September 30, 2013

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Photobombed by Mom!

  • Since I had a lovely dentist appointment early this Monday morning, everyone was shipped out to Grandma's houses.  Robby took the boys to Grannymom's house and I took the girls to Nonna's house.  
  • My dentist appointment was a cleaning and two crowns so that took practically all morning long.  I was glad that I sent school work for the kids to do-Anderson did his phonics, Graham did his math and Reagan also worked on her math.  Campbell had a

September 29, 2013-Happy Birthday Jason (and Keaton)

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Big kids sing in big church!

  • Sunday morning and with a few less girls waking up here and a few more boys (just our own), it was a lot easier getting ready for church.  I showered while Robby woke everyone up and then I took over and finished up breakfast while Robby put on his clothes.  
  • There is a new season of Cake Boss on Netflix so the kids were so excited when Robby turned it on during breakfast.  If you

September 28, 2013

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  • Even though we went to a foo
    Game Day!
    tball game last night, watched the kids play 3 games today and are sitting in on the couch watching the Hogs, it is not all about football at this house.  But we still had to wake up early for Graham's game.  Though on football days the kids don't have any problems getting up and getting ready.  
  • Graham's game was first-he thinks they won (I don't!)  Either way he had fun and even carried the ball a long ways a few times.  Anderson got to carry the ball at least once but the highlight of his game was playing Cash.  I tried to get a few pictures of him and Cash facing off-everyone in a while before they started playing, Anderson and Cash would start playfully pushing each other.  I was afraid those two little cousins were

September 27, 2013-Happy Birthday Keaton!

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Celebrating Keaton's birthday at the Salt Bowl

  • The birthday girl woke up today clutching her princess doll and teddy bear she opened last night.  She climbed in our bed for a few minutes to join us and Graham.  Soon though Robby was up getting ready and I was getting Whitman from upstairs.  He fusses but when he hears us at the bottom of the stairs, he stops and is just grinning from ear to ear when he sees us.  I

September 26, 2013-Happy Birthday Keaton!

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Celebrating Two Years!

  • That silly alarm clock of mine went off again this morning and I dutifully got out of bed (after hitting snooze at least 4 times).  Anderson was up and was begging for breakfast and at a weak moment I let them rummage around in the closet and they found cinnamon rolls.  We had bought them for Reagan's sleepover breakfast but then decided going to Krispy Kreme would be easier.  
  • Robby took Campbell to school this morning.  She was the snack helper and that child was so excited about this.  I know that she remembered Reagan, Anderson and Graham taking snacks.  She took orange juice, goldfish and raisins.  She said that her friends liked her snack-they

September 25, 2013

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Playing at the park!

  • We survived another week at Bible Study.  I was even awake early enough to work on Keaton's cupcakes for her birthday party tomorrow.  The kids were all ready and even played on their kindles before we had to leave.
  • Drop off was easier this morning and Keaton only briefly fussed.  And even though I left during the last prayer, I still was the last one to pick up Reagan.  When I

September 24, 2013

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More celebrations for Robby's birthday!

  • Campbell went to school this morning and that little girl is always to happy to go.  This morning as I was combing her hair, she told me all about how she was going to play "go fish" with Grannymom.  She went on to say that she wanted to play because they never get to play that game.  During the afternoon, I started wondering if she would remember that she wanted to play so I text Grannymom.  And sure enough she had remembered that she wanted to play and her and Grannymom were playing even as I text. 
  • This morning, school went well.  Though if Keaton is left alone for too long, you never know what she

September 23, 2013

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Open House at Campbell's School!

  • Waking up at a decent time is just a struggle for me but it is for Keaton, Whitman and especially Reagan.  Now my boys act as if hunger pains are waking them up each and every morning.  Their first words to me are "when are we going to eat breakfast?" and "I'm starving."  And I am in no hurry to get breakfast for them or to get out of bed.  Though I did read a blog about a homeschooling lady with many kiddos and she made bacon and muffins from scratch and even said their day was "peaceful."  I'm

September 22, 2013-Happy Birthday Robby!

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Celebrating 39!

  • So we left off last night with 6 girls plus my Reagan and Campbell upstairs in the bonus room spending the night.  When the first movie went off they all seemed pretty wired still-like we had given them a fountain full of chocolate.  So I suggested another movie but first we laid out everyone's spot for the night.  My naive hope was that some or all would fall asleep during movie number 2.  When the movie was half over, around midnight, a gaggle of girls came down the steps wanting something or another.  This concerned me greatly since I couldn't sleep until my charges were asleep.  So when the movie was nearly over, I grabbed my book and went and sat in the light from the bathroom to read.  I was there

September 21, 2013-Happy Birthday Reagan!

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Celebrating Reagan's Birthday!

  • So last night we were thinking that the rain would cause there to be no football this morning, but the sun was shining and the field were draining so the Dennie crew had their first football games this morning.  We didn't really pack anything up last night so we had to race around this morning.  And we remembered everything (except the sunscreen!)
  • Graham's game was first.  The kindergarten league is always a hoot to watch but Graham took it all pretty seriously.  He pulled a flag and even scored a touchdown.  He really had fun and it is pretty easy to see with him because his smile is literally ear to ear.  Graham's t
    Game Day!
    eam technically lost but I do not count their last score because they put in their star player to run a touchdown.  
  • Next up was Anderson's game and my Anderson is just a little coach or maybe an arm chair quarterback.  He spent most of his time telling his teammates where to line up.  I know that he pulled at least one flag.  His team did win and he also had a great time.
  • Then we had a bit over an hour break and we all sat in the blazing sun-which is the reason that all of the Dennie's are sunburned.  We ate from the concession

September 20, 2013

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Growing boy!

  • Again, we can't seem to wake up at a decent hour (which is secretly fine with me)  Of course, this rainy weather didn't help any.  The kids were pretty calm this morning and after breakfast, we started school.
  • Whitman only heard one story during school today.  My Campbell just brings things to the crazy mark when she is home during school. She is just a catalyst that causes everyone else to spring out of control.  

September 19, 2013

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Reading to brother; Listening to brother!

  • Robby woke up this morning and his first words were "It's 8:00."  I guess we haven't gotten off of vacation time after all.  Campbell and him still made it to school just a wee bit late.  My Campbell was in such a good mood this morning and ready to go to school, but when it came right down to it she wasn't that ready.  Ms. Hannah wasn't there but Ms. Lisa was so she shouldn't have been upset but Robby said she fussed pretty good.
  • I finally had to wake Reagan up this

September 18, 2013

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Why so many hands on me?

  • Back to reality today as it was our first day at home with Robby back at work and really, reality isn't any fun.  I am now packing up to go on the road permanently.  A few years ago while on one of our trips, we met a lady who was taking her kids to all 50 states.  Her husband was staying at home working to fund their travels-shh, don't tell Robby but we are going to try that!  Actually, I am pretty spoiled and we

September 17, 2013

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Boys will be boys....

  • Back to reality and reality wasn't any fun for Whitman last night-he spent the night in the bonus room.  And he had nothing good to say about it.  Well, I don't really know that but when we went to bed he was mad but when we woke up (well, when Robby went to check on him) he was happy.  I am not sure what happened in the mean time.  But I know that this was the first time in over a month that I have slept all night.  During our trip, he had been waking up twice a night so we thought he needed to learn again to

Road Trip 2013: Day 18, September 16, 2013 (5,166 miles later!)

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A Visit to Ms. Bona before heading home!

Well, this was our final morning to wake up in a hotel.  Everyone slept well, Campbell woke up when Whitman was fussing in the middle of the night.  She found her way to the bathroom. Then when she was finished, she turned the light off but since she couldn’t see anything, she turned it back on.  Then she tried again to turn off the light but back it went on when she realized again she was in the dark.  By this time, I made it out of bed to help her.  We leave on the light but just close the bathroom door so we can see a bit in the dark, dark hotel room. When I was zipping her back in her bag, Robby offered for her to climb in his bed.  

The next thing I knew, it was 6 and Robby was waking me up.  We had gotten ready and loaded

Road Trip 2013: Day 17, September 15, 2013

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A Visit to Oklahoma's Bricktown!

I forgot to mention last night on our little jaunt down the road to the steak place, we were in pretty dire need of gas.  Actually, the car said we did have 6 more miles left but we weren’t too sure if that was accurate or not.  We did decide to get gas at the first available station and indeed the car was pretty accurate.  Our tank is 30 gallons and Robby put in 29.77 gallons in it.  Living on the edge!

Some time during the night, Graham joined me in bed and Campbell joined Robby in his bed.  Robby and I had stayed up until 1ish (still just 11 to us though) doing laundry and catching up on our computing.  The kids were exhausted this morning and probably could have slept for another few hours but we started opening the windows (we bring clothes pins to keep the

Road Trip 2013: Day 16, September 14, 2013

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Spray painting at Cadillac Ranch!

Right before Gallup, we lost an hour last night so that made getting up a bit more difficult-well, the late night swim didn’t help much either.  We barely made it to breakfast before they shut it down.  Now the one thing that I noticed about breakfast was that everyone put green chilies on everything they ate-we must be in New Mexico.  

Graham said that the first thing he was going to do was lay in his bed when we got home.  Anderson has said that he was going to play with all of his toys.  We let each kid bring a

Road Trip 2013: Day 15, September 13, 2013

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Petrified Forest National Park

I was surprised but our sleeping arrangements pretty much stayed the same.  Before we went to bed, Robby did move Campbell into bed with him.  Her and Reagan had been sharing the roll away but it kind of sank to the middle so they both would roll right to the middle.  Campbell would have slept fine but Reagan would not have.  


After I had finished typing the blog last night and when Robby finished with the pictures, he

Road Trip 2013: Day 14, September 12, 2013 (Happy Birthday Reagan!)

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Celebrating Reagan's 8th Birthday at the Grand Canyon
Waking up this morning, the kids were pretty tired.  Campbell was kind of awake when I asked her what color her toothbrush was (I get hers and Keaton’s confused).  She answered me “purple” and then said “don’t talk to me, I’m sleeping.”  A few minutes earlier, I had told Keaton who was the only one up to tell Reagan Happy Birthday.  I pointed to Reagan and Keaton shouted “no” at me.  Later I realized

Road Trip 2013: Day 13, September 11, 2013

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Zion National Park

We slept the latest so far on this trip-7:45.  The boys had already had breakfast with Pops by the time that we woke up.  It didn’t take long for my girls to be ready and they went to breakfast with Nonna while Robby and I loaded up the car.  


It took Robby and I a bit to load the car because every single person that walked by us wanted to chat.  First it was New Yorkers who talked about their shuttle problems from last night and then it was a man that had just moved to Arkansas who talked about the Hogs.  Finally, we finished spreading things back out since Nonna and Pops weren’t coming with us.  Then we went in for our quick breakfast.


We then loaded up and said bye to Nonna and Pops.  They took the shuttle to the airport and flew out this afternoon and have

Road Trip 2013: Day 12, September 10, 2013

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Welcome to Vegas BABY!

I think that we need to invest in a better bed at my house.  I think that last night was our 9th hotel last night and I have yet to sleep on a bed that is not more comfortable than our bed. Now that is partly our fault...when we bought our mattress, the lady showed us the mattresses and when she pointed out one mattress said “this mattress is more for kids or people starting out.”  But when Robby saw the price of the other mattresses and then the price of the that mattress-well, you can guess which one we purchased!  


And then my bedding, well it needs updating too.  But since I am a realist and know what 6 kids can quickly do to nice bedding and

Road Trip 2013: Day 11, September 9, 2013

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Exploring Yosemite Valley

Around 6, Whitman and the Keaton woke up so we just made room for them in our bed and then went right back to sleep.  At 7, I called Pops to tell him to send the boys over so they could go and eat and he said he was sitting looking out his window at deer.  Our view wasn’t as pretty since we had the cars to look at but behind the cars there was a mountain taller than any mountain you have seen. 

The boys came over and found cozy spots under covers and the kids watched tv for a bit while Robby and I loaded up and got ready.  By the time that Nonna and Pops returned from breakfast we were about ready to load the car.  Robby went to get the car and then Anderson started shouting about deer.  We all looked out the window and man, he was telling the
truth.  But 3 feet from our patio was 3 momma deer and 4 babies. They were right in front of our room and didn’t even startle with all

Road Trip 2013: Day 10, September 8, 2013

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Giant Sequoias!

We slept crazy well last night.  Whitman did wake up once and I gave him a bottle that was in the fridge.  He usually holds his bottle without any problem but last night he was not going to hold his bottle.  I guess it was too cold for his little hands.  I thought about setting up and pulling his sleeves down over his hands but was too tired for that.

Pops called around 8 to ask for the girls clothes and woke us up-Robby’s alarm had

Road Trip 2013: Day 9, September 7, 2013

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Saying bye to Mickey and Minnie!


Last night as I was finishing the blog, I was so exhausted that I am sure my last few paragraphs were jibberish.  That is what I get for waiting until night time to write.  On a Disney day, we didn’t stop long enough for me to write a few things when during our car days I had been pulling out my computer to type.  I was actually so tired during the night that when Whitman woke at 1, I didn’t even change his diaper and then when he stirred at 6, I just gave him the bottle that he had dropped from 1.  I’m a slacker mom!


But when the alarm clock went off at 7 this

Road Trip 2013: Day 8, September 6, 2013

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A true California Adventure!


Oh the morning seems so long ago as I type this. This morning the parks opened at 9 so we woke at 7 to be ready to eat breakfast by 7:45. Tomorrow will be the same times but we will throw in packing up and loading up the van before breakfast just to spice things up. The boys were up as soon as we were but the girls were a bit slower to wake (as usual). Pops and Nonna took the big 4 to breakfast and the rest of us were soon on our way over there.

I spent most of my morning doing Reagan's hair. She has become quite the mess lately-wonder if she could be spoiled? She has

Road Trip 2013: Day 7, September 5, 2013

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Disneyland 2013!



The big boys slept in Nonna and Pops' room, the big girls slept on the pull out couch, Keaton slept in the closet and Whitman slept in bed with me.  They all slept great with the boys waking up first next door.  The rest of us stirred around 7 and we were even in bed before 11 so that was pretty awesome.  I think that Whitman ate twice during the night but either way, I think that we all felt very rested.


Pop, Anderson and Graham went to breakfast first and the rest of us were not too far behind.  Breakfast is across the street in the top floor of a restaurant.  It is kind of strange to go

Road Trip 2013: Day 6, September 4, 2013

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Nonna & Pops arrive in Hollywood!
The night went well-Whitman ate twice as is the norm for the trip.  He has been sleeeping in bed with me and when he starts stirring I jump out of bed to get his bottle.  No one usually hears us at all and since he can kind of hold his bottle and since I can kind of hold it while sleeping soon we are both back to our peaceful sleep.  When he woke up at 5:30, I looked at the clock and thought “aw, I still have another hour before we get up.”  And then not one minute later, I heard the shower start.  I didn’t realize that Robby was hanging out in the bathroom.  I think he was that excited about picking up my folks that he couldn’t sleep.

As we were talking, Keaton stuck her head out of the closet and was soon getting her clothes on with Graham to go to breakfast with Robby.  I had my shower and then Reagan, Anderson, Campbell and I went downstairs for breakfast.  While at breakfast, there was a man behind me drinking water out of a gallon jug.  That was unusual to me but Campbell could not take her eyes off of him.  She finally

Road Trip 2013: Day 5, September 3, 2013

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Picnic Lunch in the Desert!

Disclaimer: Today's blog is over 5 typed pages long. If you are looking for the cliff notes version, here it is: Good day.

We all slept well in Blyth, California.  Whitman did wake up a few times which no one heard but me and Robby woke up at 4:45 to check my parents in for their flight.  Today was probably one of our few days that we could take things a bit slower so we slept until after 7.  Keaton was the first one to start stirring followed by Graham and Campbell.  Reagan and Anderson are like teenagers and could sleep all day long.  


We had breakfast at the hotel and it was a pretty good spread, not

Road Trip 2013: Day 4, September 2, 2013

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Saying 'bye' to Hank and Sonia
We all slept wonderful last night-well, at least I did.  Sometime during the night, I was up to get Whitman a bottle and Campbell was fussing a tad.  I hoisted her up onto the bed and she soon found Robby and his pillow.  I think I slept some on the floor with Whitman but then crawled back into bed.  And there squeezed on one side of the king size bed was Robby and Campbell.  I debated for a good few minutes if I should pull Campbell back to the middle or if I should just spread out.  I just let you guess what I did.
Pretty early this morning, a thunderstorm came rolling through.  Hank had told us that

Road Trip 2013: Day 3, September 1, 2013

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Gunfight at the OK Corral!

This morning when Whitman woke up for a bottle, I thought the clock said 6:30 so I didn’t really worry about rushing to get his milk since it was time for everyone to start stirring.  But when I sat up, I realized the clock just said 5:30 so I beelined it to grab that blessed bottle.  This was just our second hotel but each night walking around in the dark room after the kids have gone to sleep is like playing a game of minesweeper-trying not to click on a landmine is just like me trying to walk around the room and not step on a sleeping child.

We were all up by 6:30 and everyone looked a little more tired today.  Robby went down to load up the car while I went to breakfast with everyone else.  The kids were fine but probably a bit noisy.  One lady came up to me and said “I noticed how