Has it truly been a full week since we moved out of our rental and into… well still working on that! We are doing as much schooling as possible even on Good Friday and trying to keep things as fun as possible for the kids. I have started cutting up the math file folder games I bought last funding run for the twins. They are grade 2 level and not too complicated but at least they should take up a few minutes of their time. Though I think it takes longer for me to cut the pieces out.
Keeping DADDY busy!
We made Easter themed paper chains today… thank goodness I remember the cardstock and the stapler (and staples)… Always a keep busy activity and nice and cheap. All 3 boys made some chains for Aunty and Uncle Chris!
Paperchains
I have officially finished my Easter themed owls… Echo has one that she got after her surgery, Trinity will get another and the boys will get either one of the Easter, a St. Patrick’s Day one or a Valentine’s Day one for Easter. I think they turned out super cute!
Easter-riffic
Don’t forget the felt bunnies… I don’t have them all on clips but will in time!
Some buns
Tonight was a game night for the adults… Canadian Monopoly… the kind with the machine instead of the cash. Not too late though as mid game (she) Chris got called by work and asked if she could work tomorrow early.
Monopoly!
Easter themed snack
I have been hard at work on some stacked bows… most with THREE loops… I will have to post pictures tomorrow if I can get around to putting them on the French barrettes. I figure if nothing else I can work with what I have on hand here at Chris and Chris’ and keep creating! Though I AM missing my buttons, feltie stuffing and velcro dots. Anyway… after that rousing game of Monopoly that I lost VERY badly it is time to get back to bows and crafting and then bed! Gotta keep life busy after all!
Well there are some days where blogging just does not appeal and yesterday was one of them. I want to thank my friend Elaine for coming up with the idea of Wordless Wednesday… it gave me the chance to share one of my favourite spontaneous and recent shots of Echo. AND she was in pink in honour of the anti-bullying day to boot! So I hope everyone enjoyed the cuteness (I have to point out that the little hair thing in her hair – felt bow – all me!).
That is not to say that yesterday had us at a standstill! Far from it… St. Patrick’s day is just over a week away and the worksheets, videos and craft ideas keep coming. If you are interested in the bulk of the worksheets I have been talking about here you can check them out in my collection titled St. Patrick’s Day on Education.com. I do love this site as the resources are free and any and all issues I have had with a worksheet or information have been followed up SUPER quickly. As usual I am going by my old gaming name – Ayjah if you are trying to find me, though I HAVE reviewed MOST of the worksheets I used which also pops up on Facebook.
I made the kids a special poster for St. Patrick’s Day to welcome people. You can get all the info for that HEREfrom the Original Kids Crafts site.
A Hundred Thousand Welcomes
While watching the Discover Ireland series on YouTube we came across a sports segment that had an unknown sport with a ball and stick involved… and it was definitely NOT hockey, so of course we had to look it up! And found out all about something called HURLING! Seriously!
I don’t know that we will attempt to play above game when it warms up but they really did enjoy learning about something new. You can find a link to what seems to be an official kids’ club colouring pages HERE. And HERE is the Wiki info. I had one of the twins colour the Hurling colouring page and the other Soccer as they are both major sports in the Republic of Ireland. And then we wrote interesting things about each sport on the back of the coloured sheets to go into our St. Patrick’s Day File. I am seriously thinking about doing their next year in a Notebooking format! They just make too many interesting things!
I shrank down the template for this craft project as we didn’t have full sheets of green foam, and substituted one sheet of yellow and one of brown for two of them (note to self, need MORE green foam!)… we have rainbow cord (thank you whoever gifted that to us we LOVE IT!) and Ken made me up a simple 4 leaf clover template to use as decoration. I did Trinity’s sewing portion for her and the boys cut her pieces but she had fun being involved in it. You can find the original instructions HERE.
Emanuel at work, he did it ALL himself
Four completed bags
Our little Echo is quickly becoming a rough and tumble girl and has the bruises to prove it! Don’t ask me HOW she got this one, but what I THOUGHT was marker on her cheek smudged mostly off seems to be a bruise (maybe on one of her death defying climbs onto Trinity or Emanuel’s beds???)… I struggle between wanting to wrap her up in cotton and cheering on her adventurous spirit! Size is most certainly NOT slowing her down! She even tried to climb out of the tub to Daddy last night… he firmly told her no and sat her back down but she JUST is tall enough to get that foot up there on the side!
I have spent MORE time on the WIP… features and fine details are starting to pop out which I have to admit is spurring on my interest greatly! Maybe I WILL get it done and perhaps by June! It will depend on other projects of course… and my focus but I guess if I keep the silly thing in my face more it will get worked on more!
So February has come to a close… we survived the short month and while the van is NOT fixed (part still on its way grr) and some things are still in the works other issues have been solved! AND we have managed to get out some fun events as well! We have learned about the Inuits… Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day, celebrated Valentine’s Day AND Chinese New Year AND 3 birthdays… Now we face March. My brother and my Father’s birthdays are in March… and this year so is Echo’s surgery. I think that is going to weigh heavy on all our minds for the next 20 or so days. I would like to ask that everything think positive thoughts or say a prayer for Echo as we creep up to her date. We want her to be as healthy as possible beforehand and the surgery to go through without complications.
Tomorrow the kids and I have to start our paper mache project… and there is a felt project Ken and I are working on altering to make it easier on little fingers. So I will have MORE crafts to share!
I love a good sale… and this year I have been spoiled with winter clothing sales. I have now replaced the two items that were wearing out for only 20.00 (plus tax)… first a new winter coat from H&W and now… BOOTS! Not only winter boots but FASHIONABLE ones, for only 5.00! Definitely a find.
We also dropped the costumes off at the church for the Sunday School teachers to see on Friday (She Chris and I). My mom has already alerted me to the fact that there are MORE waiting for me to pick up at home already! I also gave the secretary the information for Echo’s surgery so that she will go on the prayer chain in March. That makes me feel a lot better about the whole thing. After all positive thoughts, Christian or not, go a long way in my mind. I am so glad I was able to start bringing over costumes… I feel like I am contributing more to the church since I can’t volunteer too much with our Echo being so cranky at the time of service.
Ken had some spare time yesterday with the conclusion of a couple contracts so with a nap taken he spent the rest of his spare time working on fractions with the twins. It took a bit of work and some frustration on all sides but a good start was made. I am sure next time there will be even more progress!!!
Fractions
Gavin finally got a chance to finish his last Valentine’s Day themed project! A felt heart stuffed with felt. I think he did a great job with only a few frustrating moments. I still have to stop and end his threads but otherwise he is on his own with it from stitching to stuffing to closing. I am not sure what he is planning on doing with it yet. We were chatting about Christmas and I think the next big sewing project for the boys is going to be to make a felt CHECKERS set! I am not sure what shape the pieces will be but it could be fun! I figure Velcro on the pieces would allow for stacking to make Kings…
Stuffed
Friday night we had another guest – Kathy came up for the first half of our long weekend (Family Day is Monday here in Alberta). She brought some cookies (though I doubt they will make it to the party), and took me out for a girls only dinner… BIG girls only! We went to Tony Romas where I ate more than I have in one sitting in AGES! It was delicious, the waiter was cute (but rushed off his feet) and the company AMAZING. We then went to Walmart to do some window shopping until they closed and then headed home.
Today we spent at home, Kathy was here until late afternoon then onto the other half of her vacation. We played Lego, Mega Blocks, wooden blocks (do you see a theme?). And of course baked one of our batches of cookies for tomorrow’s party. Sugar cookies… the twins were quick to take over the job of cutting them out.
Wooden blocks
I finally had the time to make the kids’ Valentines they are giving out tomorrow. I got the idea HERE. Very cute! So we did that same thing, darker wall (I wish we had a cute door like that!) and used some suckers I picked up at Dollarama. Ken put the Happy Valentines Day on for me and we printed them at Superstore. I may have to make a few more after the weekend to give to some people we don’t see then but I think they turned out great!
Valentines
Now it is time to get ready for the party… tidy, bake… all that fun stuff.
