January 2, 2018

(click here for today's pictures)

• I didn't know until late last night that Robby had officially taken another day off today so my plans of doing a bit of school were completely dismissed. I did wake up earlier than usual but all of my girls were still sound asleep.
• I am surprised that they were asleep because when Whitman left our room this morning, he asked Anderson to turn on a tv show for him. He did and the volume was incredibly loud-pictures were shaking on my wall. Robby seemed to sleep right on through the commotion but I quickly grabbed my phone and text Anderson to turn the volume down. Technology can be pretty amazing sometimes.
• This morning was spent mostly picking up and doing chores. The Christmas piles of presents are shrinking but man, I think that I could go through this house with a trash bag and fill it up. I probably should put that on my list to do each month...maybe I will. Robby would probably prefer me keeping the trash to a minimum right now since we have been using our trash bin and the neighbors for weeks now. 
• Around noon, I went upstairs to work on the Lego thing. Last night, I told Robby that we probably have more than 3 thousand dollars upstairs in Legos. Truly, we probably have more than that but any higher number would probably make me sick. We came close to finishing this afternoon. Campbell did come up and help. Every time we would turn a page on the instructions, she and I would give each other high 5s and act like we had finished the entire project.
• We ate lunch around one today. The kids made their own sandwiches and I read a few books. Whitman asked for a Christmas book but since I had already returned all of the ones that we didn't read to the library, there wasn't one to be found. He was content with a snowman book which is a good thing because I have quite a few from the library in hopes that it would have been snowy right now and not just freezing cold.
• I did my treadmill time this afternoon and then Campbell made some brownies. I had told Reagan that she could make something and as we were getting out the ingredients, we discovered that we didn't have any butter. I looked and looked but couldn't find any so she gave up and Campbell stepped in to fill the gap with a box brownies.
• I ran back upstairs to help Anderson, who seemed determined to finish today, and worked for a bit more before the basketball players along with Reagan and Keaton loaded up for basketball. I thought that Keaton and Reagan would stay home with me but they opted for practice. 
• That just left Whitman and me at home. I read him a story and then had him vacuum the floor while I straightened downstairs. We opened my can of popcorn this morning and it is almost gone tonight. Quite a few pieces are on the floor all over the house and that was Whitman's job. And when i say, that "we" opened the popcorn, I probably mean to say that I opened the popcorn while I was still in bed this morning.
• We stayed busy while the others were gone and when they returned home, chili was ready. Everyone ate up and then cycled through the showers. Campbell's brownies were the reward after they had finished their showers. We then had a bit of downtime-the girls watched a baking show, Graham and Robby turned on the Hogs and I found Anderson upstairs with those Legos. He had already been working and after just a bit, we had finished. I happily scooped up all of those leftover grey legos (3 bins) and Anderson went down to show off his rebuilt ship.
• This was the first night in weeks that the kids were sent right to bed at 9. Tomorrow is Bible study and even though we do get a little break tomorrow night with no church, it is back to reality.