December 9-10

It really IS beginning to feel like Christmas. Sunday hasn’t been a church day for us in quite some time, but this second Sunday in Advent was different. We were invited to celebrate Christmas with the children’s concert at the Novak family’s church (a Lutheran one, yay). Of course this coincided with the first REAL storm… 16 inches (around 41 cm) of snow in 24 hours… great for the kids… not so hot for the roads. But with some careful driving we made it all the way safely to the church just before the special service was to begin, thankfully Andrew and his grandparents and cousins were able to save us a pew.

Waiting for the service… note the RED lipstick Bree and Veronika… did I do good?

It was a great service with the Nativity story and lots of singing and 3 of the 4 Novak boys involved. We did have to take Echo out of the sanctuary a few times to trundle around but all in all once I separated Zander and Emanuel we did rather well.

Aidan… There will be an entry following this with the picture overflow. The expressions on the boys’ faces as they did their songs and parts were just too cute to not be shared!!

Alex looking dapper

Anthony the shepherd (left)

The final group number

After the concert there was birthday cake…

CAKE

And then pictures…

Emanuel, Echo, Gavin, Zander and Trinity

11 kids!! (Gavin left)

And in front of the tree (Zander left)

Then back into the snow to head over to the Novak’s for playing in the snow…

So much snow all at once!

The second fort

Baking and decorating cookies…

Making cookies with Maggie

Darcy and the girls

Andrew manning the ovens

Visiting AND some presents! I have to say, I have never had my owls go over so well as when I give them to the Novak boys!

Present time

Andrew playing Santa

With the owls

With all that lovely snow sticking around Monday the boys bargained with me to let the morning just be outside play. So much snow and sunlight and fun for the kids!

So much bright white snow

Chill-axing

Post snow smoothies (peanut butter banana) thanks to Nana

We did not end up starting the reindeer unit as of course there was a REPEAT out in the snow in the afternoon. It really does eat up the time, but they had so much fun! Gavin DID find some time to make our Art for Kids picture of a CHRISTMAS TREE!

A tree

With brand new puzzles thanks to the Novak family we of course had two boys sit down and right away want to complete one. These were NOT easy as they are holographic! But Emanuel and Gavin managed.

Emanuel and Gavin

We ended the day with Ken and Baba putting together the tree… slightly pre decorated and rather pretty. Add to that phone calls for work and immigration, mailing to deal with and Christmas crafting to feverishly finish and we are REALLY busy! But in a cheerful and Christmasy way!

SNOOPY

And now we get to the near weekend… The weather has not been pretty come weekend, wind, rain (though not as much as projected), even some hail in our area… oh and don’t forget Saturday’s tornado warnings with at least two touch downs (out of our direct area thankfully). We have been trying to get through to the boys that even with the stresses and upsets of the past few months we have to deal with each other with respect, patience and understanding… on BOTH sides. Both of the twins have been going out of their way to find things to ask to do that they KNOW we can’t do… or at times when they cannot do them. I am hoping that this coming week I see some sort of a change in attitude, especially with my leaving on the 16th for almost a week to watch Kathy’s cats. 

I really am hoping that this month marks the end of our moving Odyssey. I have done my best to continue with our teaching, to bring normal moments to the chaos and to be the best mother, husband, bestfriend, etc that I can be. I am not sure I will ever know if I have done a good job, or even ENOUGH of a job… all I know is that I have done my very BEST. I hope that the world and my family know that that is the most they can ask of me. I hope that the those same people feel that it is enough (well really that my FAMILY does, because really… in the long run my family is what matters… the rest of the world is all on the outside looking in).

Anyway, Friday… Friday marked the date we FINALLY got Emanuel that much sought after haircut. Zander rounded out the party as we were hoping Walmart would have their glasses area open. They did, but too long of a line up… that left me with 3 of the 5. Gavin and Trinity took time to work together on a special picture for Gavin’s book. Faeries and trees and sunshine all played a part. 

Hard at Work

All done

After the 3 menfolk returned there was further time for creativity. In honour of the glasses repair that wasn’t Zander created some replacement glasses out of pipcleaners.

Very creative

And Emanuel was a pro with his workbook. He looks so grown up with his new haircut! 

Well done

Add to all that adventure the fun of making biscuits with Grandma while waiting on Aunty Karyn’s arrival and the general school stuff for the day and it was a VERY good day! 

Biscuits

And then Saturday… and the craft sale!!! My first ever… and while we and my friend who was one of two people running the event were the only handcrafted tables we did ok. I sold one headband and 9 owls. Sadly we did not sell any of It’s a Hoot‘s friends’ items BUT Karyn and I are already debating the merits of a Farmer’s Market for something more in our… theme range? It was fun though, I saw friends from town, got in some good visiting AND got to hang out with Karyn. And while we didn’t sell tons, we DID get lots of compliments.   

The table!!

Which led to the OTHER promised treat… Trinity got to use that loonie she had been saving for… well a month or more… to buy a slurpee with her Aunty Karyn… that included riding in Karyn’s car, paying HERSELF and getting compliments from the staff at the convenience store on her purse, coin bank and outfit (the first two were Hello Kitty themed). 

Dressed up special for slurpees

The kids were overjoyed to have time with their Aunty and had her hopping frogs for over an hour! 

Froggy time

She and I got our outing after supper and putting the littles to bed… nothing fancy, McDonald’s and some minor window shopping but I think we both enjoyed it. It was hard saying goodbye again. We have been so spoiled in the past with weekday evening visits.

So that was my foray into selling my crafts… I definitely want to try it again!!! AND I reconnected with friends… made tentative plans for getting Ken out of the house with a friend (we wives can conspire). 

The cat who figured it should come in with Karyn

Let’s make our way to the weekend! The weather has been pretty predictable in its sunny wonderful-ness this week. The kids have LOVED it, the dog has LOVED it… I have to admit I have loved it too! We worked it out in advance so that Ken got enough work done to take his morning slow and we (as a family no less!) scratched ANOTHER thing off our list. Visiting Grandma’s work while she is there! And with the lovely weather how better to enjoy the event than to go for a family walk there, once we covered our Trinity’s blisters with bandaids, packed up the baby’s necessities and convinced the boys that walking WAS much better than the van. 

Walking together

We made good time and brought Grandma a bottle of water, as we all know hydration is VERY important. We met some of her co-workers, played with some toys and made two important purchases. As this is the weekend of Jaywalkers everything was 50% off so I got Echo a booster chair for 1.50 to take to Kathy’s when we pet sit (oh and for her to play with as it is officially her new favourite seat).

A chair AND the Tupperware cupboard

Ken picked out a boardgame. The main reason? It is still in the shrink wrap with a copyright date of 1974! So here’s hoping it is an interesting game! At least it is a good conversation piece for a piddly 2.50!

New game

On the way back Trinity’s feet started hurting again so she got a ride from Daddy. She is so nervous about heights that it took a little time to calm down and get comfortable with it. 

Best view

That got us home in time for lunch and schooling. Of course we had to do our page for the books… they are getting quite full of all sorts of adventures!

Gavin working on his library book

The twins each took some time in the afternoon to help me out with my craft sale items. Each of the boys has made their own duct tape change purse to sell for 4.00 like mine. They picked their own colours and Gavin even took the time with a messed up piece to draw and cut out a duck to embellish his. 

Gavin with duck

The inside on Zander's is silver

There is a measly 1 week left until the craft sale! I am going to link the event HERE so please, if you are in the area on the 9th, come by, buy something however small and help out a great cause. 10% of ALL my sales for the day go to the charity and I am also donating a doorprize. My  table SHOULD have the sign It’s a Hoot and Friends on it (gotta get that done yet!). I am personally selling owls, bows, duct tape items and some headbands. I will post some teaser images later this week as well as this link again and again! So check back! 

So many owls

Anyway after Grandma got done work and we had supper there was some kid and Grandma quality time while Ken and I ran out to get groceries. Some alone time for us and some nail polish time with Grandma. Echo’s first time! She got sparkly stuff and Trinity some gold. Zander had his done as well though we removed that Saturday as we have a special Sunday planned. I am just so glad they are getting some fun time with family in. We hadn’t visited in quite some time and we need to take advantage of this and have new memories and adventures made. 

Echo and her fancy nails

With Grandpa gone to the city for a conference it was bed time and then JAYWALKERS… yup two items in two days! Jaywalkers is an event where the downtown is blocked off from vehicular traffic. Instead booths are put up, carnival games and rides… there was snacks, shopping and even a 4-H booth with some animals! 

Checking out the animals

Bunnies

Echo in her seat

We tried to win free passes for the mini golf/petting zoo/corn maze just outside of town. All 4 kids tried and failed to make the shot but she gave us a pass anyway… after all there is still the REST of the family to pay for! The kids had a blast trying though! Each with a different coloured set of balls. 

Mini golf

And then we paid 2.00 for 6 balls to try bowling for 1,000.00. Ken came rather close but we did not win. It was fun though!! Each of the boys took a turn. 

Bowling

Next came the two things Ken and I absolutely LOVE about Jaywalkers – mini donuts AND lemonade (we tried the cherry version, I still prefer the original). Yummy, though the prices had gone up! Of course it would not be an outing without an injury. On the way back to the van Gavin wasn’t listening and climbed on some cement parking blocks, slipped and biffed it big time! Both knees VERY scratched up. So we cleaned him up as best we could with what we had in the van and after a brief stop off to pick up a medium sized diaper cover (yup I love SPRINKLES). took him home to clean and bandage properly. He did a professional job of scuffing himself up royally! 

OUCH

With Ken’s help, I spent some time making Echo a miniature version of Trinity’s purse… 4 inches long and with a shorter strap. She is very pleased and I was able to just use bits from all of my remaining rolls!

Echo's purse

We had a surprise visit from Tammy and her girls while the kids watched a movie from the Library and I got in some visiting time. She brought some of her older pieces of dressier clothing that she no longer needed/could wear for me to try on later and some company on an afternoon that went from sunny to drizzly rather quickly. 

Supper was homemade hamburger courtesy of Ken and then the kids played  games with mom while I got in some chatty time with Ken. I think we are starting to really feel on the same page on more and more things. I am hoping he can get a few more minutes here and there to homeschool with us in the near future as well. Though I do think we are doing rather well. I would love to do more in-depth things and hope to find some ways to get back into the crafting, math and sciences in a way that actually brings in the boys’ interest willingly. As it is I hope to get started on the United States on Monday. I have a few books from the library to use, and a couple files printed out from my resources. Sunday night I hope to do some more searching. Any suggestions are welcome! We plan to spend the whole month on it! 

It was a great day for together time. And I snuck in another weather page as for the first time in forever the weather changed visibly through out the day. Tomorrow it is the dedication for the costumes mom made the church. I look forward to it, and the last day of Sunday School. I hope to see some local friends, pick up a few items at some stores not available here and maybe stop at a park or two. Gotta keep the adventures going and two more things on our list to cross off! That is without going over the information the Information Center gave me about some local things. There is a great aboriginal event towards the end of the month and I know the library has advertising about a Father’s Day event that includes pictures on a fire truck! 

So my attempt to stay positive and do the day as the day standing alone worked rather well… the evening not so much but you know what? That sometimes gives way to talks that do help… I still have plans to make paper… just need a blender no one cares about, a screen and some paper to shred. Everything is doable if you keep your heart and mind set upon the path. 

A big sister being a big help