September 14, 2018

(click here for today's pictures)

• Unfortunately, even though it was Friday this morning, I still set my alarm early enough to walk on the treadmill before school. I did hit snooze for absolutely as long as I could before getting up. After my walk, I brushed my teeth, put on my contacts and flossed, which is on my to do list.
• Then I woke up the kids asking if they wanted to go with me to feed the pets. Graham and Whitman were the only ones awake, but Campbell did jump at the chance to ride down the road.
• We fed and watered the rabbits, looked for chicken eggs and fed the dogs. The dogs are the easiest of all of the animals to deal with. This little assignment has reminded me that I don't want any type of pets any time soon. Not at all. I can't even keep the weeds out of my flower beds-why in the world would I want more responsibilities?
• Even with doing all of that, we were able to start breakfast on time. I guess that it did help that I woke the kids up earlier than usual to ask if they wanted to go with me. So when I came back everyone was awake and ready to eat. Since we do have a few extra eggs from the neighbors chickens, I asked the kids if they wanted eggs for breakfast. Most everyone turned up their noses, but Campbell did ask if I had any eggs from real chickens. Not sure if this homeschooling is working on her!
• School went fairly well. Friday's are lighter days for me since no one has spelling, if it is our 4th school day of the week. Reagan had finished most or all of her school yesterday as did Keaton. Graham was done by 10ish or maybe even before. That just left Anderson, Campbell and Whitman. 
• They finally did get everything done. I can already tell that Whitman will be just like Anderson when it comes to school work. Campbell is working hard but third grade is just a big year for us. There is lots more for her to do than last year so of course it takes her longer.
• We then had our lunch followed by some heavy duty house cleaning. I was shouting out orders like a drill sergeant while vacuuming. When I have my kids just do their chores, things are done half way. However, when everyone is working with a goal in mind (cleaning the house for Reagan's party) they all seem to do much better. 
• Soon the house was clean, and we settled in to read some more school work. We also did another Jr. Ranger book. I had Campbell set an alarm so we would finish in plenty of time to get ready to leave, but finished way early. 
• Even though we did finish early, when I finished my stuff and sat down, I only had 3 minutes until it was time to load everyone up. I had already almost fallen asleep once this morning while Whitman was doing his phonics. 
• Today was the kids EAST day. They did a lot of work on graphic design today. From what I could see walking by the door twice, they made a Mickey Mouse head. Anderson said that his worked perfectly while Reagan said that hers was square shaped. They are all enjoying the class, and I am hoping that this weeks homework will be less than last weeks.
• While they were at East, I read with Whitman some, we checked out many more books and we went to a program. They had the world record airplane man there. He showed many different airplanes, and we all learned about drag and lift and lots of other scientific-y things. Then he showed everyone how to make his winning airplane. Everyone enjoyed it very much and soon it was time for the others to finish with East.
• I dropped the boys off at East and then headed home. Lily and Eden are spending the night with us. Eden and Campbell helped me feed the pets tonight. Then we rushed home to make a cake before the Wilsons came over for supper. Everyone was very helpful making the cake and it was decent (the icing was not my favorite at all though.)
• Robby grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for supper. After we finished eating, Robby went to pick up Anderson and Graham.  While they were gone, Reagan made her first batch of cupcakes. I had grand plans of those cupcakes being done by now, but I just don't know when that would have happened. 
• I filled the cupcakes into the pan and over filled them. It was a mess-too messy to use. So tonight we made another batch and plan on making the second good batch tomorrow morning. That still leaves the icing of the cupcakes to be done tomorrow. She had already spent most her time this afternoon on getting ready for one of her party games. There is still much work to be done tomorrow, but I think that there will be plenty of time. At least I hope that there will be plenty of time. 
• The girls played a few games, played with their American Girl dolls, made a scavenger hunt and watched the longest most ever. I was after midnight when I put them in bed. And just a few minutes ago (almost 1) I could hear talking and movement above me. Hopefully, they will go one to sleep because I am about to go to sleep too.
• Once the house was quiet, we straightened for a bit and then went to work on the blog before bedtime. Tomorrow may prove to be a busy day as well! I am already looking forward to Sunday's nap.