And… we jump forward a month! But I figured I really needed to first of all congratulate our friends Cory and Karen on their BEAUTIFUL wedding on June 14th. I have a few pictures to share.

My hair was done at the Regency school for hair etc… I LOVE IT!

The back with the addition of my own black rose hairclip.

Ken was a groomsman so… TUX!

I hope I held up my end of the stylish bargain. Gotta look good with my man in a tux and NO KIDS

Two groomsmen (Chris and Ken) and an Usher (Matt)… and PAD??

Gorgeous Maid (Matron?) of Honour… Renee!

Still waiting around

One of 2 ring bearers… Evan! ADORABLE

Resting before the ceremony (you can just see the groom at the end) with Usher Anthony (standing)

I have a few from the ceremony but the camera did not like the ambiance and I really had a bad angle. Everyone looked amazing! (I will of course share any official photos I get my hands on eventually!)

Sitting during the ceremony… gorgeous bride !!!

I only knew the bride and the MOA so I really did lean towards pictures of my boys!

Saying their vows

We lucked out and though it was a rainy dad we had the sun peek through during pictures at the farm! And a special thank you to Darcy and Andy for watching our 5 kids to simplify our time out at this special event!!!

Moving the trailer (for pictures) all dressed to the 9’s awsome

Anthony on the tractor

It was a little chilly when the sun came and went BUT the menfolk were sure it was too warm!

Anthony, Ken and Matt resting at the bride’s folks’ house between pictures

Gorgeous

Total gentleman shared his coat between pictures

There were lots of creative shots but I was too busy giggling at the menfolk and their jokes or helping where I could to take pictures

Ken took this one for me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress.. the era… it was so fun!

The reception was a blast. I ended up with the adorable ring bearers (Evan and Nathan) and their baby brother (Jeffrey) and their grandparents with Ken at the head table. There was gaming buddies to finally meet with wives, fiances and children. So much fun! Also a photo booth (Ken and I took some pictures together which I have but yet to scan and Renee and I had a go too). I have to admit to cutting loose and drinking for the first  time in a decade or more! So not too many pictures, just lots of memories. 

Thanks Renee for this picture!

Though Father’s Day was a rather sedate one (as Ken requested) I want to thank all the special men in our lives here who have willingly taken on the responsibility of  being a part of our children’s (and our) lives. There is no way we could have as rich and amazing a life without all of you there to share it! So a special thank you to Baba, Grandpa Reinsch, Grandpa Mike… and our God Daddies – Andy, Cory, Alan, Nathan and Scott. Thank you so much!!!

And for the 16th of June – a date special specifically to Ken and myself – we happily celebrated 13 amazing years of marriage. It may not have all been roses and sunshine but with a man like Ken to love and hold onto it has been a ride to remember. I cannot wait to experience all the many decades we have to look forward to. I love you dear!!!! A special  thank you to Cousin Robbie and the lovely Alicia who watched the fab 5 so we could get out without minions in tow!

Indian food on recommendation of Shandai… AMAZING

Of course these are just the photos off our camera (and a couple thanks to Renee)… I have one or two on the camera… but I will share those later. Sorry about the massive amount but I had to share!

And of course, it would not be an event if Ken did not take ONE of these!

Our first truly chilly Saturday has kept us hopping busy! We started out at Michaels with our 50% off coupons. I finally have my advent exchange for my online egroup for stitchers and she is leaning more towards a stitching package so I made sure to go down the cross stitch aisle and pick out a few things. I LOVE 50% off coupons – especially since flyerland now has the Michaels flyer so you can print off as many as you need!

Ken took his coupon and got the green tinsel embossing powder for our Christmas cards. We also go a package of cream/beige coloured cardstock for the same project (it was already on sale for 3.00). Definitely a great way to get what we need and keep it under 10.00! So now all I need is some time to MAKE the cards! I have a bunch of ribbon bits and pieces from other projects I am going to use up making them and then will have to head back to Dollarama for more.

After Michaels we went to H&W… 20 lbs of potatoes for 5.00. This has me frantically using up the last of the 20lb bag mom and Mike bought us. So I made up a huge vat of mashed potatoes (I just wish I had had some sour cream to mix in – but when I use them later I can always add that) and Ken picked up some more containers and into the freezer it went. Apparently you can freeze mashed potatoes for 2 months… I doubt they will last that long in this house!

We go the simple route – peel and cube the potatoes, boil in water until you can pierce them easily with a fork, drain and then add milk and butter and mash! MMM yum!

Mashed Potatoes!

I also managed to find the time to make up the newest double batch of sugar cookies with Ken. He is icing these ones red – we are going to try out a bit of cherry flavouring to see how it goes (to match the mint green icing of course!). No time for my applesauce muffins sadly – but there is always tomorrow! And extra apples from H&W so I can make another batch of applesauce anyway!

Laying by the Stove Soaking Up the Warm!

In our brainstorming for future lapbooks I came up with the idea of making what we have called “melty beads” spiders. So of course I had to hop on the internet and search… well after checking all over the place I remembered that we had labelled packages (mini ones) of them that I had bought from Michaels which meant I could look up that name! What a great site! The Perler Bead site is an absolute gem, though we currently have Ikea brand ones (way less colour options) I am rather sure I can do quite a few of the patterns they have. (that and I printed out another 50% off coupon for Ken and the boys for tomorrow when they are out and about after Sunday School… hint hint hint) What amazing options for patterns – the one I am DYING to make is the gingerbread house! It is 3D! So up on the wish list it has gone… and tomorrow I am going to try making leaves and a Christmas mitten. It amazes me how many of these sites CANNOT ship up here to Canada! This site, of course, is one of them.

I sorted through the survey groups I am a part of and managed to request 16.00 worth of cheques… one more Christmas present paid for! Or a chunk of my advent. But either way, doing surveys is starting to pay off. It will take a few weeks probably for the cheques to get here but at least I am adding to the family coffers!

Our evening was a gaming evening – game of choice – Chez Geek with Chris and Chris. Tonight was their treat food wise! And what a treat!

Nom Nom Nom

This was my second experience with curry… total yum though the sticky rice and the steamed bun filled me up quite quickly and even though it wasn’t  totally spicy my mouth was not impressed! Definitely something I would not mind having again AND they left us the leftovers! LOTS of milk was imbibed as well.

Desert was another treat – pumpkin pie and whipped cream… mmm. So we were definitely spoiled rotten!

Pumpkin Pie!

Tonight I was back to stitching, this time the Tux to make a spare in case of interest. Again I am tweaking the pattern as the half stitches are just not clear enough in my mind for the right arm. Ken has PROMISED me new patterns as early as tomorrow so I can get back to work on the ideas spinning in my head – as well as the pattern page back up and running.

Tomorrow is Sunday School for the twins, I am planning on keeping the younger two home as a friend is dropping why on her way to picking up another friend. So in order to be here for the relatively brief visit I need to skip out on church. I figure that gives me the time to make a batch of applesauce with the apples we got today and maybe even do some extra cleaning. It is a long weekend here in Canada so I am going to take every chance I get to do more and more sorting and cleaning. Although with this house it is a lack of storage upstairs that gets me every time!!

Keeping Busy and Being Creative! (Zander middle)

Monday was an odd day for us  – with an activity in the afternoon naps were cut short for the two little ones and our time in the morning was much more hectic, but it was worth it!

Ken and the boys finished off the letter X… boxes and axes and other interesting words with x were discussed and drawn. Which left me with time for a nice little bath – much appreciated and much needed (being a girl definitely has its negatives… monthly negatives).

Letter X (Gavin left)

The kids and Ken also spent some time examining the insect books that we picked up at the library last week. Today’s book was “The Insecto-files” by Helaine Becker. Definitely one for the wish list. A brand new publication with Maple Tree Press it is printed on ancient forest friendly paper. (I am starting to notice the more environmentally sound things around us – I think my own experience with economizing out of necessity has brought to my attention how much we have and do waste.) The boys all seemed to enjoy it though we have not tried any of the experiments I am sure in the future we will give them a go.

The Insecto-Files

Our afternoon started with waking up Trinity and Emanuel – neither woke up gracefully or happily but both perked up by the time we made it to Kidz Quarters. This indoor playground was a lot of fun – with a little guy area, climbing area and then some games you had to buy tokens for.

This gathering was  to celebrate the one year anniversary of our local homeschool meetup group. The Organizer Angeleen is the wife of Morris who has done photos for us – last year’s Christmas and  Trinity’s one year pictures. He is TERRIFIC! If you live near us an need photos for any sort of occasion please send me an email at rosereinsch@gmail.com and I will give you the contact information for him! We are on our way back to get Christmas photos done on the 20th.

I actually ran into someone that graduated the year after me in high school who is now also a homeschooler, made some new friends and actually talked in person to some of the people I had been exchanging emails over an egroup with. Ken even had fun chatting with one of the moms and watching the little guys in the toddler area.

Building With Another Little Boy

Hopefully I will get my hands on a group photo taken by Morris to post here. The turn out was quite nice with a variety of people and kids. I am hoping we will be able to make many more of these occasions. I really want to make it a priority! Friday we have another rather informal gathering at the local nature centre that should be great fun for the kids.

Miss Trinity

I brought a bag of outgrown boy clothes for Morris and Angeleen’s son and they gave us a huge bag of their daughter’s for Trinity! I love when there are people who can trade off with that, of course I sent some applesauce and a dozen sugar cookies as well. Seems like many many people are going to be getting baking and applesauce as presents – I hope people don’t mind.

My activity with the boys for homeschooling today was to colour a little Fall book. This one was not so much a story as a bunch of facts about fall with fun pictures. Even Emanuel got into the swing of it colouring the fall leaves the right colour. For some reason the idea of ORANGE leaves just makes him SO happy! I am hoping to do a couple more Fall related activities this week and then take a look at how much we have to fill our lapbooks.

Fall Booklete

We had a rather major craft activity after we got home from Kidz Quarters with the melting beads. Each of the boys got his own shape and went nuts. I have the ones that came in some small Michael kits (1.50 a piece be sure to look for them!) and then the set of shapes I bought from Ikea last year. It certainly kept them busy well into the evening.

Working on the Beads (Zander left)

Emanuel and His Heart

Can You See the Z?

I left Ken in charge for a while and for some odd reason while he was working on the computer ZANDER got a bead UP HIS NOSE ??? And by got I mean the story we got out of them was that GAVIN put it up there??? WHAT??? Of course they tried to blame Emanuel first – but he was not even sitting NEAR Zander! I seriously thought we had had the “don’t stick stuff up your nose discussion” but apparently it didn’t stick? I think we got the point across this time… I hope!

I have found a book that would go terrific with our Pumpkin Lapbook – “The Pumpkin Patch Parable” by Liz Curtis Higs. A Christian Preschool site had a fun little activity but I have yet to get my hands on the actual book. I have around a week and a half to hunt it down so have sent out an email to my local and provincial groups to see if anyone knows where I can find it. I figure I will search further on the expanded library catalogue or splurge and get it from a bookstore. I cannot wait until I have the school funding. One of the moms at the gathering said you can sign up as a home school and do the Scholastic books – I don’t know if everyone remembers but the leaflets that would come out where you could order books about all sorts of stuff for a lovely price. I have plans!! Another mom suggested an attractions pass that is around 200.00 as well that lets you get into almost all the educational places in the city! The things  you learn!

Sewing wise I am almost done a second Tux… resewing it I have made some pattern corrections that are now posted on the pattern site. Nothing major – just the horizontal line on the half stitches changed to a different colour to make it easier on the eyes. I am hoping for Ken to post some more of our finished patterns on the site tonight or tomorrow. FINGERS CROSSED.

Tomorrow should be interesting – we are planning on heading over to Dollarama as well as school work, cleaning and such. Hopefully I will have a new pattern to stitch as well. I always feel better when I am busy busy!

Hamming it Up For the Camera