May 6-7

It is now time to fully embrace the spring weather… And wow has it sort of melted into SUMMER heat. Two beautiful days, two beautiful walks culminating in park visits.

Monday’s walk was based on really just getting out and running free. The park was deserted and the kids went crazy going on all the equipment, climbing on things, sliding, playing in the gravel. The kids all took turns helping Echo to go down the bigger slides! Talk about a happy baby!!! It is great to get that fresh air first thing after breakfast and then get home in time to jump into the school work.

Slightly chilly but a good start to our week of walking

Helpful brothers

4 of 5

Working in the nature journals first

Helpful siblings!

With the lovely weather and a shelf full of comics we  took a nice chunk of the afternoon in the 3 seasons porch and had a reading session… the kids built a tent to hide in for a bit, but most of all we checked out the new comics in the sun together.

Comfortable jumble

Even Miss T

We snuck in some Mother’s Day themed fun with a dinosaur twist with Emanuel and Trinity together… the book… T. Rex and the Mother’s Day Hug by Lois G. Grambling. They each drew what they thought a dinosaur could give his or her mommy for Mother’s Day. I love that Trinity branched out and drew her OWN dinosaur.

DINOSAURS

One more outside run in the evening and our week of fresh air got off to a grand start.

Fun in the sun

Tuesday we lucked out and found the park full of kids… a daycare or two was there (in home) and more than willing to play with us and share the mud turtle they found before heading off for their lunch. Apparently they usually go on Thursdays so now we have an unofficial playdate.

Park time, of course no pics of the other kids but it was FUN!

Such a beautiful day

Examining ants

We started Trinity’s very first lapbook based on Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman. I added to the lapbook I found on line with a worksheet from Obseussed HERE. All of the kids listened in on the story and Trinity and I went on to work on the light lapbook. It is so fun talking to her about Mommies.

Trinity wrote about her Mommy…

We are working our way through penguins on the edge of things this week with our REAL focus on Mother’s Day.

Gotta learn those facts

So far… a couple interesting points about the beginnings of the official day, history, etc. It was actually a bit of a hunt to find information about Mother’s Day and its history. I lucked out and tracked down a copy of the much lauded lapbook from Live and Learn Press. I am going to make up a blog entry once again to combine all my resources.

Emanuel and his bit about his godmommy Xinny

I think I mentioned our robots previously… Here are the images. Thanks again Art for Kids!

ROBOTS

Oh and we updated our list of signs of spring!

Note the little turtle included thanks to Emanuel

We had a second outing in the sun, this time to the front yard!

Bubbles!

Nana and Baba also bought a fresh pineapple so the kids got to see one cut up in a rather unique way.

Pineapple!

And then the kids rounded off the evening with Castle Panic with Daddy and Baba.

Games again

The best of inside AND outside fun with learning to boot these past two days!

Shoes in a row

Thursday… hmmm… well another day at Karyn’s and this time having run out of MOST of my supplies. I basically was able to make 3 ribbon bows and that was about it. Karyn had a ribbon drawer for me to pillage which helped a bit. Of course with an unexpected free day and very little supplies at hand I indulged in a very long bath and some quiet time. Echo was rather sweet too and napped willingly and multiple times. 

Enjoying Aunty Karyn's

Karyn came home early and with packing and a viewing on his way to collect Echo and myself we had some spare time. After watching a silly Japanses commercial for KFC on YouTube we had to go out and get some! Then it was time to pack up and ready ourselves for Ken and the rest of the kids. 

We piled into the packed up van and headed out to meet Victoria at work at the library where I went in solo to chat and collect a few books to read. Then it was off to Grandma’s. The kids were even MORE excited when we stopped off at a grocery store to pick up sandwich fixings so they could eat IN THE VAN! 

We got to Grandma’s late enough that there was time to bathe the boys, get in our mountain of stuff and send the kids off to bed. BUT it was so nice to have space… and everyone have doors. The twins share a room, Emanuel another and then we bunk Trinity down in the playroom on a crib mattress on the floor… easy reach for the dollhouse! Echo, of course, shares a room with Ken and myself but there is plenty of room so I was even able to sort out our clothes into tidy organized areas. Of course that showed even more clearly have few options I actually have right now… boo. But mom lent me a few tank tops (I am missing one of mine in the transfer here so far) and an outfit for the internment next weekend. Thank goodness we are close to the same size!!

Gypsy in duplicate!

Friday was a pretty special day. First off, Ken watched Echo while Trinity and Emanuel and I did our first walk with Gypsy. We wandered the neighbourhood even though it was rather chilly (and the boys’ pants are not yet here… but will be after the weekend) and did our best to wear out the puppy.

After that it was time for us to pack the whole family up and head to Staples. We can’t get a PO number until next term after the end of the month so we called ahead before we came here and set it up for a mini shopping spree. It was rather fun to go with all of the kids and pick out some educational bits and bobs that we can use for more than just today or tomorrow. We even picked up a whiteboard! 

Then we went to Superstore for some groceries… pineapple for less than 2.00 and watermelon for less than 4.00! And then back home for lunch and NAPS! In fact, by the end of the day the only person who did NOT have a nap was Zander. Gavin fell asleep later in the day during a time out and the other 3 went to nap really easily at naptime. 

We snuck in some school work too! A page all about Grandma and Grandpa Mike and their home. Lots of reading and answering of questions. Thank goodness I had the iPad with some apps to explain what the difference is between town and province!

Gavin at work

Ken hung around for most of the day but before dinner and mom getting home was packed up and heading out for the LAN party at Kristen and Fydo. He must have been just devastated to leave… NOT! He is gone until Sunday night leaving me solo from Saturday morning on. While dinner was being made mom had her friend Ashley over who is helping us out with Gypsy when we aren’t at the house (next weekend for various reasons). 

Echo with her hair done by Grandma... 3 tiny braids

Our evening was rather quiet, Mike and mom had to pack. Though Mike had a surprise for her – brand new matched hard top luggage! Mom had wanted the suitcase but had not picked it up yet so he went back and picked it AND the smaller carry on up for her. Aren’t they lovely? And they were on sale! 

New luggage

That left me with my evening free, I have our laundry sorted, the kids settled and plans to explore the city… organized and RELAXED Lisa welcome back!!!! 

Cool baby