Tag Archive | Reading Week

3 Days As I Have Been Lazy!

The weather is keeping my kids focused firmly OUTSIDE! Thursday (I know, my bad… too lazy to blog these past two days!) it warmed right up to the point where I was hacking away at the compacted snow on our sidewalk with just my boots and long sleeved shirt on! This is a rather bad thing for our front walk as our eaves leak like a sieve and pour cold water right onto our front walkway which then ices up horribly! This was a great indication that it is time to drag out the rubberboots. I had to hunt a little as (of course) I could not remember where I had put the bag of them but we were successful. After lining all the pairs I did have up it was very clear that we had a pair that FIT each foot (except Echo) BUT on further inspection Emanuel’s pair simply was not in good enough repair for a 3rd boy to wear them (Cracks down to the lining certainly defeat the purpose). So we will be heading out to ValueVillage and other consignment stores to see if we can find a budget pair for my boy with the ever growing feet! Oh and Echo too… though I am not overly optimistic on finding a pair THAT SMALL. 

Too bad the spiffy shark pair need replacing

But... we still have snow!

I managed to get out to Dollarama that night… Karyn had taken her kitty to the vet to have him checked out (a perilous activity as Dare is NOT people friendly beyond his beloved Karyn) earlier this week and received the diagnosis of DIABETES! So we had to go out for some poutine to commiserate. (did you know that to get insulin for a cat you have to go to a regular pharmacy??) Luckily enough the Dollarama is right in front of the New York Fries so two birds with one stone (well three really as the pharmacy Karyn uses is also in this mall). Anyway, I picked up a GREEN binder and some dividers for our Ireland/St. Patrick’s Day work, some socks for owls (Easter themed of course) and some other random items. I hope to splurge on some more socks later in the month but for now two pairs is enough. 

Easter owls

I have actually been working on a lovely stack of bows this week. I finished my special post surgery bow for Echo made out of ribbon I saved from a wand of Trinity’s that broke. Since I was already working on that one I figured I might as well do a bunch more to make dragging out the glue gun worthwhile. That got me going to the point where I had to take TWO nights to finish most of them. I also have to start hunting for a good deal on alligator clips as I am about out of those. I tried some new styles, glued my tiny bows on slightly differently on some of the clips and played around with colours. If nothing else I have some surplus to use for gifts! 

Not the best photo but what looks whitish is actually pink on these. The post surgery one is on the right.

Echo has finally cut THREE of her 4 upper teeth…her left front, incisor and right incisor (all on Friday)… They are just BARELY cut through. Hopefully this will cut down on her diaper rashes! She is rarely crawling now and all out walking everywhere. It is a little bittersweet… she really isn’t a “baby” anymore, though she IS my baby. Seeing her grow up is a joy, but the reminder that she is my last baby is there. Of course, she IS tiny so that makes it easier… or so I tell myself!

Getting to be such a big girl!

We were alerted to a movie to watch on Netflix – The Secret of Kells. Add popcorn with butter on it to that and I had 4 VERY quiet kids! Of course we had to incorporate some sort of activity afterwards so I used a sheet my sister in law gave me that has a box for a picture and then lines for some writing so that they could write about and draw their favourite portion of the movie. Reading week is to be soon after St. Patrick’s Day I think which will require many of these sheets! And a nice large stack of books for the whole family to enjoy! 

Movie time

I had Kathy come over last night for a visit. We did a run to Macs for snacks (noms), had dinner, visited and cleaned my pantry and tupperware cupboard. I know, riveting! BUT we had fun doing it and now I can actually get anything I need out of that darn pantry without fuss! It wasn’t a lengthy visit but it was a great way to end my week. Good company AND I accomplished something I really needed to sit down and do! 

We took some time to sort out a portion of my bedroom (don’t ask, it has NEVER been completely the way I wanted it!) and I found MORE ribbon! A piece from Trinity’s birthday cake – either her 1st or 2nd, and a piece I used (way back when) as a belt when Trinity was itty bitty. I am thinking they will have to become hair things… though I do believe I was saving one for scrapbooking. I am so far behind on my paper crafting! However, my table full of ribbons and half finished bows is beckoning much louder than my stacks of papers… and once I get those done (and run out of clips to attach them to) well we shall see. 

The top one is the one off of the cake

Today we had a visit from one set of grandparents. With Gypsy in tow of course. This was our first time seeing Mike since he got back from Jamaica so he had some stories to share before he had to run off to an appointment and leave us with Grandma and Gypsy to visit with. 

Going for a walk in the sun... which turned into a walk to the convenience store where they convince Grandma to buy them EACH a slurpee!

Mom also brought all the costumes she made since the last batch! THAT will be a separate entry as there are NUMEROUS costumes… so tomorrow I will be trying them on the kids (well one a piece) and taking pictures as well. I want to take them in on a weekday as Sunday School is always a little rushed and with daylight savings this weekend as well… well time goes by so quickly on a weekend! 

I figure it is time to give a little sneak peek at my WIP… the details are starting to be much more clear now – as is ANY missed or half done stitches (and there have been, I think 2 found so far). Every day I try to spend a minimum of 30 min on this piece and it is starting to pay off. I have high hopes that I will see the end of this one BEFORE the middle of the year… now if anything else will progress while I do – well you know me, MANY projects makes Lisa a happy girl. 

Yup, that is a mandolin!

Other than that I have a sick baby and a sick Emanuel on my hands… so we are not exactly restful here BUT we still have a week and a half until the big day for our baby girl which is plenty of time to get over this! Hopefully over the next week I can get a lot more accomplished. Life just seems to be rushing its way to the 21st with a vengeance! 

Poor sick baby

Ending Reading Week

Reading Week has drawn to a close for this family with our 3 last books. First a cute story about Rapunzel called Falling for Rapunzel.

Gavin's is on the left

Second a new addition to our library from Aunty Karyn – Romeow and Drooliet.

Gavin's is on the left

And finally a Canadian author favourite – 50 Below Zero.

Gavin's is on the left

The next big plan is a MATH Week. I have found all our math related flashcards and hope to hunt down some fun number games, mazes and puzzles to fill a week up with a math focus.

Today we had fun with play-doh – specifically PRINCESS play-doh that had Trinity Queen of all.

Princess Play Doh

Then there was the magnet toy that Zander sat with…

Fun with magnets

And some time spent taking pictures of Echo.

Echo in the window

Not the most exciting day but it was full and fun and I promise I will blog more in the weekend but tonight I want to get back to the Hello Kitties and cross stitch pattern…

A little grin

Hello Kitty!

With the improving weather we were VERY excited to see sunlight. I did up Trinitiy’s hair and put in one of my new stacked bows and took some pictures in one of the front windows. We did still get MORE snow last night and it is not exactly warm at -19 (Celsius) but better.

Trinity with bow

Ken made the executive decision this morning to call Public Health and reschedule our 6 month shots for Echo. Even with the warmer weather he figured (as long as we could reschedule relatively soon after this week) it would be better to wait. So she goes NEXT Friday at 2:30 pm. This is AFTER we had them rescheduled from last week’s appointment where the nurse able to administer immunizations was home with the flu. We did, however, (finally) measure her length for her baby book – we got 24 3/4 inches. In two months she has gained over 2 inches. It is hard to believe she started at around 18 inches back last August!!

Echo's eyes are changing colour!

So last night Echo was a bit fussy around midnight, it was better to feed her, change her and then put her to bed and wait her out. This left me with some free before bed time and with the laundry folded and the new cross stitch begun the Cricut was calling out to me. Before I knew it I had made up some kitties, a sun and a cupcake and now know which colours I wish to have to do more.

Hello Kitty

Writing about stitching, I have gotten a decent start on the new pattern. I am looking forward to the finished piece. This one should be a relatively quick stitch.

A start

Supper tonight was one of my favourite recipes – beef and gravy – my step-mom’s recipe. The recipe was in a previous blog entry HERE.

Total yum

Now back to Reading Week – We had FOUR books today… all of them courtesy of our favourite librarian/Aunty Karyn. The first one was a bit of “girl power” – The Princess Knight. A terrific story about a little girl raised by her father the King to be just like her brothers… until she turned 16. When faced with that she turned the tables on everyone.

Zander's is on the left

Next was a cute story called Hamish the Highland Cow. He REALLY needed a haircut!

Zander's is on the left

Third was by a favourite author of mine (Robert Munsch, a Canadian) and was titled Giant or Waiting for the Thursday Boat. Based in Ireland about a giant and St. Peters.

Zander's is on the left

Ken read the kids the 4th book… Anthony and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. All about a little boy who had a HORRIBLE day.

Reading with Daddy (Gavin in blue)

Zander's is on the left

Tomorrow we will end our week with a couple more “Karyn picks” and one more Robert Munsch favourite of mine. Our Reading Week has got the boys back to sounding out words, talking about pictures and creating some wonderful pieces of art. I think I will do this each year and save the sheets as examples of their growth in printing, creativity, imagination and artistic ability.

Zander and Gavin out in the snow