November is quickly slipping away from us it seems, and with it my time for Christmas gift crafting. As posted in yesterday’s entry – I HAVE got a new feltie in the making – Hello Kitty in all her feltie glory. Fat Sheep would NOT approve. Speaking of Fat Sheep – she recently updated her blog with her Halloween experiences with our family. She did make a marvelous prop for Echo’s Little Bo Peep costume! 

Yesterday was a better day than the day before… we have outlawed saying DON’T WANT TO… and have discussed behaviour that is something you can be proud of vs something that makes Mommy and Daddy sad. There have been more time outs than I would like but to nip it in the bud we have had to go to zero tolerance. I am just thankful that I have Ken home to step in when I feel overwhelmed. I wonder how many OTHER parents have these not so good days/weeks/months… 

There was a big surprise for Gavin in the mail yesterday though! A lovely lady in Nova Scotia sent him an envelope full of beginner patterns and kits to get him going with his cross stitching! He was so excited, he opened the envelope and went through it all right there and then. We just have to finish his newest self design before he moves onto one of these. I have to say there is a certain amount of pride in the fact that ONE of the children has already shown a passion for something so dear to me!

Gavin and his new patterns!

We have been battling teething and diaper rash with Echo all week. I think we are starting to see some progress on both. 4 molars now in place and zinc cream a regular part of our changing routine I think she will be much happier by the weekend. She is over 16 lbs finally! I don’t remember if I mentioned it but we briefly weighed her on the weekend and she was almost 16 1/2 lbs!!

Clapping with Daddy

We had friends work out a way to get a much needed snowsuit from my mom’s to here as well! Trinity is in love with her new pink princess coat! I am so grateful that people will help us out like this. The van should be fixed SOON but in the meantime it feels so lovely to have people who are willing to network with us! 

Modelling her new coat

We have been continuing our worksheet work and sight word learning. Zander is slowly starting to TRY to sound things out over guessing. He does seem to ignore the rules of language etc though. Which can make for frustration on both parts and some giggles on mine.

From reading to a math break

Yesterday was jammie library day for Trinity and Emanuel as usual. The theme of the stories was dinosaurs and as a wonderful coincident Emanuel was wearing Gavin’s dinosaur pj’s! The craft was making their own paper triceratops which was great fun. We did some looking for books and movies and while I was in the adult fiction section Trinity made a new friend and read a story.

Dinosaurs!

 Aunty Karyn picked us up for the library with a special gift for Trinity – a new Hello Kitty themed placemat! Which of course has been used for every meal since! 

Hello Kitty

He Chris stopped by today to drop off a bucket of things for the kids and myself and included in that was something for Trinity – an OLD SCHOOL My Little Pony! Happy girl! There was also a dictionary, thesaurus, gaming device that I have to work out how to use for the boys, some craft supplies and binders… always welcome!!! And I had the batteries I needed to get the device going on hand and everything! This also reminded me of the boys’ gift from LAST Christmas – the Math Shark. 

With pony and my beta kitty

Math Shark

I am working on my felties tonight and making my plans for the rest of the month. We are determined tomorrow morning to read about snowflakes! It seems like we start out with the best of intentions and get side tracked or confused or derailed lately. But at least the stuff we do INSTEAD is still interesting and fun! 

Now don’t forget to enter my 1000th post draw and win a feltie of your choice! You can do so by clicking HERE. 

Flashcard baby time

Well that snuck up on me! I started somewhat seriously blogging back when our Emanuel was born… but it has not been until the kids seriously started their schooling with Preschool level fun that I have been at all consistent and here I am… 1000 entries later! We have met some wonderful people through this blog, had some lovely gifts received, sent some ourselves and shared our lives with all of you. This is definitely a boost to keep on blogging! BUT numbers like this really only mean something to the blogger… now to bring something to the reader… 

In honour of my 1000th post I am going to do a draw. Let’s start with the prize – the winner of a random number generated draw will  get to chose a subject to be made into a feltie that will be designed by myself and Ken, stitched by me and then mailed to you! Of course any thing within reason! Felties ARE only around 2-4 inches tall so some details are simply not easily created! I am going to give everyone a week… please ONE entry per person. Now to enter – all you need to do is make a comment on THIS entry. You need to leave your name and your email address and then share either why you read and/or follow my blog, what you have taken from my entries, anything you want to share in regards to our stories or activities, or even just a little bit about yourself and where you are from. In the next few entries on here I will link back to this specific blog for commenting just to make things simple. You have until the following Friday – the 11th, to enter and the winner will be announced on Monday the 14th! 

Ok with that out of the way back to our daily lives… today we woke up to this!!!

SNOW

Thank goodness I had gone through the winter clothes last week, and picked up a coat off of Kijiji for Emanuel. I am just short a pair of snowpants for Emanuel size 6-7 as we ALWAYS buy big for the winter gear. I am hoping to find something on Kijiji, Freecycle or an affordable pair in a store… the problem is FINDING something. 

The first snow of the year was enjoyed by 4 of our 5… Echo woke up with a runny nose and I had the distinct impression that packing her into her snowsuit and plopping her in the snow would NOT be welcome. You do tend to forget over the warmer months, how much work it is to get kids out the door geared up and this was WITHOUT the snowpants!

Ready to go outside

With a house full of guys and their computers on the way it has been a cleaning day for me. Ken also had to head back to the city to pick up Jeff and his oldest Zachary at the airport. They were able to come up from California for the party and then on to spend time with their family up here in Alberta. 

Post travel nap

The rest of our day went pretty much up in the air come afternoon, thank goodness for ongoing sewing projects, Starfall on the netbook and Legos. I am determined to spend some time on mice in the near future as well as collect the last of my snowflake books from the library to get started on our next big focus. 

I am spending the rest of my evening moving all of our homeschooling links and files to ONE laptop. Not an easy task as I have been collecting stuff for years. I hope to expand my links on my side bar and share some of my best finds over the month. With a house full of people and the children in bed it is definitely time to get back to work on my own projects! Remember to leave a comment for the draw and thank you for reading! 

Teaching Echo the Gobble Up game... sort of

Not a mid week puck me up but one day from… TWO packages today, BOTH from the UK! One for the kids and one for me! A fascinator/hat for me in white with feathers and tulle… so fun and in my mind so British! Now I just need to find the right hairstyle and pair it up with one of my dresses (maybe the polka dot one?) and take photos! 

Isn't it pretty?

The other package had a few Christmas items but some bits to share now too. I am very and truly blessed in my friendships here and abroad! 

We are still experiencing a healthy share of the “I don’t want to’s” here in the house. BUT we are working through it. I just really want the boys to embrace the excitement of learning new things – even if it IS just math or new words. 

Some workbook time

Playing games in the sunshine

Gavin is back to work designing another project to stitch, Zander is still on the lookout for a new passion. BUT everyone spent some time in the “Lego room” for the day – the twins’ bedroom… and created something to show. 

In the Lego room for the day

Two little builders

The hunt is still on for snowflake information and activities… that is the next choice of focus after all… and in the meantime we are working on our reading and math, cooperation, use of imagination and understanding of fair play and being a good winner or loser. I have taken some time today to be crafty as well… a new feltie in fact, though the debate is on as to whether or not it IS a dragon, or a demon, or in the case of the first attempt… a bat! What is universally agreed is that they are cute! And will be up on my Facebook page It’s a Hoot for sale for 5.00 a piece plus shipping soon! 

1st attempt

Much more dragon-y

Tomorrow friends start arriving for Ken’s LAN party so I don’t know that we will get much done. BUT we have managed to complete ALL our Halloween pages and activities, and tomorrow we have our mouse books to read. Gotta finish going over what a mouse actually is like vs. the Stuart Little version(s). The twins have shown some interest in making some felties of their own so once I get a spare moment I am going to enlarge the penguin pattern to a more manageable size for tiny learning fingers and let them try! 

Got your nose Fat Sheep