Tag Archive | wreath

Welcome to Our New School Year

September 8-12

Our Canadian guests have come and gone as has much of the summer. So our first company free Monday of September was officially our beginning to a whole new year of schooling. Quite the move up… this is actually the ONLY time we state our grade for the year. Otherwise it is a constant working towards progress. So here is how we start up: the twins are grade 4 and 10, Emanuel 2 and 8, Trinity 1 and 6 and Miss Echo… pre school rambunctious. All posters were decorated by those holding them.101_9583 101_9584 101_9585 101_9586 101_9587 101_9588

This is the beginning of our trays and binders system. We shall see how it pans out. It is hard to keep tabs on all the papers each child uses.101_9592

We had our special lunches in our lunch boxes. The other 4 already had one from last year but Miss Echo got her very own brand new HELLO KITTY lunch box for herself. She was so proud!101_9593

We did a special craft for the day – using Sharpie markers to create stained glass style pictures using photo printer paper. Very simple an a lot of fun. We got a bunch of the photo paper a year ago when purchasing toner refills that were saved and never used.101_9594 101_9595

We had a special visit on our week of the new year… Renee brought the boys over for an afternoon visit. Who doesn’t love a gaming and baby break?101_9596 101_9598

Echo and I had fun doing sticker craft… a little early on the winter season stickers but they were what we had on hand. We are trying out different ways to keep her occupied. Daily to do boxes have not worked… she buzzes through them too quickly. But stickers, if only we could keep enough on hand, seem to work a treat. She did these without any assistance whatsoever.101_9599

One thing we did keep from the previous year was the clipboard with our daily tally on what we did and completed. I got the print out from the Back to School section on Activity Village (link on right).101_9600

We played magnets…101_9602 101_9603

Dressed up for pretend fun…101_9608

Created art for our pen pals (of which we have a few new ones!!)… I think we are all looking forward to getting to know our new long distance friends.101_9604 101_9609

We made a new wreath of our handprints to hang up. Those twins are getting quite the reach!101_9611

We got some amazing scarves from Gammie in the mail for the girls to model.101_9612

Made a few garage finds…101_9614

101_9613And finally picked up stuff for the new year of Scouts! Where has the time gone? And that is a quick overview of our first week of the new 2014-2015 year!101_9615

Birth DATES Make it Official

February 3-5

First off – HAPPY 8TH BIRTH DATE TO EMANUEL on the 3rd of February! It was doubly official with the yearly Grandma birthday call. Though it was brief since she called on break from work.1622209_10152209465476151_1348467168_n

Of course we still had school. There was a party to reflect on in our journals…

Zander drew his special gift from Aunty Holly that came on time - a Unicorn

Zander drew his special gift from Aunty Holly that came on time – a Unicorn

Chocolate bars to enjoy from their Aunt and Uncle and cousins. There was some lovely examples of sharing going on.101_6090

We had a very timely delivery of a Panda focused National Geographic Kids magazine. I love it when we get something in the mail that furthers our learning spontaneously.

And our drawing of some foods we saw on a Food Network special.

And our drawing of some foods we saw on a Food Network special.

The girls were busy bees with their Nana braids, playing their games together.101_6092

I especially loved Trinity’s combination of many patterns and colours in her outfit.101_6094

She, Echo and myself joined Emanuel at the Novak’s for Scouts. It was my first time going. The girls hung out in the basement with the other 3 Novak boys while Emanuel and Aidan did their thing. They learned all about the new food pyramid. It is a rather good group of boys that all seem to get along relatively well. Ken and the twins were out at swimming lessons so we had to hang out afterwards until we could be picked up. It was nice to have some adult visiting  time and get to know the Scout troop leader Pam a little better.1013308_10152210543416151_448147955_n

Tuesday was our in between birth DATES day. And the three littles took advantage of some of our downtime with getting ready for Nana and Baba leaving and Daddy’s sudden tooth extraction (thank goodness we DID do it while they were still here… he reacted more strongly to the meds they used and could not have driven home) and had a COSTUME dance party! I especially love Baby Batman!1901349_10152211747346151_921252709_n

Miss Trinity followed Art for Kids’ instructions to make a lovely heart card HERE. It turned out TERRIFIC…1506694_10152212102621151_1977556648_n

Then she noticed that one of the left over scraps of paper looked like a bird so we had to put it in her journal! Very creative eye there!101_6097

And then…. HAPPY 10TH BIRTH DATE TO ZANDER AND GAVIN on the 5th! Since when were you two allowed to become double digits??? And this from 10 week preemies who came into this world at 3 lbs. 1 3/4 oz. each!!!101_6063

This was also the last day with time with Nana and Baba so school was super light. The girls worked with some old catalogues and magazines to clip out pictures to glue together for fun.101_6098

101_6100Emanuel and Ken got to work on their very first pinewood derby car! This is exciting – the road to Emanuel’s very first badge!!!101_6099

The twins worked on pictures from the newest instructions from Art for Kids. I honestly will continue bragging on this site for as long as they put up things! I have never found better instructions for the kids. Trinity even gets results without frustration!!!101_6101

As we are now planning for Valentines Day I had the kids make a wreath to replace the one we had up for Christmas out of hands. This was a kit I bought on clearance last year from Walmart!101_6102

101_6104In between helping out Nana and Baba where they could the kids also watched the Wild Kratts episode on Groundhogs.101_6103

And then it was time for hugs, kisses and bye byes. Nana and Baba ALWAYS fly out in the middle of the night/super early in the morning. 9 weeks at Roatan! They are going to come back so tanned and relaxed!!!1743485_10152209910686151_25096662_n

A Week of Seasonal Fun

December 9-13

Mondays, as we get closer to Christmas and further along in Advent get more and more red and green and festive. This year I am doing a combination of secular and religious worksheets, books and shows. So much colouring!101_5459

Our storytime has continued as well. The boys are reading (Emanuel included) to each other and myself whatever they want but TRINITY’s books are all Christmas and all fun!101_5460

All week actually

All week actually

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Movies too

Movies too

We also did our yearly page from Activity Village – What we like about Christmas!101_5461

And later in the day – special cookie making time with Daddy!! Mommy and Daddy had an anime date with a new/old Facebook friend, his daughters and another couple. So of course I wanted to bring one of our homemade goodies… SUGAR  COOKIES!101_5462

101_5464I just realized I got my timeline wrong – on the last entry (HERE) I said we DECORATED the tree… when in actuality we ASSEMBLED the tree and flared out the branches. TODAY we put our Canadian ornaments out on display and it was so much fun!!!!!101_5468

101_5473101_5475Of course on Tuesday it was time to see Santa… something you can relive HERE.101_5485

Wednesday we reflected on our visit with Santa in our journals.101_5552

The boys also reflected on what Christmas means to them in this Activity Village printable (link for their site on right, just look up Christmas… they have TONS!).101_5551

We also made a wreath (hands) and bow (Echo’s feet) with the kids.101_5554

101_5555The kids worked with Daddy on the NEXT step of cookie making – making the icing.101_5559

101_5562And Nana found Trinity a great deal on a VERY appropriate winter jacket that allows us to hand Echo down Trinity’s old purple one (loose but usable).101_5561

Of course we had to keep making cards as well. Mommy hands off!101_5557

We ended the work week with more worksheets…101_5564

Books…101_5566

We even had a workbook completion!101_5567

One week closer to Christmas!!! And don’t forget anime night at a dear Facebook friends’ place on the 13th. It was so fun to meet Keith in person! 101_5482