- I realized today why I am moving so slowly on school lately, since Keaton and Campbell are doing Mother's Day Out on Thursdays, they have to do all of their school in 3 days. This means that I have to grade all of their school in three days. I think this is what is slowing me down.
- Even being a little bit slower, school still went well today. Graham had a lot of math to do so that meant that I had to hurry to do Campbell's things so she would have time before she went to work.
- I was about to fix my lunch today, when I realized that I had not even thought about checking Anderson's work for the day. I did that quickly, and then did get my lunch.
- Campbell doesn't know how long she will work, but she is working all of this week-and she is enjoying getting that paycheck.
- This afternoon was filled with lots of preparations for the feast-Anderson helped me make mac and cheese, but since Campbell and Graham were at work, I had to make their green bean bundles and corn casserole.
- Keaton, Campbell, and Anderson all wore their Hawaiian shirts since that was theme tonight, and I think that they all had fun at their feast-Campbell and Anderson still went to ChickFilA afterwards with all of their buddies. We had some free nuggets so I ran in there to pick them up on the way home, and I was surprised at all of the kids there-I guess they didn't get enough food.
- The rest of us came home, and before too long Campbell and Anderson came home as well. Now, I'm about to get myself some hot chocolate!
November 20, 2024
November 19, 2024
- Once again I let Graham skip his math class this morning. Though today we were doing one of his math problems, and we weren't just sure on what we were doing-maybe I should have made him go! Ha! We figured it out though-I hope.
- Overall, school went well today. I think that it helped that most everyone was leaving with me for Nonna's house around one. We were delivering Pop's monthly socks, and Graham convinced Nonna to make him lunch as well.
- While I was visiting, Graham and Whitman were wrestling enough that Graham hurt his thumb pretty badly. As we were leaving, I was trying to figure out if we would need to go to the doctor today or tomorrow. Thankfully though after our other errands, he volunteered to drive home and even played some basketball later in the day so I guess that it isn't broken at least.
- When I came home, I finished school up with Whitman and then worked on cleaning the camper some. I am spraying it down so well that I can only stay in there for a little bit of time before I start coughing.
- Keaton made her mini cheesecakes for tomorrow's feast at church so this evening Whitman and I worked on his dessert. He chose chocolate chip cookies so we made those. Whitman really enjoys cooking.
- The last two evenings I have been able to sit down for a little bit which has been nice. Even though the days have been shorter making the nights longer, I haven't really felt like I could tell a difference until these last two evenings. I have had time to sit and read, but also time to do some Christmas shopping.
November 18, 2024
- Last night when I sat to write down my list, there were so many things that I had to use two pages to keep everything organized. Thankfully, even though school went to after 3, I still was able to sit down for a little bit this afternoon.
- First, for it to be Monday school went fairly well. The big boys are trying to finish up their art class before Thanksgiving-well, I should more correctly say, I am trying to get the big boys to finish up their art class by Thanksgiving.
- After drawing a self portrait, they are supposed to write a few sentences about who they are. I explained to them that sometimes you just have to write a bunch of stuff that if just fluff and doesn't really say anything. Graham was able to do this, but so far Anderson has written "I am really batman, don't tell anyone." He still has a bit of work to do since I want that done today!
- Whitman has finished quite a few things for school so I have added quite a few things as well. I thought that he might finish a little bit early, but I guess not because of all of the things that I have added. He has about 3 things left that he can complete, and then everything else we just continue on. When he does finish those things though we will start to get ahead on next year.
- I was able to sit down and think about some Christmas gifts today plus go on two walks. By the time that I took my second walk, it was crazy windy so I was in a hurry so a branch didn't fall on my head. (None fell on me.)
- Campbell went to work again today with Graham plus they received their checks in the mail today-this was her biggest check to get so I know that makes her super happy! She was even talking about making a Shein order.
- I was watching the weather and the time hoping that they would make it back home before the rain came tonight. They didn't, but they crawled down Lawson and made it home safely. Once they were home, I made some more cornbread so we could eat another round of taco soup.
- Actually, I said that I made the cornbread-I didn't. I poured the flour in the bowl and then remembered that Whitman enjoys cooking so I called him down. He was quick to come down and to make something.
- Robby said that this was probably his last time to eat it, but maybe I have a few more times in me. We have quite a bit left and thankfully, when I added the cornbread tonight quite a few kids chose it as well.
- Keaton, Campbell, Whitman, and I played a few games this evening. After our game, I am now back in my chair trying to plan some school...or maybe I will pick up a book a read some!
November 17, 2024-Battle of the Ravine Weekend
It was a another perfect night of camper sleeping. I'm not sure what all I mentioned last night, but we found some ants as we were getting ready for bed last night. I sprayed the floor well, and Robby and I had to eventually move our mattress and spray behind it.
Despite doing this, we were brushing off ants occasionally when ever we looked for them. However, we all did sleep well...but this morning when we woke up, the ants had moved to around the ceiling and had doubled or even tripled. They were everywhere and caused the kids to make quite a commotion.
We sprayed well and found where they were coming in so we were able to stop that-at little too late though. Thankfully, they weren't biting ants, and they didn't really get into any of my food. However, now we have ant spray and ant remains every single place in the camper.
This is probably the last trip in the camper this year plus we had 4 trips in October so it definitely needed a super good cleaning. It didn't get that cleaning today, but every thing did come out of it so the cleaning process has begun.
Before we left, Robby and I walked down and had breakfast with everyone. It tried to rain, but stopped so we took that as our cue to go and head and leave. Graham and I rode back in the van and stopped a few places on the way home.
This meant that we did get home a bit after everyone else-which meant that a good deal of the work had already been done. It took quite a few loads to get the camper empty and quite a few loads to wash all of the things-actually, I am still washing all of the things!
Anderson and I made some mashed potatoes for his life group tonight so when he gets home I will hear how they went over. Graham, Campbell, and Keaton went to Rock Creek tonight, and we went to the Wilsons to eat some more Taco soup.
November 16, 2024-Battle of the Ravine Weekend
It was another very good camping day. We slept in a little bit, but the kids were really the first ones out of the camper. We heated up some leftover breakfasts for everyone, and before too long it was time to head to the Battle of the Ravine.
Last year we struggled to find seats so this year we headed to the Henderson campus around 11-two hours before the game. We found a great parking spot and were surprised at how few people were already in the stadium. About 15 minutes later there were many people pouring into the stadium.
It seemed a bit long before the game started, but it was nothing like how long the concession stand line was. The Ouachita crowd probably doubled the Henderson crowd so the visitor's side probably doesn't have huge concession stand lines. Graham and Whitman waited in line for an entire quarter for the game.
The weather was beautiful, but we were sitting in the direct sun light so we will all be pretty red tomorrow. Keaton and Whitman went to sit in the shade, and when we walked around to check on them, it was so much cooler-I would have had to bundle up to sit there.
The game was close, and thankfully, it didn't go into overtime-I mean, thankfully, Ouachita won. When it was over, we ran a few errands before heading back to the campsite. I had already made my 2 recipes of taco soup plus Shannon had 3 recipes. There was also cheese dip, cornbread, smores, banana pudding, oreo delight, cookies, and candy. Robby also used 4 loafs of bread making grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone. We just about needed all of the food that we had since we fed over 35 people this evening.
Brett brought some friends, and Reagan brought some friends as well. I had met some of her friends, but I think that she had a few new ones here tonight as well. The fire was going strong so it was fairly warm, and it was just a really fun evening and a good ending to our camping trip.
There is a slight possibility of rain in the morning, so we put every single thing up today. The kids do add a lot more stuff and bodies to our minimal square feet of living space when camping, but they also can be super helpful. Tonight they certainly helped out a lot as we had to pack up all the outside stuff. But it is 11, and everyone is now in bed so I am about to take my shower in a few minutes and then call it a night.
November 15, 2024-Battle of the Ravine Weekend
There is just something special about camper sleeping especially when you do not have to get up. I woke up to Robby on his computer this morning, and after awhile I started reading, but we had no intentions of leaving the bed.
Campbell and Keaton were the first ones to actually get out of the bed this morning. They went outside with Bentley, and Robby and I followed soon after to start making pancakes for breakfast. The weather was pretty perfect today and just a touch warm which was nice.
The kids spent time in the hammocks and by the water throwing rocks. There was talk of some pickleball but instead they threw the football some. Robby, Graham, and I ran a few errands which included picking up football game tickets for tomorrow. We even went into Walmart which I spent so much time in yesterday, and I was shocked to see that they had added all of their Christmas sell things in the aisles. I could have stayed longer looking at all of the new things they had put out, but we didn't.
Back at the campsite this evening, we did some walking and eventually started our breakfast for our supper. We had a smorgasbord including breakfast slides, burritos, bacon, fruit, pancakes, hashbrown casserole, and french toast. It was a lot of food, and we made a pretty good dent in all of it.
Reagan even came over for supper. Her class has to guard the tiger tonight so she didn't stay too long-she said that she might go back and study for a little bit. She assured us that other people would also be studying so it was fine that she was studying on a Friday night.
The fire tonight was perfect. I never even had to put on my second and third jacket that I had ready to go. We were out until after 11, and the boys and Campbell are still outside watching the Tyson fight. I had no desire to watch the fight so I came on inside.
Camping is a lot of fun, but it is a bit of hard work-I am tired tonight!
November 14, 2024-Battle of the Ravine Weekend
I woke Graham up first for school this morning, and he just grinned at me and asked if he had to go. I said that he did not, and he rolled over and went back to sleep. Then I emptied the dishwasher and then went to wake up Campbell. She was already awake and on her phone.
Next up was my shower followed by waking Anderson up. After I woke him up I did the laundry and started taking trips to the camper to load up the things that appeared during the night (the kids did some packing after bedtime).
Soon, Campbell, Keaton, Anderson, and I were leaving for the day. We dropped off Campbell and Keaton at church to work at Mother's Day Out. They came home with some chex mix which was delicious for a fall treat. Anderson and I drove on to Ouachita.
We had an official tour today. He had been for Tiger Day where you tour with a large group of people, but today was just us. It was a beautiful day, and we walked all over campus. He is leaning towards a business degree so we met with the dean. We had a good time, and I think that it confirmed his decision even more.
After our tour was over, we found Reagan. I offered to take her to lunch, but she had just bought her lunch. She showed us her room since Anderson had not seen it. Then we switched some clothes-she had Campbell's sweatshirt and we delivered a Christmas sweatshirt. I then had to run to the grocery store. Poor Anderson stayed in the car but our cell phones don't work great in that part of Arkadelphia so he was in the car the entire time without any thing to do. We then stopped at Subway to eat lunch-Anderson and I both had a terryaki sandwich along with a cookie.
Robby couldn't leave town until he picked up Campbell and Keaton, so Anderson and I had some time to kill. We went to Walmart, and we pretty much walked up and down every aisle. We found him some Christmas presents and a few stocking things as well. He got a little bit tired near the end of our shopping adventure, but I think that he did enjoy it.
We went to Degray and checked in before finding our site. Anderson and I only had to wait about 10 minutes before Robby and everyone else arrived. Once Robby parked, we sat up camp-chairs, tv, lights, tents. The girls watched the sunset and took a few photos-it was absolutely beautiful out. I just wish that it was a little bit warmer tonight.
I heated up manicotti for supper. This took a little bit, but while it was cooking Graham watched football outside while Campbell and Keaton hung out in the hammocks. We all ate, and that is a meal that everyone loved.
Graham didn't last too long outside without a fire, and by 8 we were all in the cozy camper. It has been a perfect day around here.
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