Now our morning was even MORE rushed today… we ALL got cleaned up, dressed and out the door in time to take the boys to their VBS session. We had a special treat for Trinity – going out in the van to go to drive through and get McDonald’s… or as she says – go and get apple slices. Apparently that is the very BEST thing the sell there! Sadly we couldn’t eat in – Ken had too much work to do but she had a blast getting to go out and then having apple slices and the Hello Kitty item her god-mommy Karyn had bought her and I had held back (she had brought a stack of items one day and I held onto this for something special later). We had our breakfast (well snack for Trinity really) at what she calls the big girl table. And then it was back to go go go. 

McD's haul

We did have fun in Trinity’s room again. Something about sunshine, pretty girls and a room full of toys us just so much fun!!

Kitchen fun

The boys came back with soap statues though Gavin had some sort of rant about the soap not smelling nice… I checked it is fine, just not scented like the stuff in our bathroom. Apparently Emanuel’s is a fish, and Zander and Gavin’s stairs. 

Home from VBS

Soap

Tomorrow there is some sort of water balloon activity for the gym time at VBS so I had to scramble a little to find towels I did not mind labeling (Sharpie) as well as labeling their swimsuits and the sunscreen. 

Oh a bit of excitement with Echo yesterday and confirmed today – our Echo has TWO little teeth… bottom front ones popped right out. Poor thing! 

Smiley thing

I got some lovely mail yesterday as well – the larger French barrettes I ordered off of eBay came in a relatively brief amount of time from the states. Only 9 but I wanted some  to start making some larger bows or at least bows that would stay in my or another adult’s hair. Though probably NOT this week… or the next really… after the 60 bows (ok 62, I over counted) were completed today my fingers, back and mind all heaved a sigh of relief and refusal to do one more bow. 

French Barrettes

On a happy non-wedding related note, the stocking is coming along… I need at least one more thing in the diamond pattern and maybe another character but I am starting the last of them. So far just the blocks of colour are done but once the last one is done I will move onto the detail colours. 

Hello Kitty?

The week has rushed right along almost at a breath taking rate it seems. VBS is almost over, the bridal shower imminent and the in-laws here before I can get my mind let alone house straight. We have taken homeschooling to an all time level low… today was mucking around with glitter (can you believe I am about out of glitter glue!!) and glue and such and then of course the VBS drawing. BUT come Monday we are going to step it up a notch! 

I have been looking at a gift making link that Karyn sent me a while ago… 25 Gifts You Can Make Today. I am debating a couple of the ideas… after all I LOVE giving homemade gifts and have NOT had the time to make a lot this year yet… I am definitely not going to get everyone something but if I can make choice and thoughtful gifts I will certainly feel like I did good this Christmas. But enough about that time to bake cookies for tomorrow…

BOWS

The week is coming to an end and the weekend is shaping up to be busy. It is a long weekend here in Alberta but VBS starts on the Monday all the same. With trips to the old house to finish cleaning, running to get Jimmie and Ken needing to get work done that was not completed during the week we have not yet made a service at the new place. The plan is to go the one free Sunday in August – the 21st… Sunday School starts after the long weekend in September which has the boys absolutely bouncing in excitement. A whole new adventure for us all.

THIS weekend has me mainly focused on the August wedding… Saturday afternoon is the bridal make-up trial with my lovely cousin Veronika doing the make-up. Combined with the need to purchase a massive amount of the theme coloured ribbon to finish the centrepieces, the planning of the seating plan/tables positioning and all other general odds and ends to finalize and I am hoping this is our last big push to completion (I know I know I AM a wee bit delusional). Can you tell I am LOVING the closeness  to cousins? I am pretty sure I have made that nearly ANNOYINGLY apparent… but I am! This weekend cousin Elizabeth is moving to a different place so we couldn’t get more family together but she HAS promised to come back often. 

What I did manage last night was to finish all bows I had the ribbon for (lost or miscounted three knots somewhere downstairs though which is a bit upsetting) AND do all the tulle knotting for Echo’s birthday costume. I need to sit down and fuss with the ribbon tie as I cannot see how you can do it with the double layer of tulle, but I may be misreading the instructions (would NOT surprise me!). I used 4 colours – black, grey, light purple and a shimmery brown to make something with a Friday the 13th feel! After the weekend I plan on trying to make a single matching tulle poof to put in her hair… 

I have to brag a little on my kids and their yearning to learn… today all 3 boys WILLINGLY did school work, even though I was not planning on pushing it today with the amount of tidying and such that has to be done for the weekend. Pictures were coloured, ABC’s drawn, math done… even songs sung. All while butterfly princess Trinity ran around and little Echo added her voice to the chorus. In fact, she has started directing her baby babbles in a more conversational manner recently. It is so exciting to see and hear her progress. 

TIARA!

In reflecting back to the beginning of the week and the altercation with beloved people in our lives regarding our choice to homeschool I have to admit there has been some good come of this. I have written/typed up a letter that explains as best I can the why and how of us making this choice. This has forced me to think long and hard really as to the fundamental reasons behind out wish to take this VERY hands on role in our children’s schooling. It has also helped push me forward into meeting more families (granted online only for now) that are local to us and reinforce that there ARE people who think we are doing a good job. That has not decreased the hurt of the naysayers but what it HAS done is remind me how little those people interact with us on a daily or even weekly basis. This is not out of lack of trying REALLY but more so due to distance… so how CAN they know exactly what we are accomplishing here? (beyond what I write here in the blog, but I AM aware that NOT everyone reads it) I have passed through the anger of Monday’s entry and have moved into hope… I HOPE that I can help them to see the benefits to what we are doing but it is not the main focus of our schooling. What IS the main focus will always be the children and their future. And it is a bright and hopeful future indeed! 

MATH

Ken and I have made a pact and he is going to readjust his sleep schedule back to “normal people” time or at least an approximation. I know there ARE nights when he needs to work late but he has gotten into the habit of ALWAYS working late… which has left me a little bereft in snuggling time. Now that Echo is almost consistently sleeping through the night (major score) we are able to start moving back from the midnight feeds and start enjoying the morning again.

Oh, the decoration idea – well EACH of the boys has their own 8X10 photo frame that I have put up on the wall. They are allowed to, at any time, do up a NEW picture and we will replace it! And now I have 3 VERY happy boys who are involved in decorating their room WITHOUT damaging walls! 

Emanuel's collaborative piece

I am trying a new recipe tonight for some of the raspberries I have in the freezer… I will have to share the results in the next entry. OH! That reminds me – Ken had some sad news to report at the old house… apparently the owners chopped those lovely raspberry bushes TO THE GROUND! Wounding I tell you, they were amazing bushes and provided a TON of berries… so sad!

 There is the beginnings of a Kitty buddy on the stocking… I am not going to spill who it is until it is done but I CAN tell you it is NOT Chococat! 

black thread....

With a potential house full of computers and gaming and friends it is going to be an interesting weekend. 

Homemade bread NOMS

We are basically back to normal here in the Reinsch-Johnson home… well as normal as we get! We are right back into the little organized schooling we do do in the summer – mainly math and sight word work… oh and our illustrations with a couple sentence description for the Summer Folder. It feels good to sit down with the twins at the table and work one on one once again. Zander is finally starting to really grasp some of the more complex (at least more complex than addition and subtraction) mathematical concepts… and Gavin is going hard on his sight word books.

Working together all 3 of us, Zander on math, Gavin sight words and yours truly checking on the new educational website

I have drug out my book What Your 1st Grader Needs to Know to sift through and see how far we have gotten. I need to source out a copy for the 2nd grader level but I do like to have this as a basic (very basic) reference to give me some guidelines as I go along. So far my goals for early in the year are to cover fractions in detail… focus on the months of the year (we have the days pretty well covered) and of course time. Beyond that I want to get the boys through VBS, the wedding, Echo’s birthday party and Nana and Baba visit before we go absolutely gungho on the studying. August is going to be a whirlwind month for this family!

Ken was not able to pick up some of the items we need in the city due to long lines at the dump and a need to take time out half way through the day to do some necessary online work (have to love the ability to take his work with him as long as he can find an internet connection). So we still do NOT have the grade 2 level math books… Gavin is not impressed, though he has yet to complete the grade 1 book. He loves to have things lined up in front of him. I absolutely love the books we bought for the year – they are Canadian based and cover pretty much everything in a way that the boys find very accessible. It is the Complete MathSmart and we were able to purchase them for under 20.00 a piece!

Love this one, Gavin is ALMOST done the whole thing...

I don’t know if I have mentioned it but Emanuel has made up his own little activity to accomplish using a piece of green construction paper, a crayon and the ABC magnets. He likes to sit down, sing the alphabet song until he gets to the letter he needs to write, he then finds the appropriate magnet and sets it down to copy it. He made it to G before I knew he was even doing it as he had chosen to do it at the blue table while I was working with the twins at the kitchen table. He is a very independent learner unlike his brothers who prefer hands on one on one time. It amazes me how different our boys (and girls) really are. 

Emanuel and his ABC page... so proud of his initiative!

I was contacted today by someone connected to a free educational resource site who had come across this blog. So of course I had to run and check it out! I am very glad I did. As always I suggest a membership to EnchantedLearning BUT here is another resource to check out for people who like to have printables… the site is called Education.com. Here is the actual worksheet link. I will be adding the link to the main site to my links on the blog! 

We had the neighbour boy come over today – unannounced as per usual… and of course arguments, rule breaking, etc ensued. I let it go as long as I could but when he went home and brought back a tennis ball and nerf bat and proceeded to hit the ball OUT of the yard and onto the house I stepped in. And when they wouldn’t STOP playing baseball in our little yard with arguing I called time. I am sure he is a nice boy but for some reason when he is here… it just doesn’t work. Then add to that Emanuel and Gavin having a run in on the way in the door ending with Gavin hurting his knee and I was mentally planning supper and maybe a summer movie before bed. 

A moment of calm at least... note the little chair Trinity is sitting on - Grandma brought it when she came to get Jimmie!

I am determined to have a crafty night… bows, stocking, tutu dress… maybe some scrapbooking. Wedding, Birthday and Christmas all in one night! With some random special event thrown in by the scrapbooking. For some reason that makes me VERY happy! And after the LAN party (LOCAL AREA NETWORK in case people were wondering… I had it pointed out to me that I had never explained that!!) I will make sure my crafting area is photo ready so I can take a picture and show everyone!

Just a bit of black there

I have a new decoration idea for the kids’ room I will share with everyone tomorrow… the twins just have something they have to do first before we can finish up. I still haven’t found the box of photos to go on the walls BUT an idea has been born to help the twins feel like their room is more decorated! 

The boys working on Emanuel's decoration

I really hope I can get some more crafty ideas going… I think I want to make Trinity a wand for Christmas… she is REALLY into them.. I just need to figure out what to make the stick part out of… my dowels here in the house are too short really!

Our resident butterfly and her half dressed sister (you can't see it but the little shorts say CRABBY)

Bitty baby