August 12, 2015

I think he was tired....

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• Campbell was the one who was coughing last night (Whitman did his share of coughing but not too bad).  Robby ended up just bringing Campbell to our room a bit after midnight due to her coughing.  Really, should she be coughing after almost a week on an antibiotic?  Her ears are much better though-she couldn't even tell me which one had hurt today.
• Once she went to sleep, everyone did sleep well.  Graham and Keaton were the first ones up this morning but soon the house was hoping and we were eating our breakfast and doing some reading.
• The kids could not wait to get started on school today-that was because I only had them do 2 things.  I probably should have had them do more but I wanted the morning to not be too hectic for myself.  We did do our first day of science today and everyone seems pleased (I changed my science this year-last years was fun for them, a bit simple and crazy expensive.  But Reagan still remembers the one before that she calls "boring,"  It was that but it was also high school/college level.)
• We met a church to help stuff leftover backpacks from the Back to School Bash.  The kids worked hard-some harder than others!  I do believe that we packed around 150 backpacks in less than an hour and that hard work deserved some time on the playground.  
• The kids played on the playground and then we headed to the library.  I already had our lunches packed but the free lunch van was at the library so how could we pass that up.  They gave everyone chocolate milk, squeeze applesauce, an orange and a big chicken sandwich.  The kids ate some of everything but we had 2 sandwiches left so after our library visit, we drove to Nonna's house to drop off supper for them.
• Then it was on to the pool.  The Skelleys met us at the pool and the kids swam and swam.  I tried to get in the water so Keaton could practice swimming but I only made it an house because it was cold, cold in that water.  The next hour Laura and I just sat near the pool and chatted while watching the kiddos.  Robby showed up with popsicles for everyone and when he left he took Whitman and Graham wanted to go to so he also rode home.  Just as they were leaving the Heltz and Kamps showed up so we stayed a bit longer to play with all of them.
• Once at home, we had chicken spaghetti for supper and then had some free time before driving down the road to go walking with the Wilsons.  The kids (including Whitman) all played inside and we walked over 3 miles.  It was a bit easier walking tonight than the last time we went since we were pushing Whitman in his stroller.  
• When we made it home, Graham and Whitman showered and then everyone had a quick snack before bedtime!

August 11, 2015

Cousins!

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• Tuesday morning and we started off with breakfast and then our school work.  The boys were a tad bit distracted this morning and they were quickly sent out of the school room.  I thought that I should probably lock the school room door one day and not let anyone work in there. After everyone was split up, they finally started on their work which was a good thing because we had a busy afternoon.
• We ate a snacky lunch and then it was time for start on our chores.  Not too many chores today and the kids work fast when we are getting to go to the pool.  At 2, we met Lilli, Cash and Grannymom and the kids swam all afternoon.
• And who else swam?  My Keaton.  She was a brave little thing today-swimming from the slide to the ladder time after time again.  Now she just needs lots and lots of practice....but she will have a bit more practice tomorrow too!  ("operation getting my money's worth out of our pool membership" is in high gear this week!)
• Grannymom and I let the kids play on the playground for a few minutes before coming home. Robby brought home us supper and we all enjoyed it.  The kids convinced me to make brownies for a snack so we ate our snack as we watched the Love Bug (very interesting watching a movie from the 60s with the kids)
• After tucking the kids into bed, I spent quite a bit of time upstairs trying to figure out what sound the kids were hearing.  I could hear no squeaking sound at all but the kids were convinced that they were hearing something.  I had to play 20 questions with them to figure out what they were even hearing-is it a squeak like an animal? is it loud? is it coming from over here? is it constant? Finally, it was determined that it was their ceiling fan.  
• I then went downstairs and returned right back upstairs.  Reagan said that when I opened the door she knew exactly why I was back-to take her pictures.  She was the only one who I had not snapped a picture of today.  I try my best to get everyone's pictures every day but sometimes I have to rouse them from their slumber to take a picture.

August 10, 2015

Officially meeting Ms. Jennifer!

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• I poured bowl after bowl of cereal this morning and then the kids started on school.  They just had a few hours to work before it was time to clean up, pack up and put on bathing suits.
• Todays big event was taking Keaton to meet her teacher.  Ms. Jennifer is her teacher and showed my Keaton all around her room.  Keaton was so excited about this day and could not wait to put her school box in her new cubbie.  
• Meanwhile out in the hall, my others should have been working on their school work.  I do not think that is exactly what was happening but they were not making to much of a scene so they were still rewarded with our next stop-swimming.
• They had called for a hot, hot day but it wasn't that bad at the pool.  We arrived right at lunch time and ate our lunches before jumping in the pool.  Not too long after, Robby showed up with popsicles for us so we then set out and enjoyed popsicle after popsicle. 
• We swam for about 2 and a half hours and then loaded up to come home.  Once at home I made the kids do a bit of practicing for their Run with the Son one mile run.  Reagan decided that since she wasn't going to be at the race (due to a sleepover) she wouldn't run with the others.  Anderson ran to the big tree once but then just walked the second lap.  Graham ran once to the big tree and then he stopped to pick up sticks-I guess he figured that he would do anything but run...even pick up sticks.  Campbell moaned the entire time but my Keaton (who only did the lap once) jogged the entire time.  Maybe she will be my runner...but all Dennie kiddos will be doing some laps in the near future!
• Once inside, the kids had to finish a bit of their school work and then we did our first day of history.  I cut Campbell some slack since she possibly is still feeling bad but that child can not sit still for anything.  Some ADD meds might be in her future!  Last night someone said that they could tell that Campbell really enjoyed life!  That she does.
• Soon the afternoon was over and it was supper time.  I had nothing ready but finally came up with something edible-ish.  After eating, we let the kids watch a movie, play their kindles and lots of paper cutting went on with the girls-Reagan was making birthday invites for a party for her American Girl doll, Campbell and Keaton had me cutting out circles, hearts and balloons for whatever they were working on.
• I have a sneaking suspicion that I will end up taking my little guy to the doctor tomorrow.  He is sitting on the couch right now with a horrible hacking cough.  Each time he coughs, Keaton asks him if he is okay and then passes him his cup of water and says "drink your water."  Hopefully, a good dose of medicine will help him to sleep tonight.  Or maybe a good dose of medicine for us will help us sleep through his coughing.

August 9, 2015

Celebrating Jenna's 22nd Birthday!

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• Robby and I should know by now that when the house is oddly quiet then something bad is happening somewhere.  After the breakfast and after the kids were all dressed, I noticed that they all migrated upstairs.  Robby and I wondered if they were playing the wii but then decided that they probably didn't know how to turn it on.  Soon it was time for church and we called them downstairs and found out what they were doing.
• The kids aren't allowed to use the netflix ap on their kindles (we thougth we had taken it off of most of them-we have left one on so Whitman can watch his Thomas)  When they came down the steps, Robby realized that they weren't just playing their kindles, they were watching a movie.  So he asked and of course the answers were "no" and "not me" and all other sorts of denials until Keaton bopped down the stairs and said "yep" (too young to really get lying!)
• So that meant they lost their kindles for the day which wasn't too big of a punishment.  Gracious me, children!  We just loaded them up and dropped them off at God's house so they could get a good dose of religion!  (Speaking of good dose-two really good sermons today at church...maybe a kid or two was listening!)  Not only did they get a good dose of religion today, they also got a good dose of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Shipleys doughnuts, Dunkin Doughnuts, Snow Cones and Saltine crackers.  This was the last day before Sunday school promotion and I do think that some teachers were celebrating!
• Lunch was at Dana's house to celebrate Jenna's birthday.  The kids were inside to sing Happy Birthday to her but by the time it was present time, they had all migrated back outside.  Since then I have had 4 kiddos come to me and ask if Jenna opened her presents or if she got any presents.  Maybe next time I shouldn't let them miss present time-even if the presents just are a gift card and recipe book (we thought they might be bored)
• After a bit of playtime, we ran home to shower everyone and then had a few minutes of downtime before heading back to church for a Sunday school meeting.  The big 3 were allowed to play in the game room but the little 3 went to a class during our meeting-this was delightful for Whitman-going to class with his 2 little mothers.
• When big church started, I had to sneak around the corner and pull Campbell out for big church.  She was not to happy to come with me and would have preferred to stay and play.  But the bribe of ice cream tonight was strong enough to keep her semi glued to her pew.
• Once at home, pajamas were put on and then it was ice cream time!-my favorite night of the week.  Unfortunately, ice cream time has become a permenant part of our routine around here.  This week I am going to try to make the treadmill and eating semi healthish part of my routine-I even set out my new box of raisin bran for breakfast (hope I like raisin bran!)  

August 8, 2015

Making corn bread!

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• Last night when we went to bed, we noticed that Campbell was a bit congested along with a few coughs.  I heard her tell Keaton that both of her ears hurt a little bit but when I asked her about it she said that they didn't.  Robby guessed that she wouldn't make it all night in her room and would be downstairs.  
• And surprisingly, she did sleep in her room until about 6:30 when she came downstairs crying.  Her ears were hurting so we used our ear drops to give her some relief.  Later when Anderson came downstairs, she told him "Anderson, my ear hurts so badly I think I need an ambulance."  I didn't need to hear that to be convinced to take Campbell to the doctor this morning but if I hadn't been sure, hearing her saying that she needed an ambulance would have definitely made up my mind.
• We left a bit after 7:30 so we could be one of the first ones at the doctors and we still had to wait a bit.  When the doctor looked in Campbell's ear, she said "horrible" and the other one was beginning to get infected as well.  
• Campbell and I then headed to Walgeeens to pick up her medicine and since it wasn't ready yet, we went on down the road to Shipleys to get breakfast for the crew back at home.  What were the others doing at home?  Sleeping!  Keaton had come downstairs before we left and ended up going back to sleep with Robby.  Whitman and Reagan snoozed for a long while as well.  
• When we walked in the door though everyone was awake and ready to check on Campbell...or maybe they were ready to eat our breakfast.  We ate and gave Campbell a good dose of her medicine and then started our morning.
• Robby and I worked on cleaning out a tv cabinet and somehow that turned into watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie with the kids.  Before too long Pops showed up to take Anderson over to their house for the night.  I think that Pops was just as excited about having Anderson come over as Anderson was about going over to their house.  I heard Anderson say that all he wanted to do was play with the Star Wars toys.
• Since we ate breakfast around 10 we then had lunch/supper around 2:30.  I made up some spaghetti and we pretty much devoured it before our fairly boring afternoon.  I spent some time picking out pictures for the kids books-I have to do that at the end of every month.  It also has to be done 6 times, once for everyone.  This makes it much easier when Robby makes the kids memory picture books each year.  But when I have to pick out pictures from a vacation, it takes me forever and it took me forever today! (I am only half way finished!)
• After a long, quiet afternoon we loaded up and headed to the pool.  Dana and her crew showed up and the kids swam until they shut the pool down.  My Keaton is really doing well swimming-maybe she can get it down before the end of the year! Then we hurried home and threw everyone in the shower before throwing them into bed!

August 7, 2015

VBS end of week celebration!

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• Fridays are "mom's choice" on the breakfast menu so I pulled out two muffin packages: lemon poppyseed and blueberry cheesecake.  Graham and the girls helped me make them but then you would have thought that I was making them eat poison.  I believe that Reagan was the only one who ate the lemon muffin happily.  Though Anderson became very upset when I gave Graham the top half of his muffin after Anderson had left the bar-he said that he was going to eat that muffin after all.
• The kids just had 1/2 a day of school today but for some reason it seemed to take them forever.  Reagan is getting better at remembering how to do her math but it is still a bit a time consuming.  
• We did have time to read a few stories and to play a few rounds of math uno before heading to Nonna's house to pick up my boy.  I do not think that he had been missing us at all but he was glad to see us.  
• Nonna had lunch ready for us so the kids ate and ate and then ate and ate dessert.  And when we left Nonna's house we went to see Beebee and they ate and ate candy.  Well, I did put a limit to 3 pieces of candy each.  As we were leaving today the snow cone man was sitting up outside the nursing home-was he going to pass out free snow cones? was he going to charge the old folks for them?...which makes me think that maybe I shouldn't have let Beebee pass out all of her dollar bills to the kids.
• Once at home, we had a quiet and wonderful afternoon and right before 6, we headed down the road for the last night of VBS.  Keaton had been afraid that we were going to miss the singing all day long-when we woke up she asked when we were going to sing.  Then she didn't believe me when I said that VBS was when Robby came home from work.  I had to have Campbell convince her.
• Needless to say that she was super excited when it was finally time to go.  Whitman sat by us and didn't move an inch for pretty much the entire program.  The kids all had fun and earned their Jr. Ranger VBS badges and came home with flash lights and whistles (which will disappear tonight!)  

August 6, 2015

Ice cream at Nonna's!

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• I guess we are getting in a tiny groove around here-waking up at a decent time, reading a bit during breakfast and then starting on school.  I do believe that I liked the real lazy days of summer a bit better but before we blink twice it will be summer again.  
• Though we didn't let this day of summer pass us by without enjoying it.  After just a few hours of school, we loaded up and made one quick stop at the library.  I had a few books on hold and we picked those up.
• On the way to the library we listened to the book How to Eat Fried Worms-it was so entertaining.  I remember reading it when I was a kid but I don't really remember anything about it.  We finished that book and I popped in another cd book from the library and that silly thing must have been all scratched up because it would not work at all!  
• But it didn't matter because we were soon at the pool and since there were plenty of friends there, all of my people were very happy.  I was happy until I felt how cold the water was-seriously, it was ice cold.  There was no reason for it to be that cold-next time we go back, I am going to bring some boiling water to pour in there.  
• The cold water didn't seem to phase anyone else.  Not even my Keaton-who spent almost a whole hour jumping off the edge right into my arms and then swimming (without her floatee) to the ladder.  She really was probably only swimming a foot or so but I don't think she realized at first what she was doing.  Later in the day, she was too scared to jump from the steps and swim to me but swimming to the ladder didn't bother her at all.
• After swimming, we dropped Whitman off at Nonna's house to spend the night. He is getting a little extra time with his grandparents this week since he is missing out on VBS down the road.  Nonna had made a train track in her living room with blocks for Whitman and when he saw it, he shouted "I love it!"  
• She also had ice cream for the rest of us that we loved.  Then we headed home for some movie time this afternoon-but first we cleaned the toy room.  Oh my, it had really gotten to be a mess and took us quite awhile to pick it up.  When it was finally finished, the kids watched a movie and before too long, we were leaving for VBS.
• Tonight during VBS, Robby and I went out to eat again-this time On the Border.  We weren't pleased with our Chuy's menu item the other day so we needed to replace that bad experience with a good experience.  
• Then it was on to the store for some speed shopping.  We use old Kroger sacks as our garbage bags around here and were completely out.  When we made it home and unpacked all of our groceries, Robby teased me that the shopping trip was a very expensive way to replenish my trash bag supply.
• We had time to run home and throw the food in the fridge before going to the church to pick up the kids.  Then it was time for showers-lots of showers and then bed!  Tonight everyone seems to be sleeping well (so far at least!)