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- We were out of bed in plenty of time this morning but we didn't really account for us having to leave about 20 minutes early to get Robby to church in time to practice passing out the Lord's Supper. Robby called out that we had only 20 minutes left and we still had to eat breakfast, dress Whitman and I had 3 girls hair to brush. Robby threw doughnuts at everyone while I yanked out hair while brushing it. (Actually, I only had 2 girls' hair to put up because Reagan wanted to wear her hair down this morning-she probably hasn't worn her hair down in months!)
- Robby was able to sit with us during big church but he had to sneak off to hand out the Lord's Supper upstairs This was fine but goodness gracious my arms just weren't long enough-Anderson and Graham are my only ones to partake of the Lord's Supper and they were swishing the grape juice so much that I thought it was going to fly out of their cup and stain the people's shirts in front of us and I tell you I thought I was going to have to do the heimlich on Graham after he had the cracker.
- This was our last week in our Sunday school classes. The kids will have all new teachers and we will have a whole class of new 3rd graders. Graham will be in our class this year which means that Anderson will not be. Though I do have a strong suspicion that Robby will be spending a good deal of time looking across the hall at Anderson to check on his behavior!
- We had lunch at Grannymom's house today and we were able to celebrate Jenna's birthday. Grannymom made Jenna's favorite meal-roast, potatoes and carrots. Some of my crew had been asking for cooked carrots but I didn't get a chance to see if they actually ate any or if they were all talk (Keaton has been saying that she wants to try salad for months now but whenever she gets the opportunity, she says that she will try it next time.)
- Today, Robby looked back at the blog and saw that the kids lost their kindles last year when we celebrated Jenna's birthday and again this year, they ended up losing their ipads. My 3 big ones had the most difficulty ever getting in the car and buckling up this morning-Graham was climbing in the back doors, others were locking the doors and I was about to loose my mind. They ended up loosing their ipads for the afternoon and were told they had to fold the laundry and then they had to choice to go to bed for an hour and a half or to do school work for an hour. They all picked school work so I spent my afternoon groggily checking papers.
- After everyone was released from the work, they spent what was left of the afternoon watching tv, playing their ipads and the xbox. Campbell even spent some of her time doing more school work. Robby heated up supper and then we had the laziest Sunday evening ever-we didn't do a thing. Whitman, Campbell and Keaton played some games, the little girls made some bracelets, the boys watched some Olympics and most folks played the xbox some.
- It was nearly 9 when we did put everyone to bed. We had become slackers on reading our Bibles story so tonight we started back. The only difference this time was that Whitman sat down cooperatively with us and listened (mostly) to everything. I guess that baby is growing up...some, he still wets his pants though!
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- The girls did go to sleep pretty shortly after their movie ended last night which was around 1. They must have slept well because I didn't stir until I heard footsteps above my head. I got up and then realized that Robby had gone to pick up breakfast. I peeked upstairs and saw that Whitman was still snoozing so I let him be.
- Before Robby got back, Reagan asked where Robby was. I told her that he was getting breakfast and she said "oh, he doesn't have to go to work?" She didn't even know that it was Saturday or more frightening, she thought that Robby worked on Saturday. Soon Robby was back and we all ate doughnuts and orange juice.
- I do believe that Whitman was happy to see Kaleigh and Alyssa Kate when he woke up. During breakfast, those girls and Reagan gathered around him and helped him count his doughnut holes. He would count and then they would eat one and he would have to count again. Then they would give him two more and he would again count those. At least my baby will be able to count to 10 for Ms. Jennifer this year-that may be the only C (for complete) that he gets on his report card.
- The girls went upstairs to play on the xbox while Robby went out to mow (and even had to finish in the rain) and I worked on school for Monday. After he came in a dried off, we went to the attic upstairs and started rearranging things.
- Grannymom and Grandpa came over this morning to work on hanging Reagan's shelf above her bed. It looks really good but now we need to buy 5 more of those shelves and hang them. Anderson came home with them and he could have stayed away all day I do believe but once he was here he did enjoy playing with Reagan and her friends.
- Soon Kaleigh and Alyssa Kate's moms and sisters came to pick them up. Candice also brought home my Keaton and Campbell. They had eaten doughnuts this morning and even done a bit of shopping.
- We straightened the house for a bit and then had a pretty relaxing afternoon. I had a bit of a nap-well, Campbell slept on my shoulder and I had to eventually get up because she was squishing me!
- Around 4:30, Nonna, Pops and Jason brought Graham home. I believe that he was trying to get two nights at Pops' house. He was working hard at staying as long as he could but seemed find when he arrived.
- This evening, we all went up to the bonus room and ended up straightening our messy lego nook which led to moving an additional bookshelf into the nook which led moving everything on the bookshelf to one spot which meant we had to move the things that were there someplace else. Why do we even bother! Cleaning and straightening is a bunch of hard work!
- And apparently we didn't count all of the kids when we were upstairs. I realized that I hadn't seen or heard Whitman in a while and I knew that there wasn't a Mickey playing on any device currently, so I scooted on down the stairs to see what trouble he had gotten into. It only took about 4 steps down the stairs when I saw that every single tile in my mud room had been colored with markers. Lovely! Thankfully the artwork was confined to just the tiles which was easy for the boy to clean up but gracious me!
- When we had finished all of this, Robby loaded up the kids and headed to pick up supper-chinese for some and pizza for others. Chinese is of course my favorite but it was all of the kids first choice except for Graham who picked Robby's pizza. But Graham did have some chicken and a few of us even had some pizza after we had eaten the chinese. After cleaning up the kitchen, Robby and I both agreed that this was the best way to eat out!
- The kids then had showers and we watched a bit of ninja warrior before finally putting everyone to bed. Whitman is still doing great in his big boy bed which greatly surprises us every single night!
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- My alarm went up this morning at the right time but instead of hitting snooze, I turned the thing off. The first thing that I knew was Anderson telling me that he had finished one page of math. I was quickly awake and making breakfast trying to make up for my lost time.
- We had our toast and yogurt and started on our school work. The kids had done a bit of work yesterday and you would have thought that this would have helped them finish sooner-it didn't! I had worked with everyone so it did help me finish my work sooner. Anderson found every opportunity he could to play with Whitman and trust me, there were plenty of opportunities.
- At one point, Whitman opened up a "store" like his sisters do usually. He asked for tape so he could cut it to have a grand opening and then he gathered water bottles for the others to buy like his sisters do. Then he asked for marshmallows. A few minutes later, he asked for crackers and then proceeded to make "sandwiches" for everyone. Later I realized that his sandwiches were really s'mores like Robby had made last night. This was cute and all but gracious the rest of us were trying to finish school when all of this was happening.
- We did stop around 10:30 this morning so we could start on our together work. We read 2 lessons of science-even creating a creature (like God did when creating the animals) out of playdoh and then naming it (like Adam) and we began a craft project demonstrating the 7 days of creation.
- Then we worked on a science experiment which involved testing weather molasses or sugar would product the fluffiest bread. For our experiment, it looks as if molasses would. I had intended to read another lesson of science but that didn't happen.
- Graham was anxiously awaiting Nonna and Pops to come and get him today. He had first asked for them to come at 8 which I objected to and said 2. Then he asked for 10 and I met him halfway at 12. So at noon, Nonna and Pops came. The kids were anxious to show them their art projects, science experiment and even play a few songs on the piano for them.
- After Graham left, we had our lunch (cheese quesadillas) and then we started on our chores. It didn't take too long to straighten up around here but Reagan did ask for me to make their beds so that did last me a while-making 6 beds is just tough! Then we finished school work-Anderson and Reagan were the last ones to finish today.
- We then headed to see Beebee. We were visiting and she told me that she wanted for me to go and get her an icee. I asked her twice if she was sure thinking that she would realize that it was 100 degrees outside, I had 5 kids with me and a plethora of places to go this afternoon. I told the kids to stay there and I grabbed Whitman and left. As I left, I told Reagan that I would hurry as fast as I could.
- Whitman never once asked where we were going or why I was leaving the others with Beebee. It didn't take too long but when I arrived back with 2 icees in hand, I asked Reagan if it seemed like I was gone for long and she said that it seemed like I was gone forever. I don't think that the kids minded though because they spent their entire time eating out of Beebee's candy bucket (Pops: you should probably bring some candy to refill it!)
- After we left there, we headed to drop Anderson off at Grannymom's house. We went in for a few minutes and then ran back home for a bit. Then it was off to drop Reagan off at a pool party for all of the 4th graders at church. There I dropped off Campbell (for her 1st official sleep over) along with Keaton and they headed to the Heltz for the night.
- We then headed along with Whitman to the Wilson's house for supper from the gas station. We were there until Shannon had to take me to pick up Reagan, Alyssa Kate and Kaleigh since Robby's car was acting a bit funny (Robby and Tony did some taking apart of it and hopefully repaired it!)
- The girls watched some tv there and after watching quite a bit of the Olympics, we headed home. Whitman went to bed and the girls watched a movie before going to bed (I hope-their movie still has an hour to go!)
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- We were up a bit later this morning but still on the early side and for that I was glad. I could always wake up earlier to exercise, eat breakfast, empty the dishwasher or fold laundry but then whatever would I do all day long?
- I had to wake everyone up but Graham. He had already joined us in bed since we wouldn't let him get out his ipad. We knew that today was going to be a bit hectic so we quickly ate breakfast and then started on school.
- Around 8:30, workers who were doing an energy audit showed up. They worked and worked until around 3. I am not sure what all they did today-covered doors, covered vents, put in new weather sealing, worked on the duct work. By the end of the day, they had our downstairs energy leakage to around 3 percent.
- Since there were cords, wires, ladders, duct work and workers all over the house, we thought it best that I take the kids swimming. So after a bit of school work, we changed and then waited for the ok to open a door (didn't want to mess up one of their test.) When I called to everyone to load up, Whitman ran over to the worker man and gave him the biggest hug ever. Weird little kid!
- The pool was crowded and hot! There were lots of little, little people so my kids didn't really notice the crowds since they were out in the deep end. My Keaton is swimming pretty good these days but I still feel like i need to be out there with her so I did swim for the first hour and a half. When I am in the pool, I have at least 2 kids hanging on me at all times-I start to feel like I am a pool toy!
- We had our lunch at the pool. Our groceries were so low at the house that last night I had to borrow some peanut butter from Shannon just so we could have sandwiches. We were out of peanut butter, meat and even sliced cheese. Because of her donation, we were able to have a lunch at the pool. Then we swam one more hour before heading home.
- The kids were pretty surprised that the worker people were still there. Everyone changed and we found them all something quiet to do (movies, ipads, snacks and Mickey mouse movies for Whitman). Grannymom and Grandpa came over for a bit after I left.
- I went to get my hair cut and tried to use the GPS to get there. Robby and I had talked about where I was going (new location) and I had a pretty good idea of how to get there but I turned on my phone anyway. When I neared 430, it wanted me to go southbound like I was going to Bryant. I didn't think that was right so I called Tammy just to make sure. She directed me the right way and when I did arrive, I realized that my GPS wanted me to go to the address in Benton.
- After I had my hair cut, I ran to Walmart and to get gas and when I make it home, Robby left with Keaton and Campbell to pick up some things at the grocery store. They were gone for a while-long enough for me to get a few things done and even lay down beside a sleeping Whitman.
- When Robby made it back home, we had supper-tortellini pasta with sauce and bread and then the kids all helped us pick up the kitchen. Robby promised them a dessert and ended up making smores in the toaster oven. While Whitman was eating his, he said "this is just like a bologna sandwich." Um, no it is not and I am pretty sure that he has never had a bologna sandwich.
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- Today was our official second day of school and I had to wake everyone but Whitman up. When I went upstairs to start stirring the kiddos, I could hear Whitman talking in his room. He was rolling around on his bed; I guess that he was just waiting on someone to get up so he could also get out of bed.
- We ate our breakfast and then the kids started on their school work. Today was much, much better than Monday. I am not sure if that was because we had worked a bit the day before so the kids had 1 or 2 less things to do. Or maybe today was better because Keaton wasn't there or possibly because they were more use to the school routine. Whatever the reason was, it sure made our day go much more smoothly.
- Even though the school day went more smoothly, I am beginning to question myself on one aspect of our school this year. Since the piano is new, I figured that it would be good for the kids to learn a few things. Yesterday, I sat down with everyone and explained the first few pages of their book. They all practiced some but my Reagan has been relentless on her piano practicing. (Not only that, she has been working on her Spanish on her iPad constantly as well.) That piano has been banging all day long and I think that it is starting to drive me absolutely crazy!
- We had our lunch and then started on our chores. The kids worked hard and then I went to work on packing upstairs in the bonus room. It was a bit warm up there but I never really noticed since I was crawling around on the floor rearranging all of the things I have laid out to pack. But a bit later, when it was time for me to do my walking on the treadmill I stood up and realized that it was now hot in that room. The poor air conditioner could not keep up at all today and I barely walked for about 15 minutes before I just had to quit.
- When Robby came home, he brought our Keaton who had spent the night at Grannymom's house and had a big time. He grilled burgers and then we all ate. Then the kids watched a bit of tv while Robby and I did some work and baked some brownies.
- Around 8, we ran to the Wilsons. The first plan had been to go walk but we opted to bring brownies and eat ice cream instead! Once we made it home, the kids went right to bed and we did miss our 10:30 bedtime but were fairly close to meeting it!
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- The boys were the first ones up this morning. I asked them if Whitman was still asleep and they said that he was still asleep but they rolled him over away from the edge of the bed before they went downstairs. Sweet big brothers.
- We ate our breakfast and then started on a bit of school. We just had a few minutes for school but hopefully we got a few things accomplished that we will not have to do tomorrow. We did do our first science experiment today and it was a bust. We were supposed to see how quickly different materials conducted heat. We put butter on the ends of different spoons (metal, plastic and wooden) and then set them in hot water and waited and waited and waited for the butter to melt...but it never did. This afternoon when we came home, the butter had not yet melted. Maybe because I was using margarine and not butter but who knows! Maybe science is just not our thing!
- We then did our chores and headed off to meet our buddies at the pool. While I was at the pool, I watched some mother with 4 kids walk in. She had bags, floatees and a gaggle of children following after her. I looked at her and thought what in the world was she doing at the pool but then I quickly realized I was that same mom with 2 more kids!
- The kids do enjoy going to the pool but it still is a lot of work. It did make it more fun today since the Heltz and the Kamps were there. When we were all pulling out our lunches, I decided that next time we were all at the pool, we just needed to get a pizza, or two, or three!
- We had to leave at 12:50 so we could go to Grannymom's house to drop everyone but Anderson off. We all changed clothes and then Anderson and I left for the endodontist. This was at least our 3rd time to go there for them to check Anderson's tooth. So far so good and that is wonderful. Hopefully his bike wreck won't cause any lasting effects on what is left of that tooth.
- Then we picked up everyone but Keaton. She was getting to spend the night at Grannymom's house tonight and she was just delighted about this. While the kids were over, they helped her make a bed out of Grannymom's put together toys. I think she was crazy excited about sleeping in her toy bed tonight.
- Once we made it home, the kids helped me unload and then we worked on the piano for just a little bit. Then they had some free time while I was on the treadmill and while Whitman slept. He had fallen asleep during the ride home and slept soundly as I put him upstairs in his new bed (and he slept soundly until I woke him up at 5:30.)
- The kids were excited to see that Grandpa had visited while we were at the pool. He has come to install the boys new ceiling fan. Their room hadn't had one so they were thrilled to get it.
- When Robby came home, we had leftovers for supper and then all went outside for a bit. Robby worked on the yard some and I played a few games of 4 square. We ended the evening with a popsicle and then showers and a few minutes of Ninja Warrior on tv before bed!
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- So today was the first day of school. Robby and I did good last night and stood up from the couch at 10:30 and were in bed with lights out by 11 which is about 2 hours earlier than usual for us. We had set our alarms for 6 this morning and hit snooze until 7. But we did get on up then and start our morning.
- We had leftover doughnuts from Anderson's night at Nonna's house for breakfast along with some muffins. Then it was time to start our first day of school. This year will be a bit more challenging having a 5th grader, 4th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader and Keaton and Whitman along for the ride. They will be at school for 2 mornings a week and hopefully we will be able to really work hard on those days.
- The morning started fairly well and I did have low expectations for this day since we were just getting back into the routine. Reagan didn't have any problems jumping back into her school work which was very helpful to me. This is Anderson's first year for me to give him his whole weeks worth of school work at one time which worked pretty well. Though I am a bit worried that he is going to save all of the more difficult things for the last day of the week but he will eventually figure it out. Graham was the most challenging today. He finished his school work around 3 today but it did seem like after the others started a movie, he was magically able to do the things that he wasn't able to do a few minutes before. Campbell has gotten to be very teary lately and grumbling about everything so that didn't fly too well during school but she did get everything accomplished. Keaton did some of her school work but did help occupy Whitman with sand, playdoh and a host of other games which all completely trashed downstairs.
- At 11, I stopped everyone and we did all sit down together and work on our memory work and science. I think that all of that will go well this year but I am sure that everything will need a bit of tweaking here and there to figure it all out. Then it was lunch time and I had frozen pizza rolls earlier in the summer and pulled them out to eat today. That was very helpful and I wish that I could plan ahead every day like that for lunch. After our big trip, that is going to be my goal-a lunch menu.
- We ate and then everyone went to work on their chores and after chores the boys and I had to go back to work on school work. I had to help them and correct all of the work. Pulling out school work, teaching everyone, checking work and everything else that I have to do during the school day is a bit overwhelming. I sure can't imagine how a real teacher does it all!
- The afternoon went by way too quickly and the main thing that I was able to do was the treadmill. I wasn't able to accomplish everything on my chore list but there is almost tomorrow. We did pick up the house right before supper because the Wilson's came over to help us eat our huge pan of chicken spaghetti. We asked them a zillion questions about their trip and also spent some time planning next years trip.
- When they left, we cleaned the kitchen and tucked the kids into bed. We passed our goal of going to bed at 10:30 but were there shortly afterwards. Tomorrow is another busy day!
