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

January 6-7

For the first time in ages we had a truly inactive Sunday…doubly so as I had not managed to finagle a trip to JoAnn’s so even my crochet had halted… I was silly enough to start a baby gift with the pink after finishing the first half of BOTH of Trinity’s slippers only to realize that I was without a necessary amount of elastic… oops.

Poor Trinity was just not herself on Sunday and spent the bulk of the day falling asleep wherever she put her head down. Be it Baba’s chair or the beanbag on the floor. She just was run down, but thankfully no throwing up!

Sleepy little one

Monday was interesting… Emanuel and I started in on Japan… We read our Little Passports items and started in on our worksheets. I absolutely love Activity Village (flag and Kokeshi paper doll) and Education.com (kimono) for these sorts of resources. Emanuel especially appreciated the SIMPLICITY of the flag.

With his eraser shaped like sushi

Japan is right HERE

Of course we had to dinosaur it up, once I got Emanuel rolling this really was HIS DAY to learn… we had a blast talking about Japan, checking out the Compsognathus. It was the twins that pitched the most fits.

Though I DID win them all over with our tiny Valentine’s Day themed potted seeds… Poppies, Forget-me-nots and Strawberries… I am hoping we actually have a successful growth on these. I got them at Target for a 1.00 a box!

Reading the instructions (Zander)

Planting the seeds

Ken spent the bulk of his day at the DMV solving the question of the missing renewed license. That took half a day and lots of waiting… but the hope is that the issue that was NOT on Ken’s side is resolved… say a prayer!!!

The 7th was a shopping day.. well evening for us… we had to go and return our portable DVD player that we got for Christmas from Gammie… it was missing a remote control. So that was a trip to Walmart! The kids are REALLY excited about the idea of having a DVD player in the van on long trips again! 

Sleepy after the drive

It is so much fun exploring Japan with Emanuel. And the chance to start a new plant related project is always exciting. Now let’s hope they actually grow!

Our resident Kitty fanatic