January 9, 2018

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• Anderson and Graham were the only ones awake this morning. They were both quietly playing on their ipads and had not been up that long when I walked through looking for Whitman. I headed upstairs to wake him up and to help his sisters wake up before it was their breakfast time.
• Whitman put on his clothes with quite a bit of prompting from me. He is just sometimes in his own little world and would take forever to do anything if we would let him. We managed to get him in the car and off Robby took him to school.
• Robby worked in Conway today so the house was a bit quieter than usual. It is odd but we do seem to quieter when he is not here or maybe I am not so worried about all of the noise that we make. 
• Campbell is a bit under the weather-she still has her cough that she has had forever along with a sore throat which Robby is also battling. She doesn't have any fever but was just a bit pitiful all day long. By 11:30, she was even asleep. I was going to let her sleep through lunch, but she woke up but barely ate anything for lunch.
• School went well today and the kids plugged on through their school work finishing everything. Anderson was even finished before lunch-well, I hope that he really did finish everything and not just "forget" something. I am pretty sure he did finish it all.
• Before lunch Reagan started cleaning her desk and Keaton followed Reagan's lead. The only difference is that Keaton needs help to clean her desk so I helped her after we had finished our lunch. Thankfully, it didn't take too long, and her desk looks so much better now. 
• Once the desks were clean, we made a little care package for a friend with the flu. The girls through together a pretty cute little box with only stuff from our pantry. When I was on the treadmill today, the kids hung out in their rooms. I think that they all had big times playing with their google minis.
• Soon it was time for us to load up and go to basketball practice. Since Campbell was kind of puny-ish (which could have been due to us keeping her up crazy late last night watching the football game), I gave her the option to stay at home, but she said that she felt fine and wanted to go. 
• Robby picked up Whitman who had spent the afternoon at Grannymom's house. My basketball folks practiced while I walked on the track some. Then we headed home for supper which Robby had waiting on us. Supper was good and warm and afterwards the kids all showered. 
• We had a few minutes of downtime before it was bedtime. Robby spent that time working on the fridge door which is falling completely apart-it is always something! The kids went to bed and Whitman was very upset at bedtime that he didn't get to play more. We reminded him that he played all day long at school, at Grannymom's and then here at home before we came home but that didn't seem to appease him!

January 8, 2018

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• Monday morning and what a Monday morning it was! I have 2 little girls that I am about ready to ship off to boarding school. Everything I told Keaton caused her to have a fit, and everything that I told Campbell caused for her to talk back to me. I was just about ready to lose my ever loving mind!
• But let's start early in the morning. Whitman was up and asked quickly if he could work on his shapes. The big kids all have a new ipad game that is drawing a picture by filling in tiny blocks. It is all pretty intricate and takes a while, and Whitman loves it. I had to drag him away from his ipad to put his clothes on him and throw him in the car.
• The rest of us poured our cereal, and they listened as I read to them. Then we did a bit of work together before I let everyone go to work on their own school work. Things went fairly well-for a Monday. 
• After most school work was finished, we went to work on straightening downstairs and making our lunches. We had just bought bread the other day but for some reason we are already out of bread after today's lunch. We didn't even have Whitman eating with us for lunch. Maybe I should start making my own bread-I really wanted to do that a few years ago but never succeeded.
• When lunch was over, I worked on hanging a picture with the boys. They both used a hammer and it was pretty entertaining to watch. I think that will need lots of tool lessons in the near future. Keaton and Campbell were having a fight about their Shopkins. I told them that they would have to sit in their room and play Shopkins until 2 quietly. You would have thought that I had beat them the way that they were screaming. It was so loud that Robby had to come upstairs and intervene.
• I cleaned the shower and soon Nonna and Pops arrived with Whitman. He had had a good day and was excited to be home. Nonna had made a cranberry orange bread, and it was yummy. Once they left, I headed up to the treadmill and soon Campbell and Keaton were back at it again. This caused everyone to be sent to bed which meant that the rest of my treadmill time was peaceful!
• When I finished, Robby and I started working on supper. We had leftover fish, fish sticks, corn (made with the instapot), leftover beans and cornbread. I think that everyone enjoyed our supper, and I was pleased with our corn. We figure that doing it in the instapot takes just about as long as boiling the water and then boiling the corn, but once I put it in I never had to look at or think about it again which was a definite plus. (We still have a bag of beans to try later this week or next week.)
• After we ate, everyone put on their pjs-well, everyone really already had on their pjs except for Whitman. Then we just set around waiting for the championship game to start. Once it started, the kids paid pretty good attention to it.
• At one point, I walked through the kitchen and Campbell, Keaton and everyone else in there looked up and hollered. I assumed they were doing something for my birthday (like putting Happy Birthday on the cake that we were about to eat) but still ran on out of the room.
• At halftime, the Wilson's came over to celebrate my birthday. Shannon brought cookies, Robby pulled out an ice cream cake and ice cream, and I reluctantly pulled out my peanut butter candy from Grannymom. (Reluctantly, because I didn't want to share it at all.)
• We ate and ate and soon were all back in the living room watching the ballgame. The kids cheered, shouted and squealed during the game. No one seemed tired and the kids just got louder during overtime. We had said that we weren't going to let the kids stay up late but goodness, they would have missed a pretty exciting ending if they had gone to bed.
• When the game was over, we said bye to the Wilson's and looked at the tiny bit of snow falling from the sky. Too bad it isn't lots more snow than just this little tiny bit. The kids picked up and then went to bed. It was late, but it was a fun evening. 

January 7, 2018

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• Church morning and Campbell was the first one awake. She laid in bed with us stalling picking out her clothes because she wanted for me to go upstairs and help. I did help her pick out her clothes. 
• Keaton also found a beautiful Sunday coat in her closet and picked it out to wear. Bless, my child thought that wearing that coat and an undershirt and leggings would be okay. I had to explain to her that she had to wear real Sunday clothes under her coat. She reluctantly did but never took her coat off while at church. I am sure she was burning up!
• I french braided Keaton and Campbell's hair and Reagan has me do a quick little braid in her hair. After doing all of that hair in a hurry, I am always glad that I have 3 boys too. I don't think that I would be able to make it to church in time if I had anyone else's hair to work on.
• Church and Sunday school and then we headed to Grannymom's house to celebrate my birthday (I am celebrating all month long.) We had Mexican food for lunch and then apple dumplings and Shelley's famous peanut butter candy for dessert. Except the peanut butter candy was just for me! It was a present of the best kind. I had said at Christmas that I wanted it for my birthday, and Virginia remembered. Afterwards, I opened my other presents-gift card, dish towels, a hand sander, cricut vinyl and decorating bags.
• We then ran to At Home since we are daily checking for their Christmas to be marked to 75% off. Then it was home for a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap. The kids were quiet (kind of) and we slept for a good long while.
• For supper, we cleaned out the fridge and surprisingly, there was plenty for everyone. We did have the squirt cheese and crackers. Whitman likes for me to write words on there for him to read. He does know a few sight words but now, I am able to write little words that he can sound out like "am." That reading book is already paying off.
• After supper, we watched a documentary about a chess player. It was thrilling tv-actually, it was pretty interesting, and everyone watched it for the most part. Then it was bedtime for the kids-school tomorrow and our first full week back in a routine!

January 6, 2018-Happy Birthday Tara!

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• Campbell was one of the first ones awake this morning and joined us in our bed. Her morning routine (and mine too) is to look on my phone to check if snowing is coming in the next 10 days. After a bit, Campbell went to put on her uniform and Robby and I got ourselves ready.
• Once everyone else was ready, it was time to begin my birthday celebration. I blew out candles on one of my favorite things-a cinnamon roll cake from Sams. They are not always there but if you see one, buy it because it will be the best 5 dollars you have ever spent.
• Everyone sang to me and after blowing out my candles, Robby quickly passed out the cake while I opened my presents. Keaton gave me some holiday signs that she has already given to me once but took off of my desk earlier this week. Campbell had me hot chocolate and a package of reeses pieces. She also included a coupon book full of things that she loves doing-"I will go shopping with you, I will bake with you"...but my favorite was "I will take a nap wiht you." 
• Graham also gave me coupon slips which I will indeed cash in. Anderson excused himself for a bit and came back with a card. Reagan had a tiny intricate card that she had made. Whitman was a bit disappointed that he had not made a card but did have Reagan help him make one later in the day, and he was so proud to give it to me.
• Robby gave me an instant pot, a seat warmer and a trip to Ikea and the Cheeecake Factory. Just about the time that I finished opening the presents, it was time to load up and head to Campbell's basketball game.
• It took a bit for the girls to get warmed up but when they did, Campbell was on fire. She scored 8 or more points. It was pretty interesting watching the girls play-they would shoot the ball about 10 times for every time they scored. It was quite entertaining. I do believe that this was the first time in a few games that Campbell's teal won their game.
• On the way home, we stopped by Kroger and spent quite a few minutes in there. It was wonderful-lots of sales and plenty of time to browse. If we would have stayed any longer, I would have counted our Kroger trip as a birthday present.
• Back at home, we unloaded the groceries, ate some crackers, cheese and sausage for lunch, and played with my new instant pot. Today we took it slow and made some hard boiled eggs. It took about the same time as cooking them on the stove but required less attention-except we stared at it the entire time. 
• Soon we were back in the car for the boys' ballgame. Anderson scored 8 and Graham scored 4. Graham is quite a bit shorter than the other boys so when he was able to score, his fan club let out a thunderous roar.
• And after the boys won their game, we headed back to Kroger to pick up a few more sale items. As soon as we were home, Campbell and I turned back around and headed to a birthday party. One of the girls from her team had a party at River City, and Campbell had a blast. She left begging me to sign her up for gymnastics. 
• Then we zoomed back home long enough for me to shower and the Wilsons to come over to ride with us. We first dropped off the kiddos to Grannymom's house while the Wilsons, Robby and I headed to Heights Taco and Tamales.
• Their tomato marmalade is my favorite. All of the food was delicious especially their pulled pork tacos and that tomato marmalade and we left completely full. It was wonderful, but we were too full for dessert.
• After picking up the kids, they were quick to let us know that they were not too full for dessert. We served up ice cream for them before bedtime for everyone. It was a pretty great 40th birthday for me! (But I am sure not done celebrating and plan to continue my celebration for the next few days...or weeks!)

January 5, 2018

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• As I laid in bed this morning, I debated skipping school today. Tomorrow is my birthday after all but I acted like a grown up and made sure that school happened and happened well. We did have ourselves a big breakfast this morning-cinnamon toast made by Whitman, fried eggs and scrambled eggs made partly by Campbell. I wish that I could manage a warm breakfast every morning but that's not going to happen.
• We have a couple of Google Minis around here and last night, Robby spoke into the one downstairs and played his voice onto the ones upstairs. I believe that he told Whitman to be quiet. Whatever he did tell Whitman, he heard it and didn't think that it was Robby talking to him. Instead, he was convinced that it was God. This morning, I heard Whitman saying to the Google Mini, "Hey froogle, talk like God" over and over again.
• School was a bit wild this morning with Whitman being here, but he is so interested in doing his own school that he sat by me for a the longest working on his workbook. He even scribbled out a new Christmas list and on it was "more school." I guess he wants another school workbook for Christmas next year.
• My Keaton is so improving in her reading, Reagan and Graham are doing great on their writing. Anderson is my math king, and Campbell was alphabetizing everything today. We all finished by noonish.
• Whitman convinced me to let him paint his bread like he did in Ms. Jennifer's class last year. It is just a bit of milk and food coloring to make the paint. I thought everyone would want to do it too, especially Campbell and Keaton, but Anderson was the only other one who did. Anderson painted a flag and we even sang the Star Spangled Banner to it.
• Afterwards, it was chore time. I did make the kids do some extra chores today-I used the "it's my birthday" line and plan on using it quite a few more times this month.  When the chores were completed, I walked around the house filling a bag of trash. I have decided that I am going to take 40 bags of trash out of this house this year. 
• This was the second afternoon that at 5:30, Robby and I laid down and took a nap. Wonder if we have mono or something? Ha! Probably not, but our room is just so cozy. We stayed in our room until the kids sounded like they were going to tear the house down. 
• We then loaded up and headed to Eat My Catfish. We have been talking about going there for a while and began our evening with fried pickles. They were kind of spicy and heavy but good. Robby had ordered the family platter (fries, beans, hushpuppies, 10 fish pieces and 4 chicken pieces). That would be plenty for all of us, and it wasn't too long before they delivered our food.
• We were still passing it out and opening up boxes when the server came back asking if our order was right. He knew we hadn't gotten our fish and we offered to send our wrong food back but he said he couldn't do that. So we ended up with 2 pints of beans, fries, hushpuppies, 4 chicken pieces and around 40 pieces of catfish. Yes, you read that right-40. We brought home 20 pieces of fish (I counted them as I wrapped them in foil to put in the fridge.) I am not sure what happened but it definitely worked out in our favor.
• On the way home, we stopped to pick up some ice cream and the kids sang Happy Birthday to me to begin my birthday celebration. The kids went to bed a bit early since tomorrow will be a busy day.

January 4, 2018

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• Whitman joined us in bed around 2:30 this morning. I guess that it was pretty chilly in our bedroom because I didn't mind snuggling with him...until it was morning time and the heat came on. It didn't take too long for it to get hot in our room, which is the hottest room in the house when the doors are closed and the heat is on. 
• I quickly got on up and started waking up people, hauling laundry, finding Whitman's clothes, waking up people, opening blinds and emptying the dishwasher. Whitman woke up fairly well and was excited to hear that it was Ms. Stacy day and that he was to bring a toy from Christmas. 
• Soon he was in the car with his jacket, milk, poptart and two bears-one was old and one was indeed from Christmas. I think that Whitman really enjoy school; I just hope that he obeys when he is there.
• Back at the house, everyone had waffles or pancakes for breakfast this morning. Then it was school time and surprisingly, it went much better than I could ever expect. I did get frustrated only once when Reagan and Graham slammed me with all of their school work at one time. I like for everyone to bring me their work after they finish one or two things. Otherwise, at 11:30 I have 40+ pages to grade. 
• Campbell and Keaton went with Robby to pick up Whitman. Robby said that they used up all of their words on the trip but surprisingly, they have had many more words that they have used today. When they all returned home, we had lunch followed by some chores.
• It didn't take too long for Whitman to lose his ipad this afternoon. Could someone tell me why my boy has stopped going poo in the potty. A few folks ran to Dairy Queen for their weekly Blizzards. They even brought me home one which I happily enjoyed as soon as I stepped off of the treadmill. Yes, I do see the irony in that.
• We had baked potatoes for supper tonight along with a bit of chicken, chili and a ton of other toppings. The kids all love baked potatoes (except for Whitman). Afterwards, the kids all showered and then, Robby and I migrated to our bedroom where Keaton, Campbell and Whitman migrated in and out. The others watched the Bates in the living room and gracious, they must have been using Robby's sound bar to the max because the walls of our room were shaking. 
• Reagan passed out the rest of her dessert that she made last night while I tried to figure out what we could eat for our dessert. I had hoped that she would bring us a piece but that didn't happen. It is Thursday night after all-the night before the weekend of my 40th birthday-definitely that deserves some type of dessert!

January 3, 2018

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• It was a scramble this morning getting ready for Bible study. I had to wake Reagan, Keaton, Graham and Whitman. I think that my crew is still pretty tired from our Christmas break. On Bible study mornings, our goal is to leave around 8:30. 
• Reagan and Graham's bagels were in the toaster and mine was next in line since we eat them in the car on the way, when I heard my phone ding. I didn't pay too much attention to the phone noises since we only had about 5 more minutes until we would leave and there was still lots to be done. Seconds later though, my phone was going nuts, and I went to check it. It didn't take long for me to see the words "Bible Study cancelled." 
• Pipes had froze or burst at Immanuel this morning (conflicting reports) but either way, CBS was emailing and texting, along with Candice and the other girls. Since we were all already dressed and lunches packed, we decided to meet at Rock Creek for lunch. The kids weren't too happy when I relayed the news to them. They all love Bible study and were bummed that weren't able to go. 
• I let them finish their breakfasts while I sat and ate my bagel quietly. Then we did history, science and reading. I also did spelling with everyone and had them do two things for tomorrow's school day. 
• I had said that I was going to work with Whitman each day this next year and that boy would do "school" forever. Each day that we have worked, he has wanted to do more. We gave him a kindergarten workbook for Christmas and I think that it might just be one of his favorites. When no one is doing it with him, he will just sit in the school room and flip through the pages trying to figure it out. 
• Just as soon as we had finished all of this, it was time to leave for lunch. We arrived just as everyone else was going in. Our big kids are getting a bit old and don't even really try to play in the tubes anymore. They just stand around and talk. We really should bring games for them to play, but today, they really wanted to go outside so they could throw the ball and run. I hate that there is no where that we can go in cold or yucky weather that they can do this.
• After we had eaten and played inside for a long time, we bundled up and headed outside so they all could play outside. Sara, Candice and I sat in Sara's car and watched the kids have a blast on the parking lot. 
• On the way home, we stopped by the library and picked up quite a few books. If you remember at Whitman's class Christmas party, he received a Pete the Cat book that he did not want and had himself a big ole fit. So today at the library, I picked up about 20 Pete the Cat books for us to enjoy!
• At home the kids finished their chores, and had some downtime. I haven't known what to do with myself today with all of my free time since my Lego project with Anderson is over. I had so much free time that not only did I get on the treadmill but I also started painting a side table.
• Reagan made a dessert for tonight-no bake chocolate chip cookie bars. That was the recipe that she wanted to make yesterday but couldn't because we were out of butter. She didn't want anyone in the kitchen when she worked and even barked at me to get out of the "square" while she was cooking.
• Anderson asked to cook next time and Graham already has a dessert that he wants to make as well. I am glad that want to cook but I really need for someone to make a salad and not sweets which I can not turn down at all.
• We had a simple hot dogs, chili and the fixings for supper. The kids ate up and all went well except for when Whitman had a fit afterwards because he didn't get dessert immediately after supper. 
• We watched a few shows after supper and then Reagan finally did pass our her dessert. Whitman did refuse it and decided on Campbell's brownies from last night. After a few rounds of HQ tonight, it was soon bedtime for the crew. Tomorrow is our first real day back at school-unless another pipe burst. No, no, we don't want that at all!