Disneyland January 26, 2012

La Jolla (sea lions!)

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures)


I went to bed before Robby last night as he was catching up on his work.  And a few minutes before Robby got into bed, Graham joined us.  I was too tired to have him move and since it was a king size bed, Robby didn't make him move either.  And before too long, Campbell joined us in the bed.  She must really be a light sleeper because she woke me up saying "crying, crying" when Keaton woke in the middle of the night to eat.  I fed Keaton and then got back into bed and after a bit, I felt Campbell crawling down off the bed.  I thought that I really needed to watch her to make sure she didn't wake Keaton, help herself to cookies or walk down the hall to Grannymom's room (all of these things were possible-well, except for walking to Grannymom's room since we did have the door locked).  Anyway, I thought about watching her but I was back to sleep in a second and have no idea what she did while she was up.  Hopefully, it was just to get her taggie but soon (I guess it was soon-she could have watched a few movies) she climbed back into our bed.  Around 5, Anderson joined the party and we were then using every square inch of the bed.  We tried to all lay there quietly but that was not going to happen.  Rather than fight it, we turned on a movie for the crew and they watched some of a movie until we put their clothes in their hands and sent them down the hall to Grannymom's room.  When I came back from taking them, Reagan was up and she walked down there as well.
That just left us and Keaton so we got ready and packed everything up.  I do pack pretty light and manage to leave stuff in the car but moving in and out of a hotel is just that-moving.  At our lightest, we carry-1 bouncy, 1 ice chest, 1 food box, 2 suitcases, 1 backpack full of toys, 4 sleeping bags, Robby's backpack, 1 diaper bag, my bag (that has my magazines-why do I carry magazines across the country knowing full well that I will never get the chance to read them?  I will catch up on my magazine reading in a few years-like 18) and finally 1 extra bag.  So we do have to have a luggage cart to check in or out of a hotel.  All that for 1 night-truly we should just probably sleep in the car.  

Back to the day, Grannymom and Grandpa dressed the big 4 and they headed down to breakfast.  Our hotel was a Hyatt House-mostly business traveler there and few (no) families with children.  The breakfast was pretty swanky with a sushi station.  Well, I guess it was a sushi station-remember I don't read magazines so I am not sure.  Grannymom did get a complement about how well behaved the kids were during breakfast.  That was good to hear.  We saw them leaving breakfast when Robby and I walked down with Keaton to eat.  After our breakfast, everyone brushed their teeth, pottied and we hit the road.  All before 8, helps that we are still on central time.

Our first stop this morning was the Children's Pool at La Jolla.  Apparently the pool area was originally built for kids but sea lions took it over and then contaminated it so that kids could no longer swim there.  This was years ago but sea lions are still present and there were quite a few of them out there this morning.  The kids really loved watching them...until Graham made his loudest sea lion impression...and then half of the sea lions dived into the ocean and starting barking back at him.  It was a pretty impressive sight.  We walked out on the rocks looking at the beautiful view. 

Next was the Soledad Cross also in La Jolla.  It was a big cross up on a hill in a city park which the ACLU was/is very unhappy about.  The view from there was spectacular-you could see San Diego.  The kids enjoyed walking around the cross before loading back up.

Then it was nearly lunch time when we stopped at Laguna Beach.  We stumbled upon a playground/picnic spot on the beach and we were all happy.  The kids were happy that they had a playground and we were pleased to have a picnic table.  Of course, the playground was in the sand but they didn't end up being too sandy.  There were lots of shovels and sand trucks out there, so for the most part the kids just sat in the sand a played.  During lunch, Anderson swallowed his sandwich whole so he could get back to playing quicker.  We let them use up alot of energy and then we were on our way to Disneyland.

The drive wasn't too long-well, I napped so I don't know how long it was-but I don't think it was long.  I was napping because I have a cold/sore throat and don't feel 100%.  I am now losing my voice-people probably think I have lost it yelling at the kids but that is not the case-this time.  Our hotel is right across the street from Disneyland.  Seriously, right across the street.  And you wouldn't believe how little Robby paid for it either.  Clean, good size room, fridge-what more could you want.  And really it is right across the street-love that.

We unloaded and got everything ready for tonight.  The kids played and then found our ipods and phones and all laid around playing games.  They probably needed the down time since no one had had a nap earlier in the day.  Not even Campbell-I am surprised she made it through the day as well as she did.  After awhile, we were heading across the street to Disneyland.  The kids were so excited and there is just something about Disney.  Just makes you happy!  This is Reagan, Anderson and Graham's third trip to Disneyland, Campbell's second trip and Keaton's first trip to Disneyland.  Pitiful isn't it?

We walked through the castle while Robby ran to get a few fast passes and then we met up at the Snow White ride and then quickly followed it with the Pinocchio and Mr Toad rides.  I had Keaton in the front carrier which makes things oh so much easier-why do I have 5 kids and have never had my own of these?  Campbell would clap at the end of the ride but during the ride, she would have her hands over her ears.  I would ask her if she liked it and she would nod yes but would not take her hands off of her ears.  She did point to the carousel and we all rode it one time.  Campbell really wanted to ride Dumbo but the lines were too long tonight so we didn't do this.  Dumbo is much more her speed...

Since the next ride we did was the roller coaster in Toontown and now that Campbell is tall enough, she rode it as well.  Poor thing didn't know what she was getting herself into.  She had this look of horror mixed with a smile through the ride.  But when she saw Robby in the car in front of her waving at something, she stuck her hand out and started waving too.  When we got off, I asked if she wanted to do it again and her reply was an adamant no!  

Next this kids went through Chip and Dale's treehouse, Goofy's house, Mickey's house and Donald's boat.  Keaton did good during all of this and was awake most of the time.  She enjoyed walking around looking at everything.  We managed to have our pictures taken with Minnie and Pluto tonight.  Campbell wasn't too thrilled and hung on to me during the whole thing.  Reagan and the boys have all talked about their being a person in the costumes which makes me sad that they are growing up.  But when Minnie was nearby, Reagan's eyes still light up.  Even though there is a person in those costumes it is still magical.  We then left Toontown and headed to Space Mountain.

Now Graham is tall enough to ride Space Mountain-just barely they had to remeasure him at 2 of the 3 measuring spots.  He truly just barely made it.  Reagan and Anderson are quite a bit taller and didn't have to be measured.  But I still worried about Reagan flying out of the coaster since no one was beside her.  I was by Anderson and Robby was with Graham with Reagan in the car between us.  She had a blast and was ready to do it again.  Anderson wasn't too sure but later said it was his favorite and Graham told Robby right when they got off that it was too fast.  But later, he was talking about doing it again.  

Then we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and headed back to the hotel.  On our way out of Disneyland, Anderson and Reagan were singing It's a Small World.  Kind of funny since the Small World ride is closed.   Robby got us to the room and went downstairs with the laundry.  He put that in and walked to McDonalds to get our supper.  By the time he made it back, the kids were in their pajamas and the beds were laid out.  We had supper in Grandpa's room and they ate quite a bit and then came back to our room for some milk, cookies and medicine before bed.  Zyrtec because Anderson is a little itchy, hydrocortisone for Anderson and Campbell since they are both itchy.  Probably should have given Campbell Zyrtec too-one day last week, I had poured Anderson's medicine and came back in the room and the cup was empty but Campbell was standing there holding his medicine cup.   She had herself a little shot of medicine!

Back in the room, everyone laid down without a fuss and I called my mom.  By the time we were finished talking all 5 were snoozing soundly-traveling is tough on little feet!

San Diego January 25, 2012-Is this a school?

Aboard the USS Midway

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures)


I went in to check on the kids around 11 last night as I was going to bed.  As I opened the door, Anderson sat up and started crawling down the ladder and as I turned around, Reagan was standing groggily in the floor.  They thought it was time to wake up and they were getting up to get ready-oh, so excited.  This made us a bit worried that they would not wake up as easily in just a few hours when we had to wake them up for real.
Thankfully, at 4:30 when we went in their rooms, they all woke up and started getting ready.  Teeth were brushed, socks put on, people were helping each other-I am going to tell them that we are going on a trip every morning.  Reagan kept trying to explain to Campbell that we were going on a trip but would get frustrated saying "I just don't think she understands. How do I explain "trip" to her?"  I think that Campbell knew we were going on a trip because she did not want her backpack or anyone out of her sight-she didn't want to leave a thing.
We were fortunate in that it wasn't raining when we parked at the airport.  Shoving 5 car seats into car seat bags is not an easy task and it would have been much worse in the rain.  Though, I did have to put my coat on Keaton after I put her in the stroller since it was chilly-then I became cold and was trying to work while shivering.  We then crossed the street, checked in and headed to security.
The kids were doing well in the security line.  They know to put their shoes off, bags on the table, all was going great until I told Anderson to go through the metal detector.  He walked through and then Graham thought he could go-so he sprinted around it.  The TSA lady barked at him and scared the dickens out of the poor child.  We barely were able to get him to walk back through the metal detector.  He had already been a bit of an antagonist this morning but this just set him off and he continued to be a bit difficult during the day (though he was great on the planes).

After security, we walked to the gate and they were already boarding.  I like to get to the airport early enough that we have time to potty but that didn't happen.  Since it is Southwest and you have to jockey for your seats-though we were in boarding group a-we didn't have time to potty.  The plane was pretty empty when we got on and not full since there was an empty seat between Grannymom and Grandpa.  Grannymom had Keaton, I was with Reagan and Campbell and Robby was beside Anderson and Graham.

The pilot said that it would be a bit turbulent and he was correct.  It was the bumpiest flight I have ever been on.  I can understand why people try to open airplane doors and get off midair.  Seriously, I tightened the kids seatbelts so much that Reagan said she couldn't breathe.  Grannymom even said that she had a hard time holding on to Keaton.  Crazy, crazy bumpy.  And it wasn't just for a few minutes-it was nutty turbulent for all but 30 minutes of our flight to Phoenix.  Once when the bumps calmed some Robby went to potty and as soon as the pilot turned off the seat belt sign, I jumped up with Reagan to potty.  By the time we got back, the pilot was telling the flight attendants to sit down again.  They couldn't even be up to serve us-we did finally get out drinks and pretzels the last 20 minutes of the flight.  I get a slight panic attack just thinking about all of the bumps-and it probably didn't help that the whole time I kept trying to peer at Anderson to make sure that he wasn't going to hurl on anyone since he has gotten airsick before.  He did fine though.

The kids handled the bumps fine.  I guess even though they have flown lots, they don't really know that that is not normal nor do they know to be scared to death!  The boys played playdoh and colored, the girls colored and ate and Keaton did spectacular on her first plane trip.   She had a few bottles, dozed and played with a toy.  

The turbulence did help us out in one aspect-we would have only had a 30 minute layover (again, not enough time to potty) but we got there super early and had plenty of time.  The kids found a table and had their donuts, ran around some, pottied and we were all ready for the next flight.  The flight from Pheonix to San Diego to about 45 minutes and was perfectly smooth so it was easy peasy.

As we were getting on the San Diego flight, the flight attendant saw the kids matching shirts and welcomed "Team Dennie" over the intercom.  They were wearing the shirts they wore to announce that baby 5 was coming.  They have "team Dennie" on the front and their names and numbers on the back.  I know it is Duggarish to wear matching shirts, but it sure makes it easy to spot my brood.  Anyway, back to the story.  So as we all paraded down the aisle-Reagan, Anderson, Graham, Campbell and me holding Keaton-a lady asked "are you all a team?" and then another asked "is this a school?"  Seriously, a school?  There are just 5 of them and what kind of school takes their toddlers on an airplane?  And I know the shirts say "team" but I could tell that lady was mentally trying to figure out what kind of team we were.  Robby said I should have told her that they were on a peewee basketball team.  I chuckled about all of this the whole trip to San Diego.

And this flight was smooth sailing or smooth flying as I should say.  It was so short, my girls didn't even get anything out. We just ate and drank and then it was time to land.  Everyone did a have a bit of a nap on the first flight but no naps on the second one-it was too short.  The terminal in San Diego was quite small-we got off the plane, walked a bit and there was our luggage.  Robby then went to find the van and was back by the time we had unzipped everyone's car seats.  

Our first stop in San Diego was the USS Midway.  The boys were pretty impressed about how large the ship was and that Grandpa was on a ship like that.  They had headsets for us but I knew that I shouldn't have even bothered with getting mine since we wouldn't be able to listen any (and really, that was fine with me because if you have seen one ship, you have really seen them all).  A guide had given us a brochure with questions for the kids and told us that if we finished it, they would all get their pilot's wings.  So this made things a bit more interesting to the kids and what we didn't get around to completing, Robby did!  

Anderson was in his element on the ship.  There were little green arrows marking the way down the zig zagging corridors of the ship.  They showed you were to continue to tour and he was leading the pack.  Just like Robby, directions are his forte and he was quite proud of himself being the leader.  They saw the brig, the kitchen and the flight deck.  The highlight was climbing in and out of airplanes.  The boys would sit in there and immediately start talking "this is pilot Anderson, cleared for take off, yada, yada, yada."  So much imagination-maybe we need an airplane in the yard to play in-wouldn't that be awesome.

We did have our first back picture there-our first as a family of 7.  The kids are usually pretty good about taking pictures for us but we often get eye rolls or a picture of them running away (we just don't show them to you).  I guess if you have had pictures made of you every single day of your life then I could see how you might want to roll your eyes or run away from the camera.

Back to San Diego...after we left the Midway.  We ended up at Cabrillo National Monument.  This is where I bought my National Park passport book and that started it all.  We now go out of our way to go to National Park sites to get stamps for our book and each of the kids have a book as well.  So this was Keaton's first stamp in her new book-stamping 6 books-aren't you glad you weren't waiting in line behind me?

We walked along the beautiful grounds which overlook San Diego and man, this city is gorgeous.  The highlight for the kids was going up into the light house.  It was a nice uphill walk and then they were really interested in the lighthouse-sometime it would be neat to spend the night in a lighthouse.  Back down the hill, we left Cabrillo and went to Coronado.

We drove over to the Hotel Del Coronado and walked around.  Oh, and we might have stopped by the ice cream place and we might have ordered some ice cream by the name of the Crown Jewel.  10 scoops of ice cream, whip cream, cherries, nuts and 5 toppings.  Crazy big!  Financially, it did work out better this way because each of the kids had their own scoop (would have been 5.50 each) and we also had some scoops.  10 scoops of ice cream really isn't that much when you split it between 9 people (even though Keaton didn't eat that much of it!)

We then had to walk on the beach to walk the ice cream off.  Right beside the big airplane in the yard, I need to put in a sand pit.  They looked at the ocean and then they just wanted to play in the sand.  Reagan did hunt and find many sea shells but she also was so interested in the sand.  Keaton got her toes in the Pacific ocean and has become quite the traveler so far-almost 4 months old and has been to 4 states (AR, TX, MO, CA).  

They all played in the sand until we drug them back to their shoes.  And as we were walking down the sidewalk, a lady approached Campbell and tried to give her a sand dollar.  Campbell was oblivious and just kept walking.  I said that I had another one that would love it though and called Reagan over.  She gave the sand dollar to Reagan and we thanked her and parted ways....and not 10 feet later, Reagan dropped that thing.  Of course, it shattered but she wasn't too devastated and we did keep all of the pieces to bring us even more luck.  

By now, we were getting tired-traveling days are hard on everyone-so we headed to the hotel.  It was probably around 5 when we checked in.  We didn't even unload and went right to the store to buy our precious milk, picnic supplies and pizza for supper.  Our room had a convection oven tonight so we had pizza and cookies before bed.  I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off packing and repacking and then it was bathtime for everyone. 

Keaton was just exhausted and whimpered all through her bath and then fell sound asleep about a bit of crying.  When I laid her in her bouncy, she turned her head and then you could just see her body relax.  She must have thought she was home.  After a short movie, everyone laid down and we never heard a peep from them-probably because they had been up for over 17 hours with just a few short cat naps.  Soon I am going to lay down and no one will hear a peep out of me either!  We better sleep well, tomorrow is a big day-Point Lloma, some driving and then Disneyland at nighttime.  

January 24, 2012

"It is okay if we pop these, right?"

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures)

• Graham getting in our bed in the middle of the night has just become a habit lately.  When Keaton ate at 5, Robby was surprised to see him in bed with us and I was too (much later when I woke up).  Our old comforter is just an extra blanket now in a trunk in the living room and it is Robby's favorite to get in the middle of the night if he is feeding Keaton or has gotten kicked out of bed by Graham or checking into our flights online (as he did this morning).
• No one balked too much about getting ready today.  Anderson was snack helper today and this didn't sit too well with Graham.  Ms. Wendolyn said that he REALLY wants to be snack helper next month (we weren't able to this month because the only 2 spots left were when we will be out of town).  And then when I got in the car and asked him if he had a great day, he said "No, I wasn't the fish feeder."  Poor guy, just missing out on everything.  
• The girls spent the morning with Pops because Nonna had to go in for jury duty.  She didn't get picked but did end up staying all day long.  She rode up the elevator with a news station and was sure dreading getting on a news worthy case.  The girls and Pops managed fine.  Keaton did have 3 bottles and Pops said that he held her all morning long except for 30 minutes when she was sleeping.  She is still perfectly happy and one of the best Dennie babies but she is not as content as she used to be.  I think it is because she has a little tooth that is about to pop out soon
• This afternoon was spent with a fit by Anderson, a fit by Graham and then a fit by Reagan.  I could tell everyone was tired and thought about letting/making them take a nap but since we have to wake up a bit early (4ish) I thought an early bedtime was more important.  We muddled through school-Reagan got mad at Graham and then was pretty ugly so she ended up getting a spanking.  Don't feel too bad, that spoon barely touched her-she gets pretty hysterical if you just look at the spanking spoon much less use it.  
• The boys did finish their school work and went to play upstairs but they just can't stay away too long so soon they were back downstairs.  Reagan had about 20 more minutes when the neighbor rang the doorbell and asked for them to come and play.  I said they could in 20 minutes and that encouraged Reagan to get it done.  I had a grid for her to write her numbers (1-100) and told her to just write to 20 today so she could finish faster and she wanted to write them all.  Finally, I made it clear to her that she could do it another school day and this would help her finish and get to go outside.
• After about 30 minutes outside, Reagan and Anderson came in and I went out to work on loading the car.  Graham and Campbell helped me.  Then I had to call everyone back outside because much dog food had been spilled by someone (probably Anderson but he vehemently denies it).  So I made them pick it all up-well, they did pick up most of it.  I tried to make the dog eat the spilled food but she didn't even want it.  So I had to shovel it up and throw it away from the house.  Robby doesn't need another shed visitor.
• Nonna and Pops came over and helped pick up the toy room, give Keaton a bottle, give baths and ate supper with the kids.  The kids were hungry because they pretty much devoured their suppers.  Then they did a little popping on some packaging from Keaton's many cans of formula that arrived in the mail today.
• After that, it was bedtime.  I have 4 sets of clothes laying out upstairs hoping that we wake in enough time to change everyone without a big ordeal (Plan B is to load the kids in their pjs and lug around another bag of clothes from plane to plane).  I will have enough lugging as is...5 car seats, 4 kid backpacks, 1 diaper bag, 2 other backpacks, 2 suitcases, 2 strollers and 5 kids.  

January 23, 2012

Sometimes they love each other...

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures)

• Sometime before we went to bed last night, we heard something and looked over and Graham was standing in the middle of the living room with his foxy just watching us.  I quickly hid my ice cream and took him back upstairs. He did see my snack and asked if he could have some in the morning and I said that we could after lunch.  I felt sorry for him being up so late so I handed him a book to read in bed.
• About 30 minutes later, down he came down the steps again.  This time he had the book with him and asked if I could read it to him.  He sweetly said that if it was too long, we could read the rest in the morning.   I read the whole book to him and finally he went to sleep.
• Later in the evening, we heard Campbell screaming.  "Momma! Momma!"  The way she was screaming, I thought something was wrong so I did get upstairs pretty quick.  I guess she didn't think I was up quickly enough because she had already started screaming "Momma, Daddy, ReaRea."  When I made it up there, she was almost trying to get out of her bed and started saying "dog, dog, paci, dog."  It was like she thought a dog was in her bed-at first I thought she was dreaming but then I saw a little tool toy that makes a noise-could sound like a dog.  Anyway, I took it out and calmed Campbell down.  She kept saying "dog got my paci" over and over until I finally found her paci.  Then she said "bed" and was ready to go back to sleep.  
• Robby took Anderson and Reagan to school this morning and they made a quick stop by Hardees and enjoyed eating the hash brown bites.  This probably made Reagan's day at school better since she was disappointed about missing the ice cream.
• I spent all day long talking to Graham and packing.  And packing and packing.  During some points of the day, I barely knew that 3 kids were here and at other time, I felt that these 3 made things crazier than having all 5 home.  Keaton must be teething because she just really wants to eat, sleep or be held.  Graham was good for the most part but for those parts when he wasn't being good, he was bad, real bad.  And Campbell, my, my, Campbell.  She loves to be right by my side or loves to take Keaton's clothes off.  Tonight she stripped Keaton down, got her a diaper, took her old poopy diaper off and put on a new diaper (I did wipe the poor baby)-that is pretty good for a 2 year old.   
• My packing wasn't coming too swiftly so I asked Pops to pick up Anderson at lunch.  Anderson was very excited to go over there and they spent most of the afternoon playing car, riding bikes and playing outside.  When we came to pick him up, he hid and started a massive game of hide and seek.
• Next we picked up Reagan and she talked the rest of the afternoon.  I guess she doesn't get too talk much at school and had to make up for it.  She did tell me that 2 girls from her class took the hello kittys off of her bag a few weeks ago and then hid them in their lunch boxes.  She said that she said "do you have them? tell me the truth" and they did give them to her.  I asked if she told her teacher but she said no.  I had wondered why she wanted to take the hello kittys off of her bag.  Mean girls are everywhere!
• We did more packing this evening, had leftovers for supper, the kids played but they couldn't seem to stay away from us since we were trying to pack.  So Robby made them all sit in our room and watch us pack.  Then they played more until it was bedtime-I read a book, made sure that the noise making toy was out of Campbell's bed and then said good night.

January 22, 2012

Maybe Dad should
turn up the heat!

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures)

• Around 3, Graham joined our bed and at 5, when I headed to the chair to feed Keaton, Robby couldn't understand why until he saw Graham in the bed.  He then asked "where did he come from?" like he had never seen the child before.  After Keaton finished her bottle, I squeezed back in bed and we all slept until 8.  Anderson did wake up at sometime and joined us.  He doesn't last too long in bed though because as soon as that clock clicks to 7, he is up headed to watch a movie.  Robby ended up having to wake the girls up though.
• I lay out the kids clothes on Sundays and on most days of the week.  Usually, I do let Reagan change her clothes if she wants to something else but on Sundays that really isn't much of an option since I would prefer her match and we are usually running behind.  So every Sunday, what she wears is an issue.  And of course it was today as well.  We have some dresses that are winter but sleeveless and she wants to wear them (we don't have a sweater so that won't work but she thinks wearing Campbell's sweater would be fine-no, the sleeves only reach Reagan's elbows) or she wants to wear a pantyhose dress with her denim leggings (that she tries to wear everyday) or wants to wear her black boots with a brown dress.  Next time we get ready for church, I will just have to let her pick her clothes out on Saturday night so we can have our battle earlier.
• Powdered donuts calmed everyone down and made a mess of the kitchen.  Luckily, we have our sweeper and the kids love doing it-well, that may be an overstatement.  They do it without too much complaining.  Usually, I have Anderson sweep after we eat but today the mess was so bad that Reagan had to help him.  The mess was so bad because Campbell smashed her donuts and when Graham shouted "look, it is snowing" this just encouraged her.
• Everyone had a good time at church.  During worship care, Robby was in Keaton's class and I was in another class.  Church went long, very long, and I could see Campbell so I had her teacher send her to me.  Robby had to leave his post to go and get Reagan and Anderson since their class is full of kids whose parents are in Sunday school so they were all picked up.  So then he delivered the 4 to me while he finished with the baby room.  After his class cleared, he picked up the kids and headed to the car to wait on me for the parents to come and pick up the last few kids in my class.  Hmm, wonder why we are always exhausted on Sunday afternoons?
• Lunch was at Nonna and Pops' house.  Reagan, Anderson and Graham all said that their high of the day was riding on Jason's back when he was playing horse.  It is the simple things in life.  
• We came home and Campbell, Keaton and Robby slept.  Then Graham came and sat by me and we were soon sleeping as well.  Anderson was in the school room watching a movie-covered from head to toe with a blanket.  Reagan was laying in their school chairs.  I never understand these kids-why don't they lay on the floor with a pillow but no, the sit in those chairs to watch a movie.
• Robby ran to a few grocery stores while we had supper.  He made it home and it started to rain and thunder.  He was in the shower, I was upstairs and the kids were all in the living room when the lights flickered.  They did go out for probably 3 seconds and that was long enough for Robby and I to realize that the boonies are dark when the lights go out.  He shouted to me from the shower to go and find the flashlights but I was already walking down the stairs on my way to get them.  I think I might should have put a few more flashlights on my Christmas list.  And speaking of storms, I can hear the tornado sirens here if I am standing outside and the weather is quite.  But I can not hear them inside the house and they certainly would not wake me up like they did on Gamble,  so you have permission to call me (even in the middle of the night) when we need to duck and cover.
• After picking up the toy room tonight, the kids started dancing.  Well, that is how it started with Reagan and Anderson but soon their dancing ended up in a shoving match.  Graham and Campbell were not going to be left out and were soon dancing (holding hands singing doodoodoodoo).  Cutest thing-I should have gone to get my camera but I didn't want to miss any of it.
• Then it was bedtime and since Graham had a nap today he was pretty wired still.  Wired enough that we heard Reagan screaming for us-Graham had gotten his leg stuck on the bed.  I freed him and hopefully all will calm down now.  We have been having an epidemic of kid getting stuck around here...Campbell got stuck in Grannymom's pantry, Anderson put Graham in our coffee table trunk and Campbell became stuck under a bed at Jacob's house.  Reagan, Anderson and Keaton better watch out since they will probably be the next ones to get stuck somewhere.  

January 21, 2012

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures)

• Anderson slept in until right before 8 and then spent the morning playing games with Grannymom.  Apparently, he is the domino champ.  Meanwhile at home, we managed to sleep in a bit too.  Not too long but a bit longer than usual.  
• Reagan and Graham watched a few movies and played this morning.  Campbell would bounce between hanging with Reagan or coming down to check on what we were doing.
• After Robby ran, everyone had a chance to run on the treadmill.  Reagan did fine, Graham managed with his pajama pants dragging the ground and as soon as Robby turned it on for Campbell to walk on she dropped to all 4s.  We grabbed her up  and then she figured out what she was supposed to do.  Poor Campbell, she may have to spend some time on the treadmill pretty soon.
• We moved pretty slow and made it to pick up Anderson around lunch time.  As soon as we came in, his attitude soured and things just went downhill from there.  They were decent but all of the kids were pretty tired.  They did manage to have a snack or two and then we came home.
• Campbell had a nap, Reagan and Anderson played and watched a movie, Graham sat by Robby and talked and talked and talked, I fed Keaton and then we both had a nap.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  
• Next up, Robby and Keaton took a shower and then we headed to Jacob, Ethan and Hayley's house.  Kennedy, Camryn and Laynie were already there and as soon as we arrived all the kids ran upstairs to play.
• We had supper and then the kids went back upstairs for more playing.  They had a blast and there were few tears so it made for a good night.  11 kids can be quite noisy but we all had a good time and even made it home and everyone was tucked in bed by 9.  

January 20, 2012-100 Days of School!

Celebrating the 100th Day of School!

Highlights from today: (Click here for pictures)
(Click here for a video)

• Keaton woke up right before 7 and soon Graham was calling from upstairs that he had woken up. It didn't take too long for Campbell to decide that she also wanted up.  And since today was the day of the big party, everyone was ready to get their clothes on.  
• Reagan has been so excited about today and picked out her outfit earlier this week.  And we had to put her pony tail to the side as well-that was all in the outfit plans.  Campbell also now has her own ideas about how I do her hair.  She always brings me two ponytail holders so I can make her dog ears.  She must know how cute she looks wearing them.
• Reagan had a gift for me for the 100th day of school.  She had made me a picture of 100 kisses for the best teacher ever (I added that last part)!
• I made 100 sandwiches while the kids had breakfast (mini sandwiches-I was able to cut 6 per sandwich).  Then my shower, picking up the toy room, brushing everyone's teeth and then it was time to wake Keaton up for a bottle before everyone arrived.  I fed her while I read a few 100 days of school stories to the kids.
• I had set the date for today's party just guessing when our 100 days of school would be and it just so happened that today was our exact 100th day of school (since Reagan missed Monday).  I can't believe that we have already had 100 days of Kindergarten.  It has been lots of work and not always easy but it has been a wonderful 100 days of school.  
• Around 10 the guests started arriving: Noah, Eden, Lilly, Kennedy, Ethan, Brody, Alyssa Kate and Caroline along with Reagan, Anderson, Graham, Campbell and Keaton.  Everyone had decorated their 100 glasses and we donned them.  Reagan had even collected 100 seashells, Anderson had counted 100 cars, Graham had counted 100 silly bands and Campbell had 100 acorns found and counted by Reagan.
• The first thing we did at the party was to let the kids play and play they did.  Those kids played with every toy that we own and could have played upstairs happily most of the day.  But our first item on the agenda was counting the canned food that we had collected.  Each kid brought 10 cans and we ended up with 110 cans.  We all sat and counted by 2s until we had finished with our cans.  Then it was time for a group pictures in front of the cans that we will donate.  Sometime today, Reagan said that we would be able to feed alot of kids with the food that we had collected.
• Then everyone found two rolls of pennies and then it was to the kitchen to make their own snack mix.  Everyone had a grid of the numbers 1-100 and we passed the 10 bowls of treats and filled in 10 numbers at a time.  It is amazing the difference in the kids-the kindergartners all did great and understood just what to do.  Anderson (pre-k) understood the task and did just fine.  Graham, Caroline and Eden are about the same age and the girls did a bit better on it than Graham.  Though Graham finally caught on and when the bowl came his way, he just took a handful and dumped it on his number grid.  And then there was Campbell, when the bowl came her way she would throw a few pieces on her paper and then just eat and eat out of the bowl until we took it from her to pass it along.
• We then bagged up their snack mixes (or what was left of it) and then took their number page to the living room where they discovered all of the penny rolls had been unrolled and were in a pile in the floor.  That was 1100 pennies that Ms. Candace brought!  The boys immediately scooped them all towards then until we explained that they were only allowed to keep 100.  It didn't take long for the 100 charts to be filled up and those pennies were bagged for everyone to take home.  They did the same as before-Kindergartners and Anderson did great, the others did fine and Campbell just spent her time filling her bag FULL of pennies.  Forget only 100 pennies for Campbell, she filled her bag FULL of pennies.
• Then it was time for lunch.  We had 100 sandwiches, 100 grapes, 100 carrot sticks and lots of other goodies.  The kids ate and ate for awhile (especially considering how much snack mix they had already eaten).  Then they were back upstairs to play.  We let them play longer while the grown ups talked.  By now Keaton was stirring so she started a bottle.
• I probably should have let her stay in bed for a few more minutes because the next activity was balloons.  We had 100 balloons blown up and Campbell and Brody were able to play with them for a bit until the big kids came in.  We finally let them downstairs and it was chaos.  Surprisingly, 100 balloons didn't take too long to pop.  I thought that Keaton would have been bothered by all of the popping but she didn't mind at all (probably sounded the same as a normal day around here).  
• Everyone got to be pretty good at popping the balloons and imagine all of the balloon pieces.  We picked them up and then Anderson decided that he needed to make a trail with them and then we picked the pieces all up again.  After all of that work, the kids needed a snack and we had 100 cookies to eat.
• Soon everyone started to leave and since it wasn't raining then, we all went out to run 100 yards.  Noah and Anderson were the first two to go and everyone was quite surprised at how far they had to run to get to 100 yards.  Before long the kids were all running.  Reagan ran with Alyssa Kate and Kennedy.  You can tell that Reagan's foot is still a bit sore and she is limping a bit but that didn't slow her down much.  Graham and Caroline ran together to the flag too.  I was very surprised that he made it that far but with everyone cheering for them they did great.  Campbell even got in on the action and ran as well.
• Everyone left and Campbell was put to bed and Keaton by now was sleeping in the swing.  Reagan, Anderson and Graham watched a movie while I picked up the house.  I had almost finished with the house when Grannymom came over to pick up Anderson for her night at her house.  We was pretty happy to go but first he wanted to put his pennies from the day into his new bank jar from Nonna.  Robby saw a picture of Anderson tonight eating cotton candy so I am sure that he was having a blast.  
• Robby came home early and I sat down to feed Keaton.  She fell asleep and I thought that was a good chance to catch a few zzzzzs.  It had been a busy day so far.  I then put the food for Bunko in the oven and the girls helped me wash the fruit.  Next I had a shower and seriously thought about staying in my robe for the rest of the evening but opted not too.
• Right before the bunko group arrived, Superdad headed out with the kids to Larry's pizza in Bryant.  And he said it was crazy crowded.  The had to wait 15 minutes for a table and that is a long time waiting with a baby in a carrier, a 2,3 and 6 year old.  The kids ate their few bites of pizza and then they were ready to go and play.  Robby didn't even manage to get any dessert pizza.  
• Reagan has learned the importance of winning tickets and that is all she wanted to do.  Robby was able to explain the Deal or No Deal game to her.  And 2 different people gave her their tickets-they had nearly 500 tickets.  Everyone got a huge pixie stick and they even remembered Anderson and bought him one.  And had tickets left over to buy Reagan a few bracelets and lollipops for everyone.  It was a big night.
• And then Robby had to run into Burger King for a mystery shop so they even had the chance to slide and play there.  When they came home, they were worn out.  Campbell snuck downstairs after putting on her pjs to see the bunko girls. She did not want to leave the party happening downstairs.  Robby finally tempted her to come upstairs with her paci and soon Keaton was summoned to the living room and she spent the rest of bunko time with us.
• After everyone left, I realized that it is a lot easier to clean up from Bunko than it was to clean up from the 100 day of school party!  When I went upstairs to check on the kids, they were sound asleep and had not moved at all.  A very good day-we even decided that our 100 Day of School party will be an annual tradition.