6 years old… where has the time gone? My wee bionic baby is now 6 years old!! (for more on the journey that was her heart surgery go HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE) Since she is now a self proclaimed BIG GIRL she was in charge of planning out her wish list for things to do.

First of all, Wednesday before she joined us for shopping at Sam’s Club so she could pick out her very own birthday outfit. She settled on an adorable dress that cost me less than 6.00! Score! Then on Friday we went all the way to Target so she could pick out her own cake, candles, and icing for Daddy to write on the cake with… Pokemon, pink and white and pink.

Sign by Trinity

Her requests were pretty simple… but first she had to FaceTime with Nana and Baba and open her present from them and THEN talk to Grandma on the phone.

Next was the all important task of going to Toys’r’us to get the one thing Echo has been asking for for almost a whole year – her very own 18 inch doll. With 12 options it was a VERY serious decision!

After that was accomplished it was off to McDonald’s. Specifically one with a PLAY AREA. Ken and I had forgotten how loud those places are! She was so pleased. (we made sure to pack socks)

THEN it was off to the pool… which turned out to be closed for filtration issues… so we brainstormed with our homeschool buddies who were joining us and headed over to our favourite beach for presents, playing and general fun stuff.

Our  evening was topped off with a visit from our friend Anthony, Chinese for dinner… CAKE of course…

And a most awesome costume gift!

Batman Girl with BATTLE SWORD

Playing VIDEO GAMES

I think we did good. She snuck into our closet at bedtime with her sword and her doll under the very blanket she was given post surgery. Happy Birthday little darling!

There is no such think as unlucky Friday the 13th for this family. After all, in 2010 in the early morning of Friday, August 13th we welcomed Miss Echo into our family. And life has never been the same!

The baby of the family has officially hit a milestone. 5 is the age when she can start going to Home Depot for the monthly wood working craft (Just not September as we double booked ourselves that Saturday! oops!), she is of age to really join our classroom… and according to her – big enough to no longer have her cone in a cup at McDonald’s (the jury is out on that one when mommy had to eat a portion of her birthday cone in order to save the birthday outfit).

Anyway, the birthday DAY… Daddy spoiled her with birthday tiny toast (french toast cut into small pieces).

Grandma called all the way from Canada!

Miss Echo had her photos taken (with Trinity) at the flower garden outside the library.

While there she ALSO had her first present (from Gammie)… a unicorn… which brought a HUGE smile!

We had her actual birthday party on the Sunday following with Aunty Judy, Uncle Jim and Cousin Robbie. She helped pick out her own colours (blue) and her own cake (Olaf!) on her birthday when we were out running errands. Small and intimate and perfect. Though the poor thing took TWO MINUTES to blow her candles out… she kept blowing up. I was sure she would hyperventilate and pass out into her cake.

Talk about excitement, family, presents…

AND a battery for her inherited Barbie Car! Thanks Nana and Baba…

Definitely a 5th birthday to remember for Miss Echo. Now for the extra pictures to enjoy… Note the amazing batgirl bear from Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie! 

October 22-24

We are onto our next big countdown – HALLOWEEN! Where has the year gone??? First Halloween, then Thanksgiving (American) and then CHRISTMAS! I am so not ready! We started our day with a gift… Gammie has already started sending the Christmas presents to hide until THE DAY and included in the boxes have been a few extras… I think we opened a couple the week before. But this one was a request item… a tiny ring-tailed lemur. Only our VERY FAVOURITE of all the animals really. This one was a dog toy so Echo is totally enamoured with it… it SQUEAKS!

With our regular morning routine accomplished Nana, myself and the girls had a special errand to accomplish. The weather has of course changed over to fall and sandals are out. Both girls have grown and honestly Echo has never had a true pair of sneakers… so off we were to find some! Kohl’s had a 30% off coupon and Nana was on a mission. Two stores later and a worn out Echo and we were MORE than successful. Not only did we find adorable LIGHT UP shoes for each but we ALSO found coats for the cousins AND long sleeved MINECRAFT themed shirts for the boys! Add to that lunch at McDonald’s and our girly time was a total success!!! Thank you Nana!!! (Oh, did I mention… matching adorable 3 piece girly outfits for the ladies themselves!)

With milk

Matching!

Gavin actually requested a special mini project for himself – pictures, video and (my input) a short story about ring-tailed lemurs. We watched a National Geographic video.

And Globalzoo’s video simply titled The Ring-Tailed Lemur.

Our colouring page could be found on HonkingDonkey (what a name!!) HERE. I love it when they take initiative and WANT to do something a little unique and interesting to them personally.

We hit midweek with not too much drama. Special movie time though – Monsters Vs. Aliens.

And a science project with Daddy dealing with oil and water and why polar bears are not cold! Again spot the secondary parental teacher!!!

Well sort of out of screen

There was even time for some play time, chaotic and totally us!

BUT even more important… KEN TURNED 36!!! Since I am on a total spending freeze there was no present buying… so the kids and I wrote stories, drew pictures and yours truly wrote a letter for him which we made into a book. I do love handmade creations and the words in that book came from all of us to him with love.

Happy Birthday Ken!

After celebrating a very special birthday it was time to move onto a big completion… our Egypt unit made its way (finally) onto the poster. We worked together and did our very best to showcase our Ancient Egypt fun! Of course I have a reference blog entry that you can check out HERE.

We ended our day with making white paint footprints we will later make into ghostly images.

I am well pleased with our progress in almost everything! We have our ups and downs but if I can look  back and recount these positive moments I KNOW we are doing it right!!!!