- Whitman has only one good day of the week! Every day he asks one question, "is it school day?" If it is not school day, then he quickly adds, "is it church day?" If it is neither of these, then he is a happy camper. Today, though was church so he wasn't too pleased at all. It didn't help any when I asked him to put on blue jeans nor it probably didn't help any when I even mentioned that we would get to go back to church tonight.
- Every morning, I put toothpaste on everyone's toothbrushes. Well, I don't put any on Robby's but all of the kids. During the week, they have to mark brushing their teeth off on their chore list. Today, though they don't have a chore list so I made sure to remind everyone to brush their teeth. I reminded over and over again and only 50% of my people brushed today. I am sorry if you were sitting by one of my non-brushers during church!
- Lunch today was at Grannymom's house. She had chili which is one of our favorites. Grannymom also had some delicious apple pie. Grannymom and I played Candyland with Whitman. All of the kids played outside and then ended going to Dana's house to see their puppy dogs.
- Back at home, Robby and I had ourselves a wonderful nap. Whitman should have taken a nap with us because he slept through all of church tonight. Keaton, however, was not sleeping. She was beyond excited.
- Reagan had helped pick out Keaton's clothes for tonight-black jeans, grey shirt, pink scarf and high heel boots. The girl was super excited and super proud to get her first grade Bible tonight. So, that brings our Bible total from church up to 8 (First grade Bibles-Robby, Tara, Reagan, Anderson, Graham, Campbell, Keaton, and 6th grade Bible-Reagan) Seriously, we are racking up some Bibles.
- After church, they had cupcakes and lemonade upstairs for the kids. Keaton and Campbell were at the Craft's table so Whitman had to join all of those girls.
- Reagan did leave her Bible in the sanctuary, so afterwards the kids all went in to get it. Anderson was the only one bright enough to ask for a phone for a flashlight. It was quite entertaining watching them hunt for the Bible, then ran out of the sanctuary squealing after Anderson turned off the light.
- Back at home, we had leftover hamburgers and hot dogs for supper. Then there was plenty of downtime before bed-Reagan watched a Shark Tank and then Graham flipped on some football before it was finally time for bed!
- We began our morning with the alarm ringing to wake us up for the annual pancake breakfast down the road at the Crystal Fire Department. We had told the kids that they didn't have to go if they didn't want to, so of course Reagan slept in. Also for some strange reason Graham also decided to stay in the house and on the xbox.
- Whitman, Anderson and Keaton joined us though since Campbell had already been to the pancake breakfast with Nonna and Pops. Whitman was excited about the breakfast for two reasons-first firefighters and second because the pancakes were not coming from a box.
- The pancakes were indeed not from a box. There were plenty of pancakes along with sausage, bacon and lots of orange juice. We ate plenty of pancakes before looking at the fire trucks for a few minutes.
- We went back home for a little bit, long enough for Nonna and Pops to bring Campbell home. Then we loaded up with Keaton, Campbell and Anderson. One of those children was not too excited about coming, but he needed a few shirts to wear along with some Sunday shoes.
- Our first stop was going to be down the road at the church's bake sale. Unfortunately, they had closed their bake sale up early so there were no treats for us. We did go to the library where they were passing out huge bowls of BBQ from a local BBQ place.
- As we were getting out bowl of BBQ nachos, Campbell noticed the prize buckets and asked if she won that would she get to keep it all. Seconds later, the lady spoke to the crowd and said that the winner of the prize bucket would have "winner" written on their bowl. Just as she said that, the lady handed Campbell her bowl of nachos. She lifted it up and indeed there was the word "winner."
- Campbell could not have been more excited. Her brother and sister tried to be excited for her but weren't too thrilled. She was good though and worked hard at sharing her goodies when she came home. Though I don't think that she ever offered me anything.
- Our next stop was for flu shots for Robby and me. Keaton was worried that she was going to have to get one. I tried to remind her that she had already had hers, but she wasn't too convinced. Afterwards, we quickly found Anderson 2 new tshirts and new shoes. He was relieved that our shopping was brief-he doesn't know though that he has at least one more shopping trip with me. I don't have a good handle on his sizes yet, so he needs to be there.
- By the time we made it home, the wonderful rain had started. It was magical and so was my nap! We snoozed until it was time to wake up and get ready for supper. Even though we had already been to Sams today, Robby had to run back there for hamburgers tonight.
- It was worth his trip because his hamburgers are pretty delicious. The Wilsons came over and Shannon brought her cheese dip and cookies. We had intended to make apple fritters tonight but after eating all of Shannon's cookies, we decided that we better save those for another night.
- The game didn't end too well, but the evening was still pretty good. After the game ended, the kids straightened for a little bit and then a few had showers before tomorrow.
- Keaton is a wee bit excited about tomorrow-before bed she asked me how many minutes it would be until Sunday!
- As I was about to climb out of bed this morning, Whitman crawled in bed with me. Of course I stayed thinking that maybe if he went back to sleep then I could go back to sleep too, and we could just forget about school. He did lay there so completely still, but no luck on him going back to sleep.
- So we did our school work. Most everyone finished their school work fairly quickly this morning. Whitman even had time to watch his ipad before lunch which is highly unusual. I was able to pull out everyone's school for next week. That is always a task getting things ready for the next week.
- We had our lunch and as soon as we finished, Pops showed up to take Campbell away for the evening. She had been working diligently on her school work and had neglected to pack. She ran upstairs and packed her bag for her night out. Needless to say, they girl was pretty excited.
- Keaton was also excited because this afternoon I pulled out 5 bins of clothes for her to go through. I had told her that we wouldn't be able to go through them today, but we were able to look at 4 of them before heading off to the library.
- Today was EAST day for the big kids. They always seem to enjoy it, but they are learning lots of super neat technology stuff. Whitman opted to stay home with Robby. Actually, when I was having him get his clothes on, he asked me if Daddy would be home and if he could stay. Whitman, who would be the best only child, probably loved being in the quiet house all afternoon.
- After the library, I dropped the boys off at basketball. Then was came home to eat some of Robby's chili. By the time we had finished, it was time for Robby to run and pick up the boys. Even though I had been to the store once this afternoon while the kids were at the library, Robby stopped at store too so he could pick up a few things.
- Once the boys were home, they had showers and their supper. Then everyone had some ice cream before settling in for a quiet night on their ipads.
- So maybe next week we will do better about getting up around here, but there is nothing better than sleeping as late as you can. Well, I guess it would be better if we could actually sleep late and have nothing to do for the rest of the day.
- Everyone ate their breakfast in my room while I read and read some more. I seem to be doing a lot of reading this year during school. It is pretty fun to me and pretty interesting. I am trying not to look at our progress in our books until Christmas time. Hopefully, then we will be half way finished with at least science and history.
- Everyone did their work today fairly uneventfully. Reagan had disappeared for a while, and I knew where she was...doing two days of school work. On the other hand, Whitman disappeared for a while today. He was found once locked in the bathroom sitting on the floor, once he was found in the school room closet, once he was found in the bonus room and one time he was found in the school room sitting on a chair while using another chair as a desk and doing his school work. We are definitely making some progress!
- Everyone had their lunch, and then it was chore time. Whitman did come to me once to tell me that his tummy hurt. I picked him up, and he snuggled up to me putting his head on my shoulder. At first I thought, "oh no, here comes the stomach bug." However a few minutes later, when he seemed to double over in pain, I thought. "oh no, here comes an emergency room visit." Before we went there though, I did suggest that he sit on the potty, and thankfully that was the cure.
- Nonna and Pops came by to see everyone after their trip to Gatlinburg. They brought us back apple fritter mix along with chocolate candy. The kids went to town on the candy though Campbell and I think Graham gave theirs to me.
- The rest of the afternoon was spent finishing with the boys' clothes, going through some drawers upstairs, reading some more to everyone and then getting ready for church.
- Tonight was Refresh and Campbell, Keaton and Whitman came with me. They all enjoyed it-Whitman gets to go to the game room with the big kids so he really loves it now. Tonight I really enjoyed the speaker and took plenty of notes.
- The others went to grab a bite of supper with Robby and stopped by Grannymom and Grandpa's house before coming home, They made it home just a few seconds before we did. I think everyone had a pretty good night around here.
- Everyone did sleep well last night. Though Campbell and Keaton were in Campbell's bed when I woke them up this morning. Campbell said that Keaton was scared. I asked her if she was afraid of the storm last night but reminded her that it didn't even thunder during the night (at least not that I heard.) Reagan was quick to mention that even though it didn't thunder, there was a lot of lightening. I am not too sure how Keaton was able to see the lightening from her bed to be afraid. But they were sleeping soundly together when I woke them up this morning.
- It doesn't seem like too long ago that Reagan didn't take too much care in her hair. Now though, she wakes up early and sits in front of the mirror curling her hair. She begs to do the girls' hair, watches videos about different hairstyles and even will do her hair for school. Things sure change pretty quickly.
- Today was Bible study. Anderson had snack so he was very happy to bring his snack. And I do believe that it was a hit since one teacher requested the recipe. Afterwards, we headed to the park with my small group.
- Since we were at the park with my small group, it did mean that my crew were some of the oldest. They didn't seem to mind and still had a good time. It was even the same park that we went to last week, but no one seemed to care. Reagan's cupcakes were a big hit which I am sure made her very proud.
- Once at home, the kids worked on their chores before we did some reading. I have almost changed over the boys clothes to their winter clothes which is really more like putting in bigger clothes and taking out smaller clothes. They still have plenty of shorts and t-shirts since that is all that they wear.
- Soon, it was time for us to turn around and head to the other big church house. The kids are always anxious to get to church as early as we can. However after eating a bit of supper here and then running to the library, we usually just arrive right on time.
- After church, the kids played on the playground for a bit before we headed home. Robby needed our help to move his tractor back to the garage. The kids enjoyed helping him move the tractor-6 people pushing a tractor up a hill is always exciting.
- We had a snack, Anderson took his meds and then it was a fairly low key night until bed.
- I woke up plenty of time to get on the treadmill this morning. I was even wide awake but decided to turn off the alarm and sleep just a bit more. It think it was a pretty wise decision! I enjoyed my little bit of extra sleep and unfortunately, will probably enjoy it tomorrow as well again neglecting the treadmill.
- Today was again a pretty busy day. The kids worked hard on their school work or they mostly worked hard on their school work. Everyone seemed to be finished at a decent time and I did fly through my work together with the kids.
- Whitman still loafs around all day long. He is not in any hurry at all and take his sweet time on everything! Now, if he is working on phonics or math then he moves at a snail's pace. I am going to try to start him working on these things first in the morning.
- We had our lunch and then went to work on things around the house. Anderson finished his podcast for his library class. Both big boys went through the clothes in their closet with me. Anderson helped me make two recipes of chocolate chip cookie dough ooey gooey to take to Bible study tomorrow.
- Reagan had actually finished her today's school work yesterday. So this morning she volunteered to make cupcakes for my Bible study class picnic. I had cake mix and canned icing so it wouldn't have been that difficult. Except the Reagan went all out. She made oreo cream to fill the cupcakes with and then made another oreo icing to top them with. They will be absolutely delicious! She worked nearly all morning on them though.
- At 3:30, we headed to get everyone else their flu shots. I can't yet mark "flu shots" off of my list because Robby and I still have to get ours. Everyone was super relieved that they could get the mist and not the shot this year.
- The next stop was back to the pharmacy to get the rest of Anderson's medicine. To me his foot looks about the same, but it doesn't look any better so that is good. Then we had some time to kill before picking up pizzas so we ran to Michaels and the Dollar Tree.
- Then it was home for pizzas. Afterwards, the kids packed their lunches for tomorrow and had their showers. Next up, we went through all of the shoes in the house putting up our summer duds and pulling out our winter shoes.
- We ended the evening with watching Singing in the Rain in the bonus room while waiting on Robby to get home from working late. The movie was fairly interesting, and everyone was enjoying their snacks when my phone started to buzz.
- It said "tornado warning." Hmm, I wasn't too sure of what to do so I made everyone come downstairs so I could turn on that tv to check the weather. By this time, I was doubting myself because the sirens weren't blaring yet. Within seconds of turning on the tv, the sirens were screaming, and I saw the street name "congo ferndale"
- I soon pushed my kids in Robby's office/pantry/closet/tornado room. They all grabbed their ipads on the way in. It didn't take long for our closet to get a bit warm with 7 people! We were pretty relieved when Shannon wrote and gave us the all clear.
- Robby was home a bit after the tornado warning had passed. He just dealt with some rain on the way home. Once he made it home, everyone talked about their day before heading to bed.
- I had a whole long list of things to do today along with accomplishing our school. However, at 8 this morning, I was on the phone making a doctor's appointment for this afternoon. That wasn't my original plan but plans are made to change. More on the ill child later.
- I was almost awake in time to wake everyone up to eat breakfast in the kitchen. Almost. Everyone still had time to make their waffles before we started on our morning reading. I knew that we had lots to do today since we were back to a full schedule after our lighter day on Friday.
- School went well and everyone finished before lunch. I can say that everyone finished by lunch because lunch was almost at 1. The kids have work that they have to do each day (math, grammar, etc.) but they have other things that they choose what they want to do each day. They usually have to pick 5 a day each day. Not surprisingly, on Mondays they seem to pick the easiest things leaving other days of the week to be more difficult.
- After lunch, Anderson and I loaded up for the doctor. Whitman rode along too since he had a bit of school to do and there is no time better to do school than when you are trapped in a doctor's office.
- On Friday, Anderson had like a pimple on his foot. By Saturday it looked like a blister, but by Saturday night, it looked like a boil. We relieved some pressure on it and have been keeping it doctored. However, it still had some red around the edges that was concerning us.
- It concerned Dr. Martin too so she prescribed some meds for him. We have just started practicing swallowing pills around here-mini m&ms. Unfortunately, she said that his meds would be larger than that. So he was given liquid-about a cupful a day. (Not quite, but nearly)
- After the doctor, it seemed to take forever for us to get the medicine. We did celebrate the boys' successful flu shots. Whitman was able to get the flu mist which is back. Possibly later this week, I will take the others to get their shots.
- When we came home, we did some together work, and I worked some more with Whitman. Then Robby, Anderson, Graham, and Campbell headed off to church for a car and catfish evening. They all had lots of fun and especially enjoyed the cookies for dessert.
- Reagan picked out chicken for supper so I let Keaton pick the veggies-black beans and green beans. After they ate, I did the treadmill for a bit. Then Keaton asked to play a game so we played Sorry with Whitman.
- Once everyone made it home, we had some downtime before heading to bed.
