Spoiled rotten I am right now! Kathy and her brother Will not only have a lovely and comfortable home, two cats and internet but SHAW VOD! With ANIME… so you can imagine what I was up late doing last night… yup watching anime! And waiting for the girls to finally fall asleep. I lucked out, this month they have Ray the Animation on the system. I loved this anime when I first saw it way back when on Crunchyroll before they really policed their content for legalities and then once it was removed POOF couldn’t find it ANYWHERE. SCORE!

BUT lets see… Monday first! Echo and I saw Kathy off to meet her plane before 8am. Trinity was still sleeping. Echo had ME up at 6:45. The kitties made a last ditch attempt to follow their mommy out the door. In fact, Neko and I are almost on complete petting terms now… Ozo is too much of a momma’s boy to really accept that I am in charge quite yet. 

Our early bird

We spent our morning leisurely… lucky charms for breakfast then cartoons and nail polish for my girly girls. I lucked out and had the sparkly Hello Kitty polish I bought months ago on me and Kathy had a nice selection of colours for Trinity to choose from… end result? 2 pink nails and 8 purple and a VERY happy little girl! 

Nails

The weather was overcast to rain so we decided to make it an inside day. We watched movies, snacked when we felt like it and did general girly lazy day sort of things. It was such a nice change from having to chase 5 and school and all our other everyday stuff.

Ozo

Of course we Skyped with Daddy before bed and chatted online. I set up MORE visiting with friends and family. The close proximity to quite a few people is rather nice here and a great incentive to get closer permanently. My first day as kitty nanny was a success… though we did not go out or about or anything… just girly together time! With kitties interspersed. 

Tuesday was FAR from terrible! We had our now routine morning of cartoons and quiet play… Ozo decided to add some spice by knocking a figurine down. Thankfully while the figurine is in need of some TLC the cat was only mildly embarrassed. The girls were quite amazed at how the kitty could knock something down… apparently it is a silly kitty.

Fast forward through breakfast, baths for the girls and myself and it was GIRLY FAMILY VISIT TIME. That’s right… Cousin Veronika drove in from an hour away to visit! She brought wit her a new stack of books and a bag of clothes for yours truly! Supplementing that tiny wardrobe that I have readily available! Don’t forget the simple fact that it has been MONTHS since we have gotten together that this has been a long wished after visit. 

Her timing was great and we were able to save our OTHER guest a good hour or more on the bus by driving over to pick up Holly. Not only did I get to see a favourite cousin BUT I also got to spend the day with my sister in law! As well as talk to James who was actually up and mobile, pet their kitties and see the guinea pig (they recently lost their hamster to old age but have gained some fish). I was FINALLY able to give Holly some long awaited cross stitch projects I had meant to give them well over a year ago. Included was their wedding sampler! Holly was able to frame it that night! Check it out!

YAY

Well on the way back to Kathy’s we made a stop off at McDonald’s for lunch thanks to Holly! The girls each had chicken nugget happy meals. Wow have they gotten nicer! Not only did they get the nuggets but also apple slices, yogurt, juice and a toy. Talk about happy girls!!!

People watching

NUGGIES

Our afternoon was spent with chatting, hair styling, movie watching and even better – the watching of the beginnings of Kathy and Will’s deck. With some decent eye candy and all! Of course we had to message Kathy and let her know. We did have to figure out how to turn on the outside water so they could make the cement but besides that it all seemed to move along at a decent pace.

We had pancakes for dinner with berries and syrup and giggled and chatted and search for rentals together. The chance to spend time with family is so precious. And the girls to get to know the other females they are related to… it was a definite reminder of how important this time together really is. I would love to do it again and again and again! 

With Aunty

Watching the new deck be built with Cousin Veronika

We all drove Holly back home and got to see Jimmie since he was out of school by then…

Jimmie

James

And then it was back to the kitties and putting the carseats back in Kathy’s car (which has been parked out front in Kathy’s absence). Even with the weather not working in our favour for a park run all the fun and family wore the girls out just wonderfully. Really no problem putting them to bed, unlike the night before when the two were just horrible about playing around and NOT sleeping. 

And thanks to Veronika, more books to review

Which left me time to enjoy the anime I found on Anime Network… Ray the Animation! BONUS! The beginning of an amazing vacation week!

KITTY!

Today the twins and I got a start on clearing us up some space by putting boxes into the trailer. We couldn’t lift too many as some of the boxes are just way too heavy but we cleared out a couple stacks in Trinity’s room, stuff in the dining area and random boxes from wherever. It really makes me realize how much I HAVE packed. Hopefully tonight I can drag a few more boxes out there with Ken’s help. The twins were very proud to be able to help.

In the trailer

Gavin spent some alone time creating a crane today from bits and pieces he found around the house! And then, when it got dismantled made it into a rocket.

Crane

I got word that my step sister got her wedding present (and opened and loved it) so I can share. Their wedding IS officially on Saturday in South Carolina. Just too far for me to travel financially and we have no wish to take Echo out of country while we are working out this genetic testing thing. I am sending all my love and positive thoughts and HOPING they can some day come up here and visit us… we have not yet met her fiancée Adam. The sampler is based on his maintenance badge for his position in the military. It was fun to design and not too horrible to stitch. I can now post it on deviantArt since it has made it to the recipient as well!

Completed wedding sampler

Speaking of stitching, I have started the adding of colour and detail to the little piece I have been working on. I had a lot less time today to do any sewing with the moving of boxes, bored kids, and my own frustrations with waiting and need of personal growth in the realm of patience.

Hello there Kitty

Well, not the most exciting day BUT Gavin did get in one more artistic endeavour. He is always on the hunt for those!!! Enjoy and hopefully I will have MORE to share tomorrow!

The blob on the left is a boy but the head has blended in

...and our Echo

The countdown has truly begun down in South Carolina… That is where my stepsister is preparing for her upcoming wedding. Yesterday Ken sent off her gift from the siblings up here, I will post pictures AFTER the wedding of it (I am REALLY hoping it makes it in time…). I know I really would have loved to go down to be a witness to the events but they announced their engagement when I was either pregnant with Echo or had just had her and we were quite aware of the financial impossibility of my flying down there with not only Echo but Trinity to boot (there was talk of her being a flowergirl). That and the issues connected with travel on multiple flights alone with two kids… the 3 of us needing some place to sleep, transportation AND help with the kids. All things that would have been greatly complicated with the festivities. I am still hoping to have the whole family packed up in an RV and driven down there sometime in the next few years. We could go from here to Saskatchewan (my grandma and her family), to Minnesota (Ken’s family) and then down to South Carolina (my dad and his family). Of course that is a dream for when we are settled in our new place and have had the time to save up money for things like gas, RV rental and of course food. It would definitely be an adventure. I have been promised photos though!

I have been dealing with a lot of confusing feelings in regard to life in general, plans of the future and decisions from the past lately. But Ken put it all in perspective for me recently. I was talking to him about someone else buying a house… and how we have no plans to do so in the foreseeable future… he reminded me about how we had “planned out” our lives, how our plans for the future did not start and end with home ownership. In fact, most of our plans would be hindered with owning a home. When we married we made our decisions with eyes wide open. We wanted our babies before too long as we wanted a large family and the youth to enjoy it… after all our plan was to be done having babies before Ken was 35.

We have a definite wish to travel. There is the BIG dream – 2 yrs in Europe that is not yet attainable, the want to be able to visit all those family members I mentioned above. Add to that Ken’s personal dream of working for himself and having a corporation with close friends (a goal he is actively working towards daily). We have wanted to homeschool since before we even started trying to have children. With all the ups and downs our goals are not impossible and are exciting and personal. I look at homeschooling as my first attainable success. While the kids have their days of utter stubborn refusal to do as I please, we ARE succeeding. We are succeeding at OUR life and OUR goals and that is what is important.

Comparing lifestyles, goals, possessions, even children seems to be a common occurrence and one I really want to avoid. Take Echo for example, she is our pixie… while we want to be sure there is no underlying (and changeable) reason for her low weight we love her as she is. Her sweet little smiles, her miniature stature when she sits tall on her own… all the bits of personality we are seeing more of every day. But so many people are quick to say — compared to so and so she is SO TINY, or when is she going to look like that baby over there. If we take what the doctor says (she is fine just doesn’t gain quickly so lets test and see but otherwise NOT worry) and love her for who she is isn’t that better than sitting her down next to the other babies and trying to make her fit the mold? I in now way want to avoid the knowledge of something potentially wrong and maybe treatable but as her mother I am also fully prepared to continue as we have been and just love her dearly.

Hello Kitty!

We are now midway through the first week of May… I swear the days have just zipped by. Today all 4 kids worked on pictures and cards for their god-mommies and grandmas… the lucky things have THREE grandmas to love, and Trinity has TWO god-mommies… as does Echo… who is NOT working on anything right now but will send out BELATED photos 🙂 I just need the time and the ability to get to Superstore to develop them. I tend to go to the FisherPrice site to get our cards to colour and this time found this neat “Make Your Own Mom” set up. Very cute!

Colouring for God Mommies

Zander did another page for his Fat Sheep and Mommy story. We have mapped out the rest of the story so that he now has 3 more pages to  do by Friday night to get it completed on time.

Zander's newest page

Gavin finished a paint by numbers he got for Christmas. His paints that it came with were dried out so he made do with what we have here… and made a bit of a mess on himself, the table and somehow his sister’s hair! Go figure… I swear Trinity is a magnet for mess.

Paint by numbers

We made our cookies though I am not sure if I miss counted my flour measurement (I was on the phone with She Chris AND the kids were saying random numbers AND I had a half cup measure instead of the full cup) but we had to add a few tablespoons of milk to the batter to make it… well batter. BUT I had the shortening to use and I didn’t have the butter. So it was a nice recipe to try out. And of course, the kids aren’t complaining. It was just the twins and I who made them this time. I figured doing it during naptime would speed the process and give Trinity and Emanuel something to wake up to. I got lazy towards the end and made a HUGE cookie.

I had the boys circle words they could sound out on their own off of the recipe

Giant cookie

With lovely weather they have spent a nice amount of time in the backyard running out all of that excessive energy. The boys are slowly sorting through all their toys back there to get rid of any broken ones. I thought it would be a one time quick thing but apparently it is not. Oh well, as long as we are tossing things and packing others it is all good.

Playing in the backyard

We decided to jump right in and give Echo a piece of crust. She seemed to enjoy it, well playing with it more than anything, but I am trying to expand her diet and put in some more fat content objects. She absolutely LOVES the Arrowroot cookies, but really, she can’t have too many of those. I think one of the other kids slipped her an extra one yesterday because today has been a nasty poopy baby diaper day.

Bread crust... yum

Today was the first dinner outside for the boys, something they have been dying to do since the first signs of spring. Actually, last year they ate MOST of their meals outside whenever possible. Definitely not something to complain about. I would LOVE to have a full set of patio furniture to do the same. Maybe next year.

Supper outside

I have started the pre cleaning for moving now as well… specifically the stove, deep cleaning the burners (and probably lining them all with foil), cleaning cupboards I have now emptied… that sort of thing. I do love it when there is a visible result to hard work!

Now to get in the groove with the backstitching I have to do on the ongoing, pack another box, and hopefully get 5 mins of quiet, idle time. I can dream right?

Kitty for the win!