August 7, 2020-First Camper Adventure! Lake Maumelle

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• Oh, we did sleep so well last night with that rain pitter patterring on the roof. Robby rarely sleeps late these days, but hew as sound asleep until 8 this morning along with the rest of us. It was some good sleeping in our little camper.
• When we did start stirring, it took me about 30 minutes to fold up all of our blankets. It wasn't really that long, but it did take a while. We will have to figure our some of our storage issues-for example: the blankets go under Reagan's bed. So this morning as people started waking and I started folding, can you guess who was sound asleep and had no intentions of moving so I could do some straightening? Yep, Reagan. So I need to find a better spot to put my blankets!
• It didn't take us long at all to stir up some pancake mix and fire up the griddle outside. Chocolate chip pancakes were soon served! Grannymom and Grandpa came over for a little bit-they even had some pancakes with us.
• After we ate and cleaned up breakfast, we went for a walk around the campground. There is a short little wooded trail behind us that we walked along before walking to the river. It wasn't too warm today surprisingly. The walk was pleasant especially in the shade.
• We made it back around noon. The first item on our agenda was leveling the camper. When we pulled in yesterday, we didn't think about leveling it at all. When water didn't drain out of the shower, we realized we weren't that level. It didn't take long at all to level this baby (though automatic levelers would be pretty awesome-our little orange blocks worked just fine.)
• We made sandwiches for lunch today. I pulled everything out and brought it all to the picnic table. I had turkey, ham, swiss, colby jack, pepper jack, peanut butter, but everyone of my kids chose nutella. We don't often have nutella, but when we do we finish it within days.
• The kids watched some movies this afternoon while I did some napping. Robby and I took a walk around the block. Campbell and Keaton were so anxious about going to their party tonight that they took 8 walks around the little circle in front of us while they were waiting on me.
• Around 3, I left with all of the girls. We dropped off Campbell and Keaton for Anna's birthday party. Then Reagan and I went to the store. I had a list of things, but only found about 2! Ugh, I am not sure why I can't manage to find what I need these days at the stores. Nothing major though-I guess I am just looking for odd things-a small air bake cookie sheet, a small bulletin board, pillowcases.
• After our shopping, Reagan and I went home until their party was over. She had a shower-I don't think that she intends to shower in the camper at all. I worked on the dishes and laundry which seem to accumulate even when you don't stay at the house. I also pulled out school for next week, and then waited for the girls to get back.
• When Sara dropped them off, we all loaded up to head back to the camper. Campbell and Keaton talked the entire way back telling us all about the party. The boys were ready for us to be back. 
• They had been busy all evening long though. They went fishing in the Arkansas River. They didn't get any bites. While they fished, Whitman played on the playground and even made some new friends.
• They made chicken roll ups for supper plus they even had brownies ready for us when we returned. We all had brownies. Then the girls started showering, while Whitman finished up his movie. Then Anderson, Graham, Keaton and I played Uno before it was finally bedtime. 
• We all went to bed a bit earlier than yesterday, so the kids weren't as tired. This was fine though but getting the 4 swimmers up for swim team in the morning will be difficult!

August 6, 2020-First Camper Adventure! Lake Maumelle

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• The morning didn't start as I wanted it to. I woke up to Robby asking if I had set my alarm. I had set my alarm, but it never ran out loud-ugh. I was so frustrated which wasn't a great start to the morning. Thankfully, the kids all woke up well, and school at least started well.
• Graham had a bit of a hiccup on some of his work. He was so frustrated when summarizing something was hard for him. He eventually recovered, and we finished school early since this was the 4th day of school meaning that we didn't have to do spelling today.
• While I was working on school some, I also was trying to load a few last minute things into the camper. I will say that hope that every time we go somewhere we don't have to work this hard. We should have most things in it now and ready to go.
• We had our lunches and even did a bit of house work. I am not really sure what I did all afternoon. I will say that I spent way to long sweeping the kitchen floor. I think that I had not swept in at least a few days. 
• We waited as long as we could for one last package delivery-the delivery folks are here a lot these days. Oh, speaking of delivery-we had our groceries delivered today. The service was free for a month, so that was a fun treat. I think that we might could get used to having things delivered. I would probably spend a lot less.
• Graham was waiting on straps for the hammock-they came around 6 or 7, but we had already pulled out a bit before 5. We drove right to Maumelle Park-Robby drove the camper while I drove my car. Anderson and Graham rode with me-I am not really sure why they didn't want to ride in the camper. I drove since this weekend we have a few other activities to get to.
• Our first camper excitement was the dump station. This was a new experience for Robby. He had read up on it-even had a dry run, but nothing can compare you for the first look at poop! Ha! Funny thing was it wouldn't go down the hose. We almost started the panic-until he realized that he new fancy tank cleaner outer was in the closed position. Once it was open, everything worked perfectly. The water flowed out clear by the time that he was done! It may have been clear, but we still all lathered up before driving on.
• We found our spot, and I helped Robby back in. I think that this spot might have been a bit difficult to back in to-very narrow with high edges plus very long. It took a little bit but no foul words were uttered-actually it wasn't too bad at all.
• Robby worked on hoses while the rest of us worked on setting up camp. We did it like we have done it a thousand times before. There aren't many people right here by us. The next camp site which would be right next to us was empty tonight.
• We watched a bit of tv outside while eating popsicles-who doesn't camp with a freezer full of popsicles? Once the popsicles were gone, we walked around for a little bit. It is quite fun looking at everyone elses' rides now that we have a camper too.
• Once we made it back, Robby and I started on supper-English muffin pizzas. Campbell and Keaton helped me sprinkle the cheese and put on toppings while Robby worked on trying to light the oven. We probably should have tried that before heading off on our adventure. It took phoning a friend and a few youtube videos before he figured it out. 
• Once he did, we stuck the pizzas in. It didn't take long for them to cook, and soon we were outside eating our supper. After supper, we turned on a movie to watch. Despite bug spray and citronella candles, the bugs did eventually run us inside to finish the movie.
• Some folks took showers while the rest of us enjoyed s'mores from the microwave. There were a few people on our walk that had fires going, but we thought that it was still a bit warm for a fire even though it was pleasant out tonight.
• S'mores and our few showers seemed to take quite a while, plus the movie that I had picked for tonight never seemed to end. We finally had to stop it. The book was really good, but the movie was a flop! (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).
• Around 11:30 as we were starting to bed down, the rain came. It wasn't much at all, but oh it was wonderful. The little pitter patter of rain was delightful as I laid in bed tonight and worked on the blog. 
• Overall, it was a pretty successful day. We had lots of fun on our first night camping! Hopefully tomorrow will go just as smoothly.

August 5, 2020

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• Today's school wasn't as smooth as yesterday, but we all finished and all survived. This was the last Wednesday for the kids' swim team. I took the swimmers to the pool, and then ran to Walmart. 
• I did really well on my list while I was speeding through the store. However, when I made it back to the car, I started marking things off of my list only to realize that my phone was full of other things that I could have picked up as well.
• There was no time to continue my shopping, since practice was almost over. I hurried to the pool, grabbed the kids and then sat in the car for a long while making my Chick Fil A order. We had a free sandwich so we redeemed that today-of course that free sandwich cost us the price of 3 other breakfast sandwiches. 
• When we did get home, the tree men were there cutting down branches and trees. It was quite interesting so Campbell and Keaton spent a good deal of time at the window watching the trees falling.
• Our morning caused us to get a late start on school. Anderson actually did get on up and start on his school work. He was probably the first one finished today. We did skip our together reading, so we really shouldn't have been that delayed. However, it was still after 12:30 when I finally stopped school. I had not even worked with Keaton yet, but we knocked that out quickly this evening.
• We bought the camper home this afternoon. As soon as that trip was finished, I loaded up my little 4, and we headed to the pool. I didn't make the bigs go because they had church tonight so at least they had some activity during the day.
• We had fun at the pool, and the kids enjoyed playing with their friends. We did have the pool boss lady come up to us and ask if we had any guests with us. I guess 3 moms and 15 kids looked odd-but what was odd was her asking us that question. We have to sign in so if we had guests then she would be able to see-I believe that we are on the naughty list at the pool!
• After the pool, the kids helped unload the car. Keaton and I did her school and finished right before the bigs went to their last Collide of the season. Then it was time to load up the camper-I just thought that I had loaded it down. I stuffed and stuffed and stuffed some more stuff in it. It is full to the brim-well, it may seem like it, but there are still plenty of extra drawers and spots for lots more things. 
• We worked on this until almost 9. Then I went to work on straightening my attic so I could shove the huge shipment of paper products that Robby received today. We will never run out of paper plates-never ever!
• Reagan's group had a party after Collide, so she came home after Anderson. She had a good time, but as soon as she did get home it was bedtime for the crew.

August 4, 2020

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• Ahh, the second day of school, and we again survived. My alarm didn't go off when I thought that it should-that was probably because I set it for 7 p.m. and not a.m. That was fine though because Whitman came in to our room at about that time, and I did figure out my mistake. 
• He cuddled up and went back to sleep so I stayed in bed for a few more minutes. I have again discovered that each minute I am awake before it is time for school to start is pretty nice-I can be fairly productive before we start school.
• Whitman again finished last, but if he is done before 1, I consider it a super win. Keaton again took a while, but I also think that she will have less to do on Thursday because she hasn't caught on to picking the easy things to do in the beginning of the week like her brothers and sisters. It does eventually catch up with them, and at the end of this week they will have a lot of work.
• A bit after noon, I up and left to go and pick up some library books. I didn't have any that had to be turned in today or really any that had to be picked up today, but I did feel like today was as good of time as any. I did enjoy the nice quiet drive to the library.
• When I returned we did a bit more reading-I know that I have said this before but I just love our reading time. There are so many good books! Tomorrow we probably won't get to read so that makes me a bit bummed. 
• This afternoon we had some new friends come over to play. They have 4 kids and Keaton got to know their daughter during the past few Tuesdays at church. The kids played outside and inside. I do think that they had a really fun time-I did at least.
• When they left, Robby went to town chopping up tonight's supper. We had bbq for our supper, and it was delicious. I made some beans really quickly in the microwave, and they were decent. After supper, we worked on cleaning the grill before moving on to the shed.
• Tonight's camper activity was gathering our outside camping stuff. We had some bins to go through and found a few things that will now live in the camper. Since it isn't over here, I really have no idea how much room we have underneath-will it all fit? Who knows! We should find out tomorrow.
• The Ferguson's dropped off a spare camper tire tonight so that will be a project for another day. They stayed and visited for a while and even left us with dessert. Robby and I devoured the coffee cake tonight once the kids went to bed. It was almost better than ice cream...almost.

August 3, 2020-First Day of School!

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• I just read that last year we started our first day of school at 9 in the morning. That would have been a good idea today, but since I was up early I started even earlier than I had planned. It was about 8:30 when I gathered the crew to begin school for the 2019-2020 school year.
• Graham (now in the 7th grade) was up early and finished early because he knew that he had a big day ahead of him. His friend Chase came and picked him up this morning. They grabbed food from ChickFilA for lunch, played video games, played a card game and even had time to play outside. 
• Reagan (a new freshman in high school) had a lighter load today. I had forgotten to order one of her subjects so hopefully that will come late this week. Plus she hasn't started her 2 co-op classes, and also we haven't heard about her Spanish class. 
• Anderson (now in the 8th grade) usually takes a while on his school work, but today he was super speedy. I am sure that he will slow down a bit, but today was a lot of reading that he was able to breeze through it.
• Campbell (a new 5th grader) did well in her school work too. She finished at a fairly decent time without any drama!
• Keaton (now in the 3rd grade) took longer than usual on her school. Second grade didn't take her long at all, but there is a big leap on the amount of school work in the 3rd grade so it did catch up with her today. She will eventually figure it all out though and finish quicker.
• And Whitman ( a new 2nd grader) did so well today. He was finished by 12:30 which is super great for him especially since he has gotten used to now having a lot of school work to do each day this summer.
• Overall, it was a really great first day of school. Hopefully tomorrow turns out just as well. After school was over, Campbell, Keaton, Whitman and I went to the pool for a little bit. The weather was fairly chilly to me at least. The kids enjoyed it, and we even stayed longer than our allotted 2 hours.  
• When we came home, I quickly worked on freezing some breakfast burritos for the boys. This ended up being our supper. Robby had smoked a butt for some friends so we had to control ourselves to not eat their meat!
• Robby and I did find time to run to Lowes to pick up a few things tonight before coming home to bake a few cookies. The Wilson fam came over-the kids stayed in the kitchen eating dozens of cookies while the adults did some chatting too! 
• We stayed up too late for it being the second day of school tomorrow!

August 2, 2020

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• There are a few good things about having church at 11-I was able to accomplish quite a few things this morning before even waking up the kids. I guess that everyone was super tired from last night, or they were enjoying their last morning of sleeping in. I actually probably should have been enjoying my last morning of sleeping in because I am already dreading waking up early tomorrow.
• Church again was so good. I guess I really didn't know how much I missed it. Now I still miss being able to chat with people before and after and everywhere else in the building-that day will come sometime though.
• We ate lunch at Grannymom's house. She had pizza and ooey gooey. I do believe that the kids certainly enjoyed the dessert because they pretty much devoured it coming back again and again for seconds. 
• Whitman stayed at Grannymom's house this afternoon for some playtime while the rest of us headed home. Robby ran to the camper to work on something while I took a little Sunday siesta. It wasn't a long nap because before too long, we were all loading up to go to the pool before the rain came.
• The rain never came, but we all had fun at the pool. After the pool, we ran home for supper before running to the camper for one thing. Everyone came with us so the kids played with the Heltz.
• The one thing that they were working on tonight turned into a much longer thing than I had expected. That was fine though because a few more things were marked off of the to-do list. 
• Once we made it home, it was bed time for the crew-school morning is going to come super early for everyone.

August 1, 2020

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• No one was too quick to get up this morning for swim team. It really is a good thing that we are all able to get out of bed and leave the house in 20 minutes. The kids only have two more days of swim left so they don't want to miss any.
• While they were swimming, I tried to return somethings to Walmart-they aren't letting you return clothes, but I thought you could return them online, but they tell you to take them to the store-ugh! I ended up having to buy Anderson 3 pairs of shorts before I found the size that fit him. It wouldn't have helped if he had been with me since you can't try clothes on-stupid rona!
• I picked them up, and we headed home for some baking. Keaton made muffins-well, she made muffin mix and put them in mini bundt pans. They were cute and all, but this was a lot of work. She helped until the kitchen was clean though.
• While she was working, Graham also made apple crisp for me. We started out making 2, but I decided to make 3, but had enough stuff to make 4, and probably could have made 5 if I had not run out of apples. That means that I still have some "crisp" part of the apple crisp leftover in the fridge-it will be delicious on something, but I just don't know what yet.
• Robby, Keaton, Graham, Campbell and I went to visit the camper. We had a few things to put in, and Robby worked on two different tv stands. We were over there longer than we anticipated, but it didn't help that I got caught up watching the show Gimme a Break from way back when on the tv.
• When we came home, I sat in the living room and dozed while watching an NBA game with Graham. It is just all silly now-virtual fans? Just craziness. After my nap, it was time to head to the pool to meet the Heltz. 
• We swam for 3 hours tonight-Robby brought us supper and everyone had a good time. I do enjoy evenings at the pool. Today was our 30th visit so we are doing pretty good on my little spreadsheet.
• This evening we came home with two extras and were short our two little girls. Reagan wanted to paint shoes tonight but we ran to Walmart, making it there 6 minutes before closing, to find they didn't have shoes. We did find some canvases, and they are still in the kitchen painting each other. It was mildly hysterical when Whitman came in the room to tell me that one picture looked like an oval and another looked like Humpty Dumpty.