October 26, 2020

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• Whitman joined us in bed this morning and soon he was right back to sleep-and so were we. That boy is cuddly in the morning. It was almost 8:45 when we started our morning work today. The kids went to town on their work. Anderson was finished early and even Whitman was done by 12:20. Campbell even did three days of math. 
• I do always think it is funny that none of the kids are like me-I would have finished all of my school work on Monday morning and then been bored out of my mind the rest of the week. 
• There was no time to be bored today-I believe that we played Clue a total of 3 different times. Graham won the first two times by lucky guesses. And I won the third time this evening with a lucky guess as well.
• Robby took a few kids to Grannymom's house today to drop off some things and then they ran to the store. While he was gone, I marked a few things off of my list, and then ran to the pregnancy center to be in a few pictures and a video-I think they are making a commercial or something probably to show in churches. 
• I made it back home just as the others did. Robby and I just knew that Reagan wouldn't have soccer practice today since it was just wet and drizzly all day. Imagine my surprise when they said that they would indeed have practice. 
• I drove her out there and then hurried back up to Walmart. I did some Christmas stocking shopping and almost have finished those-yep, I am doing good. This week I do have to lay out everything and see what else I need to buy for folks.
• I was headed back to the car-nearly running back to the car-when I Reagan did text saying that practice was over. I flew out there and made it just as the last other girl was picked up. I think that she had fun at practice and didn't freeze to death so that was good,
• When we came home, Robby grilled hot dogs for us to eat. We had special buns-but they just tasted okay. Some folks had some leftovers hamburgers, so we are working on cleaning out the fridge. After supper, we played one last game of Clue before I did some computer work and it was finally bedtime.

October 25, 2020

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• I woke up this morning and glanced at my clock. This caused me to wonder why it hadn't rang yet-just about 5 minutes later than it should have woken me up. It didn't take my long to realize that I had set it for pm instead of am. I guess I was just hoping that we would all oversleep.
• We didn't and couldn't have. Well, I am not sure-you would think that one of the kids that were awake would wake up us at some point at ask about church but I am not too sure if that would even happen. Well, Whitman did bust up in our room to change out of his wet pajamas-that happens when you take a water bottle to bed. 
• I was up soon after roaming the house making sure that everyone was awake. Kennedy and Reagan were by far the hardest to wake up-mainly since they were the only ones still asleep. Campbell and Keaton were dressed and ready while the boys were happily playing their games instead of getting ready. 
• I did wash Whitman's comforter and grabbed his pajamas which I thought were the wet ones. I guess I didn't feel them that well, because minutes after starting the washing machine I found the real pair that was wet. That just means that I have way too much laundry in the floor of my room. Currently, though it is all neatly folded, but there is already another load in the washer.
• We did the Sunday school thing plus church which included the Lord's supper. We were still trying to open the plastic on the little plastic wafer when the preacher was already moving on to drinking the grape juice this morning. We should have started ahead-now, if I had known I would have brought my own bag of crackers to pass out instead of eating plastic.
• Lunch was at Grannymom's house for everyone but me. I had a meeting at church today which lasted a bit. When I arrived at Grannymom's house, everyone was playing Clue. We all decided that we were going to pull out that board game this week and play it. 
• When we left there, we dropped Graham off at a birthday party at Raymar. Then rushed home for a bit. I had the kids that were left help me clean up the house. We hadn't been home too long when Robby and Reagan showed up. Her game ended in a 2-2 tie-Reagan said that the field was a muddy mess though she didn't look too muddy when she came home. Robby, on the other hand, looked frozen. 
• Soon we started on supper-beans, hamburgers and toasted buns on the blackstone. It was all delicious-or at least I thought so. Shannon had banana pudding and Campbell had made cookies so we just had ourselves a feast! 
• It was a good evening and I sure hated for it to end because when the Wilsons left, it was time for the weekend to end and the week to begine!

October 24, 2020

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• We were a bit lazy this morning, but when we decided to leave the house, Robby and I did move pretty quick. Robby was thinking about running to the grocery store while I had just seen an ad for Cinnamon Cream Bakery-we just did both!
• Let me tell you-that bakery smelled delicious. I wanted to stay there and if they would have had a 'help wanted' sign out, I probably would have put in an application. We each had a cinnamon roll and even bought some other cookie of some sort. And then on a last minute whim, Robby bought a container of pimento cheese! It was pretty delicious-not really worth what we paid for it, but it was delicious.
• Then we went to Kroger. I think it was the most disappointing grocery store trip I have had in a while. Everything we would start to buy, Robby would look it up at Walmart, and the price at Walmart would be cheaper. We bought a few things, but not nearly that much at all. On the way home, I drove while Robby typed in our Walmart order which we received later in the afternoon.
• After putting away our piddly groceries, I loaded up with Reagan to head to the pumpkin patch with her friends. There was about 8 of them, and I did have a few revelations on my patch visit: 1. Adults paying to get into a pumpkin patch is ridiculous (I would have paid to stay home.), 2. Adults walking around without kids looks odd (that was me since I let the teenagers do their own thing.) 3. We need to open a pumpkin patch (some of Reagan's friends bought a 10 dollar pumpkin to carve later this week-I bought Reagan a 3 dollar pumpkin from Walmart to carve.) 4. All pumpkin patches should sell hot chocolate or cider. (I almost froze my tail off.) and finally, 5. People watching is so entertaining. (I would have to try not to stare at people. And this is a bonus, but people talk so ugly to their kids and family.)
• I brought all of those kids home after the patch. They were busy going from outside to inside. Of course, Campbell loves it when Reagan's friends come over because she thinks she is as old as the rest of them. This always causes problems with her sister making things just special! 
• We eventually heated up some pizza. The kids ate, then the Wilson's showed up to finish up our leftovers. We capped off the evening with brownies and ice cream and only one extra kid at the house so I will say that it was a pretty great day.

October 23, 2020

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• Keaton and I had to leave the house super early this morning for her second blood draw at the Nutrition Center. They didn't get enough last time because since the stopped because she was seconds from passing out. Today went much better-they were able to get three of the four vials of blood that the needed from her before she started going downhill.
• She does recover quickly, and the Nutrition Center people sure did enjoy her because she was super sassy. It is funny because she isn't usually like that, but she has been both times that we have been there.
• When we left the Nutrition Center it was crazy dark and crazy rainy. It took me a while to find the windshield wipers and lights on the mini van. I am not used to driving it much so I can't find anything on it. 
• This morning when I woke Keaton up, I thought that she was about to cry. I then quickly reminded me that we would get a tread afterwards-Starbucks strawberry acai lemonade. So that is where we headed next. She was super pleased with her drink-and I was super pleased that I had a gift card. 5 dollars for a lemonade? Really?
• By the time we made it home. the rain had slowed to a perfect drizzle calling for a perfect nap. Most people still weren't stirring at home, so I curled back up into bed. It was a good thing that I had already marked most things off of my list today since I didn't get much at all accomplished this morning.
• I did do Bible study with Keaton and Whitman, load up the camper (always ready plus I had a few things to put inside) and then we fixed set the girls mirror up in their room. It looks really nice-so nice that I was inspired to go and get the other mirror that they want. 
• Keaton and I were about to leave for Hobby Lobby when I kept hearing thunder. The weather said it wasn't going to rain, but when it started pouring I didn't believe their prediction anymore. We waited until after the rain before heading to Hobby Lobby.
• This time Campbell and Whitman decided to join Keaton and I. This is fine except they want to shop themselves when they really have no income. I would like to shop or at least browse too (yes, I also have no income as well)! Anyway, I will browse someday, but for today we Campbell bought clay, and I bought the girls' mirror.
• We came home and watched some camping videos before Robby made chili while I made cornbread. My cornbread was a last minute addition since my plan was to open a can of corn to heat so we could spoon some corn into our chili (Anderson does not like corn at all.) Instead it was cream style corn so I had to make some cornbread quickly.
• We ate out supper, cleaned the kitchen and then settled into watch the Scooby Doo movie. Whitman loved every second of the movie-including the Scooby Snacks that we had bought before Covid to eat when we finally watched this movie!
• After the movie, the kids dispersed so we wouldn't think about them and possibly forget to put them into bed-it didn't work though.

October 22, 2020

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• Robby left early this morning to ride to Springdale with Casey, so that left me unashamedly hitting my snooze button far too long this morning. I just really want a morning when I can sleep in-on those mornings that I can sleep in, I usually have to wake up to go the bathroom and can't go back to sleep.
• Tomorrow should be the sleep in morning, since school is mostly done for the week. I tell you, it will be hard to go back to Bible study next year. We are knocking school out this year-4 days of school every week plus not than many trips during the middle of the week has us moving along (well, most of us!)
• However, tomorrow isn't going to be a sleep in day since Keaton has a repeat blood draw at the nutrition center. And bless her excema is super bad right now-I hope they can even have room to prick her. Ugh!
• School today went just fine. Graham did have a bit of a meltdown-if he doesn't understand his math (this was a review) he kind of loses it for a little bit. He gets so stressed out even though it is okay to not understand math-that is why we have to practice it.
• Whitman is just my reader. I wish that he would read more during the day-I should probably make him really. During his 20 minutes of reading today, he read 3 books. I really think that he would be just fine if I let him just read all day long and not do any of his other school work. He would love that idea, but it probably isn't too wise.
• Reagan spent her morning studying for a test. I took her to school around noon. When we picked her up, she wasn't too sure how she did at all. Robby and I were both pretty much straight A students, so you would think that we would be proud of her studying so much-we are, but we also now realize that there are so many more important things other than good grades.
• While Reagan was at school, Keaton and I did some speed shopping at Walmart. The other day we had way too little time during Reagan's class, but this week we even browsed some before leaving the store.
• Now, speaking of more important things-I took Campbell to the pregnancy center today to volunteer with me. She had a blast. I sure wished that we lived closer so I could feel like we could go there every week. Anyway, Campbell was able to see an ultrasound today and even play with a baby for a little bit. She had a blast-and stayed super busy packaging diapers and sorting baby clothes.
• We made it home about an hour before Robby made it home from his day's adventure. When he came home, we jumped in the car to head to Pops' house to celebrate his birthday with supper and pie Pops wasn't feeling to good tonight, but I do think that he enjoyed the company-at least we enjoying going over there.
• We made it home in time for the kids to watch some tv before bed. I was even able to have my shower before the kids went to bed tonight. We started some laundry, didn't need ice cream because of our dessert at Pops', and then watched some rv videos before bed.

October 21, 2020

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• Man, for some reason I just keep waking up later and later. That is just not good. Maybe tomorrow I will be more on top of things-we shall see. It probably don't help that I do everything I can to get school ready to go at night so I really don't need much time from getting out of bed until starting school.
• I didn't have too much time to read this morning because Keaton and Whitman had their zoom at 9:15. I really want for them to enjoy their online Bible study. However, I am not too sure that they are loving it. Campbell is in the same boat, and maybe it is because the big kids and I don't do our zooms each week.
• Even though we weren't able to read much today, I have noticed that we are 1/3 of the way finished with history and science. If you remember, last year I was struggling to finish history, and not this year we are so far ahead that we might take a break next week to work on something else.
• Whitman had super easy math today so he did finish his school work by noonish. I did look ahead and next week is borrowing in two different places on a math problem for him-let's just say he will just be finishing math at noon next week! Now he did watch Keaton do her multiplication tables today and said that he wanted to try. Yep, he figured it out and was able to do some simple times tables.
• Reagan spent most of her day studying. I think that she is starting to feel more confident in her Comm Central classes which is super good. Tomorrow is a science test for her so we shall see how well she has studied! 
• For chores today, I assigned Anderson to make banana bread. He wasn't too pleased with me for doing that! Ha! I reminded him that everyone needs to be able to cook so even though he doesn't like banana bread it is good to know how to make it. I do think that his banana bread turned out perfectly.
• I don't know how the banana bread turned out because we took it to Pops' house to celebrate his birthday. He had just been to the cookie lady's house so he had a bag full of cookies. At least he HAD a bag full of cookies when we arrived. Unfortunately, I am not too sure if he had anything but a bag when we went home.
• When we came home from Pops' house, Robby and Whitman ran to get his hair cut. It took a bit, but the product was super cute. When he came back in the house as we were eating super, his hair was super mohawked. My first question to Robby was "we can fix that right?" The lady just styled it that was so there was no cause for alarm.
• We all headed to church tonight. Robby played with Gabriel after the Crafts left for dinner with friends. We then brought all of their crew home after church tonight. Let's just say that Robby and I had to count kids a few times to double and triple check that we had all of the people-11 kids. They didn't seem like a lot of kids when we got home, but trying to herd everyone to their car was tough!
• The kids were a bit disappointed when the Craft parents arrived. They were having such a good time playing. We had a few minutes of downtime before it was bedtime for the crew. 

October 20, 2020

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• Today was a bit more hectic than yesterday. It seemed that everyone had new math, and everyone had lots of questions!  We finally figured everything out, and folks were able to start to work. Even though I left by 11:20 to take Reagan to school, and when I came home, I didn't have anyone still doing school so that was a win.
• Now taking Reagan to school has become interesting. She wants to get there when they start lunch, but she doesn't want to go in until people come outside. Today we waited 20 minutes before kids did start coming outside. That was also fine with me because I was able to catch up on my emails while we waited.
• Speaking of catching up-I forgot to mention this the other day: Sometimes you just think that your kids are smarter than they really are. Anderson was giving Graham a hard time about his deodorant when I walked into the room. Later I heard the whole story-in the camper, I had given Graham a brand new deodorant. He had been using the new deodorant with the plastic thing that comes on new bottles still on top of it. He said that he thought it was strange since his other isn't like that. He said that he even rinsed the top off with water thinking that would make it work better. Gracious me!
• This afternoon I flittered from one project to another not really accomplishing much at all. I did glue the trim on the girls mirror-we only have to cut a few boards to stand behind it before setting it in it's place. I even worked on some Christmas ornaments-which has gotten me in the mood to buy a few Christmas presents.
• I did run to pick Reagan up-we didn't forget her this week. Campbell came with me, and we went to one store to buy a birthday present. While we were there, Reagan said that she wanted to work there. I kind of agreed with her because I would be able to find a few things that I wanted there as well.
• We picked up supper on the way home which means that we ate at 5 this evening. Yesterday, we didn't eat until after 7:30 so that meant that tonight our evening felt super long-Campbell went through some Halloween costumes, I worked on Sunday school for next week, the boys played video games and Reagan studied for a test! Overall it was a pretty restful evening which was nice.