Monday

shared from CloverLane

Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay, it's Friday! And "twin day" at school. I blocked out some tell-tale signs of the school (wouldn't want any stalkers :) ) with hearts but you get the "twin" effect nontheless.



Have a great weekend!

Update

Doesn't this picture just say "Aaawwwwwwwwww"....he's getting so big (Ethan, not you hon :) )

A little update on the house of sick germs....Mason seems to be getting over it, despite an awful day yesterday (I don't know what his deal was...I've never seen him have tantrum after tantrum), the older two are coughing lots but back at school, Ian too, and Ethan has got the worst.cough.everrrrr. I hope we don't need to check it out at the doctor's...we'll see.

I'm still fine too - no sign of sickness yet! Weird though....maybe it's 'cause I'm on the SCD diet which is all healthy food...no sugars, no dairy, no fried foods, no wheat, no pasta, all my favourites! It's to manage my Crohn's Disease and also because Ethan wasn't responding well to my eating sugars and dairy and such.

We've been busy at home, tidying the playroom and creating a stage for the kids. They're always performing some kind of show or putting on a play so I thought they'd like a stage. They love it! It's not done yet but pics to follow.

And in Mason's words: "Presenting! Presenting...my cat!" ....such a cute guy.

Randomness from this past weekend...annd more

Sick

We've been really fortunate this winter and no one's been really sick. Some runny noses here and there but it's been good!

That is, until now. All 4 kids and Ian are sick. I'm the lone sole survivor. They've had fevers, coughs, chills, sore tummies, sore throats, etc. That is why, this Family Day weekend, we're just resting, relaxing, and eating fruit. Tons of fruit to get us healthy. And, sadly, lots of tv. But when you've got so many kids close in age sick, you REALLY need the sanity of tv for awhile. 'Cause things get way out of control otherwise...the whining, crying, fighting, and just feeling terrible calls for some Curious George, Mary Poppins, and Max and Ruby (Mason's favourite).

So we're in our pjs again today, trying to get well. We'll get some fresh air this afternoon (it's supposed to be 4C so that'll be nice). I'll be back with more photos when the subjects feel better :)

The note, sick, and public speaking...

Ian was handed this note yesterday morning...

It's cute 'cause she self-diagnoses her illness, spells "throt" instead of throat, and it's a note! to tell us what's going on.

Now, she didn't look well so we kept her home and she seemed ok in the morning but by lunch she had developed a fever. She's still home today because her fever keeps returning and she's got a sore throat.

We're hoping she'll make a huge recovery by tomorrow as she has to attend the public speaking competition. She was placed first in her class, then did her speech in front of the school and was tied for 1st in her primary division (grades 1, 2, and 3). Now it's on to compete against other schools in the area.

We're so proud of her and she's come so far since the shy Junior Kindergarten student!

Her speech was a retell of "Stephanie's Ponytail" by Robert Munsch. Maybe I'll tape her and post the movie like I did of Mason yesterday.

Well, it's off to attend to the sick...Ethan's finally getting better (he was pretty sick too)...though he felt a 4:21 AM wake-up was in order this morning. I don't agree. ;) Mason's only got a runny nose and Austen still seems ok too. Have a great day!

Mason reads

Mason loves to "read". Here, in this movie, he reads "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. For those of you who are close to Mason, you will probably understand him. But he IS difficult to understand if you don't regularly talk to him. A few moments into the movie, when the hungry caterpillar eats 1 red apple, then 2 pears, and 3 plums, etc., he is SOOO darn cute! He says "And on Monday, he ate through 1 apple, and he was still HUNHY (his version of "hungry"). Maybe it's just me, as his mom, but I think it's adorable.

Other little cute moments are when he lists all the foods the caterpillar eats and he gets to salami and says "tsunami" instead.

Watch it and watch some major cuteness!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here some Valentine's Day stuff...

Our Valentine's Day craft....hearts on the windows (made out of coffee filters and Bingo Dabbers)

Megan and Austen's cute Valentines to hand out at school...I think they turned out really nice!






Have a wonderful Valentine's Day everyone!

Ethan eats solids for the first time...

Mom's Birthday

My mom celebrated her birthday this past weekend and we joined her for the weekend. Here a few pics.

I made her a 3 layer cake...green, cause that's her favourite colour, whip cream in between the layers, chocolate ganache on top, buttercream designs....all from scratch, of course :)

Below some barn pics too...Megan watched a calf being born for her animal project in school. She's named it Emma (Ethan Megan Mason Austen).

We had a wonderful weekend. Happy Birthday Mom (and Happy Birthday to Ashley too - I know she reads my blog frequently - Ethan sends you a hug and kiss, Ash! P.S. your Godson had his first taste of solids today...so funny!

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Since I won't have much internet access at her house I thought I'd post today because we're headed her way to celebrate with her. More pictures to follow after her big day. Fun!

 

UPSIDE DOWN SNOWMAN

We were at Grandma and Grandpa's house today and built an upside down snowman! So fun! In the picture is Mason, Miranda, Ethan, and Grandpa. Grandma took the picture (Oh, I'm in the picture too, behind Ethan).

Don't Eat Pete!

Have you ever played the game "Don't Eat Pete"? It's so fun! I found it on Pinterest and I simply printed out a game sheet, grabbed some M&M's and that's all! Now, instead of M&M's you can use anything...Cheerios, goldfish crackers, raisins,...

The rules of the game:

Place one piece of candy in each square. Send one person out of the room while the group chooses one candy piece to be “PETE”. When the player returns he eats the candies one at a time; but the minute he touches “PETE” the group yells “DON’T EAT PETE”!! His turn is then over and the next player leaves the room. Continue until all have had a turn.

If you search Google Images for "Don't Eat Pete" you'll see a whole variety of game boards.

The kids loved this. We are planning on playing it without the M&Ms too...by using buttons and seeing who collects the most. We also tried to set records...seeing who got the furthest and had eaten the most candy at the end.

This would be great to play on a rainy or snow day, for a birthday party, Halloween, Valentine's Day, in the classroom, or as a boredom buster!

Check out THIS WEBSITE for more ideas.

Kids Say the Funniest Things....

Sometimes they say the funniest things....here a few to share with you and hopefully make your day.


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At church the congregation stands. Mason stands on the pew beside me.
Mason, age 2 (yells): "Everybody sit down! I can't see Pastor!"

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During church at communion Pastor says: " The meal is ready, the feast is prepared, all those baptized..."

Megan, age 6: "Mommy, are we staying for lunch?"

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Austen, age 5: "You know, Mommy. I don't think you should have any more kids 'cause 4 is enough. When you get married again, then you can have more."

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As I am shifting sides while nursing Ethan...
Mason, age 2 (pointing at my breasts): "That one has milk and that one has water."

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Megan, age 7: "I'm really happy that Ethan doesn't need surgery. And that he's out of the hospital. We're so lucky that he's healthy. We're so lucky that he's home."

Austen, age 5: "We're also lucky that no one touched the elf at Christmas."

More PA Day Fun!

We also built structures on the PA DAY last Friday. We used toothpicks and marshmallows (they brought out some candy corn but they were too hard). After a bit of playing around, they got the knack of it and built some cool stuff! They had fun!

Oh, and Ethan turned 5 months on the PA Day too so of course we had to take our monthly photo in the laundry basket!

Cake Day!

Yesterday, on the PA Day, I created a Cake Decorating Party for the kids. They love baking, decorating, candles, and cake so it was perfect for them. See here the results. Done in our pjs, of course! What else!

Austen wanted a red cake but it was hard to get a good deep red and I didn't want there to be too much food colouring so he was ok with a "light red".











We sang "Happy Cake Day to you!" and blew out the candles! Simple things...but they love it!







Didn't Ethan do a great job on his tie-dye cake? So talented for a 5 month old!





And one more time, this pic, because it makes me laugh every.single.time!



What a ham!

(@Marieke: Zie je jullie Kerstkaart hangen?)