- Thursdays are usually one of my favorite days, but this day just seemed to kind of drag for me. School went fairly well. Yesterday, we were done so early, but today people were just finishing up at noon. Well, you know who wasn't near done!
- We ate our lunches-everyone found their own lunch. Now, Whitman did have another grilled cheese after eating one for breakfast this morning. I did draw the line at him eating one for supper as well. We must have some variety in our diets.
- Robby ran some errands this afternoon. Anderson picked up some sticks (not on his own choosing) and most of the kids played outside all afternoon. I kind of have run out of projects around the house-projects that I want to do anyway-so I didn't have anything much to do.
- I did help Robby unload his boards. Then we sat outside listening to the kids while waiting on the Wilsons to come over so we could walk. Their kids came so there were 12 kiddos in the yard playing as we walked our 3 miles.
- The activity late this evening was cutting Graham's hair. Now, I will say that we did a pretty good job. I actually didn't do any of the cutting, but I did do the research and instructing. The back was just so, so thick that the boy was going to suffocate this summer.
- We think that he is pleased with the final do-still long in the front and shorter in the back. Now, he tells me that I need to buy him some product. It was after 10:30 when we finished with his hair so then we had to rush the last few through the showers before bedtime!
- With all of these Wednesday school days that we are racking up, we are getting lots of extra school days this year-well, it is probably just making up for our Florida February. We had to do our together work fairly quickly today since Reagan had her last CBS zoom meeting.
- Everyone finished surprisingly early today (Well, except for Whitman who didn't finish early, but finished not a bit surprisingly at all well into the afternoon.) Robby ate lunch about 11:45 today since he didn't have breakfast. I walked through and thought his lunch smelt exceptionally well so I heated myself up some of the leftovers.
- I guess this kitchen commotion caused everyone else to start making their lunches before noon. It wouldn't really be that early except we don't usually eat our lunches until 12:30 or even later. This early lunch caused the afternoon to be super long for me at least!
- I worked on the girls' room some-so, so many holes. Then we did our afternoon work together-about 30 minutes earlier than usual. After that, everyone painted a few cards because a friend is taking about 250 cards to a local nursing home place.
- I bounced back and forth during the afternoon between inside and outside. I picked up Robby's roofing outside-nails everywhere. Then there was a short basketball game outside. I am not even sure if my team won or not.
- After the game, Campbell, Keaton and Graham made a batch of cookie dough for their snack. Unfortunately, it wasn't that great. Keaton always finds pinterest recipes, and they aren't always that great. Now, I do actually have a cookie dough cookbook from the library on my nightstand right now. However, I don't have the energy to pasteurize my eggs and to cook my flour before making cookie dough. (They say the uncooked flour is what make people sick and not eggs. Who knew?)
- Robby and I ran to meet everyone else in Little Rock at Lowe's. The plan was to buy a few boards for his project, but instead we bought a few cans of paint for my project. Since we were out and about at supper time, we did grab a few pizzas for supper.
- We made it home just in time for Graham to have a few pieces before the first week of his Zoom Bible study. A few minutes later, Reagan and Anderson started their facebook Bible study.
- I had a few minutes of downtime before I had to leave for my evening out-6 feet of separation-with a few friends around a campfire. I stayed out way too late, but the kids also stayed out pretty late themselves. The kids played with the neighbors all evening long-they did have lots of fun playing in the dark.
- When I did come home, the kids were all in bed and I followed soon!
- Today was pretty busy-well, busy for our little quarantine life right now. We started off the morning with our school work. Poor Whitman was doing well on his school, until he realized his sisters were already outside.
- I handed him 3 more pages, and he sped through them so he could join him. That left 3 more things to do when he came in. I think that Graham or possibly Keaton, or really probably both of them, helped him finish.
- We had our lunches, and I did some more filling holes in the girls room. If I keep it up, there walls will be all white, and we won't even have to paint. The other day, Graham was so proud to show me the proper way to do it-last year, the boys had a class that taught them all kinds of manly things like that!
- Around 1, Nonna and Pops came over bringing 2 pans of cookies. By the time that they left, there were only 5 cookies left. I guess that my people were hungry. Nonna and Pops stayed for a bit outside watching everyone run around on the driveway. People were biking, playing basketball and scootering everywhere.
- When they left, I did gather the crew to do some school reading for a few minutes. We read our history and watched a few videos before calling it a day.
- Then it was time for us to try again to head to church to drop off my postcards. We started the silly car and heard a new sound. Reagan and I heard it-Robby was in the garage and heard it too. We looked and just as soon as we grew concerned the sound stopped. Robby drove around the block; we guessed it was fine and Reagan and I headed on.
- Now, I was beginning to think that Reagan was jinxed after we couldn't get to church yesterday because of the wreck. Thankfully, we made it just fine even with a stop at the library first. Reagan drove there and did a great job.
- We then met Robby at Kroger-I told Reagan that I would drive. She probably could have done it just fine, but when I think of I-30, I get a bit nervous. The traffic wasn't bad so she could have done it.
- After getting gas, Robby and Reagan headed to Sonic, and I headed to Kroger for a few essentials. While Robby was at Sonic, he saw his car fixing place and decided that he might should drop off his car. So I picked them up when I was done shopping.
- We all headed home-Anderson and I did a bit of Lego building. Then I played some basketball with most everyone. Whitman really played hard today since we had told him that if he hit the rim, he would get a point. I do believe that my team let him make the last winning point with a rim shot.
- The Wilsons came over next. We walked three miles up and down our street with them. Surprisingly, our little route up and down our street is almost a mile. Soon we were finished walking and headed in for suppe.
- Graham had found a recipe for little biscuit pizzas. I made sure that he had the ingredients, and he could not wait to make them. They were indeed pretty good. He made 2 pans full, and we ate every one.
- After supper, some kids had showers. Afterwards, most of us played a game of Left, Right, Center. Then we watched a quick Bates tv show before bedtime.
- The highlight this Monday morning was watching the churches plans for this summer. As imagined, there will be no camps. However, they do have some things planned for the summer. We shall see what actually happens though.
- We started on our school work fairly early. Most everyone seemed to zoom through it. Whitman some how ended up with about 4 things left over. I did get him to do one extra later in the afternoon. The neighbors came out so I did let him go play instead of school work-life's short.
- At lunch, Reagan, Graham and I headed to church to drop off some letters for my Sunday school kids. Reagan drove and about half way there, there was a wreck. We had to turn around so we just headed on home. It was a good learning experience for her though-we will try again tomorrow or another day this week.
- Grandpa came over to pick up a bike to work on. Right now we have about 3 people that all want to ride the same bike, so hopefully his fix will alleviate some of that pressure. Now, if my youngest two girls don't start picking up after themselves, there will not be any bike riding or even room leaving for them. They can't seem to pick anything up which is making Robby and me a bit crazy!
- I worked on Legos for a few minutes with Anderson. Then I joined Robby in the back yard on the shed work. I just haul the things that I can carry to the trash pile while also looking for nails. And gracious, the nails!
- Robby and I did run to Arbys to buy a few roast beef sandwiches for a dollar tonight. Okay, we did buy more than a few-let's just say we all had one and some had two plus there are about 2 and a half left in the fridge.
- I did run into the store for a few necessities-biscuits and pepperoni where high on Graham's list for me to get. He plans on making lunch soon for the crowd. I'm all for that!
- Whitman, Keaton and Campbell were in and out all afternoon and early evening. They did drag two garden hoses from the neighbors over to our house to play in the water. Thankfully, they ended up cleaner than they were yesterday when they weren't even playing in the water. Or maybe that also played in the water yesterday. I can't even remember now-I just know that people seem to be muddy and wet all the time these days and my washing machine can just not keep up!
- Reagan and I had her Bible study tonight. During the video that we are playing for everyone, our internet dropped us. So they were just all staring at each other waiting for us to rejoin. Then the leader's internet slowed down and she was left talking in slow motion. It was crazy times!
- It was nice to sit down for a little bit and have some downtime tonight before it was finally bedtime for the crew!...and maybe ice cream time for us!
- Whelp, this was our 12th week to not be at church at Geyer. Five due to Disney and seven because of Covid. We definitely do miss going to worship at the church house. However, we are pretty grateful to be able to watch on the tv.
- I was up early enough this morning to brown some hamburger meat before the church preshow started. I had intended to fold the laundry as well, but since it took me three trips to get the laundry out of the dryer, I decided that it was too much to fold then.
- It is pretty sweet to see all of the people huddled around the tv, covered in their blankets watching the church. Once church was over, Robby and I did something naughty-we skipped our Sunday school zoom. We haven't missed a class yet, so it was okay.
- Robby ran to Grannymom's house to pick up some tools for today's shed job. Then he also made a quick trip to Lowe's. He said that Lowe's was crazy full of people. While he was gone, Anderson and I worked on some Legos.
- Then I went to town making our Sunday lunch. It was basically a mac and cheese dish with some taco meat and rotel in it. Keaton was pretty adamant that our meal was "not a keeper." I thought that it was actually pretty good-warm, spicy food. Robby agreed, but I am not sure if the thumbs up were greater than the thumbs down. I still may try it again another time and change a few things up.
- When the kitchen was clean, we all headed outside. We emptied the shed-moving things to the trash pile and to the keep pile. Robby worked on taking off half of the roof and was able to complete that task.
- Part of the kids spent their time this afternoon cleaning things from the shed. This involved water and soap-and you can imagine how it ended! Whitman, Campbell and Graham were soaking wet and had the time of their lives.
- It took a while and we still have a few more things to empty out-bricks and shelves mostly. When we started to clean up, I went to town trying to find nails. The magnetic picker upper thing found at least 50 on the ground. Every time I would make a pass I would keep finding more. All of those nails have to be up since bikes and tractors are all over near that shed. That maybe some chores this week-nail hunting.
- Anderson and Graham took about 4 more loads of dirt from the neighbors to the mud pile hole. The hole is just about filled. It is going to look nice without water sitting in it. Anderson was sweating buckets and Graham was covered in mud when they finished.
- We soon came in and were clean just in time for the churches choir sing along tonight. The kids were in a bit, then they quickly went outside. All of the neighbors were out so most of the evening was spent playing outside.
- The kids were out late, but when they did come in, Campbell called me to come and help Whitman. She was trying to clean his feet with a towel outside. When I looked at him, I couldn't tell if he had on shoes or if his feet were just that dirty. Indeed, they were just that dirty. The boy was covered in mud! He was thrown into the shower once again!
- Even though we didn't get an early start to the day, we sure did have a busy day around here. Before we even woke up, Keaton and Whitman came into our room asking if they could make muffins. I tried to stay awake knowing that they would need me to do something. I waited and waited and soon the muffins were out of the oven. I am sure that they had help at least getting down the muffin liners or even taking them out of the oven, but I sure am proud of them.
- I started on the laundry this morning-today has been a three load day. Then I ended up working on Lego's with Anderson. I used to kind of dread this, but have lately grown to really enjoy it. I even worked with him to finish two different little sets today.
- Robby worked on the dishes and the kitchen this morning as I finished our Legos. Then we decided to take a short walk. We did our little walk around the block. Afterwards, I played a short game of basketball with Anderson, Graham, Campbell and Keaton. Bless it-some days Graham takes the basketball game way too seriously, and today was one of those days. He dies not yet understand that there is no prize to our daily basketball games.
- Grannymom and Grandpa came over this afternoon to drop off some dessert. We dug into it and nearly ate half before they even left. Whitman was happy to show off his bike riding skills to Grannymom. Grandpa helped Robby find a bolt for the swing set.
- When they left, I helped Robby tighten that bolt. As we were doing that, we decided that we needed to get zip ties for the trampoline-there is one lose little piece. On our way to get the zip ties in the garage, Robby ended up trying to take of the roof of the shed.
- Needless to say, it was about 3 hours later when we finally ended up with the zip ties on the trampoline. It took a while, but Robby was able to knock one of the 24 pieces off of the roof. He even, against better judgement, spent some time on the roof tearing off the shingles. That was pretty messy. Now, he is going to get a better ladder and a crow bar for Grandpa so hopefully that will help greatly with his demo project.
- While we were working on that, the boys started moving dirt from the neighbors failed perk tests to our dirt pile which has become a dirt hole. They worked and worked and worked-Robby eventually let them use his tractor and wagon to haul dirt. They need another day or two of hauling dirt, but that hole will soon be filled.
- Robby headed off to pick up supper-Dickey's burgers for some and ChickFilA for others. And can you believe that ChickFilA forgot our sauce? They never mess anything up. Now, my burger was delicious-absolutely delicious. I loved every bite.
- Tony came over for more shed talk which led to hardwood floor talk, which led to kitchen cabinet talk! We spent about 50 thousand in our minds tonight-that was probably more fun than actually spending the money.
- Once again, we did party to late tonight and ended up getting the kids to bed way too late. That was fine though because it is still the weekend, and church doesn't start until 9:20!
- I slept in a little bit this morning causing us to start school a few minutes later than usual. That was fine with me since it is Friday after all. We weren't able to do all of our normal work together work but did finish most of it.
- Graham was finished with his school work early today-so early that I have started given chores for my people that finish early. No
- one really minds since my little extra chores aren't that hard-do the windows and clean the pantry door were some of today's chores.
- Whitman was still running behind today but Graham helped his finish up this afternoon. Graham and Whitman spent a good bit of the afternoon working on a massive fort in the bonus room. Keaton is also going to sleep up there with them so they even made her a spot.
- Anderson and I spent some time working on Legos. We actually made two different smaller Lego sets today. Plus we made Whitman work on the one that we had found the pieces for him. At one time we had two completely buckets full of grey Legos that needed to find their way back to missing Lego sets-now we just have bucket that is half way full of those grey. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are getting there....slowly.
- There was lots of playing outside today-Keaton, Graham, Anderson and I played a little game in the sprinkling rain. They kept telling me to stay under the tree so I wouldn't declare it to be raining to hard and make everyone go in. Reagan actually even came out to play with us this afternoon. She continues to oddly make almost every shot that she takes.
- Robby and I had a short nap right at supper time so our supper ended up being a bit later than usual. It didn't take too long to heat up our frozen pizzas. The boys were the only ones who waited around to eat some of the third pizza.
- After supper, people headed outside again until it was pretty dark. Then there were showers along with popcorn and a movie for the fort sleeping people!
- Today was an exciting day at the Dennie house-we got to leave! The kids started their school work with no problem today. For some reason, Whitman continues to be distracted during the day. He is reading his books longer so that does cut into his school work time. At 5 today, I did let him skip two pages of work (don't worry, I will give them to him next week!)
- Campbell did sew herself something again today. Some afternoon I probably need to stop and give her some pointers. I hate my sewing machine doesn't really work anymore or I would just set it up for her to let her figure out just what she can do.
- Everyone, except slowpoke, finished their school work in plenty of time for our afternoon outing. The doctor's office must have needed business because they called us last week to try to get Anderson to come in for his wellness check up. Robby told them that there were 6, and before we knew it, we were scheduled for lots of wellness check ups.
- Let's see, here is the run down: Campbell is back on the body mass index curve. She had gotten a bit off of the curve and now is back on the line. Reagan hasn't really grown much, and Dr. Martin just told her she might grow 1-4 more inches...maybe. Keaton did get some more medicine for her arms (an oral antibiotic).
- And on to the boys: Graham had 3 shots and a blood draw. He did fine though but was just a bit more-well, he was more than a bit nervous. Anderson and Whitman did just fine as well. I don't remember anything really about them-that was probably because I just sat in with the girls while Robby was in the room with the boys.
- We celebrated the good appointments with Sonic drinks for everyone. Then we ran to the library to pick up some books. My library is now opening up to pick up books so that makes me super happy, and my weekly library trip can be a bit closet to home.
- This evening was fairly busy-the Wilsons came over to look at Robby's shed. It is getting time to do some major repairs. Then we headed to their house for Robby to help Tony with his collapsed garden project.
- The kids played outside all evening long and were a stinky mess when they finally did come in. Everyone had showers while Robby mopped our kitchen floor. It was well past time for that so now it looks super nice!
- I so love rainy days. Now, Graham does not love them at all because he can't go out to play basketball which makes him a bit anxious, but I love them. And really, I think that everyone else was pretty content on this perfectly rainy day.
- Graham did offer to make muffins this morning. He probably should have started about 10 minutes early since it interfered with our work together time, but we were able to pause to grab some muffins during our reading.
- Surprisingly, all of my people that usually finish school early didn't today, so I grabbed Whitman and worked with him first. He loves to work with me since it isn't any of his real school work.
- By the time that we finished, the others were starting to need my help or finish. Reagan had her Bible study zoom call this morning. Tonight she was talking and I think that she is just about zoomed out.
- Pretty much all of school was finished by noon. We ate and had some downtime before we again did some history reading. Then most of us played a game pretty quick. Reagan opted to skip the game so she did a bit of extra cabinet rearranging for me.
- Then Anderson and I went to town on some of his Legos. We were so gung ho to get started today, but gracious, we had a hard time finding pieces and are going to have to send off for some. That is pretty frustrating.
- We finished just as Robby came home with a car load of groceries. It was raining like crazy once at home, and I was worried that he was going to be soaked. Thankfully, he didn't get too wet.
- This afternoon was fairly slows. Keaton had a zoom call with her buddies, and Campbell talked to her friends as she did some sewing. I even had little bit of a nap this afternoon. I did throw some potatoes in the oven so that is what we had for supper along with bbq sandwiches for some and homemade ranch dip for Anderson. (It wasn't really that homemade, but it was kind of homemade!)
- After supper, Reagan and Anderson watched their youth group on the tv and I worked on notes for my Sunday school kids. The kids cycled through the showers during this time as well.
- Robby and I did leave our chairs briefly to make some chocolate chip cookies. The recipe says you are to bake the cookies at 300 degrees for 22 minutes. Who has ever heard of a cookie baking for 22 minutes? This is when you need a double oven. My oven cooks slow as it is! Ha, the kids' snack will be ready a bit past bedtime!
- When Robby woke up today, he asked me if I had set my alarm. That did cause me to jerk my head to look at the clock. I guess that he had forgotten that I now just set my alarm for about 5 minutes before I want to start school.
- In the morning, I grab the laundry, brush my teeth, put on my day pajamas, put in my contacts and go upstairs to wake up the still sleeping kids. And if I am lucky, I also have time to empty some or all of the dishwasher. Now, of course this takes a little bit longer than 5 minutes, but really who is counting? We have all day long!
- We did our school this morning. At one time I had 4 people sitting around me-it was just wonderful and pretty chaotic. Everyone was needing help on their computer math. We need lots of practice on that so that will be one thing that we will get to spend some extra time this summer.
- Everyone was finished with their school in a decent time this morning. We had our lunches, and then did our afternoon reading. This is Tuesday, at least I think that it is, so we did a few extra chores. Robby took that potties and cleaned them well-my usual cleaners aren't that thorough. The house looks decent enough right now. I did think that we might should do some extra cleaning when it is time to finally leave this house.
- Reagan and I drove to Nonna's house to pick up some mail from their house-a few Lego pieces. Then she drove on to the church house for me to pick up some postcards for my Sunday school class. She even drove home which was a bit more interesting. She did miss a yield which was fine (that time!), almost didn't see a car while turning on our street (it is a bad spot), and was almost attacked by a massive bird (she did great and didn't swerve-meanwhile I screamed!)
- Anderson and I worked on his Lego set with the new pieces today. We were moving along pretty well, but after 30 minutes Anderson was ready to move on to the next thing. I was ready to finish, but maybe tomorrow.
- When the Legos were over, I went out to play basketball with both big boys. We played until Robby had everything ready for our leaf raking evening. We did a bit of raking. The boys did some tractor driving and leaf pulling (hauling those tarps to the burn piles).
- Meanwhile, Campbell and Keaton spent all afternoon outside. They went out at 2 and came in after the rest of us did. They helped the neighbors work in their garden and came home filthy-filthy but with 5 dollars.
- When Robby and I finished, we did our short evening walk before deciding to try to start my car. We filled my car up with gas about 6 weeks ago when we were about to leave on a trip. And since we haven't really been anywhere since, it is still full to the brim which means that we haven't driven it at all.
- I prefer to drive my car, but Reagan usually drives when I go somewhere so we take Robbys. And when Robby runs his errands, he takes his car so no one is driving my car. Which shows! It didn't even turn over today. It took a bit of jumping from Robby's car plus he used another jumper briefly.
- When the car did start, we decided to drive it around some...and guess where that car drove? To Sonic. It remembered the way and everything. Robby had a pretzel, mozzarella sticks and a drink while I had some ice cream. It was worth it and yes, Sonic ice cream still does not sit too well with me!
- Once home, we heated up lots of leftovers for the kids since we weren't hungry. Then the kids rotates through the showers before it was time for bed. Campbell and Keaton did watch one little show. We have no real plans for tomorrow so who knows what we will end up doing...maybe watching the rain! Oh, I love the rain!
- School went well. Whitman did take forever, and I had not even given him his math or phonics. He did read an extra long while, but that is a good thing. Tomorrow he will have his normal load so maybe he will move a bit quicker.
- Lately, there have been all of these fun things free online. I have been trying to do or at least print out everything to do later. I am finding though that I have enough things to fill up the summer...which I may just need to do.
- After Campbell and Keaton finished their school this morning, they went to town doing a little bit of sewing-they made their own masks. I will say that they both did pretty excellent since I didn't help them at all. Once their masks were made, Campbell even made Whitman a backpack to store his stuff in. I ended up having to sew on the straps, but again I might just need to sign them up for sewing classes.
- We did our afternoon reading then the kids went their own ways-Reagan headed to her room. Campbell made a tiny cake and zoomed her friends. Keaton played on her ipad. Whitman played on his ipad, and we read some together. Anderson and Graham played on the xbox some.
- Anderson and I did build another tiny Lego set today. We are zooming through those sets. Unfortunately though, we will need this quarantine to last about 2 more years to get them all finished! Graham, Anderson, Robby and I did play a quick little basketball game before Robby and I took a short little walk.
- Campbell, Keaton and Whitman started off playing basketball with us, but soon left to play with the neighbors. They spent a lot of time playing capture the flag and must have had a good time since they were outside until almost dark.
- Reagan and I had her Bible study tonight. The videos are super awesome, and I should probably be taking notes on them. Afterwards, we ate our suppers-bbq tonight. Then the kids started cycling through the showers.
- Whitman and I finished one of his books from today. Sara dropped off 14 books for us so pretty much everyone is reading them right now. Right before bed there was a feisty round or two of Nertz. I was the big winner, but just by a bit-Reagan is a fierce opponent.
- Today was our 6th morning to gather around the tv to watch church. I will say that when it is time to go back to church, we will have to get up a lot earlier or we will have to find a church that has a late service.
- The big boys were all up, but I only gave everyone else a 10 minute warning. I actually barely got myself into the living room in time. They even had a pre-show today and we just caught a few minutes of it. Later I told Robby that we would have gotten up earlier to watch it, but Robby reminded me that we can just watch it later so maybe that is what I will do.
- After church, we had our Sunday school class on the computer. When that was finally over, we served up our Sunday meal-lasagna. We did decide that we are pretty good lasagna makers. It did help that it was from a box!
- Once we ate, Campbell, Keaton, Graham, Robby and I took a short walk. They all rode their bikes while Robby and I walked. The weather was a bit chilly-I had to have two jackets! The kids had fun riding their bikes, and I had fun taking my nap after the walk!
- I napped while Robby watched a few sermons on the tv. Sara brought over some library books-we are passing library books around like they are banned items. The kids played outside off and on most of the afternoon. I was busy looking forward to the rain to come since rain is just my favorite!
- Whitman finished working a Lego set while Campbell was busy looking for sheets for their new room. Robby heated up a bit of supper-pizza rolls, and we again pulled out all of the leftovers. I am not sure where they are coming from but our leftovers keep replenishing in the fridge. I guess that is a good thing though.
- After supper, Keaton made some chocolate chip cookies while Anderson and I ran upstairs to build a Lego set. After we finished it, I worked on our ever ending Monopoly game with Campbell, Keaton and Whitman. There is no clear winner yet, and I do think that we will be playing until the end of the summer at least!
- We watched a few tv shows while eating Keaton's cookies tonight. Then it was sadly time for this day to be over!
- Robby and I stayed in bed as long as we could this morning. Whitman was the first one in our room and asked for me to pour him some orange juice. When Anderson realized that we were awake, he was quick to remind Robby that he had said something about biscuits last night.
- Campbell and I made the biscuits. When they were finished, everyone had their breakfasts-at least those who were awake and wanted biscuits had their breakfast. Whitman had already eaten a pop tart, and Keaton opted for waffles, and Reagan was still asleep. Anderson made himself some eggs to go with his biscuits. The new biscuit recipe (3 ingredients) is definitely a success around here.
- Soon I was folding laundry, and Robby asked if I wanted to go outside. I though he was kidding, but he was not. I had hoped that he was kidding! No, it was a nice day to work in the yard. We raked a pretty good pile of leaves and put them in the burn pile. We only stopped that project because the pile got too big.
- So Robby started burning, and I went in to make some soup. When the soup was ready, Reagan and I delivered it to the grands. She drove me to Nonna's, then to Grannymom's and then even to the library. Now going to the library was an adventure. She did fine, but I wasn't too comfortable. It was definitely not quarantine traffic-it was regular middle of the week traffic (probably not Saturday traffic).
- Reagan decided not to drive home, but when we got close to Lawson she did ask to drive again. That was fine, and she really does good on Lawson. Once we made it home, everyone was still outside. Campbell, Keaton and Whitman spent the entire day outside-they put out hammocks and a picnic blanket.
- Those three had lunch outside and even did some painting while outside. They thoroughly enjoyed the day. Around 6, everyone did come inside to eat supper. Campbell and Keaton headed back outside in hopes that the neighbors could come back out.
- It was soon afterwards that they did and everyone headed back out again. The other night I told Robby that I thought that Reagan was getting pale since she stays inside and in her bed most of the day long. I sure don't think that playing outside from 8-10 tonight will help her paleness.
- The kids all came in at 10 and all have to run through the showers before they go to bed and I get my ice cream!
- I slept in a little late this morning. We still started our work together just about 15 minutes later than usual. The kids didn't mind at all since most of them also slept late. Graham was frustrated that he just woke up at 8:30 this morning. He likes to finish his work early and is not a fan of sleeping in late.
- After the kids finished up the work this morning, I worked on pulling out work for next week. All 4 big kids have a writing program, that we probably go a bit too slow through, so it takes a while. Campbell is finished with hers but the three bigs have about 4 to 5 weeks left on theirs. This afternoon I talked to Graham about possibly speeding his up and doing more so he could finish. Our work loads will definitely lighten in May, but the writing is one thing I really, really want to finish.
- Whitman was again slow with his work today. I want him to just sit and finish it, but it does work for him to do some and then come back to it-I guess that is a benefit of homeschooling. He wouldn't survive in a class room at all.
- Whitman, Campbell, Keaton and Graham have spent most of the afternoon outside. Graham is the one who goes out for a bit and then back in for a bit. The girls saw the neighbors and rode their bikes some.
- At one point, Campbell and Keaton came bursting in the house to tell us that Whitman rode his bike all the way to Dakota's house. So far Whitman has only been riding on the grass, downhill, and with help to get started so that was a bit accomplishment. Campbell and Keaton were more excited to tell us than Whitman. It was so sweet.
- When Robby was finished with work, we made a new cookie recipe from the Double Tree hotel. We doubled the recipe and then got pretty tickled when we saw that the cookies had to bake for about 23 minutes. We didn't plan to be baking cookies all evening long! That was fine though because the cookies were definitely pretty good.
- Robby did leave the house again today to pick up our supper. He bought Papa Johns for the kids and On the Border for us. Our Mexican was very good-though I was pretty full with cookies!
- The girls did some drawing tonight, and they are currently hooked on a tv show so they spent a lot of time binge watching it. There was also some time to lay around covered up in my cozy blanket-it is cold out there!
- Once again it was another pretty great day around here. The normal kiddos that are always finished with their work early were not finished early at all today. That meant that I had a bit of downtime earlier in the morning-I did my laundry, my Bible study and my little bit of weights before I did most of the school work.
- The boys still have their xbox downstairs in our bedroom, but Anderson wasn't finished until nearly noon. So when he did finish his work, Whitman, the only one still working, and I moved to the hallway.
- Bless Whitman, he still had about 4 pages of work to do after lunch. I did just kind of cave in and let him watch a video and then complete a page of work. That actually worked incredibly well and that boy flew through his work. Maybe he needs video bribes all day long every day.
- Robby ran some errands this afternoon-there was no toilet paper nor flour! We still have plenty of both but I like to have lots and lots of extras! I did some treadmill time this afternoon along with some Lego time.
- The kids again spent a lot of time out side today. The weather was just perfect. After our supper, we all headed out for a little bit. Whitman rode his bike and played baseball. Anderson and Graham played some basketball with Robby and I. Campbell and Keaton rode their bikes and talked to the neighbors.
- I had to come in early for a call with my Bible study group. We went through our questions and I realized that I am a week or two ahead on my Bible study-whoop! whoop! Our call went a bit long so I finished just in time to watch one last show with the kids before it was bedtime.
- Hmm, I don't really remember this morning. I am not sure if I should be concerned about that or not. It was a fairly normal morning-oh, yes, I did wake right up at 7:30 thinking that it was time to start school. Thankfully, I was an hour off! So I had a little bit more snooze time.
- I kind of flew through our together work this morning because Reagan had her Bible study (CBS this time) zoom meeting at 9:30. I made sure that we were done in time for her to get upstairs and at least brush her teeth before it started.
- Whitman took forever on his school today, but who did not? Anderson! Campbell, Keaton and Graham are usually finished there days before I am out of bed, but Anderson-that was the shocker!
- The reason for this was the xbox. Their xbox died a few days ago and a new one came in the mail yesterday. The xbox was on all last night downloading things in our bedroom since it is closest to the internet. They were anxious to play their new game and make up for some last xbox time.
- Of course, I do all of my school work in my bedroom sitting right in front of the tv. The boys made sure that I could move so I migrated to the hallway to work with everyone. During different seasons we have done school at different places-one year I did most of it sitting on my bed, another time I have sat in the hallway so I could keep my eye on everyone, but lately for a long while, I have been working in my bedroom.
- Since everyone had finished early, it just left me waiting on Reagan to finish up since she got a late start due to her Bible study and then trying to get Whitman to focus on his work. The boy has just learn to tie a shoe plus carry numbers in math-pretty impressive.
- After our lunch, there was a ping pong tournament with Graham, Anderson, Campbell, Keaton and me. Graham was the all time winner with Anderson in second place. By the time that we finished, Whitman came on the scene and wanted to play some. Bless, ping pong is not yet one of his skills.
- Soon after this was over, Campbell made some peanut butter cookies for us to enjoy this evening. The kids spent some time outside. It is kind of funny because they have all really been riding bikes lately. All of our bikes right now just really need to be replaced so Keaton rides one too big and Campbell rides one too small. I did make them stop riding the one that had no brakes!
- Robby made spaghetti for supper tonight. We watched it as we watched Reagan and Anderson's church video from the youth. The spaghetti was delicious-I do think that we could eat it almost weekly.
- After supper, we munched on Campbell's cookies. The kids did go out one last time as the Kamps returned a school book. They rode their bikes some more and then had showers before it was finally bedtime.
- I dreamed crazy all night last night. It wasn't even because we had some good dessert before bed since we didn't eat anything...or did we have ice cream. I am not really too sure-all the days seem to run together.
- I gathered the people, and we did our morning work in my bedroom. Then it was time to start on the individual work for the morning. I usually work with Graham first because he is usually finished with his work. Today he still had some to go, so I opted to work with Keaton first.
- She has finished all of the things that she has to do with me, so we just had to check her math and phonics along with helping her some with Bible study. Second grade is when the CBS kids move up to a real weekly Bible study. Keaton usually does good, but it does seem to get progressively more difficult. I am not looking forward to Whitman starting the Bible study books next year-though he is ready for it.
- For some reason, I was behind a little bit today-didn't even get to unloading the dishwasher until after lunch...and by that time, the kids had already loaded it up with dirty dishes as well. Ha!
- This afternoon we did play a game of basketball outside. Graham was a little too intent on winning so he did miss the end of the game. Everyone else had fun despite the chilly weather outside.
- Reagan worked most of the afternoon on making vanilla cupcakes with strawberry icing. We bought her fresh strawberries for this activity. I haven't had one yet, but I do know that the icing is going to be delicious-if you put enough powdered sugar in anything, it will be good.
- The kids spent a good deal of the evening outside-there was trampolining and bike riding. They did come in briefly for supper which was again clean out the fridge night. It looks like we still have one more night of leftover suppering!
- After people came inside it was shower time for all-it doesn't take long outside for the kids to get pretty stinky! Once the kids were all showered, it was finally time for those strawberry cupcakes!
- Last night I told Robby that the weekends seem to drag a little bit for me, especially Sundays. I kind of look forward to the weekdays now because I stay busy. Today was no different-I wasn't even able to finish my day's list, and I guess that is a good thing.
- For some strange reason, Robby and I both slept longer today than we did on Saturday or Sunday. That was fine though because I was still able to get up in time to start our school day. We did our reading-history is starting up with World War II. I just mentioned a specific battle that we read about today, and Robby told me that he had actually seen a movie about it.
- Whitman is now carrying in math (13 + 28), and he did pretty good at it today. Anderson's math is all kinds of graphing while Reagan has gone back to finding the areas of different shapes. Graham's math is lots of adding and subtracting with letters and numbers. Campbell is working on prime numbers, and Keaton is starting to multiply. Math is pretty much all I have to do with everyone these days, and math continues to be my favorite subject!
- It took Whitman a bit too finish school. He was actually still finishing while I was doing my exercise video. One reason that he was later today was because he asked to read two extra books while reading-Of course, I couldn't turn that down. Now, he did do a lot of fooling around as well!
- The afternoon was spent with Keaton, Campbell and Whitman outside for a little bit. Graham joined them a bit as well. Robby and I did go to Sams. We debated getting gas for the cars, but I still have a full tank. I had to turn my car on today, and gracious that thing didn't want to start again. It did, but we do have to drive it more often.
- Our main goal at Sams was croissants and our secondary goal was toilet paper. We did complete our first goal, but left empty handed for toilet paper. There is no need to start a toilet paper go fund me for us just yet. We have quite a stock, but we also have quite a few bottoms in this household. Robby did go ahead and buy some that will arrive next month so maybe we can make it until then!
- We did also run into Kroger-we tried to get in and get out like they say that we should, but it is just my favorite place to loiter. We unloaded when we made it home. Then I went to work in the girls' room-we went through their shelves in their room trying to throw away and straighten a few things. We were able to throw away 2 Kroger bags of stuff so that is good.
- The boys were able to get their hair trimmed. The clippers are just about to give out, so new clippers will be coming soon as well. Then it was time for our Easter egg dying. This year, Whitman received an egg dyeing kit for his birthday, but it was just to paint the eggs. So I grabbed another one from my stash and it was also for painting the eggs.
- We may just paint the eggs all of the time because I had no idea how easy it really is! The kids were finished within minutes and there was little to no mess. Of course this may be due to the fact that some kids just had 3 eggs to dye. No one cared though and everyone had a good time.
- I then made ham and cheese croissants for supper. We ate those and then Reagan and I did her Monday night Bible study on the computer. Afterwards, there was a some downtime before it was finally time to head to bed!
- The year that I had the chicken pox when I was a little girl was the last time that I missed an Easter Sunday. I stayed with Beebee and Papaw while they were preparing lunch while everyone else was at church. This was also the year that Nonna had made a chocolate Easter bunny cake.
- I am sure that this Easter will be etched in my kids memories just as that one is in mine. Robby and I just were talking that we have missed more church at Geyer this year than we have missed in our lives. With our Florida February along with Covid 19, we have been out of church at Geyer now 9 weeks. We were thankful that we did go to church in Florida (and am still faithfully watching their services) and are so thankful that we can watch our church each Sunday now on the computer.
- We opted to watch the 11'o'clock service which meant we didn't have to move too quickly this morning. After watching church, we did pass out Easter baskets.
- The kids were very gracious even though the baskets were less filled than usual-they did have a some candy, some money and some Disney pins (which would be much more exciting if we were actually getting to go to Disney soon). I did promise them that soon I would buy those needing undies and socks some which is usually in their baskets along with some individual bottles of orange juice and zebra cakes which are always in their baskets. (Now we could have bought those but did forget about them until it was too late.)
- Once the baskets were passed out, Robby and I worked on lunch-ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, biscuits along with chocolate cake. The biscuits were a new recipe which was a hit. And yes, we didn't have a bunny cake here, but we did have a delicious chocolate cake made by Graham, Keaton and Campbell.
- Since half the crew still had on their pajamas, our Easter picture from today was just around the dinner table. After we ate, it was time for the grand Easter egg hunt. After raining all morning long, the sun had just come out, but it was just not dry enough at all for the eggs to be outside. So we had to hide the eggs in the house. This was not nearly as much fun, but everyone still enjoyed it.
- After the eggs were all found (Who am I kidding, we will be finding eggs in the house for days to come.), the kids moved on to their annual bartering. Usually Lily and Cash are there to add to the excitement. Reagan sold most of her candy to get money that was in some eggs. Whitman tried to get as many Skittles as possible.
- We had a few confetti eggs from last years' Easter sales. The driveway was dryish so the kids enjoyed smashing the eggs everywhere making a mess! We blew the driveway off as Robby rolled up his water hose from yesterday's leaf burning.
- Then it was nap time/sermon watching time. I did see some of Franklin Graham before going to sleep. I then woke up to the Sight and Sound Theater presenting Jesus. We watched that until it was time to stop to watch Jon and the church choir sing some oldies and goodies. Then it was back to finish the Jesus show.
- Now, we probably should have dyed our Easter eggs today, but just as I kind of thought about it, some people went to the trampoline for a bit. They didn't stay long because it was almost dark and started to rain. They did make it in before the storm hit-we were expecting a bit worse of a storm. Robby however did jinx the storm since he started his generator this morning.
- We watched one last tv special before it was eventually bedtime. Reagan did suggest that we not do school tomorrow and continue our Easter celebration. I assured her that we would continue our Easter celebration next Sunday.
- Whitman was the first one in our room this morning. Anderson was still asleep when he woke up, but Graham was up. However, Graham was not in the living room but the bonus room, so the living room lights were off. Of course, Whitman was not step foot in there without someone else in there so he came to our room.
- I had already planned ahead and set out Whitman's marble track along with the new piece that he had ordered with Dana's birthday money. The new set came in the mail yesterday, and I held it back for this morning. I even told the early risers where it all was so they could help him find it in the morning-but since no one was around, those plans backfired.
- It was fine though to wake up because Robby had told the kids that after 4 weeks he would go and get donuts. He had just joked about "4 weeks" but they have been counting down the weeks so this was indeed doughnut day.
- We like Shipleys, and since he wanted a drive through he went to our old stomping grounds. After I had folded the laundry, read my phone and almost fell back asleep, I realized the he should be home by then. I tracked him to see that he had been in the same parking lot for over 20 minutes. I text-no reply, so I quickly called. He answered and was still waiting on his donuts. He waited forever for last nights food and after waiting too today, he said that he thinks he is jinxed.
- As soon as we all ate the doughnut, Keaton and Graham went to work in the kitchen. Campbell also helped some-I tried to just let Keaton and Graham work since this was their idea, and they wanted to do it by themselves. I also had to find things for Campbell to do so she could feel apart.
- The decorated two bunny cakes for the grandparents, made icing and iced our cake for lunch. They did great and worked together so well-but the kitchen was absolutely destroyed. For example at one point there was cocoa powder foot prints around the kitchen along with a puddle of milk. It was a mess! They did work with me to clean it up and soon it was back to normal.
- I then joined Robby outside-he was working in the yard. He finished mowing the back lot and started blowing leaves. We were able to move all of the leaves right behind the house. We actually put them in the septic tank holes in the lot behind us. Then we worked on the leaves beside the kitchen window which led to the leaves by the playground (only some of them) which led to the leaves by the trampoline.
- Writing all of that didn't take very long, but it took us all of the morning and most of the afternoon. Keaton, Campbell and Whitman were out the whole time that we were. Whitman enjoyed playing in a pile of dirt. Keaton did go in to make everyone sandwiches for lunch.
- The yard looks really, really good. We still have lots of leaves to pick up but we sure made a dent in it today. Around 2, I left with Reagan and Keaton to deliver bunny cakes. Reagan first drove us to Nonna's house. I do believe that she feels comfortable driving over there.
- We dropped off their cake and they had candy for the kids' Easter. Then I convinced Reagan to drive to Grannymom's house. She wasn't looking forward to that-the interstate, but she did great.
- At Grannymom's house we dropped off their cake, and she also had candy for the kids' Easter. That is a good thing, because Easter baskets are going to be light this year since I haven't been able to do much shopping.
- From Grannymom's house, I drove us to the library. I offered to let Reagan drive, but she had had enough for the day. We picked up some books-I tell you, getting library books these days is like getting Christmas presents. I was super happy about our books-these are ones that I had requested before all of this started and they came to my library branch. This week they called and asked if I wanted to move them to another branch to pick them up.
- We made it back home just as the rain started to fall. Robby had been burning so that ended his job, and he headed inside. The girls did not head inside and the boys even went outside. They all did come in soaking wet and all headed straight to the showers.
- For supper, we were able to heat up yesterday's supper plus some other leftovers. Then we ran to the Wilson's for a few minutes. Shannon needed someone to eat their cookies, and we were happy to oblige.
- Once we were home, the kids had a few minutes to play on their devices before it was bedtime for the crew!
- Friday, and what a wonderful Friday this was. I will say that my stomach hasn't been too happy with me today but that is probably because I made Robby and I some cookie dough last night around midnight. But that didn't stop this from being a pretty excellent day.
- Graham was finished with his school work before I woke up. We did our morning work which didn't take too long-we even watched a video from church real quick. Even though we aren't seeing anyone lately, I do feel like we are having information overload with all of the things available to us. I am thankful for all of them, but my head sometimes spins from zoom meetings and church videos to watch.
- By noon we were finished with school work. I did my quick little exercise video, which you have to do if you eat cookie dough so late at night. Then it was time to work on Easter bunny cakes. Graham and Keaton were the ones in charge of this project.
- Campbell also needed something to do in the kitchen so she helped boil our eggs for Easter. Now, I remember growing up that I would get to dye 2 dozen eggs myself. My poor kids get about 3 1/2 a piece!
- The kids all spent quite a bit of time outside-in and out and in and out. The weather has been perfect for playing outside-it was so perfect that we thought about working in the yard, but opted against it!
- Robby left the house today to grab us some food for supper. He also ran by Kroger and picked up a few things. Our supper was delicious though our noodles tonight where more onions and less noodles. That was fine though because we had plenty of other things to devour!
- After Robby made it home, we ate, and cleaned up, our evening show had already started (The Kingdom) so we had to wait until it was over to watch it again! That was fine since we were able to have our Lord's Supper before it started-we barely made it in time.
- We watched the Kingdom and loved every bit of it. At some point during it, I sent Campbell to grab hers and Reagan's baby books so we could see the pictures of them as they were baby Jesus in the show. Graham later grabbed everyone else's so they went down memory lane as we watched.
- After that show was over, it was pretty much bedtime for everyone....and certainly NOT cookie dough time for me!
- School today was the same as usual-more interesting history reading. Keaton was the one finishing her English today. Tomorrow it will be Campbell finishing her English. It probably does help that we are doing more school these days.
- Most of Whitman's school day was done with the caterpillar sitting beside him on the floor. This made me incredibly nervous because I sure don't want caterpillar all over my carpet! The caterpillar "survived"-by the end of the day when he was released he wasn't moving to swiftly.
- Around lunch time, the kids all made their lunches-most people opted for smoothies. I told them that they could certainly make one as long as they cleaned up better than yesterday. They did and the kitchen was only mildly disastrous!
- Reagan did drive me over to the Crafts today so we could put a little bag on their gate for them. The girls had made cards, and I just decided that instead of using stamps, we would just drive over there. Reagan enjoyed the practice-she did great.
- I worked on the flower beds for a little bit this afternoon. Robby did some mowing and the kids played outside-Campbell and Keaton spent most of their time playing in the water.
- There was legoing today, driving today, basketballing today and even some baking today. It was another busy day around here. We had spaghetti for supper fairly late tonight. Then I had a long zoom meeting with my Bible study class.
- We did have time to squeeze in a tv show before it was finally bedtime. I am still working on what my snack will be tonight-there aren't that many choices any more!
- We woke up this morning almost at 7 with Whitman standing by my bedside. He told me that he had good news and bad news. I reached out and felt his wet pants and guessed the bad news. Then he proceeded to tell me the good news-he lost his second tooth.
- That silly tooth was just hanging by a thread yesterday. You can't really even tell a differences because his permanent tooth is pretty much completely in already. I even tried to grab his tooth yesterday, but it was just so tiny and slippery that I could never pull it (of course the whole time I was reassuring him that I was not going to pull it.)
- Once he had on dry pjs, which is all that he wears now, Whitman did lay back in the bed with us He was wide awake, but wouldn't leave our room until he heard his brothers awake and downstairs. Somehow our room is safe to come to, but he will not venture in the living room alone for anything. If he has to go to our closet for any reason no matter than time of the day, he will slowly flip on every single light switch on the way.
- Whitman was the only one who finished any piece of school today-he finished his English book, so that makes me super happy. Right this second he is petting, a little too roughly, saying, "I believe that he is asleep." Bless it!
- Pretty much the entire day, people have been in and out of the house over and over again. I have tried to keep the pollen swept out by the doors, but it is a losing battle. The girls are enjoying the swing more this week. And Anderson and Graham played outside for about 3 hours this afternoon. They were sweaty messes when they came in.
- Reagan did drive all the way to Otter Creek today to deliver some clothes. She did really well for which I am thankful. I think that her confidence is improving, but when she didn't know where we were going, she wanted to make it clear that she did not want to go through an "intersection." I think going to a green light has her spooked! Meanwhile, I breathe a sigh of relief when I come to a light!
- There were lots of zoom calls today-Reagan had her Bible study meeting this morning with her CBS folks, Keaton chatted with her friends and Campbell talked with her friends also this afternoon. Plus there have been lots of new things to watch-Reagan and Anderson had their Wednesday night service online. Robby and I just finished watching Jon and others sing some hymns.
- You would think that we would have a lot more time these days since we are home all the time, but we are just barely getting everything done these days. I did find time to walk on the treadmill some-I guess I haven't done that in a few days because I was interrupted about 1299 times. I was needed to find a container for the caterpillar, to cut out the shape of bunny out of fabric and to stop a brother being so loud his sister couldn't hear her zoom call! I survived though (so did the kids) and was able to finish my walk.
- Robby made pizza for supper. We just made two and even had some leftover until about 10 minutes after supper when Whitman looked at me and said that he was hungry-I promptly found him some more pizza to eat. The kids all ran through the showers tonight before bed-all my ice cream is gone so I am not too sure what my snack will be tonight. I have decided that all people in quarantine deserve a snack every single night.
- Another school day around here. No one really complains about their school right now. The kids are just plugging along-right now at almost 8, two kids are sitting in the floor working on their school right now.
- Whitman has been doing pretty well on his school-if I could just figure out how to improve his handwriting! Right now we are reading about Hitler and World War 2 in history so it is pretty interesting to the boys and me.
- After school was over today, I was able to do my exercise video. I am not too sure that I like doing an exercise video which is odd because I don't really like the treadmill either. I did play basketball with most folks after supper tonight so I guess that does count as a little bit of exercise.
- The big activity this afternoon was organizing the kids bathroom cabinet...which is out of toilet paper! Thankfully, we do have some extra in other cabinets but will need to buy some before this pandemic is over!
- I also worked on changing the kids shoes over from winter to summer. There isn't a lot of changing to do but I did move all of the girls' boots out of my closet which helped clear out my space some.
- Robby and I did take an outing today to pick up some pictures (non essential item we know) and to pick up some supper (essential). Robby did see a man walk out of Walgreens with a buggy full of beer without paying. Strange times!
- Everyone was super happy to have the new Chick Fil A copycat sauce from Kroger. We must about finished half of the bottle. It is the little things! Then we did have our almost daily basketball game outside. The pollen seems to be crazy here right now-Campbell and Keaton don't seem to mind, but goodness it makes my eyes itch!
- Tonight most of us are watching a Netflix movie about Brandon Burrelsworth. I am sure that the next thing will be a snack or two for the crew before bedtime!
- I woke up this morning thinking that it was Thursday or Friday. I am not sure what made me think that, but I was just a wee bit disappointed to realize that it was indeed just Monday. I guess there really isn't too much difference in Monday and Friday anymore so there was really little adjustment to prepare for the day.
- Soon we were working on our school work. Whitman was very happy with me that I had a few new library books for him to read. In his book box, I have a pile of books that are too easy for him, but I want for him to read one last time before I put them in the garage sale box. He calls them "baby books," so when he found the new books today, he was very excited!
- After school was over and even before lunch, I was able to help Reagan with a project for her Bible study tonight. Some of the 8th graders are doing the Defined Bible study together on zoom. That is super fun and the video tonight was really good.
- The kids all made their lunches-Graham made a sausage, egg and cheese bagel, Anderson made two eggs in the hole and I think that Reagan made eggs herself-I guess I need to tell the kids that we bought the eggs to dye. I do want there to be at least one part of Easter that is the same as usual on Sunday.
- When we worked together this afternoon, the internet was down so we weren't able to do some of our work on the tv. That was fine though because we did do our history and Bible reading. I had made a list of history reading and today is the first day that we are ahead. That is probably because today Robby and I would have been heading to the Masters.
- I guess you could say that this is trip 3 that the virus has messed up. The first would be the trip to the SEC championship followed by our dash to Utah that we wisely decided to pass on. The Masters would have started tomorrow so we are missing that though they have rescheduled for November. In a few weeks we will miss our first May Disney trip and then after that Robby and I will much more than likely miss our anniversary trip to Disney. Oh well, that is not what this life is all about.
- The afternoon did fly by. The kids spent a lot of time going inside and outside. Campbell and Keaton are still actually outside playing. Whitman did have a zoom meeting with his little friends. He enjoyed that-though we do need to work on his social skills a little bit!
- I worked on organizing some recipes along with organizing some pictures. Then it was soon time to work on supper. We had ravioli tonight for supper which is a crowd favorite.
- As soon as we finished supper, it was time to start Reagan's meeting. We are the ones playing the video for all of the people to see but we had some sound issues. Robby was able to get it figured out before the video so everything worked perfectly!
- Everyone made sure that they had a yummy snack tonight before bed and most even had showers! It was a good Friday or Monday or whatever day it is!
- We did jump up in time to gather everyone and stick some cinnamon rolls in the oven before church started. We had found the cinnamon rolls in the bottom of the freezer, and crossed our fingers as we put them in the oven.
- As it turns out-the church service was good, but the cinnamon rolls were not. They didn't really rise even though I let them thaw all night long. I do have another batch in the freezer so hopefully they will be better. I guess that we can try them next Sunday morning.
- When church was over, we watched our Sunday school class. Our teacher is just excellent, and they have been working through the Bible for years. It does kind of make me miss being in an adult class, but at the same time I missed making construction paper palm branches today with our first graders.
- After Sunday school, we ate our lunch. Pops had brought lunch over yesterday. I tried to assure him that we were able to cook for ourselves. He had made pork tenderloin, potatoes and beans. It was perfectly easy to heat up and delicious.
- Soon Jason came over to give Whitman his birthday present. Whitman was pretty excited with the gifts that he opened-one was a Lego type set that he had asked for. This seemed great and all, but I did not realize how parent involved it would be since it isn't just a Lego set, but a machine type Lego set.
- We worked one and then I was able to sneak in my Sunday afternoon nap while Robby caught up on his weekly sermon total. We watched quite a few people, though I did sleep through one of my favorites from last week.
- We did break the rules and go to the grocery store tonight. They have been saying that we don't need to go to the store at all over the next two weeks-we will see how long that we can make it! We tried to think of quite a few things and did manage to fill our buggy.
- As soon as we made it home, it was time for our life group to meet on zoom. We just chatted, but did so for quite a while. When it was over, we hustled the kids to bed so Robby could work on a shutterfly book until our bedtime.
- Robby and I were not productive today at all. We did watch a documentary last night until late in the night. Then we decided to finish our tv watching this morning so we did little this morning. Pops even called me near lunch and asked if I was still in bed. I was, but I was dressed and ready for the day. I even put on real clothes today and not my "day pajamas" as I usually wear.
- Whitman was the first one awake this morning so he did what he does when downstairs is empty-climb in our bed. He laid very still for a long time until he couldn't be still any longer. It was 7:30ish so I found him some breakfast and helped him get his spot by the heater.
- Soon everyone else was awake and moving in the house. I was able to fold some laundry as we watched tv. But just as soon as it was breakfast, it was soon lunch time. The kids all found their lunches.
- After that, I did run to the Terry library. A few libraries now have porch pick up, so I emailed them my requests early this morning, and they were ready today. My intent was for Reagan to drive the whole way there (which would have been a long way for her), but instead she just drove all the way down Lawson. She was pretty adamant that she was done when we made it down that road and even asked me a few times, "how long is this road?" She did great though, and I was thrilled to get a few books-makes life seem a bit like normal.
- Keaton had a zoom call this afternoon, and Campbell was on the phone for a bit with her friends. Soon it was evening again, and Robby grilled burgers for supper. Half of us had burgers while the other half ate nuggets. Robby did make fries in the air fryer, and the first batch was perfectly crisp.
- Robby watched the Grand Ole Opry on tv, and I worked on some school stuff. Then we all settled in the living room to watch a Bates along with a few church videos that we were behind in. Then it was soon time for bed for the crew!
- The first thing Robby said to me this morning was that I was a good sleeper. That I sure am! I still managed to get our school going in plenty of time. We did our morning reading followed by some together work.
- I know that I have said it before, but I sure am missing our library right now. I didn't have that many collected from after our trip, and we have quickly gone through them with only about 2 more to read. Some library branches are starting to do pick up so maybe ours will be soon.
- We didn't finish school as early this morning. That was probably because I had to help lots of folks with the computer math. Our new computer math system is working well-and we just may do it all summer long!
- The few things that we did accomplish today was finishing the girls' closet. It is now nice and neat which seems to be a miracle-it won't last because I have two girls that can't seem to pick up anything right now!
- I did my exercise video today-that is a new thing. Plus there was some afternoon basketball along with some Lego building. I tried to convince Reagan to do a little bit of driving, but she didn't want to. Tomorrow though there will be driving.
- Campbell spent lots of time with her friends on zoom. Her and Keaton also chatted with their friends on the phones for a long time. And pretty much everyone ran from the trampoline and back to the house a zillion times.
- The morning even started with a challenge of Graham, Campbell, Keaton and Whitman trying to stay in Whitman's new tent as long as he could. This did mean that the kids woke up early to do their school work-I could even hear them helping Whitman get through all of his work. When they finished school, they ran up to get in the tent and stay there as long as they could. They stayed until almost lunch before leaving their tent and abandoning their challenge.
- Supper tonight was just leftovers-the fridge is now fairly empty. We did end our evening with another tiny birthday celebration for Whitman-a family movie night to watching Onward complete with candy and popcorn.
- This morning started with lots of pots and pans banging in the kitchen. Graham and Keaton woke up early to bake Whitman muffins for his birthday breakfast. When the muffins were ready, Graham carried a sleepy Whitman down the stairs to our bedroom. He had already made a comfy spot for him with pillows and blankets.
- Whitman was just grinning from ear to ear on his ride into our room. And when we all sang Happy Birthday to him with candles in his muffins, he was over joyed. We then did our morning reading with Whitman picking out the order of what we did.
- Then everyone started on their day's work. Campbell, Keaton and Graham only had to work with me this morning so they were finished super quickly. Whitman just had fun school today-a map, a maze, graphing with Skittles, and some light reading. Reagan and Anderson were finished later in the morning. I was even able to finish organizing my school room closet. While I was working on the closet, I did find a few other projects to add to my ever growing list.
- The kids jumped on the trampoline during the lunch time hour. I did call them in around 1 to do some history reading. Then we finally let Whitman open up a few presents. We rarely get the kids birthday presents-our thought is that we fund a birthday party for the kids, so that is our present.
- However, we did have a pretty grand gift for Whitman in our attic. We had bought it (on clearance) earlier in the year, and my plan had been to let a grandparent give it to him. Anyway, Whitman was incredibly pleased when he opened up a tent that inflates with a box fan. It didn't take long for us to pull out the fan, and the test was just as neat as it looked.
- Keaton and Campbell also had a scavenger hunt for Whitman before he could receive his presents-a kite and a sweatshirt (both of which were sourced from the gift attic!) along with a package of oreos (which he ate all by himself today.)
- Reagan drove down the road a little ways to drop off a few things. We did meet a trash truck flying down a one lane-ish road. So she did get a lesson in "get over, get over now!" She did just fine though!
- When we returned home, Keaton was on a zoom call with her little friends. Then we received a visit from church-Ms. Meryl wrote on our driveway a birthday wish for Whitman. She had hit up 20 houses today to do some chalk art.
- We did all leave the house this afternoon to drop off a birthday present for one of the kids' friends. Then we picked up pizza which was Whitman's choice. We haven't had pizza that often, but Robby and I were definitely hoping for something else. Robby did buy a few good pizzas from Paxtons along with some regular ones from somewhere else.
- This evening we did celebrate Whitman with one more round of candles on his birthday brownies. Campbell had made them for him earlier in the day, and we enjoyed them with ice cream-vanilla which is his favorite. I do think that the birthday boy had a pretty great birthday!
- Not too many Wednesdays do we do school, but today we sure did. Everyone seems to be zooming through school these days. Today, Whitman even had time to take a break before we worked together. He still continues to struggle with spelling-we did do double e words today, and he was able to write 10. Just a few weeks ago, the most I could handle was him trying to write 5 words a day so we are definitely improving. In just a day or two, he will be the only Dennie still working on this year's spelling book, so there will be more time for him to practice.
- After lunch, I did sneak off to work on my school room closet. I should be able to finish it tomorrow. Also there was some work on the girls' closet. That should also be finished tomorrow-hopefully. Though we will have some birthday celebrating to do during the day.
- There was lots of celebration when Campbell and Keaton finished our 1,000 piece puzzle today. They have been really the only ones who have helped me work the puzzle so I was glad that they stuck with it to finish it. It probably helped that they finished their school work for today and tomorrow last night.
- I believe that our trampoline is getting the most work out of anyone or anything in this house. There was one drama session out there-Graham pushed Whitman possibly accidentally. His knee then hit Campbell's eye which just might be black in the morning. Campbell got upset and someone said that it was Whitman's fault which caused him to tell everyone that he doesn't like them. This caused Keaton to start crying as Whitman stormed off. Oh the drama.
- Everyone finally calmed down and even returned to the trampoline later in the day for some type of wrestle mania. I did encourage them to stop that because I don't think that this is the time to go to the emergency room.
- Reagan's girl group had a Bible study tonight-I was in charge of playing the video on zoom so that was a bit stressful! Ha! I managed and everyone heard it so I was surely relieved. There was also Reagan and Anderson's youth group meeting tonight on facebook so even though things have slowed tremendously, they still seem so busy!
- We had delivered toilet paper to someone the other day and today they delivered cookies to us. The cookies were really good so that was a fun treat and a fun dessert for us tonight. As always people stayed up too late and left me with too much laundry! Laundry and dishes still don't stop even in a quarantine.
