March 11, 2022

(click for today's pictures)

• After doing all of my morning chores, I had a bit of time this morning to wander around the house trying to figure out what I could do. I knew what I wanted to do-nothing! But I felt like I needed to be productive and useful.
• I did a few things, but not much at all really. It was soon time for Keaton and me to head to Maumelle to drop off some homeschool books. I was under the impression that they were going to give me a check while I was there, so I made sure to go early. They didn't which was fine because this meant that I had a bit of time when we came home.
• There was Bible study with Campbell, Keaton and Whitman. Some biology work with Anderson. I even started on some work that I wanted to do-getting the kids summer school stuff ready, but soon Campbell walked into my room saying that we had to leave in 20 minutes.
• Graham and Anderson chose to stay home today and watch the Hogs play. I understand that even though I told them that I hoped LSU won as I was leaving. We took the Kamps' girls with us too and met the Powells at the Arkansas Foodbank.
• I really enjoy going there. I know we are probably doing some good while we are there, but the real reason is that I like to see my kids work-and work hard. (Also it makes me feel good when I see other kids (teenagers) not working as hard as my littles. (All the kids with us worked super hard today)) 
• All of the kids worked hard-our job today wasn't that hard. There were 3 huge bins (4 feet tall, 5 feet square) of canned food without labels, Most of them had a code on the bottom that said corn. Those cans were removed from the bins, then we put labels on them before putting them in boxes.
• Reagan is a speed demon. She was putting labels on the cans while I was handing her labels. We did thousands of cans-not exaggerating in the least. Amber was struggling to make sure that we had plenty of cans. Other than our break, Reagan only stopped when we ran out of labels. 
• Campbell and Keaton were working at another table with Lily and Eden. They worked continuously as well-though not as fast. And Whitman-it took him a while to figure out what he could do, but when he did-he worked hard. He retrieve the made boxes and delivered them, he would load them and often he would carry the box of 24 cans of corn to another table. Our box makers were from another group and didn't come back after their break-so I looked up once to see Whitman figuring out the tape gun and making boxes. 
• It was about 3:15 when we did run out of labels for the second time, and the man said that it was starting to snow, and we should go. I tried to have us finish the things we were working on, but he just said to leave it. Amber and I expected a lot of snow to be falling when we stepped outside, but there was just an occasional flake.
• However, by the time we loaded into the car and headed down the road to Wendy's, it was like we were driving in a blizzard. The kids earned Frostys as a little treat. But my treat (well, other than a frosty) was the beautiful weather. This snow was just gorgeous. 
• Campbell and Keaton ended up spending the night at Sara's house. I did hear they did a lot of playing in the snow. When we came home here, Whitman and Reagan were outside for a very long time. 
• This evening we did go to the Wilson's house for a little bit and watched some basketball and ate oreo delight. Reagan and Whitman opted to stay at home-and she stayed downstairs with him the whole time. Or it was the dog that she stayed downstairs with? 
• We came home pretty late but this is no bedtime night so the kids are all upstairs on their devices. Reagan is probably loving having an empty room tonight.