August 5-7

With the ending of our epic Wisconsin (almost cow free) road trip our visit with Karyn was also drawing to a close. It is always hard to say good bye to visitors doubly hard when it is a dear aunty. So on the 5th we snuck out, just Karyn, myself and MISS TRINITY for some girly shopping time. Just the normal stuff… Joann’s, the mall, Caribou…

I have to say Trinity is a fun shopper. She and Karyn picked out a special book for her to bring home and read. It was our last chance of true visiting time before we had to see her off and it was so much fun!

The next day it was time to see off Aunty Karyn as Ken drove her to the airport.We were all a little downhearted at this point.

Though the kids snuck off with Ken to the Home Depot monthly craft first. We have missed ONE in the past couple years!

We did have some fun mail to balance off our sad good bye. I had won a draw on Facebook for some nails. I need to find a moment to sit down and work out how to apply them! Thanks Heather!

We also had a lovely package of Canadian snacks for the shark slippers I had made and mailed off. I made sure to request a bag of ketchup chips for the kids. A once in a while special treat.

OH and another exchange… baby booties and socks for Canadian school supplies… favourite scribblers with the familiar map of Canada on the front and duotangs… folders with prongs. A family favourite. Thank you so much Tammie! I hope you enjoy the crochet bits.

On Sunday we had our first day of Sunday school for ALL of the kids! I was so proud of Echo. She went off willingly with her siblings to the music and then onto class. She is growing up so quickly! The twins have a good friend in their class and were very excited to see him for the first time since VBS.

In the afternoon we were off to Shandai and Ravyn’s for a special belated(VERY)Christmas celebration. They have such a nice home to visit at. Though we do have to keep a but of an eye on the kids. We had so much fun… playing in the backyard (which is gorgeous), watching a Disney flick in the basement and playing with the cats.

We had a delicious dinner and then opened presents. It was so gratifying to see how much Shandai liked her crocheted items. She is such an amazing artist that I love that I can make her something she would enjoy!

So we made up for our sad with a rather busy series of happy times. We miss you Karyn!!! Thank you so much for visiting.

August 8-10

After so much fun and amazing company with the parade the night before I was rather proud of the kids for getting the book work and learning done that we did.

Everyone was excited to head out to the garden to see if the sun had helped our vegetables along. It is amazing how many green cherry tomatoes we have just awaiting that little bit more sun and heat to be ready for eating.

This has been the year for toads in the yard as well. When one is found we MUST stop everything and photograph it. I think we shall have to spend some of our time this winter and do a unit on frogs and toads!

And of course we had to do some mugging for the camera… selfies being a “real” word and all now!

On the weekend we figured we should take advantage of the sales and pick up some school supplies for our new school year. I try to keep a surplus around but at the beginning of the year each kid gets their own pencil case and supplies in those. Something new to start a new year with. I am amazed how hard it is to find duotangs here (the folders with the 3 sets of prongs for the paper holes).

Miss Echo sets her own style lately… quite well I might add!

The boys wanted to share their current display of Mixels. Gammie has sent them TWO series! There is a third yet to come. They are SO thankful that she felt she should send them these. A collection AND Legos… a match made in heaven!

Saturday evening we had a last minute plan change. With a garden full of cucumbers and lacking the knowledge about canning we called up Renee and Christopher. Their church was having a fair and is just down the road so after their mass they came over to our house for dinner and canning!

So the kids ran wild in the basement while Ken and I were educated in how to make pickles!! Thank you so much Chris and Renee… we cannot wait to taste the pickles! And now we can move this knowledge to face the coming tomatoes and maybe even touch on our peppers.

After we saw everyone off Ken ran out to take pictures of the (almost) full moon. This happened to be a lucky choice as at the high point (Sunday) we ended up with rain and clouds. I love it when we get a chance to play with the camera beyond the simple kids and pets.

On Sunday we got our butts out the door to finish the bulk of our school shopping… (pictures above) and Ken yielded to temptation and got these… mixed results!

Oh and buy a dress for Miss Echo for her birthday – that was her gift from Mommy and Daddy this year. We lucked out at H&M and got a teachers discount!

What to do what to do to round off the weekend? Why… head to the beach once more!!!!

August 7

Some of the new season of Wild Kratts have been really interesting… Crocogator was fun… comparing a crocodile and an alligator (Emanuel was later able to repeat this knowledge to a friend! So proud!).

We had another wonderful series of garage sale finds. I love finding books for a steal!!!

The night of the 7th was a parade! In fact, Karen (Renee’s sister) suggested we go to this one. It is a long time favourite of hers and we were more than happy to join here and Cory for the event.

Of course we got there early to get decent parking and lucked out with a Catholic church/school with an adjoining playground. We actually ended up at the end of the beginning of the parade so it was easy to know when to return to our choice spot.

Karen is a HUGE fan of parades and was right there with the kids trying to get the big trucks to honk their horns and cheering on everyone.

She was a great sport, even getting a big black mustache with oil make up that the kids were TOTALLY not going for.

there was a florist handing out roses to all the ladies as well.

And a group right at the beginning that gave out carrots. ECHO loved that as did Ken and Cory.

So many cowboy hats and as usual around here, princesses.

We finished off our evening with dinner and a visit at our house. Talk about an amazing once a year experience (as that is the grand total of parades Ken is willing to go to). Thanks for the heads up and for joining us Karen and Cory!!