July 4th and 5th

When one is within visiting distance of a god-parent/great friend what can one do but… VISIT. It just so happened that on Wednesday we had the time and she had the day off so what did we do? Pack everyone up and head to a different part of town to visit Gavin’s godmother Christine. We so rarely see her with how busy she is with her job as a pharmacist and our not living in the same town. BUT we lucked out with her days off and our spare time though the weather was not nearly as nice as the company.

Gavin and his Godmummy

No kids to play with but TWO dogs and THREE cats, though the cats went out of site quite quickly one by one (with one not making an appearance from the start). Echo was quite intrigued by all the fluffy critters. 

PUPPY

There was a bucket of toys and some snacks and some good company and the time apart just sort of melted away. I have to say, I love visiting with Christine and miss her so much. It is so wonderful that when we DO get together it is like the time has not passed. Gavin was over the moon with his chance to spend time with HIS god-mother. 

The Lego structures he created for her

Chatting

Thursday was a day of kids time INSIDE with a weird continuation of crap weather. Thankfully having kids to play with made the weather bearable.

They got in a brief amount of time outside before the weather truly turned

Giggles at the table

Logan and Echo

We adults dealt with the doom and gloom weather with homemade hamburgers on the grill… note the lovely apron!

Isn’t he cute?

And that was that, sometimes you just need some slow down sorts of days! Which brings us to the end of the week and FRIDAY… which began a much more exciting weekend so… more on that later! 

Ominous weather

Well it has been a while since I have done a full blog entry! We have had a party, driven to Grandma’s, reconnected with friends gone for 3 years now returned, had chicken from the 7-11 for old time’s sake and played with the family pet (well Grandma’s pet but we share while we visit). It has been a whirlwind of fun, food, and best of all FRIENDS and FAMILY. 

Baby in a hat

We said good bye to Sean who left shortly before we did on Friday. He had errands back home and his folks in town for a conference. (she) Chris dropped off her van earlier than expected so we were even out the door earlier than originally planned. We left her with our house key and were off! It is actually rather lucky that we couldn’t take our van as with the amount of stuff we came back with it would have been a SUPER squeeze! Oh to have a newER van!!!

Visiting with Chris

A picture for Aunty

We made good time to Grandma’s and the kids were quick (as usual) to make themselves at home. Gypsy, my mom’s new dog was there and amazingly calm with the kids. They absolutely LOVE her though Echo and Gypsy had some struggles finding a balance. Gypsy wanted to give kisses and steal snacks and Echo most definitely did NOT agree! She is not a tiny dog so Echo did a bit of her usual screaming to make her point as really what else could she do with someone so much bigger than her??

Gypsy

Dinner was already waiting for us when we got there – roast beef with potatoes and gravy!!! Ohhhh yum! With enough left over for tons of leftovers (that should give you an idea of how big a roast… our 7 plus mom with leftovers!). There was lots of time for visiting and playing (Trinity just disappeared into the playroom to play with her dollhouse) and of course fun with puppy time.

Saturday morning we had the usual amazing Grandparent breakfast fare – WAFFLES! Homemade of course! Everyone in the family loves a good waffle from the biggest to the smallest! Though Echo tried our stamina by waking up around 6 am. Mom even had strawberries, blueberries and raspberries defrosted to go on top with some whipped  topping. The kids love that as she puts the bowl on the table of the fruit and those cans that you push the nozzle for the topping and they get to go nuts! The mess is actually rather minor and with our family, NO leftovers! 

All growed up

Puppy prettied up for the party

There were a few errands to run, mom and I went to the grocery store and picked up the cake Mike ordered for the boys from the Co-Op. He is in Jamaica right now (until the 21st I think) and so was unable to make it. He did call AND the cake… well the cake was absolutely AMAZING! 

The most awesome cake

Grandma and Echo

Ken and Zander ran out as well, and were SUPPOSED to get Zander’s glasses fixed (nose piece, straightened) only to have Zander bring the case without the glasses in it! You can imagine how happy Ken was NOT. So the new plan is to take him in tomorrow (Mondays are a black out for Ken with work) with the glasses firmly on his FACE! 

2pm marked the beginning of our first true KID party! And did we ever do it in style!! TONS of kids, lots of fun, food… OMG the food! Mom made her absolutely amazing dip that we all crave and covet. Crackers and veggies (thank you Chris and Chris for the broccoli and tomatoes you picked up at H&W for us!!) and punch (orange juice and generic ginger ale)… Along with the Epicure dip mom won at Christmas… so much snacking!

SNACKS

There were kids everywhere – down in the basement where toys reside, outside… babies in the kitchen (and so many babies!). Echo finally got to meet her birthday buddy Seth as well as 2 month younger Avery… They all played rather well with the baby toys my mom has on hand just for such occassions. Oh and don’t forget baby Russell (9 months)

In the basement

Backyard

Babies - Avery and Russell

Birthday buddy Seth

On top of all the snacking there was hotdogs before cake! We had to contrive enough places  to sit and eat but we managed!

Some of the guests

And then the cake… it was DELICIOUS!

Blowing out the candles

And finally PRESENTS! People were so generous… everything from Swim lessons (thank you SO much Bleau family! Pictures WILL follow) to transformers and even something to go with our Wii… lots of educational things as well! I have to say I was right with Zander’s present… a 3.00 chess set to replace the one he has that has pieces missing apparently was the PERFECT choice! 

Sharon and Echo

Lucky boys

I had stamps and paper and pencils for those kids left after all the fuss to create with and visited late into the evening with the one family that stuck around. Christine (Gavin’s god mother) even brought her two puppies to meet Gypsy (Bella and Jasper). So we also had a puppy playdate. Don’t forget that we had friends come who we had not seen in years! OH and new friends to meet… What a day! 

Bella

And to end the day – going to 7-11 for an old University treat – wings and wedges… noms! Seriously we would once a week go and get this stuff… they had a special on Thursdays!! It was tradition!

Nostalgia in a box

Karyn stayed the night and we hung out with Ken in the basement. I have to say for a birthday party literally over run with kids and noise and festivity… I think we did a great job!! I am hoping to go back in March and plan some playdates for the kids. We are the only homeschooling family out of the bunch but there is always weekends, late afternoon… baby playdates… I am sure we will manage! 

Out from behind the camera

3 days … well ALMOST 3 full days at Grandma’s house after THREE MONTHS of not travelling = sad kids and Mommy when it was time to go home! BUT the time there was a blessing. Do you know, I think we are the only family with a TOILET at the top of a Christmas tree at Grandma and Grandpa’s?? Seriously! It won second place at the college. 

Isn't it awesome?

Close up

With Ken having work to finish and laundry running we made it to Grandma’s around supper time on Thursday. Oh and  you would not believe how long it takes to get to Grandma’s… ever so long… and it is SOOO boring… (got too dark to play UNO too quickly I guess). We made sure to leave room in the van for the return trip. One of the few times I miss the old van. I am proud to report that our newest repair by Canadian Tire held and was terrific, though we still smell some burning coolant (and will due to puddles that froze). So another trip to the Grandparents’ is in the works already! 

Grandma's house is the best I am told!

We were all up late and Trinity was, as usual, in our bed splayed all over. Mom and Mike have a boarder over the holidays when he cannot be on dorms. He is VERY nice and great with the kids and apparently eats anything. We ousted him from his bed for his last night there but he was a great sport… and planning on being out and about that night anyway. 

Friday was our first WHOLE day at the house in ages… tv’s were rediscovered, a toy room trashed and eventually cleaned up, backyard explored… no one was bored! AND Ken got a TON of work done in the basement in his corner. Zander, mom and I went out and got his glasses straightened, stopped in at the baby store (no size mediums to be had boo) AND stopped in where Gavin’s godmother Christine works (pharmacy) to see when she was in (4-12). Later Ken and Gavin took his present and saw her at work where she was invited to stop by before she headed off to her parents’ on Christmas Eve. 

Mom did a lot of the cooking for Christmas Eve dinner on Friday so that Saturday we had spare time. Mom did some crafts with the kids as well… She and Trinity finished an angel ornament together! 

Crafting with Grandma

Oh and we cannot forget the traditional decorating of the Christmas tree (the one WITHOUT a toilet at the top). We had minimal breakage and TONS of fun. With Echo in the thick of it UN-decorating the tree to boot! We put on maybe half the ornaments mom has collected over the decades on the tree… the new black tree is smaller than the old green one (it is the one that found new life as a maintenance themed tree). 

I had to take various pictures with various camera settings of course!

With Grandpa Mike AND a stool to help

Echo helping Grandma

So pretty!

Don't forget about the Christmas train set - with added stops for fun of course

Saturday was Christmas Eve of course which meant even MORE excitement… by 10:30 or so we had Christine AND her two puppies Bella and Jasper over for a visit AND mom’s dip. It was a visit long overdue and we chatted well past noon and her projected leaving time. While she was here Uncle Wayne got in for the day as well. 

Bella

Jasper

It really is true, in Mom's house the KITCHEN is where it is at!! Having dip and hanging out!

Before she left for her family gathering we HAD TO open the presents! Lots of crafty things for the kids (which we did by Christmas Day of course!). And the maintenance designed tree had to be shown off of course!

PRESENTS!

Just a happy boy with his God Mommy

It was an important first for Trinity too – Grandma gave her her first trim!!! Just a tiny bit off the bottom to get rid of the dry bits. Very exciting!

Just a TRIM now

We decided to open the rest of the presents before dinner as Mike got called into work due to a boiler issue that took some time to correct. Paper flew, toys went wild and the kids were over the moon!! 

Uncle Wayne and the fancy tree

Girly presents

Chaos!

We had supper around 3… well most of us did, mom and Mike ran out to a coffee that ended up being 2 hours long. But it was delicious. 

Turkey dinner

After mom and Mike got back we had Mike open his presents, played some and then it was time for a rather tearful goodbye. AND packing the van to the gills. Of course Mike got called back into work AGAIN and managed to make it back just in time to see us off. 

Watching Grandpa Mike open... the wrong present !!

Mom's gift from Mike - those are black and white diamonds!

We decimated this dip! While they played Clue Jr. Mom, Uncle Wayne and I finished this puppy off

Our drive was uneventful though there were tears still shed and some boredom. We got home, piled out and then the great emptying of the vehicle began… SO MUCH STUFF! AND a phone call to boot – Esther! Well worth the interruption. She has given us some lovely tax advice and calmed some fears in the same regards. Esther you are our hero and certainly do NOT visit your little Reinsch-Johnson Canadian family enough (you do know it is too late – you ARE one of us). 

Once we got in, put on new pj’s, put the baby to bed and tidied it was time for our Santa picture! Santa got chocolate milk in a WINE glass AND a plate FULL of oreos. Of course the kids had to sample first! 

Cookies and CHOCOLATE milk for Santa... with our key ready to go into the mailbox

Then bed for the kids and finishing touches for the adults. Christmas Eve was a lovely day and ended with everyone tired and ready for the big day!