Gotta wrap up that weekend and start the week anew. We HAD planned to head to the information centre and see the Viking ship Sunday but when we got there found it was closed for a long lunch. With it chilly and windy we did a short walk across the main bridge to see the swan in the lake, took some pictures… ran a bit and then hopped back into the car. We DO plan to see that ship, close up and personal this week though. Echo especially enjoyed the view from the bridge. Though we were sure to keep a tight hold of her hand as she is too tiny to be safe at the railing. 

Walking with Daddy

Swan

Bridge

Mom’s friend Ashley sent over some cake pops for us to try. The kids were VERY impressed. Even Echo had one (one of the ones that was NOT on a stick).

YUM

Sharon and I conspired to send our husbands out on a playdate… through texting and gentle prodding we got them out in the evening for drinks at the local brewhouse and a movie. I guess the drinks were great, the company awesome… the movie… so so (Prometheus). So what did the kids get? A movie in the basement with popcorn and Pepsi! UP! I still haven’t seen it but the kids enjoyed it and then were sent off to their beds. The twins are now separated – one in the room, one in a nice nest in the livingroom, they just have been fighting too much at night and keeping people up. Seems to be working so far.

Movie time!

Now Monday was back to the norm… well the current norm. I had talked to my brother and my sister in law last night about helping us see a place not 4 blocks from them, but we had to spend today catching the agent in charge of the rental to confirm the availability of said rental (yes as of today it still is), the viewings (she is rather sure Thursday and Friday evening but will get back to us tomorrow) and the speed of decision making on their end (yup good and ready to make a decision). That does not have us with all our eggs in one basket by any means… we are still hunting, contacting and making sure we don’t depend on any one property. We WILL get this sorted out. Especially with all the prayers, well wishes and support you all have given us. 

Hat or Tupperware? Eye of beholder

That left our day open for schoolwork, after all the day STARTED out rather nasty… Trinity woke up more sick than she went to bed and ended up sleeping over half the day away (and thankfully woke up much better in the late afternoon). Emanuel was hard at work today on a couple pictures… the twins did math… actually, Sharon came by for a visit and SHE helped Gavin with his! It was nice to have unexpected company. And by the time she left it was sunny again…

He also did numbers

My boys at work

So time for the pool… the water is VERY murky at this point but great fun was had. Add to that BOTH grandparents home on time and Echo with big brother supervision out in the backyard and I think everyone had some fun. The dog even got a reprieve from her cone. Her shoulder is finally healing nicely. 

Pool time

Echo in a box

The twins salvaged a Pepsi bottle and plan on making it into a coin bank. So far they cleaned it out with soapy water and left it to dry in the sun. And then we made up step by step instructions to go into their books on how to make it. Tomorrow they have to take the label off, cut a coin slot in it and of course DECORATE IT! Zander’s idea!

I am so proud of my boys… coming up with their OWN idea… and so of course we will finish it tomorrow! Gotta strike while the iron is hot. 

Now the rest of the week we are trying to get viewings lined up, figure out what I need for my pet sitting adventure with the girls and keep our homeschool plans on the go. I am feeling some of my confidence return. Emanuel and I wrote the word bugs together – we sounded it out together aloud and HE wrote each letter without a reference! I am so proud of him! The twins are getting a little more willing to do what we need to do and I hope to see further change as the days go by. I know I am on the right path I just need to find the right tools.

So pretty!

This is what I woke up to Friday morning! A wee bit of somewhat organized chaos… Ken cleaning out the dishwasher one last time with the hope to save the owners the cost of repair (hasn’t worked properly since we moved in almost 4 months ago!! GRR so guess who does TONS of dishes even though it is in my lease I have one?). The boys had their Trios and were actually playing as a group! Really nice to wake up to! 

Trios and a runny nosed baby

We skipped the morning workbook time and the kids went out to enjoy the brisk but sunny weather. We are trying to get in every spare minute of outside time we can and still accomplish some homeschooling goals. That sandbox sees so much use, but is really too small for all 4 to play in total harmony. They do do their best. 

Sandbox!

And then back in to work on Stuart Little. We are 2 chapters away from completing the book and watching the moving Cousin Veronika bought for them. We are planning on finding some nature books on mice and maybe go with another mouse related story. Trinity did her own thing this illustration but the boys were quite enamored with the idea of the mouse having his own tiny canoe! 

Stuart and his canoe

Since Emanuel had made a duct tape flower LAST night Trinity wanted one TODAY. She basically had the reverse of his made. I have to admit, fun and simple! 

Trinity and her Rose

That is not to say we didn’t get in any workbook time! But less than the norm to be sure! You can find instructions for it on youTube! Though we did a few extra steps to make sure that the exposed edges had the colour pieces wrapped over it!

Workbook time!

And of course there was the wallet Zander and I made together. He was so proud! 

Zander and his wallet

I ended my evening with a visit with Karyn – while the owners were here messing with the dishwasher and such, so we took the girls for a walk to the gas station to get slurpees… we had the boys safely ensconced in front of the tv downstairs. Of course I got the largest one possible and poured some into cups for each of the boys! But it was nice to get out for a walk and we managed to keep Echo’s shoes on for the whole walk! 

Slurpee!

With Aunty Karyn and her iPhone

I am beyond excited – the owners came Friday night of course and then today REPLACED MY DISHWASHER! So I now figure I am saving AT LEAST 7 hours a week in time that I was spending on dishes (and that is a conservative estimate) which means more time for crafting and one on one with the kids. They also re-grouted a tile in the bathroom upstairs so no baths until tomorrow night but it should solve the tile issue. YAY!

The excitement continued with a trip out and about town with Karyn for Kick it to the Curb… you put your stuff out with a “free” sign and people take what they want over the weekend. Of course for the most part we couldn’t find anything… until we gave up and were heading to the mall – TWO lamps!! I just need to re-do the shades – any suggestions?

Large lamp

Trinity's lamp

And then 2 blocks from our own home – JACKPOT! A lady who is moving end of the month had a whole bunch of little girl stuff out – stuff that was PERFECT for Trinity. She finally got one of those little foam fold out sofas I had been wishing I could get her. It is the perfect size for her and Echo! And clothes to grow into and a couple books… she is putting out more tomorrow so Ken is going to head back over there and check it out after Sunday School.

Enjoying the new couch

Karyn even managed to find herself a popcorn popper. AND we saw parts of the city we had not seen before, a quirky series of signs to an estate/garage sale AND some rather odd art. Ken and the twins went to the local art gallery and museum that we got a free pass from a coupon Kristen found for us! There was an art drop in program. Gavin’s is still a work in progress but you can see Ken’s and Zander’s! Ken is going to take just the twins next weekend and then decide if we should include Emanuel in the experience. We won’t be able to go to the following weekend’s as we will be at my mom’s but it is EVERY Saturday! 

Art and artist

Zander and his to be laminated placemat

With the dishwasher coming in we had to make a nice and clear path. That made it much simpler for me to get that livingroom cleared up. We also dug out the Halloween craft and decoration bucket from the basement with the foam sets the boys have put together with Ken – 2 so far, one for each of the past 2 years. I have already bought another kit during a sale for them to do with him this year! It is time to collect our activities and colouring pages… I will of course link anything I find! 

So now I have lamps to decorate, costumes to make, some Christmas presents to focus on, schooling to plan and and and… BUT more time to do it in!!! 

Popcorn baby decked out for her feast

We have, completely by accident, stumbled upon an animal of interest… namely the Opossum. Emanuel did a dot-to-dot that ended up being shaped like one and the questions began. While colouring his picture we found an ADORABLE image of a baby one and that clinched it! So now I am on the hunt for information, lapbook portions and other interesting bits about the possum. It really does not connect to anything else we are planning on learning about this year but why not? The interest is there after all!!! 

Beginning of the interest in possums!

We again spent our morning working on stuff that is rather easy just to complete. The boys had some very rudimentary Little People themed books they were given when tiny from friends in the UK that were started and now they are completing. Not difficult at all but the repetition of things like colour words, sounds, etc. is good for them too. Besides it is a GREAT reminder that we always complete what we set out to do! 

Working towards that next completion

We started our list for next year’s garden… I am hoping to do a container garden as we do not want to dig up the lawn in the front or back so we are a little limited. The list so far is: celery, corn, carrots, cabbage, peas, blueberries (can we even grow those here??) and pumpkins… We moved at the wrong time for gardening this year so I figure we will plan out what we need, what we will grown and where we want the garden NOW and save it for in the spring. 

Emanuel was the lucky boy who got to go along with Daddy to run errands today… they stopped in at a place not far from here to pick up some Halloween and Easter decorations I had set up a pick up through Freecycle with! Mainly Easter stuff it was very exciting to go through the bags! We are well decorated for the next Easter!

Almost a full bucket of Easter stuff!

Together they also bought stamps (a long delayed letter to my Dad I want sent), stopped in at Macs to get a pay for credit card AND went to Superstore for some much needed baking supplies (I actually ran out of FLOUR!!) and meal fixings (French dressing!!). Quite the adventure for Emanuel. 

Oops a slightly fuzzy picture

And the minor repercussions continue in regards to my email losses… I managed to loose ANY email I responded to earlier this month by cleaning out a couple of “folders” that were not actually separate folders… so I am still hunting down contacts… IF you have not heard from me in a while via email or had asked me a question or I had asked you one… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me back at rosereinsch@gmail.com. I would love to make sure I have contact info for everyone better placed away! 

Stuart is officially in a bit of a pickle. He was showing off for a cat (seriously, why waste your time, we all know cats are superior beings right?) and got caught up, literally, in a blind. Now what did TRINITY take from that? Well… her interpretation was that a mouse ran through a door with a pink cat after him… VERY interesting, right?

4 different portions of the chapter

I had to call Ken up to help Gavin with his math temporarily… he and I couldn’t get through to each other what we meant with the idea of a fact family. Between Ken and Gavin they persevered and I have found a set of cards I plan to try out once I get the time to print them out. It is things like this that remind me what an adventure homeschooling can be and how lovely it is to have TWO committed parents… and that I am VERY grateful we have the internet and an upstairs laptop to make hunting down terminology a breeze! 

Last night I made up another scrapbook page while I was moving all my supplies back downstairs and onto my new shelving. Now the big question is – will the trend continue… or more importantly – will the 12X12 sheets supply hold out? 

Another page done

I am doing the prep work tonight for a fall craft that will have the kids stitching… very simple backstitch type stuff but with their enthusiasm of all hobbies parental related it should be right up their alley. This is off of my very favourite UK craft site – making felt leaves. I am thinking I will draw on the lines they are to stitch with a pencil of some sort though.  

Now it is time to tidy, get the leaves sorted out AND maybe craft??

Look a popcorn gnome!!!