June 9-12

What to do on a Monday… a true summer holiday Monday? Well we went down to half days. At least we tried our best with a houseguest and the weather and the new knowledge for the boys that summer vacation really means VACATION grrrr. So to mix it up a bit I gave each of the kids a file folder to decorate. We will put their worksheets, colouring pages etc in there to get to when they want and when it is needed. Eventually I would love to have special boxes or drawers but until we have funds or space this is the go to measure for the year. If you notice Trinity wrote her name in the Chinese characters we have been practicing. I am still not set up to fully teach a second language but we are enjoying practicing our names and the numbers 1-5 (later to do 1-10). I got my numbers from the site Chinese-word.com HERE. The names are thanks to Aunty Xinny.

Echo and Trinity worked their pattern skills and helped me make our traditional thematic paper chains… this time in red and white for Canada Day. We definitely need a better stapler. The tiny one I have from MY school days is very hard for them to use and go through the papers safely but we managed.

I really quickly crocheted up a new object for our Geocaching trips. Thanks to CrochetSpot.com I got the instructions for making a water bottle holder. You can find these free instructions HERE. It is a quick stitch up and I used my favourite variegated Caron Simply Soft. I think I added a few rounds and of course reinforced my strap. I figure it frees up the boys’ hands when we need that bottle of water. Much safer for all the climbing about they do!

Seriously this year we have exchanged copious amounts of squirrels for bunnies this year! Everywhere hop hop hop. The kids are loving it, the greenery not so much. And every time there is one we HAVE TO take a picture !!!

Rabbits or not this did not stop the fun for the kids when Cousin Robbie showed up for a gaming evening. This brought our numbers up to 4. Ken and Sean were out when he got there which was perfect for the kids to get in their cousin play time (crucial if we want ANY alone game time!).

We played various games including my Christmas present – MUNCHKIN! Lots of fun!

And ended the evening in the basement with the PS3. It is great to have a family member who embraces gaming as much as we do! AND likes some of the games Ken likes and that I like as well!

On Tuesday Emanuel finished decorating his folder. We definitely had to bring out the sticker box. I am in need of adding to my stash finally!

We took some time to watch a Wild Kratts. The show is still being made which is AWESOME. I don’t think we will ever tire of making our mini posters. I have noticed the retention of information and the urgency to have me pause the show to write it down has increased.

Elf and Burrowing Owls

On Wednesday there was a garden to tend with Nana and Baba…

And Books to read through…

By Thursday things are getting busy busy. First Nana and Baba are working to get ready to fly out in the middle of the night with Joe and Faithe and the cousins for 10 days in Mexico. At the same time we have our half day of school and Sean’s last full day in Minnesota. Miss Echo is right in the thick of it with colouring sheets and her file folder. It is so wonderful to see her so interested in getting involved in our daily schooling though sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to keep her going and deal with the other 4! We are definitely learning to take our turns.

With the Pizza Hut summer reading program there is a dragon theme and one of the worksheets had the twins finding the different sorts of dragons in a wordsearch. We have printed a few of those out after hunting them down online and the kids are working on colouring them when they are interested. I love the time they are taking with these.

Back came the bunny as well… and rather persistently NOT scared of noises or anything from the sunroom. Not until the kids ran out to see it did it actually (and rather leisurely) hop away.

Since it was the last day for Sean we managed to finagle Nana and Baba as sitters and headed to Mall of America for dinner and some shopping. We had some amazing Japanese food and a fun run through the mall including my favourite stationary store Typo and an amazing hat store where Sean got himself a new hat for all the walking and jogging he does.

It was definitely an adventure… we hunted down the bubble tea shop, found out that the Sanrio store was gone AND had a flat tire in the best possible access parking spot. So I got to watch the guys put on a spare. Quite the entertaining experience and a further proof of how healthy Ken has begun… he was so calm and even able to joke about it!

And that was that… oh we did stay up super late to watch Hot Fuzz and hang out but Ken had to get up and drive to the airport and all that… A week that counted I really think! With a wedding coming up next!

March 13-17

On Thursday it was the twin’s turn to work on their pinewood derby cars. Sadly we all sort of fell apart to a rather nasty cold which had our school week light and our napping heavy!!

This is all part if Gavin’s master plan I am told.

We did make a Sam’s Club run that has started a new family tradition. If the kids can at least attempt to behave on our shopping trip we then agree to have a post shopping snack. The prices on their food that is ready to eat are AMAZING… and also include a family favourite – pretzels! It is a great way to bypass the frustrated kids in line at the cash. Ken stands in line with the purchases and I have them sit at a table and order food to share. 5-6 dollars and we have some pop, pretzels and even a hotdog or pizza slice (that is really like a quarter of a large pizza!). We even caved and chose the more difficult cart to push around to humour the girls.

In fact, once the car working was done and the sickies were STILL sleeping it was back to the Lego game. Having that table out has saved my bum during the sick time.

Friday was quiet learning. Mainly things like watching Veggie  Tales and then going and doing the Sunday School sheets or what we have now started – Dirty Jobs. We are watching episode by episode and then doing a reflection journal page about it. Trinity is drawing and then I write, Emanuel drawing and then copying two sentences and the twins 4-5. We are working on having a title for our pages – Dirty Jobs Episode whatever… and on working more on telling all about something not just simple sentences. Anything to expand our work and our skills!

Keeping tabs on our week thanks to Activity Village

Saturday was a special day. We had plans to meet up with Matt and Fran and their twins again… but this time at IKEA for our favourite family lunch – meatballs! Although, with kids still recovering we had smaller appetites than usual. I really need to carry some ziploc in my purse for extras when we over order!

After lunch it was time to go across the street to MOA and the Lego store. They have this great play area out there for the kids to build.

Echo and Izzy

I was especially excited to go… this is the only place that has a Typo store for my favourite pens AND Body Shop (except airport where I never fly anyway to get into the store section and when anyone does they are closed) for my facial soap.

I could not resist.. I had this sort of pen in high school!!! 4.95 plus tax!

Sunday was really nothing special. We had way too many sick kids to do anything and no Sunday School so it was a lay back and enjoy naps and rest…

And time to set out our leprechaun trap! Because we all know Lucky Charms are the perfect lure! Sam’s Club had a double box on for sale so the kids were over the moon… as long as the leprechaun didn’t take off with the goods!

Monday was St. Patrick’s Day. With kids still suffering from this cold we did the best we could with our Green clothing. Got the picture in at the very least… but no green lunch.

Trinity and Emanuel were starting to bounce back so we focused mainly on THEIR St. Patrick’s Day fun.

Emanuel’s cover for his dinosaur book we read together

Playing a number game

Father, Son and Holy Spirit on a 3 leaf clover

Not the most impressive start to the week but it is great to see that even limping with illness we do get a wee bit done each day. Progress is progress! Enjoy the random MOA pictures!

November 10-12

With a special session at Sunday School about the use of money and savings that was not necessary for us to be at and Aunty Karyn still in residence we totally skipped our Sunday School on Sunday. We got a little bit of time in the backyard…

And then in the evening when it was time to return the cousins Nana and Baba also took Echo freeing us up to head to the city and check out a German St. Martin’s day celebration. We didn’t stick around too much for that – just too many people and not enough interesting the kids… BUT we did see that the building it was in was also one we saw the day before at the Lego exhibit.

Took pictures of some Charlie Brown themed statues.

This one was my favourite I think

And then stopped off at The Source for some dice shopping and time with the manga for Karyn and myself. We ended the evening with the first set of gifts being wrapped. Karyn saved herself a tidy sum of postage just as I did with her taking back items and bought her gifts here for the kids (and myself!! I got spoiled with some of my favourite Caron Simply Soft yarn).

It has begun!

Remembrance Day… okay Veterans Day here in the US of A… was a quiet one… no snow yet… and a light morning of school so that Karyn and I could go with my mother in law to Mall of America to window shop.

Storytime

Ok who am I kidding… we shopped, we bought and we perused. I had a coupon or two for freebies that I HAD TO take advantage of (which included a free Annie’s Pretzel noms), but my shopping buddies found deals and finds that were well worth the sore feet at the end of the day. I am VERY proud to say I spent a grand total of 6.00… purchasing a Dollar Tree pair of fuzzy socks that once I wear them out will make AMAZING sock owls and getting Typo brand pens. These are even finer point that my previous but the same amazing quality.

It was over so quickly, our visit with Karyn. The 12th marked the end and so was a rather light day for the kids. Karyn, Baba and I had to head to the airport by noon so we did a bit of schoolwork, a lot of cuddling and then had to pry Trinity off of Karyn. They really are the closest two in our family. It was a little heartbreaking to MAKE Trinity say good bye and watch her walk off with tears in her eyes saying everyone has to leave.

We continue being thankful

After dropping her off safely and on time (her flight here was delayed… of course) it was time to run to a couple stores to get some groceries and then return home to some rather droopy and sad kids… ok Mommy was right there with them!

We did have time to make ONE of our I Am Thankful Pumpkins (ok more squash since we were out of orange cardstock) thanks to The Moffatt Girls website HERE.

OH and a sighting of the neighbourhood WHITE squirrel… not the black one lately…

We miss you already Karyn! Thanks for visiting!!!