September 9

So, parades… REALLY not Ken and my cup of tea but one of those memories we all have of growing up, so when Steven mentioned that the town he lives in was having a parade and that as usual Saturday was his Quinn day… well we had to head out and join in. We dressed up and headed out relatively early and met up with the boys at their house.

From there we drove to a parking lot to park and walk to the street the parade was on. We chose the end of the parade so had a bit of a wait.  I am so glad that we purchased that blanket at the Tyrell Museum. It comes in handy and is so easy to take along!

Hanging out

The kids DID get bored as we had to wait well over 30 min for the parade to get to us but it was worth the wait.  The kids were much more interested in candy collection, once we explained to them what was  going on that is. They were very sure candy was only available during Halloween so this was all new to them.

Waiting on candy

Post parade and candy and even watching someone launch a t-shirt into the crowd (that REALLY can’t be safe!) we slipped off before the parade ended and got out of the parking lot with minimal issues.

A float

Then it was time for LUNCH! The daddies were in charge as yours truly is STILL trying to finish the dolly blanket and kept and eye on the baby while she trundled around in the garage. Steven’t parents have put up a large mosquito screen across  the one side of their garage and made a baseball themed seating area that is absolutely amazing! I could totally see homeschooling in there through out the warm months. They had a wall between the double garage section and a single car area so you could close doors and all that but it was a great idea! 

Hello puppy!

Steven’s backyard is a great place to be. They managed to get their hands on a rather amazing play set that is big enough for Quinn and our entire brood to enjoy! Add to that a lovely hill that the boys asked to come back and visit in the winter to sled down and some random toys and we had some VERY happy kids.

Fun in the sun

Lunch was hotdog and hamburgers with chips and grapes and juice pouches. I think everyone was full up when we were done!

Lunch!

Add to that a break in the basement with Thomas the trains and the Netflix version as well!

TV break

It was a great visit and a welcome break to being here at our house. After our visit we stopped in at a few stores… Jo-Ann’s of course finally! I am going to have to watch on sales and coupons as they do have some interesting bits and pieces… we picked up beads and plastic string this time. OH and Ken’s yarn for the scarf HE wants. I ran into the Dollar Tree at that location and was a little disappointed. I DID get my poster paper to create our Pen Pal display. We are going to make pockets for each of our correspondents. I also picked up google eyes and pom poms. What a difference from my usual Dollarama hauls, I am holding out hope that that was just a smaller store and that a bigger one (say like the one near Darcy) may hold more hope. Otherwise I am going to have to keep hunting sales and coupons. 

Totally enjoying the chance to keep my hands busy

I have started our craft bucket though, we are already saving our toilet rolls, collecting the crafty bits I DID bring down here and sourcing out options. I found some bags of bits and bobs a sweet friend and fellow homeschooling mom had sent to me when I was still in Alberta and had forgotten I saved (thank you BJ!!) so we have some sequins, glitter and random fun things to use… I am going to save my yarn bits as well as I remember using those for crafting as a child.  Now our end of the week was more of a play but there is so much merit in learning through play so I feel forgiven if not vindicated! We will just keep on going and trying over the next week and tweak what we are doing… oh and watch the mail, I have a few things of great importance coming in the post! So check back as I share how we get along!

Basically Birthday Buddies

Now back to reality and daily life… Sunday afternoon into the evening had all of us Reinsch-Johnsons relaxing and napping. Myself with a wet cloth over my eyes was the first to succumb. Thankfully that rest plus some eye drops have helped. But the rest of my not so little family ended up in the middle of the livingroom in a huddle with the tv on. It was actually rather nice to wake up to a group cuddle

Cuddles

Sunday evening Ken finally was able to make good on his promise to play a boardgame with the kids. Thank goodness I labeled those buckets! This is Carcassonneone of Ken’s favourites. But they play the VERY basic way. Just roads and cities for points.

Gaming together

Monday was back to schooling and amazingly enough ANOTHER pen pal letter to respond to… this one from their cousin up in Canada Jimmie. He even sent each of the girls a colouring sheet. So first thing we do – respond! We got the letter Saturday I do believe and Monday the response was in the box and ready to go!!!! So much fun!

Colouring her colouring page

We have our workbooks now and printouts for welcoming us all back to school. I have decided our official first day back with be NEXT Monday, when we have the first of the week to ourselves… I don’t know that we will get too high in the activity until later in the month but I am excited to have the kids started thinking and learning more consistently. We have some things from this summer to finish up and I am working on ideas to start. I just wish we lived closer to a dollar store!!! Poster paper is expensive elsewhere.

In the meantime here is Gavin out being creative

Of course we had to spend some time outside. The day was beautiful and I am constantly sorting and organizing what we DO have… I would like to start the boys on scrapbooking again but that is not really possible until all the stuff in the house is sorted neatly to make room for those buckets to come in temporarily. I think in the next blog entry or so I will outline our loose goals that I have so far. I really can’t plan too far ahead a lot depends on working further with what we DO have at hand until Ken is employed again.

Miss Trinity and my original Cabbage Patch doll!

Speaking of employment, there has been lots of emails and action in that respect. Ken is working hard every day to contact, apply and network. I have to say thank you to everyone who is helping us network and get Ken’s resumes out and and about. 

OK has nothing to do with the above statement.. but CUTE (the clothes on that doll are from my very first baby doll… sadly can’t find doll but this one fits the clothes!!)

In the afternoon I spent more time cleaning and organizing and left the boys and Trinity to watch educational tv. There is only so much I can do with the kids with the stuff in total disarray. At least we found BOTH of Gavin’s painting/art sets and such. Sadly one bucket of toys we THOUGHT we saved (a really neat set that made a castle and stuff) was not set aside like we had thought but managed to get misplaced into the sale piles. A little disappointing but as we had not mentioned the possibility to the boys they are not upset by it. This downsize has been a real eye opener. I think that I will amass more items with much more forward thinking from now on. 

We did perk up the girls’ evening with some splendid PINK mashed potatoes thanks to Nana!

Pink potatoes

Now today was quiet and slow but we managed brilliantly to get things done. I have some links to share next educational blog entry but we worked on our Welcome Back to School banner… and of course drew some MORE pictures (easy filler for a day when everything else feels blah) that then we talked about and wrote descriptions for for our Minnesota file. The best drawings, in my opinion, we accomplished OUTSIDE though. After lunch when the kids ALL went outside we brought our journal books and the boys all drew pictures of the squirrel we see constantly outside. The copying of my words is getting better and better and come mid September I hope to have them writing their own sentences without much help from myself or Ken.

Drawing outside

The result

Impromptu storytime with a book out of one of the last boxes

For Trinity and Emanuel the big excitement was a special craft just for them! This one was off of Education.com (a favourite site). Creating an ocean in a bottle. You can find the instructions HERE. We are debating trying other oils and doing one without oil… and we did change out glass with a plastic container that was already here. Oh and the glue gun for the time being. I think I will seal the OUTSIDE of the lid as if I put glue on and then tried to screw the top on the seal would not be as good! But again Trinity and Emanuel, so pleased!!! And now they have their own waves while Nana and Baba are gone to the ocean! 

Creating

Completed

In the meantime we are debating what next week’s project will be… I would like to have a fun craft a week for the younger kids in the family… so something a little more complex that they HAVE TO do with me or their daddy or another adult. After all, all of our PAST crafts are gone and a lot of our supplies given to other people in our move so if we do this we have an excuse to add to our stash.

All Gavin needs is some Legos!

With joining a local chapter of Freecycle on my to do list for the week and trying to get all the pertinent information for homeschooling in Minnesota it certainly feels like I have a full plate! I am just glad that we are traditional homeschoolers, so much flexibility with my rather fluctuating learners. BUT we are feeling forward movement and planning and the kids are happy… THAT is what counts!!

Baby in a tree

And the unpacking goes on… as does my sorting, repacking and labeling of the umpteen buckets we brought south from Canada. I am so glad we started packing in the Rubbermaid tubs way back when the twins were tiny. Stackable, sealed and so far rather indestructible. I am well on my way to being down to JUST tubs and NO cardboard boxes… of course with how much we got rid of… not a huge surprise. Of course out of necessity most of our stuff must remain in said tubs… this time (the third time) the organization is going to have to be a much higher priority.

So many buckets

In fact, today I got down to the last 3 buckets and some boxes… so close to complete! I am thinking the only thing we could have possibly gotten rid of that I wish I had kept is my first baby doll… but she may be in my childhood bucket. I did not search through that. I did, however, find my cabbage patch doll! AND this… made it in one piece!

Great Grandma’s dishes

We have more than a few buckets in our bedroom that require sorting and shifting as well as loose bits and pieces that need to be organized. Once that is done we may even manage to remove ALL the cardboard! I was out 3 hours in the sun working on the sort. Better than attempting to do it in the basement and have to move it back and forth or in the garage itself amid the clutter and disorganization. We have some work to do in the sub basement to make room for our stuff… and once Ken is working again we certainly have some purchases to make! 

The kids spent their time outside for a bit of my sorting (Gavin)

Reading a book (Zander)

Now we took a day off on the schooling so I could get as much done as I needed to. They did work on Legos and make some interesting creations…

Legos

From the comfort of the long missed couch

Once Ken made some inroads on his coding (gotta do the required coding so the company gets an idea as to what you can do) we all packed up in the van and went for our pen pal related activity – using the funds send by Gammie to purchase the next best thing to a slurpee – Icees at Target. Blue raspberry and red cherry. Everyone was happy. 

Icees

We found a new show to watch on the On Demand… Grandpa in My Pocket. There is something about British tv that the kids and I just seem to love! And this show was rather cute. Even Echo enjoyed it. Now to finish our sorting… find a way to fit some MORE furniture in the already full basement. Like playing Tetris or something! 

Stopping to look at photos

And that was my life for today… boxes, chasing kids and more boxes… oh and something that is most definitely NOT a slurpee… but a little yummy all the same… oh and I got some hay fever medication and did NOT sneeze, weep and wheeze my way through my time in the sun! YAY!

Note the NOT red eyes!