January 29-30

You know you have had a good time painting when at least ONE kid gets paint in their hair! Guess who? Yup, the long locked Trinity. Thankfully it was water paints and a scrub with a wet paper towel and a post paint bath did the trick, but for a moment she was channeling her inner rockstar with pinky red hair!

Time for painting

We were busy with our red and gold paint prepping the first part of two Chinese New Year related crafts this fine Tuesday. We made sure Echo was in nap before we began to limit the mess… I think in the spring when it is warmer I will throw them in old clothes, get a roll of paper and send them outside to paint and mess around!

Our completed items

I finished a quick but interesting project for the girls – cupcake BAGS! Little ones, but so cute, and while a little more complicated then say my slippers… they really are fun to make. Of course the pattern is up for purchase on CrochetSpot… HERE.

Cupcake bag

The reading continues with a daily book. I am very happy with our results!

Another book

Our Chinese New Year book for the day was a wonderful story with a terrific message of sharing and compassion. Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn not only shared some traditions from the holiday but also the actions of a child that were selfless and kind. Add in some beautiful illustrations and the kids were enthralled. Of course we made sure to make our mini book to add to our poster. I am really looking forward to the final assembly on that one.

Sam and the Lucky Money

The boys decided the snow was PERFECT for snowmen and made TWO along side the house. One of which I am told is TED!

The tall one with the hat is Ted apparently

Of course the MAIN point of excitement was not me making anything or any of the books we have read but REALLY the arrival of Ted for his week and a bit visit!

UNCLE TED!!!!

So I did NOT make the 30th a heavy day school wise. I mean, Ted vs. learning with Mommy… I know I would choose hanging with Ted so why wouldn’t they? It is so good to have him here with us again. Out of all there is to miss it really IS the people.

Hanging with Uncle Ted

With Uncle Ted came some special gifts from Alan and Xinny all the way from Japan!

Hello Kitty for Trinity and Echo to share

3 mini remote control cars

I also got some Gintama cell phone fobs. I have one on our phone right now!

I love these

There are definite benefits to being subscribed to feeds. Because we follow Art for Kids we got a free book of 10 monster instructions. Of course we had to hop right in. You can subscribe to them as well by clicking on their link on the right side of the page here.

Gavin and his

Zander with his supervisor

The kids were determined to have Uncle Ted come out and see their snow creations… the igloos and the snowmen were all examined!

Out in the snow

Of course we had to continue with our painting. Ken, Gavin and I had to paint on the symbols for the snake (thanks to Xinny). Gavin was a go getter and even took a piece of paper and painted them for us to add to our poster!

Our happy painters

Such a card

The kids also wanted to show Uncle Ted their Minecraft… It was definitely a show and tell sort of day all round.

So much fun

We rounded off the evening with the guys back the way they used to be… on the computers together laughing and hanging out. It feels like home!

Together 🙂

I am just so proud of Gavin’s brush work!

For the year of the snake

Look what Ken’s dad bought in honour of the tv show Moonshiners that we enjoy watching together!

Real deal, just less potent

So Ted is here… and it is AMAZING!

Looking at these pictures just makes me feel so… happy

January 10-11

Japan for the 10th brought out our love of kitties… It was rather fun to learn all about the Maneki Neko. It is an image we have seen all over the place in our Asian learning so it was wonderful to learn some background on it. Activity Village had a great video showing part of someone’s massive collection of these adorable cats… so of course I have to share it here! There is a second part to the series but we only watched the first one.

Emanuel and his Maneki Neko keychain

Gavin has started a new project for the month… he is creating his own Lego city, one hour a day at a time! So check back often to see the progress!

Lego town begins

Ken took the kids (minus Echo who is fighting off a bug) to the nearby park that they went to days earlier with Nana and Baba. I was told there was HUGE amounts of snow… and thankfully Ken utilized our camera and took some pictures of some VERY amazing snowballs made by our 4 creative geniouses.

The perfect snow for a giant snowball

Babies… and what looks like Ken’s thumb

They took their shovels with them, that’s my kids! PREPARED!

We got some rather amazing mail as well… all the way from TEXAS! Gammie sent some belated Christmas packages. Talk about excited kids! Echo was napping but we had to open the other 4’s as soon as we could get the paper off the boxes.

The source of the excitement

So much HAPPY! Thank you Gammie!

Of course once Echo woke up we HAD TO open hers as well! She does love a good present.

Fresh out of nap

Miss Trinity was very school focused and even got a workbook completed!

So proud!

The boys worked their magic with new instructions from Art For Kids! Snowboarders! Very appropriate with our consistent snow fall.

Gavin and Zander can be quite the artists

Finishing the week with the knowledge that Karyn will be here  TOMORROW is not an easy task. Everyone is excited. But we had to persevere. Emanuel had his Japanese unit to finish with TWO different activities… first off, the relaxing (generally) and beautiful art of origami. We made a boat, pig, jumping frog, and pigeon. We used the instructions that the paper came with our Little Passports mailing and then I used this wonderful free app as well… How to Make Origami. I think the jumping frog was Emanuel’s favourite.

Our origami

Our other and final item on our Japanese cultural week was the Daruma Dolls. We wrote down some wishes and tucked away his book that we printed off of Activity Village HERE.

Wishes tucked away

We also made a special Koinobori kite to represent Children’s Day.

Kite and box

We also tried our special snack – fruit mochi… I am not sure that the kids loved it per say but it was a fun first try! I swear we could keep going and going and going with Japan. But then again, it IS a country Ken and I are interested in. (Oh, we also shared Crunchyroll and an adorable anime this week – Poyopoyo.) We will probably also view this National Geographic photo app with some gorgeous photos of Japan called Fotopedia. I also found this Kids Web Japan site that looks to be a great resource!

With our treat

Gavin did his hour of Lego creativity… we have something amazing in the works I think!

Lego on the go

Our spelling test this time went pretty well… Gavin only had one word wrong (our) and Zander perfect score (of course one of his words was I). We are working on more ideas for the boys to keep them busier during our school day. More FUN learning like Trinity and Emanuel did with Trinity’s new boardgame! Thanks Gammie!

GAMES

Here at the end of two days I have some cute completions to share too! I think I am just loving the crochet to pieces!!! There is definitely more to come!

Miss T’s slippers

The itty bitty version

January 8-9

Poor Echo has not had the best of days… a fever and a fuss. She was up until 3:30 am in the morning crying off and on. I am hoping that now she has moved onto fever and nappy she will get better. Though Nana and Baba pitched in on the wearing out and took ALL of the kids on a walk to the park in the snow. Fresh air when dress appropriately ALWAYS helps.

Poor sick baby

Ken went out in the morning to get a voucher so that in the evening he could get the very last book in the Robert Jordan series signed. Quite the commitment. When he got back we went out and got my immigration photos  taken. Just those two questions to answer and the forms go in the mail! What an exciting thought.

We made a special lunchtime call to Grandma back in Alberta… well with 4 of the 5 kids to say hello. Now that things are settled down more I am hoping to be able to get the kids in on more calls. If anyone feels the need I CAN give you the home number to call in and say hello. We ARE home most of the time. The kids do love catching up and saying hello.

Wild Kratts once again came through with ANOTHER interesting animal… SHARKS! The boys are retaining more and more from each episode.

Sharks!

In a spontaneous need to buy Ken purchased a lava lamp for the sitting room here, something his mom has mentioned liking and his dad hating… hilarity has ensued.

The Baba lamp

We are still working our way through interesting items in regards to Japanese culture… today’s focus – Sumo wrestlers. Thank you Activity Village for worksheets HERE. Zander worked with Emanuel on this one, so I had them tell me what they learned after our video and wrote it on the page.

Zander and Gavin with their new knowledge

And for a terrific video…

In all honesty, what REALLY interested them was the fact that the wrestlers were so large, oh and that the only eat two meals a day. That was definitely NOT ok with Zander who stated he needed to eat MORE often then that! We found a great educational site on Japan for kids HERE. There is a link on the page to go to a Sumo game  that is a quick play as well!

We finally assembled our Kokeshi dolls. They turned out so pretty!

Our dolls

Really in the two days it was a Japan focus with a side of Canadian poetry and stories. All thanks to the Christmas package Grandma sent down from Alberta. Zander and Emanuel took their inspiration From the ABC book A Northern Alphabet by Ted Harrison. We took a letter and they each worked with me to come up with a sentence full of their letter and then it was illustrated. 

A Northern Alphabet

Zander and Emanuel’s

Gavin had his chance to do an illustration alone. He chose to look at a Canadian poetry book – See Saw Saskatchewan. Gavin amazes me with his ability to mimic other styles! The picture he drew for his poem was spot on!

So sweet

We are really tapping into our Canadian roots this time. It is fun to read something that has so much resonance with us. Add in dinosaurs and other random bits of fun and I think we are doing quite well this week!

Our Kitty girls