Now we get into the belated birthday present for ME! This trip is actually my 32nd birthday present from Ken. (yup 33 in June this year!!) So it was something I was REALLY looking forward to.

With the kids fed breakfast and the van full up again we were on our way early in the morning to my brother’s house. Holly has healed up well enough to watch our boys as planned. As we had not seen her or Jimmie (or James for that matter) since last year it was rather exciting to be able to go and visit. It was such a relief that she came through her hospital experience so well. We had missed her mother (Gammmie) by a day or so as she had to head back to Texas. 

The drive was nice and uneventful though we had to stop at one of the smaller towns along the way to potty, oh and a McDonald’s to get water and use their free wi-fi to check for the directions into the city to my brother’s place. The kids did rather well considering how rarely we have traveled lately AND the van held enough that we didn’t have to worry about leaving things behind! 

A bit of a stretch at McDonalds

This of course is VERY important as like any trip we take as a family we ended up coming back with even MORE things than when we had left. (Thank you so much Holly for sending some of Jimmie’s outgrown clothes home with us! They are always appreciated)

One of the critters

So it was to drop off the boys that we went first. Holly was home alone as James was at work and Jimmie in school. But we got the boys there in time to walk with her to pick him up after lunch. And we still had time to meet the cats and visit with Holly. She was in great spirits. We did our usual talk with the boys about doing what Aunty Holly says and being helpful and then it was time for Ken, myself and the girls to head on to OUR home base for the weekend – Kathy’s. 

Seriously a cat filled weekend. Aunty Kathy has TWO cats just like Aunty Holly… two black and white cats. Holly’s are white and black (there is a difference!). Kathy’s cats were a little shy but by the end of the weekend we had won them over. This is VERY important as the girls and I are pet sitting in June for her! So this was a bit of a warm up for the girls and the kitties.

Unknown kitty

So we got everything into her house, cleaned everyone up and it was time to get into the van to go to the park and ride and then head on the bus (and a train) to get to comic con. It opened Friday at 3 and we made it soon after that point. With our pre-bought tickets there really was no wait. We were the first of our friends to get there! 

Busing it for the first time

I would swear the bus and train were her favourite part!

In line to get in!

It was not overly busy so we were able to get around easily and even let Echo stretch her legs. I was complimented constantly on how cute our girls are! They got bored here and there but we managed. There was tons to see and we tried to see as much as we could! That meant getting over to the webcomics I specifically wanted to meet.

Running free

Let’s start with the one I made a feltie for – Girls With Slingshots. I could not resist making a feltie based on one of her characters – McPedro. She loved it!!! And of course I had to buy the 3rd book she has out to go with the first two that Chris and Chris got for me last year! She is such a sweet woman!

McPedro

This picture is from Saturday when Kathy purchased some of her books. I will have to get the feltie picture off my other computer and post it at a later date!

And then there was another of my favourites – Devil’s Panties. Trinity and I picked out a pin from her booth. Another amazing woman. I love her comic and hope to next year (if she chooses to come up again) to get her books. 

Trinity helped me pick the pin

The big exciting stop was my gift for Ken. The creator of one of his favourite webcomics was doing sketches for donation and was completely open to stop by at… so I asked him to draw Ken’s favourite character from his comic Questionable Content… Hannelore! He had plenty of time to say hi and the drawing is a definite keepsake! I was so glad I could get Ken something right off that was VERY special! 

Questionable Content!!

Hanners.... though the paper is WHITE bad lighting

There were people in costume, all sorts of art and so much to see. And of course food to be had. We had pizza which was DIVINE and of course the fresh squeezed lemonade and Ken grabbed a fruit smoothy. I think we fed all 4 of us and Kathy for a rather decent amount and enjoyed every bit of it! 

Pre-pizza nap

NOMS

We meandered as much as we could with two girls who were quickly wearing out. There was some more spending done and some plans to come back to a few places. It was an adventure and then some and I loved every minute of it!

Enjoying the lunch break, the dress Trinity is wearing is the one Sharon gave her for her birthday

As we were leaving Karyn and Lauralee were in line to get in. So we had a moment of chatting and visiting with them in line. Karyn had a special present for the birthday girl and we made plans to meet up Saturday morning. I am told that not too long after that time Lauralee bought a rather amazing Steampunk inspired dragon lamp. I am waiting to see pictures!

Meeting up in line with Karyn and Lauralee... what you can't see is that Echo is out like a light at this point

We rode the train and bus back to the park and ride and then drove back to Kathy’s to regroup and plan our Saturday trip. The girls were worn out, we were surprised at how many hours we actually walked. It was AMAZING. 

Planning time

Saturday we were up early to have breakfast, pack up AGAIN and then motivate Ken out the door in time for the bus. On the weekend the buses only come once every 30 min instead of something like 12 min. Our timing was nearly perfect with meeting the bus and then catching the train. Then it was time to return to the con. 

Even getting there soon after the opening time (10 am) it was more crowded than the day before. Echo was rather unimpressed that she could not run around like she did the day before. But we had a plan for Saturday and went aisle by aisle down the vender’s area. There was so much to see… even MORE costumes and some shopping to be done! Oh and people to meet up with. We found Bianca (a friend from University) and eventually met up with Karyn and Lauralee. Sadly Ted and Sean drove up but could not make it in. They ended up over capacity and even Ken who went out (hours after we got there) to meet with the guys and wait in line with them could not make it back in. 

The time BEFORE Ken went out was fun though, we did some more shopping, talked to some more artists and even found a couple new webcomics to follow. Well, one I found yesterday. It is called Little Vampires. Holly mentioned the comic offhandedly before we left for Kathy’s Friday night and talked about a stuffed vampire she would LOVE to have. So… we actually ended up being the artist’s first sale as we bought a stuffy for Holly and she even signed one of her promotional postcards to Holly for us to give her! We figured that was a good gift for our lovely babysitter!

Our Little Vampires swag, the stuffy on the left is the same as Holly's

The other comic we found (and purchased her two books for) is by a Canadian artist who is also an engineer. It is called Wasted Talent. She was a great lady and we chatted with her for a while while she signed our books. 

Signed copies

I stopped by an artist’s stand who is from the same town my Aunty Becky lives in. She does henna tattoos and had something called Honey Hats. I had to pick one up, it is going to work marvellously when we travel and still look totally cute!

Then there was the adorable keychains I picked up at ANOTHER artist’s stand. 

My keychains

And the button I got for a certain Dr. Who fan (addict???).

BUTTON

My handmade glass bead necklace…

I love this piece

The hand painted chocolates we chowed down on…

Yup, that is Hello Kitty

Oh the list goes on and on and on! Of course soon after we found out Ken could NOT get back in we decided to finish the shopping and head out to meet the guys. The girls were exhausted and we really had bought everything we wanted. (or thought we did… Ken actually had to contact Karyn and link her something he was interested in to pick up when she went back on Sunday) 

It was a little complicated getting out. After all they had locked down the door to stop people coming in and once you left you could not come back in. So we wandered a bit to find the right door and get out to meet the boys. It was interesting to see the people in line waiting to maybe get in – some of them were in some rather interesting costumes. Anyway we got to the agreed on entrance (and trust me it was hard to figure that out… we lucked out, Lauralee’s cell was the only one that got enough bars to call out of the building!!) and Trinity was overjoyed to see Uncle Sean and Uncle Ted! 

Meeting up with the guys

We had to catch the train and then the bus again so we made plans to meet at the park and ride. We totally lucked out, got to the train stop and it showed up! And then only a 15-20 min wait for the bus in a nice sunny spot. Of course I had to do the tourist thing and take a picture of the largest building in the city (I think it is ongoing on the inside).

We met up at the park and ride with the guys and then headed to the nearest area with some restaurants for what we thought was going to be a lunch until we looked at the time and saw it was past 3 and would have to be a LATE lunch (that DID explain why we were all so drained and why I was practically starving!). We decided on Applebees!!!! Total yum, great waitress and Trinity was very happy with her desert – prettied up jell-o! 

Desert, note the pin!

After our VERY late lunch it was back to Kathy’s and then more visiting while we waited to be hungry for dinner. Karyn, Lauralee and Esther joined us as did Will (Kathy’s brother who lives with her). We all had a lot of fun, Trinity was spoiled for attention and Echo did the rounds. Back with her Uncle Sean she was one happy camper! 

Visiting with friends

We had homemade tacos for supper (LATE) supper and a late night of visiting before seeing everyone off. Ted and Sean were heading for home, Karyn and Lauralee to Esther’s and Esther out for a cultural event. That left us time to plan our Sunday out. We decided against going out for more con time… but that is another story!

Is everyone else aware of Nyan cat???

 If you are not familiar you can read about Nyan cat here.

Hmm the month end teaser that I have been holding up for everyone … well, we are moving. And it has been one heck of a ride. Last month Ken did a check of the rental situation here in the city we live in, seeing how many that would suit our family are available (way more than when we moved here in June of last year. There was ONE we could apply for and we lucked out on that one, so the intent was to move before June to have an easier time of it) and if we could get out of our year lease early.

Remember the leak in the ceiling in the basement? Well it took FIVE DAYS for them to even come see it, they said they couldn’t find a plumber (well we were told by local friends that is ridiculous, that it had to be they couldn’t find a CHEAP ENOUGH plumber). And then when they DID come and see it they cut a hole in our basement ceiling, in the dry wall… without drop cloths or a container to hold the pieces… so you can imagine the mess that was left behind. And the hole in the ceiling that remained! 

Add to that the layout of the place simply not working, the storage being lacking and our need to be in a place with owners who are a little bit more organized and cohesive and we simply needed to hunt down a new place.

So we collected our best references and started the hunt. I think Ken had seen over 2 dozen places by the end of this month, all sorts and all over the city. There WERE a few we had to discount right away, they were in bad condition or smaller than the place we already had. We were on short lists for tons, and had one ask for WAY too much personal information before even deciding on us (that one we had to pass on as it felt a lot like the beginnings of identity theft). What has amazed me is how many places strung us along, not making a decision until the very end of the month… nerve wracking I am telling you!

I am sure over the past few weeks those with eagle eyes have seen the chaos that is moving. That is one of the reasons that going to Cousin Veronika’s was such a godsend. That way Echo had freedom of movement and quiet while healing and I had a much needed break from the mess. It was especially important as by this time I was starting to crack from the stress of the rental hunt.

Had to share one more of Miss Dinah from that visit

Ken was looking at places right up until Friday which was really NOT how we had planned things. I am so thankful for the friends and family who kept me grounded, reminding me that this could have been the same result if we had waited to move until the end of our lease time (actually more likely as there is less available in the summer as everyone wants to move then). It really is just too bad that we cannot afford the “perfect” renting scenario – the ability to cover the new damage deposit, rent at the new place for a month AND rent at the old place for a month all at the same time!

The boy with the missing teeth!

As it got down to the line the kids and myself were simply in the way. Combine that with the death of a family member for Chris and Chris in Saskatchewan and their need for a pet sitter and we were up and out of the house Thursday before noon. I packed clothing, some of the pertinent school stuff, white paper and toiletries and we headed out to sit the pets. 

I bunked the kids down a little creatively. Echo and her playpen ended up in the computer room, Trinity and I sharing the spare and the boys all in the tv room in the basement. They all were a little bored… but that is sort of the theme for most of March with Echo’s surgery and the chaos of packing to move!  

We worked on a special pet sitting project with the twins. We made a mini book for each of them with pictures of the pets, their names, what animal they are and some of the interesting things we learned about them. Gavin’s favourite animal is Duke (the white dog) which happens to be Zander’s as well. He and Trinity ended up in love with each other.

Duke and his girls

There was some excitement meeting the ferrets as well. The kids got to help feed them, give them water and even pet them before Chris and Chris left for the funeral. 

Meeting one of the ferrets up close

We had a few issues with the older cat. She is not friendly and 3 of the kids got scratched, thankfully nothing severe. BUT the other kitty – Tigger, she is a suck! So that more than made up for it. Poor Echo was confused as Dinah at Veronika’s and Echo are the best of friends. So going from that to Dria’s attitude meant she got that one step too close. 

THE Dria

Tigger

Everyone is a little keyed up from the upset, the surgery, the time away from home… and the confusion as to where home will be after the 1st has not helped. I have done my best to make adventures out of ALL the possibilities but having been in charge of Echo solely for a couple weeks has meant long days and short nights. She is a handful when you are the sole boss when she is up which leaves the evening to get things done and then she gets up so early… all in all I am EXHAUSTED!

Sharing her popcorn

The great rental hunt actually went right to the deadline! Poor Ken was checking out places right up to Friday afternoon! The man was a powerhouse, he worked his full time contracting job AND rental hunted. Add to that the surgery (which took one day longer) and my time with Veronika and he was one busy individual. I am glad to say his health has NOT suffered, though the man could use a more intimate relationship with his hairdresser and a good razor. 

The final result is less than optimum. We are the proud renters of a house… on the 15th or so of April. They have a repair to do before we can take possession. Not the best of scenarios but a relief all the same. Now to juggle the time until we get to the new place. That is one of the definite downfalls to having such a LARGE family – we take up A LOT of space! The challenge for us now is to create an adventure for the kids that will make this less than ideal situation into something exciting and new. The pet sitting book was my first go at that. The end result for each of the twins was rather nice actually, though it has reinforced that I need to work even harder on Zander with his writing skills.

Gavin working on his book

We have found yet ANOTHER of Fat Sheep’s relatives… this one lives in Ontario and is on Facebook named Sheba Sheep. Once the Fat Sheep blog is up and running again we will have to do a whole post on her adventures! The family just keeps growing!

There was some sad news to share from Monday – Karyn’s father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a little more than a year ago passed away in his sleep. His funeral was the same day and time as the one Chris and Chris had to go Saskatchewan for – Friday afternoon. She is supposed to get home tomorrow night. I am hoping that we can meet in person before we head to mom’s for a bit of our exile and to celebrate Easter as we always do. Gotta wait on that van repair (of course… seriously while the Quest HAS been good to us for the most part, it has been a whole lot of hurry up and wait on its usefulness outside of city limits). 

Now that some dear and wonderful friends have helped us move OUT of the old rental (thank you Sean, He Chris, Kristen, Fydo and Lauralee we owe you so much!) and it has been cleaned it is time for us to move on. Well try to, Ken went to call the landlord to come and walk-through and he was indisposed so that has been postponed for tomorrow. The kids are asleep, the animals resting and yours truly feeling like the future is a much brighter place. We are going to have an interesting April but it will lead to an AMAZING May! And for now, for now I try and figure out how to make life amazing for the kids with less than their usual school supplies. Wish me luck!

And one more of the cat for good measure

I have been a bad blogger this week and for that I must apologize. A combination of sick family (yes all 7 of us to some degree or another), Echo surgery anxiety and an end of the month “adventure” building up (to be disclosed by the end of the month, sorry) and blogging has completely slipped my mind. While I cannot guarantee that next week will be like. I hope to post at least SOMETHING before and after Echo’s surgery… 

Anyway… 3 days. Lets start with today just for fun! Well, we lucked out with our contact at a nearby town library. There was a Dr. Seuss party this weekend for the little ones. Perfect for our Trinity and Emanuel so Karyn, the two kids, myself and Victoria met up at the library to enjoy the party. Victoria works there some evenings and Saturdays as a second job. It is a beautiful building and their library program is amazing! I hope we can go back for more special events!

First it was storytime with TWO Dr. Seuss stories to enjoy. I love their little reading area with its fish in a tank and comfy reading chair!!!

The awesome reading corner

And then it was craft time… 3 crafts! There was a Cat in the Hat hat to create with paper, a t-shirt to colour (our 2 didn’t do a Seuss theme but amazing pieces of art all the same) and finally making a fish bowl using toothpaste and ziploc bags. I have some ideas to try this with other colours of paste for other projects! They smell REALLY minty!!

Assembling hat with Aunty Victoria

Decorating shirts

Toothpaste fishbowls

We stuck around for a little play time at the train set and picked out a few books to bring home and enjoy but Aunty Karyn is getting over a cold as is our Trinity so it was time to head back to town with Aunty Victoria along for the rid! We have missed her, it has been some time since we have had a nice visit. 

The plan for the day – a Green Food Snack/Potluck party for St. Patrick’s Day. We had a lovely variety of goodies including our now basically complete pot of gold. We still need to paint the inside and attached the base legs with hot glue. I figured people would rather NOT have black paper all over their chocolate loonies. 

Pot of Gold

I made some special greenish bread the night before in the breadmaker with 5-6 drops of food colouring put in when the beeping occurs to add in nuts etc. I think I needed to double that but I was worried about changing the flavour. Definitely a conversation starter!

There were green grapes, celery, green jello, Irish Potato Soup (directions to follow in another blog sorry! Have too much to type already for this one!), scalloped potatoes and sugar cookies cut like 4 leaf clovers. All in all a good spread.

After the snacking

Kristen, Fydo and Lauralee rounded out our gathering and we had a great time snacking, chatting, reading books with the kids (Lauralee is Trinity’s FAVOURITE storyteller right now). It was a lovely and restful way to spend an overcast afternoon. We wore green, ate green snacks and chatted. Lovely.

Of course we had to take our yearly picture of the kids in green. We did a 4 and 1 thing as Echo was not overly interested in photography. She actually had a DIFFERENT outfit to wear but… OUTGREW IT!!! MILESTONE!!! Our Echo is starting to out grow 6-9 month clothing! SCORE!

Little goofs!

A slightly cranky baby

Now for YESTERDAY… well, another rough day for yours truly feeling rather overdone with the knowledge that Echo is to have surgery so soon… BUT we managed to continue on. The twins and I wrote up information and interesting things we learned about Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day on a special page. I did the writing they did the dictating. They actually retained an awful lot! And then there were the adorable Leprechauns the little ones finished with me! I thought they were so cute, out of a file a friend sent me (thank you again!!). If you want to check out my Education.com collection for St. Patrick’s Day for next year be sure to click HERE.

Leprechaun

And Emanuel's

BUT late morning She Chris came by between clients at work to take me out to get lunchtime groceries (I think Trinity would have lynched me if I had made noodles for one more meal this week!). We managed to get quite a bit at Walmart for under 15.00. We also stopped by her work for a bit so I got to meet some of her co-workers and superiors. All very nice people and quite entertaining. 

Then in the late afternoon Kathy came for a visit. She forced me out the door sans kids and treated me to some most delicious Umi Sushi Express, a little wander around Walmart and an evening of positive thinking and chitty chat. Just what this worn out and worried momma needed. I truly am blessed in the friends I have met through out my life. 

Another special friend moment! Kristen over after work for a visit!

We have accomplished a lot with our little family and I just KNOW there is more to come. I am going to spend the rest of my year and my life creating more adventures for us to have, not more ordinary trips to places I think it is time to make EVERYTHING an adventure! I am going to do something special just for Echo’s surgery. We have our facilitator meeting in April and I am hoping to find the time to go through what we HAVE done (the big stuff) and find pictures of some of the things we could not save to show him to put with the stuff they completed. Definitely something I want to do as we do it for next school term! A sort of added scrapbook page for everything, especially with adding Emanuel into the mix officially!

I would love it if any of my readers, friends and family would weigh in on anything we have done since about October that is noteworthy that I should look for pictures of! Give me another perspective! You can leave a comment here, email me at rosereinsch@gmail.com… catch me on Facebook as Lisa Reinsch-Johnson (be sure to tell me who you are and why you are friending me if you are not friended yet), msn or Twitter! Whew that is quite the list! OH or call me, txt me or.. GASP.. tell me in person! 

That brings me back further to Thursday and a rather miserable day… sadly none of us were in the mood BUT we managed workbooks, some more St. Patrick’s day related stuff AND some together time. Lots of hugs, cloths for runny noses and moments of cute Echo time. I have been sneaking in even MORE cuddles lately, though one morning Ken found me crying and Echo crying in the middle of the kitchen floor. She had bonked and I had fallen to pieces. Thank goodness Ken was there to gather us up and remind us that this is all going to be OK! 

Workbooks

We have managed to have a memorable half of the weekend… and I have plans for next week, well sort of… (She) Chris is going to watch the other 4 while we are in the city, we are taking (He) Chris’ car to ensure we get there in one piece and on time (do we ever love these two!) and we are staying the night on the Tuesday at the den Otter’s… not to mention all the local friends who will be on call! What a wonderful network we are blessed with! On top of that we are moving out tv upstairs (that is another thing, the owners finally came and checked out the leak – caused by their improper installing of the dishwasher so there is a hole in my basement ceiling right now) and the Wii for the kids and hope that things go smoothly. 

Echo

Echo

And more Echo