Matthew turns 14!

Water/wave cake in anticipation of our upcoming outing...because covid restrictions are finally starting to lift! Matthew thought he'd like to go to Ripley's Aquarium this year.

We got his some technical literature...hoping that would challenge him.

Jennifer made Matthew several origami balls.

Evelyn sewed him a wall hanging.

And then we headed off to Ripleys!

They certainly have some very interesting animals there! It is fascinating to get a glimpse of the huge variety of life there is teeming in the ocean.

The moving sidewalk is pretty neat too! We went around through an alley of sorts and did it a second time.

Having a shark swim over you is pretty neat. When you know there is a very strong layer between you and it. Some of the kids bought shark teeth in the gift shop later. Apparently they loose a lot of teeth.

We saw an octopus, seahorses, crabs, coral, turtles, and so many kinds of fish...this one is an electric eel...

The stingray looked especially fascinating.

And when they swam nearby...their movement is so calming.

There was creepy music in the background by the jelllyfish. I guess there a lot of them you don't want to touch! 

We got a lot of good views of the sea turtles.

We had a great time! Matthew's birthday at the beginning of the whole covid lockdown excitement was the last time we've had a major covid outing...sure has been a long time! We enjoyed this time extra on account of it being such a long time!

Matthew is 14 years old already. In addition to growing up, he is also growing up. :p  Matthew is becoming a hard worker, taking a lot more responsibility, and he still having a great sense of humour and an outgoing and social nature. We are blessed to have him in our family for these past 14 years!

Second half of February

Daniel likes to perch on top of his bed when telling me about how his school work is coming along.

Most often (it seems) Evelyn's sheets and blankets are on the floor...so I think it nice to see (and remember) her making her bed.

Daniel is shocked that I find it so hard to resist pushing him over onto his mattress while he is talking to me. (Why would he be surprised? :P )

Note the art work on her walls. She really likes to hang up her work when it is done. Brightens up the room nicely!

When I check in on Jennifer about how her schoolwork is coming, Evelyn likes to see how much progress there is too.

If Jennifer is done she may have time to play a game...since Evelyn is done her work already!

We (the unofficial planning committee AND Melanie) are happy with the corner and how both sides look together. Melanie is allowed to carry on with her project.

Most mornings I can find a lot of math students hanging around in the kitchen area.

Daniel moved off to the school room. Matthew and him don't seem to get more efficient when the sit at the same table. Sometimes it gets really loud! (It's not always a happy loud, either.)

Today was laundry day. For Daniel's teddy, anyways. I'm glad to know that even his teddy washes out his clothes once in a while.

Evelyn made rice krispie squares for snack. Jennifer helped her out with the tricky parts. It's actually really hard to physically stir it, and it's best to be efficient because if it cools down too quickly, it gets even harder to work with! I always have to sweep the floor after a rice krispie square making episode. :p

Nathan likes to play hockey with the older kids...he often can convince someone to come out with him.

Melanie often will oblige. (even if the ice isn't as good as in Smithers. :p )

Matthew trying to figure out how to get his robot to climb stairs. It was a huge challenge, and he got it up a step or two...but a whole staircase...is a whole staircase.

Jennifer in her bed. She probably spends 2/3 of her day in there. I see her laying and sitting on it to do her school work. And she reads novels in there too...plus sleeping at night. Good thing we don't allow meals in bed, or we'd never see her!

More skating! At least the efforts of resurfacing the ice are appreciated--even if I don't want to risk falling on the ice again and only watch!

Jennifer made a very fancy ball out of origami. She is planning to make several for her brother in case he'd like to decorate his room with them. After all his birthday is coming up soon!

Beginning half of February

Here is Daniel in his snow fort. He is well supplied with wood for heating and cooking.

Matthew had to do his Air Cadets online again. Not so exciting, but what can you do? Well, he can play some games or check his email while waiting...it seems like they did a lot of waiting.

Matthew got into the fort building fad.

We sure had a lot of snow! Nathan had to help out with the plowing a number of times. He's got more experience and manages the go-cart better than anyone else.

The younger three kids treated our tenants with a snowman to look at out their front window. I didn't approve of it, so they only got to make the one snowman--our tenant enjoyed it though!

Matthew plowing again...such a lot of snow! What a winter!!

Why sit at your desk when you can sit on it? (Is it just homeschooled kids that don't know what chairs are for??)

I cut Evelyn's hair. It was too much work to keep the long curls from getting really tangled. I miss the curls, but I don't miss the mess (or brushing it when it was a disaster!)

Now Melanie convinces her to have ponytails or other cute hairstyles, and Evelyn usually lets Melanie do it up. We played Blokus together one evening when she was bored. We both had to be two colors, because it doesn't work to just play with two colors. But Evelyn is an expert at playing games while being multiple players. :)

Reading a still a common activity here.

Boys in books! (If a comic is worthy of calling a book.)

Unfortunately my updated phone is much slower at taking photos, so I can't always get the casual shots I am used to snapping as I discretely walk by. :)

Matthew's fort is getting pretty high! He made it really big.

Home renos made easy: if your home is a snow fort, all you need is a shovel and a good imagination!

Matthew decided to get serious with this snow shifting business. If you can fill a whole trailer full then you can really get a lot of snow to the wall...way more than a shovel full at a time!

The kids really did take advantage of the bounty of snow this winter!

I was pretty impressed with the size of Evelyn's fort. I'm pretty sure she did this all on her own.

Jennifer wasn't much in to building, but she made lots of tracks throughout the property. She was often around on the far end when Melanie and I came back from the golf course.

Matthew bought himself a used EV3 robot...which is a robot meant to work with Lego, and it works with the lego programming software.

The robot looks pretty cool looking too. Matthew got it to do a number of different things...but quickly got tired of it.

Melanie had another quilting project lined up to make. This one had a big centerpiece to work around...as a thank you gift to our neighbour for riding lessons, and for also all the years of having a job right next door(even if it is scooping out stalls)!

Lining up the diamonds to wrap around the corner was more complicated than when it was first envisioned. Good thing there were lots of people with ideas to help out!

Yup, that's how you should do it Melanie. (It's a lot easier to just move around pieces of fabric and see where it looks good, than to actually do all the finicky sewing if you ask me!)