There is no such think as unlucky Friday the 13th for this family. After all, in 2010 in the early morning of Friday, August 13th we welcomed Miss Echo into our family. And life has never been the same!

The baby of the family has officially hit a milestone. 5 is the age when she can start going to Home Depot for the monthly wood working craft (Just not September as we double booked ourselves that Saturday! oops!), she is of age to really join our classroom… and according to her – big enough to no longer have her cone in a cup at McDonald’s (the jury is out on that one when mommy had to eat a portion of her birthday cone in order to save the birthday outfit).

Anyway, the birthday DAY… Daddy spoiled her with birthday tiny toast (french toast cut into small pieces).

Grandma called all the way from Canada!

Miss Echo had her photos taken (with Trinity) at the flower garden outside the library.

While there she ALSO had her first present (from Gammie)… a unicorn… which brought a HUGE smile!

We had her actual birthday party on the Sunday following with Aunty Judy, Uncle Jim and Cousin Robbie. She helped pick out her own colours (blue) and her own cake (Olaf!) on her birthday when we were out running errands. Small and intimate and perfect. Though the poor thing took TWO MINUTES to blow her candles out… she kept blowing up. I was sure she would hyperventilate and pass out into her cake.

Talk about excitement, family, presents…

AND a battery for her inherited Barbie Car! Thanks Nana and Baba…

Definitely a 5th birthday to remember for Miss Echo. Now for the extra pictures to enjoy… Note the amazing batgirl bear from Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie! 

February 3-5

First off – HAPPY 8TH BIRTH DATE TO EMANUEL on the 3rd of February! It was doubly official with the yearly Grandma birthday call. Though it was brief since she called on break from work.

Of course we still had school. There was a party to reflect on in our journals…

Zander drew his special gift from Aunty Holly that came on time – a Unicorn

Chocolate bars to enjoy from their Aunt and Uncle and cousins. There was some lovely examples of sharing going on.

We had a very timely delivery of a Panda focused National Geographic Kids magazine. I love it when we get something in the mail that furthers our learning spontaneously.

And our drawing of some foods we saw on a Food Network special.

The girls were busy bees with their Nana braids, playing their games together.

I especially loved Trinity’s combination of many patterns and colours in her outfit.

She, Echo and myself joined Emanuel at the Novak’s for Scouts. It was my first time going. The girls hung out in the basement with the other 3 Novak boys while Emanuel and Aidan did their thing. They learned all about the new food pyramid. It is a rather good group of boys that all seem to get along relatively well. Ken and the twins were out at swimming lessons so we had to hang out afterwards until we could be picked up. It was nice to have some adult visiting  time and get to know the Scout troop leader Pam a little better.

Tuesday was our in between birth DATES day. And the three littles took advantage of some of our downtime with getting ready for Nana and Baba leaving and Daddy’s sudden tooth extraction (thank goodness we DID do it while they were still here… he reacted more strongly to the meds they used and could not have driven home) and had a COSTUME dance party! I especially love Baby Batman!

Miss Trinity followed Art for Kids’ instructions to make a lovely heart card HERE. It turned out TERRIFIC…

Then she noticed that one of the left over scraps of paper looked like a bird so we had to put it in her journal! Very creative eye there!

And then…. HAPPY 10TH BIRTH DATE TO ZANDER AND GAVIN on the 5th! Since when were you two allowed to become double digits??? And this from 10 week preemies who came into this world at 3 lbs. 1 3/4 oz. each!!!

This was also the last day with time with Nana and Baba so school was super light. The girls worked with some old catalogues and magazines to clip out pictures to glue together for fun.

Emanuel and Ken got to work on their very first pinewood derby car! This is exciting – the road to Emanuel’s very first badge!!!

The twins worked on pictures from the newest instructions from Art for Kids. I honestly will continue bragging on this site for as long as they put up things! I have never found better instructions for the kids. Trinity even gets results without frustration!!!

As we are now planning for Valentines Day I had the kids make a wreath to replace the one we had up for Christmas out of hands. This was a kit I bought on clearance last year from Walmart!

In between helping out Nana and Baba where they could the kids also watched the Wild Kratts episode on Groundhogs.

And then it was time for hugs, kisses and bye byes. Nana and Baba ALWAYS fly out in the middle of the night/super early in the morning. 9 weeks at Roatan! They are going to come back so tanned and relaxed!!!