I have slipped horribly in my goal to keep a consistent blog running this month! But I promise to be back to my much more consistent and predictable self in February. Hmm how did our week start off? Well, relatively shaky kid wise. Tuesday the trend continued somewhat with a bit of resistance BUT we got a start on our Chinese New Year poster. We had to make little pockets for some of our mini books and the 12 animals of the zodiak cards. 

Poster in pieces

Both the twins have been hard at work on their math books. I think Gavin will finish his review book soon. I was a little concerned about how silly they were being about adding and subtracting, ignoring, skipping parts… but with this review book it seems much more cemented. We did realize that part of the problem is that everything up until now has been START ON THE LEFT. As soon as  you do equations stacked you have to start on the RIGHT… ACK. 

Emanuel and Trinity are still rather intermittent at their sit down and work work BUT we are making progress. Trinity is totally into making capital E’s now and Emanuel is working on all sorts of wonderful practicing of letters and numbers. We have been including them in all of the big boys’ larger projects so they have enjoyed the space videos and the stories about Chinese New Year. I did pick up a special book for Emanuel and Ken to read together from the library! 

Fun story

Tuesdays are back to library days for Trinity and Emanuel! The last week was actually the first after Christmas but it was WAY too cold to go out. So Karyn and I packed them up and took them this week. We were early and had to deal with Emanuel wanting to go into the men’s washroom and then needing me to go in and reach the toilet paper for him (seriously, thank goodness no one else was in there). The theme was mice and there was lots of fun songs and stories and of course the craft. I love how involved they get in the gluing and colouring. So much fun!

Craft time

Trinity's mouse

Today started with an early morning wake up for all of us… well except Echo who was up even earlier. I had a 9:05 blood work appointment downtown and of course with my lack of driving and no knowledge of the busing here (or cash to spare for that this week) it was the whole family or nothing. Thankfully they were right on time and very efficient. Less than 10 min later, baby not even out of her seat and we were headed back home! 

For some reason heading out in the mornings always throws us off… so instead of forcing the issue we watched a Magic Schoolbus dvd about space (Zander opted to go downstairs and do his math, apparently the twins had watched it once already while we were at the library and he didn’t feel it needed a redo). they traveled all the planets. 

We continued work on our Chinese New Year poster… the boys are not the most efficient at finishing posters so I have decided to take the week and have them do a bit at a time so we are tidy and organized instead of them tossing pieces on to get done. So many brightly coloured dragons! 

Zander was nice enough to spend some of his afternoon teaching Trinity to play UNO. I just wish I could have him and Gavin play a round and it NOT be a huge deal to see who wins. 

Teaching UNO

There was a brief and I mean BRIEF foray outside. The weather is nicer but wet snow is awful for mittens leading to cold fingers. I do love how excited they get to see things like ice formed on one of the bikes left under a drip (really MUST move that) or footprints left by the neighbour’s cats. 

Trinity and the ice... who was then told to get back inside for mittens and to put her hood up!

Gavin felt the creative urge… he made Lego Chinese Dragons. So of course we had to take pictures! There is talk of some Chinese style houses too but he got distracted before they became a reality… maybe tomorrow? 

Kid is AMAZING with Legos!

We are certainly NOT a morning family… everyone was cranky and worn out today… Ken took a nap (his doctor says he must if he feels the need just to ensure he gets the rest when he needs it and not mess with his meds) and I TRIED to… interrupted by an annoying doorbell and non issue at the door… Echo is warm and fussy, Gavin warm… oh the trauma of the beginnings of colds in the house! 

So with all the grumpy kids, off starts to the day and upheaval it has NOT been the most productive 2 days… but we have continued on. I think that by the end of the week we will be further schooled regarding space and of course have our poster done and on the wall. Things are still tough here as they have been the past 3 years BUT I am starting to see the positives MUCH more clearly now. January may not have been the smooth and dreamy month I was hoping for, BUT it is ending better than it started and we intend to continue the trend! Faith without action is nothing remember! 

It gives me such a giggle that Echo is the right size for a play sippy cup to seem proportional

In recognition of the internet blackout regarding some potential bills to be passed in the US I postponed this blog entry. You need to check out SOPA and PIPA… those are the bills… also (though this comic has mature content at times) read this entry to one of my favourite comics! Check out SOPA STRIKE as well. These bills would affect a lot of people from all walks of life! 

And the weather continues to reinforce the reasoning behind so many Albertan’s exodus to warmer quarters during winter. Apparently tonight it is to dip below -40 Celsius with wind chill… a VERY good reason to curl up with some sewing and tuck the kids into bed with lots of blankets.

Together time

Zander was rather sure he WANTED to go outside and play yesterday morning and mommy was equally certain that that was a HORRIBLE idea. Thankfully we bypassed the going outside with reading the other library book on China and drawing pictures for our poster. 

Car set on a snowy and cold day

Gavin is determined to make a dent in his stitch. So now it is a request to sew at almost any point in the day. I am glad… it may not be reading or writing or math or even one of the typical school subjects but it IS an art, and fine motor skills, pattern recognition, etc etc. I have been toying with having Gavin help me design some simple patterns we could put up on my pattern site for purchase or free download. He does make some cute ones!!

Gavin's progress

Gavin chose to take some time to make some Lego art as well on Tuesday. A year or more ago we went to the Telus Science Center to see their Lego exhibit. Some of the creations were more paintings made of Lego, with Zander focusing on space and in turn telling all he knows to Gavin he wanted to make something in that theme. There is a shooting star on there, the sun, the moon, earth and “the red planet” as Gavin refers to Mars as. 

Gavin's Artistic Lego

I completed my kit that I started on the weekend. It was more of an accent than an actual stitch but it was fun to do and the results lovely. I plan on giving it away at Christmas or for a birthday, once I figure out who the best person would be to receive it. 

Completion

Wednesday definitely has not gone exactly on plan… we knew it would be cold but apparently the van took offense as well. Well that and the cord is not connected to the block heater so no amount of plugging in would help! Nice to find that out! With that little gem of knowledge came the fact that the van would not start. SO no library trip for the boys… a disappointment BUT we rallied and they watched educational tv and then played a card game with Daddy! 

Cards with Daddy

Our day was not overly busy as the cold weather locked us inside, much to the disgust of Zander. Though we had some math and reading and the like going on. The little ones did their workbooks and Zander willingly headed to the basement and the supervision of Daddy! I am liking how this set up is working. I think Zander and I were getting very frustrated with each other! 

Workbook time

After an aborted Wednesday Thursday has been an improvement. We are working on rescheduling the eye appointment. Ken called first thing in the morning and they were overbooked and behind even first thing in the morning. With it an hour and a half drive away we were quick to offer to reschedule and potentially find a local office. We would love to get a baseline done on Gavin as well. 

That solved the van not fixed issue… though we are still on the list to get into Canadian Tire. Mildly frustrating but everything Ken and the boys need to do this weekend is local. And us girls have Cousin Veronika’s VERY reliable jeep to tool around in. 

Enjoying the open main floor

After stopping at a couple stores to pick up some food items we have spent Thursday relaxing at Veronika’s… there is a kitty to meet, tv to watch and an iPad to play with. Bedtime is a bit of a trial as we are sharing a room and neither girls were really interested in going to sleep… 

iPad!

It is going to be a nice vacation, my first away from the boys for more than a night in like 4+ years! Trinity is already enjoying so much attention. 

Some art

And so another week begins… and with it our new plan of action in regards to Zander. I have to admit it was… odd… to be down a kid for the majority of the day. Zander and Ken had the basement to themselves and Mommy was told to strictly stay out of it. Though Zander DID escape Ken a couple times to come up and “show someone something”…

Both hard at work, pardon the mess!

In the meantime those of us left upstairs kept busy… there was math to be done, workbook fun… and then we read a book on celebrating Chinese New Year. That of course spurred the interest in creating pictures for our poster… Emanuel made TWO! 

Original illustrations

There were dragons to glitter up too… We had originally planned on doing them the way the craft suggested HERE but the cutting out of a template took so long we decided to do a  group dragon and decorate it as we pleased. VERY flashy!

Dragon decorating, final stages

The one on the right was 100% Trinity

In the back of the book was instructions on how to make relatively simple paper lanterns. Coloured paperr, tape and staples… oh and scissors… so simple!!

Lanterns

I am still so excited that Gavin WANTS to cross stitch, so this afternoon we had son and mom stitch time. Not quite a stitch’n’bitch but we did stitch’n’chat! He was much more cheerful than I was as I realized I had made a colour error LAST night that had to be redone. 

My stitching buddy

Gavin and I also worked on coming up with sentences and then him writing the words either from memory or by sounding them out. It is slow going and frustrating yet again… but we managed 3 sentences before I determined he was getting a little bit stressed and let him off (I do believe we went back to sewing or something). He is catching on, though it may not be until the summer that he will be writing his own paragraphs fluently! 

Quiet time creations - it is hard to tell, but the one on the left is a bowl of Chinese food on a table and then he is holding the chopsticks!

OH on the tooth front… for the first time EVER I am PLEASED that the twins were wrestling past bedtime. Gavin bashed his mouth on Zander’s head and out it popped! About time! It has a long root though (shudder) so once we get our dental coverage it will have to be mentioned to the dentist. BUT the other tooth is in and down. Straight and nice. He says he thinks he looks funny… I had to giggle at that – NOW he looks funny, when before he had a tooth hanging out of his mouth! BUT we are excited. The tooth fairy MUST be called (I had to remind them that she would NOT be coming tonight as Mommy had NOT alerted her to the loss)… again the massive surprise that MOMMY has the tooth fairy’s PHONE NUMBER! Remember it is a TWO toy tooth!

Pre tooth out illustrations!

Spontaneous space picture... he had to look up Jupiter.

So the excitement of a lost tooth, the weather being cold, the kids coming down from their visit with the uncles buzz… it has been quite the long and drawn out day!

Buttered popcorn baby