- Another rainy morning and another day that only my big boys were awake at 8. I made the loop waking everyone-it took me a few loops around to finally get the girls stirring. When we had about 5 minutes until it was time that we left, I again made my loop downstairs telling people to put their dishes up, brush their teeth and get what they needed. I was pretty shocked to see that Anderson was still in his pjs! He said, "you never told me to put on my clothes." Gracious me!
- We finished our book on tape this morning, and then headed into Bible study. Robby again picked up Keaton for her dermatology appointment. At some point, her eczema has turned into something else-possibly this was the cause for it to become so bad and for it to start spreading down her arms and now on her tummy.
- That does mean that she will have to stop using the new testing drug which is fine with us. Her arms had really taken a turn for the worse the last few days and were driving her crazy itching. The doctor called her in a prescription so she is having to drink some medicine each day for the next 10 days.
- We immediately started putting lotions, creams and potions on her arms. They won't get truly better until the medicine takes effect, but hopefully once that happens we can kick her eczema goodbye too. Even after one dose of antibiotics and one good rub down with cream, they were already starting to look better. They are still really, really red though but hopefully not as itchy.
- She still has to go back to the study one more time so they can make sure that her little arms are indeed getting better. More than likely she will not get compensated for the whole study, but she will still get quite a bit of money-enough to buy what she wants to buy.
- After her appointment, Keaton met us at Third Realm. This is our 23rd time to visit, and that place was packed with homeschoolers. Not really packed, but usually when we come during the day our group is the only ones. There were even some Amish kids there today!
- When we had finished jumping, we ran to pick up Keaton's medicine and then came home to start dosing her up. Kennedy came home with us so we didn't really see much of Reagan and her until supper time.
- I did read to Whitman and had everyone do some more packing. You would laugh if you saw all of the stuff that we have to take on a trip. It really doesn't matter if we are gone for 30 days or 3 days-there is still so much stuff of pack.
- For supper, we had baked potatoes, biscuits and hamburgers (Robby picked up our Dairy Queen burgers today-the kids don't like the Dairy Queen buns so we buy the double hamburgers, bring them home and when we do eat them, we now have 6 burgers instead of 3! This thrills my soul and probably mortifies the kids. When they are old, they will tell their children about how cheap their parents were.)
- On our way out of the door, Anderson decided that he didn't feel good. He said that his stomach hurt, and he did inhale his food at supper. We weren't too sure what was going on, so we did let him stay home. Robby did tell him that he couldn't do electronics though so he did nap, read and even played some. I am not too sure if he was really sick or if he just didn't want to go. He is a pretty tenderhearted kid so I do worry about him.
- By the time that rest of us made it back home-my shoes were still wet from our trip to the library before church. Whitman was acting crazy in the car so I made him come in with me. However I was not thinking about the crazy rain that was happening at the time so we were both pretty soaked by the time we made it back to the car.
- Also by the time we made it home, Anderson seemed to be in good spirits. He had a snack with the rest of us but did later say he still felt tired. Possibly time change has gotten to him. I think it has gotten to me too!
- After our snack, the kids had a few minutes to just play on their devices before it was time for bed. Wednesdays are a pretty long day!
- Campbell and Graham were both awake this morning. Campbell was already working on her school work as my alarm was ringing. I then made sure that everyone was awake, and we moved to my bedroom to do our morning reading.
- After we read, everyone had one school thing to do. I guess Anderson and Graham were not expecting for me to pick the hardest school thing, but of course I did. They both had writing and both were overwhelmed. I tried to stay calm, but Graham seemed like he didn't want to do any work and Anderson decided he didn't understand and would barely try. I helped both of them and they did finally finish in time to work on their chores.
- Meanwhile, Campbell was being a sweet sister and was helping make the boys beds while they were still finishing their school work. Everyone was finished, and the house was straight when our homeschool buddies started arriving.
- I was a bit bummed this morning when I saw that it was still raining. I really wanted for the kids to be able to play outside much of the day. It did however stop so they were able to play out which made things nice. When Whitman was playing out, he found himself some mud puddles to jump in and was wet and muddy when he came back inside. I actually just carried him to the shower!
- I had so much fun at our homeschool day today. Nitzia did it all-maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much! First, we sat everyone down and she talked all about the history of the pinata. Then she showed everyone how to make one. The kids divided themselves up and soon got to work.
- Don't be surprised, but Reagan did little on the making of her pinata. She would have died if she would have had to stick her hand in the glue like everyone else. She made sure that she helped with the newspaper instead of the glue.
- Anderson was just like Reagan and did not touch his pinata much at all. Whitman was so excited to be Graham's partner. After he heard that the glue would get on your clothes, he was quick to stand up and start backing out of the kitchen. While I was helping the others, he did play with the balloons in the living room. When I did clean my hands, I was able to get him to at least tear some newspapers.
- I am thankful that Campbell and Keaton went right to work on their pinatas. It was no small task and they did really well. Once the pinatas were done, I hung them in my attic to dry. Hopefully, they will dry well. While I was hanging pinatas, the moms wrapped up the table cloths covering the floor and started to prepare for the tortilla making.
- Nitza told everyone about corn tortillas and how to make them. Then she had dough and tortilla presses for the kids to make their own. Since there were lots and lots of hands, we made a batch to eat and let the kids just practice making theirs.
- Then we had our lunch-homemade corn tortillas, guacamole, salsa, pineapple, salsa, black beans, beef, chicken, sour cream, limes, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, another type of cheese, and even cheese dip. The moms had brought all of the food and it was simply delicious. Maybe I was just hungry! But the kids did keep coming back for more food.
- I did make all of my kids except for Keaton try to corn tortillas. I do think that they mostly liked them. Obviously, they are not as good as a flour tortillas but when we smeared enough butter on them, everyone liked them.
- Everyone stayed until about 2. It didn't take too long for us to clean up the house. So by 2:45ish, I was sitting on the couch. Whitman came to ask me to spell something on his ipad, and soon I was sound asleep cuddled up to him. He wasn't asleep but was sure a perfect pillow for me.
- I only stirred when my alarm went off reminding me to put the potatoes in the oven for our baked potatoes tonight. I got up and did that but soon ended back on the couch. I eventually did some packing as well as reading to Whitman.
- The kids are all in awe of the new tvs. Not really new tvs but satellites. I believe that we had most of the same channels before but it is like they have just discovered them. They are watching all of the same shows that we watch whenever we are at a hotel. Now, on a sad note-my Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel isn't in our package. I had planned to get back on the treadmill and watch some of these movies but now I am just destined to get chubby!
- The neighbors that are never out were out this evening. I had supper ready about an hour and a half before the kids finally came in. We ate and then everyone worked on an evening list that I had made out for them.
- They had to shower, do some packing and prepare their lunch for tomorrow. It was a pretty busy evening. The kids weren't so busy that they forgot to ask for a snack though. I am not sure why they would need a snack right after eating supper, but we still passed one out though!
- I think that Time Change might have hit me harder than the kids. It sure didn't bother Graham at all because he was up and playing his ipad before anyone else in this house had even stepped out of the bed!
- I woke everyone else up and by some miracle, we all had our breakfasts and were in my bedroom, reading all before 8:15. We read a few books and even finished a few. After a run to the library this afternoon, we only have 81 books checked out. I am working on getting that number down a little bit.
- The kid started on their school around 9. Keaton is so close to finishing her spelling, and that will make me happy, happy. Now if I could just get my Whitman to finish his spelling. The boy can sure read, but he can't spell at all. We have been working hard, but his attention span and my patience only lasts for about 5-7 words a day.
- Anderson worked and finished his school work before lunch time. We ate our lunch and then did a few chores. Tomorrow is homeschool day here with all of our buddies so we had to do a little bit of extra cleaning.
- Once we finished all of that, we worked on our afternoon reading and also finished another Jr. Ranger book. We are approaching 50 Jr. Ranger badges! Afterwards, we had a bit of free time before meeting all of our buddies at Third Realm. Yep, it was our 8th day in a row. Just FYI, I do not plan on going there tomorrow.
- After we made it home, I worked on pulling out Whitman's school for after Spring break. Then Robby and I started on supper. We made fajitas for everyone and used queso fresco on our tortillas. I think that it was a hit because there was no chicken to save.
- The evening eventually ended with some ice cream for the kids while we watched a few tv shows. Whitman was busy drawing cards and pictures. I promise you that he went through 15 pieces of paper tonight!
- Despite time change, everyone woke up fairly well this morning. Robby was actually up and dressed before I rolled out of bed. My first stops were waking up the boys and then the girls since none of them were awake.
- When I went in the boys room, I saw Graham and Whitman sound asleep right by each other in the middle of the floor. They were the cutest things ever. I thought about going downstairs to grab my camera, but that was all the way down the stairs so I didn't do that, I just went ahead and put toothpaste on all of the toothbrushes.
- Right before we left for church, Keaton told me that her stomach hurt. By the time we were in the car, she was crying saying that her stomach still hurt. I even thought she looked a bit pale to me. She even went to sleep on the way to church. She does have such a tender tummy, but we would have to assume that she was somehow worried about singing in church.
- I told her that I would go upstairs with her and she didn't have to sing if she didn't want to but we needed to go and watch Campbell. I was pretty sure she would get better since she usually perks up quickly after her tummy does hurt. Now, I was also prepared and had a walmart bag read to go for her in my bag.
- After a bit of sitting with a bunch of girls, Keaton was soon fine. When the choir leader asked everyone to sit on their benches, she told me she was fine and left with her buddies. I walked over with the choir kiddos and watched Campbell and Keaton sing. They did great-well, I am sure that Campbell really did great, but I was too busy watching Keaton for any signs that she was about to hurl!
- Once the girls finished singing, we headed back downstairs to our service. Then we had Sunday school before heading to Nonna and Pops' house for lunch. Instead of lunch though we had breakfast. Nonna and Pops had made a huge breakfast spread. There was tons of different options and everyone left full.
- Once we left their house, we came home for just a little bit. I did have about a 15 minute nap before leaving to meet Robby. He had left a few minutes earlier to take Cash's trailer back, pick Cash up and meet me at Third Realm.
- You would think that my crew would balk at going there 7 days in a row, however they didn't complain at all. It did help that Cash was going with them today. Anderson and Whitman have been playing Minecraft lately so they have become pretty good buds. When they were leaving, Whitman said that he was going to ask Anderson if he could stay with him the whole time.
- I had to go back to church for a meeting while Robby finished up the jumping. Reagan's life group was cancelled since quite a few kiddos couldn't come. By the time that I made it home, Robby and Reagan were making cookie dough for a snack and everyone had already taken their showers.
- We eventually had supper and then topped our supper off with lots of cookie dough. We are still getting used to our new tv system so it took a bit to find a few shows to watch but we were able to watch a few different shows so that was a plus. I don't think that the kids were too tired at bedtime tonight since time change, but that didn't matter to me!
- It was after 8 when I woke up today. That was when Whitman burst into our room, climbed between us and told us that he had a "scary nightmare." I think that since it was so dark outside, he thought that he wasn't yet supposed to be up. He then stayed in our bed for quite a while until he heard Anderson milling around downstairs.
- The weather continued to get darker so I sure was not getting out of bed. Keaton then joined us and stayed with us through the storm. There was a point that that the rain was so hard that we could not see the trees outside. Something hit the window, a stick or something, and Robby just jumped. We are always expected to lose a tree whenever there is a storm.
- We did finally get up to head to Third Realm. While we were getting everyone ready, the sirens were going off for another area in the county. Of course, I did ask Anderson and Reagan if they did hear the sirens or if they thought that they might should be concerned. I guess they trust that we will tell them if there is something wrong because they were oblivious.
- I ran to pick up Graham while everyone one else piled in Robby's car to go and pick up Campbell. The kids do like Robby's car better. Someone always gets to sit up front so they all like that and I do believe that I have a few folks that are a wee bit embarrassed of my car.
- We met up at Third Realm and yes, I have been there 6 times this week. I am actually thinking of getting a part time job there. Seriously, I have been there more this week than I have been at church-well, probably not, but almost. The kids still enjoy it-today they were playing dodge ball and had a worker refereeing it so the boys loved that.
- On the way home, we picked up some chicken wings at Sonic. There was a sale today and surprisingly most everyone loved them. Keaton and Whitman were not fans, but our non meat eater, Anderson, asked to finish them off for supper.
- Our afternoon was spent watching the worker man put the dish on the house (back, thankfully) and fix all of the tvs. Things seem to be working well and everything is working right this second.
- We had leftovers and hot dogs for supper tonight. Everyone had their showers and then Robby and I started working on moving our massive tv unit into the exact right spot. Things do look better in our room now since the couch doesn't just looked shoved up against the wall. It took us all evening long because he had to redo all of the cords. (Now he still has to redo all of the cords in the bonus room, but that is a project for another day.)
- For some reason the kids, especially Keaton, were wound up tonight. That didn't make all of our reorganizing very easy, but we did survive...and so did the kids. We finished after putting everyone in bed-unfortunately, we didn't get anyone in bed earlier than usual tonight so there will be lots of tired kiddos on the Dennie pew during time change Sunday.
- School went as expected this morning. Since we had already finished our spelling yesterday, my work was a lot lighter today. Campbell and Anderson both did have writing assignments that required a bit of extra work from me. I was however to pull out most everyone's school for next week before we did eat our lunch.
- Campbell left first this morning to got Grannymom and Grandpa's house for the evening. She did most of her school work last night so she would be able to finish early today. After she did finish her work, she went right to work on packing her bags. I am not too sure on how long she plans on staying, but she could probably stay a week or two with everything that she brought.
- Graham left next with Nonna and Pops. He also had a bag full. Most of his extra stuff was for basketball-shorts and shoes. He was pretty excited about going to their house and even ate at his favorite restaurant, Chick Fil A.
- Around one, I finally called everyone down for lunch. I let them make their own and then eat where ever they would like. I think that they enjoyed a break from having to listen to me read as they ate.
- Soon it was time to meet the buddies at Third Realm. We have been there 5 days this week. I even did some work on my chart today so I could better keep up with our jumping visits better. Everyone was pretty sweaty after we came in from jumping.
- We hadn't been home for long when the neighbor came out wanting to play so Keaton and Whitman headed out with him. When they came back in, they were soaking wet. I am not sure what they did outside, but it still must be incredibly wet.
- They had showers as Robby and I were preparing to take Anderson to basketball. As soon as we were about to leave, we received at text saying that basketball was cancelled. So Robby and I still left to go out and eat by ourselves. On our way home, we stopped to buy everyone supper-2 requested Arbys (Keaton and Anderson), 1 had Tropical Smoothie (Reagan) and one child just asked for a grilled cheese (Whitman).
- As they ate, I worked on baking the cookies that Keaton had made earlier in the week. Unfortunately, when you leave cookie dough in the fridge, it just disappears. I can say that I have not been the one eating it this week. I usually do, but I have a stash of mint m&ms that I am working on right now.
- We ate our cookies as we watched some of the Hogs baseball game with Shannon. She came over for a bit while her crew was out and about tonight. Once she left, we watched some basketball before calling it a night and sending the people to bed!
- I have always loved Thursdays and today was a no different. It was even raining to make our morning a bit more pleasant-I think the kids are always calmer during the rain. Robby said that it looked like a buffet when he walked through my bedroom on his way to work.
- The kids ate as we read. Then they started on their school for the day. The day seemed to go fairly fast. At one point, Campbell even commented that I was finishing quickly today. I did finish cleaning up my piles and area before lunch.
- I did print out the kids school for next week today. It does seem that we are only going to get one day of school in and just a little bit on two other days. I will say that I get a bit excited each time I look at their school right now, because every single week someone has finished something. Don't get me wrong, my big 3 will be working on their writing until the end of May but things are getting easier for them (and me) each week.
- Everyone ate their lunch and then started on chores. We did some more reading before it was time to load up to head to PE. All of our buddies were there too and most of the kiddos said that Third Realm today was the best part of their day.
- Once we made it home, we had a bit of time before Robby came home and we started on our supper. Robby made biscuits and gravy. I had taco soup. Some folks had chicken nuggets. Some had ham and cheese croissant and even one had a hamburger. If you hadn't guessed already, it was clean out the fridge night.
- For dessert, we again had leftovers-sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownies and banana bread that I had made this afternoon for Graham. As we waited for bedtime, we watched a few game shows until it was time to for bed for this crew.
