July 4

Our first living here in Minnesota! You can check out our original post HERE where I shared a couple pictures… now for the actual run down on how we celebrated!

Half and Halfers

With the playset moved to the backyard and into the grass the mosquitoes were a greater concern than on Canada Day. We replaced our Canadian decorations with American flags and paperchains made by the kids. Thank goodness for bug spray and the tripod!

And then into the front yard for where our ornaments would stay on display for the day.

Thanks to my pro button pushers for taking these with ME in them!

We had time after that for some running around before packing everyone up for a run to the lake. Our first of the year. Sadly the lake I had planned to go to was blocked off by the remnants of a parade… but we did make it to the lake we visited most often LAST summer.

I got a chance to wear the new swimsuit (please ignore the shoes… I totally hate the idea of leeches and at least they matched colours). I need to work on Victory Rolls for the hair !!!

I promise better pics soon!

The kids had a blast, even Echo eventually ventured into the water!

We came home in time to have a light late lunch and shower off…

Then back into our red, white and blue (or is that blue, white and red???)…

Red white and blue (note the blue and white bow)

and a hop skip and a jump over to Bree and Scott’s to spend quality time with Quinn and Lily.

Lily B

Ice cream Sundays for the win… add in Phineas and Ferb and the kids were over the moon.

Toppings

Then home to bed… fireworks are not major for us. The kids thought our day was amazing! And that was more than enough for me. Happy Independence Day!

Happy July 4th…

June 19-20

Father’s Day is over, so now it is time for our move into Independence Day studies. The kids really did not know much about… of course me either. We had Sean asleep on the couch in the basement and Nana and Baba doing their thing in the kitchen as they are suddenly close to their next Mexico vacation (2 weeks). So our location of choice for our half day of learning – the sunroom. Luckily if you go in in the morning the room is not too warm, we opened the windows and turned on the ceiling fan and enjoyed the morning sun.

Gavin and his cursive

Zander and his calligraphy

We have a few books to read, some handouts and all. The twins are each doing their own little lapbook and then Emanuel and Trinity are combining all of their as well as  the joint stuff from the twins in a third. This is our first with any sort of individual books in a while.

In the meantime Echo ran rings around us in her party dress of the day.

Juice break

Which was also the party dress for the next day!

With schooling in the same place.

The boys took a break and watched Animal Planet with Uncle Sean…

And then the main event… babysitting Lily Bean for a few hours that afternoon! Sick kid at the sitters so we lucked out with our own bonus baby.

Tummy time (we try to be conscientious sitters!)

Echo was rather put out that she woke up to ONLY baby and not Aunty Bree. It did  take me a bit to realize that the main reason Lily didn’t want to settle and eat was that the house is rather chilly with the A/C on… easy solution… go to the sunroom!

And then naps until Aunty Bree came to pick up Lily!

With my best helper ever

Trinity was over the moon with the entire situation, except the bottle feeding which required a special nipple to mimic breastfeeding and demanded a specific angle to latch.

And then before they left… we attempted the ROLL! ATTEMPTED.

Pesky arm in the way, maybe next time?

Babies make every day BETTER! Especially our bonus borrowed gem Lily Bean! Thanks again Scott and Bree!

Kisses

And a smile to end on

June 8-9

Weekends count with Ken’s new 5 day schedule, and we are working hard to make them count. Sadly the weather did not work exactly according to the original schedule.

I did forget to mention that on Friday we had to take the money Gammie had sent us treat treat the kids, and with no slurpees in sight… we went with Icees! Thank you so much for 5 happy kids!!

Sugar crash under the dolly blanket thanks to Gammie also

It is definitely garage sale season in our neighbourhood. So we spent a little more time hunting for some gems… Saturday was our day.

Pretty headbands at a steal

Our other prizes

Took Trinity forever to get her turn with the crown

Sunday was supposed to be a picnic at one of the many many lakes here in Minnesota. Sadly Sunday was the day that the rain decided to pour down. So instead of the picnic at a park we packed up and drove into the city and had an IKEA visit. MEATBALL STORE!

Waiting for food

We wandered, we checked things out, we planned for the future and all with Bree, Lily and Scott. Our Lily Bean is growing and growing and growing… of course I had to make Ken hold her…

What a face

Lily Bean

And get in my own picture time.

Lunch with friends at our favourite store is a good compromise to a rainy day. Scott mentioned to Bree after that he had a great time talking with the twins. It makes me so proud to know they can carry their side of a conversation with an adult they are just really getting to know without my help or intervention.That got us home in time to spend some quality time with the cousins. THEY are done school for the summer so longer visits on different days are starting up. This time they were home over Sunday night into Monday.

Gaming time

Popcorn!

Not a bad couple of days!!

Baby with her Baby