"A Stitch in Time"

The best I can say is – rental tomorrow… and my personal response – DARN WELL BETTER! For those keeping track – that makes our rental appear a week after the mess truly started with the baliff first showing up at our door. This means this ALL could have been avoided if collections had answered their phone Thursday morning or better yet – had their system set up to recognize the agreement they made with us to hold our payments in the first place!

Now onto some other news I forgot to share! Earlier this month Miss Trinity was asked to be a flowergirl for a June wedding. Of course we said YES! She will only be 2 so a little young but the bride is more than willing to have one of us escort her up the aisle with the ring bearer… so Ken is going to purchase a new dress shirt and I have upped my budget for my wedding fancy dress. This is going to be a first for us – a much more traditional Chinese wedding than we have ever been to before! Exciting! Apparently there is a THREE HOUR dinner… we are debating taking all 4 kids or just Trinity and Emanuel (easier manageable and Emanuel is the one who would enjoy the meal the most!). All in all very exciting! The dress is being taken care of by the bride’s mother who lives in China. I actually  got Trinity’s dress for my MOM’S wedding off eBay from a store based in Hong Kong and was very happy with it. So much more affordable!

I have to say there is one unexpected benefit to all this … frustration … I have been stitching like crazy on my commission to the point where I finished the text and am working my way around the vine like green border. I imagine I will soon make it to the point where I wait on Ken to alter the design slightly to suit the individual this piece is destined to be given to.

Taking Shape!

I started my searching for Easter workpages… mazes, word searches (that will be a first for the boys), colouring pages, even counting pages have been printed out. I am also planning on adding a “game a day” rule to the house so that each day we play some game with the boys that is either educational or family oriented.

I am now thoroughly behind on my mailing. I think I still have a few Christmas envelopes  to get out and I KNOW I have Valentines to send people. I am hoping everyone is understanding and just excited to get mail no matter how LATE it is! March is definitely going to be my “catch up month.”

We have opened most of the birthday Play Doh and started using the new pens with their books. We managed to keep busy while Ken spent a large part of the day (once again) on the phone. I am certainly looking forward to freedom once again when we are back with a vehicle, as it is our trip to the Biography Fair is looking like a definite no go.

Queen of the Play Doh

Well Tuesday is over and with Wednesday up in the air I am just glad that we are safe and sound at home for the night… just have to remain optimistic for the rest of the week I guess!

Optimism Personified

With the boys being officially 6 it is also time for us to take our yearly photo! To save on cost we set up a blanket in the basement and do our own. Then the best picture is put up on the wall above their baby photo and made into wallets for the friends and family who want them. This year I tried to add in some props and get the boys a little more excited about it. We tried tucking in their shirts but it was just NOT them.

Now comes the tough part – which is the best picture?? And my big request – I would love some opinions! Either comment here on the site or drop me an email – rosereinsch@gmail.com

#1 Gavin left

#2 Gavin left

#3 Gavin left

#4 Zander left

#5 Zander left

The other big activity of the day was to sign all the Valentines the boys are giving out this year. The twins do their whole first name, but Emanuel simply does his “big E”. There are some friends and family that are going to get quite the packages once we are financially able to send (with insurance!) – definitely more that just ONE season! Hopefully they will be enjoyed just as much no matter what! (and thank goodness 2010 is turning us completely around in that respect though not instantly!)

We worked diligently on our letters  today. After making heart cards using the foam stickers I bought last year from Michaels we sat down and thought of words that go with Valentine’s Day. After I wrote them out Zander and Gavin carefully copied the list onto a lined piece of paper. This was then put in the card to be posted in their lapbooks! We did some sounding out of letters and attempting to write on the line and have our capitals actually be bigger than our lower case. It was a good start with minimum stress and upset! We still need to hunt down a little book we could print out for Chinese New Year, though I may just have them make up some sort of card and do the same word copying.

The big craft finish was the lanterns. We have not scrapped Ken’s more ambitious design but decided to make up some much simpler ones (from the UK site of course!). We put tealights in them on the counter and the boys were overjoyed! What a wonderful addition to our decorations!

Lanterns and Tea Lights

So the crafting continues though my stitching is down to just the stocking and not a huge amount of difference. We have a wedding in May, a project from a wedding LAST August and another wedding in June I want to do up gifts for, though those are waiting on Ken. The joys of a busy household when I am not feeling 100%.

I am currently debating focusing on the numbers 10-20 next week, finish up our work on winter with a science project… start a little Easter fun and maybe even focus on doing a small lapbook on a favourite story. It is hard to judge how focused the boys will be at this age but being prepared for EXTRA never hurts!

Week half over and I think we have done rather well! Be sure to share you opinion on the pictures #1-5!

Waiting to hear from you!

Weekends with this much chill and snow have us wishing we could stay home and snuggle. We did have to do a couple errands though. Saturday we ran out to H&W to get fruit and veg. Lots of more exotic and out of season choices so I am sure we spent more than we should have. I know we spent more than we went in thinking we would. Strawberries, nectarines, apples, pears, kiwi…. blood oranges! Now those REALLY interest the boys. The centre is so bright red and the taste much more sour (at least this batch) than a regular orange but an instant hit!

Blood Oranges!

The twins had Sunday School this morning and brought home lovely Valentine themed cards… and tales of yummy heart shaped cookies! We are not sure if there is Sunday School on the 14th or not. The schedule I have says BOTH the 14th and the 21st are no class which is odd. I emailed the lady in charge with the hopes of getting some answers so we can better plan out what is turning out to be a rather busy Family Day weekend!

Sunday School Cards

I have spent the past few days crafting it up. I finished the second Haiti Relief Fund kitty – the Doctor. Again I added the grey to the white to make it pop out better against the cloth!

Haiti Relief Doctor Kitty

In preparation for our Valentines/Chinese New Year party on the 14th I got a start on the felt heart pillows for all the kids. I ended up with enough notions for 4 out of the 6. I am hoping mom will have some cute buttons that will work for the last two. I got the idea here… the UK site once again! Simplified the decorations a bit and stuffed them with scraps. I used the template off their site for the heart shape. Not perfect but I am hoping the kids like them! I also picked up my Valentine pencils for the more religious suggestion from this site. This just leaves having the boys do their Valentines up for everyone and going to the south end of the city to find our chocolate coins for the lucky money envelopes.

4 of 6 hearts done!

To cover Chinese New Year on a level that is more accessible for the boys I have 3 special episodes of Kai Lan for them to watch – the two parts of Kai Lan goes to China and the Chinese New Year celebration episode. The boys have responded wonderfully to Kai Lan. I am hoping to get them the game for the Clickstart computer that is based on the show!

The boys have been crafting it up today – courtesy once again of the UK site! We started off with the heart people… a little different from the original pattern but SUPER cute! Emanuel and Zander said theirs are DANCING and Gavin’s is… angry??

Emanuel's Dancer

Gavin's Angry Heart

Zander's VERY Happy Dancer

Then onto messier things… PAINTING! The second side of the paper heart pillows. Red on this side, pink on the other! As Ken puts it “stupid simple”… cut out two of the heart in brown paper, staple it together leaving an opening to stuff it with crinkled up newspaper, staple that closed and decorate!!

Pillows red side up

Oh and lets not forget the HAND painting… two colours (Valentine themed of course) and two hands = hearts. Off  the UK site OF COURSE!

Emanuel's Hand Heart

Since my cousin was finally able to get her sampler from the post office (grr) I can finally post a picture. It was based on her crib set. I am so happy with how it turned out and apparently it matched what she bought so everyone is happy! Now I just need a new project to work on…

Completed AND Delivered at Last!!

So for a day where we stayed home and I felt rather unambitious we did accomplish quite a bit. I am hoping Ken can finish up the major cleaning in the house by Wednesday. A great start to the week!

Peek a Boo!