So reality is coming to roost and the questions are starting to form in my mind… how will this whole heart issue play out with Echo? Will it be easy for her to have to go to a cardiologist every year for basically the rest of her life? Is the entire procedure as simple as it was explained? Can I work it out so Ken can be with me while we wait for our Echo to get through surgery? How long do we wait for the surgery to be scheduled?

Sweet as always

Thankfully yesterday I was blessed with visits from friends. Kathy came into the city to hang out and take me on a walk around Costcoto peek at the pricing of items we buy often. I picked up two items – a large flat of water for only 5.00 and a big box of Arrowroot cookies for only 10.00 (they are a favourite of EVERY member of our family from the oldest to the youngest, though Echo does do the best job at wearing them).

A quick story with Aunty Kathy

We also stopped off at one of the malls to get my favourite face soap from The Body Shop. I finally ran out completely. I haven’t found anything that works better on my face than their tea tree oil products.

I now have ALL the things I need for Echo’s birthday tutu dress. I was even able to get my hands on an affordable strand of the marabou, in black of course. I had a 25% off entire purchase coupon at Michaels so I picked up some 12X12 sheets of purple and one of white cardstock until I can price out the 8 1/2 by 11 at Staples. I do use the white for a lot of the boys’ school activities.

Ken on the other hand, stayed home. Jeff was here until after an early supper and gone before Kathy and I returned. Someone had to stay home with the kids and there was a lady coming by to pick up one of my scrapbook related Kijijiitems. Lucky we had someone home as Karyn came over after work to join in on the fun. That had us 3 (Karyn, Kathy and myself) off to Macs for a snack before settling down for some visiting. Again, all this possible due to our move to this new place… a good reminder of how good things are compared to the old place.

He's surrounded!

I am still brainstorming what to stitch for the lovely family that assisted us on Wednesday… it needs to be something special. In the meantime I have moved onto the characters on the stocking. I am hoping to get one done tonight… if I can focus on that and not the tutu dress, it is a toss up!

The boys spent most of yesterday working on math and then moving onto pictures of things that happened on our adventurous two days… one drew a picture of playing at the den Otter’s and the other the waiting room at the hospital. I tried to explain to them about the surgery their baby sister is going to have to have… that she has to go in and have a sleep while they fix something in her heart and that Mommy would go with her. I think I have some more explaining to do but they did seem to understand that there was something important we had to do for Echo.

Art AND working on words

Today was a pretty quiet day… until Ken ran up the stairs while on the phone and broke one of his toes (or at least mangled it horribly)… he is still able to walk and it is not his driving foot but I am told it hurts BADLY (I won’t repeat the words HE used)… most of the day was actually spent with Ken working as he had to make up for Wednesday and Thursday. 

I spent my time catching up on dishes, laundry and cleaning… our bedroom is still not done BUT the kitchen is all clean, banana cookies and bread were baked and the floor swept and mopped. 

Ken did take the twins out with him before supper to run some errands… my sunglasses are officially returned… and the boys managed to get us some groceries and Ken some pharmaceutical advice (pain killers). I needed butter… we have soft bananas and needed to bake – cookies AND bread! YUM.

I filled the little pool, mowed the front lawn and some of the back and drug all 5 kids outside today as well. The weed wacker isn’t working yet but the owners sprayed for weeds last weekend so some of the nasty ones to mow were totally fried. It was a nice dry day at least. I even brought Echo out to sit on her blanket in the shade by the fence. (in her bunny themed overalls of course) She is still not overly interested in touching the grass but was quite happy to crawl all over her blanket and watch the other 4 running around.

Fun in the sun

Sunshine baby

I decided against putting the kids into swimsuits since we had plans to go out later in the day. So Trinity had a bit of a temper tantrum about not having her swim clothes. She got over it in time.

In fact, while Ken and the twins were gone the rest of us set out to the convenience store for a slurpee (brown) and nickel candies (2 each). Trinity was a bit disobedient on the way home and refused to STOP when I told her to… luckily there is one road to cross (we already had) and then just down the street. Though there ARE driveways. 

Eating a candy on the bench

Echo was in her peapod baby carrier. And going solo it was impossible to get a good picture. She seemed to enjoy it.

Best picture I have

In the evening Kristen and Fydo came over with a new boardgame to try out. We played twice and had a nice visit. We are working on planning some boardgame time on the 30th while the guys have their LAN party. Tonight’s game was Betrayal at House on the Hill. It is partially cooperative, well at least until a certain point.

Boardgame time

So with today’s successful van driving and a laundry list of contact numbers the plan tomorrow is to go collect my nephew and bring him here until Wednesday when my mom will pick him up for the remainder of the week. I even found a babysitter so Echo and I can go with. We have a phone Adam gave us since his blackberry was replaced so if we buy minutes we WILL have a phone for emergencies. Lauralee is the sweetheart who has agreed to watch our 4 big kids. She may regret it later…Now to get back to the cross stitching and tv watching – Red Dwarf… I am onto season 6.

Attempting to figure away AROUND the grass with no luck

What a weekend. We started it of on a great note… first off Ken went and got his hair cut (yay!!). And then was our cousin (maternal) bbq. We had all 3 of my cousins combined with Veronika’s fiancée Adam over. That meant 4 new people to tell all their adventures to. They drug Elizabeth off to the bedrooms for stories and play time.

Chatting in the livingroom... Veronika is in the back, Elizabeth on the couch and you can just see Katie's hair on the rocking chair.

Elizabeth in Emanuel's room

Dinner was a great success. We had beans (the ones I usually make), a Caesar salad thanks to Veronika, stuffed potatoes brought by Elizabeth, banana bread (made that morning) and then cake we didn’t make it to (Katie). The kids ate a ton and we still have left overs. 

After dinner was make up time. Veronika is on another course and needs  to do a certain number of faces before her test. She had time to do Elizabeth and Katie’s here at our house. Fun! By this time Echo had come to the realization that the cousins really aren’t that bad and was ready to cuddle. 

Working on Elizabeth's make-up

Oldest and youngest cousins

We finished our gift for Uncle Wayne on Friday. Each of the kids made pictures to put together into a book. They wanted to give him something special for his birthday that was on Friday. They put effort into it each day this past week with the making of the cover on Friday.

A very simple cover

One of the inside drawings

I made Jimmie’s card this year. Just playing around with paper and stamps and embossing. I am actually starting to feel the crafting urge when it comes to paper craft.

Skinny elephant

Inside

I did have a minor hiccup with my birthday purchases – the sunglasses I picked up had BIFOCALS on them… so unfair. Winners has a 10 day return policy and I am very glad I kept my receipt and tags. Very frustrating. 

I have decided, we need to have MORE family visits… it is absolutely amazing to have the ability to build a relationship with my cousins as adults. The age gap ranges from 12 years to 7 years between them and me so this is a whole new thing and a definite blessing.

The landlord came by Friday to spray the yard for weeds, so for 48 hours the grass is a no play zone. Luckily BEFORE that the twins and I went out and attempted to emulate a weed wacker. Ours is still not working. So the end result – we found 2 VERY active ant hills (not red) and the lawn looked much nicer. I couldn’t resist but take some pictures of our own sheep – Petite Sheepette and Bitsy Sheep with their Nanny Sheep. The boys thought it was beyond cute. AND I managed NOT to put them on the ant hills first try!

Out in the green

I snuck out for a walk Friday afternoon with JUST Echo in the single stroller with NO carseat! She is still a bit small to have the straps keep her perfectly in place but she had fun and got compliments. The netting is a great thing I got way back when the twins were born. And the slurpee was lovely and HUGE.

In the stroller like a big girl

"the Tub"

Our Saturday was pretty much epic… first off was getting the whole family ready AND out the door BEFORE 11 am to head over an hour out to my nephew Jimmie’s 6th birthday party. We were supposed to swing by Superstore to get the “prinpress shoes” our Trinity has been patiently asking after, but without the time AND a temper tantrum over the potty it just wasn’t a go. Neither was stopping at Winners to return the blasted sunglasses BUT we did get out earlier than expected. Of course there was at least 2 trips to get everything into the van that we could possibly need – everything from a playpen (in case of nap) to swim suits (in case of rain) and the stroller (which we actually used).

We managed to find my brother’s place without too much trouble and beat mom and Uncle Wayne there by a bit of time. We actually beat the birthday boy there too! He had swimming lessons and then they had to pick up the cake on the way home. So we got some time with just Aunty Holly and her mom up from Texas. They had Trinity’s belated birthday presents. A Hello Kitty dressed in leopard print and a sweet little Hello Kitty coin bank. She was over the moon!

Belated Birthday

Echo and Aunty Holly's Mom

There was bubbles, balls, rackets and even some sort of animal shaped grabbers. At first it wasn’t too hot but the heat came rather quickly. Sadly the shade was ant infested but we lucked out with the lack of mosquitoes… a clear indication that we were NOT in Edmonton. After all right now Edmonton is the mosquito capital of Canada!!!

Playing in the sun

We were out there over 4 hours in the sun with pizza, cake, watermelon and other goodies. The kids ran and ran and ran until the baby was more than done.

Enjoying the sun (note the OTHER Alaska shirt and the OLD sunglasses... they are missing a screw but do in a pinch)

Look at his awesome haircut!

We spent some time in their apartment before heading out. We got to pet one of their cats… not sure where the other was hiding. Echo was enthralled of course. She is a huge animal fan at this point. This gave me enough time to call up Veronika and ensure they were home.

Echo and Eris

I had to lend my face to her course work again. And during that visit the kids watched tv, played the new Xbox Connect, terrorized… I mean played with the pets (Combyne, Holli and Dinah the cat). Dinner was amazing – steaks cooked to perfection, steamed veggies and Caesar salad. Adam is amazing with the BBQ.

Playing Guess Who with Cousin Veronika

Hanging with Combyne

We all walked to the nearby 7-11 with the puppies… the boys took turns walking them. It was nice to get out for a walk in the now cooler evening. Veronika wanted to treat the kids to little slurpees for desert. They are super close to their 7-11, so are James and Holly! Lucky duckies.

Walking the dogs to 7-11

Veronika did MY make-up on Saturday for her schooling. I was already turning red from my burn but she did an AMAZING job. I am so looking forward to her doing our make up in August for the wedding. And can’t wait to brag about her to anyone and everyone to get her more business! Seriously, I love having her do my make up. And I am not a big wearer.

Natural look

It was well past 9pm when we finally got out the door to go home. The drive home was REALLY quiet with the kids nodding off before very long. With the amount of energy they used over Saturday we were NOT surprised. Actually I was amazed at how much energy they had at Cousin Veronika’s.

While today was a super quiet day (I even got in a nap which helped with the sunburn a little) this evening I got out for some girls time with pizza at Lauralee’s (homemade) with Karyn and Echo as well. We had pizza, played with the kitties (Xena and Gabrielle) and just generally hung out. What a great end to a busy weekend.

Echo and I think Gabrielle

OK one hitch in the weekend – well two combined… Ken accidentally locked the keys in the van while it was running before he and Trinity were able to head out to look at the “prinpress shoes” and then once the AMA guy came… and VERY quickly unlocked it were unable to find a pair of shoes at the store that fit. Her feet were too wide. So I am hoping the ones I saw at H&M previously COULD fit her feet better. Ken says she handled the idea of going to another store rather well… after all we have to head to the south end of the city to get my photos AND return my sunglasses… although on Wednesday we have to head back to the city to get to Echo’s cardiologist appointment. I am not sure if we will visit any parks there, the mosquitoes are rather bad. It will be a long morning at the hospital for the appointments anyway.

We had a VERY busy weekend, got in some quality play with their cousin… spent tons of quality time with MY cousins and have seen a lot of sun. I am not sure how much going out we will get this week upcoming. I am a little nervous about the appointments… they WILL be weighing Echo… and still rather burnt to a crisp BUT we have a story to finish, a bunch of cleaning to do and hopefully a chance to put ECHO in the girl pool. Either way this weekend will be a pleasant memory to bring up when the kids get stressed or frustrated. OH and Fat Sheep has done some blogging! Be sure to read all about it HERE!

Mom with ALL her grandkids

Uncle Wayne and his "greats"

James, Holly, Jimmie and Holly's mom

Ok, so time to start with the prezzies… First off Trinity – well she got a sweet Alaska t-shirt in the always a hit pink (apparently Hello Kitty does not venture so far north on THIS continent).

Miss T

Emanuel was over the moon with his new hat – from when Karyn and her folks were on a train (I got to see a few of the pictures taken from the train ride – amazing). Emanuel does love a good hat.

Hats rock

The twins each got a sticker (more a decal) and either a pin or zipper pull. We are going to put those on their fall coats. They were very pleased as well.

Train themed and all

Echo got spoiled with a PINK mini sock monkey (instant hit with its yarn hair, a real giggle inducer) and a sweet little outfit (note the slogan!).

A PINK sock monkey

Here's hoping she can become a lovely Social Butterfly

Ken got a shot glass and some bbq sauce – yup that IS a beer bottle it is in and with good reason.

Shot glass

Totally bbq sauce

I am only going to share ONE of my gifts today (the other will have to wait until Saturday), a t-shirt. A great gift for me, I am finally done going through my clothes and sifting through them. I have had to downsize by a whole garbage bag for various reasons. Always a little sad to have to give some favourite pieces up.

Isn't it cute?

So we got spoiled, sadly I do NOT have a picture of Lauralee’s new llama. Just trust me, it is ADORABLE! And most likely WILL appear on Fat Sheep’s site eventually. In fact, very shortly Fat Sheep’s blog should become VERY busy. There is lots to share from Fat Sheep AND her extended family.

I have been thinking lately (as Ken starts running for the hills), I find it rather incredible how different it feels here in our new home. And I don’t think it is just that we have walls a colour I enjoy or a basement we can utilize in its entirety. We haven’t entirely put down homeschooling roots but I have made the first steps. My interest in crafting has been renewed starting with making some cards (I will share those AFTER they are given). The kids are becoming more and more excited about things… even stuff like learning their words are more exciting and sought after. I wonder why exactly this is. I know that a lot of our big worries and concerns (financial, health or otherwise) still exist and are NOT being ignored but it feels more… conquerable.

I can honestly say I don’t feel as stressed as I did. I have tossed out things we kept for years for some unknown reason as well as found items I had been hunting for as long. We have started at our new place with homeschooling in mind. Educational objects all over the place at KID level. I feel more in control of their schooling when I can say – go on pick something out of the game box and let them at it instead of having to stop everything and dig things out. While I can’t say we are in our forever home we ARE happy here and that is amazing!

So today was a reading day with another chapter of our novel done and some more sight word work. But we were relatively lazy. I loaded up Starfall and had them rotate turns while one of the non players sat with Echo which freed me up for a little doze on the couch. This cold just won’t let go of me, today it was sinus combined with a sore jaw (I think I was clenching it last night for some unknown reason!).

Another chapter

I ducked out with Kristen, Fydo and Karyn and went to a craft garage sale. There was tons to be tempted by but I narrowed it down to 3 spools of ribbon and some Christmas themed fabric (I couldn’t turn it down for only 1.50).

My garage sale haul

After that success Karyn and I ran out to take advantage of my birthday money. First to Winners for sunglasses and a shirt and then across the parking lot to Old Navy for two skirts. Pretty much everything was on sale. I always have the best luck shopping with Karyn. She even found a few cute pieces at Old Navy for herself. They had some sort of spin to win thing and we each got buy one, get one half off. Which included our sale items. BONUS! I am so thankful to Ken’s parents for their sweet gift! Though I have to admit I always find it hard to spend it just on myself… I did creep over the kids’ sections at each store but I managed to NOT buy anything.

So a great ending to the day. Although the rain did not help. Time just zips by so quickly no matter what I do, and I have so many things I want to do. I think next week I will have to make a little bit of crafting my focus. I have pictures waiting for me at Best Buy… which means time to focus on scrapbooking once again! YAY!

Echo's other headband... totally click my Hooked on You link on the right!!!