February 9, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• You know that it is a big day around here when the girls are all already awake in the morning. When I went to wake up Keaton, not only were they awake but they were also making their beds and straightening their room. The boys were awake too but they weren't thinking about anything that they girls were concerned with.
• By the time Whitman and Keaton were dressed and ready, it was time to go so they had to eat their breakfast on the way to school this morning. The rest of the kiddos grabbed their breakfasts and we started on our school work.
• We pretty much flew through our school work today and since we didn't do our science and history at 11, we started on cleaning up the house. Anderson still had some school work to do so the rest of us went to work cleaning.
• Keaton had a fun day at school but Whitman had a super big time-a fireman came and talked to his class. He had on his NYFD t-shirt and told us all about the fireman. As soon as they were in the house, we started on our lunch. We had just finished our lunch when our guests started arriving.
• The first thing that happened this morning was a orchestrated by the kids. Reagan and Anderson had made a Fishing for Candy game to play today. She didn't want to do it so Campbell took over and helped Anderson. Graham also made a Pin the Heart on the Mailbox game for everyone to play. The boys had gathered candy to pass out to each player and most of the little kids played. I think that my boys were pretty pleased with themselves for having their own activity.
• Jodee brought candy hearts for the kids to count and graph. I was helping Keaton and Jodee was helping Whitman and those two little ones quickly figured out the worksheet with just a bit of help. Then we played a few rounds of Valentine bingo. Next up were the reports and this month's topic was Famous Duos. We went alphabetically by the topic of their reports so my Campbell was the first Dennie to go. Her report was about Adam and Eve and she did really well reading all of her paragraphs.
• Anderson was the next Dennie and his report was about Ben and Jerry and was pretty proud to pass out samples of Ben and Jerry's ice cream to eat while they listened to his report.
• Next up was my Whitman. This was his first oral report to do. I was pretty worried that he was going to stand up there and be silly but that child did wonderful. I could not have imagined him doing any better. He held his poster and said his Jack and Jill rhyme perfectly.
• Then we had Graham was Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. He was pretty happy about being able to end his report with a clip from youtube showing Joe Montana throw a touchdown pass to Jerry Rice. 
• Keaton had a pretty hard report this time-anytime you have to say sodium chloride and you are 5 it is pretty difficult. Her report was about Salt and Pepper and she did really well with her sister sitting beside her.
• Reagan was the last of the Dennies to go and her report was about Tom and Jerry. She had cut out little Toms and Jerrys and had people hold them during her report.
• When all of the reports were finished, it was finally Valentine time. The kids had all worked hard on their Valentines and were so excited to pass them out. We passed them out by the month of the kids birthdays. Once they were all passed out, the kids had a few pieces of candy but then we kicked them outside.
• My crew stayed outside even after everyone else left since the neighbors were then outside playing. They had a great day and by the end of the day, they were tired-Keaton and Whitman were pretty whiny. 
• When they came inside, everyone started on their showers and them we watched a few shows before we finally worked on supper. We had an auction for supper-Robby pulled out all of the leftovers plus some new options and then called out a chore. If you were willing to do that chore, then you would get first choice. 
• Graham was the first one to call his supper for the price of folding all of the laundry tomorrow. He picked fried eggs and bacon. The next few Dennie's picked the same thing so I was working like a short order cook. Reagan read a chapter from the Bible to everyone while Robby and I cooked. We did clean up quite a few of our leftovers and soon the kids were eating jellos and apples for their desserts. 
• Since we had eaten supper pretty late, we had time to watch one short movie before bedtime. The kids had a bit of time to read and color in their beds before lights out. Keaton said that she wasn't going to color tonight because she was going to rest up for Grannymom's house tomorrow night. She also said that she is always tired there at night time and her eyes always blink. Robby told her that she was smart for going on to sleep and she was telling everyone that her daddy said that she was smart.