October 21

Sometimes with being the parents of 5 the best gift we can be given is the one of TIME! Especially time without all of the kids. This is something we have been sorely lacking with our extensive sitter/family/friend base left up in Canada. Sunday was a terrific gift to Ken and myself as Nana and Baba decided it was THE DAY to take the 4 bigger kids out to the Minnesota zoo! So from rather early in the morning until supper time we were playing solo with just our baby girl! 

Miss Echo with her duckies

So what do the parents of 5 do when they do not have the bulk of the children… well… nap… duh! And after said nap we packed up our littlest minion and headed out to leisurely window shop and peruse the bits and bobs in a few different stores. Jo-Ann’s is much more enjoyable when there are two adults and only one set of little grasping fingers, though I think she touched ALL the yarn in the store at least once! We had Christmas present ideas to discuss and colours to look at and think about. With the crochet ideas and patterns I have gotten with my subscription to Crochet Spot I am constantly thinking of gift ideas to make. I absolutely love that Ken is willing to be involved in discussions about yarn and colour combinations! 

We stopped by the mall nearby to see the carousal horses in the main area and walk around the upper level so Echo could look down through the glass and talk away about the people and things on the ground floor. And really that was that for being out and about. We returned home and since it was a lovely and WARM fall day Echo and I headed outside… so that she could watch Pocoyo on the iPad in the front yard??? She is so her father’s daughter.

Silly baby

Out with Daddy

Of course our relaxing day was not to last as the rest of the family DID have to come home. Full of stories and with faces painted and some crafts to do during the week in hand. I think we ALL had a blast in our own way… and Echo was even slightly excited to see her brothers and sister again! Enjoy the zoo pictures!

Fish

Seriously a SEAHORSE!

Walking along

FACES

Painted faces

A magnificent scarecrow

Checking out the animals

Groundhog

BONES

Monkey

Critters

October 15-16

Monday was a GOOD day, education wise. We had a teacher helper today – Ken cleared his schedule up to help out and watch how we do things. It was nice to have another adult to field questions. That is one thing I struggle with with the boys – the idea of needing to wait for your turn, the rule of putting their hands up and waiting their turn is a  tough one. 

Emanuel with his supervisor

We had lots to accomplish though… Emanuel had his dinosaur as usual… Trinity her workbooks… And then we went onto the fun stuff. After a Sunday of learning we HAD TO get going on the journals, the process of the apple cider making AND the best thing of the day. Of course we had to sit down and work on those Zombies for Cousin David. Gavin and Zander are becoming pros with the terrific instructions Art for Kids has up on their site. Definitely bookmark them!!

Cousin David’s Zombies

The 3 boys got to recite their newest fall poem for you all to enjoy! A Little Elf which can be found HERE with a whole list of fall poems! 

We had TWO crafts for the day. Our first was a repeat of Sunday’s leaf rubbing. The boys went out into the yard and grabbed leaves from our yard. These pictures are going to be mailed back up north to friends and family. 

On its way to Aunty Xinny

Note Aunty Karyn in the scene

The other craft is from Activity Village… spidery fingerprints. You can find the instructions HERE. A definite repeat for our family. I managed to get the ink pad from Jo-Ann’s with a terrific coupon AND it is washable off the fingers. We used baby wipes and had zero problems and great results on the paper.  

Dirty fingers!

Completed bugs

Tuesday was a bit of a lax day as yours truly was unaccountably wiped out. BUT we rallied after a brief period of Lego/iPad fun while Mommy napped. Echo has FINALLY figured out the sit and spin. 

Spin baby spin

We have decided to get a move on on the Halloween decorations… so today was a garland made out of pumpkins and bats. The twins traced and cut out the template shapes and everyone pitched in on the feature creating. I opted to snip the feet off our bat template to make the cutting out a little easier. You can find templates etc. HEREon the UK site.

Twins stapling while the littles sort out the pattern

So proud!

Our corner

I had the kids help me on a book review that was posted HERE on our site. It was our first kids’ book and it was seasonal! We really enjoyed Into the Pumpkin by Linda Franklin. It was fun to ask them what they thought and then simply write it out to share! I have a few more books  to do this for, all advanced copies so I am sure there will be more posts to share. 

We read more of Judy Moody, the book is one huge giggle for the kids and they are constantly brain storming for their me collages that they are working on.We have taken the angle of the joy of listening to a story and reading with the family over a lapbook intensive unit with this one. Next week we will take a break in our Judy Moody story to listen to our HALLOWEEN themed book! 

Add in a finish by Gavin of his review reading book (so much progress!).

All done!

And we are feeling like things are progressing! 

Looking forward!

With fall firmly here we decided it was best to take advantage of the warmer day and some spare time, so we went down the block to one of the walking/bike paths and took some pictures of the family dressed up a little (or more than a little in the case of the girls). I have to say, there is so much tree variety here that the colours are lovely and bright and differ greatly!

My 5 babies

Just the girls

Just the boys

After our photographic enjoyment of the start of fall we headed out to Jo-Ann’s to facilitate my newest project – a shawl… something time consuming and still on the easy side with a coupon I got in the mail for signing up as a teacher. It took a bit of hunting as the original pattern I found and fell in love with (after 4 aborted tries) did not match the picture or really make sense to my resident (through FaceTime) expert Karyn. Instead I decided to make THIS one with my light weight yarn. 

And then it was time for SCIENCE! I was so glad that Amazon came through FASTER than projected with our solar panel items. We had a car and a grasshopper that went on super sale. I lucked out and saw a listing on Facebook so I could take advantage. We talked about how the sun is needed to shine on the panels where that light is turned into energy to move the wheels on the car and to make the grasshopper squiggle. What I LOVED about these two is that as soon as they landed in shade they STOPPED so the kids got a really clear idea of the cause and effect. Of course we had to record this in our observation journals! Add to that our usual work and another chapter from our Judy Moody story and we are progressing nicely.

Hands on learning

Fun in and out of the sun

Thursday was a rather random day. With someone coming over to see about something in regards to the house we figured it would be best to take the kids out for a walk. Now I believe everyone when they say FALL IS HERE, but once again – the COLOURS!!!! We stayed out as long as we could before fingers were chilled and our minds were made that we need to get mittens and gloves before a bonfire we have planned for Saturday at another friend’s home. But I think we had fun, and came home with a selection of leaves and seeds to draw in our journals. 

Pre walk car time

So cute!

With all 5 kids sick (and Emanuel another tooth lost and probably swallowed at night – did I mention he lost his FIRST tooth in August???) I figured quiet time with Cyberchase and Handy Manny was a good choice. Sometimes you just need to lay back and let the educational programming entertain you.

Tv time

We did tape our Autumn poem An Autumn Greeting.

Then of course there was MORE time outside in the afternoon – gotta use those leaves before they blow away!!!

JUMP

And Emanuel drew a Triceratops for us instead of a daily dino… just to give Mommy one research free night! Well done!! Frill and all. 

Well drawn!

I am on the hunt for the next poem to memorize… maybe something fall again, or Halloween-y??

Love love love the colours… and the seeds that look like banana peels!