Yup slowly but surely we are working our way to current life… it has just seemed like the year has slipped away before we could truly grasp it! But on I go… May…

Well, what happens in May? Mother’s Day… that is the big one.

Mother’s Day dinner with Nana and Baba

But we had so much more going on… Spring means sunshine and park days! We do have a couple nearby.

It also means (in Texas), roses are big, gorgeous and mailable… Gammie has always sent us beautiful blooms from her garden that seem to make it in record time for the most part, smell and petals intact!

Garage sales have started back up as well. A goldmine for books, toys and the odd piece of clothing… especially when they are walking distance.

The hot find for this year – LITTLEST PET SHOP pieces! Trinity and Echo are now addicted to them. Odd little bobble head things.

Miss Trinity completed a couple workbooks, as did Emanuel.

We dressed up fancy for church, especially when there was singing to be done for the Cherub Choir!

Scouts figured highly in our activities around the month of May… anything to fulfill Emanuel’s arrow points. This is a game where you throw washers into a pie plate. All the kids enjoyed that one! Noisy though.

One of Trinity’s birthday presents was a knot it yourself fleece blanket with a Hello Kitty theme. Trinity was such a go getter with this one – her goal was to finish in time for the Family Night movie at the YMCA… she made it!

Miss Echo was gifted a lovely selection of shoes thanks to the Schwartz family’s neighbour! What a blessing!!

We took the whole family for a special outing to the carousal at one of the smaller malls.

The kids rescued some free chairs from the end of the neighbour’s drive as well. Decent condition and rather comfy!

May also marked the beginning of this year’s straw bale garden. Nana and Baba are gone so much now they figured they would set it up and let the boys go with it. The results were… varied… but they did enjoy the process of setting things up, planting and such.

It is surprising how quickly winter melts away around here. The kids are always quick to embrace that change, really they are quick to embrace each and every season with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Cousin Robbie even found the time for a visit! A college student now we see a lot less of him but the visits we do have are terrific!

We ended the month with a trip to the zoo (Como) with Aunty Shandai and Uncle Ravyn. Sometimes a place takes on a whole new experience just by adding some amazing company. So sit back and enjoy the inevitable photo overflow!!!! Happy May!!! (belatedly!)

We picked a busy day and had to park away and take the shuttle which the kids LOVED

Sea Lion

this little guy was all over the place within arm’s reach!

Bonsai!!!

You can find the rest of the month’s images (many from the zoo) HERE. Can’t resist sharing these!!!

And of course we spent a lot of time with the Schwartz family! Even met the neighbour’s baby.  Now that we have snow it is fun to look back at all this green warm sunshine!

Don’t forget Home Depot with Daddy and Baba!

And our time with Kites and the Wind (resources HERE).

And tons more but instead… a few more pics and then bop up to that link at the zoo section and see the overflow! Bask in the warm images with our cold winter just beginning!

Trinity’s birthday party (note Novak boys)

Two new blue bracelets!

Feeding the Starving Children with Scouts

Easter shoes thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Mike!

May 30-June 2

And in a blurry blink May is coming to an end! What better way to learn about Texas and discuss weather than to draw up the 4 seasons. The kids were stunned by the lack of real lasting snow.

Trinity and Emanuel drew us up a stunning Texas poster full of things the remember reading and hearing about over the last month.

The big brothers are really pulling out all the stops and reading to the littles. I love it when they do. The storytelling is getting more and more fluid and fun. And the audience is definitely learning more patience as we go along.

We are seeing more and more gorgeous weather and with a willing Daddy to remove the cars from the drive… well every afternoon we can we are out in the sunshine in our toys with bubbles and books for Mommy.

And then back in to make box forts for the girls!

On Saturday I took the leap and headed over to Regency Hair School and got a brand new CONSISTENT colour! I have to say the price was AMAZING (set price not sliding according to hair length) and the work wonderful. I had an amazing student and walked out with a terrific colour!

We managed a few garage sales and came away with new shoes for Miss Echo, a skein of eyelash yarn and a summer dress for yours truly. We are on the hunt for good finds this year… books, a scooter for Emanuel… anything homeschool related. Garage sales can be where it’s at. Sadly so far this year all the homeschool ones posted on the egroup are not reasonable driving distance for us.

Sunday was new members service for us! Very exciting, not only did the kids sing at the front first with the Sunday School group but we also came up to declare ourselves new members of Saint Mark’s. With a brunch to follow we had a great time meeting some of the other members, having a lovely meal with our new church community and spending some time as a family all dressed up!

We brought home our carnations that were pinned to our shirts and put them in a pretty dish to make into a centerpiece on the table. So pretty!

We had some amazing Lego creators hard at work to make Pokemon.

On Monday we set to work making peanut butter and birdseed on toilet paper rolls for birdfeeders to hang in the front yard. Another Scouts achievement to add to Emanuel’s list for his year.

Miss Echo is utterly in love with “doing her mail”. She simply cannot be stopped when it comes to completing the pages Gammie sent her. I think she is going to LOVE the curriculum we picked up at Sam’s club for an absolute steal.

Our morning was completed with a blanket fort.

There was planting to be done in the straw bale garden out back…

Which of course led to playing outside.

Emanuel chose to use Art for Kids instructions (link on right) to make his very own Mario.

That evening it was time for one of the last Scout gatherings for the year. Darcy had to be at 6 places at once so we collected Aidan early, hung out for a while and then headed over to the dam. We ended up at the wrong parking lot but in the end the boys managed to meet up with their group for their hike.

Super high water levels!

We hung out at the Novak’s for a while while the boys played games until the rest of Aidan’s family got home.  A great ending to a terrific day and the start of a whole new month.

May 5-10

May has marked a definite increase in our book work and math exploration. Multi tasking has become Mommy’s most helpful skill (what you can’t see in the picture below is my fingers at work on a crochet project to steady the nerves!).

Our first real focus on Texas was the Alamo. A historical look at a location that shaped so many lives and the future of the now state of Texas. I absolutely adored the book we found at the library about it (which is listed in our Texas Resource page that will be posted in the not too distant future). Trinity and Emanuel took the responsibility of illustrating what we felt were some main points from the book.

Miss Echo felt a need to bring back out the at home assembled Kaleidoscope. She is so gentle with this toy it is just lovely to listen to her explain what she is seeing.

That night we had a special visitor – COUSIN ROBBIE! He came to play games in the evening (and have dinner) but obligingly came early to play with the kids FIRST! I don’t know that there could have been a better treat for them. He is a family favourite.

We even pulled out Sorry for the kids to play with Robbie so he had a double game night!

Tuesday we started our Texas themed stories… After learning about exaggeration and touching on the saying Everything Is Bigger in Texas the story was all sorts of outrageous fun!

The boys are showing great strides in their reading… Pokemon cards have been a great incentive… after all there is A LOT of information on those cards to discover and the rule is they have to read them THEMSELVES!

The kids were just not feeling it. So we did have quite a bit of down  time. I hate how spring always seems to bring in those seasonal change colds!

Of course on Wednesday we had to take a time out to watch Daddy and Baba move the trailer in the yard. An interesting visual example on how some things turn widely!

I love how as  the bigger kids learn Echo is there soaking it in!

We snuck in another Wild Kratts. I finally had to take them all and put them in a binder… so many animals, so many amazing facts and hand drawn illustrations!

Wolves

I found a great craft on Activity Village for mother’s day = a template to make a flower where on each of the petals the kids write why they love their Mum. You can find this by searching Mother’s Day on the site (on right) and look under their designated craft section for that theme.

We finished up the day with dragging out the spring toys. So many bikes in a row!!!

It was back to worksheets and Texas learning the next day.

We also had a sheet for Mother’s Day to complete.

With a break for a magic trick – putting a pin through a balloon without popping it! (hint the trick utilizes TAPE) This was another of Emanuel’s Scout achievements.

We rounded out our week with a family trip to the mall on Saturday… Grandma and Grandpa Mike had sent Easter sandal money and we had 5 little sets of feet to cover. All of the kids except Zander got sandals. His sneakers were tight so we got him those. Amazingly we walked into Payless and walked out 15 min later (yup THAT SOON) having had our own personal shopper and a 20% off total purchase coupon.

Seriously we bought only one pair of shoes (Echo’s) that was not on sale in the first place and Zander’s Airwalks were on super clearance! There was enough left over for Mommy to treat herself to a little spending spree at H&M. Two new dresses and two new shirts and the total cost was under 40.00. (granted had to dip into my special stash of cash but a TINY dip!)

We also stopped in at Lakeshore and did the gambit of craft activities they had with Mother’s Day themes! A bit of a mad house but we managed to enjoy it and have EVERYONE involved. Even Echo got her glitter on.

Once we got home we noticed a neighbour down the road had a bunch of stuff at the curb for free… suddenly we had two VERY happy girls with a new trike and two new playsets (kitchen and vet) for our backyard structure.

We ended the day with all guys boardgames and it was time for bed.

Mother’s Day is Sunday and our life cannot get much more busy, fun or enriching. I am so pleased with May so far!!