November 6, 2016

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• The boys were all up early this morning, and Whitman was hungry. He found a poptart and I found milk for him. I was up earlier than usual by a bit and had a few extra minutes to empty the dishwasher. I know that it is silly, but my day just starts off better when the house is straight.
• Whitman and Robby left. Whitman had already said that his voice was funny and he was getting sick to me. He told Robby on the way to school that his throat hurt. Nonna said that he was a bit puny at her house this afternoon, and he did come home very hoarse. He has acted fine and I did stuff him in the steamy shower for as long as he would stay. Tonight, he will also get a dose of medicine before bedtime.
• The rest of us started on school after breakfast, and I guess that a combination of the rainy weather, time change and a lazy weekend got the best of us. People were rude, there was lots of fooling around and even Reagan was doing work after lunch. Bless though, it just happened this way but she did kind of get slammed with hard things in all of her subjects right now.
• We had lunch and then it was time for some mega chores around here. I am pretty sure that there are 5 pounds of candy wrappers strewn about this house. We did put a limit on the amount of candy that the kids can eat today. I had been letting them just eat what they wanted-my thought being that they would soon run out. Graham has eaten or traded all of his but everyone else has gobs left.
• This afternoon was pretty wet and dreary. After Whitman came home, the kids ended up going outside to the neighbors house for a bit. They played despite the cool temperatures. Around 6, we had our baked potatoes for supper. They are always a bit hit around here (except with Whitman), but man, are they messy. We should add baked potatoes to the list of banned inside items along with shredded cheese and cupcakes. 
• After we ate, the kids headed outside for a game of wall ball. I am unsure of the rules to that game but it sounds like it could be an expensive game for them to play. Expensive if they break one of my windows....again.
• Eventually, it was time for showers and then we had a fairly relaxing evening until bedtime. Then it was time for bed for all.

November 5, 2017

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• We didn't set out clocks back last night (we knew our phone alarms would set themselves). So at 7:40, Graham came into our bedroom and asked "so what are we doing?" He thought it as 8:40 and was wondering if we weren't going to church for some reason.
• With the extra hour, I was able to fold my two loads of laundry but still didn't have time to put them up. We made it to church in time barely! Whitman was in the church house for about 3 minutes when I had to take him by the arm and lead him to the bathroom for a quick chat. 
• He did fine during church, and then it was on to Sunday school. After church, we ate lunch at Nonna's house. She had lots of pizza and the kids gobbled it up-especially the cheesy bread. There was even so much that we took some home and had it again for supper. I did give the kids the option of eating leftover potato soup but had no takers. I guess I will have the whole crock pot to finish myself.
• Robby went to the movies this afternoon leaving me here alone trying to take my nap. At least 15 different people came in and asked me a question during my nap. Needless to say, I didn't sleep for very long and ended up making a Christmas present and wrapping a few teachers' gifts. 
• I kept looking at the clock thinking that it was past time for supper. The kids may not be bothered by this time change but I have been a bit confused all day long. Finally, it was supper time and then kids ate and then watched a few Toy Box episodes before heading to bed.

Christmas Ornament Countdown 2017: 20 Days Until Christmas

Robby and I have been to the Bar Harbor area at least 4 times. The trip that we bought this ornament was probably in 2004. The blog is surprisingly sparse before kids so there isn't too much information on there about that trip. We were able to go on a boat trip in Bar Harbor. It was really neat and there were quite a few animals to see. Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are places that I could just go back to again and again. I would love to spend a whole week there actually. Here is the post from the last time that we were in Bar Harbor.

November 4, 2017

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• We did all sleep a bit later this morning but Whitman was still the first one in my room. He was wanting milk and his breakfast. I asked him if his brothers could help but he must not have gotten very far with them because he was soon back in our room.
• We scurried around this morning because the church had their Fall Fest. The kids were super excited. The Fall Fest was for families with children from preschool to 4th grade. Reagan and Anderson knew they didn't fall in that category but I explained that they were part of the family and we were all going. 
• I know that they were glad that they went. There were games with candy prizes, a cake walk, cookie decorating, trail mix making, balloon animals, crafts and a hay ride. Graham started helping with the little bowling game and worked there most of the time. Then Anderson took over for Graham and soon Keaton had taken over Anderson's job. Campbell also found a spot for her to work on the cake walk. I couldn't have been prouder of my little worker bees.
• Everyone had a good time and left with a bag of goodies and a cup of hot chocolate or apple cider (well, not everyone had that but I sure did.) Once we made it home, we had supper which was leftover soup and ham and cheese croissants. The soup didn't go over too well today but we still have a full crock pot  left.
• Robby took Anderson to Grannymom's house for the night and then Robby ran to the movies for a mystery shop. The neighbors came over here and the kids played outside all of the afternoon. When the game started, I up and left to run a few errands. I am now finished with about 5% of my Christmas shopping. Actually, I probably aren't even that finished. That kind of makes me panic thinking about it.
• When I made it home, I unloaded my bags and watched the last bit of the game. The neighbors finally headed home and we ate supper. It was after 7 when we loaded up with the 3 littles and headed to Kroger for a bundle of grocery shopping. 
• I know that I have said it before but I just love Krogering. We filled two buggies (almost) and I was delighted to use a handful of coupons to help with the total. Once we made it home, it was showertime for the littles and bedtime for everyone.

November 3, 2017

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• My phone was downloading something or another last night, so we weren't sure if my alarm clock would work or not. Robby set his alarm too and both of them blared this morning in stereo at the same time. We treated 2 alarm clocks just like we treat my alarm clock every morning-just as a suggestion that we rarely listen to.
• Someone did come in our room saying that they were hungry so I did eventually climb out of bed. I had planned on having toast and eggs but we were out (completely out) of bread this morning. So I changed to pancakes and eggs, but after making pancakes I decided that we probably didn't need eggs to go with it. Campbell was not very happy with this decision, but I had had enough cooking.
• We ate our breakfast and I did make everyone help pick up the kitchen before we started on our school for the day. School went well and I did spend quite a bit of time with Whitman today doing some school. When everyone else was his age, they really wanted to do school like the rest of us, but Whitman could really care less. Come January, he and I are going to do lots of school trying to get him ready for real school come next September.
• After school, I received quite a bit of help making our potato soup for supper. At one time, everyone but Whitman were helping. They washed the potatoes, fried sausage, cut the potatoes, cut the onion and added all of the seasonings. It was pretty nice!
• Afterwards, we had our lunch and I read a few books that Whitman would enjoy and then read our current chapter book. We were just 3 chapters away from finishing but the kids wanted to wait. I couldn't believe they didn't want to finish. 
• Next up was chore time and the chores weren't going too smoothly....but then the kids saw the neighbors out. That helped tremendously and chores were quickly accomplished and everyone was out the door and down the road. 
• That helped with my final supper preparations. I did urge the kids to come home if it started pouring. It was nearly 6 when it did start pouring-at least at our house but no one came home. Robby did yell down there but the rain was too hard and they couldn't hear. When they did saunter in, they were soaking. We sent everyone to the showers before the McGuires and Penningtons all arrived.
• We had potato soup (new recipe and okay) along with sausage cornbread (my favorite) and ham and cheese croissants. For dessert, we had a Dairy Queen cake so now we only have 3 and a half left. 
• The kids were excellent tonight and all just really left the grownups alone. They watched tv, played legos, played on the ipads and some of them even played school. When everyone left at 10, Whitman had just gone to sleep in my lap. I put him down and the kids helped clean up before heading to bed themselves.  

November 2, 2017

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• Whitman was full of questions this morning, and I guess that I was sleeping so well that I don't really remember any of them. He was the main priority this morning-getting dressed, getting fed and getting him out the door.
• Once he was gone, the rest of us had our breakfasts and then it was work together time. This week, we haven't done much of our memory work but we have been going to town on history and science. This is the first year that I have taken our history and science books and gone through each chapter looking for library books to read about each topic. I can't find books about everything that our short enough for us to read but I do find quite a few. The kids may not enjoy this as much as I do but it does make things much more interesting...though it does take some extra time.
• We finished school in time for lunch. Everyone made their own lunch-I had a panini with pears in it and it was delicious. Graham was the only one who tried pears on his sandwich today. He is my adventurous boy and will usually try most any food. Even if he doesn't like it, he will still say that he does.
• This afternoon, the kids went to Dairy Queen to eat their weekly Blizzard. Whitman stayed home with me. As soon as the others left, I went to work in the school room and did walk through the room where he was a few times. After a while, he was walking around the house and found me. He said, "I thought you were gone." He then added that he thought that I had left with the others. What in the world? The boy thought that he was home alone and didn't have a problem with it at all.
• As soon as the kids returned, the neighbors were out and everyone stayed out until 8. I did have to take Campbell away for a time for her basketball practice. They have divided everyone up into teams but they still might move a few people around. Campbell's team only had 5 players while some teams had 9. Also, Campbell seems to be one of the strongest players on her team-that isn't saying much. We will probably get lots of practice in being gracious losers this year but it will be very entertaining to watch.
• That girl though, she worked so hard. She was wet with sweat when practice was over. She may not be the fastest but she does know how to hustle. 
• The others were still outside when we came home so I let Campbell out and she continued to play until 8. Whitman had come in when we left because he needed to work on bear's birthday party (more on that later). And Anderson had just walked in because he was feeling pretty itchy.
• Now earlier today, Whitman had decided that it was his bear's birthday. We have watched bear open presents, we have made signs, we have hung signs and talked about his birthday all day long. I had already planned on Anderson making red velvet cupcakes today but those even turned into cupcakes for bear's birthday.
• We were starving while the kids were out playing so Robby and I had to eat supper before they did. I twas nearly 9 when they finally finished supper. I read to the kids as they finished their supper and ate Anderson's cupcakes. Afterwards, everyone brushed their teeth and then had a few minutes to play on their ipads before bedtime.

November 1, 2017

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• Everyone but Keaton was up before us this morning. The girls were dressed before the boys-picking out clothes for CBS is a very important thing for the girls. They seem to put a lot of thought and time into it (yes, I know that Keaton wore the same shirt last week but she had to have Reagan and then me to help her decide what to wear. After we struggled for 5 minutes looking for something and picked out a shirt, she told me that she wore it last week. I decided that it was super fine since she had on different pants (actually, I wouldn't have cared if she wore the same pants! I just wanted her to pick something out.)
• The kids found their breakfast and I found the last bagel in the house. I did smear it with a few tablespoons of blueberry cream cheese and it was pretty delicious. The weather on the way to Bible study was messy and really just made me want to crawl back into bed. 
• After Bible study, Campbell's teacher said that she was such a good helper. She added that Campbell looks around and just knows what needs to be done. We all headed to Rock Creek to play for a bit. It was already crowded there when Sara and I arrived with 14 kids in tow. 
• The kids played until we could take no more playing. The big kids tired pretty quick of Rock Creek and are usually the most anxious to leave. Now Whitman was not ready at all to leave and I did walk out the door without him-not the main doors, just the playground door.
• Back at home, we all did some chores and then I might have possibly laid my head down for a bit. Whitman brought me his bear so I could sleep better-I might possibly could have slept better if my kiddos were quiet! 
• Before too long, it was crunch time. I scurried around looking for supper and found some soup. Everyone had some but mostly filled up on crackers and cheese-but really, isn't that the best part of soup? 
• When supper was cleaned up, we ran to the library on the way to church. Church went by quickly-leading games with a bunch of preschoolers has made my hoarse, scratchy throat even worse. I have had this crud for over a week now and it is getting a bit old.
• After church, we came home and then kids changed into pjs before watching a bit of the game before going to bed.