- Another day of school around here. It was pretty dark this morning so I did struggle waking up my people. Whitman knew that he wanted pancakes this morning for breakfast. I had already told him that we didn't have any, but thankfully Keaton walked through about that time and quickly corrected me. She was indeed right, and Whitman was delighted.
- After everyone grabbed their breakfast, we worked on our reading together before moving on to their individual work. Now, I have started having everyone help me fold some of the laundry before they start on their school work. They aren't crazy about it, and really they aren't too good at it either since they are in a hurry, but it sure helps me out quiet a bit.
- I was able to read a few books to Whitman right at the end of school today. Everyone finished fairly quickly and Graham and Anderson's math is easy right now which helps everything go more smoothly. On the other hand, Reagan's math is not easy, and I don't think that it will ever be easy again!
- I have a pretty good lunch menu for us to follow, and I have worked hard at following it after Christmas break. However, when we have leftovers I do feel that it what we should eat instead of sandwiches or any other thing on the list. So today, we had lots of leftovers-chicken spaghetti, cheese dip, spaghetti, quesadillas, hamburgers-It is like we will never be able to eat all of the leftovers in our fridge since they keep multiplying.
- Robby and I headed out after lunch to run to the grocery store. We also stopped at Chick Fil A, the post office (Anderson's nerf gun is messed up and they are replacing it), Chick Fil A (another one) and Dairy Queen. We were pretty speedy on all of our stops and yes, all of our fast food purchases were free and were supper for the kids.
- We unloaded all of our groceries when we came home. Campbell and Keaton were outside-I tell you, the neighbors trampoline has been a big hit with my little girls. The bigs and Whitman ate and once Whitman realized that the girls were outside, he was quick to chow down his supper and head out to find the sisters. They stayed outside for a quite a long time.
- Meanwhile, Anderson, Graham and I headed to basketball. I took them this time and walked on the track the entire time. I am not sure how long I did walk in that hour and half but I tell you I just kept going round and round so much I almost got dizzy.
- The boys seemed to have fun at practice and I was pleased to get my walk in. Once we made it home, they showered and everyone had some downtime before bed!
- Wednesday morning and this was the first Wednesday in a while that we even had time to empty the trash cans before we left for Bible study. This was surprising since at 8:30ish I had to go upstairs and wake every single child up.
- I drug Whitman downstairs where he hid under my covers until he finally put on his clothes and found his Wednesday poptart. Everyone else had already eaten their breakfast as I was pulling my bagel out of the toaster to get in the car.
- My car was already started this morning when we went to leave because it has been difficult the last few days. Robby had already jumped it this morning, driven it around and left it running for us. Even though I had already had my "how to use the jumper thing" lesson for the day, I did never need it during all of our running around.
- Bible study was good today-we are now on our second book of the year. The girls were excited to go because Reagan had snack-chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and Campbell also had her snack-snickerdoodles which were actually are best ones yet. (I have been turning the oven up a little bit lately.)
- We went to the park after Bible study. I was super glad that I had my big jacket since I was chilly. Some of the kids didn't even have their coats up but I guess that they were doing more moving around than me.
- After the park, we switched kid houses. It worked out in my favor because I ended up with all of my boys, Reagan, Alyssa and Kennedy. When we came home, the boys went to the xbox, the girls went to Reagan's room and Whitman played on his ipad. I did read to Whitman and bit and afterwards I sat down and wondered what else I should have been doing since it was so quiet in the house.
- I did make supper for the crew-well, actually I just heated up a freezer meal. Then we headed off to church. I did run by the library first. I had so many books to take back to the library today that I had to take a laundry basket!
- Church flew by since I was doing games-preschool games is not the most relaxing Wednesday night assignment to have. It does make the time go by quickly though. Except for when it is time to go because the kids all want to play on the playground a little bit longer.
- When we did finally make it home, Robby had warm ooey gooey for us to eat. We all had a snack and then settled in to watch a tv show before bedtime.
- Another day of me scrambling around trying to get up early enough for me to get school started on the right foot. Last year, and most every year before that, we had to get Whitman or someone to preschool so we were all up earlier. I would like to wake up earlier but I sure don't long for those days.
- Whitman was zoned out for most of school and moved like a sloth. Since he was moving so slowly, I did make him do both sides of his math page today. He is having to write the numbers 1-20 four different times which takes him forever! He was finishing his work this afternoon sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.
- Everyone else finished their work at a decent time-even Anderson was done well before lunch. It is January, and we may have just gotten the hang of the school thing around here. Of course, I know that I now have jinxed things by saying that.
- We had our lunches today-a mix of leftovers and sandwiches. Reagan did cut up her leftover steak and bacon which was wrapped around it along with my leftover chicken and put them on a quesadilla for her lunch. Toaster, toaster oven, panini maker-there are tons of appliances happening here every day at lunch. What I really need is some type of pantry that I can leave all of these things plugged up in. I have been told to start playing the lottery if I want that to happen.
- Once lunch was finished and cleaned up, we started on our chores. We didn't have too much today, so we worked for a little bit and then did our afternoon reading. There was a big fuss before we started this because everyone wanted to sit in the sun-like a bunch of cats. Gracious me. The sun does come wonderfully through my bedroom window in the winter time. It is usually pretty perfect but sometimes it can get too bright and too hot!
- Campbell and Keaton found the neighbors out and the boys eventually found their set of neighbors out as well. Everyone played for a while except I had to take Keaton and Campbell to basketball practice.
- While they were there, I ran to Kroger to do some speed shopping. I was able to grab what I needed but I didn't have any time to dilly dally since basketball was only 45 minutes and I had gotten a late start.
- Back at home, Robby had hamburgers cooking when we made it in. The kids cycled through the showers as we got ready for supper. We also met the new neighbor-he has grand plans for right behind us. Joy. He does seem like a good ole boy so that is at least one good thing.
- After supper, the kids finished their showers and soon it was teeth brushing time. Reagan has a spot on her gums that is red and puffy says the orthodontist. So that is some added medicine to incorporate to our teeth brushing/water pick routine. Last night I did put a stool in the bathroom so I could just sit and inspect all teeth brushing happening in this house.
- Robby didn't feel all that great last night (he is getting the Keaton's cold) so he went to bed pretty early. I stayed up for a while playing on my phone, but eventually went to bed early as well. I was pretty surprised when my watch said that I had slept for almost 9 hours last night. I don't know when that has happened lately.
- Of course me sleeping for 9 hours meant that I was still scrambling when it was time to wake up this morning. We were able to get started on school by 8:15. I did have at least 2 breakfast hold outs-kids who didn't eat anything because they didn't like the breakfast options. It is a long time from breakfast until lunch in this house so I am sure that they were pretty hungry when lunch did roll around.
- School was fairly uneventful today. Monday's usually do go just a tad bit quicker which is much needed. Reagan had an orthodontist appointment around lunch so Robby was able to take her. She finished her school work earlier than usual which allowed me to work with Whitman a bit longer. After he finished his work, I read to him some and he read to me some.
- Before Robby and Reagan made it back, the rest of us ate our lunch and then went to work. Today's massive project was the lego nook. We took everything out of it and worked on straightening it all up. It took probably an hour to accomplish it all, but it is nice to have that area all clean. However, since it is all clean now, Anderson has been up there quite a bit so it may not be that clean anymore.
- This afternoon was fairly quiet. The lot behind us had indeed sold so we watched people come and talk about their septic tank. Tonight at supper Keaton said that having to move her swing to a new tree was her low. Thankfully, we have plenty of other trees and plenty of other yard for kickball when that time does soon come.
- Campbell and Keaton went outside for a little bit right before supper. Graham also shot some hoops outside. He also managed to snag a game of Battleship with Robby right before supper. I do believe that Robby smoked Graham at the game.
- I made spaghetti for supper. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but for some reason I did have a lot of meatball leftover. Now I just have to remember to have everyone eat all of our leftovers. All of my outsiders had showers before we settled in for the evening.
- Robby made some cookies which we ate while playing a few rounds of Catch Phrase. Some of the kids are good at it and some of the kids are not so good at it! Either way though it is pretty entertaining.
- Everyone but Whitman did join us in the living room to watch a Bates tv show. I think that the Bates is one of the kids favorite tv shows. After the show, the kids had a few more minutes of downtime before it was finally bedtime.
- Sunday morning and there were a few tears. Campbell was upset with me because I made her change shirts and Whitman was also upset with me because I told him that we were going to big church. Everyone recovered though and had time to grab a bite of breakfast before we leaving.
- Church was uneventful. We didn't have to teach this morning so that was a bit of a welcomed break. After church we headed to Nonna's house to eat lunch. She had chili and tortilla soup, and they were both perfect on such a cold day.
- After eating, we walked through my grandmother's house next door. Pops is redoing the inside and man, does it ever look different. It is just amazing what can be done to a house. My mind just doesn't work like that to imagine what all can be done.
- Afterwards, we came home for a very short nap. Reagan headed off to go bowling with the youth. They loaded the buses for the bowling alley, arrived there to discover that they had given their lanes away. The group headed back to church to play some games there, and I do believe that they had an awesome time. Reagan said that they had even more fun than bowling so I guess that it was a win.
- Back at home, we pulled out a few things from the freezer and a few leftovers to make supper for everyone else. The boys spent most of the evening playing Anderson's new game from yesterday. While Whitman was playing his ipad tonight, he told me that he loved the show he was watching because it gave you "a new perspective." That's probably not a normal 5 year old word.
- Anderson and Graham were the only ones awake this morning when I started walking through. Keaton was the easiest to wake up, but she just walked to Whitman's bed and climbed in it. I headed on downstairs to get myself ready.
- A bit later, I did hear Whitman shouting, "it's basketball day." I assumed, wrongly, that this meant that he was excited about the day. He was not! Only his ipad and milk pleased him. He was able to have those two things for a few minutes before he was herded to the car for a day of basketball.
- The first game was Keaton's. Her team did great-well, her team won. Keaton did score once, but I believe that all of the other points in the game were scored by one little girl. She is smaller than Keaton but dribbles the ball like a pro. She even dribbled behind her back as she was going for a layup during the game. It is quite entertaining to watch.
- After that game, I took Anderson to Game Stop to spend a gift card. He really wanted one game, however it was very expensive. He did settle on another game, and said that he was "pleased yet disappointed." I did encourage him to just wait a while and maybe the game he wants will be discounted.
- We had time to come home after the first game. I worked on pulling out school for this next week. Then it was time to load up for Campbell's game. Anderson was already gone again to go and eat lunch with Robby.
- Campbell's team did well and also won their game. They didn't do nearly as well as they have before and the score was pretty low! Graham's game was next, and I sure thought that this week would have been his week to win. But it was not. Just like every single game, they were so, so close. Maybe next week.
- We had an hour between games so some of the kids stayed at the gym with Grannymom, while Whitman and Reagan went with Robby to the store and I headed to Michaels. I didn't buy anything but Robby did return with snacks for the kids before Anderson's game.
- Anderson's team has won every game and once again they squeaked out a win. Anderson scored at least 6 points today. That isn't a ton, but for us short Dennies it is a lot. The boys that he has been guarding are often a foot taller than him. It is almost comical. I will say that he does hold his on, but he better hit a growth spurt soon.
- I had a birthday coupon for a steak place along with a gift card, so Reagan and I headed there for supper. She had steak and I had chicken which was delicious. Then we met the others at the Wilson's house. Robby had some bologna that Tony fried up for supper.
- Shannon had made a dessert, but Robby also made ooey gooey. Then we made 4 batches of breakfast burritos to put in our freezer. I think that we made over 60 burrito fillings which should last us for a while.
- We had planned on making biscuits too but the boys got a bit interested in the football game. We watched the Cowboys lose before rushing home for the last two, Reagan and Whitman, to take a shower before heading to bed.
- Friday is one of my favorite days of the week. If you are wondering, I would say that Thursdays are my favorite. I know that is kind of off now since Thursdays are no different than any other day around here. For many, many years is was the fun start to our weekend with the Thursday night crew gathering at our house.
- But back to Fridays and specifically today. It was a lovely day with clouds and a bit of rain. It would have actually been absolutely lovely for a nap which I did have a very, very brief one. I should have been doing other things, but how could you pass up a cloudy and rainy day.
- After our long Christmas break, this was our last day of our first full week back to school. It was kind of nice to get 4 days in since we really haven't in a while. Also, 4 days of school means no spelling on Fridays which means a bit of extra time for me.
- I was able to manage school this morning while still being able to organizing some of my pictures in my new picture box. This makes the 3rd picture box that I have. I do still have about 200 pictures that don't have a date on them to file away, but I am getting there. When I get any type of picture right now, I always write the date on the back-I guess I always didn't do that. And if the picture only has one kid, then I write who it is on there. I don't think that I will forget my kids names but they do all look so alike.
- Speaking of forgetting-tonight, as the kids were all in the kitchen, I walked to my bedroom and hollered, "Whitman, come eat your pizza." Robby hollered back at me, "he is in here." Yep, I had just walked by the boy who was sitting eating his pizza.
- Back to today, after lunch the kids worked on some chores-washing sheets, cleaning desks and putting up Christmas presents. Now I am the only one with Christmas presents left sitting out, but it was just my birthday so I will give myself a pass. I don't have too many out though.
- Despite the rain, Campbell and Keaton managed to play outside for a little bit this afternoon before having to come inside when the rain really started.
- Robby and I ate out with the Wilsons while the big boys were at basketball practice. The girls and Whitman stayed here. They had cheese sticks when we were gone and then text to ask about making popcorn. I am not sure how many bags that made because when we came home, there were huge bowls everywhere!
- The other day we had popcorn and Whitman got a piece of it stuck in his teeth. On the way to church, he was telling us about it. One of the boys suggested that he brush his teeth when we got home. He was quick to look at Robby and me and ask, "Who is going home. I want to brush my teeth." Of course, silly me, I forgot to ask if he ever got it out of his teeth.
- The boys had fun at practice and everyone had fun tonight when we pulled out the last Dairy Queen cake for our dessert. It was a pretty fun Friday.
- Speaking of fun Fridays. Earlier this week, Keaton and I were doing some of her school work. We were talking about the days of the week, and the page said to ask what are things we do on each day of the week. Sunday? We go to church...Tuesday? We go to basketball. Wednesday? We go to Bible study. When I got to Friday, I asked Keaton what we do on Fridays. Her answer was simple, "We drink!"
