Well two days in one this time. Wednesday did not prove to be a get up and go sort of day. The twins and myself all seemed to be slightly under the weather so I had a couple naps, they sneezed their way through the day and the rest of the family sort of bumbled along. Rainy weather certainly assisted in the dark moods. We were unable to get Ken freed up in time to head downtown to check out some hair options for Emanuel and when we called the salon in Walmart they were already booked up, and we found out later, closed on Thursday so Emanuel was a little disappointed. 

We made up for it with workbook stuff, talking about coins with the twins, and of course… some cartoon time. Naps for everyone pretty much in the afternoon (minus Ken) and some more quiet time until Ken could be freed up to leave the house ended our day of non-activity. Then it was a family drive to Walmart to pick up a few items. Mom has all the makings for two matching pillowcase dresses so once she has had a break from sewing (that costume was a one night thing) she and Trinity are going to work together to make some new dresses. 

Creative stacking while counting

After supper it was time for Ken and I to take the girls to Bedtime Story Time at the local library… in their pj’s of course. There was a rather large group and a craft and then cookies AND milk! Echo was babbling away and Trinity, though shy, had fun. We plan on going next week… the week after we will be out of town but at the end of the month the story time group is joining the High Tea party to make fascinators! So I think we shall have to try and make it to that! The girls each have some dresses to choose from and I DO have my Lolita dress I could wear… with Ken as our escort… well it would be an experience and a half. 

Well that was Echo’s first real experience of a story time and it was definitely a success. One of the older girls at the group told Trinity that she had a VERY cute sister. I saw a friend of my mom’s though I did not get a chance to talk to her. The girls fit right in! 

Crafting

Cookies AND milk

Our Thursday was a bit of a crafty day… at least for Gavin, who created rings out of pipecleaners to share with everyone.

Creative boy

The weather was perfect for the twins to head out to the pool and splash around…

Fun in the sun

While Emanuel, Trinity and I took a walk to run a couple errands (Echo napped). 

He loves our smaller group walks

Running

And then ALL of us went to the nearby park to play with the kids there and run around. I mean we DID do school work but what is so much more memorable are the wonderful together moments we had that day… and while I (and Ken) were still rather worn out and frustrated with things… well… we got out, saw some sunshine and let the kids make some new friends…

Time to spin....

Walking

Sliding

Swinging

Getting us home in time for baths and clean up and then… COMPANY! Tammy and her 3 kids came by with a library book about making things with duct tape for me to look through and some time to visit. I was working on my bows sorting so it was fun to have someone else peruse the wares! Echo and little Russell are the best of friends, though he is way bigger than her and she pets him like he is a puppy! 

Post bath play, thus the poofy hair

A good ending to a relatively busy day… and with my next blog entry I will FINALLY share the results and the experience of my very first table with my crafts on it!!! Crazy!!! So check back tomorrow!!!

Quiet time with a book

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!!

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

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)

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

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!

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!!!

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??