Tag Archive | remote control car

Hither and Thither and Yon

September 19-22

Half a week in and my family showed their love by coercing me to sleep in until NOON! Ken took a partial day off and we were able to go out and have a lovely Family Day. Just us 7 out and about running errands… getting free cookies at Cub… enjoying time together.101_4580

It was coupon week at JoAnn’s so I was able to buy quite a few skeins of yarn and save almost as much as I spent!! Way to make Christmas affordable! Though I do have some colours yet to pick up. It is fun to go and just look  through yarn and feel it, see the colours… so many possibilities!

And still Miss Echo loves her hat… in fact, the girls BOTH uses their Grandma change to get special gifts for themselves at Walmart.101_4581

101_4582We are still holding in on the braids but their time has come to an end. I really need to learn how to do more than the simple stuff I am able to do.101_4583

and removed

and removed

101_4585We worked on some lovely poems using the letters of the twins’ names on Friday.101_4587

While Miss Echo went back to rocking her curls.101_4588

Trinity likes to re tell her stories using our books, her memory and a nice dose of imagination!101_4589

We had a crafty duo make paper tissue baskets (Zander).101_4590

And on Saturday the kids worked on getting dirty… enjoying the sunshine…101_4591

And attacking Daddy…101_4593

Equal opportunity…101_4594

On Sunday we had our second session of Sunday School! happy kids!101_4595

And then… thanks to a sale on apples at Cub… we made PIE!!!101_4598

101_4600101_4602101_4603How better to end the weekend (and the week for that matter!) than to have a run outside. With Daddy’s remote control car as well! Yay!101_4609

Learning Through Application

I mentioned a ramp/bridge a blog entry or so back… well here it is in working order. They did have a few problems with it at first but their problem solving skills came out as did their team work. Under all that dirt and sand is a wood structure! Pretty fancy!!! I am sure their NEXT attempt at something like that will be much more complicated. 

And So the Week Plays Out

September 26-28

Wednesday was the day of the great pumpkin hunt. We started off with a group photo of the hunters… note the sweaters, fall is here and in the morning the weather is rather cool!

Dressed and ready to start the great hunt

What a great morning of schooling, we had to get to the grocery store, figure out where the produce was, check out the apples and note the varieties (plenty but not cheap enough to do a big pick up) and then head over to the pumpkin/squash display. There was a nice selection including something called a buttercup squash that had Gavin coming up with a bunch of silly reasons as to why it was named that. My favourite was that after you empty it out it would make a perfect cup to drink juice out of! They had a great price on the pie pumpkins – 2 for 4.00. So we picked the nicest two, did the rest of our minor shopping and headed back to the house. 

Successful hunters!

There was a bit of a detour though, with birthday money from other sources Miss Echo finally got her Coup car! This is a favourite toy for her when she visited around but she had never had a chance to play in one in great condition. This brand spanking new model was a dream come true! It took Daddy AND Baba to put it together while the others did their book work. Though she made sure to get involved as well. 

With Baba and Daddy

Proud driver

In fact, after the kids finished their book work they went right in to the sun room to create some absolutely amazing Lego creations!! Gavin made the zoo animals to share and each of the kids had a piece on the table. I love it when they go out of their way to add to a series of pieces that we can then share with everyone. 

LEGO

I have found and joined the email alert for an absolutely AMAZING art for kids site. This is DEFINITELY going on my active links list for homeschooling. We started simple with the pumpkin print out – rather appropriate with our upcoming fall/Halloween season. I gave the sheet to Gavin and a piece of white paper and let him go with it. The steps were absolutely clear and he had a blast creating pumpkins. 

Gavin with his Jack-o-lanterns

Of course we had to go BACK to the site and get MORE print outs… so we basically printed out all of the ones that the site had in pdf form and Gavin sat down and drew. I think he said his favourite was the ninja! 

Note TWO ninjas!

Finally on Friday we ended up with the videos that had more steps and no printouts to follow. I set him up on the computer with a walkthrough on how to pause and rewind the videos and away he went. I was especially impressed by his dinosaur! I cannot wait until they add more!!! 

So the proud artist!

But back to our time line… where was I… oh yes, Thursday. Well, Wednesday night Nana and Baba were out with the cousins and Ken the gaming with the guys so it was rather quiet here (did I mention EARLY BEDTIME???). But on Thursday we had a relatively sunny day and a Baba intent on backyard activity. There is still stumps to remove in the backyard. So I let the kids run in the morning. Before anyone could get out to cut down the stumps the kids put in a couple hours creating this amazing bridge/ramp for Ken’s remote control car to bridge the hole left by the tree removal. It was a tight squeeze but they actually made it work! 

The ramp

And then it was time for the guys and the chainsaw (new acquisition) and all that fun stuff. The kids were a little put out as I would not let them drive the car around while the guys were using power tools but it was interesting all the same. Echo did NOT like the noise the chainsaw made AT ALL. 

Stump removal

An audience

We got a package in the mail that matched an envelope we had received previously! Did I mention, Gammie sent the kids some cash to buy something small and save a little? The boys all decided to save theirs for bigger things but thanks to Target Trinity was able to deck herself out in princess style. 

Workbooks!

Anyway… apparently Gammie was bored and came across some neat stuff to send us – workbooks, colouring books, a shirt for yours truly… and more letters!! We have had some slow responses but it has been great starting our pen pal program. If anyone is interested in adding themselves to our list feel free to contact me! 

look a kitty shirt for ME

After all their book work was done the kids went BACK into the backyard (Baba had a nap so it was free and clear) and made ANOTHER amazing structure. What these kids do with sticks and dirt… I love the teamwork and the ability to consider different mediums to create something new. And they are so proud of it when they are finished! As are we of course.

Back in the backyard

Now Friday was a bit busier. Nana and Baba had to pack up to spend their weekend camping with the cousins and we had to get everyone dressed and motivated to do a round of shopping. There was food items for the great pumpkin pie creation, a coupon to use at Victoria’s Secret… 10.00 off a 12.00 lotion that glitters!!!

New lotion!

A check in at Burlington to see what their coat prices are like (coats and snow pants.. maybe we can get away with all 4 of the bigger kids at 120.00… Echo would go baby and used)… and then home again. Oh don’t forget Michaels! I got a bitty globe for 50 cents and some Hello Kitty stocking stuffers for 25 cents a piece when they are usually like 3.00!!! 

A globe

Get everyone home, get the book work done and then disperse the kids to naps and quiet occupation… Zander and Gavin did their pen pal responses and then puttered around. I am trying to get them to realize that they have things at hand that can be fun, at least the new colouring books are sparking interest.

Keeping those kids busy

Of course we started with the scraping out and then baking of our pie pumpkins. That was about as far as we got, but the boys got their hands dirty and we have pie pumpkin seeds to plant next year! We will continue the pie making later but I have a neat idea (if we can work it out) of how to save the shell of the pumpkin! You can find the instructions we use HERE.

Cleaning pumpkins

We also did a random act of kindness and sent off rainbows to a sick little girl in Saskatchewan who wants a rainbow from everyone all over the world. The kids were quite detailed and we included their name, age and Minnesota, USA on them. I hope they help bring a smile to her face! 

Early morning colouring

Still slightly sleepy

With a weekend of pie making, Novak visiting and family together time to look forward  to I am so glad that Ken is willing to be hands on and present right now! 

Mini pumpkin patch?

This entry was posted on 29/09/2012, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment