he figured (as long as we could reschedule relatively soon after this week) it would be better to wait. So she goes NEXT Friday at 2:30 pm. This is AFTER we had them rescheduled from last week’s appointment where the nurse able to administer immunizations was home with the flu. We did, however, (finally) measure her length for her baby book – we got 24 3/4 inches. In two months she has gained over 2 inches. It is hard to believe she started at around 18 inches back last August!!

Echo's eyes are changing colour!

So last night Echo was a bit fussy around midnight, it was better to feed her, change her and then put her to bed and wait her out. This left me with some free before bed time and with the laundry folded and the new cross stitch begun the Cricut was calling out to me. Before I knew it I had made up some kitties, a sun and a cupcake and now know which colours I wish to have to do more.

Hello Kitty

Writing about stitching, I have gotten a decent start on the new pattern. I am looking forward to the finished piece. This one should be a relatively quick stitch.

A start

Supper tonight was one of my favourite recipes – beef and gravy – my step-mom’s recipe. The recipe was in a previous blog entry HERE.

Total yum

Now back to Reading Week – We had FOUR books today… all of them courtesy of our favourite librarian/Aunty Karyn. The first one was a bit of “girl power” – The Princess Knight. A terrific story about a little girl raised by her father the King to be just like her brothers… until she turned 16. When faced with that she turned the tables on everyone.

Zander's is on the left

Next was a cute story called Hamish the Highland Cow. He REALLY needed a haircut!

Zander's is on the left

Third was by a favourite author of mine (Robert Munsch, a Canadian) and was titled Giant or Waiting for the Thursday Boat. Based in Ireland about a giant and St. Peters.

Zander's is on the left

Ken read the kids the 4th book… Anthony and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. All about a little boy who had a HORRIBLE day.

Reading with Daddy (Gavin in blue)

Zander's is on the left

Tomorrow we will end our week with a couple more “Karyn picks” and one more Robert Munsch favourite of mine. Our Reading Week has got the boys back to sounding out words, talking about pictures and creating some wonderful pieces of art. I think I will do this each year and save the sheets as examples of their growth in printing, creativity, imagination and artistic ability.

Zander and Gavin out in the snow