Tag Archive | Michaella

And the Pictures Continue

Just a filler tonight, time to deal with Advent prep!!!

I don’t seem to be able include all the good pictures in the daily blogs so once again… more moments in the life of the Reinsch-Johnsons…

Watching the world go by

Gavin and some of his Art for Kids inspired drawings!

Zander and his truly creative Mummy picture… again thanks to Art for Kids

Can you believe she built that herself??? Thanks again Michaella for the special puzzle shaped blocks… they are an absolute favourite!

Me, myself and I at my nephew Zachary’s birthday party

Baba and Echo at the same party

Just me and my baby enjoying the party

iPad time

Bitty Baby

Christmas Day!

Christmas day was a busy one for our family… well AFTER 10 am when Miss Trinity FINALLY woke up! Then it was time for a quick kid photograph in front of the tree with their stockings before CHAOS!

Pre Presents!

Echo opened maybe ONE present I think before she lost interest but everyone else was very excited and ready to tear in. Trinity had a happy squeal for each and every new present! This is our first year of having the twins getting different gifts more tailored to the individual. Gavin was very happy with his art set and Zander his puzzles. 

Echo at work

Chaos!

Emanuel’s favourite gift of the season was long in coming (about 2 yrs to hunt one down! Thank you Michaella!!) – Sleepy Bird from Pocoyo! He was so excited that after we calmed down he had to sit and make a thank you up RIGHT THEN! 

Front of the card

And the back... he drew ALL the characters he has toys for

Snuggles with Sleepy Bird

Instead of a full out lunch after our late breaky we did a platter of random nibbles for the kids. They thought that was too much fun, being able to come and go and eat as they pleased! 

Nibbles

After presents and before nibbled Sean stopped by with mail from the old house on his way to his parents’ place. He was supposed to go Christmas Eve but was feeling too under the weather. There was actually some GREAT mail in the stack making Sean our Christmas elf and another dear friend our Christmas Angel. I am glad to report the stress that was there a week ago is now resolved due to these two forces. YAY. It is looking like 2012 should be the beginning of a much better set of circumstances for our family. It has been long in coming since Ken was sick those years ago. 

Had to open the Laura Secord Chocolates from Ted!

Of course there were presents for the adults… well I got ONE present and an IOU. Poor Ken got thwarted at every turn and had people either buy what he was planning on getting me (ie. Camera) or stuff that he had already bought and then had to return. Most likely my presents will be wrapped and… well not under the tree as it will be boxed up by then… but gifted end of January! At least he loved what I got him!! And I DID get rechargeable batteries and the charger from Ken and the kids. The boys actually gave up their MAG trip that last Saturday to hunt it down for me!! 

Our afternoon was total  toy chaos that headed right into the evening. Supper was LOVELY! We had a large beef roast thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Mike who also sent home some moose for us to enjoy over the rest of the year. There was corn and rice and everyone was so FULL! Then Grandma and Grandpa stopped by on their way back from James, Holly and Jimmie’s! 

We had sent presents with them and they in turn were bringing presents from my brother’s family. Apparently both sides were VERY happy! I am looking forward to going to Chapters or Indigo and doing a little book shopping myself! The kids were right into their presents and cornered the grandparents long enough to get making a few items. Their visit was brief but the kids had so much fun having their grandparents for a little more time. 

There were phone calls from Ken’s folks and my dad to be had as well as the wild abandon that comes from excessive amounts of NEW toys laying about the place. I think I can safely say that though I decreased the amount of gifts the fun was no lessened, nor the mess sadly! BUT I am proud of my kids and their gratitude and sharing of their new things. Of course we are NOT planning on heading out to hunt the deals on Boxing Day… I would rather stay home with the kids and relax and play. AND do not have the extra funds to do said shopping anyway. I am an over the year deal finder myself! Are you?

Girls and Dolls

A New Baby in the Extended Family, Crafting it Up and Babbling Along

So this week is actually shaping up not too badly! Today the post came and for once WITHOUT any nasty bills or horrible government notices (though in this great big muck up lack of information seemed to be their main weapon). No, instead there was a nice large envelope from the UK! A dear friend of mine sent me some patterns she had no use for, some very sweet faerie tags I will be sure to gift to some of the little girls in our lives AND the backpack for the Ellie elephant she had hunted down for Emanuel before we left for Minnesota! What a treat! The one I am most immediately excited about is the relatively simple monster 3. I am going to do those up for the boys for Christmas. I just have to figure out how to glue the googly eyes on – I am not sure white glue will be enough to make them truly stick.

Stash Enhancement! Thanks Michaella!!

Stash Enhancement! Thanks Michaella!!

We moved onto the letter E which is a very special one for Emanuel as I am sure you can imagine. E was for elephant and eggs at least while we were drawing. As Emanuel wanted and elephant he needed more help than usual. We used markers to colour our capital Es. And of course we listened to the short e sound song and talked about the ee sound in keep and such.

Letter E

Letter E

There is a bit of news in the extended Reinsch family – my cousin Amber finally had her baby – a boy – Logan Pierce Kisinger, 8lbs 14oz, 19 1/2 inches long! Their second baby, they now have a boy and a girl. Very exciting! So now I need to add to my list of projects a baby sampler and nursing necklace!

Logan Pierce (mobile upload)

Logan Pierce (mobile upload)

I had a visitor as well today (talk about a busy day!). Xinny came by to pick up Alexander’s present since we couldn’t make the party. As well as the envelope with the special shopping money I saved for her to spend in China! I figured it was a good idea since things are so much cheaper over there to send a nice sum so she could pick up clothes for Trinity and some toys for the kids (hehe Christmas !!!). After all Trinity, being the only girl, doesn’t really have hand-me-downs in this house! She came bearing slurpee (yes my addiction IS well known!) and stayed for a nice, though short visit. She mentioned we could possibly have a playdate on Sunday before they head off to China so I am working it out with Ken. I know the boys miss Isabella!

Emanuel is doing AMAZINGLY with the potty training! He no longer poops in his pants, and the only time he pees in his pull up is when he is sleeping. So the plan is to get him big boy underwear for the day time and pull ups for nap and sleep! That, and I want to get one of those seats that fits on top of the big toilet. He is a little too short to sit comfortably on the big seat even with our stool.

Of course in the wake of all that good stuff – the phones are finally dying and quickly! So Ken will have to purchase a new one (thankfully we found one for just under 40.00). Made it REALLY difficult to have a nice long chat with Bree (the other good thing today – phone call from a VERY good friend!). We managed but in the end I had to give in to the nasty phone.

With the good comes the bad – Ken rescheduled his medical appointment to coincide with my one big thing of the month – the homeschool picnic… hopefully it can be rescheduled tomorrow morning… but if not I guess I have to sturdy up the backbone, bring along the stroller and maybe one of the harness puppies and be dropped off. We are signing up officially for the hosting group – HLSA (most affordable group I have seen too! 25.00) which will get me on the forums which is exciting for me. They have all sorts of events set up by individual members which is also a selling point. I just wish life was simple… wait in THIS house? I just need to work on drilling into Ken that he HAS TO ask me before he messes around with the schedule. MEN.

Sean came over tonight pizza in hand. YUM it has been ages since we have had Pizza 73. A clear and obvious sign that KEN is going to be busy tonight! Although NOT busy with things I want him to do. Thankfully tomorrow is basically just the letter F and the boys requested another angel… that brings me back to homeschooling and the mystery craft: hand print angels. We traced hands and feet for this one on plain paper. Then you trace one of each foot on white cardstock, and one of each hand on yellow. These are then cut out.

Traced Out Hands and Feet

Traced Out Hands and Feet

The yellow hands are to be the wings – using white glue and glitter you pretty them up… warning MESSY. These are then left to dry. I found that after the white glue dried I had to press them a bit as they curled up.

Glitter!

Glitter!

The feet are placed together to make the gown, then you take a picture of the child’s face (I had Ken alter some and print them onto plain white paper) these are pasted at the heels and then tape the hands on either side. We finished the whole thing with tinsel halos that I taped on.

What a Face Zander!!!

What a Face Zander!!!

On the back is a verse off the site I found the instructions on:

Girl’s Verse

This little angel is special you see;
Because she is a part of me!!
Her wings are my hands,
Her body my feet!
And on our tree she’ll look very sweet!!!!

Boy’s Verse

This little angel is special you see;
Because he is a part of me!!
His wings are my hands,
His body my feet!
And on our tree he’ll look very sweet!!!!

I am still trying to get a good tracing or at least a stamp of Trinity’s hands so I can make a couple of hers. They are VERY cute in my mind. I am looking forward to putting them on our trees and in turn giving them out to people for their Christmas enjoyment. If you want to do this craft just check out this link: http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_47.shtml The boys LOVED this craft – MUCH more than the pinecones!

I have decided to get together pillowcases to make Trinity dresses with my mom. Of course the ancient ones I THOUGHT I had kept I can’t find so now I have to source out cheap ones. I wonder how hard it will be to get Ken to a Value Village??

So tomorrow is the picnic, and midway through the week… here’s hoping the week keeps its positive vibe!

Think the Boys Will Like??

Think the Boys Will Like??