You go to bed with some fluffy flakes and wake up to everyone home in the morning due to a full out storm. (He) Chris decided to wait until it was light out to head to work in the van in need of repairs (seriously VANS and the people in this house … not good)… and (She) Chris had her schedule changed so that she would not have to ride on the roads until it warmed up. So much snow!

So much snow!

Snowy bush in the backyard

So of course the first thing I did was have the twins dress up and head out to make a snowman. They made a tiny one that they said was “Echo sized”. The snow was perfect for it, actually would have been perfect for a snowball fight but that was best NOT suggested!

Echo sized

We had lots of productive school time today… math, copywork… even bookwork for the little ones. 

Working in the sunlight

Not only that but Starfall is up and running in the corner of the room. Though Echo is a little bit rough at times… at least it is something “new” to occupy the kids! 

Starfall baby with her bruises

So to go with the fresh snow we also dressed up (He) Chris’ car… with bunny ears AND a tail! Gotta love Dollarama! I think the whole set cost 2.00.

Bunny car

I found some time to finish off my bunny barrettes. You can find the instructions and the link to the template HERE. I have done them two ways – the stitching on the ears with just DMC regular floss and then the others with blending filament. I made one up in time for (she) Chris to wear to work and another for Trinity for when we do photos. The rest are awaiting barrettes and selling. I ordered some more alligator clips off eBay today (to be sent to She Chris) so I will have another 50 to use before the month is over, I hope! 

Bunnies!

So tomorrow I plan on having the boys make some Easter (ish) themed paperchains for Chris and Chris to decorate their home. I was lucky enough to bring a box along with the bulk of my cardstock (sadly not very much white) and remembered today that I did have some lovely colours. AND my paper cutter!! Add to that our tiny stapler and one of our boxes of 5000 staples and we are in business. 

The chapter illustrations I promised from last blog

Our actual Easter plans are up in the air still at this point. Ken has found 3 possibles for purchase online and is in contact with them van wise and Chris and Chris are attempting to get their brakes fixed this weekend. If that works out we may have wheels to get to mom’s for the holiday but back here on the Monday night. So we shall see. I am sure either way we will make it a great day!

Bunny Baby

And the germs continue on… we are on the mend but not to healthy yet. Echo is running Ken through the wringer with 5:30 am wake ups. Thankfully he can safely pass out on the upstairs couch with the doors to places unsafe closed and she plays with her toys relatively quietly. Yours truly honestly has been so knocked out due to cold and cold medicine that I don’t even hear her! BUT in turn Ken gets afternoon naps (the joy of working from home) so it averages out. 

Today we jumped right into our school stuff with workbooks for all. In the wake of Zander’s completion of his Starfall book I have hunted him down a NEW reading workbook. I decided to go back to a Grade 1 book to cement more of the reading rules in his mind and build his confidence before heading into a Grade 2 level one. 

We began our assembly of our Inuit lapbook today. I think we assembled a decent amount of information and had a lot of fun doing it. I still plan on going back to the MAG to see the display another time either this week or more likely the next. We decided to take it slow as the boys are still getting over THEIR colds and glued in some things, finished up some of the mini booklets and generally talked about what we saw. Here is a video Ken took on their field trip yesterday.

This afternoon they boys worked together with our red blocks to create some sort of game that only they truly understood the rules on. There were many many rules and lots of pieces and 3 very happy boys – most of the time. So a successful play time. 

The game

Tuesday usually means library time for Emanuel and Trinity but as Ken is now as sick as the rest of us have been and Karyn is out for the count as well we decided not to plan the outing. Instead it was time at home with daddy and slurpee. 

Playing the "game"

So hopefully the second half of the week will find us ALL healthier… At least Echo’s nose is not running so much and Trinity seems happier. I would love to walk into March healthy, especially with Echo’s surgery coming up! Wish us luck!

We also saw Uncle Sean off to his folks' place. Time for some parental spoiling while he continues to wait for his foot to heal!

Being a mother has its ups and downs and then there are those moments of uncertainty. I had one of those today tinged with joy. Echo officially has her surgery date for dealing with her PDA. It is a bit more complicated than go in and get done, stay the night and go home though. Basically the day before we have to head into the city (an hour and a half away) and do the pre-admission process. They will work through everything, examine her and tell us what time the surgery is the next day. THEN the next day we come in for the surgery (scary) and she stays the night for observation (which means I stay the night too). So the date then… THE date for surgery is March the 21st. We have to go in on the 20th for the pre appointment and then will (hopefully) be released to go home early on the 22nd. So enough time to worry myself sick about it if I so desire!

I posted on Facebook the dates and lovely (she) Chris has already offered to watch the other 4 for us! That is a HUGE load off my mind as we certainly did NOT want to drag the kids all over the city. I know that I WANTED this date and this done but not at the same time. This is MY baby and the idea of anyone doing anything to her makes me rather ill. 

Zander had a rather exciting completion – his first reading themed book – a Starfall one. He had to read each of the stories online and then do worksheets that corresponded with the sound lessons. He struggled a bit at times and complained (always) when I had him come up with and then copy sentences but I am hoping this completion will spur on more focus on reading!

Well done Zander!

I finally found a moment to do some practicing with my brush and ink… I CAN tell you that the two characters on the right are for Grandma (mother’s side) and the top mess was my attempt at Grandpa (mother’s side) BUT the bottom one shhh secret! 

Practice

And I am sure much more went on today but with a sore throat and no nap I am a little spacey! Tomorrow we end the week and I am sure I will have much more to talk about!!

Our sweety