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

In order to bring myself back up from the utter failure of Monday to complete ANYTHING I stayed up a bit later and did finish sewing the sash on Echo’s flowered dress… I plan on playing around with some ribbon and making a bow as well. I was toying with making it brown as well but think a splash of colour may be nice.

Just needs a bow

Luckily I set aside my ribbon box and marked it pink so I have it here. I am supposed to do a craft table on the 9th of June as part of a charity drive a friend is putting on. I have to donate a door prize and 10% of my sales… I figure to fill a table I will ask other friends to add their crafts and since it is in the same city as my mom I have a place to stay AND someone to pimp my stuff around town BEFORE the sale! BUT that means that in order to NOT loose a ton of time due to this move I need to stay productive in April. I have been making some owls out of Easter socks and plan to collect other socks through out the month to add to my stash (seriously, if you have some lonely socks laying around that are not horribly stained and worn send them my way!!).

I also remembered to set aside Easter clothes for the kids so even if my plans fall through I CAN take them outside in their pretty outfits and photograph them. I really have missed playing with photography. I think I am going to try and every 2 weeks do some serious attempts at it. I still need to do the boys’ yearly pictures… but I think I will wait til it is warm so we can do outside shots this year!

Today it was Zander’s turn for a special outing. We FINALLY managed to get the boy together WITH his glasses out to Lens Crafter where they put on new nose pieces, straightened them, fixed the arms so they are a wee bit longer (growth spurt!) and cleaned them for him. Then we stopped at A&W for lunch and then DOLLARAMA. Spoiled boy! 

Lucky boy

Actually Chris (she), myself AND Zander got our glasses adjusted. And at Dollarama we took our time perusing the merchandise. I picked up some paper (newsprint style but paper all the same), some Easter themed stickers, an egg dying kit (in case of cancelling Grandma’s) AND the cutest ears EVER! 

Can you believe only a dollar!

The boys worked on our thank-you card for the people involved in Echo’s surgery. All of the kids signed it, I just need to write my own thank you in. And hopefully add a picture of Echo as well. We are still working on our math, writing and reading. I am limited as my printer is in storage as is the bulk of my school supplies but we are making do. 

Echo had an accident today, she managed to get away from us and down the stairs with a piece of paper which she some how slipped on and smacked her head on the stairs… hard stairs of course. I think Mommy and Daddy were more upset than she was. 15 min or so with a cold cloth to her head and she was screaming to go again. She had a bit of a goose egg and a bruise by her eye but seems to be alright. 

Poor baby :(

Oh and I have to share my breakfast for today – ok NOT the most healthy but TOTAL noms! 

Oreo!

In fact, today has been a MUCH better day… I finished 2 more owl bodies… we fixed THREE pairs of glasses… AND I won something on Facebook! I just need to figure out how to get my hands on it since they are in the city we used to live in and we are here without a vehicle. Here’s hoping the trend continues! 

Baby bunny

…and the evil van strikes again… Well, only 2 of the 5 kids was going to go to Sunday School anyway but still… they got out of the driveway and Ken noticed the van was simply having issues staying running so back home he and the twins came. BAH. Oh well, they got to watch Netflix on the laptop (moved to the couch for comfort) while Ken got MORE work done and I had a lengthy (much needed post time change) nap. Not the most motivated of Sunday mornings but the kids seemed to enjoy themselves! And Karyn was available to lend him a car so I got in a visit while she waited for Ken to finish errands! 

Anyway… last night I finished off the bulk of the bows so now it is show and tell time! I am very happy with the results and have TWO more to make tonight, or tomorrow… depends on the time I have free. I have not decided at what price to put these bows up for sale (well some of them, a few are ear marked or Reinsch-Johnson hair)… suggestions are welcome!

The rainbow bow collection... ALL of these are up for grabs! There is either an alligator or a French clip on these...

The back far left I am keeping as my own!

I love the colour combo on the one on the left. The one on the right I stitched down each loop... both are on the French

Trinity's is the right one with the korker ribbon. The one in the front is alligator the other French

PINK!! French and alligator

I love how these look offset.. they are all alligator...

We had some creative kid moments too! Trinity traced her own hand and made a picture out of it! She was VERY proud!

She is especially proud of the hand on the left

Gavin created a little jungle type thing that was quite inspired! 

Gavin and his Lego

And of course we took pictures of the kids in some of the Nativity costumes. Here is ONE but the rest… well I will have a blog entry all its own this week for that! So amazing! Though now I need to go to the church to drop these off AND count angels and shepherds so we can see where we are at! 

A sneak peek

Now hopefully I can continue my goal of organization! 

And I forgot to point this out - FIVE matching chairs!!! Thanks Kathy!!!