March 7, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• The big boys were the only ones awake this morning so I had to wake up my two sleeping littles. While I was working on waking them up, Reagan and Campbell popped out of bed which is pretty unusual for them. I finally managed to get Keaton and Whitman downstairs and Robby was already out of the shower-this meant that I was running behind.
• I put his clothes on him (Whitman, not Robby) and brushed Keaton's hair. Then we hurried to the kitchen and I started passing out some of the muffins that we made last night. Soon the littles were in the car leaving for school and the rest of us were starting school.
• The kids didn't full around as much today and everyone, including Anderson, was finished with their school work by 11. We were able to work on our together work and then we even attempted to make crystals like our science book suggested. I am not too sure that they are going to work out-in 4th grade, I had a pretty awesome science fair project and made some nifty crystals. Unfortunately, these will be nothing like those!
• After lunch, we did a few chores, the kids went outside briefly and then they came in. When it was almost time to leave, I decided that Graham better start on some of his supper so he cut up some potatoes and apples for his supper tonight.
• Then it was off to go skating. We jumped in the car and it didn't start. I had already grabbed the jumper thing and was opening the lid (I guess you professional car people call it the hood) when Robby called me back. He talked me through everything-actually, he was just assuring me that I wasn't going to blow myself up. He has given me previous lessons on this but I have never had to do it by myself. Then I started the car and after a bit of gas, it started! I felt so empowered!
• We picked up Keaton and then headed to the skating rink. Anderson didn't want to skate today at all but I did convince him to skate some and I think that he did have a good time (even though he said that he was bored). Everyone did really good again this month but gracious, all they want to do is stand near the table where I am. I know they get tired but gracious, they all just huddle around me and all of the other moms. We all stilled had fun though.
• On the way home, we picked up Whitman. As we drove home, the kids noticed that the neighbors had a cone out in their yard-that is their official signal that they can play. We have a cone for our yard and they have a cone for their yard. So the kids went out to play.
• Graham knew that he was cooking tonight so he was the first one inside when everyone started trickling in. He was filthy-how can a child get so filthy in 45 minutes outside? We threw him in the shower and soon he was back in the kitchen cooking with me.
• Graham had planned out tonight's menu and gracious me, cooking is a lot of work. We made buttermilk biscuits, fried potatoes, French toast, bacon and flat apple pie. It took over 2 hours for us to get supper on the table and my G was covered with flour from head to toe-along with my kitchen.
• All of our supper was very good-the biscuits were a bit flat (we remembered that they had been the last time we made that recipe), the potatoes were a favorite, the French toast was pretty good (I had never had it before), the bacon (turkey) was okay, and the apple pie was probably a favorite (the kids went wild when I said that we could have it for breakfast too). Well, Anderson and Keaton wouldn't try to the pie-silly kids.
• Just about as long as it took the cook the supper, it took that long to clean up the kitchen. I thought that I had been cleaning as I went but I must not have been doing enough. We finally clean the kitchen and all sat down to watch a baking show-I think from now on, the only cooking and baking that happens in this house will be on the tv!

March 6, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• Whitman crawled in our bed this morning right at 7. We tried to convince ourselves that it was Saturday morning and not Monday morning. When we finally mentioned to him that this was Nonna day, he was quick to jump out of bed and start on his clothes.
• I went upstairs to wake up Keaton and I can always tell when she is really tired-she doesn't care what I pick her out to wear to school. This morning she just nodded when I asked if my choice was okay. I carried her downstairs and soon both of my littles were ready for the day.
• I poured some yogurt for Whitman and found a pop tart for Keaton and then they were off to school for Keaton and Nonna's house for Whitman. He was so excited and said that Nonna was going to build him a fort that was "going to be awesome-er."
• The rest of us started on school work when they left. The kids were really wild this morning and no one seemed too interested in doing their work. They talked, they laughed, they raced and I just didn't say anything today. I just kept my head down and finished my work and was even able to work on a few of my chores before it was time to do our work together.
• Reagan was barely able to finish by our normal work together time. While I worked on lunch, everyone tried to finish their school. We had sandwiches and then I read a bit of Psalms to help Reagan (she is trying to read through the Bible for Sunday school and has made it to Psalms and now she is overwhelmed.) 
• After we ate, everyone started on their chores. I had a few extra ones today on the list-like the bathroom baseboards! When chores were finished, they started back on their school work. I headed upstairs to the treadmill. Anderson and Campbell finished while I was upstairs.
• Today the plan had been for Graham to make supper but around 3 the neighbors came out. As he was running outside, I asked him if he just wanted to wait until another day to make supper so he could play today. He took me up on that and out everyone went.
• Nonna and Pops brought Keaton and Whitman home. They were so excited about their cookies-Whitman made sure that I ate one right away and Keaton loaded up a bag of cookies to take to her brothers, sisters and neighbors down the road.
• As soon as Nonna and Pops left, Whitman had me walk him down the street so he could play with his "friends" (what he calls his brothers and sisters.) They all played down the road-even during the rain which started to fall. 
• Anderson came home eventually and he was ready to get in dry clothes. We had to eventually call the others home because it was pouring outside and starting to get a bit dark. Of course, no one was too happy about coming home but they were soaking wet. Well, the big 3 were wet but not crazy, crazy wet but the little 3 did not have a dry thread of clothes on them. 
• Everyone had their showers and then we ate our plan B supper-potato soup. After we cleaned the kitchen, Anderson helped me make chocolate chip pumpkin muffins for him to take to Bible study for his snack on Wednesday. Then Graham helped me a make a pie crust for his flat apple pie that will accompany his meal whenever we make it (maybe tomorrow or maybe Thursday.)
• When the kitchen was finally cleaned, we watched a cooking show and even folded the laundry before bedtime. It was well after 9 when everyone went to bed but they seemed a bit antsy still. Right now, however, it does seem all quiet upstairs.

March 5, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• Graham crawled in our bed this morning a bit after 7 and he was fully dressed and ready for church. He may get up early but at least he went ahead and got himself ready for the day without anyone telling him to. The others were up soon and Robby passed out our leftover doughnuts from yesterday.
• Soon we were heading off to church. My class was as lively as ever and the hour passed quickly. Then I headed off to worship care while Robby took the kids to big church. 
• We had told the kids that we would have a picnic at a park today but unfortunately this silly rain messed that up. They seemed fine with it as we headed off to find some place to eat our Sunday lunch. Robby toyed with the idea of just driving to Hot Springs to eat at McClards but we opted for McAlisters.
• We waited long enough to order and long enough for our food that we could have already been at McClards but our food was still delicious. We ate pretty much everything we ordered-that is always a win to me if we all clean our plates. 
• Back at home, the kids settled in to watch a few movies this afternoon while Robby watched some tv and I napped. I was wide awake until he started watching a documentary and I fell asleep so fast that I barely got my computer closed before I started drooling on it.
• We cleaned out all of the leftovers in the fridge for supper tonight. Surprisingly, Anderson, my non meat eater, was the only one who wanted the leftover BBQ from last night. We ended our leftover meal with leftover ice cream goodies. Our ice cream truck is getting a bit low but we still had ample treats for everyone.
• Then we all settled in to watch one episode of Kids Baking Show before bedtime for the crew and ice cream for me!

March 4, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• It wasn't too long after 7 this morning when boys started coming in here asking for breakfast. If we would have thought a bit faster, we should have rolled over and just gone back to sleep. But we talked to them so they kept coming back again and again. Eventually, they were able to break Robby and he told them to go and get their shoes on. So all the boys loaded up and went to buy us some doughnuts.
• Keaton was still soundly sleeping upstairs. I picked up around the house and then started to worry that she was going to come downstairs to a quiet and empty house. I was a bit afraid that this would scare her so I sat down in the kitchen to work on a few lists while I waited for her. Before I could even get started, down the stairs she came.
• She sat with me for a bit and then I printed her out a coloring page (her new favorite thing to do). We met the boys in the garage and soon we were all eating breakfast. Campbell ended up coming home with Robby and the boys so she ate with us.
• It wasn't too long after than when the kids headed outside and they didn't return until 6 when we called them in. Robby went to a funeral and when he came back home, I headed out to the grocery store. We kept thinking that they would show back up asking for food at some point but no one came.
• Anderson came home one time to ask if they could ride on the four wheeler.  He quickly added that the neighbor Dad would be driving. I said that they could and everyone did have a ride. Keaton came home to go to the bathroom at least once. Graham came in to get his binoculars and that is just about all that we saw of the kids.
• Whitman stayed inside and we worked and worked on his marble track. We put up the one from yesterday and pulled out another marble track for him to play with. He played with it for a long time and even watched a few Bob the Builders. At one point, he went upstairs and played up there for a few hours-he was playing Batman.
• Nonna and Pops brought Reagan home and the others did appear briefly to greet their sister. She had vests for the girls and necklaces (Nonna and her hit a sale at Dillards (90% off) that was better than the sale at Kroger (80% off) that Grannymom and I had shopped at.) Reagan was genuinely excited to see everyone and pass out some candy.
• When we told Graham at 5:30, that they were going to have to come inside in a few minutes, he acted like he had just walked outside and didn't act at all like he had been outside for over 7 hours. Our goal each day is to let our kids stay out longer than the neighbors-we don't want to have to be the bad guys! I was just about to start calling them home when they started walking down the street. 
• They quickly showered and soon the Wilsons were here for supper. Robby had bbq and I made beans and heated up the corn. For dessert, I shoved a frozen apple crisp in the oven (it was my last one from the freezer-I hope that I can find the recipe again.) The kids mostly had ice cream for dessert and did miss out on the cobbler. 
• It was pretty evident that the kids did play hard today-Campbell was sound asleep by the side of the couch when the Wilsons left and no one complained about getting into their beds. We didn't either!

March 3, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• I am fairly sure that my boys wake up before 7 and just stare at the clock until it is time for them to come downstairs. I did overhear this morning that Graham crawled in Whitman's bed this morning-no wonder Whitman has started waking up early.
• Reagan is usually my sleeper but not so today. She was up later than the others but Keaton was the last one awake. I had already been upstairs to turn off the boys fan and open their blinds. I had thought about waking her up but she never gets a chance to sleep in during the week so I just let her sleep.
• The kids found themselves breakfast-we finished off the last of our mini bagels and all of the boys had pumpkin muffins. Whitman thought he was something else getting to eat a "cupcake" for breakfast.
• Then we started on school and since today was Friday things went pretty quick. Campbell left with Grannymom and Grandpa. They headed downtown to pick up Grannymom's race packet and see the sights. Campbell was very happy to be able to hold a baby goat while they were there. 
• I was able to finish a few chores before lunch (including checking to see who all we needed to buy soccer shoes for). Lunch was warming up when Nonna came to pick up Reagan for her night out. 
• We had really talked up Keaton being the only girl here and I had thought that she was pretty excited about it. However, before I knew it, she had packed her own bag. She had told me that she was going to spend the night in the boys' room but when Nonna showed up, Keaton tried her best to sneak out of this house. 
• Keaton made it to Nonna's car with her bag. When I called her back, she was pitiful as she drug her bag back to the house crying. Now, I could have asked Nonna to take her to and she would have been happy to do so but the phrase "we do not negotiate with terrorists" kept coming to my mind. When she came in, I took her upstairs and we made her a spot to sleep in the boys' room tonight. This made her pretty happy and she soon forget that she was all alone (her words-not mine since I was here along with her 3 brothers.)
• Anderson and Graham were quick to go outside this afternoon and the neighbor boys were also out. They all played outside until we left for supper. Keaton definitely wasn't all alone since she stayed right with those boys. I asked once if she was fine and reminded them to take care of her-they must have been pretty sweet to her since she stayed out all day with them, she delivered their snacks in her bike basket and they even let her be an honorary member in their club. She even knows their secret code.
• Whitman and I read a few books today, watched a movie or two and build a countless number of marble tracks. Late in the afternoon, I went out to call the kids in and they were already on their way home.
• We loaded up and headed to go and eat out. We headed to the new Tacos for Life but since we didn't know where it was, it took us a long, long while to find it. Then we saw the line out the door and decided to just wait to eat there. So we went to Cracker Barrel but the bus load of people in the gift shop made us decide to skip it as well.
• We finally ate at Senor Tequila. We still had to wait a bit for a table but once seated, the food came fairly quickly. We all ate our weight in chips and everyone enjoyed their food. Our grand plans had been to go the grocery store on the way home, but we were all too tired from our restaurant finding trek and too full from our supper to do any shopping.
• Once at home, we watched a documentary about the Great Smokey Mountains-it was good but Whitman fell asleep first. I took him and Keaton upstairs and they both settled in the floor of the girls' room. When I came back a bit later to check on them, they were both sound asleep-it looked like they hadn't moved at all.
• I started dozing next during the show followed by Graham who could hardly keep his eyes open. We did sent those boys to bed at 10 and they thought they had stayed up crazy late!

March 2, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• I am not sure but this morning seems so long ago-I can hardly remember who were the first ones to our room this morning. It was in fact Whitman and Graham. They had already been up for a while but Graham must have been hungry too because he joined Whitman on his daily pilgrimage to our room to ask for breakfast.
• Soon Keaton and Whitman were grabbing their breakfasts and climbing into Robby's car. He dropped them off and the rest of us started on our school work. Everyone was working as fast as they could because today was a big day at the Dennie house.
• After 5 plus years of not having cable and satellite and only having an antenna for our tv watching, we now have cable. We already watch too much tv but now we have unlimited channels-my kids didn't know what to do with themselves as Robby tried to find a show for us to watch before bed. The bill for our tv and internet had increased each month so now was the time to make our switch.
• The worker man was here for a few good hours and the kids enjoyed spying on him. I figured that Whitman would give him a huge hug like he did to our guide at Central High the other day but I think that Whitman was too busy watching the Disney channel that the worker man had left on the tv.
• About the time that I had lunch on the table, I realized that my people weren't in the house anymore. They were all outside and the neighbors were out. Keaton eventually rode back down and then delivered lunch to my people by putting it in her bicycle basket-that thing has really come in handy.
• The kids were outside until we had to call them in right at 4 to load up for soccer evals. Whitman played outside some but then Reagan brought him home. I am not sure if Whitman was ready to come back or if Reagan was tired of having to watch him. Either way, he was happy to sit down and watch a few of his tv shows.
• Soccer evals were today and since Robby had a shift working, we all went. After the kids had finished their evals (everyone but Whitman), they had plenty of time to run around and play. Reagan mostly stayed with Grace and they helped one station. Keaton and Campbell spent some time helping Robby at his station. I played soccer and frisbee with the boys until nearly the end and then they helped pick up when evals were complete. 
• On the way home, we picked up Chinese for Robby, Anderson and me and McDonalds for everyone else. The McDonald kids ate on the way home and then they all showered while the rest of us sat down and ate our supper. We hadn't finished our chores from today so after we all ate and showered, we all worked on picking up this house.
• It was a busy, busy day and my Keaton and Whitman barely made it upstairs before falling asleep. I hope that Keaton sleeps well tonight because she is already worried about both of her sisters being gone tomorrow night and sleeping in the room by herself. Large family problems-never having slept in a room alone!

March 1, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• I didn't mention this in the blog but the more that I thought about it, the more funny it became. We were doing our Bible story last night and the dishwasher was noisily going downstairs and there was some noise outside-possibly wind or a car racing. Whatever the sound was, Graham uncovered himself, jumped up and started racing across the room while saying, "The sirens!"  Bless that child. He is the most skittish with storms but gracious. I reassured him multiple times that the storms were gone before I finally tucked him in.
• I am thankful that he slept through the storm last night or he probably would have been downstairs in our bed. Robby, however, didn't sleep very well during the storm. At one point, he started mumbling and when I asked him what he said, he clearly said, "The dam broke?" By this time I was very awake and replied, "In California?" He then looked at me and told me, "Never mind."
• The boys seem to wake up early every day and now they somehow wake Whitman up as well. He usually sits by them and watches them play Minecraft or comes to our room. This morning he came to our room. We could already hear the girls above our heads getting ready for Bible study.
• Everyone helped with a few chores this morning and then we started on breakfast. My Reagan and Graham wanted a Wednesday morning bagel like I have each day. I helped them smear it with cinnamon butter and cream cheese. Then they both asked to wrap theirs up so they could eat them in the car-like me! Aw, my sweet little babies want to be like me.
• We soon were on our way to Bible study. The kids were happy to be there and happy to see me come and pick them up. Today, Candice and Sara had a meeting at church for VBS so I had all the kids for lunch.
• What to do with 7 extra kiddos? Pick up some pizzas and drive them to another side of town, another city in fact! We went to Mills Park and as soon as I opened the doors, the kids ran off like they had never seen a playground. Thankfully, the wind had dried up much of the water only leaving a few puddles which Micheal and Graham quickly found (yes, Graham-he never means to but is a puddle magnet.)
• I called them all over for lunch and they barely ate since they were too interested in playing. Robby was able to drop by and played football with the boys for a bit. I had planned on having time to walk the trail but we didn't even have time for that. Before we knew it, it was time to load up and drop the crew off at church.
• My boys rode home with Robby and once we were all home, the kids watched a bit of tv. And exactly like last week, when it was almost time to think about eating supper, they were outside playing. We waited until the last minute to call them inside and everyone did enjoy supper tonight-baked potatoes. I set out topping after topping for them to use but the only ones my kids touched were butter, cheese and bbq sauce. They were very interested in my stories about only eating baked potatoes in college at lunch each day and many, many suppers.
• As soon as the kitchen was clean, we were loading back up for church. It was double buck night for Campbell and she racked up-saying her verse, the Ten Commandments and having her Bible. Graham was disappointed that his teacher didn't give them time to learn the verse. Anderson and the other 4th graders went to Ignite tonight so they could see what it will be like this fall. Reagan didn't seem too pleased about having her brother there in her group! Whitman was so cute telling his teacher about the "miracle" Jesus did and Keaton was lots of fun in my group tonight-she loved playing with the parachute.
• I have told Robby that the only time that I feel like we live forever away is on Wednesday nights but tonight our book on tape is wrapping up. I could have driven another 30 minutes to continue listening to the ending of our book.
• Once at home, the kids had showers and then I passed out snacks. Next up it was teeth brushing time and bedtime-my second favorite part of Wednesdays (after my Wednesday morning bagel!)