March 6, 2020

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• Today was the last day of school for the week, and it was pretty great. I always enjoy the last of a 4 day school work because there is no spelling to do with everyone. This makes me super happy-also thinking about next year thrills me because I will only be doing spelling with three kiddos.
• Doing spelling with Whitman does still take forever. Today though was the first time that I didn't feel like banging my head on the wall. I have slowed way down and am now content knowing that he will just do some spelling all summer long. We will eventually get it all done.
• Most everyone was finished with school before 11ish. I still had to finish up a few school things and even started pulling out school for next week. 
• Around lunch time, the kids grabbed their own lunches while I made myself some hot chocolate. I have been craving hot chocolate since we came home from our trip. It was delicious-and pretty rich. I might just make myself some tomorrow.
• This afternoon wasn't too busy. I was actually headed to the treadmill when Graham asked if I would played basketball. I ended up outside playing a pretty rough game of basketball with Graham, Anderson, Campbell and Keaton. There was pushing and shoving and lots of fouling, but surprisingly everyone took it well and enjoyed the game.
• When the game was over, something happened that I didn't think would ever happen-Whitman rode his bike! We have worked on this for a while now, but today I think he finally got it. We still need to work on riding, but we were super proud of him today!
• This evening we all took Anderson and Graham to their basketball practice. While they were practicing, the rest of us went to Grannymom's house. Robby worked on their taxes while the rest of us ate ice cream. I picked up the boys, and when Robby finished up we headed to ChickFilA for supper.
• Once we finished our chicken, we then ran to the grocery store. The kids stayed in the car while Robby and I did some speed sale shopping. Then we raced home for the kids to have a few minutes of downtime before it was finally a late bedtime on this Friday night.

March 5, 2020

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• Today was a fairly quiet day around here. We started our school work around 8:30. This was the first day that we did actually do our together work in the morning since being home. We read a little bit, said some verses and worked a few logic puzzles. 
• Then was time for everyone to start on their school work. Graham, of course, had finished his school work well before I had gotten out of bed. I started working with everyone in the hallway today-Robby was in our room, the living room seemed cold and the school room was full of people. 
• It took all morning long for me to finish working with everyone and checking all of the math. Anderson and Reagan both have math right now that is giving them fits, but I am loving it. It is math that I remember and enjoy. I am sure that they will get it quickly; hopefully tomorrow.
• After we finished school, everyone had lunch. I pulled out school for tomorrow-I am not back in a routine of doing it each week so I have been doing this daily lately. It is no small job. 
• I walked on the treadmill some before helping Keaton with a project. Then it was off to the store with Keaton and Campbell. We were out of pretty much everything so it is good to have a fullish pantry now...except none of that can really make a supper.
• The kids all went outside to play when we came home. Everyone was outside for a bit while I did work on supper. It was burrito bowls and no surprise here, it wasn't a hit. I made a new recipe-I did like it except for the chicken. It did kill hunger, though I am sure that a few kiddos were starving tonight after barely eating any supper at all. Unfortunately, I don't have great kitchen skills and won't be passing that along to my girls!
• The evening was fairly quiet. Graham watched basketball while I took a nap with Keaton-she didn't sleep but she was in my lap. At bedtime, Graham was trying his best to stay up way later so he could see more basketball. He will be able to watch it tomorrow so all will be well!

March 4, 2020

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• Today was our first day back at Bible Study, and I almost decided that we were going to skip one more week before I was able to get out the door. Bless, it was tough this morning! The boys were all awake, but the girls were slow to get out of bed.
• Then, and this happens every week, I some how loose about 20 minutes-I'm not sure what happens. I look at the clock once and have plenty of time. Then I look again, and I am about to be late. 
• We had to pack our lunches which wasn't that hard since the pantry and fridge are empty here. I know that we need to go to the grocery store, but I think that we are trying to just wait and see really how long we can last. 
• The kids teachers were all super excited to see them today. They hugged them like they had not seen them in weeks-those Bible study teachers are just some of the best. The kids were happy to be back with their buddies. 
• And everyone was happy that we went to the park after class. The kids played and played the entire time. We eventually had to leave because Reagan had an orthodontist appointment. Sara and Candice were generous enough to take my crew home so they all didn't have to go to the ortho with Reagan.
• Reagan just has to come one more time to the orthodontist, and then she should be officially graduated. She will still have to wear her retainer, but she will not have to come back for check ups. That will happen about the same time that some other Dennie kid has to start their braces business I am sure.
• After the orthodontist, Reagan did her best to try to convince me to take her somewhere, but I held strong though I really wanted a hot chocolate from somewhere-I have just been so cold today. The afternoon was kind of slow around here-maybe because it was so short
• We had to leave at 4:30ish to make it to the library and to church in time. We ate there tonight-meatloaf. The kids weren't huge fans, but Robby and I really liked it. Our class was fine tonight-it actually seemed short.
• Then we ended our evening at the Wilson's house. Tony had bought dessert, so we gobbled it up as we all told stories of our travels. They have been gone as much as us lately so everyone was glad to be back together.

March 3, 2020

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• We are still doing our "trip school" around here. Trip school consists of most of their important things, but not quite everything. This shortened version of school is usually finished fairly quick by everyone, so I am not looking forward to adding more things back into the mix. 
• I intended to start school around 8:30, but instead I ended up working on Anderson's pins about that time. Then once I did get school started, I forgot to get Reagan up so that did put her a little bit behind.
• At 11:30, we did work together which we have been neglecting. That just means that we will be reading history well into the summer. Our history this year is just tough-I am all for women's suffrage and all (even exercised that right today), but reading 5 pages about it is just too, too much for anyone!
• After we finished our work together, we worked on chores. I have decided that I want to start doing all of our major chores on one day of the week that way we will have everything clean for a while. Otherwise, we clean something and have other things dirty until the next few days and by then the things cleaned first aren't clean anymore. I do need to get back to a better chore list-this coming back to reality thing is just pretty tough!
• When the chores were done, the kids ate their lunch. I sat down and had an apple with cheese and peanut butter. It was delicious, but we are out of apples. We haven't been to the grocery store yet, and I guess that we are trying to see how long we can go without buying food. 
• Anderson did finish putting all of his pins in the album. And under some moment of weakness, I did say that I would work a puzzle with him. I enjoy puzzles, but not huge dark Star Wars puzzles! Yikes, hopefully we can finish it by 2021.
• I left with a few kids this afternoon to run by Grannymom's house to pick up something Reagan ordered. When I left I told Robby that Keaton and Reagan were going with me. By the time I pulled out of the garage, I text Robby to tell him that Graham and Campbell were also with me. Much later, Robby wrote saying that he had been looking for Graham and Campbell before he saw my text. He almost had Anderson ride down the road on his bike to look for them. I told them that it was a good thing that I had not wrote Robby that we were stuck in a ditch somewhere!
• The kids had soccer tryouts tonight. They enjoy running through the stations, but even more than that they enjoy running around while Robby is finishing helping with the tryouts. Reagan helped man a table the entire time. 
• When tryouts were over, I ran by Nonna's house to pick up some things while Robby's car ran to get pizza. Then we met back up to vote quickly before eating our pizza at home.
• Everyone had showers tonight. After my shower, I played a few rounds of Nertz with the kids and they even stayed up a bit later that we probably should have so we could finish our games.

March 2, 2020

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• The priority this morning was calling the doctor at exactly 8:00. I called and since I didn't want to leave a message, I had to call and call again. I did get an appointment for Whitman at 9:10 so that was pretty perfect.
• Whitman was already up this morning playing on his ipad, but after I got the appointment he laid down in our bed until it was time to go. On the car ride to the doctor, he ate a bit of a grilled cheese and laid down the rest of the time.
• It was pretty pitiful, and Martin said that his ear looked pretty pitiful as well. We were in and out at the doctor's office, and really we only had to wait a little bit at the pharmacy. Soon we were home giving Whitman his first dose of meds.
• I didn't wear my watch today so I don't really know how many steps I took. I will say that I didn't sit down long-the laundry is done, the dishes are clean, the bags are unpacked (still haven't gotten to mine), school is done and even ready for tomorrow.
• The longest activity of the day was helping everyone with their Disney pins. We can't just leave them in ziplock baggies. Anderson has at least 200 pins (not exaggerating in the least). He bought a collector book to put them in so that was a bit of work. I can only say that we have a lot of pins!
• There were also transportation cards to organize along with cards from each country in Epcot. So many things to organize and put away after a trip. Late this afternoon, the neighbors came out. They haven't been around in a long while so all of the kids were super excited to go out and play.
• Of course the boys couldn't play that long because they had Trail Life tonight. We did let Whitman stay home since he has still be a bit puny-not just seconds ago though he was doing the floss dance while watching his show. 
• Once the boys left, the neighbors weren't out too much longer since the sun was going down. My girls came in to eat supper. We made chicken nachos and cinnamon toast for suppers. Then we pretty much vegged out until the boys come home.

Florida February: Our Trip by the Numbers

It was an awesome trip and the numbers don't lie:

36 days
35 nights
31 days at Disney
9 visits to Magic Kingdom
12 visits to Epcot
10 visits to Hollywood Studios
8 visits to Animal Kingdom
3 laundry detergents used
3 trips to the outlet
1 droid built
1 light saber built
2 trips to the Cheesecake Factory
6 times swimming
1 rocket launch viewed
1 first tooth lost
27 doughnuts bought
9 pairs of Minnie ears bought (4 were not ours)
1 day at the beach
4 ride on Rock N Roller Coaster (Whitman's first time)
10 things left on our list to do next time
4 church services at First Baptist Orlando
5 cases of water drank (Florida water is not good.)
10 foods from Epcot countries eaten
40 dollars in tolls
1 movie premiere
1 take out order of pizza
6 kids with colds at some point
19 Disney resorts visited

Florida February: March 1. 2020

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I have tried to think of a word to put in front of March since all of last month was Florida February. I thought about Mournful March or Melancholy March, but I will probably just stick to March! We have been a bit mournful and melancholy today. 

We had a blast in Florida-just having a few less responsibilities really made a difference. Of course some of those responsibilities we did miss a little. I will be glad to get back to a normal school schedule. I am also planning on getting rid of a few things (500 to be exact) in this house. I figure if we have less things, then we will also have less responsibilities in taking care of those things.

Anyway, I am rambling because I am a bit tired. We had set our alarms for 4:30. Robby though never really sleeps well when we have to wake up early. He was in the shower before the alarms sounded. We needed every bit of that time because it was 5:15 when we pulled out of the house.

The kids all woke up well. Most of them already had clothes in the car so they just pottied and brushed their teeth before getting in the car. Robby loaded the car while I took sheets off the bed and looked in every single drawer and cabinet one more time. 

We knew pretty early in the drive that Whitman felt bad. Last night he acted a bit pitiful leaving the park-I even carried him some. He told me that he had a headache. By the first rest stop this morning, he was able to tell me that it was his ear that was hurting. He just stared out the window or tried to sleep for most of the drive. He played on his ipad some, but not that much. 

We did stop once to get the ear ache drops out of the bag. I had used all of my tylenol so I didn't have any of that to give him until we picked up some on the way home tonight. You know he is sick when he eats one bite of mac and cheese, one bit of hamburger, and one lemonhead all day long. We were finally able to get him to drink a bit this evening. And yes, the alarm is set for first thing in the morning to call and get him a doctor's appointment. We haven't yet decided if I am going to get Campbell an appointment too-her cough sounds like she has smoked for 20 years.

We stopped a few times for the bathroom and gas. Once Anderson had to wait forever for a stall and once the women's bathroom line was crazy long. Lunch was KFC which was fun. We never really eat there so we certainly enjoyed that. Though it is a bit difficult eating mashed potatoes and gravy in the car-it is even more difficult to pass it out to everyone!

We probably could have made it home before eating, but we still drove through McDonalds for hamburgers for our supper. Once we made it home, the kids were great about unpacking. Of course some worked more than others, but they all did pull their weight.

Everyone had showers while I continued to unpack. I believe that I have about 3 or 4 bins left to unpack plus my bag. That isn't too bad. Of course, we have one load of laundry dry, one in the dryer and I should put one in the wash, but don't think I can stay awake that long!

The kids will do some school tomorrow, but they are all excited about putting their pins up. I will say that the kids have enjoyed trading pins so much on this trip-they might even have to get some in the Easter baskets. And our usual "Trip by the Numbers" post will happen tomorrow night. (I made a list today of things to put, but I am afraid that it got thrown away tonight during car clean out! Eeek!)