- Keaton came into our room last night around 4. She said that she had a scary dream so I just rolled over and made room for her. Seconds later we heard feet above us, and I expected someone else to join us soon. Keaton told me though that it was Campbell going back to bed because Campbell had walked her down the stairs.
- That is my Campbell. She can drive me crazy some days, but every day she can be the sweetest child ever. Tonight, the kids played musical chairs. Whitman lost pretty early this first round and became upset. The second round he was in the finals but lost. Campbell was quick to comfort him each time and even got him a juice box to help him feel better. Sweet sister.
- I looked on the breakfast menu today, and it was toast and eggs. I decided that I better get the eggs going so we could eat on time. I did bake a dozen eggs in the oven and thought they were pretty good. That is good because I have a few extras since the kids weren't crazy about them.
- The toast was at least a hit. However, since the other day when the cord on my toast was pretty hot, I was the toaster guard watching it closely. (No worries though, a new toaster arrived today in the mail.)
- My planning ahead didn't help too much because we still had a later start that I wanted. Now, we didn't work together since we were leaving for lunch today. So the kids got right to work on their school work.
- I had plans on taking a shower before we left right before lunch. Though I never had enough time. We did leave the house pretty much a wreck as well, but we had all afternoon to pick up.
- We met a few buddies and a new church staff member's wife at church so the kids could get to know each other. The big kids enjoyed being at church able to play and run around. And my Whitman so took up with one of the new little girls. They played the entire time; it was so sweet.
- After we ate and played, we headed back home for the afternoon. Anderson worked some more on his school work that he didn't finish. Everyone worked on their summer reading charts and chores.
- I did a few of my chores and soon ended up on the treadmill, but before that happened I took a bit of a nap. Soon Robby was home, and I was cleaning out the fridge for supper. Then we headed to the pool to celebrate Michael and Caroline's birthdays.
- It would have been a lovely night to swim...except for all of the lightening happening in the distance. The kids did get to swim for about 10 minutes before the lightening began. That was fine because we soon had cake, opened presents and played a few rounds of musical chairs.
- When the wind kicked up, we did leave a bit early. At home, the kids had showers and then we watched a bit of tv before sending everyone to bed. Reagan wasn't pleased about going to bed even though it was 10. However, I would bet a good bit of money that I will have to wake her along with everyone else up in the morning.
- Fewer people were awake this morning than yesterday. We probably shouldn't have stayed up as late, but that seems to be our new norm around here. Graham was awake first and did start a bit on his school work.
- I had to wake up all of the other sleepers. They were pretty exhausted, but did all stumble down the stairs in time for breakfast. Today's breakfast was cereal and what was left of our fruit. The kids are delighted that we hit up the weekend cereal sales and all have plenty of choices.
- After breakfast, we read for a long time before starting on our school work. This week, everyone has added spelling. It seemed to go fine and I was still finished with my part of school work before noon.
- Everyone finished their work around noonish. I am not sure though what happened because after we ate lunch, I looked at the clock and it was 1:40. That was when we were supposed to be leaving for the pool. I looked at another clock and even checked my watch. Indeed, it was 1:40, and I somehow lost an hour of the day.
- We hurried around and were soon in the car without bathing suits on. The kids were able to swim for almost 2 hours. The sky was threatening for most of our time there, and during the last 20 minutes there was a clap on thunder.
- That was fine since we were about to leave, so we loaded up to head to Dairy Queen. I think that we have about 3 or 4 more visits. I will miss the Blizzards, but I think that our waistlines will not miss those Blizzards.
- Once at home, Reagan had about 20 minutes before her, Robby and Anderson turned around and left. Robby took her and Alyssa Kate to their Bibles study. They sewed their bags, made a s'mores biscuit, and finished their sewn books, which were really, really neat.
- Anderson went to see if he could find his Bible that he left at church yesterday. Robby and him also picked up propane for Robby's grill for tonight's hamburgers. Once they were home, Robby started on those immediately.
- We ate our burgers, which are still the best ones ever. Then Robby headed outside to do some yard work. I had to repaint a table top and did a few things in the house. The kids were in and out all evening long playing with the neighbors.
- Once Reagan made it home, everyone headed in for showers and cookies. Reagan was starving and went right to the food that I had left out for her. Soon it was once again bedtime for the crew.
- Anderson and Graham were dressed this morning and watching videos on my computer when I woke up. Whitman and Campbell were in the living room on their ipads. Whitman didn't have on his church clothes just yet though.
- I did have to wake up Keaton and Reagan this morning and urge them to get started on their clothes and breakfast. We all had plenty of time this morning, but there was still someone who had neglected to comb their hair as we were walking to the car.
- It was the Lord's Supper at church this morning, and we survived. There was no grape juice spilled! Anderson did give me the evil eye when I wouldn't let go of the plate of juice until Robby's hand was on it. The kids are all bigger now, but I still don't trust them at all!
- After church, we didn't have lunch at Grannymom's house since we were having supper there. So we headed home for sandwiches. Reagan and Anderson had eaten so much in their Sunday school class that they didn't even want any lunch. Everyone else ate, then we picked up the kitchen before taking a short nap.
- Now, while we were snoozing, I was asked 4 times about a snack by 4 different people and someone even sent a text about a snack. Now, the first time I was asked was less than 30 minutes after lunch. It was like we were starving these children!
- We headed to the pool a bit before 4. The Kamps were there too so the kids had some folks to play with. Whitman worked on his swimming. He will do so good, and then just stop and start sinking! We have thought about swimming lessons this year, but will do it early next summer so he doesn't forget this winter.
- After 2 kid swims, we headed to Grannymom's house to change into dry clothes. Then it was time to celebrate Jenna's birthday. Grannymom had bbq and all of the fixings for supper. We even enjoyed 3 different dessert options. After Jenna opened her presents, the kids headed outside for a game of kickball.
- Once at home, everyone showered and even though they asked for more food, it was denied. Anderson fell asleep before we even sent everyone to bed. They stayed up a bit later than usual, but sometime I plan to start a much earlier bedtime. I may just have to wait until time change though!
- Some days are just busy, and this was one of those wonderfully busy days. Even though it started out slowly with everyone sleeping in. I even had to wake Reagan up at 10:00 to urge her to go ahead and get herself ready.
- Once everyone was dressed, we loaded up and headed to Honeybaked Pies to celebrate their birthday. They were giving out free pieces of cake-chocolate or confetti. When Graham took a bite of his generous slice of cake, you could tell by his facial expression that he thought it was wonderful.
- Indeed it was very tasty. The sitting area was nice so we leisurely enjoyed our slices of cake while waiting on Grannymom and Grandpa to come. The kids and I played Apples to Apples and the three littles even colored a few pictures. It was a neat stop, and I would like to go back. At one time, they had pie baking classes so I will have to keep my eye out for that.
- After the cake samples, I ran to Walmart to return one of Graham's gifts. Then we met up with the others at Sams. They had been getting gas. We walked around Sam's eating samples. The only thing that we bought were shirts for Reagan and Campbell. Robby had a free slice of pizza, ice cream and drink at Sams, but he did buy another slice of pizza and hot dog. We split all of that before loading back up.
- The next stop was Kroger where Robby and I ran in the store to pick up some bargains. After that, our final stop was Dairy Queen for our weekly Blizzards. Reagan was so full from our practically free food day, that she didn't even want her Blizzard.
- Then it was back home for a little bit. I looked at my canning cookbook from the library. I was underwhelmed. Now, if I had a garden and had plenty of green beans to spare, then canning might be an option. However, right now, with no garden, the grocery store is a much better option.
- I loaded up along with Reagan, Anderson, Graham and Campbell to take them to 4 different Sunday school pool parties. On the way, we picked up Kennedy, Alyssa and Caroline. Here is the short version of where I went next: party 1, party 2, party 3, party 4, party 1, party 3, party 2, party 4, party 1.
- Yep, it was pretty much like that. I dropped Campbell off at her party and picked up Chase while I was there. Then I dropped off Chase, Caroline and Graham at their party. The big girls looked across the street at the still empty pool party they were going to and asked me to drop Anderson off next. So I dropped Anderson off at his party, and then dropped off those girls.
- Once my car was empty, I went back to Campbell's party to help out some. They actually had a water play party and had lots of fun playing. When the other parties were wrapping up, I picked up Anderson first, followed by Caroline, Graham, and Chase. Then walked across the street to pick up Reagan, Alyssa and Kennedy. At Campbell's party, I did make my whole crew get out and help pick up the water balloons in the yard, before we loaded up and headed for Lawson.
- Jodee was at Candice's house so I dropped off all of my extra's there before bringing my crew back for showers. Robby and his crew were still out when we arrived home. They went to the Christopher Robin movie at the theater. I think that they were pretty excited to have something to do tonight since all of the others had a party to go to.
- Robby, Keaton and Whitman had a big night out. They ate a quick supper and had showers before leaving the house. Next was a quick grocery store stop-the store has a super good cereal deal going on right now that we just can't pass up even though our pantry is now bursting at the seems.
- Then they all enjoyed the move. Keaton said that she loved the movie. Robby said that drank tons of coke and ate lots of popcorn. However, they came home with a completely full tub of popcorn and a full cup of coke. I better make sure that they all potty a few times before bed tonight!
- Since this wasn't a school day, it was a fairly quiet morning around here. I wasn't in a hurry to get out of bed and only did so after Whitman asked me to get him some milk. I agreed to help before I thought of asking where his sisters were.
- Anderson was up fairly early as well. He still had 2 pages of math and one other quick thing to finish today. Now, his math today took about an hour, but again he is in no hurry. Whitman had a bit to do as well, but I helped so he quickly knocked his out.
- Campbell and Keaton made muffins for their breakfast this morning. Then later in the morning, Keaton, along with Campbell's help, made cookie dough for Graham's late birthday present. We baked a pan full of cookies and froze the rest of the dough.
- I walked on the treadmill right before Candice brought Reagan home from her sleepover. Reagan did stay up until the wee hours of the morning so she was fairly quiet this afternoon. We all ate a quick bite to eat, then loaded up with everyone, minus Reagan and Campbell, to run some errands.
- First, I ran into the library. Then it was time to go to Goodwill. Anderson and Graham had hoped to find something to buy there that they could sell online to make a profit. Graham found 2 books that Robby listed online. Unfortunately, Anderson didn't find any. I tried but just wasn't able to. Now, both big boys, Keaton and Campbell or Reagan all did get a shirt. (I say Campbell or Reagan because the shirt will fit either of them.)
- Next stop was Academy. Whitman received a gift card for his birthday from the Mississippi Dennies, and we have just gotten around to spending it. He was so excited and kept telling us that it was his first gift card. He did pretty well and left with a bubble machine, extra bubbles, a pool noodle and a big bouncy ball. The boy could not have been any happier.
- Once at home, the afternoon was fairly short. Around 5 we started scurrying around eating supper and getting ready. Robby dropped me off at the grocery store, and then he dropped off the boys at basketball.
- Then I dropped everyone else off at the pool and headed to Kohls to spend a coupon. Afterwards, I picked up the boys, and then brought them to the pool. We all stayed there until the pool closed at 9. The kids had a big contest with Robby seeing who could catch the ball and throw it back while jumping off the diving board.
- When the pool closed, we headed home for showers, cookies and bed! We actually did watch a Bates tv show before we sent everyone to bed tonight. I think that I like that show as much as the kids do...especially when the talk about courtship and not dating.
- School day number 8 today, and I had to wake most people up. Anderson was the first one awake and tried really hard to convince me to let him play his ipad. He couldn't convince me of that so he tried to ask about watching youtube on another computer. Nope was the answer to that as well. If I give in once, they will keep at it until I have lost my willpower!
- We were headed to the pool around 10, so we didn't do our together work. Instead, everyone went right to work on their own school work. Anderson still had some math to finish up tomorrow, and Campbell was able to finish her leftover work this afternoon.
- We soon were in the car heading to the pool. It was chilly there today. I didn't even think about getting in today which is probably the reason that I still have on my bathing suit! The kids were even a bit chilly but eventually started playing in the water. I do think that Anderson and Reagan spent more time out of the pool than in the pool.
- When we left, we headed to Hobby Lobby to buy a birthday present. It was for one of Campbell's buddies so she picked out the present. Bless, she wanted it to be so perfect, but perfect take a long time and perfect with 5 siblings following you and commenting on everything takes a long time as well!
- We paid a bit more than I normally do for presents, but as I told Robby, I would have paid any price to get us on out of that store! Our next stop was Menchies. The kids had a free ice cream because they read 10 books this summer. They were pretty excited about the change from Dairy Queen! Ha! Whitman did say that next time he was just going to get a plain ice cream and no toppings!
- When we made it home, the kids stayed inside for a bit. Whitman and Campbell had some school work to do. Keaton made a caramel blondie for dessert tonight during our short afternoon. Then Keaton rode with me to take Reagan and Alyssa Kate to a sleepover. Keaton fell sound asleep on the way home, and I had to chug my water to stay awake myself.
- Once at home, the girls went out to play with the neighbors. Then Keaton came in to make her fish for supper. Tonight she worked on the meal just by herself and was super pleased with herself. The fish was actually pretty good-good enough that I might just make the two pieces that I have leftover in the freezer.
- As soon as supper was over, we kicked everyone out of the house for a bit. Robby and I sat outside for a while, but then ended up working on the garage some. Everyone stayed outside until 9, and then we hurried inside for showers.
- Right before bed, Keaton was pleased to pass out her dessert to everyone. It was also a winner. They all ate and then headed to bed. Keaton and Campbell are in the same bed tonight since Reagan is away. I am not even sure why Keaton has her own bed anyway. Most mornings, I find Keaton wrapped in her mermaid blanket about 10 feet from her bed on the floor. It is a rare morning that she is still in her bed.
- Graham was awake this morning and working on his math right after 7 this morning. It was new math, so I did have to help him which was easier than watching the video. I am always relieved when I know how to do their math. Honestly though I never remember doing any of this math in high school or college. I think that math has some how changed through the years.
- Soon I was upstairs waking everyone up to start their day. Reagan was the last to stumble down the steps, but she did make it in time for breakfast. The breakfast food of choice today was poptarts and granola bars.
- We soon did our reading, and then the kids started to work on their school work. Reagan again had a science experiment. It wasn't a grand or exciting experiment, but she did it by herself. We had also done a little experiment while we were working together. It involved M&Ms. I am not sure if anyone learned anything, but everyone enjoyed their little snack.
- Around noon, Anderson left with Robby to grab something to eat while the rest of us ate here. Soon we loaded up to leave for the afternoon. We stopped at Reagan's orthodontist because they were giving away free snow cones away to patients and their families. (Though the little at the desk didn't really want to give all of the kids tokens for a snow cone.)
- We had to wait a few minutes for our snow cones but I guess that they were worth the wait because the kids pretty much devoured them. Then we headed to the pool the meet our buddies. Soon Robby brought Anderson to meet up with us.
- The kids swam and played for about 2 and a half hours. Then we loaded up to head to Barnes and Noble. Everyone completed their summer reading program so they all received a free book. Whitman wasn't old enough, but he didn't seem to care at all. I love the book store, and unfortunately my kids only seem to love the toys at the bookstore.
- Afterwards, we ran by Dairy Queen for our weekly Blizzards. I think that the kids will miss the people that work there. There is even one lady that knows most of the kids names which means that we have been there way too much. On the way home, we finished one of our books on tape and then even listened to our Latin cd.
- The kids played outside some before coming in. I sat down on the couch and missed Robby cooking supper. As soon as everyone ate, the girls ran back outside to play while the boys started on their showers.
- Ice cream sandwiches were dessert tonight and shortly thereafter, it was bedtime for the crew. Whitman was so interested in his ipad that he refused to leave it for his dessert. That was fine with us! More for another day!
