- I didn't set my alarm last night for some reason. Thankfully, I did wake up in time to get our school started at the right time. I will say though that I am not sure why I don't just set my alarm to ring at the same time every week day-maybe I am secretly hoping that I will forget and sleep in.
- School was fairly smooth this morning. Robby walked by Whitman who had set up camp in the hallway. He was sitting on a blanket spread out on the floor sitting with his lap desk working on his school work. Robby commented that he had not seem him working before. Yep, it has taken us about 5 months for him to figure it all out.
- Graham was finished with his school pretty early this morning. He wakes up and goes right to the school room to work on his work. When I walk by each morning there is a pile of papers on the floor that he has already completed. If we could now just improve his handwriting!
- Anderson always does his easiest work first so around 11 each day, I start to get a bit frustrated with him reminding him that he hasn't given me any work yet. He assures me that he is "almost done" and soon starts turning stuff in.
- Everyone was finished with their school work this morning before noon. We were actually eating a noon today and someone commented that we were eating lunch early. Most everyone had tortillas for lunch today. Robby did as well and was happy to have his meal delivered to him while he was working.
- The kids worked on their chores as I headed off for my yearly mammogram. I wasn't gone too long but did have a bit of time to read my book. Then it was back home for me. I did some work on legos with Anderson. He wasn't very much into it today, but I actually kind of enjoy it right now.
- Campbell and Keaton managed to go outside for a little bit this afternoon. They sure do love the neighbors trampoline. Campbell has almost figured out how she will be able to afford one, but I am not so sure that they will enjoy jumping as much if the trampoline is there on. Robby is already trying to figure out where we will put it since the yard already seems so much smaller since the land behind us has sold.
- Robby made supper for us tonight which we ate before all heading to Anderson's basketball practice. We ran to the Dollar Store after dropping him off, but then we all stayed at the gym during his practice. We walked some and the kids played ping pong for a little bit. Then we went back to Chick Fil A to use our last receipt from the buy one get one free week.
- After we all drank our shakes tonight, it was time to head home for showers for everyone. As soon as Whitman was out of the shower, it was time for bed for the crew. Tomorrow will be a pretty busy day-busy enough that I have thought about drawing a diagram of who is going where, when and how!
- Today, and most Wednesdays, my people are very motivated to get out of bed and get ready. People were coming through my bedroom dressed and ready or searching through my pile of clean laundry before I even rolled out of the bed. I wish I could be that motivated about Wednesdays.
- We went to Bible study this morning. Graham was happy to bring ooey gooey for a snack. I will say that it was cooked perfectly and was delicious. After Bible study, we picked up our pizzas from Pizza Hut. It did take a little bit, but afterwards we ate at Grannymom's house.
- From there, we headed home because we had a few chores and lots of reading to do. Reagan, Anderson and Graham worked on their typing while I read. Just to give you an idea of their different levels of motivation: Reagan is on the advanced typing lessons (they only have to finish beginner), Graham is on intermediate and Anderson is still on beginner. He can do it (I think), but has no motivation to get it done.
- After reading, doing chores and straightening for a bit, I had no motivation (to continue along with our theme) to do anything else. So I laid down for a little bit. I did wait until the last possibly moment before waking up.
- I still was able to do some school work with Reagan and Anderson and feed everyone supper before we had to head to church. We arrived a bit early and were able to see all of the grands before Whitman and I headed off to check on my games for tonight.
- I spent well over an hour shouting out instructions for a bunch of preschoolers playing with a parachute. I did get in my exercise for the day though! It was a fun evening and the time did go by quickly.
- There was a meeting for the youth about their summer mission trips tonight after church. So we were there a bit later than usual. My boys played outside and probably have frost bite-I should have checked their extremities. My little 3 were wise enough to come in the building and play while they were waiting on the meeting to be over. I did make Reagan sit through the meeting with her buddies.
- After it was over, we scurried home. The kids put on their pjs while I had supper. They were able to stay up for a little bit before everyone was sent to bed. I am heading to my shower and then possibly am going to find me a super yummy midnight snack!
- The first bit of the morning was the same as usual today. Breakfast, reading and then everyone started their school work. However, their school work was a little bit different today. Everyone had a list of their easier things (Bible study, reading, computer geography...), basically they had to do all of their work that I do not have to check. I knew that I would be gone most of the day and coming home to a pile of paperwork to check and then correct with everyone is the pits.
- This week is our appointment week-one each day (except Wednesday)-and today was Campbell's nutrition center visit. She was not too thrilled about the idea of this optional visit. After I did explain what she could almost buy with her earnings after our 3 visits, she did come around.
- It is has been years now but we have spent a lot of time at the Nutrition Center, and the security guard, friendliest guy ever, is still there. Today they weight and measured Campbell, put her in a machine for a few minutes, made her do some quick math problems, did psych testing on her (and me), made her (and me) fill out lots of paperwork and made a copy of her hand. All of that sure did take us 4 hours.
- So it was nearly 3 when we made it home. We did run by the library and Sonic-I have to keep my girl excited about these nutrition center visits because I will be getting half of the profit as well.
- When we did arrive home, most everyone had finished their chores as well as their school. One child had "done" her Bible study, but when I checked it, it wasn't complete. I told her to finish it and she said that she did. Of course I checked it, and golly me it wasn't yet complete. She said that she didn't know the answers, and I told her to get that Bible and ask if she couldn't figure it out.
- Another child told me that he had vacuumed out the car while I was gone. That is a weekly chores, but I thought that it was strange that he was able to do that while I was downtown in my car. Hmm, no telling how many things that are able to sneak past me.
- Anderson and I did work on some more Legos this afternoon. My goal is to work every single lego thing that we have and yes, I know that will never happen and yes, I know that if we did this there would not be enough shelf space in the whole house.
- Campbell, Keaton and Whitman played outside this afternoon until it was time to load up for supper. This week is the redeem your Chick Fil A receipt week so we had supper there. Then it was time for a grocery store run.
- Everyone went into the store and that is probably why we spent a hundred dollars when all we were planning on buying was some milk and cheese. We had fun though. Robby did admit that going to the store is not as fun when you go with kids.
- Once at home, everyone had to help unload the groceries before taking their showers. It was a full day in a pretty full week.
- I guess that my Anderson is turning more into a teenager because him and Reagan were the only ones sleeping this morning. It was just a few minutes after 8 when we gathered to do our morning reading. The kids ate their cereal as I read. Cereal is probably not the best thing to eat on carpet or at least cereal day should also be on vacuuming day.
- For a Monday, school was fairly uneventful. I am not sure if Reagan is really getting her math right now, but as always with her she just takes a bit longer before she does finally get it. Just bout the time they are ready to move to another concept, what she is doing does eventually click.
- I did finish with everyone a bit earlier today. I know that is because today's spelling with everyone is just teaching the concept and then writing words. The next two times we do spelling during the week, they have to write sentences that I dictate and that takes a while.
- I finally made those grilled cheese sandwiches today that helped use up all of my extra bread. We may have to have grilled cheese sandwiches another time this week since I have another load of bread.
- After lunch, the kids worked on their chores as I headed to the dentist. I am not sure that having someone clean your teeth should hurt like it does at my dentist. Seriously, I laid there trying to think how many more years I was going to live and multiplied that by 2 so I could start counting down how many more dentist visits I have. Maybe I should think about another dentist if I dread it so much. My dad would always say that he would rather have a vasectomy than go to the dentist and I feel that way too! (And yes, I know that I would not be a candidate for a vasectomy.)
- I may bread but I sure didn't have milk. When I left for Bunko tonight, I had to leave right in the middle of making white bean chicken chili in the instant pot. I had laid out all of the ingredients for the final steps and thought everything would be easy.
- That is until, I received a text from Robby saying that we were out of milk. The recipe called for two cups of milk so he couldn't skip it our use something else. Luckily for us, I was less than a mile away at Candice's house for bunko. I grabbed her milk jug and jumped in the car to deliver some milk.
- The kids said that the chili was definitely a winner. Three kiddos said that they liked it better than regular chili. But one child said that it the chicken tasted like "hair" to him (Anderson). Either way, Robby said that it was a winner, and we would make it again.
- My bunko tonight was around the fire pit. We had chili and then made s'mores. And yes, it was well in the 30s while we were outside. We had blankets, hats, and gloves. Everyone stayed pretty warm until the last little bit and then we went inside for some hot chocolate. It was a fun evening.
- Meanwhile, back at the house the kids cleaned up from supper and then made some brownies for dessert. I think that everyone enjoyed their evening and were all sound asleep once I made it home.
- Everyone except for Whitman was awake and dressed this morning before I was even stirring. I did gently bring Whitman downstairs to my bed where he stayed while I showered. I did try to wake him up gingerly so when I had to break the news to him he would take it well. It did work because when I did tell him that it was big church day, he wasn't overly upset.
- We did the church thing-since Reagan spent the night with Alyssa, she went to church upstairs. Campbell and Whitman sat with Grannymom while Keaton sat with us which is a bit out of the ordinary since she always sits with Grannymom.
- Our lunch today was at Nonna's house. They had pork tenderloin, and I thought that it was the best that they have made in a long time. We finished the meal with blueberry cobbler and chocolate pie.
- Reagan pulled out the game 20 questions, and the kids played it. Jason and I helped, and despite the game being 20+ years old, most things were still accurate. Anderson pulled way ahead of everyone else. I am pretty sure of the reason too-when we do all of our reading during school, he is the one who soaks it all in the most. For example, he quickly guessed Pablo Picasso when they were reading the clues.
- Back at home this afternoon, Whitman, Campbell and Keaton went to the neighbors house to play on their trampoline. After a while, Campbell came to get me because Whitman was in a mood. Sure enough, he was. Even after I talked to him, he just couldn't calm down. I brought him inside and eventually sent him to the shower where he even fussed during his shower some, but did calm down and start singing. It is a bit strange how a shower can calm everyone down-that is probably why I take a shower every night.
- I tried to get him to take a nap beside me but he tossed and turned for a while before I finally sent him away. Soon though it was time for Reagan to head to her life group. Robby and I are sometimes a bit sad that Reagan's social calendar is busier than ours. We just need something to do on Sunday nights!
- We did make two more batches of biscuits to freeze. I know that we are a bit obsessive but we did buy a half gallon of buttermilk, and I wasn't going to let any of it go to waste. For supper, we did indeed have biscuits.
- Robby had to pick up Reagan from her night out. While he was gone, Campbell and I worked on her legos a bit tonight, and she also helped me do a bit on my cricut. Next week will be fairly busy so hopefully we did get a head start on it tonight.
- The day started out with Keaton's final basketball game. Her little team smoked the other team. Bless the score was 30 something to 8. Now, Keaton does have a little super star on her team, but Keaton scored 10 points today. Her game is always fun to watch. Her sweet Bible study teacher even came to see the girls play.
- From there, Campbell went home with Grannymom, and we brought Reagan home since she had spend the night with Nonna. The afternoon was spent folding laundry and working Legos. I might have been slightly more dedicated to the Lego task today than Anderson. He would ask me occasionally if we could be done, but I would just urge him to do another page.
- Before too long, it was time to head for the final ball games for Graham and Campbell. Campbell was playing on court 1 while Graham was playing on court 2. I am sure that the people near us were awfully confused because we were yelling and screaming at all different times.
- Campbell's team struggled today. They stayed close, and Campbell did score a basket. However, they lost. We did try to watch her game, but it was like the NCAA Championship was happening on Graham's court.
- If you remember, his team hasn't won a game so we were all pretty anxious. Like Robby was standing up most of the game, and I might have even hollered at somebody else's kids, "Number 2, keep your hands up." It was a fun game and probably Graham's best. His team won the game by one point. They cheered and jumped like they had indeed won a championship game.
- Today was trophy day for everyone's group except for Anderson's group because he still has some more games to play. Now, I think that trophies are very nice, but it takes forever. Pops, Jason and I went to see Graham and Campbell receive their trophies. They left when Campbell and Graham had their trophies but I did feel like I should stay so they could at least see me in there. However, when Robby text saying that Anderson's game was starting the second half, I did just leave! Unfortunately, Campbell didn't really believe me when I told her that I did indeed see her receive her trophy.
- Now, Anderson's team is always intense. He didn't score today but did have his hands on the ball a few times. The only reason his team won was because one player kept sinking threes. The game was a bit vicious a few times and my baby was even thrown on the floor, but he did bounce right up.
- After the game, we headed to Shotgun Dan's for a bite to eat. Robby and I went their the last time about 15 years ago. The meat on our pizza wasn't cooked, and it took us this long to want to try it again. It will be another 15 years though before we go back. We ordered two cheese pizzas but only received one. Their service was mediocre as well. Now, their pizza was full of sausage. I thought that Robby would have liked it, but he even said that it was too much sausage. The sausage that I took off of my pizza we even brought home because Robby decided that it sure would be good in a breakfast burrito.
- Back at home, we started on showers for the evening. Then Reagan headed to Alyssa's birthday party, and Charlotte came home with us. I fixed a bit of quesadilla's for Keaton, who didn't eat any pizza, and for Charlotte.
- Then I put the girls to work making cookies. I did feel a bit bad because I had premeasured all of my ingredients so they really didn't have too much to do! They still enjoyed it and suited up with aprons for their cooking adventure.
- We did make some pretty decent chocolate chip cookies, but Graham did turn his nose up at them and told me that they were not as good as Ms. Shannon's cookies. I promptly told him to get out of my kitchen.
- The girls played for a bit, watched some of a movie and made bracelets but around 9:30, it was time for everyone to head to bed. They were tired, but we were too.
- Graham did wake up this morning when his alarm went off because when I walked by the school room after I woke up, he was sitting at his desk with a pile of completed papers on the floor. He does take getting his school done seriously which I love.
- Now Anderson and Campbell were also awake this morning. They were on their ipads "working on" their math program that they do on the computer every day. And no, I don't believe for one second that they were really doing their math. I would bet the house that they were playing some game. If I don't stay on my people, things will quickly stop getting done-I certainly hope that all kids are like this and it is not just mine.
- I did lots of reading this morning and was afraid that I had messed up the kids by reading a bit longer than usual. However, most everyone was still finished by lunch time. At one point, Whitman was so excited because he only had 4 pieces of paper left. Anderson couldn't believe that Whitman was almost finished at 10. I did have to break the news to him that it would still take Whitman 2 more hours to finish those 4 papers. Indeed it did. A few minutes later, I had to go looking for him and found him looking at his picture book curled up in a chair.
- I do think that Whitman could probably finish his school quicker. However, I just can't keep up with him. He wanders off and then I forget to go and find him or I am too busy with someone else to go and look for him. It would help if his brothers and sisters would direct him back to his school work and not decide to play chase or hide n seek with him.
- We had our lunch today, and we have been eating so many leftovers recently that we will have to eat grilled cheese sandwiches tomorrow or I will have lots of bread go to waste. That we can most definitely do though-if we remember.
- Reagan packed her bags after lunch and wrapped a gift for a friend's birthday present. I was able to work on some Legos with Anderson and Campbell. Then Nonna and Pops came to collect Reagan for the evening. They ended up going out to eat Italian food for tonight's supper.
- Campbell, Keaton and I played a game for a few minutes. Then Shannon came over to pick them up. They headed over to her house to help Shannon make a few new recipes. We showed up at their house after dropping the boys off at basketball. Campbell and Keaton were pretty excited about their strawberry cheesecake filled cupcakes that they made.
- Whitman was a bit tired tonight after playing this afternoon outside. He usually doesn't go and play at the neighbor's house by himself but did tonight. The little guy even shut the garage door when he came home.
- Supper at Shannon's house was taco salad so everyone found something that they enjoyed. Robby spent most of the time working on Whitman's ipad which was on the fritz. He did run and pick up the boys who left basketball starving.
- We stayed out later than we should had, but sure enjoyed a night out even if it was a night in at someone else's house. The kids must have been a bit tired from cooking, trampolining and basketball because the upstairs is pretty quiet already tonight.
- School this morning was without too many events. It took a while to finish up everything today-it was nearly 12:45 when we did finish. That was fine though because that meant that we were finished before lunch.
- Don't be surprised, but we had leftovers for lunch. Well, some folks did. The leftover chicken fried steak from church was sure a hit. Even though I thought that I was tired of biscuits, I had one for lunch today. Robby even bought more flour today at the store so we could finish off our buttermilk and make a few more. The bag of flour does have a yummy looking coffee cake recipe on the back of it so that is on my list.
- After lunch, we did again, don't be surprised-chores followed by some school reading. There was also more Lego building. I have decided that for Campbell, it just works better if I pull out her next few Lego's before she starts. Now with Anderson it works better if I work with him to find the pieces since he is able to spot them and knows exactly where he has put any of them if they aren't in the correct box. His mind is pretty crazy like that.
- I had meant to work with Keaton on her lip gloss kit from Christmas, but instead she was watching an episode of the Tidying Up show. So of course I just watched with her-there are only a few episodes of that show on Netflix. However, I wish there were a few hundred more so maybe my kids will start tidying up-especially Campbell and Keaton.
- I made a bit of soup (from a bag)-potato and tortilla. The kids all chose potato, but the tortilla was actually much better. Robby finished up the tortilla when he made it home. I left with Anderson and Graham for their basketball practice. This was Graham's last practice, and his team looked like they had a really good time.
- During practice, I walked and walked around the track. Once we made it home, I made some cookies to counteract all of that walking! The boys had their showers before we all settled in to watch a Bates.
- Afterwards, it was time for bed for my crew. We did let Graham set an alarm for 7 tomorrow. He begs to do this every single day even though he often sleeps through his alarm that he sets for 7:30. Ha. He does however like to get up early and finish his school work as early as possible. We will see what happens in the morning
- We barely managed to fold the clothes, unload the dishwasher and empty the trash cans this morning. I had called everyone about 5 minutes before it was time and gave out the last few tasks. Reagan never heard or so she said. Needless to say, when she came downstairs I was very frustrated about having one less helper in our scramble.
- No one had snack today at Bible study so that was one less thing for us to remember this morning. After Bible study, we headed home to eat our lunch-too cold for a park and too many others were going to Rock Creek.
- The Heltz ran to see their great grandma before coming over to our house to eat lunch. The kids played for a little bit before their friends headed home. That meant it was time for us to do a bit of reading around here. We are currently reading about snakes in science along with William the Orange (also known as William the Silent). I seriously have read about so many new things this past year.
- After we read, I did let the kids do whatever they would like-well, the big 3 worked on their East. Anderson did some typing (very little) while Graham tried to work on his logo, but Reagan needed the computer to send something but had trouble after trouble taking her all afternoon.
- Their East has been so beneficial. Reagan and Graham are coming along so well with their typing, and Anderson is getting there.
- Campbell worked on her legos some, and then she and Keaton managed to find the neighbors and play outside for a tiny bit before it was time to head back to church. Reagan heard that the church was having chicken fried steak, and she really wanted to eat there.
- On the way we stopped at the library. In the car today, we have been listening to an audio book about a kid that invests in the stock market and makes a ton of money. The kid is 12 in the book and makes over 50,000 dollars. Since the kids just bought stock on Monday, they were all so interesting in this cd and were probably all praying that the same thing would happen to them.
- At church tonight, I made sure to cut most people's meat in half because I knew they wouldn't finish it. I also grabbed their biscuits off of their plates so I came home with quite a bit of leftovers from tonight's supper.
- It was hat night tonight for Whitman, Campbell and Keaton. I was running so late that Keaton was already standing at the front desk when I ran through to pick her up. My last group of kids stayed a bit later than normal so I was scrambling. Reagan though loved it and enjoyed getting to play a bit longer outside before I made everyone leave.
- Back to school today but before we began I did make muffins for our breakfast. Well, actually Campbell and Keaton made muffins for our breakfast. They had asked last night if they could so I made sure to wake them up just a few minutes earlier than usual so they could help.
- As the muffins were baking, we started on our reading. Once the timer went off, everyone grabbed their breakfast before we headed back to finish our reading.
- I have started having the kids fold the laundry for me before we start on school. I just ask everyone to fold about 5 pieces, and the laundry is soon finished. Now today everyone told me that they had finished folding their five pieces. However, when I counted everything that was folded, I only came up with 12 things folded.
- So of course I had everyone come back and fold a few more things. Usually there are a few things that still need to be folded so during spelling, I give a sentence to write and then run to fold a few pieces of laundry. Today though I did make them do it all since it wasn't done right the first time. So during spelling, all I had to do was give a sentence and then run to put up my clothe and Robby's clothes.
- It was still 12:30 when I finally finished up. Graham and Reagan really like to work with my last so around 11:30, I usually have a line of people trying to work with me. There are those two who want to be last, there is usually Anderson and Keaton who need help with something, Campbell who has realized that it is almost lunch so she is scrambling and Whitman who needs almost constant prodding to get things done. All of that happens from 11 on which makes for a crazy end of the school day.
- We had our lunch-I am still passing out leftovers. Robby always said that he had a bologna sandwich every day growing up so I am not too sure who ate all of the leftovers in their house. If I empty one thing of leftovers, then that night I put two more things in the fridge like tonight I added mashed potatoes and beans to the fridge.
- This afternoon was spent doing our chores and even more school reading. This is the first year that I think that I have read so much to the kids-usually my voice is sore by the time I finish my afternoon reading.
- Then I headed up to the bonus room for some more Lego working. Anderson was able to finish one of his Star Wars planes. We also helped Campbell work on one of her old broken sets-some times finding the next lego piece is like finding a needle in a haystack.
- I did some garage sale pricing while the girls tried to play outside but the rain hampered those plans. Then I did get on the treadmill for a little bit before the girls had to go their last basketball practice of the season.
- While they were gone the rest of us ate our supper. We had just cleaned the kitchen and sent everyone to the showers when the girls came home from basketball. They sat in the kitchen and ate while I cleaned up the kitchen once again.
- We went the basketball girls to the showers and made the last few stragglers get in the shower before finishing the evening with what was leftover of a Dairy Queen cake. Then we did watch a Netflix show about tidying up your house. This house is pretty tidied up all except the school room and the kids' bedrooms. Maybe we should start on that tomorrow afternoon or maybe not.
- Today has been a fairly busy Martin Luther King day. Robby usually has to work today so we normally do school. However, this year his company is off so we were too. We have been a biscuit making factory, stoke brokers, Lego architects, an airport shuttle and plumbers.
- We did stay in bed as long as we could. Once we did get up, I worked on school for the rest of the week. It does take a few minutes to pull everyone's school out each week. Since we make copies of most things so everyone can use them, I can't just hand them a pile of books. It takes more time, but it does work out well for us.
- Then Robby sat down with all of the kids and let them pick their stocks. He talked about stocks a bit, divided everyone into teams (Reagan and Whitman, Campbell and Graham, and Anderson and Keaton).
- Whitman was adamant that he was only "focusing on Disney" and would not even consider buying another stock. Reagan also bought Netflix and Bank of the Ozark for their group. Anderson and Keaton bought Amazon, Bank of the Ozarks and Disney. Graham and Campbell also did Bank of the Ozarks (Robby just told them that this was an Arkansas company, and they all picked it.), the company that owns the Pink stores, McDonalds and of course Campbell picked the Campbell's company.
- After they picked their stocks, we loaded the ap on their ipads so they can watch their investments. Then Robby and I set to work making a few biscuits. We ended up making 3 biscuit recipes which was about 75 biscuits. Don't worry, we didn't eat them all today. You can freeze the biscuits and then bake them without thawing so now we are ready for lots of yummy breakfasts.
- At lunch, we went to Dairy Queen to eat. It was pretty busy there but the kid's meals were on sale today so everyone had a yummy lunch. Now, after we left Dairy Queen guess where we went. Yep, the grocery store. In my defense we were out of milk. I know this is the 5th day in a row that we have been to the store-I just like the store! I can't help it.
- We also went to Walmart and them Lowes looking for a switch plate for our mudroom. Those were found and Robby put them in when we came home. We then worked some more on the biscuits. Soon it was time to go and pick up Jason from the airport.
- Campbell and Keaton spent a good part of the day looking for the neighbors to come outside and play. They will go outside and ride their bikes in front of their house for a while and then come back inside. Finally tonight, they were finally home and they played for a little bit outside. Whitman even joined them. I tell you, my girls have gotten the neighbor's money's worth on their trampoline.
- Keaton, Whitman, Robby and I went to the airport to go and pick up Jason. He was returning home from a wedding in Arizona. Keaton and Whitman talked pretty much the entire way there and most of the way back home.
- Once we made it home, Robby went to work on sausage, eggs and biscuits for supper for some of the kids while I heated up leftovers for the other ones. Then I did go upstairs and work on legos for a little bit with Anderson. Tomorrow though, I do have to help Campbell with her Lego farm.
- Then Robby started cleaning the grout in the kitchen, and he followed that up with trying to work on the kitchen sink. It is been contrary for a very long time-if you want hot water you have to turn the handle all the way to the window and you can't turn the faucet to one side of the sink. It did work at least...he was able to find out the problem-the faucet is broke and we need a new one.
- We unfortunately let the kids stay up until almost 10 since Robby was working and I was trying to help hold the faucet as he screwed it in. The kids are in bed, and Robby is finished with the faucet but now doing a bit of cabinet repair work. Earlier he did talk about taking a sledge hammer to my cabinets. I did urge him not to because I didn't want to have card tables as my cabinets!
- Church morning, and there was little drama this morning. Well, when Whitman saw his clothes laid out for him, he shouted "let me guess, it is church day." Indeed. it was!
- Everyone grabbed their breakfasts and off to church we headed. Since Nonna and Pops weren't there, we sat down a bit early. We didn't even know what to do with ourselves. Sunday school was next and afterwards, we headed to Grannymom's house for lunch.
- She had brisket and all of the fixings. The cousins all enjoyed playing together for a few minutes. They played hide n seek outside-I guess no one told them that it was cold out there. Soon though we were all loading up and bundling up to go outside.
- Today was the March for Life, and it was indeed chilly. Thankfully, the sun was shining so we weren't miserable. We found all of our buddies and shuffled to the front of the capitol. The speakers didn't seem as long this year, but all the little girls sat in a group and wrote on the ground with someone's pretzel sticks. They were able to use them like chalk which was pretty creative.
- Afterwards, we found Grannymom-we had lost her during the shuffle. Then we headed to Sonic and back to the grocery store. And yes, if you are counting, we have now been to the store 4 days in a row. We had planned to make biscuits but I forgot to buy self rising flour before. Also today, I found white chocolate for just a dollar and since that was on my list, it was a win! (And we have no intentions of going back to the store for at least 48 hours.)
- When we finally did make it home, we had everyone help up put things up and do some cleaning. Then we did have time for a short nap-well, Robby and I did fall sound asleep after eating one of my bags of Christmas candy.
- Robby made meatball subs for supper tonight. They were well liked by everyone which was another win. At supper tonight, someone mentioned the March for Life and Whitman piped up, "it should be shorter." I guess even short speeches to a 5 year old boy are long.
- It was 8ish by the time that we finished supper. Then I went upstairs with Anderson to re-build one of his Lego sets. We finished over 100 steps today and did finish his tank thingy-ma-bob. Tomorrow Campbell has grand plans of rebuilding one of her sets. We shall see what the day brings!
- At 2 this morning, the crazy thunder woke us up. We had already been expecting to have Whitman join us in our bed since he was by himself. However, when the lightening started up at 2, we knew his footsteps would be the ones we heard coming down the hall.
- It was Campbell though. Even though she was sharing the bed with a friend sleeping over, Campbell was still a bit scared. I walked her back upstairs since I felt a bit sorry for her. Indeed the thunder was crazy loud and the lightening continued on and on.
- After I was sure that Campbell was calm, I headed back to bed myself and did go right to sleep even though the thunder continued. I again woke up though with Robby not in the bed. Gracious, he gets around.
- This morning he had already taken the car to the shop since my battery has been a bit contrary. It took me a while to get all of my girls ready this morning. We did leave in plenty of time to pick Robby up and get Keaton to basketball on time.
- Thankfully, as I was driving to Walmart Robby told me that he was on the Sonic side of Walmart. Hmm, I thought where is the Sonic by the Walmart. There sure wasn't a Sonic near the Walmart that I was driving to. Luckily, I hadn't gone to far the wrong way and was soon headed in the right direction.
- Keaton's game was the first game today. She came to life and scored 7 points. Her game is quite entertaining to watch-the girls are fun but the crowd is even more fun with everyone screaming and hollering.
- After the game, Graham headed off with Grannymom to watch Cash's game while the rest of us went to pick up our car. That took a bit longer than expected, but we were still home around 11. I know that it wasn't lunch time, but everyone seemed to be starving so we all ate almost as soon as we came home.
- The afternoon then seemed to go by quickly. Robby did some electrical work (yes, I made him put on his tennis shoes just in case!) while I did some laundry (always doing laundry around here.)
- Then it was back for game number 2 and 3. Campbell and Graham were playing at the same time and their courts were right next to each other. We were able to sit and watch both games which was nice.
- Campbell's team dominated the other team. I am not too sure if Campbell scored or not, but she did have a few rebounds and steals. Graham's team tied the ball game and in the last second, Graham was fouled as he was taking a shot. So after regulation he had two free throws. Bless, the baby missed both but I can't really blame him since everyone was watching. I so hated it for him but they tired, which is better than they had done all year. Maybe next week, which will be their last game, will be his week.
- Anderson's group didn't have games today because of something going on at Immanuel. Since they didn't, we signed Anderson up for a research study. He had to test an app for asthma and nutrition. Bless, the child was so nervous at first. It think that his hand was actually shaking as he was signing his name. He eventually calmed down and even made a joke at the end as he was talking to the ladies. It only took us about 30 minutes and he did come away with a 50 dollar gift card to Walmart.
- We headed back home and by this time the beautiful snow had stopped. I was pretty bummed that the day is snowed and snowed a lot, none of it lasted for any length of time. Grannymom and Grandpa had just finished double checking Robby's electrical work when we arrived home.
- Between the kids' showers, we had supper tonight. We tried an insta pot meal. The pasta was good, but we weren't too pleased with the chicken. It was too much chicken for me and not grilled like Robby likes it. Either way, overall the dish was a winner. When most of the kids get seconds, then something will be cooked again in this house.
- There was more laundry tonight along with some straightening. We had plans to make biscuits but after going to the store each day for the past three days, I still didn't have an ingredient (self rising flour). Oh, well, we will probably make them tomorrow.
- We did watch a tv show all together. While we were watching, Reagan spent most of her time working on a logo for her East. She told me the other day that she thinks she wants to be a graphic designer which I think is a pretty great choice.
- Once the show was over, it was time for bed! Hopefully, we will sleep a bit better tonight since there shouldn't be any thunder. Though I would sleep a lot better if we had a foot of snow outside! Maybe another day.
- Robby was up early this morning for an airport run with Jason. I did briefly stir but didn't realize that he had been gone until he came home. We have a bit less to do in school on Fridays so I was in no hurry to get started today. Keaton was in even less of a hurry because she wanted to bake muffins for breakfast. I suggested that we eat something that we already had so that is what we did.
- We did all of our reading this morning, and then the kids started on their own work. When Whitman finished his work, I made him start writing his names on his Valentines. As he was writing his name over and over, he said, "it is like we are in a workshop." Later he added "we are in an assembly line." It was indeed just like a worship and an assembly line. Writing your name 20 times for a 5 year old is pretty tough work. He did it though and loved every bit of it.
- We soon had our lunch-more leftovers. I think that we will never finish them. After lunch there were chores and lots of packing. Reagan headed to Grannymom's house for the evening and the big boys went to Noah's house.
- Grannymom and Grandpa came over for bit to help Robby figure out a light switch. When they left, the took the big 3 with them to drop them off at East. The little girls played outside most of the afternoon until it was time to leave.
- We ran a few errands before picking up the Kamps girls and then picked up all the big kids at East. Then we dropped off Reagan before dropping off the boys. There was Kroger next and picking up pizzas after that. Needless to say, the girls were ready to get home so they could play with their friends.
- We ate our pizza and then the girls made slime before we settled in to watch a movie. We did sugar everyone up with popcorn and candy before sending them to bed. I am actually sending them to bed right now so wish me luck!
- Another day of school around here. It was pretty dark this morning so I did struggle waking up my people. Whitman knew that he wanted pancakes this morning for breakfast. I had already told him that we didn't have any, but thankfully Keaton walked through about that time and quickly corrected me. She was indeed right, and Whitman was delighted.
- After everyone grabbed their breakfast, we worked on our reading together before moving on to their individual work. Now, I have started having everyone help me fold some of the laundry before they start on their school work. They aren't crazy about it, and really they aren't too good at it either since they are in a hurry, but it sure helps me out quiet a bit.
- I was able to read a few books to Whitman right at the end of school today. Everyone finished fairly quickly and Graham and Anderson's math is easy right now which helps everything go more smoothly. On the other hand, Reagan's math is not easy, and I don't think that it will ever be easy again!
- I have a pretty good lunch menu for us to follow, and I have worked hard at following it after Christmas break. However, when we have leftovers I do feel that it what we should eat instead of sandwiches or any other thing on the list. So today, we had lots of leftovers-chicken spaghetti, cheese dip, spaghetti, quesadillas, hamburgers-It is like we will never be able to eat all of the leftovers in our fridge since they keep multiplying.
- Robby and I headed out after lunch to run to the grocery store. We also stopped at Chick Fil A, the post office (Anderson's nerf gun is messed up and they are replacing it), Chick Fil A (another one) and Dairy Queen. We were pretty speedy on all of our stops and yes, all of our fast food purchases were free and were supper for the kids.
- We unloaded all of our groceries when we came home. Campbell and Keaton were outside-I tell you, the neighbors trampoline has been a big hit with my little girls. The bigs and Whitman ate and once Whitman realized that the girls were outside, he was quick to chow down his supper and head out to find the sisters. They stayed outside for a quite a long time.
- Meanwhile, Anderson, Graham and I headed to basketball. I took them this time and walked on the track the entire time. I am not sure how long I did walk in that hour and half but I tell you I just kept going round and round so much I almost got dizzy.
- The boys seemed to have fun at practice and I was pleased to get my walk in. Once we made it home, they showered and everyone had some downtime before bed!
- Wednesday morning and this was the first Wednesday in a while that we even had time to empty the trash cans before we left for Bible study. This was surprising since at 8:30ish I had to go upstairs and wake every single child up.
- I drug Whitman downstairs where he hid under my covers until he finally put on his clothes and found his Wednesday poptart. Everyone else had already eaten their breakfast as I was pulling my bagel out of the toaster to get in the car.
- My car was already started this morning when we went to leave because it has been difficult the last few days. Robby had already jumped it this morning, driven it around and left it running for us. Even though I had already had my "how to use the jumper thing" lesson for the day, I did never need it during all of our running around.
- Bible study was good today-we are now on our second book of the year. The girls were excited to go because Reagan had snack-chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and Campbell also had her snack-snickerdoodles which were actually are best ones yet. (I have been turning the oven up a little bit lately.)
- We went to the park after Bible study. I was super glad that I had my big jacket since I was chilly. Some of the kids didn't even have their coats up but I guess that they were doing more moving around than me.
- After the park, we switched kid houses. It worked out in my favor because I ended up with all of my boys, Reagan, Alyssa and Kennedy. When we came home, the boys went to the xbox, the girls went to Reagan's room and Whitman played on his ipad. I did read to Whitman and bit and afterwards I sat down and wondered what else I should have been doing since it was so quiet in the house.
- I did make supper for the crew-well, actually I just heated up a freezer meal. Then we headed off to church. I did run by the library first. I had so many books to take back to the library today that I had to take a laundry basket!
- Church flew by since I was doing games-preschool games is not the most relaxing Wednesday night assignment to have. It does make the time go by quickly though. Except for when it is time to go because the kids all want to play on the playground a little bit longer.
- When we did finally make it home, Robby had warm ooey gooey for us to eat. We all had a snack and then settled in to watch a tv show before bedtime.
- Another day of me scrambling around trying to get up early enough for me to get school started on the right foot. Last year, and most every year before that, we had to get Whitman or someone to preschool so we were all up earlier. I would like to wake up earlier but I sure don't long for those days.
- Whitman was zoned out for most of school and moved like a sloth. Since he was moving so slowly, I did make him do both sides of his math page today. He is having to write the numbers 1-20 four different times which takes him forever! He was finishing his work this afternoon sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.
- Everyone else finished their work at a decent time-even Anderson was done well before lunch. It is January, and we may have just gotten the hang of the school thing around here. Of course, I know that I now have jinxed things by saying that.
- We had our lunches today-a mix of leftovers and sandwiches. Reagan did cut up her leftover steak and bacon which was wrapped around it along with my leftover chicken and put them on a quesadilla for her lunch. Toaster, toaster oven, panini maker-there are tons of appliances happening here every day at lunch. What I really need is some type of pantry that I can leave all of these things plugged up in. I have been told to start playing the lottery if I want that to happen.
- Once lunch was finished and cleaned up, we started on our chores. We didn't have too much today, so we worked for a little bit and then did our afternoon reading. There was a big fuss before we started this because everyone wanted to sit in the sun-like a bunch of cats. Gracious me. The sun does come wonderfully through my bedroom window in the winter time. It is usually pretty perfect but sometimes it can get too bright and too hot!
- Campbell and Keaton found the neighbors out and the boys eventually found their set of neighbors out as well. Everyone played for a while except I had to take Keaton and Campbell to basketball practice.
- While they were there, I ran to Kroger to do some speed shopping. I was able to grab what I needed but I didn't have any time to dilly dally since basketball was only 45 minutes and I had gotten a late start.
- Back at home, Robby had hamburgers cooking when we made it in. The kids cycled through the showers as we got ready for supper. We also met the new neighbor-he has grand plans for right behind us. Joy. He does seem like a good ole boy so that is at least one good thing.
- After supper, the kids finished their showers and soon it was teeth brushing time. Reagan has a spot on her gums that is red and puffy says the orthodontist. So that is some added medicine to incorporate to our teeth brushing/water pick routine. Last night I did put a stool in the bathroom so I could just sit and inspect all teeth brushing happening in this house.
- Robby didn't feel all that great last night (he is getting the Keaton's cold) so he went to bed pretty early. I stayed up for a while playing on my phone, but eventually went to bed early as well. I was pretty surprised when my watch said that I had slept for almost 9 hours last night. I don't know when that has happened lately.
- Of course me sleeping for 9 hours meant that I was still scrambling when it was time to wake up this morning. We were able to get started on school by 8:15. I did have at least 2 breakfast hold outs-kids who didn't eat anything because they didn't like the breakfast options. It is a long time from breakfast until lunch in this house so I am sure that they were pretty hungry when lunch did roll around.
- School was fairly uneventful today. Monday's usually do go just a tad bit quicker which is much needed. Reagan had an orthodontist appointment around lunch so Robby was able to take her. She finished her school work earlier than usual which allowed me to work with Whitman a bit longer. After he finished his work, I read to him some and he read to me some.
- Before Robby and Reagan made it back, the rest of us ate our lunch and then went to work. Today's massive project was the lego nook. We took everything out of it and worked on straightening it all up. It took probably an hour to accomplish it all, but it is nice to have that area all clean. However, since it is all clean now, Anderson has been up there quite a bit so it may not be that clean anymore.
- This afternoon was fairly quiet. The lot behind us had indeed sold so we watched people come and talk about their septic tank. Tonight at supper Keaton said that having to move her swing to a new tree was her low. Thankfully, we have plenty of other trees and plenty of other yard for kickball when that time does soon come.
- Campbell and Keaton went outside for a little bit right before supper. Graham also shot some hoops outside. He also managed to snag a game of Battleship with Robby right before supper. I do believe that Robby smoked Graham at the game.
- I made spaghetti for supper. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but for some reason I did have a lot of meatball leftover. Now I just have to remember to have everyone eat all of our leftovers. All of my outsiders had showers before we settled in for the evening.
- Robby made some cookies which we ate while playing a few rounds of Catch Phrase. Some of the kids are good at it and some of the kids are not so good at it! Either way though it is pretty entertaining.
- Everyone but Whitman did join us in the living room to watch a Bates tv show. I think that the Bates is one of the kids favorite tv shows. After the show, the kids had a few more minutes of downtime before it was finally bedtime.
- Sunday morning and there were a few tears. Campbell was upset with me because I made her change shirts and Whitman was also upset with me because I told him that we were going to big church. Everyone recovered though and had time to grab a bite of breakfast before we leaving.
- Church was uneventful. We didn't have to teach this morning so that was a bit of a welcomed break. After church we headed to Nonna's house to eat lunch. She had chili and tortilla soup, and they were both perfect on such a cold day.
- After eating, we walked through my grandmother's house next door. Pops is redoing the inside and man, does it ever look different. It is just amazing what can be done to a house. My mind just doesn't work like that to imagine what all can be done.
- Afterwards, we came home for a very short nap. Reagan headed off to go bowling with the youth. They loaded the buses for the bowling alley, arrived there to discover that they had given their lanes away. The group headed back to church to play some games there, and I do believe that they had an awesome time. Reagan said that they had even more fun than bowling so I guess that it was a win.
- Back at home, we pulled out a few things from the freezer and a few leftovers to make supper for everyone else. The boys spent most of the evening playing Anderson's new game from yesterday. While Whitman was playing his ipad tonight, he told me that he loved the show he was watching because it gave you "a new perspective." That's probably not a normal 5 year old word.
- Anderson and Graham were the only ones awake this morning when I started walking through. Keaton was the easiest to wake up, but she just walked to Whitman's bed and climbed in it. I headed on downstairs to get myself ready.
- A bit later, I did hear Whitman shouting, "it's basketball day." I assumed, wrongly, that this meant that he was excited about the day. He was not! Only his ipad and milk pleased him. He was able to have those two things for a few minutes before he was herded to the car for a day of basketball.
- The first game was Keaton's. Her team did great-well, her team won. Keaton did score once, but I believe that all of the other points in the game were scored by one little girl. She is smaller than Keaton but dribbles the ball like a pro. She even dribbled behind her back as she was going for a layup during the game. It is quite entertaining to watch.
- After that game, I took Anderson to Game Stop to spend a gift card. He really wanted one game, however it was very expensive. He did settle on another game, and said that he was "pleased yet disappointed." I did encourage him to just wait a while and maybe the game he wants will be discounted.
- We had time to come home after the first game. I worked on pulling out school for this next week. Then it was time to load up for Campbell's game. Anderson was already gone again to go and eat lunch with Robby.
- Campbell's team did well and also won their game. They didn't do nearly as well as they have before and the score was pretty low! Graham's game was next, and I sure thought that this week would have been his week to win. But it was not. Just like every single game, they were so, so close. Maybe next week.
- We had an hour between games so some of the kids stayed at the gym with Grannymom, while Whitman and Reagan went with Robby to the store and I headed to Michaels. I didn't buy anything but Robby did return with snacks for the kids before Anderson's game.
- Anderson's team has won every game and once again they squeaked out a win. Anderson scored at least 6 points today. That isn't a ton, but for us short Dennies it is a lot. The boys that he has been guarding are often a foot taller than him. It is almost comical. I will say that he does hold his on, but he better hit a growth spurt soon.
- I had a birthday coupon for a steak place along with a gift card, so Reagan and I headed there for supper. She had steak and I had chicken which was delicious. Then we met the others at the Wilson's house. Robby had some bologna that Tony fried up for supper.
- Shannon had made a dessert, but Robby also made ooey gooey. Then we made 4 batches of breakfast burritos to put in our freezer. I think that we made over 60 burrito fillings which should last us for a while.
- We had planned on making biscuits too but the boys got a bit interested in the football game. We watched the Cowboys lose before rushing home for the last two, Reagan and Whitman, to take a shower before heading to bed.
- Friday is one of my favorite days of the week. If you are wondering, I would say that Thursdays are my favorite. I know that is kind of off now since Thursdays are no different than any other day around here. For many, many years is was the fun start to our weekend with the Thursday night crew gathering at our house.
- But back to Fridays and specifically today. It was a lovely day with clouds and a bit of rain. It would have actually been absolutely lovely for a nap which I did have a very, very brief one. I should have been doing other things, but how could you pass up a cloudy and rainy day.
- After our long Christmas break, this was our last day of our first full week back to school. It was kind of nice to get 4 days in since we really haven't in a while. Also, 4 days of school means no spelling on Fridays which means a bit of extra time for me.
- I was able to manage school this morning while still being able to organizing some of my pictures in my new picture box. This makes the 3rd picture box that I have. I do still have about 200 pictures that don't have a date on them to file away, but I am getting there. When I get any type of picture right now, I always write the date on the back-I guess I always didn't do that. And if the picture only has one kid, then I write who it is on there. I don't think that I will forget my kids names but they do all look so alike.
- Speaking of forgetting-tonight, as the kids were all in the kitchen, I walked to my bedroom and hollered, "Whitman, come eat your pizza." Robby hollered back at me, "he is in here." Yep, I had just walked by the boy who was sitting eating his pizza.
- Back to today, after lunch the kids worked on some chores-washing sheets, cleaning desks and putting up Christmas presents. Now I am the only one with Christmas presents left sitting out, but it was just my birthday so I will give myself a pass. I don't have too many out though.
- Despite the rain, Campbell and Keaton managed to play outside for a little bit this afternoon before having to come inside when the rain really started.
- Robby and I ate out with the Wilsons while the big boys were at basketball practice. The girls and Whitman stayed here. They had cheese sticks when we were gone and then text to ask about making popcorn. I am not sure how many bags that made because when we came home, there were huge bowls everywhere!
- The other day we had popcorn and Whitman got a piece of it stuck in his teeth. On the way to church, he was telling us about it. One of the boys suggested that he brush his teeth when we got home. He was quick to look at Robby and me and ask, "Who is going home. I want to brush my teeth." Of course, silly me, I forgot to ask if he ever got it out of his teeth.
- The boys had fun at practice and everyone had fun tonight when we pulled out the last Dairy Queen cake for our dessert. It was a pretty fun Friday.
- Speaking of fun Fridays. Earlier this week, Keaton and I were doing some of her school work. We were talking about the days of the week, and the page said to ask what are things we do on each day of the week. Sunday? We go to church...Tuesday? We go to basketball. Wednesday? We go to Bible study. When I got to Friday, I asked Keaton what we do on Fridays. Her answer was simple, "We drink!"
- Graham and Campbell were hard at work on their school work this morning even before I made it out of bed. When I did see Campbell, she already had math questions. I am not a super big fan of talking until after I have had a few minutes to at least brush my teeth and put on my day clothes. I can't really say that I get dressed in the mornings because really all I do is put on different warmer pajamas for the day.
- Anyway, we had breakfast. We are not down to less than one pan of cinnamon rolls. I am greatly relieved because it has been difficult making any headway on this New Year's resolution business while eating multiple cinnamon rolls. I did watch Pioneer Woman make cinnamon roll cookies today-hmm, maybe we will have to do that next week.
- We did our school work this morning. I wish I could explain all that happens during the day here. It is just madness! I have thought about taking pictures every 15 minutes just to document our day. There are books and papers and children everywhere. I sit in my bedroom floor from 8-12 every day. My goal is to try to have the bed made, dishes emptied and laundry folded by noon, but other than that I am reading to everyone, working with someone, or checking something the entire morning long.
- When school was over today, Anderson was vacuuming and my floor was picked up and then clean. I realized that maybe I get overwhelmed sometime because of the sheer amount of stuff that is in my room during school. Laundry spread out everywhere. Books piled up in many different piles and papers, oh the papers!
- After school was done, everyone made their lunches. They all ate then Robby, Keaton, Campbell and I loaded up to go to At Home. Their Christmas was on 75 percent off plus I had a 25 percent off coupon which amounted to a decent deal. We did but 2 more Christmas trees! He, he!
- Then we came back home and the girls were quick to go outside to play with the neighbor and his trampoline. I worked with Whitman for a while this afternoon. We sat in our comfy chair all snuggled up and soon one of us was asleep. I won't tell you who though.
- Whitman, Keaton, Campbell and I headed to Refresh tonight at church. It was fun, and the kids had a great time. Robby was with the big boys who had basketball practice tonight. They ran by Dairy Queen on the way home to pick up their weekly hamburgers.
- The kids had a bit of down time this evening before it was finally bedtime. I shouldn't be surprised that everyone is tired in the mornings because our bedtimes keep creeping later and later!
- Today was our first day back to Bible study and Wednesday night activities. I don't know about the kids but I am completely worn out. We all woke up in plenty of time to get ourselves ready and to leave for Bible study without a rush. It did help that our books were laid out by the door and our lunches were already packed.
- The kids all love Bible study and most everyone signed up for snack during the next few weeks. I do believe that Campbell and Reagan both have snack next week. Reagan usually has complicated ideas of what to bring so today when she suggested angel food cake, I jumped on the idea. And I won't let Campbell's snack be too complicated since she already has snack near Valentine's and is making her sugar cookies.
- After Bible study, there was a big debate about which park to go to. We ended up at Fellowship which was perfect. The weather was a bit chilly, but they have crushed tires as the ground on the playground so those black tires warm up quickly.
- We stayed at the park for longer than we usually do so when we made it home, we went right to work. We did some of our school work-mainly our history reading. I can't read very long (we all get bored) but I figure a bit every day and we will eventually finish. Then there were a few chores before everyone had their free time.
- Campbell and Keaton ended up going outside right before it was time to leave. They had a few minutes outside before we loaded up and headed to the library and to church to eat. They had lasagna for supper tonight which I thought was really delicious. Or maybe I thought it was so good because I didn't have to make it.
- Robby had a meeting at church so he was there the whole time that we were there. We got home and the kids had their showers and a snack before bedtime. They had a few minutes to playing before bed and Keaton watched a bit of Bob Ross painting something! She was quite intrigued.
- Second day of school this morning. My grand plans of starting back on our breakfast menu didn't go so well today when I saw that toast and eggs were on the menu for today. It was already time to start school so there was no time to be making toast and eggs.
- It is helpful that we have at least 2 dozen cinnamon rolls sitting in the kitchen. Yes, they are a hindrance to that New Year's diet. And on a side note, Robby and I made our last batch of cinnamon rolls tonight. They are divine. I think that they are better than any of the other ones that we made. I am not sure why, but gracious they are so good that Robby and I might just have eaten a pan.
- School was fairly uneventful today. I finally got to the point in Reagan's math that I had no idea what they were talking about. I guess that is pretty good since it is now Algebra 1. I tried to read the book to understand but couldn't understand that. I tried to ask Reagan but she didn't understand. So I made her sit with me while we watched the video of the man teaching the lesson.
- It was torcherous for both of us, but if you do need to know anything about slopes and intercepts, I am your lady! It is funny the things you learn homeschooling. Tonight we were playing a game and Robby was trying to get the kids to say the word "the." He called it a pronoun. I almost died! (By the way, the word "the" is an article.)
- After school today, we had our lunch and then worked on our chores. There was more school to do-Jr. Ranger books, reading with Whitman, correcting some of Anderson's work, history with everyone. It just seemed to never end.
- Campbell made another recipe of bath bombs this afternoon. Keaton was going to help but her and Whitman were too busy practicing. The put on a show for all of us upstairs. They sang "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" and "Holy, Holy, Holy." My big kids weren't too interested in watching the show, but I reminded them that I had sat through many of their shows as well and they would stay for both songs. It was pretty adorable though. I should have even recorded some of it on my phone.
- Soon the neighbors were all outside. It was a beautiful day. I did have to run out and get Campbell and Keaton so they could put on their basketball shoes because Candice was coming to take them to practice. Whitman was still playing with the neighbors, and he stayed out for a while after the girls left.
- Everyone else was outside until all of the neighbors had to go home. Robby and I were inside finishing the cinnamon rolls and making supper for tonight. I do love crazy busy kitchen and that is exactly what we had tonight.
- Once the girls came home, we ate our supper and everyone had their showers. We even had time to play my new Catch Phrase game with everyone before ushering everyone to bed.
- Of course I had planned to wake up a bit earlier than I did today, but I was up before I wanted to start school so that was a good thing. Graham was the only one awake when I woke up, but when I went to wake everyone up, that silly boy was laying in his bed acting like he was asleep.
- Today's breakfast was cereal and cinnamon rolls. We will be eating on cinnamon rolls for the next week or so. This should go later in the blog, but tonight at almost bedtime, I went to Shannon's to watch her make biscuits. Now, biscuits are on our list of things to make. We will never have to buy breakfast food again! (We will only have to buy larger pairs of pants with eating only cinnamon rolls and biscuits.)
- School went surprisingly well today. The kids got back into the swing of things during school. There wasn't too much drama during the morning. I have given my big 3 new books to read and I guess that it was quite a bit of reading because Reagan was still working at noon. I had thought that she had finished 2 days of school was she sometimes does. I was pretty shocked to just see her one day of work.
- After school was done, we all had our lunch and then started to work on our chores. After chores, we then did a bit of reading. Whitman and I did a little bit of reading this afternoon. He is doing well on his reading. Also during school today, he did most of his work by himself with little prompting-maybe we should have Christmas break more often.
- This afternoon I did get back on the treadmill for a little bit. I wasn't too impressed with it, but should probably try again tomorrow. Campbell and Keaton spent the afternoon playing outside. They came in just as I was telling everyone else that we were about to leave.
- Tonight, we celebrated my birthday at Nonna's house. She had hamburgers and all of the fixings plus a huge 3 layer cake for me. The kids were pretty anxious for me to open my presents. I opened a few gift cards, some paint and a coupon for a shopping trip with Nonna.
- We stayed there for a while and then headed home. We had to make a detour on the way home due to a wreck. At home, everyone put on their pjs and Campbell and Keaton had showers. Campbell had a bit of a smart mouth and was sent to bed early-only about 20 minutes early.
- When I did come home from Shannon's house, I went upstairs to tell everyone good night and the only ones awake were Anderson, Reagan and Campbell. Reagan listens to an audio book at night so she is usually the last one asleep which is why she is always the last one awake!
- We began the morning celebrating my birthday with cinnamon rolls that were still fresh from our late night baking party last night. We put my candles on them-just 4 and then 1 since 42 seemed like overkill.
- The kids sang to me, and we all enjoyed the cinnamon rolls. Our cinnamon rolls were pretty good, but they will soon be even better because Robby gave me a cinnamon roll baking class at Pulaski Tech next month. Ya'll can start saving up your money so you can buy your cinnamon rolls from me.
- He also gave me a basket (which I had picked out and bought myself, shhh!) along with the game Catch Phrase. We all enjoyed playing it at Shannon's house the other day so everyone was excited about that.
- Soon we were headed to church in two different cars. After church, Robby ran home to pick up the ice cream cakes for Campbell's bonus birthday party at Third Realm. The rest of us did Sunday school and then met him, Whitman and Anderson, who had also had their hair cut, back at Grannymom's house.
- We celebrated my birthday some more there with a yummy lunch and apple enchiladas for dessert. Afterwards, I opened my presents-a letter board, a colander pot (I don't know what the real name is), a photo box and a gift card. I was super pleased with my presents and had a little time to play with my letter board before we headed out.
- Since this was just a bonus birthday party, we only invited 3 families, but that was 18 kids plus Lilly and Cash. The kids absolutely loved Third Realm. This was Keaton and Whitman's first time to go there, mine and Robby's as well, and they had a blast. Keaton wasn't afraid to do anything, and Whitman did most things.
- When an hour was up, Anderson's face was sure red and sweaty. I think that he was glad that the hour was indeed up. We gathered in the party room and had cake and pizza. We sang to Campbell one more time, and she of course ate all of the attention up.
- Now, since all of these people had already done birthday presents for Campbell and this was just a bonus, Campbell was super excited to leave with a Third Realm shirt. It was a pretty fun afternoon, and honestly, I didn't mind sharing my birthday celebration with the Campbell and all of our friends.
- After we left the jumpy place, we went to the Heltz house to jump on their trampoline. It was all a ploy because they needed help moving their trampoline before we jumped. We were able to help and moved that thing in no time flat.
- The kids loved jumping for a bit-well, a long while. We then ran back home for a long enough for a few of the kiddos to start on their showers. Then we ended up at Pei Wei for my birthday celebration.
- The kids enjoyed their chow mien noodles and edamame. The boys ate quite a bit of my chicken. Reagan wanted to order the lettuce wraps that we have made at home. We didn't but will now have to make them again. Everyone did eat their weight in fortune cookies.
- We ended my birthday celebration at the Wilson's house for ice cream. Shannon had a ton of choices for everyone and even ice cream sandwiches for Whitman. I am not sure why they didn't get a candle for me to blow out though, but the ice cream was still scrumptious.
- We did get home at a decent time and didn't decide to start on any baking projects tonight. Instead, Anderson and Whitman showered while everyone else headed on to bed. This took a while to get everyone in bed. My kids have become a bit chatty at night and really, I kind of like it.
- Once everyone was in bed, I had planned on drinking me some apple cider to end my birthday celebration, but I am too tired to do that so maybe tomorrow night. I will still be celebrating then as well.
- So we could have had a relaxing Saturday and well, we probably should have, but that sure wouldn't be any fun!
- Robby and I left this morning and ran to At Home (looking for a sale on Christmas trees) and Sams (picking up Veggie Straws), before going to Grannymom's house. There we picked up Campbell, Keaton and Whitman.
- Whitman was a little toot as we were picking him up, and hopefully all of that was because he was exhausted and slept for a very long time afterwards. Campbell and Keaton, however, were not tired at all and talked the entire way to Bryant.
- On that side of town, we picked up a video game from Walmart which we promptly returned since they took forever to get it to us. Our plan had been to go to Dairy Queen for our first free burgers of the year but had left the coupons at home.
- So we headed home to pick up the coupons and drop off the girls. The neighbors were out playing so they were happy to stay home. We also left Whitman, who was snoozing in the car, while we unloaded. Then we headed out again to get those Dairy Queen burgers.
- Once there, we had to wake up Whitman, who was not in a perfect mood. We had our burgers while we only had fries. Then Robby did buy him an ice cream while I filled out the survey for a free Dilly Bar.
- Afterwards, we ran down the road for a free car wash. They were handing out chips, hot dogs, water, cupcakes, popcorn, and more Dairy Queen Dilly Bars there. We only got a Dilly Bar for Whitman and Robby since I had just eaten one, and Whitman did take him a bag of chips for the car.
- Back at home, we played around for a bit, but then we loaded up again with Graham, Campbell, Keaton and Whitman to take my car to the car wash. Of course, this time we made the car wash our supper and everyone enjoyed their Dilly Bar as a dessert. We did take Reagan and Anderson one back home.
- By the time we made it home this time, it was dark outside so there was no more playing outside. Most of the kids had been out during the day at some point. We had everyone start on their showers and a bit of picking up.
- Robby and I began work on a few batches of cinnamon rolls. Our first batch the dough didn't rise-we think we had the milk too hot. After seeing that not rise, we made a second batch and called Shannon to come over and play. We decided that we certainly needed one more batch as well, so we started on another one as well.
- It took forever to roll out the first (non rising) batch and the second (good) batch. We finally finished after 10:30 with those. Shannon headed home, and we put everyone in bed before putting the third batch in the fridge and baking the second batch. We will have plenty of cinnamon rolls for my birthday tomorrow!
- Even though we had said that we would do better this morning about waking up, we most certainly did not. It was 8:15 when I looked at the clock. Of course, I did a bunch of groaning as I jumped out of bed.
- My first stop was to turn on the oven. Then I put my clothes on and made muffins which baked while I worked on waking everyone else up. Whitman and Graham were the only ones awake this morning.
- Once the muffins were finished, we started on our school together work. We are just doing a fraction of it so they were still working on their individual work on plenty of time. School went fine again today and by noon-ish we were all eating lunch.
- This afternoon everyone did their chores, and then I played Candyland with Whitman and Keaton. He had told Robby the other day that it was his favorite game. Now, after today when he came in dead last I am not so sure if it will still be his favorite game!
- I took Reagan, Anderson and Graham to their East library class this afternoon. I found a sunny spot in the library and worked on my Sunday school and read. It was pretty perfect to just relax for a little bit...if only I could have taken a nap.
- I did bring in my water. I know their are signs saying not to, but joked with Sara as we walked in. She told me to just keep it in my bag which I did. About halfway through my library lounging, I looked down at my bag and noticed that the entire bottom was wet. Yep, my water had spilled. Thankfully, my bag was empty at the time so all was well, but I guess I know why the library has a no food or drink sign!
- Keaton, Campbell, and Whitman went to Grannymom's house tonight and even spent the night. Robby and I were going out with the Wilsons so they needed somewhere to stay. Whitman was so excited that he set his timer for when Robby was going to take them. They had all even packed multiple bags for the night! No tell what all they brought.
- After East, the Wilson and us went to eat at The Silo. It was not a great birthday meal at all. Every single thing that we ordered was wrong or mixed up. They were out of rolls, the appetizer was tiny and took forever, my food was on Shannon's plate, we didn't get the bread we ordered, Tony's got chicken instead of chicken fried steak, the baked potatoes came well after our meal, refills were non existent, the ranch took forever and our ice cream came after our dessert.
- Now even though we won't be going back anytime soon at all, if ever to eat a meal there, their fried pies were pretty darn good. I might be willing to go back there again just for dessert but that would definitely be it.
- We still had a good time though and ended the evening with a walk around Kroger and Walmart. Kind of sad that eating at an old person restaurant and walking around Walmart is an exciting birthday evening! Ha!
- Shannon had made cookies so we munched on them when we came back to our house. Once they left, it was time for bed for the crew and time for bed for us!
- Since we were starting school at 8 today, I had planned to wake up at 7:15. Ha! That didn't work exactly like I had planned. I did jump up at 8, and no one else in this house was awake. Seriously, they were all trying avoid doing school or that Nyquil worked really well last night.
- I had 4 kids chugging Nyquil tonight-Campbell and Graham who are still coughing but do seem to be improved. Also Anderson who says that he feels just fine, but when I heard him cough he sounded so wheezy and croupy and asthma-y! And Keaton who has Campbell's cough. No one feels bad or has any fever so hopefully the coughs will ease up soon.
- Once I was able to rouse everyone from bed, they grabbed their breakfasts and ate while I read. We just did a little bit of our working together so the kids were able to start to school sooner. That worked out well for them.
- I didn't give any one much school today-or at least they though so. They still had math, writing, phonics (littles), science (Reagan), and grammar. So really they did all they need to do today. It was a nice start back to school.
- Reagan left with Robby for lunch. They ate a burger and ran by Grannymom and Grandpa's house. Meanwhile, Nonna and Pops ran over here fora few minutes. The kids enjoyed showing them Anderson's race car track. He had received it last year for Christmas, but it has just now consumed everyone this last week or so.
- After they left, Robby and Reagan were home soon. The kids had already finished their chores so I did a few of mine around the house. I did organize one more closet-it wasn't too bad though and I barely threw anything away.
- This afternoon was fairly quiet. I think that I might have had one last Christmas break nap. We did have at least 2 different deliveries today and even had 3 yesterday. You would think that it is Christmas or something!
- We had some leftovers tonight for supper. We did change things up a little bit and even made quesadillas as part of our supper. After supper, we cleaned the kitchen while the kids took their showers and their medicine.
- Graham did make a box of cookies for everyone to eat for dessert while we were watching our tv show tonight. Then it was bedtime for my cough-y crew.
