Tag Archive | stocking

Crafty Moments

Basically the past 3 days have culminated into a crafty explosion. A combination of cold weather and a swamped Kenny kept us home from our library meet. The other family confirmed to come was from out of town and not going to risk the roads. So instead we had different areas of play and worked on getting ready for our tree! 

Working on a newly unearthed Thomas puzzle

Lego area

...and our quiet reader

Our tree is a prestrung light tree that we bought way back for the twins’ first Christmas. Last Christmas some of the lights were failing… this Christmas we could not get a strand to go! So this year we strung lights up on our prestrung tree! Ken bought a string and then Kristen and Fydo brought their spares! So we are well lit. We may even string some on the railing or something. BUT Ken and I got the tree up in the corner by Friday night so that on Saturday the kids could decorate with Cousin Veronika… chaos! 

Decorating

Decorated though in need of some more lights added. Note the cute dress (and pj pants) Trinity is wearing - Xinny dropped off some handmedowns of Isabella's! Trinity is beyond pleased. Thanks Xinny!

We did some pre party errands out and about in the cold (V’s jeep has HEATED seats…)… and then it was time for our December Craft-o-palooza. Sadly She Chris couldn’t make it and Karyn and Lauralee had other plans. Victoria was still feeling under the weather so that left Cousin Veronika, Kristen, Xinny and yours truly! We had a blast! I started with the two scrapbook pages I still needed to do for Emanuel from previous Christmas photography sessions. 

Our first official portraits as a family of 6

2009

And then there is the card making… we made a nice amount for one evening and the time just flew! We had our potluck to keep us full and Veronika and I made one run (almost literally – it WAS cold out) to the nearby store for slurpees for those interested. 

Even Fydo got in and made a card!

Outside

I love his inside bit!

Kristen brought me some duct tape I needed to finish a project in return for a hairbow so Veronika and I made a second trip back at the end of the night, to Michaels and exchanged the roll I bought that morning for another pattern (a gift for my sister-in-law can now begin). She decided to stay the night so we had a late girly chatty night (like 3 am!!) and then in the morning hung out before she headed home.

Kristen's amazing cards

Her last 2

Veronika's... sorry this pic went fuzzy on me

The rest of Veronika's

I have good pictures of 3 of Xinny's, this one I had to make one like it myself!

That top bit is a punch!

Trees!

...and mine. I made that bow on the left out of loops of ribbon

The one on the far left is the copy of Xinny's

The second from the right is pop up style

And my last 3

Then there is  the Friday night crafting that preempted the blogging… gotta get all these gifts done after all. Take a peek at the results of my labours!

Trinity and Echo's ornaments

A gift

The hair things I made for the girls

I also took advantage of the time with Izaac to take pictures! Aren’t they cute??

BABIES

I was also able to finally finish Anna’s stocking and sent it back to the city with Xinny for completion. I hope they enjoy it!!!! I would love to do it for another little girl!!

Ready to assemble

And with that deluge of pictures it is time for me to get back to crafting. It is a good thing we all had afternoon naps, though with the freezing weather all our plans went out the window for anything outside the home! Oh well! Tomorrow we are cleaning out drawers to put away more things for our Christmasy livingroom and hopefully getting a go on the last of our snowflake learning before assembling our lapbook. I promise the NEXT blog will be much more kid oriented!!

Echo's new favourite activity - stacking Play Doh containers

This entry was posted on 20/11/2011, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Working Our Way to Guest Ready

Another update on the Fat Sheep website… further adventures in Alberta no less! Be sure to click HERE to check them out… leave a comment… tell your own sheep related stories.

Well it turns out that most of the family was in need of a lengthy nap today… Well both parents and the 3 youngest children that is. Thank goodness the twins are happy with Legos and each other sometimes. I  think the excitement of Nana and Baba being a mere day away as well as yesterdays foray into the city for the boys wore us all out.

But that doesn't mean we can't accessorize!

In the morning we did start off busy. After a bit of a late breakfast and getting dressed the 4 big kids all went out and cleaned the backyard and then had a 15 min playtime. Turned out that was the perfect time to come in as that was just when the fighting started.

Cleaning/playing in the backyard

Then it was right into schoolwork. Nothing major as I am still dealing with quite the final tidy before my in-laws get here but the twins did their page for their trip to the doctor for the Summer Adventure file.

Ready for our Summer Adventure File

Trinity and Emanuel both coloured something from Education.com. I am going to start bookmarking my own choices… they have that option on their site. I really want to take an evening and just hunt around on there to see what all they have!

Pandas and Princesses

Emanuel also made his own Canadian flag from scratch. We had to find a skewer to finish the assembly but job well done. That maple leaf is so hard to draw!

Note Trinity on the phone!

We have started two long term projects for 2 of our boys… Zander finally settled on something after digging around the upstairs and sorting through odds and ends. We had one large puzzle still sealed in the basement that I have brought upstairs and commandeered the blue table for. He is allowed to let whoever help that he wishes. BUT the big thing is is that it is something he comes back to and has to keep tidy. Of course that monopolizes our second table which means it is up to MOMMY to keep the kitchen table cleaner than usual. 

The big puzzle adventure

The other project is Emanuel’s. We have a great dinosaur book that he has always enjoyed looking through. Now he is taking a dinosaur out of that book, drawing it himself and then we read about it. After reading about it I write out the name (with Emanuel naming all the letters in the name as I write them) and then he tells me at least 2 things about what we just read. I am so impressed about how much he actually retains!

The first of many dinosaurs

I finally finished a bow that had been floating around the house halfway done this afternoon in my drive to complete outstanding craft projects. For some reason it makes me think of Alice in Wonderland. I watched (on Netflix) a version of Alice in Wonderland that I had not seen prevoiusly. This was a 1999 made for tv with quite the list of stars BUT Alice was in yellow (???) and a brunette! It felt odd… but Netflix only has the 1949 versionand this one oddly enough! 

I think it is the colours that make this bow

I am still thoroughly in love with the Campion series. Almost through it in fact. Tonight it was a trial with The Mrs. Bradley mysteries which sadly at least in CANADA I can only access what is called the 5th episode but I read was shown as the pilot. I have to say with Netflix I am not feeling horrible about cancelling our Shaw cable. We simply were not watching it enough to offset the cost. 

With Petite Sheepette’s collar done for the wedding all that is left is altering the party dress for Echo and the barrette that goes with her tutu dress.

On the sheep...

...off the sheep

All the stitching possible with the pattern I have on hand has been done on the stocking and no new projects have been started. With the senior most Johnsons getting here well into the evening I have high hopes that all things will be accomplished in good time. Although a big chunk of my afternoon is already mapped out for Cousin Veronika and her furthering of her education (you will just have to check back later and find out all about that!). So back to work I go, late as it is… I am up to the old Halloween costumes to put up on Kijiji after all! Gotta make room for the new ones… and for (as has been suggested) the play heels and silly dresses for Trinity to play dress up tea party! 

Would you like the key to her heart?

So Much to do So Little Time

Want a peek at how Fat Sheep and company fared in Drumheller? She posted last night with some lovely images right here. It looks like a great time was had by all involved. Drumheller really is a scenic area! She has been quite the blogger these past weeks and we hope the trend will continue. There is lots to catch up on I am told as well as adventures yet to come.

I am still working to figure out what main points we want to cover this year… other than the stuff I don’t feel they have firmly covered… the list is woefully short as of today – dinosaurs, family and family members (then comparing to other families all over the world), astronomy (including all things space)… but then what? We do not have our handy Leisure Pass any more so that does limit us for trips to things like the zoo (but then again we are not in the same city as one any more either). I think my first order of business is to head to the library after the in-laws are gone so that we can get our card and do some sifting through books. Not to mention the plan I have to set up a sort of unofficial open playdate at the local branch for twice a month with the hopes of meeting some new families. I would love some more suggestions from any and all!

Today I figured I would keep the kids as busy as possible… so I printed off some fun sheets for them to work on. The twins did the more complicated dinosaur colour by numbers that used addition and subtraction. These can be found under dinosaurs in the EnchantedLearning site. Again the only site (so far) that I pay a subscription for. Everything I printed off for Emanuel today was off of my new gem – education.com, from the workbooks section kindergarten level. 

Emanuel and some finished work... he did that green page solo pretty much by singing the ABC song and working it out!

We are, of course, back to our workbooks. Gavin is once again focused and ready to finish his grade 1 math book… enough that I had to basically pry him away from it for a break with his sight word book before we BOTH got frustrated. I am glad they are so willing to get back to work though. Emanuel especially was right in there trying his best.

Hard at work

Don’t forget our VBS themed poster… Pandas are tricky things to draw I am told by Emanuel. First the kids made up a bunch of pandas, then we worked on some of the things they remember learning in VBS. I am rather proud of everything they remembered. We only found one of their take home sheets had a slogan we missed! Not bad! And there is room for MORE pandas if they want.

The boys and their poster

A few more ads up on Kijiji. Make sure you check them out if you are local to me! I am downsizing some of our books… our reading tastes have changed AND the space is needed for newer volumes. In the case of some of Ken’s that are not yet up – he has gone over to digital. BUT I figure whatever I can get for them can go to new things… the kids are always needing SOMETHING! And Kijiji came to the rescue with one of the twins anyway. 2.00 for a pair of rainboots. Now we just need to get size 11’s for Gavin and we are set for the fall! 

Only 2.00!

I have found a new British mystery series to watch on Netflix… Campion. I would totally recommend it if you are interested in such shows as Nero Wolf or Poirot… the acting is great and there is a lovely bit of comedy. Very British. Each episode on Netflix is actually two parts. Oh and did I mention the main actor was the 5th Doctor on Doctor Who?

I am still taking minutes here and there to work on the stocking. I would LOVE to have it all done – stitching wise – by the end of this month. There is still a thank you gift to do up, and some other minor things on the list but this is the big one for the year really!

To date

And now it is time to get back to said stitching, as well as some cookies dough making, cleaning and Kijiji ad creating… enough with the blogging, on with the real work! 

Smile!