- I knew that we had a very short morning this morning because we were going to try to be at the pool at 10. The kids were already up by the time that I started stirring. Now, we still had time to do some chores and reading.
- My boys thought that they could lose their mind since Robby had left for Conway. Graham acted like he hadn't read a book all summer long even though we have been doing it almost every day this summer. Anderson decided he didn't want to go swimming and just started at me when I asked him to put on his bathing suit. Their craziness started my day just about caused me to lose my mind!
- The kids enjoyed playing at the pool. Whitman is working hard on his swimming though this means that I am almost always in the water which is not where I would prefer to be. I would rather be sitting with my legs dangling in the pool. Though taking of Whitman's life jacket and letting him swim, does get my in the pool quicker. I forget about it being cold and have to hop in to grab him.
- We ate lunch at the pool and then around one, we loaded up and headed to the library. We are now back at 88 library books checked out. It is pretty near school time so I am sure that the number will increase even more.
- Once we made it home, we unloaded our books. Then the girls and I worked on making cookies for Graham's party. I doubled the recipe and after 5 dozen cookies, I decided to freeze the rest of the dough. Hmm, maybe I should have that tonight for a snack.
- Soon Robby was home and went to work on his lawnmower. The kids played outside for a little bit, but eventually we ended up inside eating our supper. After supper, the kids had their showers and then we settled in with oreos and a Bates tv show.
- Robby was already gone this morning when I stirred. He took my car to change the oil. We couldn't just let one car be in the shop, we felt that if one had to go to the shop, then they both should. Now, my oil change was a bit simpler than Robby's work but all cars are healthy now (though I am almost in need of new tires.)
- The plan had been for us to meet our people at the pool, but the rain this morning pushed those plans back to the afternoon. So we worked on our reading, Whitman's school work and chores around the house.
- The only excitement during the morning time was when the termite man came. We were expecting him, but I guess that Robby and I neglected to tell all of the kids that he was here. Whitman walked by him giving him to stare down. I told him that he was looking for bugs in the house, and Whitman quietly whispered to me, "he looked like Daddy." That man had a hundred pounds on Robby and even less hair!
- Anderson came down the stairs followed by Campbell. They both had a look on their face that told me that I indeed had not told them about the bug man! I will do better next time though since I am sure that he might have given them quite a shock!
- At noon, we loaded up for free hot dogs, chips and a drink that The Buzz radio station. It was across town so on the way back we ran by Dairy Queen. The lady at the window was able to name 4 of the 6 kids names. That is pretty impressive, but we just have a few more weeks left on our cards before they finish up.
- The next stop was dropping Robby off to pick up his car, and then we met the buddies at the pool. The kids swam for 2 and a half hours. They could have stayed longer, but I had to get them home.
- As soon as I dropped them off, I loaded back up and headed to the library. I met Sara at her library for an earring making class. We made 2 pairs of beaded earrings. And no, I probably won't ever make them but I sure did have fun. I think it would be a fun craft though to do at Reagan's birthday party. We will see if I can convince her!
- The kids played outside some while I was gone. Robby mowed some until he belt came off. Later tonight while he was working on our ice maker, he moaned that he was tired of fixing things around here. Indeed, it does seem like most things are falling apart! I made some cookies for a snack and the kids ate them while watching some tv before bed.
- This was a fairly uneventful morning. We did accomplish quite a bit even though we weren't in much hurry at all. It was the type of morning that had me questioning my sanity of starting school next week. You know some families are "unschoolers" which they would count video games as problem solving, grammar and reading skills and count slime making as science and count cartwheeling in the living room as physical education and count the reading of the cereal box as literature and nutrition. Basically, that was our morning so maybe I should become an "unschooler" and count it as a day of school.
- Whitman did work with me on his reading book this morning. He has 24 lessons before he finishes that blasted thing. Since I have done it 6 times now, I do know the stories by heart. However, reading with Whitman is a bit excruciating. He can't focus and wants to talk all of the time. All of that to say, our reading book time probably won't be during our school time like it has been for everyone else. His reading book time will probably have to be later in the day when things are a bit slower.
- Around lunch, I read a few books to the kids. One was all about poop! Yep, the boys loved it, but the girls not so much. After we finished eating, the kids finished a few chores.
- The girls and Whitman did go with me to the pool this afternoon. Whitman practiced swimming and even swam the short length of the pool by himself. They swam for a good while until there was thunder. We waited around and then swam for 30 more minutes before running to the dollar store to buy a few things for Graham's party. The girls and even Whitman bought Graham a present. I am not sure what they picked for him because I didn't like the looks of one guy in the store and was on high alert until we were back safely in the car.
- We arrived back at home just as the boys and Robby were going out to work in the yard. We unloaded the car and then joined them. Anderson mowed the front yard, Graham mowed some in the back, and we all picked up many, many sticks. We worked for a long while and came in just about 20 minutes before it started pouring here.
- We headed up leftovers for supper. I know that it sounds like we eat leftovers every single night; it feels like we eat them every single night too! After supper, we waited around until it was time for us to head to a movie.
- Yep, we loaded up our 5 kids and took them to a movie at bedtime. Probably not the wisest thing to do, but it was fun. We saw Incredibles 2. The boys and Campbell loved it. Keaton slept through half of it. And Whitman was terrified through most of it. At one time, he loudly asked, "can you turn the movie off?" Good thing there was only us and one other lady in the movie. And we were the only people in the entire place when we left.
- It was almost midnight when we made it home. The kids quickly put on their pajamas, brushed their teeth and crawled into bed!
- Robby and I were almost the first ones awake this morning because we had to take his car to the shop for some repairs. Anderson and Graham were awake when we left. By the time we made it back, I text Reagan to urge her to get herself ready and do the rest of her last minute packing. She quickly wrote back replying that she had already done all of it.
- Indeed she had, we had about 20 minutes when I returned before it was time to drop her off. She is going to Praiseworks this week at Ouachita. It is what used to be Young Musician's Camp when Robby and I were her age. When I was in the 4th grade I went to Young Musician's Camp, and Robby was one of the counselors for our group. When I came back to school that fall, I guess I had a slight crush on Robby because I told all of my friends that I was going to become Mrs. Tara Jo Dennie when I grew up.
- Reagan's buddies, Alyssa and Kaleigh, will be her roomies so I am hoping that they have a wonderful time. Now this camp is one that you could bring phones too but since Reagan nor her buddies have phones, we won't know what is happening all week long. The other moms going won't be around the big girls much so I doubt that we will get frequent pictures like we did for their mission trip.
- After dropping her off, Keaton, Graham and I ran to Chick-Fil-A to pick up a few thing and then to Redbox to snag a free game rental for the boys to play with. I don't think that they played with it very long today though.
- Back at home, we started on chores and reading for the day. Soon Pops came to pick up Graham to take him shopping for his birthday. He had a list of things he needed to pick up, and they quickly found them and started working on his Christmas shopping.
- Keaton, Campbell and I baked some banana muffins right before lunch, Then we ate our lunch for a bit. I served my treadmill time until Nonna and Pops brought Graham back from his outing.
- Later, Keaton, Campbell and I ran to the store for a little bit. We picked up stuff to make Graham's birthday dessert-oreo delight. We will have to make that in a few nights so I will have time to thaw it and cut it before the party.
- After the store, Whitman and Keaton helped me make Huevos Rancheros for supper. Whitman, bless, did have 2 bathroom accidents while we were cooking so that slowed us down a good bit. I am not sure if his tummy was upset or not, but he has been fine since.
- Everyone enjoyed our supper-tortilla, black beans, salsa, an egg and cheese on top. Who wouldn't like all of that! It took us a while to clean the kitchen, and afterwards the kids headed outside to play with the neighbor.
- They stayed out late enough to need showers again before bed. We cycled everyone through the showers and then herded them all to bed.
- The normal Sunday morning scurry didn't happen too much around here. We were actually early to church this morning-oddly early. We have been barely walking in on time for the last few weeks so we were unsure of what to do with ourselves when we arrived early.
- Keaton and Reagan were the only ones that we had to wake up this morning. Everyone found their clothes without drama. I probably should say that the girls found their clothes without drama since the boys are usually drama-less. Though a few weeks ago, Anderson was trying to put Whitman's sandals on while we were driving to church and was convinced that they would not fit. I was in the front seat and was adamant that they fit last week and would fit for at least one more week. That was some definite drama!
- Whitman sat with us during church. That was different since he has been sitting with Grannymom. He did fine, but bless the poor thing, he was freezing throughout the service. The temperature in the church house was probably in the low 60s. We could probably save some of our tithe money if they cranked the air conditioning up a few degrees.
- We had lunch at Nonna's house. They had hamburgers and all of the fixings. I think that I could eat hamburgers just about every week. Graham did even have one for supper. Well, I pulled out of my leftovers for supper and said that supper would be from one of those choices. He wasn't too pleased with his choices but did scarf down a burger.
- This afternoon was fairly short. Reagan packed herself. She didn't want too much help so hopefully, she has everything that she needs. Then I had myself a little nap, but soon was awake helping Reagan finish a Jr. Ranger book. I made her do hers today while everyone else will take the rest of the week to finish theirs.
- Next even taking Reagan to a little Bible study at church. Nitzia did it and wow! They made a fruit salad, transferred vinyl onto a cute notebook and water colored a notebook that they are going to make next week. They did squeeze in a little Bible study as well. Next time they are going to decorate cookies, sew their notebook and make a tote bag. I am a wee bit jealous that I am not getting to come to the Bible study.
- While she was at church, I ran home and fed everyone supper. Then jumped back in the car to get Reagan. Once we were back at home, she had a quick camera lesson. I am not too sure what all she can learn in her photography class at camp since it will just be a few hours but man, it would be wonderful if she came home passionate about art or photography. I would love for her to find something that she is interested in.
- The kids headed to bed just as it started storming here. They must be tired because I don't hear many feet scurrying from one bed to another because of the thunder.
- Swim, Work, Rest, Swim, Supper, Bed-See, my blog could be really brief! I will elaborate a little bit. At 6:30, I woke up to go to the bathroom. As I was trying to go back to sleep, I heard little feet above me running. It could only be a few things-Campbell running to Keaton's bed where Whitman was sleeping, Whitman running to Campbell's bed, or Whitman coming downstairs. He never showed up in our room, so I went on back to sleep. Later I did find out that it was Whitman running into bed with Campbell. He was sleeping in there because Campbell did not want to go to bed in a room by herself last night so we offered Whitman to sleep with her. I guess I can't blame her since she has never slept in a room by herself-ever.
- We started stirring around 8 this morning. Well, some kiddos were stirring before then. It is nice when folks can get their own breakfasts and take care of themselves for a little bit. I guess that is nice, but I do kind of miss it!
- We did a bit of straightening around the house, which seems to be a never ending process. Then we loaded up to go to the pool. We were minus Reagan, who had spent the night at Nonna's house, and minus Keaton, who had spend the night at Grannyom's house.
- The pool wasn't crowded, and everyone had a big time. When it was time for us to leave, Campbell stayed back with the Heltz for one more hour of swimming. We ran to McDonalds for lunch, Whole Foods to get a coupon and then Dairy Queen for our weekly Blizzards. Then we picked up Campbell on the way home.
- Grannymom, Grandpa and Keaton arrived next. Grandpa helped work on Robby's outside fridge. Hopefully, they were able to fix it but we will find out in a few days. Then we had a bit of downtime until Nonna, Pops and Reagan arrived. They had taken Reagan to buy a few snacks for her upcoming camp. I had also bought a few snacks for her last night, so she will be well supplied!
- We then went back to the pool. Anderson opted to stay at home. While we were gone, he had a snack, took a shower and played on the xbox for a good long while. I think he would have enjoyed the pool, but I know that he also enjoyed being alone for a little bit.
- Robby ran an errand while we were at the pool, and then when we left, he ran into Kroger. Not only is tomorrow our anniversary, it is also National Ice Cream day so obviously, we must be prepared!
- Once at home, I heated up leftover chicken, fish, hamburger, steak and pizza, and my fridge is still bursting with leftovers. Reagan tried to do a bit of packing before bed but didn't get very far. She will have a busy day tomorrow with packing, church, a Bible study, practicing with her camera and one little school thing I need her to do before she leaves. I hope she can do all of that while I get my Sunday afternoon nap! (Kidding, well not really!)
- I would have guessed that Anderson would have slept a little bit longer today since he was the very last one to wake up yesterday. However, he was the first one awake in the house. Soon everyone else was up, except Reagan. Since Alyssa had spent the night, I tried to wake Reagan up so she could entertain her guests. When I told her that Alyssa was awake, she looked at me and said, "so?" Maybe we should work some more on hospitality.
- Whitman headed to VBS for his last day. When Robby told him that it was time to go, he said, "where?" I really don't think he had any idea where he was going. He didn't mind leaving too much since he knew that he was going to have a pizza party today at VBS.
- It was kind of different with my Whitman gone this morning but the other folks here with me. I had a committee meeting at church this morning, so I told my crew that they could stay at home or come with me and see what kind of trouble they could get into at church. Well, I shouldn't have been surprised because they picked the option that had the word "trouble" in it.
- My big 5 plus Alyssa could not wait to walk into the church house. I gave them the necessary instructions-come back in 30 minutes, stay together and this is God's House. They were back in exactly 30 minutes just as my meeting was finishing up. I let them play gaga ball while I walked to get the car.
- On the way home, I ran by the library to pick up books for school. Yep, it is time to start requesting my school books. Then we waited on Whitman to come home before making our lunches. I still have lots of camp lunch supplies left so everyone made themselves a pretty decent lunch today.
- After lunch, we loaded up to head to the pool for the afternoon. We made it there about 2 and swam with the Crafts for 2 hours. It was pretty hot out there so everyone there was in the water, but that was fine because there weren't too many folks at the pool today.
- When we left, we dropped Keaton off at Grannymom's house to spend the night. Then we ran by Dairy Queen for our weekly Blizzards. Next stop was Nonna's house because Reagan was spending the night there. Then we dropped off Alyssa and headed home.
- On my way home, Robby called and asked if they boys were going to basketball. I had forgotten all about their Friday night basketball. They were tired but enjoyed going tonight. While they were there, the rest of us, Robby, Campbell, Whitman and I, went to Eat My Catfish for supper. Robby and I both had coupons for our anniversary. (Shhh, I had forgotten that it was coming up on Sunday.) Since we both had coupons, we ordered way too much food so the boys could have supper after basketball.
- While we waited on them to finish, we hit up Kroger and their ice cream sale. We also bought some snacks for Reagan to take to camp this next week. Then we grabbed the boys and headed home. They had showers and then ate while Campbell and Whitman went outside for a few more minutes.
- Soon the neighbors had to go in, so my littles came in too. They had their showers and then we all started winding down before bedtime.
