And now for November… another month in a rather long nutshell!!! I have to admit… with all the Christmas stitching, school, swim lessons (cooking for the twins) and actual sales and commissions… my blog has languished a little.

Of course November is the month of AMERICAN Thanksgiving… ever confusing on a THURSDAY no less. This was an unusual one for us as Nana and Baba headed off to Florida to spend it with the other grandkids… but we persevered.

Thankful hands tree

We had leaves to bag up still… great exercise for the boys and they were even relatively willing. Of course you can see the amazing colours better on a previous entry where we had the whole family out there dealing with the leaves on the ground HERE.

We did leave time for some mini fashion. Trinity is already able to wear some of the rather funky and fun clothing left to her by her cousin Gabriella when they left for Florida!

Of course we had to take advantage of the week of free online books through Bookit this month as well. Each one narrated with terrific pictures.

We had a blast learning about and building our own volcano. Science has always been the one thing we have struggled with in our homeschool life. Getting enough in, being organized but the whole family is quick to jump on board with a good craft and activity… add in chemicals (even ones as benign as vinegar and baking soda) and a little explosion and even Echo was there for the fun. This was the first time I sat down and talked to them about things like earthquakes and really looked into what damage a volcano can do to the land and the people around it.

Our November was full of visits with our favourite baby and his brothers… Jeffrey is definitely growing like a weed!

We also made it outside to enjoy the snow. What a difference from last year’s excessive cold and snow!!!

At the end of the month we pulled out the tree and fixings which of course is one of my favourite backdrops for photos. It always feels like the season is coming when we bring out the stockings. I am very proud of how they turned out. Though Ken STILL does not have a special stocking. You can check out the full blog post of family photos HERE.

A few helpful Thanksgiving books:

• Gobble Gobble CRASH! A Barnyard Counting Bash by Julie Stiegmeyer
• Turkeys on the Family Farm by Chana Stiefel
• Thanksgiving by Natalie M. Rosinsky
• Arthur’s Thanksgiving by Marc Brown (a fun read with a good lesson)
• Thanksgiving Is… by Gail Gibbons

Our Thanksgiving was spent with Aunty Judy, Uncle Jim and Cousin Robbie. It was quiet and fun and full of delicious food! We were so thankful they could make it to the meal that the kids planned and shopped for! The twins were real troopers making up the grocery list and doing the choosing at Sam’s Club themselves!

Zander and the twins’ Thanksgiving grocery list

I snuck in a ladies outing with Nana over at Renee’s. We made woven fabric baskets and played with Mystro. Not the simplest craft but not impossible. You can find the instructions HERE thanks to Terry Atkinson. 

School wise we have seen an influx in art interest. Art for Kids is win win with us!

Echo’s more free style work using photopaper and sharpie

Add in some completions and workbook interest…

And some rather amazing Halloween lapbook completions! 

I think we accomplished much of what we had hoped to this November. Add in swimming and scouts, Sunday School and choir and we have become way more busy than we expected! Thank goodness the arctic chill has not appeared! Do enjoy the overflow images for the LONG belated month of November HERE.

Emanuel swimming with a noodle!

It has happened… I am nearly TWO MONTHS behind on the blog… which begs the question… are we even INTERESTED in rehashing October? So I think, instead of a day by day reflection I will do an overview of some highlights. Let’s see…

We had a pretty amazing experience with working in pairs on the little guys’ Halloween lapbooks AND solo for the twins on their own. I have made up a resource page for our items. I apologize in advance for not linking up all the books but I am sure if you check your local library or bookstore most could be found! A library card is a wonderful thing is it not? Our Halloween resources can be found HERE.

We started up with the Pizza Hut Book It program once again as well. There is a new app to go with it that we are getting used to. There were a few hiccups. We had to just go by Johnson for their last name. No hyphenating. But the kids are so excited to be earning their pizzas once again. You can check out the program HERE.

Ken is also jumping in to help us finish our long enjoyed VOLCANO unit. He had a really creative way to show the creation of a volcano using wash cloths of all things!

This is another blogged resource page. You can find all of that HERE. We took longer than expected but enjoyed it all the same. Some years we bust through these major unit studies… others… not so much!

Of course in October we have Home Depot! November has TWO since they are not doing the normal one in December. Doubly difficult as we have our swimming lessons Saturday mornings so we have to rush from the pool to the store to make it there  before the program is over!

The weather is cooling and the kids are starting to bundle up. It is always a but of a shuffle to go through all the clothes and find out what fits, what leaks and what is worn to pieces.

our big excitement was having Andrew with younger brother Alex in to BABYSIT for us! Ken and I had one last chance to take burnable stuff over to Chris and Renee’s and wanted to really enjoy it. We brought Cousin Robbie along, had drinks and dinner and stayed out SUPER late. Andrew managed fine and is already agreeing to sit again for us!

The boys’ newest addiction along with playing Pokemon is to play Munchkin.. my boardgame! They are even attempting fair play with their siblings! NOT BAD!!!

To celebrate CANADIAN Thanksgiving we not only called Grandma to say hello but did up a poster of things we are grateful for.

Then to top it off we had dinner at KFC (a Reinsch family tradition). Nana and Baba came as well as they plan to be in Florida over the American one. HAPPY THANKSGIVING CANADIAN FRIENDS AND FAMILY (BELATEDLY).

We had some crafting fun…

A trip to Mall of America to thoroughly enjoy LegoLand and spend some of their Gammie treat money on a container of hand picked lego pieces! Not too bad of a family excursion. We also brought snacks which always smooths the road.

AND a homeschool special for the aquarium in the mall! Everything from jellyfish to sharks to a tide pool you could touch!

We snuck in a babysitting experience or two with the Schwartz boys. Jeffrey and his brothers are a family favouite.

Emanuel, Trinity, Ken and I went to a Scouts day camp that included siblings. Sadly we lost our rocket to the great unknown but did it every FLY!

Indoor games and colouring were the favourite with Trinity now in love with the idea of archery.

OH and a messy snack!

We got another dose of baby time…

Celebrated Daddy’s birthday with PIE!

Carved pumpkins… sort of… and sent the seeds to Future Uncle Ravyn for roasting! Aunty Shandai came over especially to share the good news! Mommy is now to be a part of an OCTOBER wedding! We are so pleased for them! CONGRATS YOU TWO!!!!!

We crafted it up…

You can enjoy our leaf experience in an additional blog entry HERE.

And see our Halloween AMAZING costumes HERE.

Yup basically October in a rather lengthy picture filled entry!

I have been debating what I want to do about Emanuel’s schooling. He has been VERY much against doing MORE… often saying he is tired or doesn’t know things… but then yesterday he was answering his brother’s rhyming questions and doing simple addition in his bedroom all by himself. So do I push him to do more in front of me or watch from the corner of my eye at times and keep one ear open for his personal triumphs out of my immediate sphere of influence? 

Looking into dinosaurs together

Our morning was rather organized for once. Ken had to wake me up early so he could get to work and Echo went to bed mid morning which gave me bath time. The kids all worked on workbooks while I sorted out the upstairs for my planned exodus to do some errands. I have upgraded one of Trinity’s mid range rubbermaid tubs to a larger one to put her stuffed animals in, using the little one for dolls… if only I had more storage! Or a toy room… or less toys? But they are not just HER toys in the bedroom, the family toys (kitchen set, a block set) are also in there as are the cradle my grandpa made ME and Echo’s stuff. Poor Trinity.

I went out with (she) Chris and Mae to do a little school shopping (payment order number and Staples are ALWAYS a good thing, and this time with a 100.00 budget). I did not spend my whole budget but I am finally in possession of a mountain of paper! 5000 sheets for less than 30.00. AND some new markers (ours were ancient and finally are dying out), more “twisty crayons” as per request, some more thick glue AND GLITTER glue! Oh and pens that Ken wanted… all for under budget! 

I love that our funding allows me to get these special treats later in the schooling year. Especially the glitter glue, we are ALWAYS running out of that!!

Not sure where to store this yet.

One the way back home we stopped at the mall to have poutine (noms) and then to go to Dollarama… after all that IS the place to get applesauce at the best price… I picked up some St. Patrick’s Day stickers, socks and of course a few pieces of chocolate for the adults. 

A bit of green

You know the saying “it takes a village to raise a child”? Well I think I have felt the help of a global village, through my blog and the interest you all have shown, advice given and love sent… through Facebook and the support system that has grown there, from homeschooling and families that are willing to share their experiences and excesses, friends and family who have been here for us from before the kids were born… I am very sure that I would not be able to create such a high quality of life and education if not for all these people in our lives. So thank you all! After all without help and support my confidence would be nil, Trinity would not be so well dressed and our homeschooling life would be rather bland! I am so glad that in some ways I can pass along. I am going to take some time in the next week and see what I can do about dressing some other little girls. Echo has finally grown out of some clothes so it is time to see that others have a chance to enjoy them! 

Echo in a new hat !!! Thank you!

So while we only made SOME progress on our Inuit lapbook (we have to add a THIRD folder for all the bits the kids did!!!) and the boys REALLY just wanted to play with the red blocks (hah mean Mommy made them watch CyberChase while she was out and about this afternoon!!!) we did progress. And now, with paper in the printer I have a stack of stuff to start next week in regards to St. Patrick’s Day! On top of all that there is the volcano research, Emanuel’s renewed interest in dinosaurs (we read a bit of a longer book tonight together) AND my sock owls… so lots more to talk about in the coming days and weeks! And of course, soon the Inuit lapbook to premier! 

Even Echo gets in her schooling time, one of the boys grabbed her crayons and paper and she was able to sit and scribble. She actually holds the crayons properly! Though right handed (boo)