Tuesdays are many things – garbage day, the second day of the week… our first really focused school day of the week when we take the weekend off. This Tuesday you have to add in some sort of stomach bug/cold thing. Nothing extreme just Emanuel, Echo and myself feeling a little under the weather. Though Emanuel felt bad enough to suggest in the morning that he NOT go to the library!!! 

This has not slowed our learning about the Inuit people. I have even MORE videos to share with you all today! Including the interesting fact that what we call an Inukshuk generally (the one that looks like a person) is NOT called that by the Inuit. Instead they have another word for them that mean false person! 

And an interesting piece on hunting and fishing that the boys really enjoyed.

And a very interesting and informative pod cast about Inuit games! I love the creativity and not a single battery to be seen!!

Zander and Ken are still battling out math but today he did a marvelous job reading his Starfall story to go with his book. I am so thankful that someone passed these books along. The site does not require a membership for the stories the books cover so he is able to work his way through without costing me more cash. I honestly cannot thank people enough for passing along their unused and unwanted things for our children. Last night Karyn dropped off some items a co-worker didn’t need for her kids anymore. We actually held some of those back for their birthday! We honestly would not have such a fun school area (ok house) without the generosity of friends, acquaintances and family! 

Working on his reading

We had haircuts tonight with the amazing Cousin Elizabeth who Gavin says must do ALL their haircuts. That meant a visit and TREATS! Such a talented cousin I have! 

Post haircut treats!

So cute!!!

I have been working on a baby necklace. I now have a VERY good reason to purchase more beads as I am about out of my cute and fun shaped ones. Though I have enough alphabet ones to make sentences! I haven’t done a nursing necklace in a while so this was a fun change of pace! I forgot how much I enjoy working with beads and patterns! Time to check out Dollarama. For some reason they tend to have reasonably priced beads. 

Beads

Trinity and Karyn made it to the library and back again without incident. I opted to stay home with cranky baby and wait for our spectacular hairdresser. I am working on multiple crafts right now anyway and Echo was in a horrible mood with her runny nose and slight fever. Now I have a list of crafts to complete, tidying to do AND the movie Clue on Netflix to watch! 

Just a little smile to close with

Testing has been done, appointment with doctor accomplished and the next two appointments booked… what a day! Ken had his yearly physical and came through with flying colours. Since he and Echo could not get in to have their blood work (and her x-ray) done sooner we are still waiting on those results BUT his bloodpressure was perfect, weight right on etc. etc. AND when he came back and picked up Echo there were able to get the x-ray done AND the blood taken. Apparently Echo was less than enthused as first off they had to have the nurse hold her for the x-ray (big no no in Echo land) AND then they had problems finding a vein on her. She is very tiny! 

Today Trinity was my busy learning bee… first it was fun with her workbook (some actual following instructions some random colouring lots of ADORABLE chatter) and then later on Daddy’s netbook for “ABCD” time on Starfall. It has been a while since I have mentioned this site I think. We do not pay a subscription fee so there is SOME stuff we cannot access but more than enough to keep even our two almost 8 yr olds happy! I love listening to her repeat along… G… and then the sound it makes… she is so proud of herself and a pro with the touch pad.

Starfall

The boys did their usual quota and added in copious reminders for Gavin to WIGGLE HIS TOOTH!! Ken talked to our physician and she said wiggle the heck out of it and if it is not out in the next while to bring him to her. We absolutely LOVE our new doctor… friendly and calm and so nice! Sadly she could NOT schedule Ken a vasectomy yet… there have been some changes in the health care system as to what is and isn’t covered and she wanted to be sure (a friend of mine who is a doctor said he thought it was still covered so we are keeping fingers crossed). Seriously, with 5 kids… 4 of which have needed some form of additional medical care you would think they would throw him a parade and walk him right on up to the door!

Note Gavin (in yellow) with his finger in his mouth wiggling as they play the PS3

Echo had her learning time too… in her favourite chair, though I am not sure how much was learning and how much was making the lights flash. She does love a noisy toy!

"Hey kids, welcome to Alphabet town"

We are going to get started on Chinese New Year next week, I will share my links. I have some books requested and am hoping some friends can suggest a good food to try as part of our learning. This is the year of the dragon, so there are some colouring pages to be done, word searches… a maze… and of course the story of the Zodiak to read. Since the boys want a poster I am hoping for lots of brightly coloured pictures. There is even an event on the 18th for Ken to take all 3 boys to to learn at the library (it says 6 and up but a 5 yr old who turns 6 in like 2 weeks… why not?). And if anyone reading this has links to share please DO!!!

There are days when I am reminded of how alike our twins really are and there was a moment like that today… we were talking about Gavin’s tooth and the need to take it out when I brought up the tooth fairy. I told them that Ken and I TALKED to the tooth fairy last night and that she said this tooth was a TWO present tooth… in unison, same look on their faces: “How do you talk to the tooth fairy?” I couldn’t help but giggle… it was ADORABLE… of course I told them that once you loose ALL your baby teeth you get a special phone number so you can CALL the tooth fairy for when YOU have kids… after all sometimes she needs a little help and vice versa. 

Tinker Bell is coming along nicely on the afghan and I have messaged the newest parents for information on their baby for a sampler. January may have nothing to do with Christmas but it has a lot to do with crafting still! I hope to have something to show by the next week but am holding off, I want to have something substantial and exciting with my Tink! Of course there is cleaning to do… kids to teach and a house to run so progress is not swift… but there will be more to show next week, along with Echo’s 6 month cardiologist appointment… wish us luck!

Baby with baby and popcorn

Well that snuck up on me! I started somewhat seriously blogging back when our Emanuel was born… but it has not been until the kids seriously started their schooling with Preschool level fun that I have been at all consistent and here I am… 1000 entries later! We have met some wonderful people through this blog, had some lovely gifts received, sent some ourselves and shared our lives with all of you. This is definitely a boost to keep on blogging! BUT numbers like this really only mean something to the blogger… now to bring something to the reader… 

In honour of my 1000th post I am going to do a draw. Let’s start with the prize – the winner of a random number generated draw will  get to chose a subject to be made into a feltie that will be designed by myself and Ken, stitched by me and then mailed to you! Of course any thing within reason! Felties ARE only around 2-4 inches tall so some details are simply not easily created! I am going to give everyone a week… please ONE entry per person. Now to enter – all you need to do is make a comment on THIS entry. You need to leave your name and your email address and then share either why you read and/or follow my blog, what you have taken from my entries, anything you want to share in regards to our stories or activities, or even just a little bit about yourself and where you are from. In the next few entries on here I will link back to this specific blog for commenting just to make things simple. You have until the following Friday – the 11th, to enter and the winner will be announced on Monday the 14th! 

Ok with that out of the way back to our daily lives… today we woke up to this!!!

SNOW

Thank goodness I had gone through the winter clothes last week, and picked up a coat off of Kijiji for Emanuel. I am just short a pair of snowpants for Emanuel size 6-7 as we ALWAYS buy big for the winter gear. I am hoping to find something on Kijiji, Freecycle or an affordable pair in a store… the problem is FINDING something. 

The first snow of the year was enjoyed by 4 of our 5… Echo woke up with a runny nose and I had the distinct impression that packing her into her snowsuit and plopping her in the snow would NOT be welcome. You do tend to forget over the warmer months, how much work it is to get kids out the door geared up and this was WITHOUT the snowpants!

Ready to go outside

With a house full of guys and their computers on the way it has been a cleaning day for me. Ken also had to head back to the city to pick up Jeff and his oldest Zachary at the airport. They were able to come up from California for the party and then on to spend time with their family up here in Alberta. 

Post travel nap

The rest of our day went pretty much up in the air come afternoon, thank goodness for ongoing sewing projects, Starfall on the netbook and Legos. I am determined to spend some time on mice in the near future as well as collect the last of my snowflake books from the library to get started on our next big focus. 

I am spending the rest of my evening moving all of our homeschooling links and files to ONE laptop. Not an easy task as I have been collecting stuff for years. I hope to expand my links on my side bar and share some of my best finds over the month. With a house full of people and the children in bed it is definitely time to get back to work on my own projects! Remember to leave a comment for the draw and thank you for reading! 

Teaching Echo the Gobble Up game... sort of