Tag Archive | White Castle

Welcome to 2014

December 31- January 5

How to end a rather interesting and unusual year… (but since when has the Reinsch-Johnson family experienced a USUAL year???) Well we enjoyed some print outs from Activity Village for the 2014 New Year. I love their pages… they have number searches, colouring pages… it is just the place to go for our print out needs lately. 101_5796

Education.com (link on right) has also been helpful, though without paying I am now limited to 10 pages per month.

Education.com (link on right) has also been helpful, though without paying I am now limited to 10 pages per month.

We did up our last Wild Kratts page of the year too. Who can resist Seahorses?? Seriously cool little fish that have an amazing resemblance to horses. We may just have to do a whole on lapbook on them one of these days! 101_5798

Both of our girls had their hair in plaits. 101_5801

Our last meal of the year? White Castle! Definitely not something we would have in Alberta. I do love their chicken rings. Not so much their sliders.101_5799

The kids did not stay up until midnight but we adults did. It was calm and alcohol free for yours truly. Maybe next year we will attempt company? But really, being with Ken is all I need. 

Miss Echo figured that a new year meant a pretty dress. I have to agree… she does do fancy on a regular day with flair. 101_5802

That evening we had Chinese from the family’s favourite place The Rose Garden. Fortunes on the first day of 2014!101_5805

I was further convinced to extend our vacation from schooling. BUT the boys did do some fancy math and reading while playing Sorry. Which really meant they were only mildly sorry as they trounced each other royally. No fist fights yet!101_5806

Miss Trinity actually WANTED to do schoolwork on the second day of the year. Dot-to-Dots are a great way to practice our counting and this book she got last year from friends here in Minnesota has ones up to 50! 101_5808

On the third day of 2014 Miss Echo modeled a Christmas outfit as she showed her dollies her cooking skills. 101_5810

And with that we wrapped up our week and moved into the weekend… the first of the year. Which is ALSO the first of the month… so.. HOME DEPOT. This time to make a calendar. We are seriously in love with this free program. Apparently it is also running in Canada! 101_5812

We rounded off the weekend with a look at our microscope. A bit of science to end our holiday… and ease into schooling once again! I don’t know about the kids, but I am ready! I love the organization. 101_5813

So our year has started well. I have not come up with any resolutions BUT I have decided to continue with my happy thoughts jar. I have a little pile of happiness already but no jar to put them in yet. photo (82)

This entry was posted on 22/01/2014, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

Reuniting with Bree and Quinn

July 23 NOTE I totally screwed up and posted these out of order, but after weeks of this… not bad, one mess up!!!

The Novaks are not the only kids we are familiar with… so Monday was our chance to meet up with Bree and her son Quinn (I have mentioned him in the past… he is basically Trinity’s birthday buddy who was born the day before Trinity). I am so happy to share that Bree is expecting her second child!!! This is huge for us as when she was pregnant with Quinn and I with Trinity we were a country apart… funny enough, as we were leaving Canada our friends Kristen and Fydo ALSO announced that they are expecting their FIRST child!! Baby time!!!

Anyway… Monday afternoon we had Quinn and Bree over for a visit. Emanuel and Quinn bonded very quickly over Thomas.

Such a cutie

In fact, they brought special gifts for all of the kids except Echo who has to wait the few weeks until her birthday. Emanuel was over the moon with his Angry Birds blanket, and Trinity with her Hello Kitty themed stickers and nail polish. The twins have an iTunes card to use to buy apps once I get the iPad moved over to the US stores. Such thoughtful gifts!

Note the blanket

After fun in the sun room and watching cartoons together it was time to debate supper… since Bree had never been and Ken hadn’t in 3 years we decided on White Castle. It did not go over too well BUT it was fun and it was something we definitely wanted to try once with the kids.

NOT huge fans

Smiles

Echo with her American Godmommy

After sliders Bree took us all out for ice cream at a place a wee bit more familiar – Dairy Queen. 

ICE CREAM

Our 4 year olds

By this point it was sprinkling so we nixed the park idea and decided to head home for bed. It was a wonderful visit, with the promise of many more! 

Sadly through all this Nana had to go out to emergency to be checked out. It turns out she (and we later find out Zachary) was diagnosed with strep throat. Thankfully it seems only those two were caught with it. But not fun for Nana with 48 hours in quarantine. Thank goodness she had a bathroom of her own and a tv at her disposal. 

Of course we started our school time

Trinity and her Pre-K workbook

Emanuel and his Kindergarten review