Christmas Planning

I loooove Christmas. I also happen to love planning and lists and such. The Organizing Junkie wrote a great post that included a review on an awesome app that I love! Christmas Gift List is a super easy way to keep track of gifts you need to buy, which ones you've already bought and what's already wrapped and you've forgotten about *raises hand*

You can even password it so it's safe from prying eyes ;)

This is now my 2nd year using this app. I even used it for birthday shopping!

Weekly Wrap Up/Tot School x2 - 11/4/16

Our neighbours had a family emergency last week, so Brianna had a short week of school while she took care of their kids so they could be at the hospital in the next city, an hour away. Add in yet ANOTHER round of snot in my house, it made for a fairly unproductive week.

I have my major show of the year this weekend, both days, so I've been spending 8-12 hours a day in my office making stock. Because I hand-make everything I sell, prepping for shows of any kind is very time consuming. I do love it, but I wish my house ran it's self while I was busy.

Because of me living in my office, school has mostly consisted of computer work (Time4Learning for Brianna, Reading Eggs/Math Seeds for Olivia) and unschooling. I haven't done set preschool with Joshua in a couple weeks, but we all know, learning continues even if there's no formal teaching! Joshua now counts to 20 and is working on dressing himself. Even my blog has suffered. I have like 13 draft posts with post ideas, but no time to write them!

While this huge show is exciting and I hope to gain loads of new contacts and customers, I can't wait for it to be over and life can slow down again!

Brianna has re-found our math help book and has been discovering how helpful it is to her schoolwork

One of the kids favorite shirts that I make is called a Candy Pocket. In our house though, it's a kitty pocket!

Cars are probably the most important thing to Joshua after food and snuggles

Sure, not the proper way to play with these monkeys, but still works on fine motor skills!

Brianna took a paint class last weekend and came home with this! I was super impressed. She is not good at drawing things or people, but is apparently quite good at landscapes!

Olivia's hand/eye coordination is amazing with this tape the tiles app. I'm amazed how fast she can go!

Halloween!

Joshua loves to watch Olivia do her schoolwork

Joshua is very determined in his independence

Brianna was was feeling particularly crappy so I told her to go take a nap. She refused and continued her schoolwork. Later, I looked over and found this. I guess I won... 

Linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Practical Mom, 1+1+1=1, Homeschool Creations and Hip Homeschool Mom

Hodgepodge Wednesday

1. What would you say is the best and worst thing about moving house? My personal favorite thing is dreaming about the potential of my new space. I am a lover of floor plans and organizing house (not so great at DOING the organizing though!). Worst thing, packing. We have too much crap!

2. What's moved you recently? The US election. I refuse to be political on my blog though so I won't comment as to HOW it has moved me.

3. Do you feel your life is moving forward, backward, or is on hold? How so? Definitely forward. School is actually happening with little "babysitting" from me required. My business is keeping me busy. Joshua's speech is finally happening.

4. On the move, move mountains, get a move on, it's your move, or bust a move...which phrase best applies to some aspect of your life right now? Explain. "Move Mountains" Oct/Nov is my busy time for my business. I make a lot of items that are giftable and stocking stuffers. I also make car seat ponchos which are only needed in the colder months. Needing to move mountains though is based on the fact that I often take on more than I should and can get overwhelmed to make it all happen. 

5. What song makes you want to get up and move? Peppy Christmas music

6. Your favorite snack to grab when you're 'on the move'? I pretty much live on coffee and that is my "on the move" thing typically grabbed.

7. What one accessory makes your house feel like home? Something Christmasy that stays up year round. In my house, I have a jingle bell wreath that has lived on my front door since we moved here 5 years ago. I also have Christmas lights up (and on) on my porch year round. Yes. I'm THAT person.

8. Insert your own random thought here. Brianna is learning French. I don't speak French. She could be telling me off and I'd never know it...

Head over to From This Side of the Pond to check out others!

Alberta (and BC) Bound!

Last summer Lee and I took an epic 3 week road trip, driving from home (near Ottawa, On) to Victoria, BC and back. We car camped and couch hopped. The event being surrounded by the trip was our friend Leslie and his wife April's wedding, in which Lee was the Best Man. It was something I had always wanted to do and was seriously the best vacation ever.

Being that we're a homeschooling family, it was also a great geography lesson for the girls who "followed" us from home. We talked to them each night over Skype and sent postcards through the mail.

The kids trying to stow-away on our van-bed the morning we left

Giant Nickel in Sudbury, Ontario

Heading into the mountains of western Ontario

Lake Superior 

A wolf wanted to check us out outside of Wawa, Ontario

Terrance Bay, Ontario

The Terry Fox Memorial outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario

                                       

Time Travellers!

Finally got out of Ontario!

The flat lands of the prairies

As the speed limit increases (68.5mph)

Meeting up with my Kindergarten best friend, Holly, after 20 years

Fog line over the Assiniboine River in Manitoba

Saskatchewan!

Meeting up with fellow homeschoolers, Carla and David in Saskatchewan

Sitting on the Alberta/Saskatchewan boarder in Lloydminster, Ab/Sk (pardon the face, it was very bright)

Back in Alberta after 17 years!

Our friends had an awesome 80's/candy themed wedding in Edmonton, Ab (also where I was born and raised)

I was the wedding organizer, which meant I got to slave labour the other wedding party members

The Groom and his Best Man

Bride, Groom, Man of Honour and Best Man

Lee's Best Man speech was a tear jerker

My second mom growing up, Ana, in Edmonton, Ab

Outside of the wedding, Lee's goal for this trip was to go to West Edmonton Mall

Another homeschooler, Allison, in Edmonton, Ab

My best friend from high school, Steve, in Edmonton, Ab

First views of the Rocky Mountains (in the height of forest fire season)

A beautiful shallow lake outside Jasper, Ab

Glacial fed river in Jasper National Park

Finally, British Columbia

We had fun buying lottery tickets in each province

The Rockies get clearer, and bigger.

Speed limits increase again (74.5 mph)

Seeing my now 17 yr old brother, Theo, for the first time since he was 10. And my step-mom, Norma, in Surrey, BC

On the ferry to Vancouver Island

The redwoods of Vancouver Island, Sooke, BC

My Grandpa Tim and my Aunt Nikki, in Sooke, BC

Stepping into the Pacific Ocean, in Sooke, BC

One of the scary things about driving in the mountains, rock slides. This one was an older one and thankfully very small

Amazing animal crossing bridges in Banff National Park

Beautiful Badlands of Alberta, near Drumheller, Ab

At the Royal Tyrell Museum, near Drumheller, Ab

Hoodoos, near Drumheller, Ab

Lee's favorite part of the drive, huge prairie farms

The saline lakes of Chaplin, Sk. One of the largest bodies of salt water that is no where near a coast, in the world. 6-7 times more salty than the ocean!

Back in Ontario!

At the Panorama Amethyst Mine, the largest amethyst mine in Canada, north of Thunder Bay, On

Our haul from the mine

10,000 kilometers! (6,200 miles)

HOME!

Our complete route