July 23 NOTE I totally screwed up and posted these out of order, but after weeks of this… not bad, one mess up!!!

The Novaks are not the only kids we are familiar with… so Monday was our chance to meet up with Bree and her son Quinn (I have mentioned him in the past… he is basically Trinity’s birthday buddy who was born the day before Trinity). I am so happy to share that Bree is expecting her second child!!! This is huge for us as when she was pregnant with Quinn and I with Trinity we were a country apart… funny enough, as we were leaving Canada our friends Kristen and Fydo ALSO announced that they are expecting their FIRST child!! Baby time!!!

Anyway… Monday afternoon we had Quinn and Bree over for a visit. Emanuel and Quinn bonded very quickly over Thomas.

Such a cutie

In fact, they brought special gifts for all of the kids except Echo who has to wait the few weeks until her birthday. Emanuel was over the moon with his Angry Birds blanket, and Trinity with her Hello Kitty themed stickers and nail polish. The twins have an iTunes card to use to buy apps once I get the iPad moved over to the US stores. Such thoughtful gifts!

Note the blanket

After fun in the sun room and watching cartoons together it was time to debate supper… since Bree had never been and Ken hadn’t in 3 years we decided on White Castle. It did not go over too well BUT it was fun and it was something we definitely wanted to try once with the kids.

NOT huge fans

Smiles

Echo with her American Godmommy

After sliders Bree took us all out for ice cream at a place a wee bit more familiar – Dairy Queen. 

ICE CREAM

Our 4 year olds

By this point it was sprinkling so we nixed the park idea and decided to head home for bed. It was a wonderful visit, with the promise of many more! 

Sadly through all this Nana had to go out to emergency to be checked out. It turns out she (and we later find out Zachary) was diagnosed with strep throat. Thankfully it seems only those two were caught with it. But not fun for Nana with 48 hours in quarantine. Thank goodness she had a bathroom of her own and a tv at her disposal. 

Of course we started our school time

Trinity and her Pre-K workbook

Emanuel and his Kindergarten review

April 26th is a very special day… Trinity’s birthday! And this year, as she is proud to report, she is 4!!! She had a special friend to play with for the first half of the day – Logan… and lots of new toys to try out. After all, someone else’s toys are ALWAYS fun! 

Our very own birthday girl

We had enough time in the morning to have the twins do a chapter of Farmer Boy and work on reading a children’s book together alternating pages. It feels good to continue on with things. 

I got to experience first hand a busy mom’s afternoon with Sharon. Logan had a half day of pre-K, he goes a few days a week in the afternoon. Then we had to pick up a friend of hers who was staying for a bit while she healed from her wisdom teeth removal. After dropping her off we went for lunch… one of my all time favourite places!!! A noodle house that does the most amazing lemongrass beef on rice vermicelli. Delicious!

We did some shopping (birthday shopping!)… I was able to pick up 2 new binkies for Echo for under 6.00. A great price. We picked up some groceries and then were off to pick up the kids from school. After they had a little time at the house with our kids they were off to the pool. I came along for the ride so I could stop in at mom’s to pick up some stuff for us and a bag for Jimmie and family. 

Echo playing with fridge magnets

Snuggles with Aunty Sharon

That left the evening for celebrating the birthday girl! We had pizza for supper… 

Pizza

And then after dinner was homemade chocolate cake shaped like a FLOWER and all PINK! It was a hit with everyone. Isn’t Sharon hugely talented! 

CAKE

Blowing out the candles

…and then it was time for PRESENTS! The Bleau family spoiled her with a new dress, a bug that puts stars and a moon on the ceiling with lights and a dolly with her own suitcase to hold all her things! There was TWO cards (Ethan made her one too at school!) and we gave her the 4 little Hello Kitty sets of people for the Mega Blocks (on super sale no less!!). She was a VERY happy little girl!

Present time

With Logan and Trinity both not overly tired the birthday girl got the added spoiling of a bedtime movie! They watched most of a Barbie movie together before they fell asleep and had to be put to bed! That left Sharon and myself with the chance to watch most of It’s Complicatedbefore I had to give in and go to bed myself. Of course Darryl and Ken spent the night up late playing games online together. I think they have missed hanging out. Now that we have a WORKING van I know that we will be planning another weekend get together before too long! 

Fast asleep

So Thursday was an AWESOME day… we all got our own version of a playdate with good friends, we were spoiled with some delicious food AND then we were on our way once again early Friday morning… but that is a story for ANOTHER entry! 

Cuties eating pizza